Viper22

I said an argument could be made for the bender brothers. Probably not Sven. Doesn't mean they're better, just that it could be debated. Matuidi is a really solid player, I rate him very much. Worse on the ball than Busquets admittedly but I rate solidity and defensive abilities higher in holding midfielders and Matuidi beats Busquets in those aspects for me.

Literally the last player on the planet i'd want at this club. Xabi Alonso, Pirlo, Matuidi, De Rossi, Mascherano, Matic and (obviously) Schweinsteiger are all better pure anchor DMs. An argument could be made for Lars Bender (and maybe Sven) being better too. On top of that he has the professionalism and temperament of a child. Just... no.

Went to the Southampton vs Stoke game on Saturday (my missus is living in Southampton and got cheap tickets through the uni she's doing her PhD with) and got to meet some players outside the stadium. They signed everything for everyone waiting and had pictures with everyone who wanted. Not just 1 or 2 of the lesser know players either, Clyne, Tadic, Bertrand, Fonte, Davies, Wanyama, Cork, Yoshida and Forster. More might have come too but I had to leave. Very classy of them in my opinion, and I got the distinct impression that they do it every week. Quality stadium too by the way. A few of the pictures here for anyone that's interested. Excuse my fat face, I like food too much.

Just saying what i'd play.

If he's not fit then i'd drop Baker back to his position, then Willian on at CAM. Bring Boga onto the bench if Ramires isn't even fit enough for that.

Really hoping to see him at least make the bench tomorrow. With both our RBs suspended he's our next most senior RB. Zouma can play there and probably will but would be nice to see him on the bench, he looked decent at Blackburn last season.

Really hoping to see Todd Kane at least make the bench tomorrow. With both our RBs suspended he's our next most senior RB. Zouma can play there and probably will but would be nice to see him on the bench, he looked decent at Blackburn last season.

------------------Cech-------------------- -Zouma--Cahill--Christensen--Luis- ----------Ake---------Ramires---------- -Salah--------Baker---------Schurrle- ----------------Solanke------------------ Bench: Schwarzer, Kane, Mikel, RLC, Willian, Brown, Drogba. Mix of youth and experience starting, mix of youth and experience on the bench.

Tbh this is probably going to be a good appointment in the long run. He's being hired purely to get sponsorship money in and get us better deals than we have been getting previously (Turkish Airlines >.<). He's only a businessman and only getting involved with the business side of the club, so it's more than irrelevant that he's ex-Liverpool. Kinda hope it's not too late and nothing has been signed yet and he's been brought in soon enough to sort our shirt sponsor out for next season, so we don't have to have Turkish Airlines for comparative peanuts compared to our rivals.

Nomnomnom. How does that humble pie taste?

In a way we should probably be glad Costa isn't fit. If he was, along with Liverpool dropping points and City and Spurs losing everything would be going TOO perfectly . I'd be starting to worry.

Big worry for me here is no striker on the bench :/. Schurrle obviously the back up. But I'm concerned at the lack of Solanke or Brown...

I thought I put Fatboy down. I meant to .

I was more making the point that every 4 posts in this thread is you hoping that Drogba wouldn't be involved or decrying his involvement. I am worried about him playing up top too, just try not to say it too much yeah? Makes you sound like a hater.

Because Costa and Remy are both better, and neither would want to be 3rd choice.

We're missing Costa and Ramires, they're missing Jones, Evans and Falcao. We're a better team to start with, and even without our 3 we should still win this. Ivan and Luis have to keep a handle on Di Maria here, Matic, JT and Cahill will handle their attack. Just relying on Hazard or Oscar to step up here and have a big game.

You don't like Drogba, we get it.

You do know the Ballon d'Or is voted for by players too yeah? And Ronaldo won it last year and is odds on to win it this year? Ronaldo only excels at useless stepovers? Dear god. I'm done with this if that is truly what you think. You're beyond help.

That's pretty much an oxymoron right there. Anyone but Messi fanboys can see Ronaldo is currently better than Messi. Messi was better 1-2 years ago which wasn't even up for debate, he was awesome. If he recaptures that form then he'll likely once again be the best in the world. But in recent times Messi's form has dropped (unsurprising, you can't keep that kind of awesomeness up) and Ronaldo's has drastically increased. And they're both very similar in natural ability so the best at the present time has to be the one who is more on form currently - which is Ronaldo hands down.

EDIT: Sorry I see you were only talking about goals from open play now.

Cordoba (x1), Atletico (x1), Deportivo (x3), Elche (x4), Villareal (x1), Bilbao (x3), Levante (x2), Barcelona (x1), FC Basel (x1), Ludogorets (x1), Liverpool (x1). The only Real game that he hasn't scored in was against Real Sociedad, and he didn't play in that game due to injury. What more do you expect him to do? He can only score against the teams put in front of him.

So now Madrid have won 3-1, where will the Lionel "Tax, What tax?" Messi fanboys like you hide?

-------------Tibo------------- Ivan---JT---Ramos---Azpi -----Matic---Fabregas----- -Bale---Rodriguez---CR7- ------------Costa------------- Bench: Cech, Marcelo, Varane, Khedira, Modric, Hazard & Benzema. Terrifying team.

If the Hammers get a point against City I will be much happier going into this game. Would probably take a point then to retain our 5pt lead. If they win though, we just plain have to win. This is the type of pressure you get when you want to be champions. Think about the pressure on City guys? Away to West Ham (on very good form) in the early kick off knowing that if they slip up even slightly we could go even further ahead. Hopefully that pressure will get to them.

Zlatan says hi.