lionsden

And that right there is Einstein's definition of insanity.

Why do people always make this "black and white" statement to make football seem so simplistic. How come Man city who boast, not only the best squad in the league but also the most impressive collection of strikers haven't run away with the league? Buy a world class/very good striker and it's game over for others, only if it was that simple.

When you spend £20m plus on a defender, you had expect overwhelming majority of discussions and analysis to be centred around the incredible performances and consistency of such player rather than 1000's of pages and columns worth of criticisms and excuses. To put things into perspective, Nesta, Thuram,Rio, Thiago silva,Carvalho make the elite list of some of the most expensive centre backs in history. the same category Luiz is a part of. my question is, would anyone without the blue tinted glasses put Luiz anywhere near the category and caliber of those players? I'm tired of the excuses and "potential" talks, he's 26 and cost £21m plus Matic, when will this imaginary world class potential of his start translating into tangibles? It's only in sports where people celebrate and make excuses for failure.

The highlight of the video was Roman speaking English in front of the camera.

How about we buy an actual striker

but he can't "track back"

Atleast rafa never described or presented those terrible/boring performances as free flowing attacking football unlike Jose. he might have said we played well when we didn't but he never once championed a false notion regarding our style of football.

So?. From the way Jose came out and openly pronounced oscar has his undisputed no10 which also reflected in team selection,to criticizing his work ethic on the pitch in public (he could have told mata to work harder on improving his game tactically behind closed doors). and those 7 games he's started in the last 10 epl matches, how many has he been allowed to finish without been substituted in the 60th minute or so, and would he have started majority of those matches if oscar hadn't been injured. also how many matches has he been started in his best position as a no 10? Anyone without the blue tinted spec can see Jose hasn't handled the mata situation very intelligently and fair at all. relegating a team's best player for the past 2 seasons to the bench is not only bad for individual and team morale but terrible man management which only players with the toughest mentality can bounce back from immediately. Is it a coincidence that Mata's efficiency in terms of assist and goal scoring has deteriorated since the arrival of mourinho? mata was our primary weapon on the offensive end last season, every thing literally went through him and for a manager to make it known publicly that he's no longer the chief offensive orchestrator of the team isn't exactly a morale booster. Mata deserves more respect than jose has shown him, not only for his status at the club pre mourinho, also his professionalism on and off the pitch.

Come off it. Torres is a red wine and you know what they say about red wines.. . .the board's persistence with him is strategic. I hope Roman isn't the superstitious type hey otherwise we are fcuked for the next 3 years.

"Domestically or in Europe" I guess you missed that part huh. those teams have atleast won their respective league in recent times. They most importantly control the game far better than we do and play more exciting football than us which is more the point I was making. You must have a different definition of what constitute a deep lying playmaker to the rest of the world if you think Xavi and Bastian don't fit the definition. Moreover all action midfielders can also be regista as that tag is used to define midfielders with certain qualities and ability. specifically the ability to orchestrate play from deep and control the tempo of the game by retaining and maintaining possession even under heavy pressure, getting the ball to the attacking midfielders and strikers with the right amount of pace and accuracy and so on. just because some deep lying playmakers also have other characteristics that might be associated with defensive midfielders doesn't change a thing. By your logic Suarez and Ronaldo De lima have/had the ability to evade defenders and create chances like attacking midfielders therefore they aren't exactly strikers

That's disrespectful to a true legend of the game seriously. can you just call him Ronaldo lima or the Brazilian ronaldo or something that isn't in bad taste. sorry for having a go at you but it does my head in when people do that.

On a lighter note, if you could pick one striker/CF throughout modern history (since you started watching footie) to lead our line right now in their prime. who would it be and why. For me Thierry Henry would be the one, he's the definition of the complete forward. The combination of his blistering pace, exquisite first touch, intelligence, link up and hold up play and more importantly world class finishing would make us one of the most dominant team in the world even with our below par central midfield and defence.

True I can't believe I forgot him. for some reason carrick was the name that came to my mind as the lead utd midfielder in recent times and he's not a regista.

Because every top and dominant team in the ever evolving modern game has/had one. Domestically or in Europe with the exception of Utd. Barca-Xavi, Bayern-bastian, Dortmund-sahin/Gundogan, Juve-Pirlo, Madrid- Alonso etc. In the modern game where possession is key, you need atleast one of these type of players in your team as they are the glue that knits everything together and central component to possession based teams. It's no coincidence that we always struggle to control games against other top teams and even against some lesser teams regularly.

I said back in 2011 that he had become undoubtedly the most unadventurous and technically limited fullback still highly rated in the game and I was chastised for saying so. atleast back then he could still do a decent job defensively unlike now. he's getting by on his reputation and body of work. It's just laughable and abominable now to still talk of him in the same light as the Alaba,Lahm's of this world

And people were championing the idea of spending £40m plus on hulk before he joined zenith. I have always said, we could buy Andy Carroll for £45m and the "always look on the bright side of life" fans will still put a positive spin on it. "Carroll was a beast at newcastle before joining the scousers, he will regain his old form as he's still young so have faith. jose knows what he's doing.

Oh I forgot we are in transition. my bad.

That was my thought to. where's this creative and free flowing football he thinks we have been playing in his delusional mind. because I can't see it. we have been very shit all season

I presented facts which, predictably, you have failed to address as you obviously can't form any legit argument to defend his defensive record and performance for the past 18 months and counting. And the claim that a once world class manager can lose their mojo isn't so outrageous at all as we have seen in the past. see Hiddink,Capello, Omar Hitzfield amongst others who simply couldn't replicate their earlier success and form into the latter stages of their career.

One major factor that has been brushed under the carpet is Jose's terrible defensive record at real madrid. here's just data from games last season alone. Tue 06/11/12 UCL Real Madrid 2 - 2 Borussia Dortmund View events Sat 08/12/12 PRD Real Valladolid 2 - 3 Real Madrid View events Sun 16/12/12 PRD Real Madrid 2 - 2 Espanyol View events More info Sat 22/12/12 PRD Málaga 3 - 2 Real Madrid View events More info Sun 06/01/13 PRD Real Madrid 4 - 3 Real Sociedad View events More info Tue 09/04/13 UCL Galatasaray 3 - 2 Real Madrid View events More info Wed 24/04/13 UCL Borussia Dortmund 4 - 1 Sat 04/05/13 PRD Real Madrid 4 - 3 Real Valladolid View events More info Wed 08/05/13 PRD Real Madrid 6 - 2 Málaga View events More info More info More info Sun 26/05/13 PRD Real Sociedad 3 - 3 Real Madrid View events More info Sat 01/06/13 PRD Real Madrid 4 - 2 Osasuna View events More info Wed 24/07/13 CLF Olympique Lyonnais 2 - 2 Real Madrid More info More info he had Ronaldo,who consistently bailed them out, to thank last season. so his poor defensive record this season isn't anything new but people were blinded by their love for TSO that they simply dismissed his clear tactical flaws as a result of the poisonous madrid dressing room. Majority of madrid fans were showing growing concerns and displeasure over average-poor performances and the team's inability to control games as they relied on counter attacking tactics which while it favored the pace of Ronaldo (their best player) is seen as a sign of inferiority. (does their outcry sound familiar or not) Here's a thought, perhaps TSO isn't so special anymore and he's lost that mojo. dare I said it.

I bet william must be thinking "what's all the fuss they make about the level and quality of football at big clubs and epl", these lot aren't a patch on my former team shaktar technically and tactically"

let's hope we don't do another Sheva/Torres. or we will probably just buy another attacking midfielder.

Anyone that blames or criticises Cahill's performance tonight just has an agenda. plain and simple.

He reminds me so much of ronaldinho it's unreal. he's the most technically gifted player in our squad imho. ahead of Hazard and mata for me in that regard.

That line could work for anything really. Disappointed Americans - Mr president, why did you make a promise you couldn't deliver to the people regarding the healthcare plan Obama- "We are in transition people, try to be patient"