bababoom

No matter how poor Ivanovic's been, do you guys really fancy Cole against Navas? He may offer us more balance on the left, but he'll be exploited. Elmohamady went past him for fun a few weeks ago. Cole has always struggled against faster players, but it seems like this season even the slower players get the better of him. Cech Iva - Cahill - Terry - Azpi Ramires - Matic - Lampard Willian/Oscar Hazard Eto'o I'm leaning towards Willian instead of Oscar, we're going to need the pace and power of both Willlian and Hazard on the break, City look vulnerable at the back when teams counter quickly, look at the Liverpool game for example.

Have you seen Hazard play this season? I think most fans will say he's more talented than Juan, both are brilliant players mind you. I understand you bought Juan for £37 million, he's your record signing, but it seems like you can't take the fact that a lot of us rate Hazard higher... both are different players, but if you offered me Mata or Hazard, i'd pick Hazard any day of the week.

Arsenal and Liverpool both had the best defense in the league when they played City... it didn't end well. In all honesty i'm confident, it'll be a good match, i just hope we don't play for the draw like we did against United (away) and Arsenal.

When we signed KDB he had a medical here and went back to Belgium for the rest of the season.

Frustrating game, attack vs defence, very hard to break down a team with eleven men behind the ball, add the fact we haven't got a striker... predictable outcome. Now we know how Barca and Bayern fans feel, we did that in the CL. No doubt we defended great but so did West Ham, so all the people saying they played 'Anti-football' just remember we won the CL playing the same way. We play City on Monday and even though i want us to go for the win, i have a feeling Jose will settle for a draw, Wouldn't be the worst result tbh. All in all very frustrating night.

Why is Mikel fucking shooting all of a sudden? stop.

I agree, but do we really want Cole to play against Diame/Jarvis and Downing... that's a horror show waiting to happen.

We haven't played shit, it's just hard to break West Ham down, in the last ten minutes they were hanging on. A goal will come.

Mikel finally passes the ball forward and it gets intercepted... typical. Matic should of started (although we're probably resting him for City), Ramires and Mikel are taking too many touches allowing West Ham to get back into their shape.

Willian's been pretty poor imo...

We won the champions league by doing it, we really cant complain.

Aleksandar Holiga‏@AlexHoliga 'I spoke to Mourinho, he told me they're seriously counting on me', says Matej Delač, Chelsea GK on loan to Sarajevo. Remember him? Wonder what this mean for Courtois? maybe we are going to sell him...

Four.

You quoted me before i finished editing my post... i wasn't quick enough

Fair enough. Anyway Alaba only has three assists this season, in his entire Career at Bayern he only has 12 assists. Baines has 0 assists this season, last season 5 and the season before that 2. Alba only has 1 assist this season, last season 5. My point is, it's not really a LBs job to get assists. It's not something you can hold against Shaw as some sort of flaw in his game... I know you only stated a fact, but certain people in this thread are trying to use it as leverage for their argument.

A lot of Everton fans are saying he's been poor for many months now, hopefully when he recovers he'll get back to form.

Might as well get Beckham out of retirement, heard he's good at crossing..

When Jose was at the club first time around i cant recall us pressing high up the pitch, we just went into a defensive shape. I agree at Inter and Real they definitely pressed high. Dortmund don't play 'high pressing possession based' football, they play counter attack. They never dominate a match with possession (well against the big teams), The main difference is that once they get the ball, they have so many men running forward in support. Also some of their passing moves are out of this world. Good video showing some of their best plays, ps sorry about the music.

Did i say he's worth that much? he's 18 and already one of the better LBs in the league, in five years time i think he'll be one of the best LBs in Europe. He's going to be sold for 20- 25 million, not 30 million. Also Marcelo world class.. Great going forward, but such a poor defender... Actually that pretty much sums up PVA.

Hazard was on fire against them last season, expect two men to be on him.

Not true, he got one last season vs Chelsea, 2-2, Puncheon the scorer.

To be honest A.Cole was never the best crosser, he did attempt (unlike now), but Shaw has a good cross on him, pace, power, height, the kid has everything.

He's also got a sweet left foot.

Mourinho on Hazard - "Does he have the capacity to reach the level of a Messi or Cristiano? Now I say yes, because his evolution is great. He has time to become a great, great player and arrive where they are – he's 23, and Cristiano is 28, Messi 26.. so there is space for further evolution, and there's a great ambition in him"

Way too much, City making a mockery of FFP.