LDN Blue

Yeah, good business for Newcastle. Replacing Enrique isn't easy but Stanton can play RB & LB so he'll help their cause a lot.

Exactly. Killamanjaro makes this point often too and it's very valid. Building a squad around 1 player can be disastrous on it's own, let alone building it around a 27-year old who's not performing.

Yeah I just zoomed out. Everything is aliened properly when doing so..

Is the display fixed how it now? With members pictures & info not under the name, in the section which is now blank?

Yeah got to agree with BlueLion, Max. Finally Capello's selecting players, because they're performing well (it remains to be seen about Cole). I hope Welbeck actually starts. But not at the expense of Rooney & Bent so seeing him come off the bench would be alright too. Sturridge will get his chance, when he proves himself in the league.

Yeah. We do tend to over analyse things sometimes. I'm guilty of it too, but I do urge that everyone just wait a month or 2 more to see progress.

Consider it a good thing tbh. I'd rather keeping Sturridge injury free. We know Cole & Terry will represent Chelsea anyway. Wondering if Josh is being called up for the u21 game on Wednesday though.

Good post. Just look at United every season! They start slow and after Jan they kick into a league winning side.

Not writing him off at all. He can still be a good striker and still could get us a lot of goals. But the form that we did pay £50million for, will not be returning to him. This I am, disappointingly, sure of.

Di Maria, Marcelo & Coentrao in the same starting XI? Interesting from Mou.

I think the players just need time to get used to each other. We've got some new faces in and a new philosophy of off-the-ball play. Things will start to click soon and we'll see some good, positive, attacking football soon enough.

Might as well keep Malouda around then and hope he'll start.. Playing.

We will definitely finish above scum. Even they know it.

I suppose so. I just think we'd be better buying a proper left-winger (such as Perriera for £15million) and then make Mata our playmaker.

Good to start with a clean sheet

:pwned:

Cech Bosingwa - Luiz - Terry - Cole Mikel Ramires - Lampard - Mata Sturridge - Lukaku Would be really good to see. Ramires has enough energy and skill to play on the right and with Bosingwa making his full-back runs, Ramires' defensive abilities will make our right side quite strong. We already know Mata's qualities and he must start this game. There's no reason for him not to. With Torres' form becoming a worry & Drogba sidelined for a while it's the perfect time for Daniel Sturridge to make his long-waited come back to the squad. Luiz is also a must for me. I must commemorate Ivanovic for his performance yesterday. Really gave me confidence when Hilarious started messing up (as usual). We can only hope Cech will make a quick recovery in the next 2-or-so weeks. An Oriol cameo in the last 15-20minutes would also be nice.

It would make sense, the plan b. But what you said after would be good too. To have Modric and Mata in the middle would make our midfield very strong. Then having Perreira on the left would not be such a liability because Mata can help him, knowing Modric is still in the centre keeping the midfield strong. It would be ideal to hear we sign Modric & Perreira in the next 3 days but even if we get Perriera over Modric, it will still be beneficial to the squad. I personally think, Mata's quality is wasted on the left wing.

Needs a few more seasons to establish himself. I'm sure he can do that with Romelu gone.

I thought this was a thread dedicated to Lukaku's performance, but clearly I was wrong, reading the first few pages Anyway, Lukaku had an impressive outing in those 19mintues. What I like, is he wants the ball to feet. This automatically nullifies the theory we'll be playing the same "hoof it up and hope for the best" tactics we were dreading when we first heard Lukaku's name. It's clear he likes to run with the ball, and actually play football instead of just out-muscling a defender and hoping for the best. He does need to work on his reflexes and dribbling, but that will all come in time. He is 18 so we've got more than enough time to see him develop into a world-class striker. He's got real passion and drive right now, he wants the ball and he wants to play for the team. I think he's more than happy to come off the bench this season, he realises there's quite a huge pecking order for the forwards role, but he's sent out a message to AVB that he is ready to step up if called upon. Good signs, for now.

Having finally watched the full game. There's one thing that concerns me slightly, and it's actually a good thing too. Mata definitely like to move around the pitch a lot. Instead of staying stationary on the left, till the play arrives, he chases the play and offers support even on the right by making the run there. Now I am only judging this by yesterday's appearance, but I think he has the attributes required to play behind the strikers in the no.10, playmaker role. It would suit him ideally because he's already performing the kind of positioning and instinct required to play there. Which is why I think we should still be in the hunt for a left-winger. And I think that's what Villas-Boas has seen too, which is why he is trying to sign someone like Perreira. Because if Mata and Perreira are in the same squad, we won't be as weak on that left hand side. Mata would be able to support Alvaro as well as play in that free role. Thoughts?

Would you say Makelele was a destroyer?

Revenge is a must.

Only watched the first half so far. Lampard looked good, made some good passes and retained possession a lot better than usual. Torres looked, well he looked meh. He had sparks of brilliance (like the pass Drogba should've finished) and he had moments that made you go "..oh boy." like when he had a golden chance late on but was tackled by that Norwich defender. The goal was brilliant too, but what terrible defending from them