The Skipper

We both did mate! Lol!

Lol, I can't believe I actually trashed Ryan 7-0. Sorry mate.

Final squad after summer 2012 transfer window: GK: Cech, Hilario, Turnbull DF: Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Paulo Ferreira, Luiz, Cahill, Terry, A. Cole, Bertrand. MF: Ramires, Lampard, Mikel, Romeu, Malouda, Oscar. FW: Sturridge, Torres, Mata, Marin, Moses, Hazard.

Yup. Pretty much how Jose tried his best to fit Mikel into the side... Same thing might happen to Oscar. Let's hope it's different this time though.

Nah I know you didn't, it was more of a general statement to this thread than anything.

Wtf? No one is making excuses for Torres. It's just one game where he didn't get any service at all, that's fact. Even Falcao wouldn't have scored for us on that day, that's how poor we were. Falcao isn't even the type of striker that can pick up the ball and create chances for himself - he relies on decent service himself. The difference between Torres and Falcao though is that Falcao can take the half chances that come his way a lot more than Torres can. He creates goals in that sense but no way will he bulldozer through defenders and smash it in top corner like Drogba did. Most of Falcao's goals are in the box. Everyone needs to stop getting their knickers in a twist. It's one game where Torres and the team performed shit, people are just pointing out we didn't create anything worthwhile in the match. Doesn't mean we're making excuses for him again. Perspective guys.

I was just responding to the claim that Mourinho's team has never been beaten heavily. I think it's way too soon to write off RDM or this CFC team. Remember that we have new players waiting to be fazed in, so it's unfair to completely judge this team over a couple of games where we've been alright. I'd say we'll see what we're truly made of during Christmas time. Roll on this season.

Because he wasn't brought in to help Eden settle. He's a decent young player, we'll see how he develops.

Lies. Remember when Barca thrashed Mourinho's Real team 5-0?

DP.

These Turkish guys spamming the forum... I think registration should be temporarily closed plus their accounts should be deleted.

Signings are irrelevant when they aren't performing!

My point is that the team was so bad in the AM game that not even Falcao would've scored. Not saying Falcao wouldn't score with us generally, of course he would, he's a top striker.

The Count is right. If Falcao played in that team yesterday for us he wouldn't have scored either. Torres had what, 1 half chance? Maybe Falcao would've taken that but the point is that having Falcao wouldn't automatically turn us into world beaters.

SSN reports it was £12m even. Would've liked the sign him, very decent striker.

Lol, because he said he has to adjust his role a little he's not cut for free flowing style? Busquets is a similar player to Mikel, he isn't cut for a "free flowing" style either is he? Oh wait.

All you do is slag off every player.

Lol wtf.

It is quite funny how Meireles is suddenly the saviour. People have completely forgotten his bad performances. My problem with Frank is not whether he should start or not, he's definitely good enough. He just needs to curb his attacking nature a little bit more, which he has done to a certain extent, but he needs to remain more disciplined, and be more assured in possession. Frank is under-utilising his vision as well. He has the ability to do all this but so far he's underperforming. It's unbelievable how one pass can completely negate our whole midfield. RDM needs to instruct whoever is in that pivot to drop in the empty spaces (or at least block their lanes) our full backs leave when they go up. It's more of a tactical problem than anything else IMO, Mikel and Lamps could potentially work really well together, but RDM just needs to find the right formula.

Lol, the way people disregard Juve like they're some sort of average mid table team. They're Italian champions who went the whole season unbeaten. Not only that, they've really built well on their success as well with the players they've signed. Have a little respect.

The PL will be amazing this season.

Clearly past a couple of people's bed times. It's funny how the majority wanted Essien out but now he's suddenly good enough. It's also funny how our good work this summer has now been labeled by some as shit. Unbelievable.

DP.

I was just highlighting that Mikel wasn't as bad as Ollie was trying to make him out to be. I'm afraid that tonight's defeat was a tactical victory for Simeone more than anything else. Simeone got his tactics spot on. Atletico are known for their counter attacking prowess and tonight we really were exposed. We approached the game wrongly. Ideally, we should've set up against a counter attacking team by playing a team that's more effective in the final third, and by stopping our full backs from flying up and down the pitch. That alone would've made our defensive performance a lot better. Personally I would've started a team of Torres, Hazard, Mata, Sturridge, Oscar and Mikel, let Mikel sit deep, let Oscar and Mata link up play and let Hazard and Sturridge penetrate their lines in order to create the chances for Fernando. Mikel was our only midfielder who looked assured in possession, only player that looked decent but overall it was a really bad team performance. We missed JT marshalling the defence today, we missed it a lot. Hopefully this game opened the eyes of people (and our players) expecting us to steam roll through teams. It won't happen all the time, and it'll take some time for this team to realise its full potential. Lampard... I don't know. I've said he doesn't work with Mikel in the midfield because he's too attacking orientated and leaves the team exposed too much (due to not being effective in attack). Lampard instigated quite a few of Atletico's counters. He'd be good against more possession based teams but against teams who are deadly on the counter we'd suffer overall as a team. MOTM for me was Mikel, and Hazard and Torres were okay. The rest were quite poor. In what world? I'd like you to point out to me all of these three huge defensive mistakes Mikel made during 3 goals we conceded. Please.

Go watch the match again.