Tomo

Antonio, if there's ever a time to produce a masterclass like you did at The Euro's, this is it

Guessing that was a reference to me On a serious note as a winger my opinion on his game still stands, but he does seem a lot better suited to wingback and like a lot of inconsistent wingers reverting further back the frustrating parts of his game are not that big an issue and his pace and power come to the fore a bit more.

I think that Conte abandoned subbing him off to show him (and the rest) who's in charge.

Hopefully this is the start of us using the academy/loan army for squad depth instead of signing £7m fillers. Or even better he proves me wrong and nails down a first team place, because we will have our new captain if he does. Beautiful assist too.

Pretty good so far, but quite slow.

Funny thing is, there was still a fair number of players on the pitch for us that lacked the overall quality needed going forward and despite that we still played like we did, 9 games under Conte and I have been engourached by six of them. You can only imagine how good we will be when Antonio gets more of his players and upgrades on Cahill, Moses, Matic and Pedro. The only slight concern is the counter attack, getting caught lm the counter while winning is one of footballs biggest sins, happened vs Bristol and Swansea and was happening today until Nate came on to shore things up, which could be a problem against United. Over than that couldn't be happier with today, and three academy lads of the bench to boot.

I don't know why we are opening up for the counter at 2-0.

With respect that last line really annoys me when it's used (not just by you by anyone). Elite managers don't have to go to shit teams or clubs to prove anything, well they shouldn't have to anyway, if you had the pick of the top clubs would you go to Sunderland? Does Roman and Bill Gates have to do evening shifts at Mcdonalds to prove they have got what it takes in the world? The fact is if Pep wasn't a great manager he would have failed at Barca and had no choice but to take on jobs with that type of remit, but he didn't, he created argubaly the best side of all time and rightly has top clubs falling over themselves for him. Peps CL run at Bayern may have been an anti climax, but he had created an identity there that will last for a long time, just like he did at Barca and sadly will do at City, Heynkes 12-13 all energy counter attacking at pace team was great, but was never sustainable in the long run.

If signing Thiago Silva is what it takes to get us back in the Champions League and speed up our rebuilding process, then even £100m for him would be a bargain quite frankly.

Not as much 1 vs 1 his two major strengths are quick combination play and world class movement, thats why he was a starter in argubaly the greatest side off all time. I still love watching his goal in the 2011 CL final, one shift of the body and the nited defense were toast. Here we are asking him (it seems) to play like a traditional wide player and beat men with skill and pace and create that way, that Isn't him and there's only so much he can do when the team is playing the opposite of what brings his best.

Pedros different level to Andre. Unfortunately with Pedro however, is he can only show his best in teams who's style is insisive passing and plenty of movement, and we are the opposite of that right now. Stick him in City and he would be a success.

De Bruyne yes but Schurrle isn't that great and if was still here would be another imbalanced player with flaws that hold the team.back.

If you factor out the bad spell before Christmas last season those stats must be bordering on goal a game, Insane.

Ok I'll bite. I (and no one else as far as I can see) have said that, however i don't believe he is good enough for us and I base that opinion on about the 70 ish times I have watched him play. You're better than a cheap dig this, that type of thing was what Torres fans said when he had even a semi decent game. Although having said that, he is one of only two options at right-wing back so he will be needed a lot this season if we are to make 3-4-3 work, and most of the misgivings I have about his game isn't as big a issue in that position.

Lets flat track our way to 4th/3rd and build from there.

Half way through 07/08 up until half way through 09/10. In fact Christmas 2009 it got to the point i was genuinely wondering if we should look at selling him and going all out for Lloris. Second half of the double season he was back to his best almost overnight, it was great to see.

Isnt it? Cech lost form for nearly two years,l.

Again you're comparing players of proven quality or potential to a 25 year old who's proven nothing. Felipe was a proven world class left back, if we had a right wing version of him waiting in the wings then believe me I'd want Willian dropped as much as you do. Schurrle lost something after his unfortunate illness, Willian ahead of him in the pecking order at the time was more than justified.

And I'm not saying he then or Courtois now doesn't deserve it. Just six games of those admitedly poor stats is enough to say he isn't one of the best in the league, I mean have we learned nothing from Diego's resurgence?

6 games is hardly a great sample size, people forget Cech had similar stats under AVB until December.

Actually you are right the comparison is pointless, Papy actually shone on loan and earned a permanent move to a PL club. Are you actually comparing Moses to the likes of Coman and Kenedy? The latter two are young players with clear potential Moses is a 25 year old with 6 and a half years of PL experience and has done the bare root of fuck all during that time. I've probably seen him play over all about 70-80 times, how many times did i think he had a good game? About 10, and most of them were in the opening stages of the season when he was ahead of most in fitness. When he arrivred here the first time I wasn't convinced but as he was young i was happy to give him the benefit of the doubt because he was young, now he's 25 and still got the same issues he had then. Also you are acting like i don't want Willian to he dropped, I do, if Traore was here id be campaigning for it to happen, what I don't want is for him to be dropped for someone who I find frustrating to watch even when he's not in our colours. He deserves a chance? No he doesn't, he's been in the PL for nearly seven years and shown nothing to suggest he should even be a squad player. We cant moan at the board for lack of ambition then be happy with players like Moses. Hopefully im still having these type of debates re Moses come April, because that will mean he hasn't seen much of the pitch or even better found a new club.

He started all right like he does every season, he keeps himself in shape in the off season (fair play to him for that), which is why he is great in pre season and good when the season starts, as soon as the others catch up, that's when he disappears without trace. Papy has everything to do with this, because like Moses, I don't believe he is good enough to play for Chelsea, also I have no doubt Papy would have given 100% if given the chance, would that have stopped fans mocking him and giving him shit? I very much doubt it. Also lets not pretend our 2004-2012 bunch were walking off sweating blood and tears every single game, they did a lot of amazing things for the club and will be forever a part of our history, but there were times the attitude of the players were questionable at best, most notably under Scolari, the duration of 10-11 and 11-12 until the last two months when they saw the CL in sight, the fact some of the current lot have sunk even lower attitude wise has seemed to create the particular myth that everything was all garden and roses for the whole eight years, it wasn't. No it's not the reason we are in this shit situation right now, and playing someone who has proven not good enough at PL is going to improve it how? Like ive already alluded too Papy would also give 100% and yes id rather keep Cahill playing than entertain the idea of Papy playing for us. Courtois came into the team because of four almost flawless season's previous while Cech was floundering, Cech hasn't had a world class season since 10-11 and he hasn't been exactly setting the world alight at Arsenal either, a fair chunk of Arsenal supporters want him dropped for Ospina. I can understand some arguments for choosing Cech, the leadership part especially, but every time Tibo makes a mistake people act like we let go a flawless keeper, if Petr stayed and made some of the error's he has for Arsenal, the meltdown on the Courtois thread would make the KDB and Sturridge (in 2013) one's look calm and rational. I would happily see him dropped if the replacement was even remotely good enough, which Moses isn't. If he was going to try Costa on the right and Bats up front vs Hull (Costa has played that role before) or vice versa (if Bats can play that), I wouldn't mind, might go wrong but might work. Moses won't work, he's not good and he seems to be the new squad player pet project that fans try and make sound better than he is actually is (last year it was Remy, year before Schurrle, year before that Bertrand etc).

And as far as getting creative is concerned isn't what i suggested classed as that? And if City had say Fabian Delph and James Milner as the only alternatives im pretty sure Yaya will be playing regardless of form.

That's the problem, we have seen what he can do in the PL for over 6 years and it's not enough for us even at our current state, let alone the level we are trying to return too. If we are to drop Willian i'd genuinely rather do what Simeone did with Costa while Falcao was there and move him to the right and play Bats up front than play Moses, or (if he is capable of playing there, hopefully someone else can put some light on whether he is or no) pull an Anelka on the Belgium. If Papy was still here and the only back up would people be calling for him to replace Cahill? even at Gary's current state. I agree, but that's the reality, as soon as JT and Zouma are fit (assuming Kurt recovers well), Cahill won't be sniffing many minutes i can confidently call that, because they are three CBs better than him. I can't give the same confidence with Ivanovic, Willian and Matic, i don't like that its come to this any more than you do, but replacing them for even worse alternatives will probably make our situation even worse (hopefully Alonso will prove enough to drop Ivan, but he hasn't exactly convinced me so far).

Got absolutely nothing to do with big name status, Moses is a bang average player Stoke and West Ham passed up the chance to sign. Just find it rather ironic that we moan about signings like Papy yet champagne Moses. No, he just isn't good enough for my liking, I'm not even big on Willian either but id rather him at 50% than Moses playing.