The Skipper

Hazard is making some great runs off the ball, shame Oscar can't see them.

Ramires shouldn't be stupid enough to grab his arm in the first place.

Please take off Ramires.

Agree. Tactical fail from Blanc.

I wish Eto'o was playing for this, we'd be up by a goal IMO.

Not that he's been bad but hope people see that Schurrle up front is just a fantasy long term, he's so much more dangerous when he plays as an AM.

That would make it 12 players on the pitch...

Torres or Welbeck?

Not true. Rafa Benitez on Luiz as a CB: He's had a bad season this year but honestly when Luiz is on form at CB he's a top, top player. Last season he had a great season in the last 3/4 months, where played as a CB for the majority of it.

I read it wrong lol, I thought he meant that we set up to play less adventurous at home.

Fully agree. If we had more technical players to begin with from deep i.e. play Luiz & Terry who are our most technical CBs at the back, Azpi at the right where he's more comfortable technically, Shaw at LB, Matic and a proper DLP like Modric/Kroos/Gundogan the likes of Hazard & Oscar would be far more productive going forward IMO.

Brazil have the best back four in the world IMO. Nothing is beating Marcelo - Luiz - Silva - Alves.

Just watching the way Bayern play... Our high pressing game would cause them so much trouble. I'd be pretty confident against these.

You're very wrong.

United have started very, very well.

Managerial stability, and believing in their manager's plan and philosophy.

So you genuinely believe our problem this season hasn't been under performing against the smaller teams? That's what happens when you don't go at the opponent and allow them to settle into the game. Mourinho obviously agreed that we weren't attacking enough to begin with, which is why we made the change to a 4-2-3-1. Yes... We are going to draw a team that will be happy with a draw out when they've already decided we're getting majority of the ball. Let's try to counter attack a team that is more than happy not to have the ball for the rest of the game. So apparently we've been dispatching smaller teams with ease all season now? I think it is best that we do as you clearly think we've played great in general against the smaller teams this year whilst I don't.

So you're suggesting that our main problem isn't creating enough quality chances against smaller teams? I've already addressed this in the post above; I didn't complain about the West Ham game as the approach was correct and the number of quality chances How many quality chances did we create against West Brom? We struggled in that game. The result was fair. Stoke away we lost due to stupid mistakes and us not being clinical, the match was ours until a stupid mistake from Eto'o. I didn't complain about the approach in that game because I would rather have my team go for it against Stoke when you've got 30 minutes to grab the winner, than to be satisfied with a draw, because let's be honest Stoke are a team we should be dispatching. So you're genuinely telling me that we've played well in general against the smaller teams this season? I've said it all season long that I didn't like our approach in these sort of games, it isn't a knee jerk reaction to me at all.

We don't need to have a man over Crystal Palace in midfield, Matic - Luiz alone can take care of anything Crystal Palace throw at us from the centre of the pitch. You don't need a deep 3 man midfield against Crystal Palace. A number 10 would've definitely helped us going forward in the final third... I'm not sure I even need to explain why. Even Mourinho acknowledged that by taking off Luiz at half time and bringing on Oscar. Difference is, you won't find me complaining about the West Ham game because we played well and created some good chances to win the game and the approach was right from the get go. What harmed us in the game is lack of clinicality - that is not the same problem we faced against Crystal Palace. That's the thing - we shouldn't be focussing on counter attacking a team that is going to put 10 men behind the ball - that's nonsensical. We need to focus on keeping our better offensive players like Hazard up the pitch, creating spaces for them with off the ball runs from our full backs and our striker and other players around him - none of which happened because the approach we took was too conservative to begin with. We need to take more risks and kill these games off from the get go. Hazard coming back to get the ball shouldn't happen either, he's our best player offensively so naturally you'd want him to stay in the final third most of the time. You don't want him coming back to get the ball - that should be the pivot and the number 10's (to an extent) job. I've said this before but I'd definitely sacrifice a very little ounce of defensive solidity to make us far more threatening going forward. Yes, we don't have a great striker up there (especially when Torres plays) but in my opinion, simply giving the ball the Hazard and hoping he does something magical with it to unlock the defence when he's not even in the final third indicates that against smaller teams we don't have a clear attacking pattern. Often, there is no clear penetration or clever/designed runs off the ball going forward against these sort of teams and that to me indicates we aren't setting up for these sort of situations in the final third correctly.

How am I asking for the impossible? Is thinking that we should be playing more open offensive football against the likes of Crystal Palace really too much to ask? As I said; if you read the of my post I appreciate a lot of what Mourinho has done, i.e. making us the best team defensively in the country - but that doesn't mean he's done a perfect job... Like I said, I am not advocating that we play more expansively in all of our games, I was simply commenting on Mourinho's approach in this game, against Crystal Palace - which is what I said in the previous post before; if we isolate this game solely then Mourinho has to shoulder some of the blame as we set up too conservatively in this game, we gave CP too much respect. It's a problem we've had all season against smaller teams, it's naive for anyone to ignore that. How many of those shots turned out to be quality chances? Maybe Hazard's miss only? That's not good enough against a team like Crystal Palace. We need to be creating a lot more against teams like these. That's my main and only problem with Mourinho's approaches in these sort of games, the fact that we have struggled a lot this season to consistently churn out great chances against smaller teams instead of relying on a couple of individual pieces of magic... Surely you have to look at the way the team is set up if it's a recurring theme? How have I not been realistic? I have said since the start of the season that I don't expect us to win the title and I have continually said that I've seen a lot of good things this year, but that doesn't mean it's been perfect - I know we're a few players away from completely eradicating the problems in these smaller games but at the same time Mourinho's approach in some of these haven't been great either... That's my main point. I'm not doubting Mourinho's abilities or discrediting the work he has done this season at all... He's done a good job in his first season back indeed, but that doesn't mean he's been perfect... My only criticism for him this season is that we approach smaller games in the wrong manner - I've said that all season. That does not equate to me not having faith in him as a manager.

No, he does not. The biggest myth ever. Most of the time he looks like the laziest player on the pitch.

Take it from me, I've seen VDW play for years and defensively against top players like Hazard, he struggles a lot. If Hazard is in top form it's going to be a very long game for Gregory.

I fully acknowledge that but it still doesn't change the fact that our biggest problem is creating quality chances against smaller teams. Yes, a competent striker would've helped us a lot but at the same time, when you select a midfield three of Luiz, Matic and Lampard and set up the team with a more conservative look you're going to struggle. A conservative look in games like these are not needed at all, you need to take the game to the opponent instead of being passive about it. I would've started Matic and Lampard in the pivot (which he has done in previous games against smaller sides, and we have performed a lot better in those games) whilst playing a proper number 10 in Willian or Oscar to give us more impetus in the final third. Lampard has never been good in a number 10 role because he naturally makes the shape of the team go into a 4-3-3. It's not like this is a one off game either, it's happened a lot against the smaller teams this season - and one of the biggest reasons is that Mourinho is too conservative in his look and gives the opponent too much respect. His refusal to play A. Cole and Azpi as our fullbacks in order to spread the play more with overlaps in order to create more runs and spaces for our more forward players is a big reason why we struggle to create quality chances against these sides. Hopefully he has acknowledged that, and hopefully he fixes it next season by bringing in the right players, but as of right now, there are certain players and certain methods of play he's not fully utilising. I never said we don't have a pattern to our attacking play... What I did say is that we don't have a pattern to our attacking play against teams that sit deep. We rely too much on the individual brilliance of Hazard in these games but you've got to set up your team better in these games so we can fully utilise the attacking potent of players like Oscar, Hazard, Willian (who has been under utilised going forward IMO) and Schurrle. Like I've said all season, I admire most of the work Mourinho has done this season but my biggest (and only) gripe with him is the way he sets us up against the smaller teams, especially away from home. He has got to be more adventurous in these games.

I have said from the start that I don't mind if we win the title or not but if we isolate this game on it's own, some blame has to go to Mou for the way we set up our team. You have to expect this sort of performance when there is still no patterns in our attacking play against teams that sit deep against you, it's always been my only problem with Mourinho's approach especially against the smaller teams. You can't keep relying on the individual brilliance of Hazard to bail you out in these sort of games.

That'll completely take away what his game is all about - intelligent movement from deep.