Rds1983

Rumours floating around that Bournemouth will go for Austin in January to replace Wilson. QPR want £8m for him, even though he'll only have 6 months left on his contract.

I reckon we might be interested at that price if we are still in the bottom three.

Where are these rumours floating around?

£8m would seem a huge drop on what they were after a couple of months ago and even if they were prepared to accept that sort of fee how likely is it that he will wait until the summer and leave for nothing in the same way that Ings did? 

We should move Clark and Lescott out to LB using that logic.

Yep I've sold him already now because he's only going to drop in value.  I haven't made the Aguero purchase yet though.

I don't think he would be a good left midfielder. He beats players with ease from left back because he is generally taking the ball past attacking players and is running into space and overloading the opposition - which he did a few times in the first half against City. Playing from deeper also gives him more time to get his crosses in. At left midfield, I think he would get marked out of the game and wouldn't have as much of an impact. Someone like Grealish or Sinclair is ideal at left wing in front of Amavi, as they occupy the full back and sometimes the left midfielder, and also they have the inclination to cut inside, which then leaves more space on the wing for Amavi when he comes forward.

I read once that Roberto Carlos struggled hugely when moved to Left Midfield at Real Madrid for the exact reason above. He was closed down much quicker and by better defenders than when we was a Left Back and merely attacking open spaces. Amavi is a very good Left Back, i'd like to leave him there.

I'm the luckiest git going. Pretty much anyone else would have beaten me today.

The no autosubs is awful IMO. 

 

The no autosubs rule is fine. It a] adds an element of risk, and b] means that it's not possible to just pick an awesome draft team in the first place and then never look at the squad again after that. 

However, it does mean people need to pay attention. Stefan, maybe worth telling your friend about the no autosubs rule? He'd have been very close to me this week if he hadn't selected Sakho, Ramsey and Bellerin, but had instead selected the fit players from his bench. 

I disagree. I look at my team very carefully but even that doesn't help when managers drop players like Cahill and Soares.

Question....

I have Joel Ward in my starting lineup but he isn't playing.

My next sub is Andre Ayew but I already have 5 midfielders in my starting lineup. My next sub is Bellerin who is injured so do I get the points from my third sub, Micah Richards if Ward isn't brought on?

Didn't think you were dumb enough to take it, but thought I'd try anyway. 

I figured that was payback for trying to trade Cahill for Van Dijk haha.

I'm actually looking forward to playing this properly next year. Completely blind draft should be interesting.

At the moment I can't see many trades taking place because everyone has a fair idea of who is performing well and who isn't now.

Did you try to do that? I never got a message or anything . . . Van Dijk is an absolute legend. I think I picked him in the 2nd or 3rd round, which maybe seemed silly, but I knew I wanted him before the draft and I wasn't going to take the risk of anyone else getting him. He does so much. 11 aerial clearances today, as well as a clean sheet. I think he'll be one of the signings of the season. 

Banning speaking french? Hmmm. Can't say I see that as a good move.

 

You are probably right. I mean it definitely makes more sense to have poor communication on the pitch, in the dressing room and at BMH.

In a potentially divided dressing room short of confidence ensuring everyone speaks the same language is absolutely guaranteed to make things worse.

Especially when it's a language none of them can speak. It's certainly it going to help those French players adjust to loving and working in England.

What a fool Garde is, I can't believe he hasn't followed Wenger's example and made everyone only speak French. Ray Palour, Merson and Tony Adams all clearly benefited from it.

 

So to ensure communication is solid, languages need to be banned? 

Surely a better way to increase communication and indeed team morale might be for the English players to help the french players speak English and at the same time gabby and Co could learn another language themselves. 

I didn't say languages need to be banned, I rather suspect Garde didn't either but it makes for a good headline especially for certain elements of the media. 

Are you seriously trying to argue that the rest of the squad should learn French, despite probably having no grounding in it in order to help these players make the transition. And that that is a better idea than the French players, most of whom already actually speak English and all of whom have at least some English use that language. The language of the country they are now living and working.

Never mind the fact there are more English speakers than French, lets cancel training two days a week and get a language tutor in and they can learn to ask where the bakery is. I'm sure that will help us mark on corners.

What about the other nationalities? Do the rest of the squad need to learn Spanish as well as French?

I'm sorry but this criticism is just a little daft and actually seems like criticism for the sake of it.

Wenger insisted on English back in 1996 and so i'd imagine does just about every other overseas manager working in this country, just as I'm sure is the case all over Europe the domestic language is the language of the dressing room. 

Sorry Woody but I agree with TV here. If Gabby and Westwood went to France would the rest of the squad be expected to speak English to cater them? 

Yes, we spent a good hour taking it in turns drafting the players. 

Why do none of the press ever ask why he's not playing?

Amavi looks good IMO. He's much better then he was on FM15. Been rejecting offers of £25m-30m for him. He's not one of the best LB in the game, but he doesn't really have any weaknesses and is quite good going forward. His PA? Probably 150+

Traore plays very well for me. He's all about pace as to be expected and very limited in other areas. Scored quite a few goals for me though. Maybe random potential?

Ayew is decent, but not anything special. Will develop somewhat, but he's not a top class player. Will also complain a bit. Probably around 140-150 PA.

Richards is good, but extremely injury prone.

Vertout starts of kinda average but developed into a very useful player for me. Chips in with goals and assists and can really play any sort of role in midfield, even as a shadow striker. Around 145-155 maybe?

Ilori was first pick in CD for me due to injuries. He did very well. Great pace and overall decent. Weak personality though, so he might not develop quickly enough.

Lescott was amazing for me. Way too highly rated. Still sold him though, due to him being old and on a big contract.

Crespo is a good squad player.

Gueye has very good attributes. DMs preform to a bad rating for me no matter what though.

Gestede was pants. Can only do one thing, but even that wasn't working.

Easah Suliman and Andre Green have both turned into very good players. I would guess it's a bit random though. Hepburn-Murphy and Robinson have not developed much, but they both have had bad injuries, so I'm still unsure about them.

Grealish has been fantastic for me. Highest earner at the club now, and he's in the English squad. I don't think his stats have changed much though. 15 goals and 15 assists for me in 33(4) games in the 2nd season. 7.5 AVR

Apparently he's been at his previous club since he was very young (like 9 years old) - so its probably all a bit of a shock to him.  His lack of pace and general fitness is a concern though.