Blue Armour

Fully agree. Hiring the right manager is only part of the problem,...was just saying that hiring the wrong guy would probably set the club back even more.

Yes, I'll admit that I'm not clear how we would convince him to actually come here and take up just any role,... other than provide more assurances of starting more games/more playing time. My point was that its not unthinkable for Costa and Cavani to start together as striker partners, rather than competing for a single #9 spot.

A lot of people are fearing a Liverpool like decline, but you have to look at the managers that Liverpool hired since Benitez left to see why they have been in the doldrums for so long... They went for Roy Hodgson of all people, an outdated manager in Kenny Dalglish, and then an experiment in Brendan Rodgers...if they had hired someone like Klopp from the moment Benitez had left, I doubt they would have been in such a state they are in now. In this aspect, I'm glad that we're linked with the likes of Conte and Sampaoli instead

True, .. the same could have been said for Drogba and Anelka as well...however, players like Anelka and Cavani have shown their versatility before when playing in different positions from the front 3

2 strikers starting upfront perhaps? I'm counting the days till we start doing that again...Drogba and Anelka were the last pair to truly do that for us, and our goal threat has never looked as good since....

Same with us in 09-10....for example,...we had 3 options at RB, with Ivanovic, Bosingwa and Paulo Ferreira to come in,.. and each of them at the time were great-to-decent performers (yes even Bosingwa!)...I keep hoping that we can go back to having as much depth in the squad.

True...there are lot of things to be very upset about, but Lukaku leaving is one of the least... DeBruyne and Felipe Luis leaving was disappointing, but Lukaku... no, just no...

" "I think the first goal is the best thing, I didn't know where I wasGOING, but then I was in the box. I saw Gary Cahill not know where he was going so I shifted it onto my left foot. " lol

Games against Liverpool in the league cup semi-final last year? His performances were a big reason for how we went through... There are lot of problems in our squad, but I think the biggest ones are playing front of our goalkeeper.

Midway through the season I was worried about who we would lose from our squad if we failed to make top 4. Right now, I'm at peace with regards to this.

Disgusting act from Costa, even if I don't think it was a full-on 'bite'. Also Stan Collymore is a piece of shite....would throw him in the trash along with Dietmar Hamann

So he wanted to leave if he didn't get enough playing time did he...

Thought he was alright, plus he had a huge role in setting up the goal...winning possession in the middle of the park, and setting up Willian, in space with a backflick, who then made the pass to Costa

I'm not going to blame some fans for throwing flak at him for the shirt swap,...people are bound to be irrational and mad after the PSG game and the repercussions of the result... Bit tactless from Hazards side, but he can't be blamed either. He was never fully fit this season and went into this game with an injury. You can't expect him to perform at his highest level under these circumstances

Well, we were never really going to match their squad....given how FFP no longer applies to them or City, But yeah, the last two transfer windows (Jan 2016 and summer before) have been nothing short of shocking. We actually regressed in the winter window by giving away Ramires without getting a replacement

But would top 4 really matter for United or Liverpool? Qualification to CL through Europa is a strong possibility, and I wouldn't put it past one of them making i that way...

MISSING! Last seen: Someone please return him!

While I would prefer Courtois over Begovic, I don't like the fact that Begovic has been completely shut out of every one of our games... If you can start Traore up front, what's the harm in having Begovic keeping for one game? No competition provided for Tibo...

There's banter, and then there's crap like "Falcao is still omitted from the squad"... But yeah, our record at home is definitely wanting..

Fact is we can have Begovic in front of goal instead, and I can almost guarantee that we will still not have a clean sheet

Hit the nail on the head. Just take a look at the number and quality of chances Diouf had in front of goal today. Its easy to look at the one goal we conceded and point the finger at Courtois, when in reality the Belgian prevented them from going further than that. No question our defense has been making life difficult for our keepers...Even Begovic would put in solid peformances for us only to concede because of the barrage of shots coming in from the opposition.

Absolutely refuse to blame Courtois for this one. If at all he helped restrict them to 1 goal Stoke were continually getting behind our back four all game. If Diouf had been sharper in front of goal, it could have been a much worse result Our defense has sucked since start of the season, and hasn't really improved since..clean sheets are rarer than rare at this point.

So true Tomo, never can underestimate the impact of full-back who has a flair for attacking... Ashley himself started out as a forward if I'm not mistaken...

Yaya Toure what a glory hunting player....their keeper practically won it for him and his first thought is to run away on his own to claim the spotlight for himself... Compare this to Drogba whose first thought was to run to Cech after the Munich game... And to be honest, I don't know if I can stomach City winning over Liverpool...it gives us a shot at Europa which in itself is a double edged sword...other than that...

I think a lot of supporters will agree with the emboldened portion of the quote. There is no clear cut identity to our style of play at the moment, so the next window will be crucial to see if we can finally get it right....both with manager and with players.