Tomo

They missed a trick getting shot of Santana, his pace compensated for that pair's lack off it.

Bosingwa wasn't even that good in his first season, he was still as defensively shit as he was past his injury, the only difference under Scolari is he hit a decent cross 1 time out of 20 compared to 1 in 200 when he returned. As a defender tho he has always been crap, i lost count of the amount of goals we conceded, or even chances other teams created because of him (im taking under Scolari here), he for me is bar none the worst fullback we have had in my lifetime. By Christmas in his first season i nearly started a petition to get him out and Ferreira back in.

"In 1988, Liverpool won the title by nine points, as did United in 2011. A year later both clubs relinquished their crown in agonising fashion, seeing the title snatched away with dramatic goals just seconds from the end of the final game of the season. Then, 12 months on, both clubs regained the title by a clear margin, only to subsequently see their successful and extremely popular Scottish managers resign. In 1991, Liverpool replaced Kenny Dalglish with another Scot, Graeme Souness, and the rot set in. The Reds have never truly recovered. Now, 22 years later David Moyes is the Scot selected to replace a club legend.

That's a fair point, but at the same time if we went a while without winning stuff the the likes of Hazard would surely get itchy feet. Us as fans can have all the patience in the world because we will still be around if or when our patience get's rewarded, but players have short career's and need to grab what they can.

Exactly, he has been playing because he deserves it. I was screaming at the TV when we put him back to CB to accomodate Bosingwa after the double, i know our squad depth was pretty shady, but i would preferred to have stuck Bruma in despite his inexperience or even put Essien at CB, he was that good at RB in the double season. Also i think Azpi's influence has been overstated, he had a good year for his first season in England, but he is a long way from being as good as some are suggesting he already is.

Back between 2006-2011, it was widely regarded that Arsenal had this great young team and eventually the eggs would hatch. Were in 2013 now, and we are still waiting.

I would prefer Lewa/Lukaku/Eto'o.

As a replacement for Terry? not a chance, it would be Cahill all over again, people hoping he could replace and replicate a prime Terry but with every passing match it becoming painfully clear he will never be more than a squad player.

If Dortmund go out of the CL we might be able to get this done in January. But then that means wanting Arsenal to win, can't win

Didier Drogba started as a fullback, Thierry Henry started as a winger. He's always been better at fullback for me.

The false 9 is probably the most over-rated term in football, Barca make it work because they have a footballing freak playing that role. It can look good on occasion's, but more often that not is far, far to easy to defend against, the main example is the Spain vs Italy group stage match at the Euro 2012, the first 60 minutes Spain didn't look like scoring, Italy were ridiculously comfortable.

I would be interested in seeing the turnover and loss off possession stats for Eto'o because despite his slow start i can't recall him losing possession cheaply that often, compared to a certain other forward on our books who at times last season hit 30 in that regard.

I have always preferred Ivanovic as a right back, like with Luiz in midfield, their is just something about Ivanovic as centre half that just doesn't sit right for me.

Nothing compared to the close season.

At some point we are going to need to think about a long term partner in defense for David. Terry is playing very well this season, but eventually he is going to hit father time, we have to prepare for that eventuality and not wait for it to happen like we did for the likes of Malouda, Drogba and Anelka. Cahill is nothing more than a squad player and also add the fact his partnership with Luiz is horrific, so i guess it's down to how well Kalas does when he finally get game's, could he be the solution? do we bit by bit bleed JT out while bleeding Kalas in? or is the answer someone like Managla or Subotic?

Fuck sake, the upcoming matches were the perfect time to give him a run of games. If he doesn't play against Cardiff we will feel his loss, even if he isn't scoring he is a lot more suited to playing park the bus teams than Torres and Ba are.

The bit i have quoted is the best thing i have read here for quite some time, you have hit the nail firmly on the head. It does my head in when people don't think more outside the box and enroll the same tired cliches. Making Lukaku our number 1 forward would have been a lot to ask for him in itself so young, but factoring the youth of the AM's then the demand get's higher. On the face of it Willian's signing didn't make sense, but before we were a Mata injury away from having to rely on 22 year old's to drive us forward in the biggest tournament's in the world, add a raw 20 year old being our numero uno up front, and well you get the picture. If our forward 4 were that young it would have then been incredibly hard to have played MVG (yes i know he's injured, but he wasn't at the time). It's easy to say throw them all in because of their potential and eventually they will win us trophies, but look at what happened Arsenal, it doesn't work like that. Experience is such an under-rated asset in football, not only does it add calm to situation's, but young players learn from that, young players won't learn as much from fellow pro's in their position as they would from Eto'o, Lampard, Ramires and Mata. Players who are in their prime or been around the block.

Stop quoting him, it messes with my ignore feature

There was an uproar about Cudicini getting dropped for Cech, the result? a runaway title win with the less goals conceded ever in a season. and in a couple of years when Lukaku's one of the top PL scorer's, people will be moaning about another tough decision Jose has made. For some i wonder if it will ever sink in!!!!!!

I would take him in a heartbeat, quite frankly. It's easy to put his record down to being in the Turkish League, but Drogba who even now is better than our current forwards, can't touch his goalscoring sides.

Very true, what made that performance very ironic is that he was awful for the whole of that season, apart from that game.

fair point, but Blazha is probably the best right mid he has faced for quite a while.

Will be interesting to see how Baines deals with Blaszackowski on Tuesday. That will be a test off just how good he is.

England have got lucky with Poland having nothing to play for. They will not want to get injured and miss playing time for their club's, so they will surrender the 50/50's and with that control of the game.

KDB should look at following Townsend's example. Top players coming in and competing for his position but has performed to well to be dropped.