Blue Armour

Well...there's also the possibility that Lampard isn't suited to the deep midfield role, but Jose doesn't have a choice but to play him there.

Yes, its been the same story with the bigger clubs for a while now..no one is willing to take the risk with breaking younger talent into the first team... Still wish we could buck the trend with Josh...Despite his shortcomings, he does seem to play with more maturity than most players his age.

The real reason for Arsenal's first away defeat this season...the return of:

I don't think you would want that again...like Cahill, he also has a tendency to keep backing away from the strikers until its too late. He's better defending from a wide position

Thought it was strange too, considering Cesar was on the other side...Maybe its just because Cesar wasn't on his natural side... Tell you what, I'd rather put Brana on the left instead and tell him to just stick to defending, if it means Azpilicueta can attack from his favored side..

Couldn't resist: Most of the goals through Drogba's sheer athleticism...was the best option for dealing with PL defenses.

Yes, I think for this match considering how much impact Lampard made with his runs, Mikel would have been a better option to start with. That way he wouldn't have had to make changes to the team at half-time to protect/recover the lead.

That's why we need a new CM. He obviously doesn't trust Mikel's qualities in attack, and Lampard doesn't do much in defense. Its better if he experiments with someone else in the pivot, like Essien or Luiz until a new CM is bought.

I agree that the team should be patient with the ball and keep possession when trying to break down a defense like WBA's , but our methods for breaking them down were incorrect. Passing the ball to Ivanovic every single time was a useless tactic. Mourinho himself has said earlier there was no-one to head the ball in from crosses, so I don't know why he kept pressing with that tactic.

Wasn't really excusing him...I did say it was a mistake.

He really needed some rest after starting the last two matches. Today was an opportunity to play Mata...Thought he actually was ok, not too great. The long pass to Hazard in penalty area was great to watch.

He made a mistake, for sure. But to be fair, he hasn't made too many, so far this season.

Just like he rightfully retained his place at the start of the season, when on form, he deserves to sit out at least a couple of games until he gets it back. Cesar deserves to have more chances at his preferred RB position. Possibly Bertrand can come in on the left flank, if Mourinho isn't confident to play Cole there.

Its like you said, unless some player brings an "x-factor" with them into their game, we're unable to unlock organized defences...Today it was Hazard, on some days Torres or Schurrle... There are very few consistent performers in our attack or the entire team for that matter (if you discount Ramires and Terry). Today in the first half, you could see no-one took the initiative until Hazard cut in side to shoot towards the end. They were playing monotonically (obviously under instruction) passing it out wide to Ivanovic, without seeking more avenues in the center of the attacking third. Players who once upon a time used to take the initiative, like Lampard, are past their prime and are now largely playing a supporting role. The onus is now on Oscar and Ramires to direct the play and I think they tend to run out of ideas against teams like WBA. We need a new CM in Jan to help build attacks, and also help out Ramires when defending. No doubt about it. Until then its option Lampard or option Mikel, with neither of them being the complete package. Hopefully option C Essien, can also be given a few chances until we go in for a new CM.

Just for once, I don't want the "November" curse to derail our PL season... The last time we did really well in November was back in 2009... Seriously I hate this international break coming up...wish we could set things right again asap... Just hope players come back with a fresh mentality and Torres fit again...

The last two results in the PL only strengthen this case.... I don't like the way our midfield succumbed to pressure from WBA at the start of the second half...it was the same against Newcastle...and again it was with the Lampard+Ramires pivot.... I'm guessing the reason its failing recently is because with Ramires playing games so often, he's unable to cover for Lampard's deficiencies in defense for the entire 90mins... Its easy to say this in hindsight, but it would have been better if Mikel had been brought on to just bring more cover much earlier in the second half.

I gave you a 'like' just to show I remember a time when Tommy was here (and was also a forum cult hero for some weird reason).

Never disagreed with that fact. I did say, in this thread (or the Luiz one, I don't exactly remember) that when fit and on form, Luiz is a better option. But as others have pointed out, Mourinho has to make a decision when some players are in better form than others. And,as of now, Cahill has made more of his starting opportunities this season than Luiz has.

Like I said before, we will see quite a bit of rotation for the CM places. One good game by Lampard, or one good game by Mikel is not going to guarantee a starting berth for a run of games. The only guarantee for the starting spot is Ramires when he is fit.

After looking at the highlights I have to agree...Cahill might have lost him, but Aguero does really well to stay just onside and beat the offside line Cahill and Terry were trying to play. Cahill is not Terry, so I wouldn't expect him to make the right decision against strikers like Aguero every single time. But that doesn't change the fact that for the bulk of the matches we play, he's a solid and dependable option for the manager.

I think your line-up is very good, but its just that Mourinho tends to throw on one more striker when chasing leads...In that case Eto'o could go wide, just like he used to for Inter.

The next time Jose goes all out on attack to chase a lead, I hope he opts for a front 3 along the likes of Schurrle-Torres-Eto'o, in a 4-3-3 instead of removing a defender. It's something like having Malouda-Drogba-Anelka, with Eto'o performing the roaming striker role like Anelka did.

I don't think its a coincidence that we have all 3 strikers producing the goods this season...There was something fundamentally wrong with our approach play over the past two years, with the midfielders being allowed to steal the show. I'd say Mourinho has fixed that particular problem..

I hope this injury doesn't turn out to be as bad as it may sound.

As someone who prefers Luiz to Cahill, I think Gary has more than earned his chance to start matches on a more consistent basis. Apart from the goal which Aguero scored during the City game, I can't think of too many instances where he has put a foot wrong this season, and his partnership with Terry has been mostly solid. I suspect he will start the match against Schalke, like he did in Germany