The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 20 June 2011

[michaelden]

G. Cahill is okay. I think Kaboul will be better overall given a decent run in the side.

 

[$hoguN]

Next season will be Gallas' last. King might play 20 games. Woodgate maybe more if his groin problem is finally cured as reported.

I guess the problem is that none of them are of the calibre to challenge the old guard. It's why I'd rather we didn't sign another solid CB for the sake of it now and went for someone properly special (Subotic) next summer.

No it will not, he signed a two-year deal. Woodgate in all reality will be let go and Bassong moved on. There will be plenty of games to play and each player will get their chance.

 

[shyfx2k2]

Interesting piece in the Independent this morning:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...stand-firm-over-chelsea-interest-2299988.html

Claiming that Luka will back down AND that the agent of Tevez and Mark Hughes may have a personal interest in him moving to Chelsea. Dark forces I tells ya!

 

[RJ1882]

i've thought for a while Cahill was the pick of the bunch from shawcross, Jones and him. Very good defender and better than Bassong, and as good as kaboul, tho i see kaboul as our top dog in a year or 2. Woodgate gone, bassong going, king unreliable fitness, gallas near done. Cahill would be an excellent addition to our current crop.

 

[C-oops]

I'm all for Cahill but he's not a shiny new striker is he......

 

[bubble07]

Wrong decision to release Woodgate but its done now. I hope we keep Bassong but he clearly wants out and is meant to be going to Wolves with O'Hara. That then leaves us with Gallas and King competing for one spot and Dawson and Kaboul competing for the other. I don't think we need another CB until Jan at least. But if we do he would need to be considerably better then the ones we have and Cahill isn't

Jones was the one. But better teams were after him

 

[Chimbo!]

Interesting piece in the Independent this morning:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...stand-firm-over-chelsea-interest-2299988.html

Claiming that Luka will back down AND that the agent of Tevez and Mark Hughes may have a personal interest in him moving to Chelsea. Dark forces I tells ya!

that kia joorabchian is a troublemaker and i do not know why people get involved with him.

 

[Azrael]

Interesting piece in the Independent this morning:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...stand-firm-over-chelsea-interest-2299988.html

Claiming that Luka will back down AND that the agent of Tevez and Mark Hughes may have a personal interest in him moving to Chelsea. Dark forces I tells ya!

That Kia Joorbaichian (sp?) isn't even an agent. He calls himself an "adviser". In other words he's a bloke with connections who takes brown envelopes to organise things.

 

[Flynn]

Walker has little defensive positional awareness, the people who rave about him, have probably only seen him on MOTD and not actually watched him in a whole game. Huge holes in his game defensively. He's a convert to right back from a striker not too long ago and it's quite clear in his game.

He is not ready to be first choice right back, but I'd have him in the squad and playing occasionally.

Yeah, saw him a few times making excellent well timed tackles but the reason he was having to make those tackles was because he was losing his man too easily and the problem with the sliding tackle is no matter how well timed you will give pens and freekicks away.

As for the central def slot I'd take Cahill over Shawcross. With Woodgate and Bassong out that would leave King, Daws, Kaboul, Gallas and Cahill. Looks pretty strong to me and If Caulker can fill Gallas' boots over the next year we look solid for a few years to come.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

That Kia Joorbaichian (sp?) isn't even an agent. He calls himself an "adviser". In other words he's a bloke with connections who takes brown envelopes to organise things.

Not even that. He calls himself an "investor".

He's big in the world of third party ownership (first came to prominence here in the Tevez affair).

 

[StartingPrice]

Mmmm, scampi fries.

Modric is a fan of them.....and yes, you can chalk that up as ITK. PM for my sources.....

Hang on, Modric a fan of scampi fries... you smelling like scampi fries.......................I can see where she's coming from. :think:

Eek

We desperately need some positive news about us signing some players this week. We need to get a done deal in by Friday to show Modric, Bale, Sandro, VDV, et al that we mean business.

But that, that there, is the problem in a nutshell, really, we have 4 World Class/verging on World Class players and a very good supporting caste. We should only be worrying so much about losing a top player if we only had one World Class performer. They should be looking around them and thinging "fook, this will be one hell of a team to be part of".

I still harbour hopes that Luka was led into this, or the quotes were massively twisted and out of context, or just downright lies.

From the little I've seen of Cahill he certainly isn't slow.

Seems like alot of money to be spending on a centre back though, even if we do use Bassong as part of the deal (and how often do these part exchanges work?)

I reckon Harry must think Gallas hasn't got alot left in the tank othewise this pursuit for a first team centre back would seem a bit odd.

I suppose if we have Dawson, Kaboul, Cahill and Gallas then we're fairly well covered in that area, and other than Gallas they could be at the club for a long time.

Would be a bit of a kick in the teeth to Kaboul though.

In which case, decent player or no, he shouldn't be talking about a 2 year deal for him.

Kaboul > Cahill.

I'm with Nic on this one.

It just seems to be in people's mindsets that an English cb is slow until proven fast. I don't know why, it is just people's default setting to imagine a cb as slow if they have a dull, English-sounding name.

Okay, I was with you up to this point...but Cahill is actually not an English or English sounding name, at all. It is a very Irish surname (as in McCahill).

 

[TEESSIDE1]

With coaching, hopefully Walker will get better at defending.

I'd like to see him given a chance to prove himself.

Besides, the current right backs are pretty naf.

Corluka - can defend but is a sloth, takes 3 weeks to catch up with Lennon/attacking play.

Hutton - quite good going forward but terrible at defending.


As others have mentioned, Johnson, Clichy even Marcelo are not great at defending but are rather good at attacking .... if they didn't play for Liverpool and the scum .... I'd happily sign them (Clichy/Marcelo more so than Johnson).

Bale was signed as a left back, yet he also can't defend either.

Were an attacking team .... we'll never find a quality attacking and defensive full back within our budget .... besides, there isn't many around.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

Portuguese news agency claim Andre Villas-Boas to become new Chelsea manager. Sone people on here would not be happy.

 

[Darrkespur]

When we play with two good centre backs plus Sandro sitting deep, I'm not sure we need our full backs to be that defensive to be honest, especially if we end up with parker in midfield as well. when you play with one or two deep defensive midfielders that can drop into defense, your fullbacks are more attacking players - like AC Milan back in the day.

 

[tobi]

Falcao and Torres can't play together... clutching at straws.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

Eek



But that, that there, is the problem in a nutshell, really, we have 4 World Class/verging on World Class players and a very good supporting caste. We should only be worrying so much about losing a top player if we only had one World Class performer. They should be looking around them and thinging "fook, this will be one hell of a team to be part of".

I still harbour hopes that Luka was led into this, or the quotes were massively twisted and out of context, or just downright lies.



In which case, decent player or no, he shouldn't be talking about a 2 year deal for him.



I'm with Nic on this one.



Okay, I was with you up to this point...but Cahill is actually not an English or English sounding name, at all. It is a very Irish surname (as in McCahill).

Apologies my friend. Being Northern Irish, I agree that Cahill is of Irish origins. I merely meant that it is not an exotic foreign name.

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

With coaching, hopefully Walker will get better at defending.

I'd like to see him given a chance to prove himself.

Besides, the current right backs are pretty naf.

Corluka - can defend but is a sloth, takes 3 weeks to catch up with Lennon/attacking play.

Hutton - quite good going forward but terrible at defending.


As others have mentioned, Johnson, Clichy even Marcelo are not great at defending but are rather good at attacking .... if they didn't play for Liverpool and the scum .... I'd happily sign them (Clichy/Marcelo more so than Johnson).

Bale was signed as a left back, yet he also can't defend either.

Were an attacking team .... we'll never find a quality attacking and defensive full back within our budget .... besides, there isn't many around.

Assou-Ekotto > Clichy any day.

 

[Flynn]

As others have mentioned, Johnson, Clichy even Marcelo are not great at defending but are rather good at attacking .... if they didn't play for Liverpool and the scum .... I'd happily sign them (Clichy/Marcelo more so than Johnson).

I realise you are saying Johnson would be third choice of those three but I wouldn't entertain him at all.

He is truely diabolical at defending and plays very much for himself. A big part of the reason we were so godamn awful at the world cup was Johnson running past the winger EVERY single time he got the ball. Whether it was Lennon, Milner, Barry everytime ball to feet and run past. Not one ball into space the winger could run onto.

 

[TEESSIDE1]

Assou-Ekotto > Clichy any day.

I wasn't suggesting we sign him to replace Ekotto .... just saying he's a good player.

Ekotto was suspect defensively when we signed him, now he's one of the best left backs in Europe :grin:

 

[Darrkespur]

Portuguese news agency claim Andre Villas-Boas to become new Chelsea manager. Sone people on here would not be happy.

If he leaves, I think that Porto team will fall apart similar to when Mourinho left. Certainly would improve our chances of getting Falcao.