Weakening of our rivals

[billycopper]

Will Chelsea bring in someone like Coentrao, who can't get a game at Real Madrid, to replace Cole? Will they try and lure Baines away? David Luiz played there fairly regularly for Benfica and Bertrand is an option too. It's still going to be difficult for them to find somebody with the consistency and all round level of play to replace arguably the Premier League's best fullback of the last ten years. Ditto Lampard. Ramires, Oscar and Marin are all fine players but they're not going to get anywhere near Frank's goal return year after year.

I like Scott Parker but I feel that AVB might prefer Sandro in that position and that it will be difficult, given his age and injury record, for Parker to win his place back. Having £55m to reinforce what is already a very strong team would be great but they'd still need to find someone to replace Bale's goals and assists for less money.

Walcott has become increasingly influential at Arsenal. If he winds down his contract or is sold cheaply it will be a massive blow for them. A forward line of Giroud, Podolski and Gervinho wouldn't be half as frightening for defenders.

West Brom have been one of our main rivals this season and Clarke could do an even better job with money to spend in the summer.

Liverpool have got some decent players but they lack leaders. I don't think that their policy of paying inflated prices for young British players will mask that fact.

Fair point about Everton. I don't think that Baines wants to go and we'd have to push him out of the door. Oviedo could potentially be a ready-made replacement though. I would expect that Fellaini will go in another couple of years time. I'm not sure that we'd miss him as much as Arsenal would miss Walcott or Spurs would miss Bale though. Even if we took £22m for him Moyes might see £17m of it. I'm sure that we'd be able to find a very capable attacking midfielder or second striker for £12m and the rest would bring in someone decent to strengthen another position.

 

[RFUS]

Chelsea aren't our rivals let's be honest mate.

 

[billycopper]

Everton - They could lose there big stars Baines and Fellaini, Distin could unsettle our defense and not sign a new contract, Gibson is injury prone as is Mirallas Osman, and neville are getting on a bit.

Losing Fellaini and Baines would certainly be a blow. I don't think it's going to happen any time soon though and, if it did, I think it would be one rather than both. I'd imagine that we'd look at winding Distin down at the end of next season and that Moyes has been window shopping to see who he could develop in that time. Defence hasn't been one of our strong points recently and if we did have to call on Duffy I don't think you'd suddenly notice us leaking a lot more goals. It's a bonus when Gibson and Mirallas are fit and I think Neville's influence is his presence rather than his footballing abilities these days. We're not a team of young lads though, so we should be able to cope without him.

 

[billycopper]

Chelsea aren't our rivals let's be honest mate.

As Wenger has said recently money isn't the answer to every problem. Chelsea have good defenders but they're shaky defensively. Signing players won't necessarily fix the problem without work on tactics and organisation. It's easy to fall into the trap of being 'Galacticos'.

To an extent I think that we're better equipped than anyone to deal with the loss of players. We haven't especially suffered for the departure of Arteta, Lescott or Cahill. We regroup and the players that are left raise their game. If Fellaini did go I'm sure that Mirallas or Naismith could flourish in the hole. When you bring players in to the group you're never sure whether they can adapt and whether they are as good as you thought they were. Torres is a prime example.

 

[Brennan]

As Wenger has said recently money isn't the answer to every problem. Chelsea have good defenders but they're shaky defensively. Signing players won't necessarily fix the problem without work on tactics and organisation. It's easy to fall into the trap of being 'Galacticos'.

To an extent I think that we're better equipped than anyone to deal with the loss of players. We haven't especially suffered for the departure of Arteta, Lescott or Cahill. We regroup and the players that are left raise their game. If Fellaini did go I'm sure that Mirallas or Naismith could flourish in the hole. When you bring players in to the group you're never sure whether they can adapt and whether they are as good as you thought they were. Torres is a prime example.

That just doesn't make sense though. Other teams have better squads and more money to spend replacing players who leave. How can we be better equipped ?

 

[Baines' left foot]

That just doesn't make sense though. Other teams have better squads and more money to spend replacing players who leave. How can we be better equipped ?

Because we're a family mate.

 

[flo]

Is it confirmed that Chelsea release Cole after this season? Weird decision imo.

 

[billycopper]

That just doesn't make sense though. Other teams have better squads and more money to spend replacing players who leave. How can we be better equipped ?

If football was just about having the best players then City, PSG and Real Madrid would be winning the Champions League every year.

Ashley Cole has been so good for most of his career that he's managed to keep Baines out of the England side until now. They can afford pretty much anyone they want to replace him. However, the average age of their signings over the last two years is 20. If they're going to stick with a policy of youth then Bertrand will be promoted. He's a good player but he's got a long, long way to go to emulate Cole. Infact The Bleacher Report ranked him as the second best leftback in the world in September. If Chelsea were to go the other way and look for a ready-made replacement, going off that article, their shortlist would include Lahm, Marcelo, Luis and Coentrao. The obvious choice for me would be the latter given his age, the fact that he played alongside David Luiz at Benfica and that he could potentially be available. There's no guarantee that he'd fair any better at Stamford Bridge than he has done at the Bernebeu though.

I think that there are key differences between us and a club like Chelsea. They tend to look to buy replacements whereas (due to financial constraints) we're more likely to promote fringe players who know the club and our tactics well and can slot in fairly comfortably. There is also a lot of pressure on their players to perform straight away. We don't have the same strength in depth or expectation level, so players get an opportunity to play themselves into form. Plus their price tag can be a burden for any Chelsea new boy and that won't be the case with us.

If Cole and Baines were replaced with Coentrao and Oviedo, taking ability out of the equation, I think that our player would stand a better chance of hitting the ground running and that is why I think we're better equipped to deal with departures.

 

[billycopper]

Is it confirmed that Chelsea release Cole after this season? Weird decision imo.

The club policy seems to be that they don't offer new contracts to players over 30. I don't think that it works either. I know that they had to bring the average age of their squad down but they're paying a lot out for young players and letting a lot of experience (Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Cole, Essien and Malouda) leave within a short space of time for nothing. Cech and Terry next then.