magicrico

It's pretty simple when it comes to the reason we lost - The tactics we employed. We could of went all out for this win, but playing Ramiers on the right, we lacked natural width, the idea was obviously to do what we almost did - defend well smash and grab a goal, then defend some more. While i don't sit there and think they were the right tactics, I think it wasn't a bad idea because it almost work, although after they scored the peon, you knew they would go on to win. The problem is not the result, it's 4th place. Arsenal are now flying in 4th, Spurs have an easy run-in. We have the hardest run in out of the 3, with Liverpool and Arsenal to travel too. Thats going to be ridiculously hard. We have to beat Spurs or it's Europa, and even if we do, we aren't going to be in the top 4. I just feel like if we set up to win this game, we would have done. We didn't though and we got what we deserved. Nothing. Fair play to City, when you make subs and have Tevez,Aguero,Dzeko on the pitch and you took Balotelli off, you see the depth they have. So much more than us.

There are no easy draws...But just for your info...Bayern are no gimme for Madrid. I'd of hated to face them. IF we can get past Banfica, Utd drew twice against them, so it's not impossible, Zenit score 3 past them also. Personally I would say as an all round Unit, they are probably as good as Napoli, but Napoli's attack is more deadly than that of Benficas. It's a winnable tie, if we can put our heads in the game, and get through these next few weeks, lets not forget we still need to secure CL for next year, which in Essence is more important for the future. It's one of the better draws for us, But if you were to rank the teams, Benfica would probably come just underneath us.

Some people are confusing me too...Are the seond leg of both ties at the bridge???

Can someone confirm who we get IF we get past Benfica?

It could be a decent draw for us.... On the other side it could be a ridiculously hard draw. On one side you need Barca Real and Bayern and Milan If that happens and someone would be literally giving us some luck, we COULD have the "easiest" route to the final. Lets hope for that.....my gut feeling? Milan.

This maybe why....makes me feel sick. It actually makes me feel worse than JT missing THAT peno.

Extra time then?

If your question is would i rather have Sturridge or Torres then its obviously Sturridge all day every day. End of. I don't get why people call for Torres to be put in when he doesn't perform. People actually think he should be our no1 striker next year too?! GTFO He's shit. Everyone can chirp and say "he makes space, he assists" yeah he has 6 assists to his name all season. Mata has 12, Ashley cole has 7, lampard 6. But yet if you played sturridge through the middle his goal return would be doubled to what it is now imo. Drogba creats space for other people and we don't suck him off for it. No chance for me. Torres shouldn't make the squad tonight. I would willingly eat humble pie but no goals in 24 hours makes me think it ain't gonna happen

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/7595924/Sturridge-I-m-a-striker Bout time we play him through the middle and bin Torres off. At least this kid wants to hit a ball at that thing you call a goal.

Haha you're Napoli though right? I'd be happy going in tonights game with your squad/position. Napoli are a great team, I hope our boys have their striking boots on. Could be a stormer!

Yeah looking at the coming fixtures, we had the hardest runin with 5 out of 10 games away from home and i'd say 5 out of 10 games very difficult, Man City, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Fulham. The other 5 are at home, still have Newcastle and possible relegation candidates Blackburn. Arsenal have 3 tough games i'd say in Man City, Us and Everton who just got done by the bin dippers. So i'd guess at Arsenal beating Everton. Spurs have a ridiculously kind run-in. They aren't on form right now, but taking into consideration the way we are playing now, you can't say we are playing that well as we haven't all season. If we don't get top 4, can't say it wasn't deserved as our performaces have been sun standard throughtout this season. Under AVB we were awful. Now it's trying to claw our way back into it. We will need alot of luck and we will need to take 10 Points at least from the 5 difficult games, hoping Arsenal and Spurs drop points against lesser opposition. Can't see it myself.

Am bricking myself for this one too...Some reason I think it might be 2-1....memories of Barca come back

Forget about him. Done now. Ain't no way he'll come to us unless we get CL next year. Won't be impressed by anything he's seen from us this season either.

Gather you don't live in the UK mate? I know someone with two tickets...maybe gone by now though

I agree with most of what you have put except for my i'll choose Cahill over Luiz, Luiz gave too much away against Napoli in the first leg. And the obvious one is Torres. The guy is dogshit.

how is Torres even in this poll? are people off their heads or something??? where you been all season

Wolves,Norwich,West Brom, Swansea Greece beat Portugal twice,France, drew with Spain and beat Cech Republic. You have to be motivated to beat teams of that calibre. We can't turn up against the lower teams much less the big boys. So whats your point? What's your opinion of why our team is playing so poor? You trying to say we have been tired since October?

It's an example of how a manager can drill a team, motivate and make them want to succeed by employing the correct tactics. Clearly AVB done none of the above otherwise minimum would be good performances. I don't think Euro's is a joke of a tournament to win either. And you can't really compare a club to a tournament. If you read my post again it should become a little clearer to you what I was getting at.

I think the Manager is 100% responsible for the players, their tactics and motivation and the style of play a team produces. Look at what Martin O’Neil achieved with the same players as Steve Bruce within a week of becoming Manager at Sunderland! Look at what the Manager/Coach of Appoah Nicosia has achieved with the greatly unknown players of the Cypriot club. They have gone further in the CL this season than United or City for godsakes. The reason I think this is because think back to when Greece won the Euros...No major stars or high profile European players, just an extermely well drilled group who were all very highly motivated, fit and determined to succeed for the cause. These players had been bought together, trained, coached and selected by one man. Not an ‘owner’, not ‘the media’, not ‘the fans’, not ‘the board’ or a’director of football’. All of the aforementioned can be blamed when things go wrong but when it comes down to pure success or failure the buck stops with the Manager. AVB said last summer that he wasn’t going to into the transfer market before the Asian summer tour as he wanted to ‘get to know his squad better’. That was the first and biggest mistake of his Chelsea career. He already knew the majority of the players and had every piece of video and medical information on every individual player from the previous seasons since Jose and his team including AVB left. With that said he still didn't decide to buy a CF like Aguero, or realise the teams weaknesses. He stated he would play youth but he's done nothing of the sort. While people blame the players, they are not robots or machines. If they are demotivated because of the mangers poor system, or style of play, or treated of other team mates like Alex and anelka (referring to parking elsewhere and training separately), I don't even think our players look fit or look as I'd they can press another team. I think dismantling the old guard was too big a job for AVB. You can't go about it the way he has and it clearly backfired as he lost the dressing room. Without him we can do no worse than we were doing. I also think Abromavich cares about this club, whilst I think he wanted AVB to stay he knew the players wern't interested in the style of play or the way he has gone about his job. This has been reflected in results and I think RA sees that and acted to suit.

But who has AVB got to blame? He has said certain things and not performed them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out we need mata in the middle. Or a CF who scores. It doesn't take a genius to figure out we need a playmaker and a winger and a RB. All those things are pretty clear. He stated he would play youth, so even though he hasn't got any of the things we need, he could turn to youth. But he doesn't. Where does this leave us? We a team that doesn't want to play for the club and I think Alan Hansen put it best when he said that is an issue with just about every single member of our squad. We don't just need an overhaul, we need Capital and a hell of a lot of it spent to bring this squad back up to scratch.

Deserve nothing this whole season. You can kiss goodbye beating man city and Spuds. Simple wins for lesser teams. Easy win for Brom fully deserved. I wouldn't be suprised if don't get any Europe whatsoever this season

Deserved

Gotta take a draw here. how awful are we, how are we even fighting for top 4? should be mid table

unbelievably poor all over the pitch. Can't see anymore than a draw here and probably have to say that would be a decent result

WestBrom all over us