The Skipper

Yeah, thought it was Ramires too.

Gave us the stability we needed when he came on. Decent performance and did his bit in providing the platform for us to nick the game.

Yeah, I felt he was poor but only because I have very high expectations of him. He was probably our worst attacking player today, and I was looking for him to step up especially after we conceded the goal which he didn't. I felt Zabaleta had him in his pocket for most of the game tbh. First bad game in a while though. Hopefully he can look past it and continue pressing.

He wasn't. Cahill played him on.

Lol. It's my biggest problem with Cahill, how he backs off of strikers almost every time. Aguero punished him.

Agreed. He's absolutely bossed it today.

Torres is actually playing with heart.

Fair play Torres. We should be up by 2 though - Cahill and Torres misses might not go unpunished.

I think (and hope) that once the game does open up and if we do still need a couple of goals, Mata & Willian are great options to bring on from the bench.

...Pep should pass over whatever drugs he's on.

Nice, solid counter attacking team, with good options on the bench. Should be a good game.

@chelseafc: Team v @MCFC: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry ©, Cole; Ramires, Lampard; Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle; Torres. #CFC @chelseafc: Substitutes v @MCFC : Schwarzer, Azpilicueta, D Luiz, Mikel, Willian, Mata, Etoo. #CFC

Yaya Toure playing as the most advanced midfielder today. Hope Mikel starts (and has a good game) to counter this.

Off-topic:Can you at least try and structure proper sentences. Your posts are a pain to read.

We don't have anyone to aim for in the box, plus City's threat from out wide this season (as in crosses) is there for anyone to see. Negredo and Aguero have scored a league high of 5 headed goals if I do remember correctly, and having Ivanovic at the back, who has been in good form in general this season, will simmer that threat down. City's left side does not have pace either (except for Clichy, but he's not that good going forward), so we don't need to worry about that as much. Also, add in the fact that Cesar has barely played, it's a bit unwise to throw him in now. But as you said, Ivanovic must start in this one.

Don't understand why people want Azpilicueta to start over Ivanovic...

Says the one who keeps dismissing anything he says because of his age...

Well, you and I clearly have a very different perspective of a "complete midfielder". You don't need to tell me how good Claude was, he was the best in his role and that's why he even had it named after himself. My dispute is that he wasn't the complete midfielder and you've mentioned that in your post yourself. A complete midfielder is someone like Y. Toure or Essien in his prime - one that does everything well, not one that's just a specialised player.

No, he didn't "control the game from deep". He was exceptional at tackling and defending, tactically he was astute, but when it came to the other side of the i.e. going forward, scoring goals, having the technique to dribble or drive past players etc. he didn't have that, so you can't call him a complete midfielder. Makelele was very good at what he did, he was the best, but he was never was a complete midfielder.

@hjperdeath, ignore him. Anyone that can decisively conclude after 3 months that Mourinho has failed to effectively use his players is pretty deluded. A knowledgable football fan would give said manager (not just Mourinho, anyone) a few more months, possibly a whole season before coming to any serious conclusions. The fact that he needs to keep repeating your age is also ridiculous, don't be phased by it, you're well ahead and advanced past most people when it comes to the tactical side of the game. I wouldn't even reply to him if I were you. What the man is basically saying is that anyone could do what Mourinho does or has done which is absolutely mind boggling.

He obviously needs all the game time he can get, which he won't get here because Torres, Eto'o & Ba are obviously better than the competition he faces at Everton in Kone and Jelavic, so if he has a few bad games he won't be as easily dropped, it really is that simple. We all know Lukaku can score bags of goals, no one is disputing that. It's other aspects of his game that he needs to work on and I think at Everton he's been given a fantastic platform.

I don't think so tbh, but each to their own.

Regarding Lukaku, I just dismiss it when people bring up his goalscoring stats simply because everyone knows the kid can score goals already. That's not the reason he's gone out on loan. He's gone out on loan to become a more complete footballer, to improve his back-to-goal play, his link up game with players etc. That's why it really doesn't phase me when people try to bring up his goalscoring record, or the fact that he's outscored our forwards.

Creatively, SFL isn't bad, he can see that pass now and again... But it isn't one of his main qualities. Above average I'd say he is when it comes to his creativity.

No, I'm not saying that, that was hjperdeath. I believe it's more correct to call it a 4-2-3-1. Like Barbara said, you can see in game, especially during the initial attacking phases if we aren't on the counter, that there are 4 banks of players - the defenders, the two behind the AM, the AM and the players flanking him and then the striker, where one can quite clearly see the 4-2-3-1 formation - but football isn't about statically sticking to one formation obviously. We obviously switch to different permutations of that 4-2-3-1 in game during different types of transitions - e.g. When defending we could drop into a 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 or whatever. I think there's nothing wrong with calling the formation we play with a 4-2-3-1 because the three behind the striker tend to interchange the most anyway - you can often find Oscar on the flank, Hazard in the middle etc. It's not Lampard, Ramires and Oscar interchanging - if that was the case then yeah I'd agree in saying the formation we play is more of a 4-3-3.