CurlyHairLikeLuiz

How do you know Costa wouldn't have scored a hat trick vs Stoke? And against QPR for that matter. For the short time he was on, he looked dangerous. And who knows, Jose might have played both for most of the game had they both been fit enough. The fact is, sometimes we've not looked like winning, but we've never looked like LOSING. And while against QPR, we did deserve to win. We deserved to win because they dried out the pitch. Because they were so abusive. Because they threw coins, litter, and lighters at our players. Because Charlie Austin and Barton were trying to wind our players up the whole match. Against another side with a goal scoring output rather than Didier we would have looked much better. I'd go as far to say that playing Solanke or Brown would be better.

Lack of dominance? We haven't lost since Jan 1. I don't see how you can consider the win at Stoke lucky. We played lovely football and looked the better side the whole match, wonder goal or not.

We last won at Loftus Road in 1996. Shut up and be happy. THE reason we won't play like that at Arsenal is because a) their pitch is much wider and they have nowhere near the midfield steel to shut us out of the game like QPR did. That is literally the reason we struggled, not even Barcelona could play good football against such a team. Well, we showed them that in 2004/05 when we must have had the strongest midfield in the Champions League. Plus the atmosphere was severely hostile. Doesn't help.

That'll probably the case, get phased out slowly into coaching.

Or we could do what we did to Kane and stop the supply.

I'd like to see Zouma in front of the defenders and Matic and Cesc just ahead of him. It'll stop us getting muscled out of midfield. If Remy is unavailable then we can put Oscar in midfield and use Cesc how Spain use him as a false 9. Zouma Matic Cesc/Oscar

We can't play how we usually do against QPR. No width, we get muscled out of the game. It's not just us, Barcelona would be severely hard done by to win. Plus we have such a shit record at LR. We last won there in '96 with Hoddle...and that was "lucky" too. It's like Tottenham when they come to SB. I just can't see how you can be so bitterly disappointed, especially with such a hostile atmosphere. Just last week against Stoke (STOKE) we played lovely football. Just be patient. Let's not forget too, these days our team is closer to Arsenal to old style Chels, and they scraped a 1-0 win vs Burnley away in the same fashion. You don't see the Gooners moaning about it.

Maybe he wanted to keep him fresh for said UYL final. With 10 mins to go, there was no point in putting him on. IMO I think he was misunderstood, Zouma as a striker as in shutting up shop and hold out for 5 more minutes, which is a legit tactic when you know their players can outmuscle yours.

Incredibly pleased for the lad, had a great game yesterday. He's earned his place back.

might play if Remy stays out. Tbh at this point in Drog's career, Solanke and Brown might be better options anyway.

It didn't go well for City, now, did it?

Yes, yes, yes. Mou has clearly seen that the players are too tired to perform like they did before. The stark thing I noticed though, is when we added Oscar against QPR he completely rebalanced the team in a fashion that we instantly passed better. I elaborated on this more in the Oscar thread. The general gist of the post though is that we see Oscar is ineffective in offence (hence frustrating fans) as he covers for Fabregas' lack of defensive ability. We accept this in Ramires as he is classified as a CM rather than a CAM, while due to Oscar's official #10 denomination he is ridiculed for not producing the same form he puts on for Brazil. There is no reason he cannot play as a CM, however. He's probably still stronger than Ramires is and he has the vision Fabregas offers. I fail to remember the match but he played in a 4-3-3 (DM-2CM) once. He performed well next to Fabregas, and I'd like to see him there again. I just feel maybe we should change our perspective on how we actually view him as a player. Another thing I noticed is that I think Jose has underestimated how short injuries would leave him, and also made the wrong choice in keeping x players and buying y players. For example, for the role he plays, we might as well have cashed in on Ramires, kept Lamps, and used him in the same role as he is used for City, as Ramires has demonstrated when he's pressured and his ball control lets him down. Salah should not have been sold(effectively;there is no reason Fiorentina will not use their buy option) although maybe some might argue he should never have been brought. The sale of Schurrle means there is no cover for Hazard in case of injury. Cuadrado should have been a summer buy, for obvious reasons. And he should have brought in a direct replacement for David Luiz. I also believe Cesc's slum was due to being rushed back from injury rather than "just a pattern". I do feel that when Oscar is off form or otherwise not fulfilling his designated role that Willian should be played in the middle. He looks great there when he plays, maybe putting Oscar on the wing! Personally though, we need a domestic cup squad really. Otherwise in the first half we are run ragged. There's no shame in putting some youth players in to do a shift. I'd like to see this: -2nd keeper-/Blackman Christensen/Iva Zouma Kalas Ake/Luis/Azpi (or one of Terry and Cahill/Varane, for leadership) Cesc/RLC Ake/Mikel Cuadrado Oscar Kakuta -2nd striker- you know, or other out of rotation players. I feel a little sorry for Oscar though. He doesn't get a shummer break until like 2018 or some bull. Maybe he might do well (long with Cescy) having a midseason holiday.

4-3-3...

Zola'd be nice. However, Mou has still got us the title. Can't moan about everything, lol.

Huh? I thought he looked energetic, laid people on...

So happy Cesc scored it too. Looks fresh again - maybe the prophecy of tapering off will end

Courtois Dave Gazza Terry Luis Matic Oscar Cesc Iva Remy Hazard

tbh as long as we don't leave the wings and midfield so open like City have today we should be fine.

Tbh Coquelin is doing a good job of it. If they get a Diego Costa-esque goalscorer that fits their system like he fits ours, they could be big challengers...Giroud is...not clinical enough, I guess. As one of my old Arsenal schoolfriends said "Sometimes I love him, other times I wonder how he's playing professional football" As for us, we just need to thicken our squad up a bit. As we learned, you can't fight for a quadruple or even a treble with such a small squad of players. Imo we'd need a "designated" cup squad for LC and FAC, maybe with some of our youth in, like RLC and Christensen and our otherwise out of rotation players. Obviously with some movement.

Yes I did and they looked toothless without Yaya. Strikers were ineffective and the back line was rubbish. One sided? No way. Palace had just as many spells of possession in the game as City did and just like Jose Pardew loves his wingers and his strikers to work hard, and we both know had Pardew been at Palace at the beginning of the season they would be in contention for Europa League places. With some better players they could be looking at Champions League. Oh and with regards to your little dig, I'd just like to see somebody stand up for our team rather than tread all over it whenever we get even a slightly below amazing performace. Finally, I'm pretty sure Palace was a big game for City, knowing they had to win to stay in serious contention for the title, similarly just as every one of our games has to be with similar atmosphere to a final. My comparison carries water because other than us being a London team the fixture was similar to City's - QPR are undergoing a good run of form under the honeymoon period of Ramsey atm.

He looked nice and fresh though! Hopefully a sign he's coming back on form. Perhaps Jose altered his training routines? Something's clearly working.

He looked fresher, that's for sure. Great super sub today.

We didn't actually lose a game in the Champions League and we have the 2nd least goals conceded in the league, how much more fucking solidarity do you need?

Are you fucking mad, just last week they lost to Palace away and were dogshit. You can't cherry pick your evidence. What makes us champions and not them will be that we can grind a win when we need to and change the method, while they can't.

If Remy's calf problem is >3 weeks we'll have no choice but to bring him back.