OhForAGreavsie

Unless Boro no longer want him, which is hard to believe given his selection record, why is the loan not extended to the end of the season including possible play-offs? Is it perhaps to do with additional fees Boro might be due to pay if he stays?

Revisionist and untrue, although fashionably revisionist I grant you. We were equally unloved in that period for the way we played as we are now. We were as frequently clunky then as we are now and, we are told, Jose was eventually sacked for it. I've read several times in the last 12 hours that, with this squad, we should be doing better but I simply do not agree. In terms of playing proactive football, both Arsenal and Manchester City have better squads than we do. Fortunately we have a manager who is prepared to cut his cloth and knows how to do it. As a result, few neutrals will now bet on either of those clubs catching us. We are not going to succeed consistently playing on the front foot when our squad is littered with players for whom basic continuity passing is a problem. It only takes one piece of miss-control, one wayward pass, one-second's worth of indecisiveness to turn potent, exciting football, into slow, ineffective aimlessness. We have some building blocks around which a squad can be assembled to provide the kind of football we all want but there is work to do before we get there. Meanwhile Stamford Bridge rocked yesterday watching its team trying to win the league. I loved it, all of us who were there loved it. Sorry about that.

A reasonable approach.

Not that it would have mattered if they were booked.

He was.

I'm one of Oscar's biggest critics but I made him MoTM today.

You know I couldn't wait to get back and log on to read the latest efforts from the whiners. Thank you for not letting me down. Every bit as enjoyable as the constant bleating on Arsenal Fan TV.

All I've seen of either player is Youtube videos so anyone who has watched full game coverage of these two, as you have, is fully entitled to tell me that I simply don't know what I'm talking but, based on those Youtube videos, Dybala interests me and Icardi does not. Jose likes to talk about having different solutions within the squad. My impression is that Icardi is similar to Costa whereas Dybala is very different, not least because he is more technically gifted than either Costa or Icardi. In that sense Dybala would offer Jose an alternative rather than more of the same. The Argentinian looks the more useful option for us so I'm not surprised to read reports that we've made a bid. On the other hand, I'd be surprised if we went for Icardi.

I'm seriously under qualified to comment having seen so little of this bloke but I do like what I have seen. In my opinion we urgently need a technically gifted striker because I believe that's something we miss badly. Jose likes to talk about a squad that offers different solutions; Dybala would certainly be different to anything we have now.

Pure speculation on my part, I have no knowledge of the facts but... Are there not strict rules which govern emergency loans? Are those rules not likely to specify under what circumstances such a loan can be extended? If there are no such rules, and an emergency loan can be treated just like any other, then what's the point of a transfer window, and a separate loan window, for Championship clubs? Logically there must be rules and perhaps they have played a part in Nathan's return to Cobham.

Of course I can convince you. All I need from you is to tell me how. It's a serious question. How in the world is a person who takes your outlook to be convinced about an unknowable future event, simply through the power of argument? Of course we both know the answer to that question and you certainly knew it before you even asked me. As for you hoping to be proved wrong, I have my doubts but I hope to be proved wrong about that.

And I don't trust them either. Indeed we have more than a few I don't trust even in small games. On the main conversation I can only say that you and I disagree and probably always will.

Thank you.

Like many, if not most, people I'm not a big believer in stats but I think possession stats tend to be what people have in mind when they talk about being dominant. I do prefer Jose's way of talking about control but it's hard to argue that those stats say anything other than that we set up to counter attack City in 13/14, just as we did in 14/15. All that this season's game proved is that if you can't pass, not a lot else matters. When it comes to passing we have too many weak links. In fact I don't believe Jose can pick any side without having to include a number of players for whom passing is not a strength. I'm watching for squad changes before I'll start expecting better football.

I won't promise to review the games, I watch far too much football as it is. 2013/14: - City enjoyed nearly twice as much possession as we did.City had more shots than we did.City delivered 3.5 times as many crosses into our goal area as we put into theirs.City won twice as many corners as we did.We were forced into twice as many clearances as they were.These stats, taken from the Premier League site*, suggest that we did not dominate. Speaking from memory, I would rather say that we controlled the game, as Jose likes to put it. That is we sit, maintaining shape at all times and our throw ins go forward never sideways to prevent quick breaks with men in front of the ball and out of position. Because we executed that plan so well in 13/14 we regularly broke with space to play into and threatened to score more than the one goal that was registered. Fast forward to 14/15 and Andre Schurrle scored a beauty which will almost certainly get my vote for goal of the season but, sadly, that was pretty much the only passing movement we were able to put together on the day. You don't pass and your breaks never get started or worse, you get broken against. I remain firmly of the opinion that execution was the only difference between the two games. In 13/14 we played well, we passed to each other, Hazard & Matic were great; none of that was true this season. *Possession stats are from BBC, 65-35 in City's favour.

I watched the game on Tuesday, made up my mind that I'd like Chelsea to sign Varane but also made up my mind that Madrid could not possibly be willing to sell him. Now here you come, telling me what I want to hear and raising my hopes. You better be right. :) P.S. I missed Jose's comments that you referred to. Where were they published?

The great example is Manchester City. Somewhere in this site I read at least one post contrasting the way we played at City this season with our league performance there in 13/14. That post was from a Jose critic and talked about how TSO had set up brilliantly last season but how he had gone away from that this term. Not so. Well not in my opinion anyway. The set up was exactly the same but, whereas last season the players executed well, this time around, with the exception of the absolutely magnificent goal we scored, they played like park footballers. As a result barely a pass completed. Even so the genius of the tactical lay out still garnered a point and very nearly three.

Funny how people used to say that Pep was a tactical genius when he was in charge of Barca. As has ever been the case, the tactics you can successfully apply depend on the players you have.

Although Nathan's price, if nothing else, suggests that the comments could very well be right. We might reasonably expect a talented 19 year-old from Brazil to command a higher fee than the figure being reported.

Or maybe, let's hope that he doesn't which might scare off alternative suitors who are not able to afford to take a risk. Perhaps we wouldn't risk signing a player who may never return to what he once was, but in absolute, as well as in FFP, terms we could certainly afford to.

This is a definite issue with our team and that pairing would be a dream solution. Isn't going to happen though, Madrid are not crazy. Not that crazy anyway.

I recorded yesterday's game specifically so I could see Varane and Koke. I watched it late last night and, based on that, I think we might as well close this thread. Madrid want their heads examined if they let this kid go.

And this with a squad we all agree is incomplete and currently short of form. Only Jose my friend, only Jose. Judging by their posts, some people not only seem to hate Jose, they also seem unable to respect the fact that the rest of us, the vast majority of us, don't hate him too. Every victory, every title, must feel like a knife to the heart for them.

When Jose, not you or me, decides.

Agreed, 'Jed' was brilliant in that game, which was not in CL but the NextGen by the way, but we can only guess that the lack of first team buzz about him is due to worries about his tactical awareness, fitness and form. He should surely make the tour(s) this summer. Let's hope he gets the chance to impress again.