Tomo

Pep and Conte are light years ahead of Ancelotti.I respect Carlo as a man but some of his tactical decisions are baffling and his teams are the worst for complacency.

Just checked, last time we won 7 or more on the spin same season was 06/07 when we did 9, mental.

When did we last do 7 on the spin in the same season? I know the last time was between 09 10 and 10 11 when we did 8, but i think our last 7 in a row in same season might have actually been Jose mark one, possibly Avram.

He would be tragic in a flat back four (im talking Bosingwa tragic) but as a wing back we have enough cover for his defensive deficiencys. Still think we can upgrade in the long run tho.

I would have taken 0-1 and regroup at half time way this has gone, absolutely delighted to be level.

Maybe upgrade is the wrong word, but it's important as a squad to evolve, actually Pedro was a benefit himself at Barcelona as Pep decided to ease Henry out despite a great season and replace him with Pedro.

Potentially as a left back if he develops correct i said which there is still a slight chance, but if i had to make a wager on how his career he will end up i would predict lower prem/upper championship.

We still need cover for both areas for me, i heard Lichtsteiner hasn't played much with Juve so maybe get him on a short 18 month contract with Kenedy returning for the left to back up Moses and Alonso. Tbh i am not convinced atall by Kenedy but i guess the six month can be served as a trail.

Those idiots (Liverpool fans) think we have had it easy since we started this run, its almost like they don't even realize they have played three of these supposedly easy fixtures themselves and only won one of them. The best one however is we are apparently going to get found out with 3 at the back because Brendan did, what those morons don't realize is three at the back requires a solid and structured defensive system, Conte is the best defensive coach in the world, Brendan is the worst defensive coach i have ever seen manage a top half PL team, there defending under him was worse than some of the bloopers i see watching the league two highlights.

He never didn't, he was physically and mentally drained last season until Guus eased him in from the bench for six weeks to help him recover.

Im sorry but how the hell have you come to that conclusion? Costa is playing argubaly the best football in his career, to drop or rest him right now would be up there with all levels of stupid , also he has been getting minutes when the games are done.Also why will we have to be relying on him for City? Costas held his own for six games and unless he has to halt a dangerous counter i can't see him getting booked.

City fair enough but Spurs will be two points dropped if we don't win, at Stamford Bridge with no Rose and no (or at worse not a fully fit) Alderwierld in my opinion their two best defenders, we should be looking to cash in on that.

He may not have much to do but no and i mean no defense is as solid as ours without a top keeper. To keep concentration when you're not needed for long periods and to do the buisness when called upon with that Negredo save and couple other catches is a hugely underrated skill, its where Cudicini and currently De Gea let themselves down. We need to throw money at a new contact.

Hes actually world class as a wingback.

I think he will atleast make it as a squad player, our HG list needs boosting and fast and Conte will be aware of that.

They did, but all of them were squad players.

When did we last blow a chance to go top? Outside of 14/15 when we topped from start to finish i think this is our first chance to go top outright since early doors 12/13.

Thinking of it Conte probably came to the club at the best time. He in general has a group of players who are still young enough and not set in their ways so are able to learn the new tricks Antonio has applied, could you imagine if he tried a high energy 3-4-3 on the old guard? He would have been chased out of Cobham with a pitch fork within a week

We shouldn't renew any of them, none fit Conte's tactics going forward.

Lets not pretend Wenger is without his horrible moment's, i mean remember the way he use to accuse teams who didn't open up to them of playing anti football, he was awful at it back in the late 00's especially, accusing not only Pulis, Allardyce and O Neil of it but Ancelotti and Fergie as well. Lets not forget the times he refused to shake hands with opposition managers and tried to pick a fight with Pardew and Jol. I'm not defending Jose in any capacity here, just pointing out that Wenger's not this perfect gentleman that is made out.

No offense but i don't like it when Leicester is used as an example, that was a total freak one off in football (mainly driven by Kante's engine) and the rest of youre examples are knockout football, were there's a lot more of a chance for an underdog to do something special, i mean our worst team talent wise since the mid 90's pulled of the CL, yet in the league we were rubbish and out of our depth. United teams of the last 20 years had a lot of position's where they had the best in, Schmeichel, G.Neville, Irwin, Stam, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham Van Nisselroy,Cole were all in the top 3 in their position in late 90's/early 00's. Ferdinand, Vidic, Van Der Sar, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick (stupidly underrated player), Rooney and Tevez likewise in the three in a row team of the late 00's. Yes you need some work horse squad players as well, but to sustain success over a period of time you need at least 6/7 maybe 8 players who are in the top 3 at worst 4 in England in their position.

The curse is more because this award is usually given to midtable managers who have their team on a month long honeymoon, in general its about as accurate as this ludicrous conspiracy theory that some players/teams only show up against Chelsea.

That i won't argue with.

If Diego is fit, resting him would be insanity. That's the kind of thing Rafa use to do at Liverpool, rest some of the big boys for 'bigger' tests to come and they ended up dropping points, it cost him the title in 2009. He actually did the same for us on occasion, Hazard and Mata rested for the visit of winless QPR, we all know what happened next. There is no reason to change this current team that are currently smashing all before them and it should remain the same until fitness or form dictates otherwise.

Most of that lot seem to think we will get found out with 3 at the back because Brendan did Maybe it was more due to the fact Brendan can't coach defending to save his life.