lionsden

Difference is this time, they don't have to take the initiative to attack at the bridge and that's when they are usually at their very best. They are just like us really minus the striker factor.

Again Atleti are completely different and play a different style to the big teams we have beaten this season and the fact that we have not shown the ability to deal with teams that employ similar tactics and style of play to atleti, not on a consistent basis anyway, should be a cause for concern to anyone. my point sounds simple enough but people want to keep bringing up our impressive record this season against the big boys which is besides the point.

If you actually read my post . . . . . Atleti pose far more threat than those teams we have beaten this season (and you can even add Bayern,Real,barca et al to the list) because they are a total mismatch for us. The issue isn't the quality of the opposition but that atleti tactics and style of play always causes us problems. if they were another posession team like Man city, Liverpool, barca, I wouldn't be worried one bit but they aren't and that's the point.

I will like to know why some are so confident of a win here. Think about this for a second, we have struggled and lost or drawn against teams like Palace, Stoke,Sunderland,Westbrom (we should have lost that one) teams that have employed similar tactics to how Atletico usually sets up. the bigger problem is AM are 10x better than those teams and I expect them to be devastating on the counter. I actually said it back in march that I'm more concerned about them than Real,bayern and just about every top club that plays possession football. Atleti play the type of football that we always struggle against. not confident at all.

fuck you Levy, the bald headed prick. that's all I've got to say.

What a ridiculous statement.

And you know that for certain. how? Man utd on paper have arguably the best striking pair in the league, how come their world class strikers (rooney and RVP) are unable to score from the "half chances" they have created this season to lift them higher up the table. they have been as terrible as us in terms of breaking down parked defences. The difference is our rock solid defence and jose. Truth is there's a correlation between creativity and strikers productivity. The difference between the RVP of last season and this season is the change in level of creativity of the team. they were very creative last season, great strikers need quality service in order to be effective and productive.

Sissoko?,tiote?. great. another ramires is just what we need. . . and people wonder why we struggle to break down parked defenses.

Fixing this issue should be the main priority next season. we cannot keep relying on luck and individual brilliance to bail us out against the smaller teams. we have to become a better flat track bully whilst keeping our big game record next season.

The problem is we are not a creative team so having a striker with the ability to create his own chances is absolutely vital and given the way we often struggle to break down parked defenses which has cost us dearly this season. I will say a creative striker is exactly what we need.

Yes by the look of things. The Benzema whose outstanding performance and dazzling skills at Lyon earned him a mega move to Madrid as part of the galatico and widely regarded worldwide as a technically gifted footballer cannot be the same Benzema you are referring to. Are you sure this is not a case of mistaken identity?

They don't have to win to advance which means the onus will be on us to take the initiative and attack against arguably the best counter attacking team in Europe after Dortmund. That's a very very scary thought. awkward situation this is.

You do realise that's benzema main strenght right? How anyone can watch him and still come up with such statement is incredible. The only strikers in Europe that I rate their technical ability above or on the same level as him are Suarez,Aguero,Rooney,RVP,Zlatan and Berbatov. he's superior to every one else as far as technical ability and creating something out of nothing is concerned.

I'm buzzing. The lads were brilliant out there, gave absolutely everything. This will calm down the liverpool media love in for a while. It would have been perfect if Torres scored (made the right decision btw) and celebrated by kissing the badge in front of the kop. that would have capped an otherwise perfect afternoon.

He just passed the ultimate test imo. He handled the pressure brilliantly. Hopefully this will kickstart his career at the club

Take that you scouse cunts. This is even more impressive than the city win. The fact that it may end the scousers title chances just makes it even more glorious

And Juventus had be stupid to agree to such a deal because they had be swapping arguably the best all round midfielder in Europe for a technically mediocre ,unintelligent midfielder and an overrated, inconsistent youngster. Just like you, I will be over the moon if that was to happen mind. won't be complaining at all.

This is a very lazy way to argue. attractive football and success are not mutually exclusive. Arsenal haven't being able to replicate their earlier success due to other factors not necessarily related to their style of play.

And what's the relevance of this statement as no one is championing the idea of first team squad composed entirely of youngsters and secondly there have been plenty of clubs with championship aspirations both in the past and present who have/had youngsters in their first team squad getting regular playing time to make your statement inaccurate. And if you bothered to read the very post you quoted you would have seen the evidence. And while we are at it, let's close down the academy and just buy an entire squad. . . .and people wonder why they call our fans plastic.

Hopefully its false rumour

I get what you are saying and I agree with it but what prompted the response was the idea that it's mission impossible for youngsters to break through at a big club and some people actually use that false claim as a justification for our failure. I only merely pointed out that other big clubs are doing just fine in regards to youth development and people should ease up on over used cliches such as "It's such a big step up", "you cannot expect a big club to give youth chances" "Doing it at reserves or lower league or midtable club is one thing bla bla bla". You at least admitted that we have weakness in that area and gave reasons why we haven't been as successful in bringing through a youngster from the academy, it's those on the other end of the spectrum that the response was aimed at. If people are going to defend the club and its youth policy then by all means use the lack of stability excuse but what I hate hearing is the notion that big clubs aren't meant to bring through youth and it's some sort of mission impossible and that we have never had a youngster good enough to make the grade either.

Yes that was a bad example however Barca-enough said Bayern- Almost half of their first team came from their youth system or were bought as a teenager and nurtured into the first team namely lahm,Bastian,Kroos, Alaba, Badstubber. Arsenal- (see bayern) Wilshere,Ramsey,Walcott,AOC,Gibbs, Gnabry man utd- Fletcher,Evans,Januzaj,Wellback,Cleverly,Raphael At this point it's not even debatable that we are pathetic when it comes to developing and nurturing youngsters into the first team. big club is no excuse for how pathetic we have been in that regard given other big clubs have more youngsters that are club trained in the first team and they actually give these kids proper chances too and not the useless 4 mins appearance in the carling cup. So yeah the hatred is self inflicted. It's no wonder Christensen's father is already about his sons future away from the club. . . .

Please let this be true.

If it's just pure jealousy which will be down to sustained success (otherwise what else will they be jealous about) then why aren't other successful teams hated or atleast as hated as us? like man utd or Barca for example.