Tomo

Matic fair point, but what on earth has Stoch done since he has left?

really ? whys that?

The funny thing is he did, he just got lucky this time, guess he deserves it tho.

Well it certainly didn't happen under Jose in Madrid, the guy is finished as a top class footballer, he could be used as an extra body to fill in against the shite sides, but anyone in the quality of Swansea and above, he should be as far away from the sub's bench as possible, let alone the starting Xl

Mikel would be decent squad player (hopefully back up to De Rossi). Torres on the other hand, how it's even debatable whether or not we should keep him is beyond me.

Didn't Barca pay a first refusal fee of around £10m a while back? if so that would make the overall fee including all that nearer to £40m.

Jose sorted out our phobia of Arsenal 9 years ago, he needs to do the same with City this time.

Last time Jose (with help from Drogba) sorted out our phobia of facing Arsenal. Now he needs to do the same with City.

Even tho it is only a friendly, the longer we go without beating a team, the longer it will play on a teams mind. A couple of years without beating Arsenal soon turned into one of the longest unbeaten sequences in football history.

This turning into Arsenal when we face City isn't even funny any more. Hoefully Jose will sort this shit out.

Essien played 19 league games last season for Madrid and i didn't watch them atall last season but im guessing not many off them were starts. If you think Mourinho will throw away title's because he has a touch of nostalgia you are being paranoid.

It wasn't Pirlo's age in itself that made people skeptical (well that is the general consensus i got anyway) it was because at the time we were already full with experiences players in their early 30's especially in centre midfield (Lampard, Ballack, Deco), which is why we were were skeptical i think. Back then we needed a young player or 2 to even it out. Now it's the opposite, we have a young talented squad and someone of De Rossi's experience is just what we need.

If this happened before we signed Mata and Hazard i would have been jealous as hell. As it happens now we have those two im not really that bothered.

When? in 2009/2010? Drogba was better than him by far that season.

Actually he is not, Yossi said when he signed here how Rafa treated him like shit, said stuff like "the fans want you to start next game Yossi, i don't know why". As crap as Yossi is now, i would have him over Marin, im not one to write players off too soon but i atleast try and look for glimpses in a player, Marin whenever he has played has shown me nothing to suggest he could become even a decent squad player for us. If we kept Kalou instead of signing this clown we would have finished 2nd.

Has any one ever lived off a run of form for so long like Silva has?

Like someone said on the previous page, swap Turnbull, Marin and Benayoun for Lopez, Schurrle and De Bruyne, our depth all off a sudden looks 4 times as strong.

Mata and Hazard. I even think Luiz, if his performances next to Silva is anything to go by, him nexxt to Kompany would be almost unbeatable. Azpi maybe in a year, although right now i would say Zabaleta is (just) better. But even so, Jose came to us last time with a squad that wasn't the best on paper, in the summer of 2004, who of our squad would have got into Arsenal's unbeaten team (on paper)? Probably only Makelele, Cech and possibly Carvalho. Whatever advantage City may have on us on paper, im confident Jose will make it up on the pitch, just like he did with the Gooner team back then.

City are over rated. Don't let the fact they seem to have our number right now get in the way off the fact they can be got at. The fact all through last season people were still calling them the best team in the league despite United running away with it says it all. Ofcourse they will challenge next term, but there not this superteam they seem to be made out to be, which stemmed from the start they made in 11/12.

Its a bit early to say, we will be able to make a better assessment at the start of August. This season i said from the start that the best we could have hoped for was 3rd with the players we signed and let go and i was right, this summer if Jose comes in and get's the balance right, improves depth i think we can win in. If Fergie stayed i would have said that we would have probably needed another season but now he has gone i think we get United. With us looking like were getting Jose (a serial winner) while the Manc clubs look set to start the season with two managers who don't have many medals between them, it's not stressed enough just what an edge that will give us, before a ball is even kicked. With the rest of the league i think Stoke are fucked unless the new manager makes some clever signing's. As Watford won't be able to do the millions of loans they have been doing in the Championship, they will get mullered unless they buy those players and more.

Bigger flop than Torres, despite the small fee.

PVA is the leftback version of Bosingwa. Because he is semi decent in attack makes him a very deceptive player, like most fullbacks who are shite defending (including Bosingwa before his overall flaws became too obvious).

We know from Jose's previous, that players that have everything in their locker but need a bit of rough edges removed is the perfect player for Jose. If DL4 isn't that player right now, i don't know who is. The Enlglish media were always going to make a Mourinho-Luiz story given their vendetta against him, im surprised it took them this long.