Tomo

Real have started getting in the game lately re big fees, as we saw with the Ozil and Di Maria sales.

Because Didier earned that by performances. Remy was second choice initially, hench why he was selected for the Palace and Marinbor games, but got an unfortunate injury and Drogba went on to score 6 goals in just over a month.

The thing is I have seen a bit more off the PL overall this season and if im honest I don't think the mid table - relegation teams are very good at this level, infact I think there horrible. The game that struck me the most was the West Brom vs Arsenal match late November, West Brom were beyond rubbish, they were hopeless, they couldn't string consecutive passes together ffs and the fact Arsenal only just scrapped through says a lot about them. Atletico scrape through games in La Liga quite a lot (tbh it's truly amazing how Simeone has them competiting with the big two) and the reason Barca and Real regularly smash teams isn't because those teams are bad, it's because those two are that good, if Barca faced QPR or Sunderland 9 times out of ten they would drum up equally as comprehensive cricket scores like they do in La Liga. The PL really isn't all its cracked up to be.

Not sure tbh, if he couldn't break into that abysmal Burnley team something is clearly a miss right now.

He will still technically be playing CM if we revert to 4-3-3.

I can see where your coming from but in a lot of cases average player's can end up making a team purely because they put in the donkey work that the superstars aren't willing to do to the same extent. United are the biggest example, Fletcher and Ji Sung Park on paper weren't good enough for top half sides let alone the top team yet were a key reason United were so successful between 2006-2011.

Tbh I think this game was actually similar to Everton with the obvious difference being we were in the receiving end of it this time. Both were practically games of football ping pong where the score could have easily been the same in reverse. Both were freak games with no real context so can't really be looked at for good or for bad.

That team is an open invitation for Watford to come and give it a real go. Can see us going out if we play that team in all honesty.

We had to have a near flawless first few months to get the 8 point lead in the first place, and City have had a near flawless couple of months themselves to claw it back. That's how high the standard is this year, 46 point's in 20 games is outstanding returns by both team's, the way it's going one of us could end up getting high 80s or even 90s point's wise and still lose out.

The last time we tried the "ditch expierence for youth" project it resulted in us getting into such a mess that we still haven't fully recovered from.

With the possible exception of Austin s equaliser for QPR at The Bridge, I don't think he could have done much about any goal conceded all season. He's fine.

The double team weren't perfect, infact at times there were clear warnings that the team needed refreshing but the way we ended the season papered over the cracks. Also Willian is a vital member of the team imo, if we can find someone who does the same donkey work with more end product then ok, bench him, but until then he is vital for team balance, despite the new years day kerfuffle we are playing our best football since 2010 and Willy is a key reason why. Yes rotate one or two every now and again, but constant rotation will do this team more harm than tiredness can, Benitez would have won the league with Liverpool if he left the best Xl alone and didn't piss about with it for no reason.

All teams have to adapt to be successful, no team is successful just playing one way, Pep s Barca being the exception to the rule and even then lack of plan B twice cost them a shot at back to back European Champions. On the rotation stuff, people are overplaying this, we barely rotated in the double season and that squad were a lot older than this, Barca under Pep barely rotated. Of course there will be games where player's are tired, but the pros of having a settled Xl far outweigh the cons. I mean look at the displays vs WBA, Schalke and West Ham, would we have performed as good as we did in those games if we constantly rotated the team? not a chance.

Salah and Schurrle would score and assist more most probably, but that doesn't automatically mean we will be a better team. Mandzukic doesn't score as much as Gomez, but Bayern making that change turned them from a trophy less team to treble winners.People use to say the same with United and question why Fergie played "average player's", other's questioned Peps sanity when he dropped Henry for Pedro. More often than not it's the supposedly "average" player's that actually complete a great team.

We would have signed a new number two when Cech left anyway, if Tibo got injured asking a 43 year old to play a run of games would be too much physically. Furthermore I don't think he was that good for us anyway, nice guy but if Hilario put in the performances Mark did against Sunderland and home to Leti (the two games that derailed our season) this place would have been like feeding time in the Zoo. Decent enough for a number 3, but I think he's too far past it to be number 2 here.

Cup tied is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, imagine if we choose Guarin instead of Matic for that reason? Furthermore in the CL we will probably play a deep block with Mikel and Matic holding, so Cahill will be allright with that type of protection.

Am I reading right? Mourinho picks players on reputation? This is the guy who dropped Cassilas, sold Mata ans De Bruyne when most Chelsea fans and media thought the team should be built around them, drops Cech. Infact wouldn't Luis be a regular by now if he picked on reputation? Im all for constructive criticism but to say he picks on reputation is absolutely absurd.

Finally, someone who gets it.

Im not too concerned, if we win 17 home games (which is very possible) another 4/5 away will be fine.

Mou won't be sacked unless we have a massive nose dive, Romans previous sackings run deeper than just results. Making another Scolari lite error will set us back years, under Jose we will at worst be competing at a very high level.

It will go to the last day we will be a point in front both games goalless till Lampard scores in 89 minutes to look like it gives them the title, then in the last second Drogba has his second ultimate exit. Then he text's Lamps saying "you thought you had us there".

Like Term said You have a responsibility when you build a legacy at a club. Drogba could have stayed in England. Furthermore it's the way he went about it, if he just went to City and was frank with his intention and just said yes I want to go to City it would sting but most would probably get over it in the end, the way he did it is unforgivable.

If anything good has come out of Lampard's action's its that it truly puts into perspective just how much off a legend Drogba is.

Its came close to happening by teams in recent years. City got 17 home wins last year and 18 in 2012, United 18 in 2011 (which allowed them the title despite a measly 5 away wins) we got 17 in 2010 and 18 in 2006. Winning all our home games will be a big ask, however 17 or possibly 18 is definitely doable and if we get there we will probably only need 4 or 5 more wins on the road between now and May.

Matic English is no worse than Vidic who led United to 2 titles in 4 years under his leadership. Agree about Cahill tho.