Tomo

On a side note you should keep a close eye on Big Sam's post match interviews every week, they are actually hilarious. He once said "leave it to me im the expert not you" and at one point this season said "Jussi hasn't had much to do before today we have been that good".

What do you think you are doing putting the club before an individual? that is not the way forums operate.

im not undermining him and especially not his contributions in the last two years. But that alone shouldn't get him a free pass into the team regardless. It seems supporters never know what they want, a CFC supporting mate i have has spent the half a decade moaning about the player power at the club and now wants Mata to be played out of respect, you can't make it up.

Guardiola's no Big Sam, he hasn't won the double every season like Sam would do at Madrid, or Chelsea and United no problem, it has to be true, he said it himself.

I wouldn't say he's a master tactician, but he is certainly not a manager to take lightly, he has good a very good track record with his teams.

When all said and done, Jose wants a high pressing game, as great a player as Mata unquestionably is, he isn't going to scrap his plan to accommodate one player just because he was our best player when we finished 6th and scrapped 3rd.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/referee-jason-ward-fined-after-2837553 Fucking idiot. Should never ref again as far as im concerned. £35 fine? manager's and players get fined thousands for slating the ref's professionally and he only gets 35 for mocking a footballer that broke his leg

My thoughts aswell, say for example Falcao played for us last season, the club world cup final for example he would buried that chance Torres missed while making sure he stayed onside for the 'goal' in the last seconds. Crap performance, but world champions because we had a top forward.

I still can't forgive the club for signing Didier Drogba when we had a perfectly good forward in Carlton Cole on our books

Not for me, needs a loan in January, maybe next summer.

Im still furious we signed Azpilicueta instead of promoting Billy Clifford, he was outstanding at Yeovil Town

His commitment has never been in question but he can never be better than a squad player, he can't play the offside trap and is easily fooled by the opposition, even Liam Ridgewell managed to spin him. Luiz has had a couple of lazy games recently, but Drogba had his fair few of them when he looked like he wanted to be somewhere else but it doesn't stop some supporters regarding him our greatest ever player. Luiz's attitude overall has been very good for us, for me, their has been some games where he was the only person on the pitch putting the effort in, especially just after he joined when our double winning team were fell fed and putting next to no effort them-self's (and half that team are regarded as club legends).

RVP, Nasri, Song and Fabregas were all there in 2010/2011, i am sure that part of the reason they left was because their talents deserved better than sitting through a never ending transition (like i mentioned on my comment). Yes you are right, but then again weren't you as good as campaigning in the summer against signing Cavani because of Lukaku? like now with Witsel/Chalobah? So in theory wouldn't that be under-investing? turning down the chance to sign two players in their prime on the off chance two youngsters would turn out to be as good? and if Arsenal did invest properly, then the Fabregas would probably have had to wait a few years before he was a nailed on starter.

100% agree, Wenger and Roy Evans are the prime example's, writing off the present and planning for 2/3 years time doesn't work that much. Look at when Arsenal sold Patrick Vieira and didn't replace him, yes it gave Fabregas a chance to play week in week out, but it also meant Arsenal went from finishing 2nd with 83 points (if they weren't up against a freak Chelsea team they would have challenged for the title till the end) to 4th with 64 and needing a Tottenham food poising to get Champions League football. Yes they got to the CL final, but that was more off a one man Thierry Henry crusade. Wenger 'built for the future' and the players he pinned his hopes on either didn't make the grade in the end (Djorou, Bendtner, Eboue) or go so fed up with the long 'transition' they fucked off to actually win the trophies their talent's deserved (Fabregas, Nasri, Song) Van Persie wasted most of his career waiting for this great Arsenal team that never came. Can you imagine Hazard sticking around if we are still hiding behind transition when he is 26 while Real Madrid pushing hard for him? i can't either. One of the players we planned our future around, gone because he is fed up of waiting for the eggs to hatch, players have short career's after all. That sounds a really bad comment on a fan point of view but it's not, when i started following we were a mid table team in the 90's when i was a little, little kid, but i knew that, accepted that and adjusted my expectation's accordingly and i will do that again if we ever end up back as a midtable team in my lifetime. I just really don't want to go through all this 'this team will be great in 2 or 3 years' crap, i use to mock Arsenal fans for that, and ultimately got proved right. Ofcourse i want the youth players that are good enough to be trusted to some extent, but to be given a nailed on first team place at the age of 18-20? sorry but i cross the line there (unless that player was a complete freak of nature, which none of our youth player are).

I didn't realize Lahm was 30 already, fuck me were does this time go?

I actually think it was a good idea sending him elsewhere, i would rather he didn't get to settled in a certain place and feel he has got nothing more to prove.

Maybe Uefa/FA make a rule where every club has to name a player that was at the club before 16 either in the lineup or the bench on a matchday? or even better let us have 11 subs.

You are correct, lack of hunger was a serious problem that season because our squad was too old, just like lack of experience would be with that front four at Anfield when we are 1-0 down and the Kop are calling them every name under the sun. It seems like we have gone from one extreme to the other in near enough one fled swoop. I personally prefer a mix in the starting Xl - experience, peak and youth with the average age roughly 24-26, we have enough of two of those. I actually agree and understand with your sentiments to an extent, it's just important to get the balance right.

There's building a team and then there's completely relying on kids, i have seen Arsenal teams completely crumble under that formula and even they had some form of experience with the likes of Rosicky. Remember when we started with four 22 year old's as our main attackers at Old Trafford and looked absolutely clueless going forward? Could you imagine if we were in a top 4 fight this season we had to go to Anfield end of April 1-0 down 10 minutes left and we needed Hazard, Schurrle, Oscar and Lukaku to muster up something to get us out of the shit? Talented players with great future's, but that front four turning a loss into a win like that in the blink of an eye at a young age? If role's were reversed and we were 1-0 up in the same game, who would you be more fearful of dragging Liverpool back into it, Gerrard or Coutinho? Ofcourse i would like to see us build a team, what i don't want to see is us turning into Arsenal of the 00's or Roy Evans Liverpool and hiding behind "it will be great in 2/3 years time" line, because more often than not, it doesn't work like that.

How many top clubs actually have a 20 year old leading there line? (now and in the recent past). Mikeal Forsell got 17 goals for Birmingham (in less games than Lukaku got for WBA) in 2003/2004, imagine if we didn't sign Drogba and threw all our eggs in that particular basket? Van Persie had to wait 5 years to be Arsenal's undisputed number one.

fixed

What have Forest fans been saying?

Im not to sure on that, i think the reason we left it until after the August window because we were trying to find him a PL club, when that was unsuccessful we then had no choice but to look at the Championship again. While i can see where you are coming from regarding Alonso, i think we can do with a player approaching his prime which Witsel is, if there is one thing our squad lack it's players in the 25-29 bracket, i can't see Alonso leaving Madrid personally. Yeah Witsel might have not played in the PL yet but sometimes that works out because he will be hungry to make that step up (like say Carvalho was) and he has proven himself at International stage (all be it around great players like you said) and in the Champions League against top opponents. I think he is worth the risk, but i wouldn't exactly complain with Alonso either.

Roman's money plays a part in it yes, but at the same time most top clubs in Europe are very, very cautious with the whole youth thing these days. Chelsea, United, Liverpool, Tottenham have all got a poor record with their academy since the millennium.

I am actually not to keen on signing Pogba because of Chalobah as the ages clash which you are right about, Witsel on the other hand is what 24/25? so by the time Chalobah is 23 Witsel will be approaching his 30's. You are right in the point that Chalobah should have been playing PL football this season, whether that was for us or someone on loan, but i have no doubt he will make it here and will be our next long term captain in my book.