Naked Mole Rat

I don't want or expect a thrashing. I mean, it would be nice if we do thrash them, but I know the players won't go into this match aiming to humiliate Brighton. I'm just hoping to see some improvement on some of the problems that were highlighted in the previous match as well as some signs of improved fitness levels and team chemistry.

I'd much rather keep Benayoun than keep Malouda. Benayoun at least has an incredible work rate. Malouda on the other hand is a completely mediocre player who isn't good at anything in particular. His work rate is okay at best, he's not particularly fast, he's not that strong, his technique isn't that great, he's not a great passer or crosser, etc. He's sort of like Meireles, another extremely mediocre player on the team, but at least Meireles tries. I guess it won't hurt too much to keep Malouda around, but at this stage, but my expectations are very, very, very low from him.

Mata is the only reason why we currently use the 4-2-3-1 instead of the familar 4-3-3. When he plays right behind the striker, he's a much better player than he is when he's on the (left) wing. Even when asked to converge to the middle, he wasn't all that effective, and it makes sense. Whether he's allowed to go to the centre or not, if he plays on the wing, he has some positional duties to do, whereas if he's given the typical no. 10 role, he doesn't have to worry about such things. He can just freely roam the pitch, looking for the ball, and when he gets it, he can put a through ball or whatever. There is no doubt that he is currently the most important player on the team in terms of attacking, so it makes sense to build the team around him, and that's why I would like to see us stick to the 4-2-3-1.

I like that actually. So far, I've been saying Ramires on the wing, but with Lampard and Mikel, our double pivot is so sluggish. I would probably move Hazard to left, Oscar to right, Mata to centre, but I guess that doesn't really matter as they shouldn't be confined to their positions anyway.

I fail to see why people are concerned about him. His only two noticeable flaws are lack of experience and heavy touch. He will eventually learn how to get underneath the ball and when to hold the defender off and when to make a run. And his first touch may be awful now, but players often see a significant improvement in certain aspects of their game through focused training. I remember Sturridge couldn't use his right foot at all a couple seasons ago, but he's now pretty comfortable with it. Rooney also expressed in 2010 that he had improved greatly on his aerial ability through continuous, focused training.

Agreed, but I think what you meant to say was "orgasm". Great choice of word, by the way. Love it.

Coincidence, no? We had a great start to the 10/11 season despite the poor warm up, as the whole team looked fit and confident, and the results reflected that. It took nearly three months before things started to fall apart for us.

Both Hilario and Turnbull will see their contracts out at Chelsea. We're stuck with the duo, basically. Better keep our fingers crossed Cech doesn't get injured.

Lovely.

I don't know... That would be ideal, but that's not usually how it works, though, is it? Even if you have two players who are about as good as one another, usually one of them is preferred to the other. Anyhow, it's almost a certainty that having both Cavani and Torres will be very inefficient in terms of costs.

It's not a matter of how many games they'll each get to play. We'll be playing close to 60 games (or more...?) this season, and of course, they'll each get plenty. The thing, though, is that only one of them will start at the Etihad Stadium or in the FA Cup semi final or in the Club World Cup final (hope I'm not jinxing). The other will probably come on as a sub in the 85th minute or start against shit teams like QPR. At the end of the season, they may both have 40 games each, but one of them will definitely be unhappy, no? And in terms of money, there's no way Torres will be paying off all the money the club spent on him by serving as Cavani's backup, or vice versa.

My dog lost his shit when my dad stood on a chair to catch a moth on the ceiling today. What a dumbass, lol.

I know, right? Especially considering I don't speak any Georgian.

But, but, but, but, but, but

I don't think the club takes the harmony factor into any major consideration when signing players. It's probably more like, "This guy is quick and tricky and clever. He won't cost us too much, either. Oh, and by the way, he should get along well with player X on our team." You know, they probably think about it, but it's probably nothing more than just a bonus. I would say that our recent apparent trend of signing Belgian, Spanish and Brazilian players is more down to the fact that these countries are currently producing some of the best talents in the world.

Words per minute (WPM) 0 Keystrokes 995 (0 | 995) Correct words 0 Wrong words 94 You are better than 100% of all users (position 0 of 0 - last 24 hours) BEAT THAT.

No, what makes you say that? I know you're just jelly because you can't beat me. Yes, you're right. I suck at typing. QQ I should just go sleep now.

Result Words per minute (WPM) 121 Keystrokes 660 (603 | 57) Correct words 53 Wrong words 6 You are better than 89.47% of all users (position 6 of 57 - last 24 hours)

74 first try. Godly.

No, they're definitely not doing it out of reluctance. They clearly WANT to please the majority, and they don't care how they do it. That was why they prematurely robbed JT of his armband and rebuffed Capello's request to restore it even though that would have put them in a hell of trouble just months before Euro. And there was absolutely uncalled for, too. Everyone would have understood if the FA took its time and reserved any comment or action regarding the matter until the court proved JT guilty or innocent. They just wanted to say, "Look at us! We're giving him shit. We deserve a pat on the back and a jar of cookies, no?" They sort of have put themselves in a hole, but even if they hadn't stripped his armband away in the first place, they still would have charged him.

Why? He's been all right so far this summer.

At this point, I can only see us signing one more player. I hope it's Azpilicueta. As for players leaving, I don't know what to expect since we have so many players right now. I can see Kakuta leaving, on loan or permanently I don't know, and Benayoun as well. though, but I'm kind of hoping we'll keep Benayoun.

I think the forums should have a stricter policy with discussion etiquette. Although I am all for freedom of speech, and ideally, I'd like to see all members granted that freedom (almost) unconditionally, understanding that you, the admins and the mods, have little patience with what's been going on around here, I suggest you start handing out bans and suspensions to anyone who makes a personal insult that is either meant to provoke other members and/or is impertinent to discussion right on the spot. I think that'd be a reasonably fair thing to do, as the ugliest sight around here is people calling each other a "bitch" or an "idiot" just because they disagree. I also think that such insults are one of the major causes of thread derailing, so if you can get people to tone themselves down, hopefully there will be less headache.

LOL

Well, this was quick.