LDN Blue

I don't understand why Makelele's name comes up in the Mikel debate. I'm of the view Makelele today wouldn't be in the squad, because the game's moved on from that type of central midfield player.. Maybe it's just me though.

'Good piece'? Was that sarcasm?

I do love how when I get time to log on here, nothing changes - Gotta love that nostalgia xD

brilliant

They are legally allowed to refuse these orders btw guys

Not to say Torres & Hazard weren't great today, I wanted to give my MotM award to Schurrle. Thought he put in a hell of a shift tonight, helping out Azpilicueta who at times didn't look comfortable playing LB. Having the German help him, a left-footer, worked well to attempt to nullify the threat down that flank.

The problem is, because of the 'hooligan' tags that British football fans have, the PL will be unlikely to consider such proposals at the moment. The tragedy of Hillsborough will still be in the minds of the FA & PL (somewhat) to yet consider it. There are a few lower league clubs that are implementing 'standing only', but even those are in trial phases. Still have a long way to go before such moves will occur..

Indeed, really wish we'd have seen that more in his career because he was devastating!

Is this limited to Chelsea? If not, Ronaldinho v. Real Madrid 2005. If yes, Malouda v. Man United 2010 (Double winning year)

They'll probably get Mancini. Shame about Terim though, I was recently in Turkey and most Gala fans were actually quite supportive of him.

I was remembering you telling us your daughter suffered the same, when the Van Ginkle news was confirmed!

Such a shame for him. Hopefully he'll make a come back with us (as I still hope for Romeu one day)

No way. The last thing we need is Liverpool gaining more confidence. If they win a trophy this season..

LMAO these TV pictures are fricking hilarious. Balotelli takes an iPad on the bench, we do one better with an actual TV

Azpilicueta demonstrates he's more of a modern full-back than Ivanovic is. Yea Ivanovic is a safety net in that position, but with him we're just lacking that extra firepower we need coming from our offensive play. I really hope José acknowledges this, because lack of attacking play from full-backs is hurting us.

Why is making a critique so attacked here? It doesn't matter if it's 'just' Swindon with a 'B team'. This 'B' team has guys who were A-team last season like Mata, Luiz, Torres, Azpilicueta etc. It's not like they've just come into the squad not knowing who anyone is. The fact that it's Swindon doesn't make an ounce of difference when we're discussing how poor the finishing was tonight and other justified criticisms. Yes, Torres was the best player on the pitch tonight, but that doesn't mean you can disregard the sitters he missed tonight. This is the most positive we've seen him play for a while and perhaps if we weren't playing Tottenham you could make a case that he does need a run of games. I personally think he shouldn't play against Tottenham because we can't afford the luxury of having him get into those positions and not finding the net. Essien was a positive too, he was disciplined and showed there's still something in his worn out legs to carry us forward at times, but he didn't do enough to play against Spurs either IMO. It's a shame Ramires got injured because he and Mikel would have been a shoe in to be starting on Saturday, hopefully Lampard will be up for it because Ramires and MGV won't be playing. Mata and KDB weren't impressive. Those two, however, I think it's fair to put blame on match fitness.. They haven't played much and it really did show tonight. That being said, thankfully there weren't that many lapses in concentration and so I'm quite content with this result and subsequent performance. I just hope the tempo will be raised on Saturday, with the equal/extended concentration applied.

Our cheapest line-up in a while? (if true..)

Where was that Roman quote?.. And yea I can see how that might come across, especially on the evidence of how we played against Fulham & Everton. But I don't think that's the actual strategy he's trying to implement, I think that's how it's going to start. We're going to go to that against teams that will put all 11 behind the ball when we're in possession and hopefully the end goal will be that expansive, fast tempo game we all crave.

Ah, cheers! @CHOULO19,

Yea, definitely agree with that first line. You look at the differences between Rooney (the player we actually wanted) and Eto'o (the player we ended up with) and you can just tell that he's not the type of player we really wanted. That being said, it is too early to write him off. He is making himself a nuisance by playing off the last defenders, but our tactics seem to be focused around crossing. If Barry hadn't made that last-ditch tackle on Eto'o v. Everton then I think we'd be looking at a different perspective.

It's not about Marin himself though. It's the point that just because someone looks brilliant in pre-season it doesn't necessarily translate to replicating that form when it comes to the main season itself. KdB has shown that he can make that work for him though, but Mourinho's still undecided on his best XI so it's not the right time to suggest he doesn't fit with Jose's new project.

Definitely agree with you there. Kagawa is their most technically gifted player and he would really do a lot for them creatively. Fortunately, for us, Moyes doesn't see this from any point of view.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised about this, but have you noticed the lack of coverage by any media outlet on Jose's SkySports post-game interview? Aside from his digs at Redknapp and Gullit, no-one's actually paid attention to that interview. It was so insightful for the fans and anyone else that if someone wrote a half-decent article with quotes from that interview, a lot of people in modern football would think "oh, this makes sense, now I understand what Mourinho is trying to do".. Alas no. He's ignored, and the Mata rhetoric continues.

So I know I'm a bit late to this feature (by like a year ), how to you do this @ thing?

That's an unfair assumption. I take you back to Marin's first pre-season. He was being, rightly so too, praised by all of us because he really was performing well.. He was crossing well and also displaying a talent for dribbling past the full-backs. Then when it came to the actual season, he couldn't replicate that.