The Skipper

I still think this could happen. The Moses deal stalling could tell us something is going on.

Going to read Computer Science at the University of Birmingham woo! So happy!

Bricking myself.

He said that if CFC bid the asking price they will sell. So we either haven't done that or he's just bluffing.

He's still saying the same, but what he has confirmed is that the fee will be lower than £10m-£9m.

Dave Whelan live on Sky Sports ATM. Will report if he says anything about Moses.

Personally I still don't think he'll go United.

Ramires has played in the pivot what... Once? With Meireles? It's unfair to write him off without actually seeing him there. I think it could work if he's used in the right way.

Any Dragonball Z fans?

I think you should just calm down and let it be mate, trust me it'll work better in the long term. You won't be dissapointed that way.

No ones acting like Piazon is the new Messi. He's a decent young player who's got good potential to break into the first team over the next couple of years if he carries on the steady improvement. Nothing wrong with people praising him. Praise doesn't mean he's the new Messi .

Probably completely misinterpreted. Typical English press overexagerating everything. Would love to see the original manuscript.

Same starting line up as against Man City. Don't think Oscar's ready yet. We should be weary about Wigan bossing the midfield as they'll be playing 5 there as opposed to our 2. We need to play a little bit deeper regarding our front line... If we do that I think we'll be fine.

Suicide.

So funny how after one game Mikel is the poorest DM in the premiership.

Ayew is a left winger, we're not going to sign him.

Lol, I actually love the idea of Luiz as a libero. Might try it on FM. Torres Hazard - Mata Cole - Mikel - Oscar - Ramires Terry - Cahill Luiz* Cech *Luiz is everywhere.

Is that it? I was expecting to see a list of a 1000 players which contained a couple of League 2 players in there, the way you guys go on about how shite Mikel is.

Mata's Olympics was basically his pre-season. If he's feeling fit enough to go then why should we stop him?

Watched the game again. I really fail to see how Mikel was supposedly the cancer in the team. The double pivot as a whole is a problem, it just doesn't work without our forward players dropping a little deeper - it forces Lampard to go up to try and link up play which leaves Mikel exposed. Whenever Mikel got the ball he was swarmed by City players. That was the problem. Lampard, instead of running all over the pitch to close down, should've been an outlet for Mikel. We would've kept possession a lot better in that way. The double pivot failed, not just Mikel. If you didn't watch the game and came on here for some reviews you would've thought Mikel lost us the game, but it was a collective thing. What I don't understand is how people can question his whole CFC career after one bad game. Mikel can go on a run of 5 good games and he'd perhaps be below average in one and he'll get slated. It isn't fair IMO. If Mikel turned in bad performances week in week out then yeah, we need a new DM. BUT he doesn't.

Terry is world class. He'd get into any PL team. End of.

It is quite amazing how people can be so affirmed about Mikel after one game. He wasn't class yesterday yes but nor were 75% of the team. To me it's so naive that he's scapegoated for the loss. It's easy to pick on Mikel because he doesn't score/assist regularly but still... Some perspective needed IMO. It's quite dumb to write off a player based on one game IMO. I wonder if Torres would've been slaughtered on here too if he had the same game but just didn't score. My bet is that people would be crying for the board to press the panic button and buy Falcao or Cavani or whatever. We'll see anyway. RDM has faith in Mikel and sees him as his first choice, we've rarely been linked with a DM... That's all that matters to me.

Great post mate. Well balanced analysis.

Yeah okay man we all know you think Mikel is garbage but that doesn't mean that it's fact. We all have our own opinions and if that angers you then we'll just leave it there.

I ain't going to fucking shut up for no one, especially not you. I do what all the time? What I'm trying to say is that in the double pivot there is a shared responsibility for defensive work. Lampard, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic and Cole are all responsible for the goals conceded, yet everything is being put on Mikel. If Mikel was SO bad as you describe in your post how come RDM didn't yank him off? Mikel didn't lose the ball 50 times either. Must've been watching a different game. Can't believe people are giving so much stick to Mikel, 75% of the team were poor. It would've been a different game if Ivanovic wasn't sent off. Whatever though, let's all just make Mikel the scapegoat for the loss right? It's all his fault. People might see me as a stern Mikel supporter, it's not even that but whatever. I just think it isn't right to basically blame Mikel for the loss. Especially when there were other players who didn't exactly play well either.