OhForAGreavsie

And that's another part of our problem that, sooner or later, is going to have to be addressed.

You ask a reasonable question about what might have happened had Mikel played for ManU, and how different expectations could have impacted his development. We can't know how that would have gone but, based on our experience of the player, we can each make a guess. Personally, I doubt he'd have succeed. Jose did not give up on Mikel as an attacking option because the player was good at it, Jose gave up because Mikel was not good at a forward thinking role. My belief is that SAF would have done the same, just as he gave up on Anderson. I have seen no evidence of Mikel flourishing for Nigeria. He was indeed excellent against Spain, a game in which Nigeia were nevertheless soundly beaten, but prior to that his place in the team had come under scrutiny. The first time I saw Lukaku play for Chelsea I said he had no business being at a team with Chelsea's ambitions. Many thought that opinion was wrong at the time, and plenty still do, but I stick by it. Roman would have saved every penny spent on Torres if our owner had shared my opinion on the player. I was confused by his success at Liverpool because he had no qualities which explained how it happened. No touch, no control, no hold up play, no passing and no dribbling. I never rated Torres and would never have spent a single penny on him. It's probably safe for us to guess that Roman wishes he hadn't either.

Thanks DH. Certainly not looking for an argument but maybe we can have an interesting conversation about this. My views in a nutshell: - I concede that Mikel was rated as a big prospect and was coveted by two of the great managers in the game. I do not concede however that he ever lived up to expectation as an AM/CM, or that he was not given ample opportunities to do so. My recollection is that he was given many. I believe therefore that we do know he is not good enough to play higher than he does now because we've seen him try and we've seen him fail. I think Nigeria Mikel is a myth. The odd good game is all that amounts to as well. There's the oft quoted game in the Confederations Cup last year but not much else. I like Mikel as a closer. When we're two up and Mikel is introduced I smile and feel happy. I'm never so happy however when Mikel starts, although I can live with it when it's a JM decision. I'd be quite surprised if Mikel's current contract is extended, and just as surprised if he ever earns another at the same level.

Can't agree DH. If he was good enough as an AM/CM there would have been no need, and therefore no attempt, to mould him. He was not, and is not, good enough however.

Thank you. To be fair, in my mind, Wallace's Chelsea chances are already a write off but I suppose being young does give him time to show us more than we've seen so far. What I saw from Traore early this season was a bit hit and miss. His passing in particular was struggling and the impact that had on his overall game meant I wasn't all that surprised when he played himself out of the starting line up for a while. There's no doubt he has the great body control and explosive movements that can take opponents out of the game. On top of that, he has a good sense of the pass, of when and where a pass is on. He wasn't executing well however and that caused him to try more dibbles. Inevitably that led to possession breaking down on Brtrand a lot. Plenty of good looking movement went nowhere and fizzled out. The mere fact that Bertrand is back in the line up, showing off his finishing* and becoming a key player for Vitesse again, suggests that he's either worked through his problems or is experiencing an upswing in form. Let's hope it's the former. By the end of the season we'll know one way or the other and he'll have qualified for a work permit. Indeed, I reckon he might even get a permit on appeal in January. If Salah leaves next month, as is rumoured, I wonder if Jose might be tempted to bring him here. Could help our chances in the UEFA Youth League if nothing else. *Just seen today's goals on YouTube. Two high class finishes.

I saw a couple of Vitesse games earlier in the season but haven't watched them for a while. Can you tell us a bit more about how Bertrand is playing? Also why has Walace not featured recently, is he injured or out of favour?

You don't have to be English to qualify as 'homegrown' but Kevin does not meet the other criteria and so will never be regarded as homegrown under either Premier League or UEFA rules.

Again, I disagree. That performance against Bacelona was one of our better displays against them and we certainly deserved a second goal before they equalised. Even so the high quality nature of our play that night was based on a solid, shape holding, defensive set up. Trying to mix it with that Barca side was not the way to go for anybody. They were extremely fortunate to put us out, but what happened when AF deployed a less pragmatic approach against them in the final? The scoreline was decisive but nevertheless extremely flattering to a United side who were comprehensively outplayed. The notion that when a side lines up in the 'low-block' it means that they are not trying to win is one of the great myths of the game. Sometimes doing that is exactly the right way to try to win. JM knows this and he is not alone. I want to see us able to beat more sides on the front foot, dominating possession and confidently able to challenge them to outscore us if they can. Not with this collection of players we can't however. We are closer now to being able to adopt that approach but we aren't there yet. Not quite sure what you meant in reference to the United game, after all we did have a hard time when they scored against us.

Not, in my opinion, as many as it has gained. Perhaps this differing view might be traced to my thoughts about the prowess of our team. It is widely believed that we have an outstanding team capable of beating almost anybody by pressing high and playing through teams. Not me however. I think that our generally great results this season have caused people to overlook some of the flaws in our squad and to overrate the quality we can put on the pitch. Clearly we do have some outstanding footballers but, as controversial as my opinion might be, I also think we have rather too many who are short of the quality required if our play is to justify the rave reviews we've been getting. For example, I don't think any of Oscar, Schurrle or Willian are as good as needed. Even Costa, who is a big improvement on what we have had previously, has clear weaknesses that restrict our flow. Believing all of this allows me to support a pragmatic approach more often than some others seem to. I am delighted that we have a manager who will go the pragmatic route whenever he does not feel that we can win by going on to/staying on the front foot. I am convinced that we have gained much, much more from Jose doing that, than we have lost.

Ake played 60 minutes at left back for the 21s tonight. His substitution on the hour looked pre-planned.

Is this your reading of the runes or have you got some inside info?

Never, ever going to happen. Whatever it is Torres had that made him successful at Liverpool it wasn't talent. The man does not have elite level touch, hold-up, passing or dribbling. In terms of pure talent Torres is, and always has been, ordinary. His success at Liverpool must therefore have been built on a combination physical and mental readiness along with the right team tactics. Those are all things which can be lost/changed. Eden's success on the other hand, is based on talent and, as we know, class is permanent. Like all players, Eden's powers will eventually wane but it won't be the off the edge of a cliff type fall suffered by Torres.

Chelsea denied there was any buy-back agreement in the Romeu deal. Not everyone will believe the club, but they did deny it.

Thanks again.

Thank you. I don't follow these things closely but I understood that for a number of years Roman's share of Sibneft was owned through Millhouse and that, when he decided to move out of that industry, Millhouse sold its Sibneft shares to Gazprom leaving our owner out of the oil business. I was not aware that Roman owned any part of Gazprom, through Millhouse or any other vehicle.

Does Roman even have any investment in oil any longer? I thought he had divested.

Edit: petre.ispirescu has already made the point about the FA Cup in the post above.

Oscar's passing is not good enough to compensate for the loss of Fabregas's fluidity in the CM role. If Fab moves to play the 'ten', Oscar will move out of the side, not into CM. Just a personal opinion of course.

Having played 90 minutes for the U21s on Sunday, Ruben was never going to be involved last night.

I also remember Eddie McCreadie deciding to go with the kids... and getting relegated.

Thank you DR a really interesting briefing about your side. One thing - I don't think there will be any real inexperience in our side bar the young CB Zouma who we know will start. He'll probably be partnered by John Terry, while Remy or Drogba might get a game instead of Costa up top. Other than that I'm expecting all of our regular starters to feature. This is not least because most of the youngsters who people were hoping might get a game, played for the U21s on Sunday afternoon. I doubt they'd have been involved in that fixture if Jose had plans for them tonight. The only ones who didn't feature were Ake & Baker so, if fit, I'm guessing they'll be on the bench.

Why can we not tell ourselves that? This idea has become received wisdom but is it in fact so? Is there any actual evidence which suggests that the clubs who rotate most are those which are most successful? I'm not sure there is.

Understand your point of course but surely one of the things of which we are all rightly proud is that our club is in it to win it, no matter what it is. We are not Arsenal. I'll be very surprised if this is not the strongest line up possible. By the way my understanding of Jose's comments, during his Hull press conference on Friday, is that Cesc will definitely start.

Thank you for the correction. Interesting that the original from which I did a cut & paste has also been changed. What's more the original said not just Boga, but Jeremie Boga which would make it seem less like a misquote. Still, at least this does away with the potential double edged sword.

Josh started for Vitesse yesterday, as did Bertrand Traore who scored their goal in a 1-1 draw.