Blue Armour

I certainly won't complain if we do bring in another creative CM. BUT, if Josh has a good preseason I hope the club takes a gamble and makes him understudy to Lampard. If this still fails, we switch to 4-3-3 and bring on an extra attacker..Like I said earlier, this deep lying playmaker is more crucial to the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Well... might as well make a "Torres out" thread instead of this one.

That I can agree with...all things considered, objects like statues are rather superficial, but if the club ever decides to erect one to honor such a player, that's fine by me.

Lol..next season I'll be paying more attention to Torres than RDM...If those goals don't start to flow...

Offtopic: See, that's what irritates me a bit....If they think Osgood and Zola are the best, that's fair enough, as they are an important part of the club's history and gave it whatever recognition it had before Roman arrived..but to think Drogba is not in their league, and maybe in fact a level below them? That's just ridiculous and looks like small-club mentality...

Is it necessary for a team to always have a deep-lying creative midfielder? Granted its a good option, but even one player playing further forward with vision can provide solutions to unlock defenses. Plus, I don't expect us to continue playing with a double pivot in midfield for the whole of next season.

Wow...and sky sports is supposed to be one of the more reliable sources...

What's the problem in that? A lot of clubs flaunt their history, with Arsenal even having each of their trophy victories displayed on their stadium stands..We even have Mourinho's coat on display under the Bridge.

I wish people who keep criticizing Sturridge's ability, acknowledge this and realize their opinion is worth jack shit.

Glad you like it , and if anyone else wants the link

Depending on McEachran's pre-season showing, I'd give him the option of being understudy to Lampard and Mikel.

United with Modric next season are going to be really dangerous..Plus they will have Scholes and Kagawa, to unlock defenses. Us on the other hand will be playing without Drogba in the squad for the first time in 8 years,..At least a couple of our youngsters will have to step up their game for us to challenge for the league next season.

Why not? There are people who are fans of one club and like another club for their style of play, history,etc.

09/10. Smashed goalscoring records, great squad with experience, and a lot of players at their prime. Only thing that team was lacking was a playmaker in the form of Mata. We had Deco, but he was too old and lacked the fitness at that point to feature regularly

Apparently he's coming for the T20 Pepsi football final in June.

This is why I keep saying, that from our current crop of strikers, Sturridge will be the man up front for us next season. Say what you will about his decision making and purported selfishness, but he has the desire to succeed.

Lol., true that.

True..just because of "the capital" thing... Friendlies are nice, but it would be great if we could host a major tourno at some time..maybe pull off a "Qatar"

100k or 120k? Either way, its a shame it won't see a major tournament for at least a while.

And I also like Xavi. As a player. But what he said was uncalled for.

In recent history I would say Torres and maybe Tevez and Henry, but there are players who are otherwise ineffective yet still manage to trouble us often. : Stephen Hunt, Louie Saha, Jermaine Beckford

Pep Guardiola is a great coach and will go down in history, but that comment from Xavi regarding Mourinho does sound arrogant. There was no need for it.

I don't understand why people want to glorify our club as the antithesis to Barcelona. Its not as if we were always playing this way against them. We've played good attacking football in the past and have won. The fact is, over the last decade, thanks to the influence of a lot of managers and an experienced core of players, we have become tactically superior to most teams in Europe, and have thus managed to adapt to any kind of opposition, with any sort of first 11. Against this Pep Guardiola team we had no choice but to play in a withdrawn manner.

Tbf, Redknapp was referring to the fact that players put CL as first priority when seeking out new clubs...he wasn't exactly undermining the tournament.

He celebrates in a similar manner when Drogba scored the first goal against Napoli. He is truly a player who loves winning and relishes the competition. No wonder he enjoys taking on the likes of Ronaldo, Messi and Robben.