Kostas

I think it's slightly optimistic to expect Lampard to pick up right where he left off after 4 months on the sidelines.

I'm arguing him being a better and more usable choice for Ancelotti rather than him being a better defender than Bruma. Sturridge is better than Kalou yet the Ivorian gets picked for his experience. We could use him to rest Mikel (the lad deserves it) and step in whenever 2 of our 3 senior CBs are missing. With Alex recovering from surgery and both Terry and Bran being 1 card away from suspension another CB crisis is very likely and I can't see how Mancienne could be possibly worse than Paulo Ferreira at CB.

We desperately need to change something or this will be just like the rest of our recent games. I've been crying for experimenting with the kids for some time now and would love to see Kakuta and Sturridge get EPL starts even if it's against Tottenham, it's not like our attack can be less effective.

:541: @ #2 Cue Kalou lovers having an orgasm. So glad that cnut KPB didn't make it to the 5 best.

Just to give things a negative spin I honestly believe that we're in danger of going through a worse run when the CL knock-out stages begin. At least now we can afford to rest our exhausted players in these meaningless CL and Cup games.

It depends on whether a clause is put in the deal - in the case of Mancienne there must be as Ancelotti said it was an option. What is really interesting in this case is that Mancienne himself said sometime ago that he rarely speaks to Ancelotti and that his future depends on our scouts rather than Ancelotti, we even tried to sell him to Wolves. Now the club realized their colossal mistake* and may try to bring him back. One could argue that this u-turn has something to do with Arnesen's removal. I, for one, hope that we bring both Mancienne and Matic back. We should have never loaned them out in the first place and using them + Sturridge would have greatly benefited our season. We cannot know if Ancelotti would start either of them but I suspect that Mancienne's 100+ career appearances and EPL experience would have made him more usable than McEachran or Bruma. *Our squad size

Of course he can profit from the World Cup, investing in property around the redeveloped areas and in entertainment in the new Stadiums will make him even richer.

Apparently a few weeks ago Ancelotti told the journos that depending on injuries they are considering bringing Mancienne back.

Think he has 6 goals in 9 starts

I disagree with that view because we haven't even seen enough of the kids to judge if they're good enough or not. As far as I'm concerned Kakuta is every bit as talented as Van Persie and Nasri were.The main issue with our youth at the moment is that Ancelotti doesn't trust them at all. Even when we were cruising he'd rather play Salomon Kalou that Sturridge and rarely played him centrally. And don't get me started about Bruma or Kakuta.. However knowing our current form I can partly understand his reluctance to using the kids because if we lose with our first team people will blame either our scapegoats (Ramires) or our regular players for not showing enough heart. On the other hand, if we lose playing the kids Carlo will be blamed for taking such a risk.

:goodpost: As a poster on CFCnet said "Ancelotti started the season with one hand tied behind his back. However, with his free hand, it seems that at the moment when it comes to tactics - he's playing the wrong hand." I can only blame his lack of guts and unwillingness to take a gamble (playing the kids) beyond what he can afford to take.

I'm usually of the same opinion but when it comes to JT I'm as blind as person can get.Due to their slightly romantic nature fans will never get contract negotiations but I wouldn't be so hasty to put Rooney's treatment toward ManUtd and JT's to us in the same category.

http://twitter.com/PMOve

I'd rather see Gokhan Tore on the wing

*sigh* Ancelotti didn't sign Benayoun.

I must admit that I'm surprised with his attitude. Ancelotti's treatment toward him has been almost disrespectful yet he has not made a big deal out of it. If he was as arrogant as I originally thought he would have some sort of reaction.

The only reason we would play anything resembling a senior team is to get some confidence back in our play but we can't even afford to tire our main players as they've played every single league game.A team of Kakutas and PvAs is guaranteed and I won't be surprised if even more reserve players start.

Just read that Didier went to the Matthew Harding Stand and apologized at full time.

He's got potential

Can't afford offloading West Ham players when we've got some who should be playing in League One.

Who? He did nothing today!!

Lampard is literally the only ray of light I can think of, but I can't say I'm as optimistic you are about his return. Sounds more like wishful thinking to me.

Agreed. I'd argue that even a midfield with Kakuta and McEachran can dominate possession against a team that sits back, which is all we've managed in our recent games. It won't be long before Ancelotti will be under real pressure, unless Roman Abramovich and our Board believe his twice as important as both Scolari and Mourinho were.

This is what this season looked like back in August but the Board or Ancelotti should have informed the fans about this. Forcing 5 kids into a team and replacing our core players was never going to be easy yet everyone pretended it was.