Blue Armour

The remarkable thing about our starting lineup right now, is that we have so much firepower/defensive options still left on the bench to call on during games. Batshuayi, Willian, Terry, Fabregas....

I know a lot of players do it, but it was nice to see Costa thump the badge in his goal celebration, especially after all that transfer talk at the start of the season.

Just saw this...and that's despite all the tactics employed by City's play-makers to feed Aguero (although the Argentine can create a fair share on his own).

A big man-little man combo in central midfield, and a big man-little man combo up front. Working well, that.

I was thinking about it, but I doubt Conte will just let him waltz back into the starting 11. On the other hand, for the benefit of squad rotation I do see the point of giving him game time now and then just to keep him match fit. The interesting thing for me was that when he came on, he moved to the RWB position with Azpilicueta still remaining at RCB. Would have expected them to swap positions.

I'm not sure how you think that's the case....he does have a lot of contribution going forward. Today he assisted Hazard, created another one for Hazard and Costa, and almost scored one himself. He also had a goal scored against Leicester two games ago.

Was it just me, or was he actually applauding Hazards goal when it went in.

Tbh, he seems to get better results (barring the big games they've played this season), when Mata is present. IMO he still doesn't try him out enough, even if its more of a chance than he got here. The main reason he reverts back to Mata is because the other options, namely Rooney, and now Pogba, are not delivering enough.

Would be good if JT could play in this one,..don't think Ibra has ever had a good game against us when JT was in the lineup

The commentating gets even more annoying...in the last game they were going: 'We haven't yet seen the "traditional" Luiz mistake' ...

And moving Kante from CDM to B2B

Hmm...mentioning Chelsea directly by name. Promising signs, but we've heard plenty of stuff like this in recent times from agents trying to secure fat new contracts for their clients.

Oh yeah, no doubting that that may very well be the reason he's been hired..

Whether he needs to be on the bench or not, that's a good attitude.

Admittedly would be interesting to watch an American coach in the league, given the recent success of players like Dempsey, Friedel, Howard and Donovan.

Speaking of the Swansea game, the referee thing is a bit disconcerting...I never gave it too much attention during Mourinho's time or before that, because generally poor decisions for/against us even themselves out over the season. Dodgy decisions like with Swansea, and even in the Hull game with the penalties can make you wonder. That episode with Mark Halsey speaking in the press doesn't inspire much confidence either..

I wonder whether Carthage could have subsisted if they had chosen not to resist the treaties/sanctions imposed upon them by Rome after each of the Punic wars. But like you said, conflict and destruction was probably inevitable especially with the struggle for supremacy and protecting interests, and the animosity towards each other...Delenda est Carthago, and all that..

Just 1 of 2 genuine strikers we have on the squad right now and we would want to loan him... ...These journo's could do with at least a little bit of research before pulling stuff out of their arse.

Credit to Moses for his great perfmormance, but in honesty I think it worked really well because we had our best defender in Azpi to provide him with cover.

Probably should start wearing Air Jordan's like Neymar, considering he already has the right squad number lol.

Maybe that's the way we should be as a team moving forwards. Different horses for different courses. Switching from 3-5-3, 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 and so on. Felt we had kind of got ourselves into a rut with trying to fit players into that old 4-2-3-1 formation for the past 3 years.

In terms of amount the time period involved, or the extent of loss in form? If its the latter, I don't think Tibo has had a horror show close to what Cech had in the Champions league quarter final against Liverpool in 09. Or the 3-5 Arsenal win at the Bridge when AVB was here.

Conte seems to have taken a leaf out of the book of Klopp and Milner. When you're short on good wing-backs, play a winger there instead.

Lol....this guy has two completely two different emotional states ON and OFF the pitch: