Tomo

He is wanted by Barcelona, he won't be going out on loan again.

Cardiff have sacked their head scout and replaced him with a 23 year old work experience student and we think we have it hard with manager changes?

There will be an Ivanovic vs Azpilicueta one next Followed by Eto'o vs Torres.

There often in with Mirallas, Piennar and sometimes Naismith, experienced players who have been around the block, especially the latter two. Unless Mata and Willian started every single match, he wouldn't get similar numbers here in terms of experience playing close to him I think Old Trafford was a good example when our front 4 were all 22, while all are talented to say they showed they still have a bit to learn was an understatement. I think Brazil will find it tough in the world cup, because their hopes are mainly on Oscar and Neymar, two incredibly young but talented shoulders, i would have fancied their chances more if they hosted it in 2006 when they had Dinho and Kaka in their pomp. I think the next WC is Argentina's personally,Messi will light up the world cup and truly put his name on the wall of greatness in Brazil, if their's ever something written in the stars, it's that.

Thankgod, i thought for a while i was the only one who thought Subotic was better.

Like @hjperdeath, said, i think the loan decision had a lot to do with the relative youth off our attacking mid's, an angle that no one has really covered. If we had our 09/10 squad now (at the age they were then too) Lukaku would have stayed, rotated/backed up Drogba and learned a lot, but what will he learn from players who are in the learning process as-well? Experience is a under rated term in football, i think it was one of the reason's Willian was brought, because before then we were a Mata injury away to relying on 22 year old's in our key position.

If Jose wants a high pressing game, then every single attacking player is going to have to play their part, as great a player as Mata unquestionably is, Jose is not going to scrap his plan to accommodate one player. Del Bosque doesn't do it so why should Jose? speaking of Del Bosque, maybe with more pressing to his game, Mata might actually play more games for Spain, as they play with high pressing like we are intending to do. If a few less goals and assist's for Mata coincide with the team as a whole improving and getting better results, then quite frankly that's fine. The club/team come before any one player.

Is any one else having problem's sorting out their captians, fk taker's on the new tactics base. I can't access the 'bottom left' meaning i can't order them

There seems to be some sort of general fetish for the more flashy fullback, apart from running in a straight line Bosingwa was vastly inferior to Ivanovic in every single aspect, yet the forum i was on back in 2010, there was almost widespread calls for Bossy to get his place straight back. Azpilicueta is clearly head and shoulders above Bosingwa, which is probably why he has got all this hype because we suffered with Bosingwa for so long it almost felt a relieve seeing a competent RB as competition for Ivan.

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.