Kostas

Fricking goalpost.. Some very impressive passing before that though.

Think Anelka wasn't offside

Someone needs to tell Alex that we're gonna need those posts

I still maintain that they hardly create any clear cut chances,we're doing just fine at the moment.

They haven't really created anything though.We are just waiting.

Guess Kakuta saw little of the ball because our play develops on the left side.Anelka drifts from his position often for exactly that reason.

Missed the first half.Glad to see that we're back to scoring.Were Kakuta and Yuri any good?

Probable line-up Cech Ivanovic --- Alex - Terry© --- A.Cole Mikel Essien -- Ramires Kakuta -- Anelka -- Malouda Bench: Turnbull, Ferreira, Van Aanholt, Sturridge, Zhirkov, McEachran, J.Mellis/C.Clifford Those confirmed by CA are bold.

Give him a break,he has had a couple really bad games and we're already on the verge of offloading him? Everyone can have a bad game or 2.

I think Kakuta can do well in Anelka's position.Since Anelka doesn't really have a fixed position on the pitch nowadays Kakuta will have the freedom to dribble and build up play. Connor Clifford trained with the 1st team today,maybe he'll be on the bench.

McEachran will start on the bench. Either Kakuta or Sturridge will start alongside Anelka and Malouda.

Reported.Try Harder Next Time The mods might as well delete this crap.

I know he's still young and has all the time to develop into a completely different player but the current Gael Kakuta isn't much different to Arshavin,both have obvious qualities but (as many who have watched Gael can confirm) have the tendency to go missing for large parts of the game,can't really say if it's due to poor positioning or laziness. You haven't seen many then.PS:Don't get all butthurt,I like Kakuta as much as the next (TX).

Frank Lampard now out until at least mid-October, says Carlo Ancelotti.

Random rant: Would it unfair to compare Gael to Arsenal's Andrei Arshavin?They both have a brilliant first touch and the ability to single-handedly turn a game around but on a bad day can go missing and practically leaving their team with 10 men.

Matic was named in the Eredivisie team of the week.

Starting a 17year old in a European game without securing the group,who would have thought we would be talking about it 3 months ago?

It's a season-long loan,theoretically we could because of the good relationship between the clubs but I don't think we will.

It is worth pointing out that that tactic absolutely failed against Inter,I was glad we didn't resort to long balls.The similarities to that Inter game are too many,I dread what will happen in the home game against City as our pitch is much smaller and it will be easier for them to close spaces.

For all the recent McEachran obsession I'd love to see Kakuta getting more than 20 minutes.

Interesting how we all focused on that exact pic.TX has a point.

Josh McEachran may play against OM link

The club has handled the Goalkeeper situation poorly. They loaned Delac to Vitesse where he has so far played exactly 0 minutes and loaned Taylor to Crewe effectively leaving us with two #3 and a yougnish Walker who's playing in the reserves,maybe they hoped Stoke would give in but they didn't.

Timing is very important with goalkeepers. We are currently entering our 2nd season without a #2 goalkeeper(!)

Random ramblings : The ref was bad,but he was nowhere as bad as some here made him to be,I for one remember that Mikel got away with a yellow card after an obstruction to that cunt.We certainly did not lose the game because of him,and I reckon Drogba can handle physical play better.Anyone calling that reff incompetent should remember the Barcelona game.That said Boyata should have been sent off,no question about it.Ramires grew into the game in the 1st half,but that was only because he was bloody awful in the beginning and for much of the 2nd half.He lost possession one way or another at least a dozen times(one of which lead to the decisive goal).I'm not blaming him cause his still adapting and everything but you can't look over his performance.He will have better games.Can't blame Ancelotti for his changes,it's not like he had many choices.Drogba had to come off cause he was bloody useless;keeping him on the pitch would only give Man City more time with his stimulating and whining,wonder if starting him off the bench like in the United game would be a better choice.Sturridge had a huge chance to prove his worth but he didn't do much,he certainly couldn't change the game from the right wing.McEachran was comfortable but I've come to expect that from him.Credit to Manchester City players for their sublime defending,they may have been dirty more than a few times but they were sound defensibly.They're not half decent,they're better than pretenders like Arsenal but lack the consistency to challenge.Not many top sides will get 3 points at the CoM this season,I've said this before the game and unfortunately we confirmed that.I thin that this was our best chance to beat them for a while,they're still very much a new team and are going through an injury crisis.Zhirkov looked more determined than half our players when he came in,still he cannot play in the midfield.We were defensively sound,bar that one City goal where everyone fucked up we didn't have the shocks we had against them last year,Mikel's performance and their defensive approach certainly helped.Man City are beyond doubt our bogey team,we might as well accept it now.And god I hate that Argie troll.I know most are going to get defensive over this but it really was our first test and we failed.This might cost us in a competitions like the CL.We're top of the league.