Blue Armour

Agree and agree. Although...., its a bit disappointing that Torres has slowed down again in the past two games....I guess I'll hold my breath till he finally starts a game with Mata

I did...and their movement was poor for periods (especially in the first half) in the match.. But even lesser players can show better off-the ball movement upfront...Why not ours?

Our style of play (from midfield to attack) maybe slow, but it would still work if our front three were more dynamic... There's hardly any movement up front...Notice the change when Mata comes in... I don't want to jump on the bandwagon and say Mata is the solution to all our problems, but I don't think its difficult for any of our other forwards to emulate him and show similar efforts..

He said it was good performance overall when you take the whole ninety minutes..He also said it was "good, but not excellent". Believe me,the guy has standards of his own and he will try to get the team playing to those.

Hah...that is so true... People say that Mata will bring the best out of Torres, but right now I see him making things better for Lampard..

Hasn't last season taught you anything?

I would give you a plus ten rep if I could... About being able to pull of a Mourinho-esque debut season, it depends on how long we can keep grinding out results. If we can at least stay unbeaten till October, then it gives something to think about.

Essien would have been an excellent captain if he was fit...Model professional and drives the team forward as its engine. But as for future candidates, maybe Conor Clifford...or Sam Hutchinson (if he miraculously returns to playing in the top level)

Can't you see my member title?

Lol..Mata's more than an LW you know...He's equally comfortable on the right, and likes to drop back to midfield.. But yes I think Sturridge could be big part of his plans, if he scores regularly

I think it was "largely" a joke mate... Anyways with Ulises Davila, i think we have ever kind of striker in our team...It'll be a shame on our midfield, if none of these guys start scoring though

The fact that he gets the full 90 mins every game means Lamps is a guaranteed starter The question is how do you get the best out of him. Like Max said, he has slowed down in terms of decision making and pace. Plus he has the added responsibility of setting up the attack in midfield. The best thing would be to let him concentrate on the final third, where he can still score with his runs and provide the final ball for an assist. To do this you would need someone else directing the central midfield. Unfortunately Mikel (though solid as a DM) doesn't play too many forward passes, and Ramires , whilst a powerhouse, isn't exactly an orchestrator. Which again begs me to ask...Why doesn't Josh get any game time? Even 5-10 mins?. The answer is probably because every time AVB has made a substitution so far this season, we've had to score a goal or 2 more to win the game which was heading for a draw or loss...So he probably relies on experience. Also one of our front three always seems to be out of form, so one sub is sure to be made in that department... However like someone else said earlier Mata as well as the new Mexican signing gives us more tactical options...These guys can play as attacking mids/support strikers/wingers....I hope we can see better in the coming days...

Looks like a good signing...Now I honestly believe we have every kind of forward in our team.... Wish we could say the same about our midfield though

Good news on that front... Cech said he's set to return well within the original time-frame... All the same thank god for the international break...

lol yeah...in fact right now it looks a bit worse.. But I believe in AVB more than any of our players...Its like you can always trust the guy to get a result...And of course, the season's only begun

That was Jose's first season.... Times have changed since then... If AVB can pull off something like that, by hardly losing any number of games, and getting max points then its cool... But its a tougher league than in 04-05, and the last two years have shown that...Goals could be important when we have to compete with the Mancs

A win is a win... But as I've said earlier I'm still worried about the CF position.. If we don't have at least one CF scoring on a regular basis, this season is going to be a let-down ...I'm not talking of a 30 goal per season or something, just about consistent scoring Now that Didier's out, its clear Torres is going to get more game-time....Not much end-product from him today, but I hope the fact that he quickly latched onto that cross from Mata is a sign of things to come... I hope Sturridge can go on a good run...right now I've pinned my hopes on him Lukaku looks promising...good positioning, decent link-up play and looked like a goal-threat...Has to improve on technique though, which doesn't look as refined as Didier's. As for the mid-field I still can't understand why Josh doesn't get at least 5 mins on the pitch... He hasn't gone on loan so I hope he gets time in the coming games

And nothing else Mata's.....

Simply Beautiful Its kind of insulting that this doesn't have so many views....

Quote:"Mata wore the shirt for Valencia and while skippering Spain's Under 21s in the summer and expressed his gratitude to Benayoun, who will now have the squad number 30." That's not a bad number either

Come on,I don't think we're being fair here... The guy has ability, and despite the recent stretches of below-par performances he does pop-up from time to time with a goal or an assist... On the other hand when Fernando has been largely ineffective in the 6 months he has played for us, most of us (myself included) make excuses for him

Only when its time to 'Panic'

Uh...No That's the sort of thing that media loves to use against Torres

Story of our group: We've sold (ok not exactly) a player to one of the clubs We're trying to buy a player from one of the clubs We've bought a player from one of the clubs