Blue Armour

Absolutely right... Its fair for people to not have faith in it, but the amount of conviction the people here have to think that it most certainly won't work is strange...Many people were convinced that we would win games over QPR, Arsenal and Pool and those didn't exactly turn out the same way, did it?

Sturridge and Chris Tucker

Don't really think the subs were garbage (even though they played like that) since they were obviously brought in to defend the lead, but otherwise share the sentiments of your post....

Long story short: You're saying the club only pays attention to success and not the failures that it has encountered... Thing is, the club is now a business organization and in a business organization its all about the results. The only thing the club is "really" concerned about is 1. Trophies. The club needs at a least a few every year, otherwise some other club like Man City will throw Chelsea out of the spotlight as we don't have a glory-filled past to keep attracting public attention. 2. "Sexy" Football: To acquire the kind of popularity that Barcelona and Arsenal enjoy from the public. 3. "Stars"..Names like Ballack and Torres can always attract attention

Drogba and Anelka played well together in the 4-4-2 diamond because neither striker had to drop deep unlike in the 4-4-2 which Carlo tried to use in his last season with us...in the 4-2-4 they should not have to drop deep as both CM's will remain more or less static, just passing the ball to the wing-backs/wingers to start the attack...But yeah, there are better options than Drogba-Torres out there for strike partnerships...Maybe Sturridge could do a good job with Drogba, but then we'd be short of a good right winger...

You raise a good points about the lack of a holding midfielder to check VDV/Modric's advances and the fact that one of Torres/Drogba will have to drop deep...these are flaws, but in an attacking sense this could send the Spurs back four all over the place....If Sturridge can work well as he can, and if he works in tandem with Ramires and Ivanovic, it could be Bale and Ekoto that are pegged back...Oriol would have more work but in my formation I except both Ramires and him to restrain their attacking runs and help out defensively..Our attack will mostly be involving our front four + LWB/RB and the occasional run into the box by Ramires...so that our CM's won't be out of position when there's a counter

Again, I say that this would be our best option since our midfield can rarely do anything but toss the ball from side to side...Mata and Sturridge haven't been exactly poor in the wide role...Besides, in the formation I mentioned, I was also referring to the full-backs joining in as wide attackers...The Drogba-Torres pairing is something we haven't seen this season, so I would like to see how it works given how we've tried almost everything else (besides playing McEachran in a league game of course)

You can change the strike combo...but you have to admit, under the circumstances, our midfield is pretty poor and its best to have two wingers and two strikers...

Unorthodox..hasn't been used..but this makes the most sense to me...Lampard/Meireles are too inconsistent for me...and our midfield distribution is otherwise poor without any playmaker in the centre..heck they don't even help defend properly..we have been too reliant on our front three and full backs this season for creating chances..the only thing our midfield does is score from chances created by someone else... So I go for this formation that makes use of our forwards and our full-backs...Opinions?

I've already forgotten about this game (I don't know whether they were saving energy or just plain uninterested..probably just the lack of drive from Ramires )... Tomorrow, I hope (wrong ethics here) Arsenal do not win against city + Tottenham also fail to win....Don't really care whether the two teams from Manchester win...because over the last two games we would have at least gained a point over City, and as for United..they're behind City at this stage and therefore not really a concern

sshhh....don't give them ideas!

If the end of the previous match showed anything, it was that the team spirit was at an all time high. Hope it shows in the way we play this game....

Majority of the media just think that it opens new avenues for Man Utd to secure their title... Anyways, I'm frankly enjoying our new role as "David" since we seem to be doing it so well...miss the ol' "Goliath" days though...

Honestly, I couldn't care about what the press thought...City used to be ultra-defensive home and away, when we faced them last season and the one before, yet no-one questioned their tactics when they beat us...

The way most of the bandwagon Man Utd and Arsenal fans are reacting after this result, you'd think that one of their teams beat City last night...

A lot of the through balls he gives seem to come his left foot...including the two he gave to Cole to set up Didier on two separate occasions against Arsenal

Also true, but would not choose someone who has a chance of stopping the opposition over someone who would have no hope in hell? Anyways coming back to my earlier post about Paoulo..He could work against fast opposition if he stayed back deep like how he did against Gareth Bale one year ago. As for Jose, he generally does well against fast and tricky players like Ashley Young....Its the intelligent ones he has a problem with..

Ferreira is better at positioning himself than Bosingwa, but his lack of pace can easily be exposed by the opposition...

They started to print bull this season, and now that AVB has criticized one of their tv presenters they find no reason to hold back...

You're right..this is what Carlo used to handle a lot better, and I would love it if AVB did the same because, the press won't stop hounding him. But you should also realise things from AVB's perspective. He works meticulously and with great detail with regards to his tactics, training and game planning, and these guys sitting in some commentary box or in front of their laptops come out with garbage to undermine whatever he has done. Its only natural for him to get furious...I think he should (and I think he will) realize that at this point of the season its only a losing battle against the press and that its best to just ignore them, and occasionally come out with a sarcastic or stinging remark like Mourinho or Ferguson to put them in their place...

I have no doubt that Torres does try hard to make himself useful, but my biggest fear is what'll happen if he goes into another slump? How long will it be before he can pull out of that one? And many people say that the support from midfield is so poor, that Torres has nothing to work with. Now suppose we had Modric as well as Mata.. Its not as if these two players would be available in every game....Does that mean Torres will work only if the "right" players are behind him? I certainly hope he can pull himself together and prove to all his doubters that he's not just here for the trophies...

Its not the first time I've seen them come up with ridiculous scorelines...

More from Rob BEASTLy Honestly...I think AVB should just ignore crap like this from now on..

I think we should give City a taste of the same medicine they gave us back in 09-10.... Form two walls in front of the defense and hit'em hard on the counter.....(what are the odds that Mancini will try to do the same ?)

You make too much sense... (twat)