Tomo

I know, it was an ironic statement

He has had a dip in form this season but it wont last forever, he's too good a player. Count ourself's lucky he didn't have this dip this time last year, the eternal pessimist's and rival fans will have a field day and the media would already be labeling him a flop. They were already frothing at the mouth after the community shield, a bad start to that season i hate to think what would have been said.

True, funnily enough i wonder if the diamond is worth a go but instead of two forwards one behind the forward. -------------------x------------------ x-----------x----------x------------x ------------------Mikel----------------- ----------Rami-------Oscar------------- ------------------KDB------------------ ---Willian/Mata------------------------ -----------------------Eto'o------------ Rami can be the engine, Oscar and KDB can press the opponent and still offer creativity and then when Mata plays he will have a free attacking reign without having to worry (as much) about defending. We don't play with that much width anyway so it could work out quite well. Im probably way off the mark, that's why i ain't the manager

When i have a disagreement with another member that could potentially escalate, i stick them on my ignore list for 2/3 weeks and by the time i take them off, any potential animosity has gone. I honestly think some should consider doing the same.

If im honest i think if any of our attacking players get turned into a pivot player it will probably be KDB. Im on the opinion we should switch formation, a view that's growing bigger with every passing game, Jose got us the title in 2005 by changing from the diamond, he needs to think of something again, because 4-2-3-1 will only work with this team if Oscar or KDB turn into Modric.

This, the pro's outweigh the con's by atleast 5:1. I remember under AVB we were a defensive shambles, but the times we came close to looking solid at the back Luiz was always playing. I also remember when we beat Arsenal 2-1 at The Emirates, Luiz got took off and Arsenal started laying siege to our goal. I think our priority next season should be getting a long term partner in central defense to play with him, if only Subotic didn't sign a new contract with Dortmund

I hope he gets to start against both Fulham and Swindon, Tottenham aswel if he shines in those two. Our other attacking midfielders are hardly setting the world alight right now so this is his perfect opportunity to play his way into regular action.

The excuses that some still make for him are worse.

Torres better than Eto'o based on tonight ? Its amazing, one not great performance from Eto'o (which is still better than most displays Torres has "blessed" us with) and we forget the 2 and a half years of shite he has served us, wow.

Its safe to say Fulham and Swindon are more important than we initially thought they would be.

Its within reason, i mean what was he doing for Benteke's goal last month? and his performance in the 5-3 defeat to Arsenal shows he is a liability, its like he wasn't even playing

Im not saying it's not a bad result, but it's not like we lost to Yeovil.

It's not just this time tho. i joined this forum just after the Wolves game under Carlo and there was a fair few calling for his head on the basis on 1 and half month of bad form. I remember their was floods of comments saying RDM was the wrong man after a pre season defeat to Brighton.

Basle are a good team, they are in the CL for a reason, Man.Utd got 1 out of 6 against them, Spurs couldn't beat them. You rarely get mug sides in the Champions League these days, even the teams in pot 4 are strong. These results happen in the Champions League, i could probably find one similar result all the top clubs have had in recent times, but im too tired and half cut to look, one on the top of my head tho, Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan.

I don't see why people are blaming tonight on signing Willian It was after he went off things started to crumble. Ok Basle were doing well, but it was after that sub they started to create proper chances. I don't get the drop Eto'o for Torres brigade either, ok the Cameron wasn't great tonight but i felt he was there, we weren't playing with 10 and got involved with the play without tripping on the ball.

We have never had fast starts under Mourinho. 04/05 upto Blackburn results covered some very sketchy performances and in 05/06 yes i know we won our first god knows how many games but it wasn't until Liverpool we started performing to standard. If we are still playing like this, this time next month then get worried, but until then, see what happens. The funniest thing is fans moan when Roman doesn't give manager's time, yet the same lot we over-react after a few games.

Taking Willian off changed the whole outlook of the match, it was a typical Mourinho grind out win until then.

We should never bring Mata on when we are winning.

If that was aimed at me im not writing them off, i have clearly stated they will be up there.

@Fernando, Barcelona were not bad last year, they got 100 points because Tito put an huge emphasis on smashing the small teams, which meant they still won the league despite not beating Madrid at-all. They were still good the season before that, yes we knocked them out but that just shows how hard it is in the CL, we got knocked out in 2005 at our best by a average Liverpool side, you literally only have to be in that competition to win it, as we and Liverpool both showed. You can be the best team over 2 legs and still go out, 2009 we comfortably contained Barca at the Nou Camp and battered them at the Stamford Bridge and got knocked out, 2012 they battered us and we went through. I personally don't think Madrid will get close to another La Liga for the next 5 years atleast, and then they will realize just how good Jose was for them.

The Torres of 2008 possibly, but the Torres of today?

I do like how Jose is talking down our title chances in public, i don't believe for one second he is doing the same behind closed doors, however.

I would love to qualify after 4 games, doing it after 3 would be amazing but i think that's wishing for too much.

He's young, he is getting slowly adapted to Chelsea and the huge expectation's. Unless he proves he doesn't need to be integrated slowly (like Oscar did against Juve and Arsenal last season).

Could you imagine the conspiracy theories if say Jack Cork or Scott Sinclair does against us what Shelvey did against Liverpool?