OhForAGreavsie

No you don't. This widely held, yet wildly inaccurate, idea is a great big fat myth. It's why so many people wrongly believe that Ricardo Rodriguez is a tip-top full-back; they've seen him hit a cross or two on youTube. In the list of attributes required to be a good wing back, crossing ability is rock bottom last of them.

I think that's a misinterpretation of his behaviour. None of the players went over the top after scoring. Even the first goal, which was the one most likely to cause excitement, was not made a huge fuss over. I thought the reactions to the goals were exactly as I expected them to be. I also can understand Michy's desperate desire to impress and that leading to selfishness. The penny must drop, or more accurately he must demonstrate that the penny has already dropped, pretty quickly. For Sunday afternoon however, I found it excusable. That is at least in part because I don't really believe this is his problem. There was no sign of that selfishness during pre-season when he was, largely, very impressive in buildup play and decision-making. My guess is that Antonio will talk to him about it, he will admit that he doesn't know what he was thinking about and it just won't happen again. Michy isn't Studge. This isn't going to become an issue.

I completely agree with you. In fact I have used exactly the same phrase you did to describe Nat's on pitch persona. He does indeed move around as if he owns the place. I first made that point more than four years ago when Nat was captaining the youth team and most recently repeated it earlier this season when I argued that, if he can make himself an automatic starter, Nat would be the perfect choice to claim the armband as JT's long-term successor. Now there is something I must add. I have many times in the past written off Nat's chances of making it at Chelsea. If he does become a starter, and the club captain to boot, he will have proved me to be comprehensively wrong.

I can't pretend that I see Mikel as any kind of loss, but I'm happy for him that he has achieved a magnificent contract. Whenever he returns to The Bridge I will be on my feet and cheering; he deserves no less. MJO is not the player we need however so his departure is good for all concerned. Meanwhile… Nat impresses every time we see him. As far as I'm concerned, in any game where Antonio does not believe that Cesc can start, Nat should be selected ahead of Nemanja. He offers no less defensively than our lanky Serbian and is a better distributor since he sees passes across a wider arc than Matic does. Nemanja is so horribly left-sided that he seems to automatically disregard all passing options which would be available on his right foot. I'm not talking about beautiful, defence splitting deliveries, just the ordinary little balls which give the team an opportunity to press forward and build momentum. Time, and time again, Nemanja has to ignore such opportunities and opt to drop the ball back towards our own goal simply because that's the angle available with his left foot. It is something which drives me mad. People might point out that Nat is right-footed, and ask if we would not simply be swapping one kind of problem for another. Well, no, we wouldn't. Nat has better body control which means he is more able to adjust his shape and make the pass with his right foot. In any case, he is less, far less, one-footed than Nemanja.

Spot on. I think we will need several starters against Peterborough. If we field a lineup consisting entirely of squad players, we will lose. Our squad team is never as strong as it really should be. Worse, it always manages to perform at a level which is less than the sum of its parts. This is the ideal game to re-introduce Kurt, while Michy must play of course, along with Nat and JT if ready. We might expect to see Beggo, Willian and Fab but other places should be filled with starters. Anything else is dangerous and would make me nervous.

I agree with much of the criticism posted tonight. Indeed I posted a fair bit of it myself. The thing is, we have a week and a half to chew things over before we get back to the league. In the meantime, let's try to spare a few posts in praise of the players and the coach to recognise their magnificent, record-setting, achievements. If I was there, I'd be on my feet applauding you all off the pitch gentlemen. Well, I can be there in spirit at least, so huge congratulations to the squad and coaching staff for three unbelievable months. Thank you lads.

When your midfield is a mess things get chaotic at the back. Retain possession poorly and your defending automatically gets worse. Some people insist on blaming the defenders for that but there is a bigger picture people need to see.

No, the lads deserve our attention. The problems we've been discussing this evening are not news. We've known about them for a long time, and Antonio has known about them for as long as he has been here. Despite those issues our team has put together a magnificent sequence of results. Even if tonight ends in defeat we need to honour them for what they have achieved.

I argued that we should have signed him from AZ all those years ago. Oh well.

No, he used to PLAY as an attacking midfielder. That's not the same thing as being one.

Agreed, which is why the solution to this problem lies in the market. The market is for another day however. For today, I'd make the change.

There is solidity but I'm not sure it's being added by that combination. I confess I'm just completely fed up with Matic. He is problem, not a solution.

Moses at fault for the goal. Everyone else stepped up, he didn't. Outcome free header and goal.

They have better athletes at wingback, and better technicians at CM. Makes a huge difference to their fluidity.

Matic can pick a pass, like most players, when he is facing up and around the edge of the box. That's not the issue however. When in possession in the middle of the park he simply doesn't have the right combination of technical quality and speed of thought. Throw in his chronic one-footedness and he is almost always compelled to play the ball backwards. Momentum negated, potential attack killed. Swap Matic for Dembele and our improvement would be huge.

Summer if it must be, but as soon as possible is the right answer.

I hope we are working hard to recruit one or more CMs this window. Without Cesc we have no one in there who can get turned and move us forward. Personally, I would have started Cesc today. The way things are going I think we will need him before the end. Matic is absolutely not the answer in there.

On the contrary they've done very well for themselves. Like Oscar, they are not good enough to play for top-level clubs and so they choose to cash in. Fair enough, I for one do not blame them. Agents will tell all kinds of lies and gleeful media will publish almost anything, but the truth remains the truth. Witsel turned down Juventus? Laughable. If the Old Lady really made him a serious offer, he'd have taken it.

I don't want this fella at all, so the price doesn't come into it for me. In my opinion he is reasonably sound defensively but overrated in possession. Koulibally has signed a new contract, and is presumedly more out of reach than ever now, but van Dijk is a poor alternative.

No, but there must be a reason. It's not something I'm worried about in any way. I'm sure the club will make the best arrangements possible within the terms of the loan contract. Beyond that, the reality is that Pat has no future at The Bridge.

Play whoever he likes but DO NOT LOOSE. If he plays a squad team and looses I may never forgive him. I can't abide these managers who decide to throw The Cup away. Instant sacking offence in my book.

I agree that the two lads from Monaco are good options and would represent genuine upgrades. By the start of next season I would ideally like to see upgrades down our right flank as well however. Pedro and Moses are working fine but if we are able list those two as squad players, rather than automatic starters, our group will begin to look extremely powerful. I like the idea of a high quality addition at centre back but do not believe that Van Dijk is the man we need. He is sound enough defensively, but I don't share the widespread opinion that he adds quality on the ball. If City see him as an upgrade for them it would surprise me because I certainly don't see him as one for us.

There is a thread here.

I cant say that I've seen him performing with that degree of quality often enough to believe that it is his standard level, and not just a flash of peak form that all players exhibit at some moments. I certainly think there is a gulf of quality in possession between Kessie and Badelj. If you haven't already seen these performances, check out the videos. I felt his best display (of these) came against Roma. See what you think: -

Dembele is very unlikely to move again so quickly. Worse, if he does move it's likely that he would turn us down once more as he did two summers ago. I don't know if we bid again this summer, but he made it clear very early on that Dortmund was his chosen destination. Granted, when he turned us down in 2015 it was probably because he didn't fancy becoming a part of the loan army. Now that he would be recruited for the first team that might change things for him, but I still doubt that he would give up on BVB after just one season. He certainly won't give up after half a season and move in January.