DYC.

Villas-Boas is definitely a smart man.

We've gone back to the Mourinho tactics haha.

His play was bad? Seriously? He wasn't great but to say he was bad is harsh. His overall performances are better than Torres', that's for sure. The fact that he isn't as good as he was before doesn't matter. Torres scored goals but then went on a dry spell, that's why Drogs got a chance and he took it.

Drogba started in the past three games and scored two goals.

Loving the pressure on this game, can't wait.

Nahh I'm not a big fan of having both wingers in the side cut in. I'd like one to stay out wide, stretching play and play in crosses, curling away (the crosses I mean) from the GK. We already have a inside forward in Sturridge. Though of course buying a winger who's very comfortable using both feet, able to cut in and go around the fullback would be even better, but they are rare.

A quality left winger (preferably left-footed), a quality CB, bring back Kakuta from the useless loan (to use as a back-up) and switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation would be enough to secure us a spot in the top four I think. And then go on rebuilding the squad in the summer.

Difficult to tell. Luiz needs a partner who's calm and stays behind and sweeps up behind him but that's normally the role of a experienced defender.. So while I personally do think he can become a defender of that type, he'll need time so I can't see them forming a partnership of the needed standard anytime soon. Unless Bruma is a gem..

I love the tenacity in his play, we've really missed that. Mikel's as strong as an ox but he's a puppy.

He defended well, breaking up some play and got some good tackles in. Also positioned himself pretty well and also showed he's no push-over. Nurnberg did create chances but most of Nurnberg's threat came over the left side (Bruma plays on the right). He's showing promising signs for a CB that just turned 20 and is only now playing regularly at the highest level. He has pace, is good on the ball and has impressive passing ability, for a CB, so that's good as we need those types. Töre also looks good. Very comfortable on the ball, fast, pretty strong and has a pretty good pass on him. He still has a lot to learn, has to work on his positional sense and decision-making etc., but that's normal for a guy his age and with his lack of experience. Didn't know that. Too bad he didn't have the patience but we could've loaned him out instead of selling him. He's a better option on the wing than Malouda, Anelka and Kalou..

He's playing against Nurnberg right now. Good game. Still can't believe we let Töre go , he's quality.

Comparing Hernandez to Kalou is so wrong.. One does his job, the other doesn't. Three points, yay.

Normally I wouldn't care, this being the League Cup and all, but we've lost every big game and that's just unacceptable..

Finally someone who noticed. Not playing against Leverkussen did him well.

He was good against Leverkussen and was the same today. He really does make our defence more secure by doing a lot of little things but they go unnoticed by many. He's not been as eager to leave his position, think the coach had a little talk with him and it has been for the better.

Always liked Tore, was sad to see him leave. Good to hear Bruma's doing well, will be interesting to see whether he makes it at Chelsea.

People have to admit Drogba is a much more dominant figure than Torres which helps our play. He does tend to over-do it but you can't ignore the good he does. And this why Sturridge should stay on the wings. If we play him at CF, we loose that extra goal-scoring threat on the pitch. Good first half, love how we're really going for it. Hope we keep it up in the second half and score more goals (without conceding one)

Totally with you on this (he is important when defending though). But I do agree with the people who say he should be rested. I'd say nice opportunity for McEachran to get start but that's very unlikely..

I think he's best suited to a SS role behind a main striker, giving him the freedom to move around while since he's in a deeper role, he can turn to do the goal like he likes to do and just do his thing. That is possible but that's one difficult role.. Impossible with the current squad (we don't have players who are constantly on the move and get behind the defence a lot) and the striker has to be able to hold on to the ball very well as well as posses very good passing ability. Of course he does. A lone striker who doesn't know how to play well with his back to the goal only works in a counter-attacking system. But when playing possession football it's a must as you push the opposition back and don't get that space to run into. Therefore you have to pass the ball around to find and create that space and the striker has to contribute in this, which he can't do if he doesn't know how to play with his back to the goal effectively. What Sturridge does a lot is receive the ball and immediately turns to face the goal.. and as the highest player up the pitch, that means you're facing at least three players of the opposition team in the middle of the park and not a single team mate in front of you (in most cases).

Sturridge will have to learn to play with his back to the goal before being able to play as a lone striker. Hazard would be a great buy.

Mata is not a winger.

I still don't understand how he's not a starter. In the way AVB wants to play, he just has to be a starter.

You're not seriously trying to compare Carvalho to D. Luiz are you? There's no such thing as a flawless defender but Carvalho did so much good that the bad didn't matter much.

Where did you get that from? He is an absolute hero at Milan and he recently extended his contract.