Bir_CFC

Ramires, Willian, Matic. Who is the last one? Guessing Mikel or Ivan?

The time difference causes a lot of problems for all mid-week games. I usually book a fake meeting on calendar and watch the matches at work. However, if you actually have work to get done, there's no way around it. I'm then forced to miss it. But I turn off the phone and everything so I can go home and watch it later. I still remember I shouted at work when Torres scored the 2nd goal against Barca in our CL winning run. People must have been thinking I'm crazy.

Your lad found a proper professional to follow. A proper role model for the kid.

Useless to say anything about him after just a 10 minute cameo. I'm just here to say thank you for lighting a fire under Willian.

Pochettino is absolutely bossing it right now. Top coach.

Like many here I hadn't really watched him play carefully before. And it's hard to trust people in this forum considering most just look at youtube and/or whoscored and form an opinion. So instead, I downloaded full matches of Colombia during the world cup and watched them with my eyes solely focused on Cuadrado. Here's what I think of him: Dribbling - easily the 2nd best dribbler in our team now after Hazard, he can definitely beat a man or more. His dribbling style differs from Hazard as he relies on his quick first dribble, body feints, change of direction and then pace to get by his man. He utilizes a lot of feints when on the ball to get the defender off balance and if successful, utilizes his pace to just blow by them. Pace - lots of pace, and he knows how to use it. Close ball control - better than Schurrle, but not as good as Hazard or Willian. I'd say similar to Oscar, maybe slightly worse. His close ball control in tight spaces is a bit hit and miss, some come off, but he tends to lose possession often due to difficulty keeping the ball under pressure. Passing - his general short passing is nothing special, whenever he gets the ball, his first thought is to take on his man and if he's not confident of getting by him, just a safe pass back or sideways (Hazard does this a lot too) Crossing - good crosser, has great shape on his crosses, reminds me of Filipe's crosses similar how he whips em in Corners/Set-pieces - he's got great corners and set-piece delivery, not as good as Cesc, but definitely better than Willian. Free-kicks - has a very powerful shot, I see him take over the similar types of free-kicks Andre took at times, long distance straight on. Vision - i don't feel comfortable judging this yet, I haven't watched enough to say good or bad here Off-ball movement - good movement, looks to play 1-2s often and is a willing runner on the flanks, doesn't get into the box as much as Oscar or Schurrle but definitely more than Willian Strength - not very strong, goes down too easily for the PL. He gets fouled a lot, but he's going to suffer like Hazard where he'll get those calls in Europe but not in the PL. He'll lose a lot of possession where he'll get slightly fouled, he'll go down and get no call. He'll need to get stronger and stay on his feet cause I see this as his biggest weakness. Hazard, Willian know how to ride a challenge and keep going, Cuadrado isn't on that level. He'll need to learn how to ride challenges and keep going. Shooting - powerful shot, that's all I'm comfortable with right now. Haven't seen enough to say good or bad. Defending - he's very much willing to track his man all the back but he isn't the best 1 on 1 defender, so unlike Willian he'll need Ivan to stay home for cover. But then again, if he's facing fullbacks more often, his main job would be to stop the cross, which he is good at. Overall, much better than Schurrle but not even on the same planet as Willian (no other AM is really).If there's something I missed, let me know and I can speak to it as well. Overall, definitely an upgrade on Schurrle imo. Very direct, much more than anyone else in the team. His first thought is always to beat him man and just run into the box to take a shot or get an assist. When he's on, he'll be very dangerous against everyone. We just need to get him 1 on 1 as much as possible because under pressure he is very much prone to losing the ball.

Like some mentioned. I thought it was absolutely awesome of our fans to start chanting "Chelsea" when he came on. They all gave him a nice applause, but they didn't let a super frank chant get started. Absolute class. Couldn't have handled it any better.

We should def press high. Their midfield and wingers are all overrated imo. If we're at the top of our game, we can dominate them imo.They didn't impress me at all last year.

74 doesn't look too bad. Yeah, it's an uncommon choice, but it's not a big deal. It'll stick out the first time, then everyone is going to forget about it. Balotelli also wears some ridiculous number, I noticed it the first time and it never bothered me again.

Probably for the heading ability considering it was about that time where city would just start pumping balls into the box.

Sold Schurrle for 24M and signed him for 27M. Good business imo. He may not be world class, but he's definitely an improvement on Schurrle.

Put him next to Matic, move Cesc to CAM.

Gotta hand it to him. Inconsistent playing time but somehow still ends up scoring a goal even time he plays.

Embarrassed for him? Lol. He'll be ecstatic that he was able to help the team. Even if it was just to waste time.

Tough game. Players were exhausted clearly. Considering everything, I'd say that was a great result. Zouma was great! And wtf was up with Terry giving every single clearance to a City player. Either clear it or make the right play. I counted like 10 times where he was about to win the ball and tried to play a deft header to a midfielder only to give it away.

Amazing performance. Clearly ahead of Cahill in the pecking order now.

Man mark, Silva and Aguero. Who else is going to score for them?

Delete - wrong thread

I thought it was KDB that wanted to leave due to the world cup? Jose wanted to keep him.

The only fear I had a couple weeks ago was that City would have been more motivated, and would want it more. It's all changed now. The things that have transpired over the last few days is surely going to light a fire under our ass. I expect the players to play like it's their cup final. Maybe we lose, but I think we'll see them give it their all and at the end of the day, that's all I want. Just don't let them win it. If they earn the win, fair enough. That's the reason, I'm actually not that nervous. Excited to see the players throw it all on the line. I know they will.

He's been a way better CM for us (offence plus defence) than he ever was for Arsenal.

Ooooooooooooooooo! Torres orgasm. Drogbaaaaaaaaaaaaa! He's pulled the rabbit out of the hat. CL final. That's what made me like Gary Neville. Hated him while he was playing.

Jose would have kept him, if Kevin was willing. The world cup really forced his decision. His quality should have never been in doubt. At his best, he can produce Mata level stats.

Zlatan is too big of an attraction to sit on the bench. He'll easily get 4 times as much money as we'd offer him to just show up in a league. Unless he's desperate for a PL title, which he's not. He won't ever show up here imo.

I like he's only on a loan. He's not Chelsea level right now, but I feel he has potential in the future. His fundamental skill set is better suited to our current play than Schurrle imo. Better ball control, better dribbling, better close control. But alas, no end product right now, if he ever gets that, he'd be a great player. I still like Salah. I know I'm in the minority but he has great potential imo. I hope he achieves it, but he's far right now for sure.