Henrique

Costa is the typical Brazilian #9. His decision to play for Spain was bad news for him and for Brazil. No doubt he will be dropped at some point.

Actually I think he just getting more playing time. He is playing the same football he did last season, 3 or 4 games aside. WC goals made people believe he is better than he actually is.

People will get angry, but City defense was immense yesterday. Kompany + Mangala, what a great defense.

You are one of his fans. His goal was far from world class, even Torres would have scored that. Modern football is wingers are required to defend as well. He was not defending alone, he was poor defensively from the first minute he arrived on the pitch.

I can't understand why people are surprised about tactics today. This is who Mourinho is, we all know. The same tactics that made the team beat City at Etihad months ago, are the tactics that made the team concede the equalize today. I also don't understand people trying to prove Mourinho is not pragmatic, but a manager who take risks, its like trying to prove 7 and 7 is 15. We are still 5 points ahead of City and 4 ahead of Arsenal. Lets judge Mourinho's tactics today at the end of the season.

I understand that when you are winning and the opponents are down to 10 men, parking the bus is not the wisest move, but I'm talking about the outcome. We are still 5 points ahead of City. But of course if at the end of the season that result might haunt Jose.

I'm no accusing you of creating fake quotes, but you could be quoting a fake quote.

Abou the game, decent result. City was the better side for the whole match. I reckon we got 1 point because Zabaleta got sent off. Despite what people say, I still believe our defense if far from solid, thats why even when City was down to 10 men, we had to defende with the whole team, because our defense can't really stop deadly counters. I still believe City are favorites to win the title again. For me, great result.

If he said that, he was perfect in that comment.

Today was the perfect game to understand why Schurle is not an undisputed starting XI in Mourinho's eyes. No doubt he really knows how to score goals, but as soon as he arrive in the game, our right side was wiiiiiiide open. City explored that side, and created all their chances from the right side (the goal came from the right side). To be honest, its weird that we played such defensive game after he came, when he is more suited to a more attacking game.

You are new in this forum, thats why you don't have a clue about what I'm talking about.

Whats going to happen to UK if "Yes" wins?

Fabregas scored one, but missed an incredible chance in the 1st. Drogba missed a Torres opportunity in the 2nd. Team was way too lenient the whole match, playing like the win was a natural result. I've been saying this since last season, our defense is our weak point. Playing a more attacking football, we are conceding more goals: 7 in 5 matches. Now that David Luiz is gone, I hope people will understand that making less error than Luiz doesn't mean you are a world class defender. Another goal conceded where Cahill was doing "ball watching". Another game where Matic was leaving too much space in the mid. Its unbelievable that months ago people were saying he was as good as Yaya Toure. Good match from Hazard. Willian was good. I understand Mourinho for starting Drogba, but I hope he won't make that mistake again.

What the polls are saying about the result?

Not sure. Oscar is that kind of player that many fans think he is not good enough, but the manager loves for some reason. I get the feeling Oscar was not involved in the game against Everton because of injury.

If he plays against City, he will replace Oscar, because I can't Ramires not starting this one.

No doubt he got many fans after the WC, but he is slowly returning to his regular form. Important an useful player, but not the undisputed starting XI as his fans want him to be.

For me Matic is playing at the same level as the last season. But right now he is playing alongside Fabregas, while last season he was playing alongside Luiz, Ramires or Mikel. Its called contrast. Last season I was saying he was no more than a "correct" DM, and many people got angry. He might get better in the future, but at the moment he is not even close of being as good as pictured in this forum months ago.

People like Justin_3D were banned in the past, and few people were discussing if it was right or not, since those guys were not exactly popular. For example, most people were describing Justin banning as "epic", or were just celebrating the ban. I'm pretty sure if a "unpopular" member gets the ban tomorrow, few people will be describing the act as an authoritarian one, few people will be interested in knowing the real reasons behind the band. What really matter is: do i like this guy or not? Justin was a friend, and he was banned for exchanging some words with a MOD, and since then I've seen worse behavior coming from different guys, who were not banned (or had their ban delayed) because they were popular. I still believe Justin was banned because some people were not a big fan of his posts, they were just waiting for an excuse (I might be wrong, though). If one member is not respecting the rules, actions must be taken, it doesn't matter if the person is a good poster, its not the quality of the posts that will determine if "x" or "y" deserves the ban, its not what we are discussing here. When people start to say the ban is not deserved because the guy is a friend, or because he write good stuff, THAT is "authoritarianism".

I want to remember you guys about Negredo last season. He started really well for City, he was also called a beast, and at the end of the season Spain had to ask a brazilian to lead their attack because Negredo wasn't even good enough to make the squad.

Not sure if its only me, but Costa looks out of place playing for Spain. He is not a spanish player in terms of playing style, and he has nothing to do with Spain NT system.

It seems we were watching different games, because Azi lost many 1vs1 situations, and Cahill lost Mirallas in the first goal, defending was poor in Etoo's goal, and the defense was wide open in the 2nd one. But I already saw that pattern, last season when we conceded 7 goals in 3 matches people were saying any of our back four were to blame for those goals... For some reason people will criticize Hazard, but will avoid any criticism towards our defenders, even in game when the defense conceded 3 goals and was far from solid,

For me it was clear the problem with Azi was not lack of support, since he was losing 90% of 1v1 situations.

lol

If he needs more support coming from the wings, it means he is not good enough doing that role.