Drinkwater

[st albans fox]

Just now, yorkie1999 said:

They are using them as last resorts if they can't get their real targets in. Drinkwater and mahrez must know that they'd be very lucky to play for chelsea, they buy world class players which, although they're good enough for us, they're not world class.

Drinkwater is essential as a home grown player for their CL squad. 

 

Riyad is a great player and could prove to be 'world class' in an environment like that.

[yorkie1999]

5 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Drinkwater is essential as a home grown player for their CL squad. 

 

Riyad is a great player and could prove to be 'world class' in an environment like that.

So would Andy King, and they'd get him for a lot less than Drinkwater. Could and is are a long way apart.

[st albans fox]

1 minute ago, yorkie1999 said:

So would Andy King, and they'd get him for a lot less than Drinkwater. Could and is are a long way apart.

That's just facetious Yorkie. DD will do a great job for them AND is home grown 

[Ian S]

6 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

That's just facetious Yorkie. DD will do a great job for them AND is home grown 

He won't get a game when they are all fit,excluding the Mickey Mouse Cup.

[Babylon]

54 minutes ago, Dames said:

 

Its when you have the foresight to dip into your own pocket and find and improvement/replacement regardless. The initial £15m was to unsettle DD and get the ball rolling the player wants the move and Chelsea want him so a compromise on fee will be met at some point, its what always happens.  What I'm also saying is that if that initial offer was 3 weeks ago why don't we have another CM yet? There is just no foresight or plan to anything and if the club aren't careful we'll lose all our best players and end up in a relegation scrap again.

 

I feel that the club have just tried to delay the inevitable by burying their heads in the sand and now its coming back to bite us big time.

It doesn't work like that. What if the bigger offer never comes? What's it cost for replacements for DD and Mahrez, £50m + wages? Sorry it's just not feasible to suggest we buy replacements before they are anywhere near our asking price.

 

We aren't a mega rich club, we have budgets to stick to, ffp and premier league rules to meet.

[SpacedX]

On recent form Matty James has looked his equal if not the better player. Loan spell to Barnsley aside, this is after a two year absence from top flight football. I do think though that Danny was one of the players to have suffered most under Ranieri's second term handbrake tactics and James is most unlikely to come anywhere near to the player that Drinky was in the 15/16 campaign. Whether being reunited with Kanté will rejuvenate him remains to be seen - and depending upon today, we may never know. Not sure he has the same empathy with N'didi.

[foxinsocks]

20 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

So would Andy King, and they'd get him for a lot less than Drinkwater. Could and is are a long way apart.

Do they know king is available?

[HankMarvin]

1 minute ago, Line-X said:

On recent form Matty James has looked his equal if not the better player. Loan spell to Barnsley aside, this is after a two year absence from top flight football. I do think though that Danny was one of the players to have suffered most under Ranieri's second term handbrake tactics and James is most unlikely to come anywhere near to the player that Drinky was in the 15/16 campaign. Whether being reunited with Kanté will rejuvenate him remains to be seen - and depending upon today, we may never know. Not sure he has the same empathy with N'didi.

If not the best player? Really 

Please elaborate 

[SpacedX]

Just now, HankMarvin said:

If not the best player? Really 

Please elaborate 

"If not, the better player"

[Fox 4 Life]

He doesn't want to be here, just sell him and get Silva in

[HankMarvin]

1 minute ago, Line-X said:

"If not, the better player"

Same question 

how from what you have seen this season do you think he is better?

[HankMarvin]

Just now, HankMarvin said:

Same question 

how from what you have seen this season do you think he is better?

Chelsea are not mugs, do you see them going for James in January if they can't get drinkwater?

[st albans fox]

I have figured out where we are

 

we have told Chelsea we won't sanction a sale without a replacement 

 

Chelsea are 10m light on their bid so we have offered SCP 15m for silva which is about the same amount on the thin side

 

so Chelsea know that if they want drinkwater they need to cough up the 40m - then our bid for silva will be enough and the deals can go through 

[SpacedX]

Just now, HankMarvin said:

Same question 

how from what you have seen this season do you think he is better?

Based upon current form - which is admittedly unfair because DD has been sidelined - the comparison has to be made with Drinkwater last season. I think that he was our most deteriorated player in the 15/16 campaign. James has less of an attacking instinct than DD who was forced to play deeper in the last campaign but James has particularly impressed me with his passing accuracy a defining aspect of Drinky's game that had become erratic together with his positional awareness.

[SpacedX]

24 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Chelsea are not mugs, do you see them going for James in January if they can't get drinkwater?

No I don't, because Drinky is clearly a superior player with far greater potential and is proven at this level. If he can recapture the world class form that Chelsea obviously believe that slumped due to the factors contributing to last season's tailspin and the departure of Kanté then I believe he will be an asset to Conte.

 

You miss my point though. Based upon his recent performances however, in all honesty, who do you feel has adapted to the current squad better? James or Drinkwater? Not to say that Matty James will ever get a senior call up for the England squad, not that he will ever be coveted by a team like Chelsea. If Barnsley had the financial backing, he may well have been retained. 

 

Would very much like to see a three man midfield of Iborra, N'didi and a rejuvenated Drinky and yes, that would be at the expense of Matthew James.

 

I thought James was largely anonymous during the 2014/15 campaign - but many in the squad took time to adapt that year...Drinky on the other hand barely featured that season under Pearson...I recall being very pleased to see him come on against Swansea at home - him and Kingy (who scored). Just prior to James's ACL injury against the Saints, during the "great escape", he had begun to show real potential. 

 

EDIT TO ADD: If Dannyreturns to the squad and repeats the woeful form of last season - do you see Chelsea renewing a bid in January? Frankly I was bewildered by their approach this window.

[whoareyaaa]

25 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I have figured out where we are

 

we have told Chelsea we won't sanction a sale without a replacement 

 

Chelsea are 10m light on their bid so we have offered SCP 15m for silva which is about the same amount on the thin side

 

so Chelsea know that if they want drinkwater they need to cough up the 40m - then our bid for silva will be enough and the deals can go through 

by the time anyone has got near him for a medical the window will be shut

[st albans fox]

Just now, whoareyaaa said:

by the time anyone has got near him for a medical the window will be shut

Deal can be subject to medical - imagine we do the deal, buy silva and DD fails his medical !!

[49er]

1 hour ago, jayfox26 said:

Is it just me or have chelsea been really underhand. They could have signed Drinky and Mahrez weeks ago giving us ample opportunity to replace them. But now we have a situation where we have 2 unhappy players who want to leave and if we sell them we will find it tough to replace them. It just seems the top teams want to make the gap even bigger between them and everyone else. If i was the owners id just say nobody is for sale now, you should have sorted these transfers weeks ago. 

The big teams buy up the decent players from other clubs so that they can sit on the bench, thereby making it more difficult for the 'smaller' clubs to compete

[whoareyaaa]

Just now, st albans fox said:

Deal can be subject to medical - imagine we do the deal, buy silva and DD fails his medical !!

True can see Chelsea coming in for them both whether we will accept is another matter owners seem to be holding firm

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

4 minutes ago, 49er said:

The big teams buy up the decent players from other clubs so that they can sit on the bench, thereby making it more difficult for the 'smaller' clubs to compete

Exactly. They "collect" players so other teams can't have them.

[WigstonWanderer]

1 hour ago, mazarron fox said:

What and have 2 players who don't want to be here and resent us with fans on their backs too? That's sound policy moving forward?

Unfortunately there needs to be a few noses cut off to spite faces here in order to resist being bullied by bigger clubs, players and agents.

 

Pay up in time for us to cover or piss off. If players sulk, chuck them in the under 23s.

[Kitchandro]

45 minutes ago, Line-X said:

"If not, the better player"

Still nonsense

[49er]

Just now, Mark 'expert' Lawrenson said:

Exactly. They "collect" players so other teams can't have them.

In previous decades, before the 'squad' came to the fore, this didn't happen. Yes, there was always some sort of gap between the 'big' teams and the 'smaller' ones, but not as vast as it is now because teams were restricted to one substitute during a match and in those days footballers actually wanted to play. Most of the teams in what was Division One used to have a good striker - not so these days

[SpacedX]

2 minutes ago, Kitchandro said:

Still nonsense

Currently?

[Innovindil]

Odds to stay down to 1.25 at sky bet. Any actual news?