The Skipper

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.

Usually, the initial structure of our formation resembles a 4-2-3-1, but it doesn't mean it's always like that. 4-2-3-1 is essentially a 4-3-3 permutation with a midfielder pushed forward so it really isn't that mind boggling to think we play in that formation.

Makelele was far from a complete midfielder.

Have to set up as a counter attacking team IMO, we'd rip them to shreds. Delighted Hazard is finally showing form, him and Oscar must start behind Torres for this one. I'm more inclined to play Schurrle or Willian than Mata, but not sure who should start... out of the former two. If Mikel starts then we should go for Willian as he is slightly better attacking wise. Mikel will also provide a more solid midfield especially when we're sitting back. The knock on effect for that would be to play Luiz who can start the counters off well and possibly deal with Aguero. My team would probably be (I've got 2 versions): Cech Iva Luiz JT Cole Mikel Ramires Willian Oscar Hazard Torres Or... Cech Iva Cahill JT Cole Lampard Ramires Schurrle Oscar Hazard Torres I'm leaning towards the first selection slightly more though. We can beat these if the game plan is executed properly. It's been too long overdue.

He screams jack of all trades; master of none.

Yeah I'm not disagreeing. He'll never fully justify it, that's nearly impossible, what I am saying is that he'll atleast repay/justify some of it back if he has a good season. But he needs to grab a lot of (important) goals like the two against Schalke or the one against Bayern for that to happen.

Must say, Fernando has looked pretty good under Mourinho. If he keeps it up for the rest of the season he'll go some way to justifying his price tag (finally).

Very busy around that time unfortunately Jay, I think I'll be able to do a few in December though.

Right, so we both agree that Luiz has immense potential and that he can play like a WC defender - but the way you speak of him it's like you don't rate him as a player whatsoever. I'm pretty sure we've both seen enough great games from Luiz to know that right now he isn't having the best of times and that he could be playing better. I'm not happy with his performances at the moment but like any player I understand that anyone could hit bad form. Hazard, for example, has not been amazing either but is starting to kick on now. Why you can't do the same with Luiz instead of basically saying we should sell him even though you do clearly think he has the ability is pretty mind boggling to me.

Cool, doesn't matter for me anyway because Luiz is rated highly by our manager and will continue to play a lot.

did not see that. Just woke up from a nap. Still a pretty stupid comment to say though - just because someone supports an English club doesn't mean they automatically overrate their own players.

Never rated Luiz as a CDM, didn't even mention a word about that. He was much better at CB last season in my opinion.

He's not English?I'm not English and I think David is a top 5 CB in the world.

Luiz hasn't tried to dribble his way out of trouble in ages.

So you're going all the way back to 2011 to prove that Luiz isn't good in big games? So funny.

Any of the lower rows so you don't get your vision restricted by the roof. MHL is brilliant for atmosphere but if you want better views, the upper seats are a good shout.

Always loved him as a player. Yet another brilliant player SAF let go.Pique, Rossi, Pogba, Ravel Morrison etc. would all be assets at United right about now.

I still don't understand why people say Luiz is a liability because Alan Hansen and co say he is. If he's that much of a liability he would've been sold a long time ago and Cahill would've started ahead of him many more times - but why doesn't that happen? I'll take the judgement of Benitez, Ancelotti, Mourinho and RDM over any clueless pundit.

Give him time to acclimatise. 2 years out in the Russian league (even though it isn't that bad of a league) coming to a fast paced league like the PL; it's natural that he'll look off pace here and there. He's getting better game by game though.

Definitely been our star player this season. The kid is still about 4/5 years away from his prime, that's the scariest thing. What a player.

Right foot as well. Sweet hit.