17 Feb 2019 13:47:50
Hi Tris,

Hope you and your family are well firstly. Just like to thank you for the reviews each day, I look forward to them every day. Would love to pick your brains on football over a drink (non alcoholic in your case) .

I have been reading about defensive options, I agree, sell Matip and possibly Lovren, I'd love to see us get someone with the ball playing side Matip has but with Lovren physical presence. I know we have differing opinions on De Ligt so was thinking of alternatives. Who would be your ideal signing? I'd welcome Klostermann to challenge Trent the centre back is a toughy, nobody really stands out.

{Ed001's Note - everything is good thanks mate, I hope all is well with you and yours too SA?

I have not seen anyone enough that has stood out. Konate at RBL has looked good on the one occasion I saw him, but just one game is not enough. Other than that, it would be Atletico's Uruguayan Gimenez that I would like but is very unlikely.}

1.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 14:21:13
How about Kalidou Koulibaly I’d like to see him st Liverpool!

2.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 14:40:49
Ed01, I have seen Konate a lot last season (watched RBL's games to keep tabs on Naby) and tho he is a physical presence and and pace like his partner Upamecano, I think he is still a bit too raw for a step up to the EPL. Just my opinion. Regarding CB's that have impressed me as well, Jimenez is a good shout BUT do you think he is that good cos Godin is next to him cos after all, that partnership is also the first choice partnership for Uruguay?

{Ed001's Note - hard to tell but yes he does look specia,l.}

3.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 15:02:13
That athletico Madrid cb. Right footed, stand out cb at the world Cup. Can't remember who he plays for or his name so that's you lot well informed on my opinion. A guy who once played well. Two syllables. Bald or short hair. I think it's Uruguay actually.

4.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 15:03:56
Oh redwolf already mentioned him. Godin. He would be perfect. I'd rather Joe gomez manages to put his injuries behind him though. He has it in him to be one of the world's best imo.

5.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 15:04:54
Remember he is still only 22 and kept that Brazilian prima Donna forward quiet when psg came to anfield.

6.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 15:49:59
All well and good my end thanks. Konate looks fantastic, certainly better than Upamecano in my opinion. Giminez is the real deal, offers everything you’d desire in a defender.

God in is on the wrong side of his career now, so unfortunate as he’s my favourite defender out there. I would worry our style wouldn't suit him either.

{Ed001's Note - Godin is slowing down badly. Shame because he is my favourite as well.}

7.) 17 Feb 2019
17 Feb 2019 16:58:38
Godin has already agreed a deal to go to Inter hasn't he?

8.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 00:30:47
I'd like to see Gary Cahill as a possible option. 32 yes but on a free with a 2 year contract I think it would be smart business. Bags of PL experience and medals won. Very good on the ball and has the defensive aggression that matip lacks. His current role at Chelsea would make you think he might love the last big challenge of his career by adding experience to our backline and certainly be given more opportunities of game time than he currently is. I think it would be shrewd business but I feel others might disagree, we've built a nice young squad but no harm in a couple of guys who've tasted success around the squad. Similar to what Milner has done for us.

{Ed0333's Note - really mate Garry Cahill? He wasn’t that good in his prime and you want him now that he’s in the winter of his career? Would be a massive waste of money and time imo.

9.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 02:56:34
That's a fair point I figured people might disagree. I think it's a tad harsh to say he wasn't good in his prime. In 5 full seasons at Chelsea he's played over 200 games under 4 different managers, he's made PFA team of the year in 3 of those season, won every major trophy possible with Chelsea. Yes he's 32 but with teams who tend to dominate possession like us you often see centrebacks being able to play at a high standard into later years due to less workload needed over course of 90 mins. As a backup option I'd take him over matip any day who's on a similar wage currently. Would receive a fee for matip and get Cahill on a free with a 2 year contract. I can't see how that would be a waste of money as opposed to the crazy money being talked for these young defenders who've proved little at the highest level yet, and sitting in the bench possibly behind Joe and vvd would certainly not aid any of there potential development. I see you're point I just kind of disagree is all hahs.

{Ed0333's Note - he wouldn’t be free there’s wages and a signing on fee. He’s has no pace and offers little. I appreciate he won honors and was a mainstay of the Chelsea side a while back but I don’t rate him never did don’t do now but I respect the fact you do. I would rather we blood a kid than a near 33 year old Cahill.

10.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 04:02:22
I still think it would be low risk maybe 4 or 5 mill sign on fee. An experienced player can be invaluable sometimes to have around the club not only on the field as you see with a lot of successful teams. I understand your view completely, an ideal situation would be a young centre half who beds in straight away and progress over time into world class. I just find fans calling for de ligt, militao, konate etc to sign aren't acknowledging the fact that their fees would be in VVD ball park. Would be outrageous spending that money on realistically a 3rd choice as Gomez and virg have shown zero signs of needing replaced. Those players have a year or 2 experience under their belts in much weaker leagues. There is a very high failure rate with these kind of signings especially defenders coming in young to much superior PL. On a 5 or 6 year contract with big wages it's a huge gamble. Markovich type of situation can then turn very costly. If I was to choose a youngish centre half I'd prefer PL experience personally. Out of curiosity how do you rate lascelles? Only mid 20s and he seems to be a good leader and very vocal from a young age. I feel that's what matip and lovren both lack. If VVD isn't playing, the communication in defence becomes an issue.

{Ed001's Note - how would Cahill be low risk? He is slow, injury prone and that was at his peak. Now he is lumbering. We play a high line, which is why he can't get in the Chelsea team as he is just too slow to play in a high line defence. He has the turning circle of a double decker bus!

I find fans calling for older players, with no understanding of the financial realities that see them ask for much higher wages than younger ones, odd. Especially when they are complaining that other fans aren't acknowledging the financial realities of buying a younger player, that can be sold on for some return if it doesn't work out.}

11.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 04:10:34
Oh and Lascelles is more error prone than Lovren on a bad day. Terribly overrated defender who spends 90% of the game chasing his own mistakes in positioning.

12.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 05:00:02
I'l take your view on Cahill as fair opinion but disagree completely on that judgement of opinion. He made errors regularly in the championship a few years back when he was young but he's actually been very solid defensive wise over last 2 and half seasons. I've watched him play a lot and he's far from weak defensively, he brings calm to the defence and if you analyse the difference in results when he plays against when he doesn't it's an unbelievably drastic difference. Points won, goals conceded, chances conceded, errors leading to goals. Newcastle would have been relegated every season if based on the performance average without him. Interestingly he played in 43 out the 44 points they got last year even though he missed 10 games. They collected 1 point in those 10 games without him. You can't ignore that impact and just call him error prone which he's very much not. I'm just trying to pinpoint a sensible realistic upgrade to matip without breaking the bank. Gimenez of course is one of the best defenders around but not a realistic signing at all. We've the best defence in the league so just upgrading our weaker backups is needed. Not every signing can be an 80 million superstar. I believe other areas of the squad are more important to invest in right now than silly spending on upgrading competition/ backup for centre back.

{Ed001's Note - oh god you think he is the reason they improved? Typical of those that read stats but fail to actually analyse them or add context to them. In the games he missed, how many were when other first choice defenders were missing also? I bet you have no idea have you? So you have no idea if the impact was down to him or the loss of the other defenders at all, but you have decided it is all down to him. Funny how, despite him playing this season regularly, the defence only improved when Lejeune came back from injury. So, by your reckoning, that would make Lejeune the difference. Or perhaps it is the opponents faced? Or form of other players? Or one of a million things in a TEAM game that can affect performances. I can ignore the supposed impact you have made up, because you provide no context or analyse, nothing. Just guesswork.

I have watched him regularly and he is not even the best defender at Newcastle, or in their top 3 centre backs. Which says a lot. I can call him error prone because he is. I don't know why I am wasting my time, to be honest, you are showing the same lack of understanding of football that Comolli did. You are basing everything on numbers you clearly are unable to accurately analyse, or provide context for.

As for your last bit, no one is talking about upgrading a back up bar you. No team that wins trophies in the long term does it by buying better back ups. You buy players to compete for the first team or you end up going backwards.}

13.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 08:27:41
I clearly stated In my post that I've watched him play a lot and i mentioned what i thought were his strengths. Everything you've just stated regarding how you think i analyise football is completely false and presumtious. How you can conclude my opinions are based on numbers and stats is baffling considering I only used them to back up my debate which I clearly stated was from watching him play. I've no problem with you having an opposite opinion to mine of course people differ at times and I mostly agree with your player judgements in general but you've completely undermined my intelligence by stating how you think i reach conclusions, completely false in everything you've said about me.

{Ed001's Note - no, you clearly stated that those stats can't be disregarded, suggesting they are meaningful, which completely undermines anything you said before. You should just disregard stats altogether in football, because you clearly do not understand them. For starters, nothing less than a 100 occasions is even of real value to a statistical analysis, as you need lots of data before you can rule out anomalies. Really you need 1000s of repeat data to completely rule out anything being an anomaly. As I pointed out, this season the defence with Lascelles was crap until Lejeune returned, which would suggest, no more than suggest as there is too little data for it to do any more, that perhaps the data you were using was false and so should be completely disregarded.

If you are going purely on watching him and haven't spotted that he has absolutely no positional sense yet, then I fear for you. His errors are that he is all over the shop and throwing himself into needless challenges because of it.}

14.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 08:39:09
Also In regard to you rubbishing my idea of strengthening the depth of our defenders.

Ed001's Note - why would I replace Gomez? When fit he was exceptional alongside VVD and they were the best defensive pairing in Europe. I don't want to rotate him, I just want to keep him fit and have cover for when he is not. }.

{Ed001's Note - what has that got to do with buying? I said I would choose not to buy in that as well. If you are going to use quotes out of context it helps if you understand them or it just makes you look silly. If you read through I said if I bought it would not be a back up, but someone to compete with VVD and Gomez, not replace, not this idiotic buy cheap crap to sit on the bench idea either.}

15.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 09:31:49
I agree with you completely regarding the issue of using stats in a sport where there is never a medium to relate them to for relevance. I may have worded my post badly but I only included those particular numbers because i found them so odd and one sided when i heard them mentioned in the past. I'd never intend to base an opinion on stuff like


I know what you mean by only buying if we go for top class but I don't think that's necessary. With a back 4 it's always best to have stability and clearly we all know our strongest back line picks itself. There would be no harm at all in upgrading matip though who is very poor and I'd rather a better option to call upon when needed. I don't think it's necessary to buy direct competition because that kind of quality would be too expensive. Title winning teams nearly always have a settled defence all season long and I'm not a fan of rotating defenders.

{Ed001's Note - ok I get that now, the way you worded it implied that it was the clincher for you and we should all agree because of them. I understand meaning can be misconstrued easily though, especially without the stress you can place on certain parts of your message through hand gestures or your voice. Without those the reader is left without a genuine guide to how the words were meant and can easily misconstrue what you meant and come out with a completely different meaning. It is like putting a comma in the wrong place, it can have a huge effect on the way it is read.

I would have to say that's no longer true about settled defences. Should be, and in an ideal world I would agree. However Man City chop and change their backline every week. Real Madrid haven't had a settled backline in years, Varane was always getting injured, Ramos banned etc. Barcelona also had a lot of changes, Pique getting older meant more injuries and Umtiti picked up a few knocks and suspensions. The last time Man Utd won it, they had to chop and change because none of their centre backs could stay fit. I mean we are joint top and Spurs 3rd and neither team has had a settled defence either!

Having a 3rd defender of real quality also allows the option to go to a back 3, if the manager chooses. There are many reasons why you want a third quality centre back, but most of all because it pushes the other two to perform or they can be easily replaced.}

16.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 09:59:08
got a headache from reading this thread. Cahill can't get near a chelseas team that has been smashed 4-0 and 6-0 recently. Tells you all you need to know.

17.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 11:06:29
Spot on ed I'l leave you in peace now haha

Swishcleaner apologies for the headache. Maybe Cahill wouldn't be an improvement on the woeful matip but you shouldn't use the reasoning of him not getting games under sarri as your proof. Those mentioned results and sarris continued use of playing guys out of position actually counteract your point slightly. He's shown plenty of signs of managerial naivety since taking over at Chelsea so I completely disacknowledge his decision making as being proof alone. But if you just don't rate Cahill as a player on your own judgement that's cool by me.

{Ed001's Note - I quite enjoyed the conversation mate, so no worries, enjoy your day.}

18.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 11:33:05
No better way to start the week! You too pal have a good one.

{Ed001's Note - I can think of a few better ways myself!}

19.) 18 Feb 2019
18 Feb 2019 12:52:02
I’m sure Klopp is aware Cahill could be availble. I’ll bet he he won’t go anywhere near him ( nor will any top team) as proof that he’s not good enough. ( certainly not anymore)