So, the transfer craze, amongst other things, means I won't be able to recover sleep today, so, might as well discuss this prematurely.
1. The club has stated today that for the first time since Roman, we have been cash positive, i.e making a profit. It's a relatively small profit, and doesn't include the potentially record-breaking transfers we might be making now, but still, it's encouraging.
2. I'm weary about both transfers because they both might involve players leaving, and I don't want Torres in exchange for Anelka plus cash, honestly. We'll see, though.
3. Not enthusiastic about paying out the nose for players on deadline day, but hey, if it means titles this year, I can't really complain.
4. Sturridge out on loan too? So much for investing in youth. 2 multi-million panic buys, and while I agree that we need to make the squad younger and better, I don't want to go back to spending over developping our own talent. That said, Sturridge and Kakuta could really benefit from the moves, since they'll probably get more chances. If they don't break those squads, they're not going to break into ours.
5. Davi Luiz, I really haven't seen enough of him to judge, but we've been after him for a long time, and we definitely need another top quality CB. Not sure if he'll oust Ivanovic or Alex out of the other starting spot, but if he does, then I'll be excited. I think we have 3 world-class CBs, and for him to get a starting berth would mean that he's at least just as good. And he's young. Bruma won't go on loan to West Brom, though, and I would keep him around for when we're dominating and bleed him in. Bruma's got talent, Luiz should be replacing Carvalho, not him. Bruma was never going to be able to step up that much.
6. So, the big question is, what to do with Torres? As of right now, I'd start him on the bench and if he delivers, I'd remove Malouda for now and have the trident of Torres, Drogs and Anelka constantly rotate, with Torres and Drogs pinning the defense back, allowing Anelka to work his magic in he space in front of the defense. I'd move Drog wide unless Torres shows the potential to work from that position. Drogs has played this role sometimes, with Kalou or Anelka drifting in, but I highly doubt he will adapt to the role well enough to stay there. Really, Torres would be Drogba's successor. I'm not deluding myself into thinking he and Torres will click, I'm not sure they'll even compliment each other, although if they do, it will be terrifying. I think the rotation will be great for the squad, and Malouda could play in the midfield 3 and the attacking 3.
7. If Torres does arrive, there's a good chance he'll make his debut against Liverpool. Now, for me, the most important thing is to beat Pool, and heavily if possible, and show that we've really turned a corner and are back in the game, and I think there's a better chance of that happening without Torres in the team. As good as he is, I doubt he'll blend into the squad right away, he'll probably get subbed in. Would be sweet if he scored though.
So, assuming all goes well and the players blend in quickly, we're looking at:
Drogba - Torres - Anelka
Lampard - Mikel - Essien
Cole - Terry - Luiz - Bosingwa
Cech
Subs: Turnbull, Alex, Ivanovic, McEachran, Ramires, Malouda, Kalou
I'm currently favoring this formation because I envision Drogba playing realtively central, between the CB and RB, but moving wide to recieve longballs, fighting for them with the physically waker fullback and menacing to move diagonally, with Torres using his pace to break from behind the defense, the movement allowing Anelka to come in from wide or Essien/Lamps to move into the space, not to mention the overlap from the fullbacks, this could be done on either wing, and I definitely think that a lot of the weaker defenses would be very intimiated by the prospect of dealing with the pace, strength an quality of such an attack.
Regarding the bench, there's also Yossi eventually getting back into the thick of things, hopefully not Josh's expense. We'd also have Zhirkov to consider, and now that's a great bench to have, with hopefully Sturridge, Kakuta, Bruma, Matic and van Aanholt especially pushing for first-team action next season. Delac hasn't played at Vitesse yet, so he's not ready to usurp Ross' position, so I wouldn't object to spending a few extra mill and getting Begovic or poach whoever ManU want to sign.
