Naked Mole Rat

I'm sorry, but Ramires is a great player. I know you don't like him because of his lack of technique and creativity in a traditional sense, but there's a significant difference in our performance when he's playing and when he isn't, and it's not just because we are shit at the moment, it's because of the determination and energy he plays with, which is as important as technique and creativity. But I agree with most other points you've made. At the moment, there isn't a thing that we can say that we are the best at, or even that we are good at.

Sigh.. It's true, but that would be a step backward. Ah well.

Because our wing attacks are terrible. On our right flank, we have Sturridge and Bosingwa, possibly the worst winger-fullback partnership ever. You don't see any link-up between the two as they don't want to work with each other and instead want to do everything individually, which isn't very effective. On top of that, the delivery from that side is quite poor due to the players' poor crossing skills (includes Ramires) and decision-making. On our left side, we have Cole and Mata, who are by far the better combination, but Mata isn't someone who should be restricted to one side, and often, our most effective route is to get Cole to dart to the byline and cross it in the box, as he so often did under Carlo. So basically, we only need one player on either side to carry the attack on the wings. And instead of just pointlessly crossing into a box where there is nobody to receive the ball, we can get more bodies in the box and hope that one day, one of Bosingwa's crosses that fail to end up in the stands will hit one of our players and cross the line for a goal.

Cahill, Hazard, Modric and a "Get Out Of Jail" Card (or a time machine) for JT.

Don't be ridiculous. It's always tough for young players to compete with the likes of Torres and Drogba even when they're out of form. Besides, the whole team is struggling, and naturally, we turn to the more experienced players. And Lukaku has had barely enough time to settle in and figure out what he needs to do to succeed in England. Anyway, just because we paid 18m pounds doesn't mean he has to immediately make an 18m-pound impact. We paid the money because of his potential, and he may be in the reserves right now, but he certainly has more than enough in him to become better than Drogba.

The same should apply to Lukaku? Just put the price thing aside and ask yourself if it's fair to criticize an 18-year-old for not being able to break into the Chelsea first team especially when he's competing with Torres and Drogba.

.Thanks

Great news. 7m pounds for a reliable backup defender, that's a pretty good deal. I'm pretty sure Bolton will feel like they could have done a better deal even though they're not doing well right now. By the way, does this mean Bolton are screwed? I really want them to stay up this season and would rather see either QPR or Wolves (or both) get relegated.

Haha, pretty sure that won't work with me. My teacher's got a poster in his room that says something like "Life is unfair. So suck it." He'll probably tell me I can only blame myself. Anyway, they miraculously showed up yesterday and got some work done.

He probably won't. He didn't rest against Wigan and Fulham, who are weaker than Villa. Bertrand wasn't even on the bench against Fulham or if I remember correctly against Wigan. Anyway, it's very annoying that he's not getting a chance. If he isn't good enough, I'd like to at least see how bad he is. But he was decent the last couple times I watched him.

Dempsey isn't a bad player, but certainly not good enough to play for us. I'd "consider" (I should emphasize) him if he were 5 years younger, though. I wouldn't mind taking Dembele and Frei, though. Just to show Fulham who's the boss, I mean.

Having my life-is-unfair moment. Been working on a school project all through the break including Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day, and Imma do the same on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day on so on. And the fucking shitheads who're supposed to be helping aren't even responding to my messages. Not that they are competent enough to help (last time they came to 'contribute' they made an absolute mess), but I want them to at least suffer as much as I do!!

Glad he's finally gone to a club where he can get a full financial support. Wish him luck and all that but please take Kalou and Malouda.

Classic. I remember a German club got pissed so badly a couple years ago when something similar happened. They were pretty serious about it, and if I remember correctly there was some legal talk going on as well.

Agreed. 30m pounds is a lot of money to spend on a youngster who hasn't played in Europe. Off topic: your post count at 2222.

The first one's way too defensive and I find the second one very offensive. I can see why you love these formations, though. If you put two DM's in FIFA your defense is invincible (God I fucking hate it when people do that), and with the second one you can score a lot of goals. Anyway, I'd like to see a 4-2-3-1 or an asymmetrical 4-3-3: ------------------------18----------------------- ??---------------------10--------------------23 -------------------------------------------------- -----------------6--------------7---------------- 3---------------26-------------4-------------?? -------------------------1----------------------- ------------------------18----------------------- ----------------10----------------------------23 ??------------------------------7---------------- -------------------------6------------------------ 3---------------26--------------4------------?? -------------------------1------------------------ Whatever we do, Mata must be in the middle, and there has to be a left winger.

Maybe if he's your boyfriend and cheats on you with your best friend

He's just like Sheva! But anyway, to answer your question, it doesn't. But the fact that VDV, Robben and Sneijder are doing well after they left Real doesn't make Kaka a potentially good signing for us either. That's the point I was trying to make.

But he's an ex Milan star nearing 30!

Pastore wants a bigger club and Arsenal are interested? The irony.

High line against Arsenal, and deep against Fulham? Can anyone explain the logic behind this?

Just looking at how things are going right now, 40% players, 60% the manager. But, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place if the club weren't run by manatees.

Moment of 2011 I'll go with Luiz's goal against United as well. Man of 2011 It'd be Sturridge if we were talking about this season only, but since it's continuation from last season, my pick is Ramires. After so much criticism at the start of last season, he showed great improvement and became our best midfielder (or the only good one) in the latter of that season. He's been pretty solid so far this season as well. Villain of 2011 Torres. Hope for 2011 Torres out. He has to go if we are to start a healthy cycle. His high wages and all that make him a huge burden, and I'd much rather see Lukaku on the bench than him. Hopefully, one of those wealthy, fast-growing teams like PSG, Anzhi or Malaga will get him so we'll have enough money to get one or two good players.

Happy holidays, everyone! I guess I'll have to spend this Christmas struggling with my physics project, but I sincerely hope no one else is having to do that.

Gotta love this guy's attitude. I've never seen him say he's satisfied although he's already one of our best players, and you'd think he hasn't got much else to prove, but he's always trying to better himself. It shows in his games, too. He always seems determined, and if you look at how much improvement he's made over the past year or so, you can sort of see how hard he works in training. Sturridge is the kind of player we should pay 50m pounds for, not some lazy bum who likes to complain that he can't perform because his teammates are shit.