Tomo

They still had PL games tho, Fergie wouldn't have signed him straight from Maidenhead. De Gea had top flight experience, if we credit him for that then Jose should get credit for Cech. Powell has only played twice so far this season in the league (6 times overall). Josh McEachran got more than that when he was younger than Powell is now. Cleverly was 23 and on the back off a PL loan before Fergie used him. Yes it does stick to the mind, but say for argument sake Lampard and some mythical world class forward came though at the same time as JT and was the spine for our recent success, would that justify our bad youth record the last decade?

I want Watford to go up and not just because of Chala and Zola, Hull will be terrible in the PL, god knows how their up there, they would be worse than Derby.

Jose will have to deal with some Rafa loyalist's this time. If he decides to bad mouth the Spaniard at any point, whether that is training ground or press conference, that won't go down well with the likes of Mata, Azpi and David Luiz.

Why is United always used as an example? they develop youngsters well? thats an urban myth that is living on from the golden generation. Nani and Anderson came into England with potential as high as the universe, fast forward 6 years and United fans would be pretty happy to see them out. Fergie has ruined them. Fergie never played Pogba and got rid of him, genius from someone who supposedly develops youngsters well, he never played and let go a player who United's midfield could have done with. If we let a player of that calibre go without even playing him, everyone on here would be killing the board. I cannot remember the last time Fergie has thrown a youngster in without PL experience, yet he is a genius but we are killing a young player for wanting them to gain PL experience before we play them. I just really don't understand why we use United as an example every time we go on about how to develop young players, for every Ronaldo their are many examples like the one's above where Fergie has massively cocked up on young players to a level not even we are capable off.

This again? United dropped nearly as many points before Rafa took over than they have since. How many points behind them were City at the time? 0, how many now? Their are many things Rafa has done that he deserves stick for but that isn't one of them, we were never in with a shout of the title this season, even when we were 4 points clear.

well lets be honest, that formula works.

Exactly, i remember Terry (vs Arsenal), Ivanovic (vs Swansea) and Alex (vs West Brom) make worse mistakes than Luiz has ever had, i don't want to think what would happen if Luiz made any of those 3 error's.

Do you know what i find funny about this? March 2012 it was perceived Lampard was getting in the way of the AVB 'project', we (in general) were actively calling for ruthless action to be taken against Frank. Fast forward a year, we (again in general) appeared to be getting our wish and we call the board a disgrace for effectively giving Chelsea fans what they were very vocal in calling for less than a year before. Just shows, how many football fans know what they truly want?

Actually we are not a freak one off, since Roman's takeover Inter and Real are both 1 ahead of us in terms of managers (i think, im too tired to check the actual facts right now, but their numbers are similar). All of our sacking apart from Jose and debatably Carlo were right, of course i would love a manager to stay with us for a while, but there's a difference between managerial stability and managerial stability for the sake of it.

Why on earth does the be all and end all of stability depend on how long a manager sits in the dugout? In the last decade we have had stability in abundance. A strong, powerful spine full of leaders and a dedicated owner. Do you think Liverpool had stability under Rafa? Maybe in the manager yes but Hicks and Gillett around trying to fuck them up is not stability in the slightest. Another question, how many captains have United and Arsenal has since we appointed JT in 2004? Arsenal may have a long term manager, but do they have stability on the pitch? They win fuck all, they chance their captain almost every season, have no real leaders and numerous problems in the boardroom, can they even name their owner/majority share holder whatever it is? Is that stability? really?

Ferguson is a freak one off, every time we sack a manager his name is constantly brought up to take a dig at us which pisses me off. Because Fergie proved succesful with time doesn't mean we have to give time to any Tom, Dick or Harry god knows how long on the off chance they might do the same.

I met a Madrid fan when i went to Latin America and he is devastated by Jose's what seems inevitable departure, im guessing he is in the minority?

CL is a lottery, he won it with Porto and Inter, but didn't with Real and one of the best squad's in the history of English football. Barca are getting touted as the best team ever, yet Jose managed to beat them to the title and (as good as) sealed it in their own back yard.

If he returns, by October this won't even feel like a second coming.

In that case QPR 2-4 MK Dons Chelsea 0-1 QPR Chelsea 1-0 Man.Utd Man.Utd 2-1 Arsenal Bayern 0-2 Arsenal Bayern 1-0 Dortmund MK Dons > Dortmund

No need to panic, our YC record at SB is outstanding.

The sooner he stays at centre half full stop, the better.

When it's a run in like this, for any part of the table, title, top four, relegation. When does the team with the "easiest" run in come out on top? I can't remember it ever happening. March 2010 every one was saying Arsenal's run in meant their win the title, Spurs should have been home and dry in 3rd last season with the run in they had. Those 2 have form for fucking up when their expected not to. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they both spunked points away this weekend.

I do reckon CL qualification in this Europe should be shook up a bit, maybe a place to the winners of the FA Cup, Copa Del Rey etc etc etc. Not only will it give a chance for the "lesser" clubs to dream, it will also make teams take the domestic cups more seriously as imo it's criminal how underplayed they are. Although on the flip side say that rule was in place this year and Wigan won the FA, them in the CL would not be very pretty, i imagine.

Yeh, which suggest's their are keepers out there. Would have been a class bit of business if we thought ahead and signed Tremmell on pre contract in January. Although having said that, if Lukaku goes on loan to Swansea, maybe we could bargain to try and get this guy on the cheap despite the fact he signed a new contract.

We could use him as our very own John O Shea next season, can cover across the back and in midfield. Despite his early promise i can never see him making it as a first team regular here now, its frustrating i think he has the talent but he is far too nervous and error phrone, he strikes me as someone with little self confidence in his ability.

Good shout, one of our priorities this summer should be a number 2 that will be happy not being first choice, but won't embarrase themself when they get the chance. Wayne Hennessy was a keeper i had my heart set on us signing until injuries fucked him up.

Haven't spoken to him about Marin for a long time haha, i forget the German is even here half the time.

If it was JT approaching his prime and Luiz in his twilight years then Hummels would be my preferred choice out of the two, but Hummels and Luiz (imo) will be an accident waiting to happen playing together. Where as Subotic should be able to pick up (with Luiz) where he left off with the German. One of my Chelsea supporting friends is one of them, didn't want us to sign Oscar because it would reduce Marin's game time :lol:

But it might ruin Bruma development