francozola

Welcome!

I always thought he would cost more than Modric... around 45-50 million ish. anyone else can confirm/deny this?

Hamsik? He's going to cost a fortune.

lol at the music he made more intelligent runs in this match than the previous 18 months combined

The stat for penalty conversions this season is ridiculous! The commentators didn't mention it but anyone know what it is after the granny shaggers miss yesterday?

Great report as always Alex! IMO Phil Jones was much better for them than Nani but anyway, it doesn't matter. Very good performance and even though we have come away with nothing, there are more positives than negatives. Our football is improving game by game. Compare the amount of creativity and smart running that we had in this game to last season - very impressive. We're on our way! Best performance at Old Toilet in the Roman era!

I really don't think that that's a given. He reacted ok after that miss, he was chasing after balls etc trying to rectify it. but the whole team gave up after that and we didn't attack any more so he couldn't get involved in that sense. I think we should wait and see how he performs in his next game before claiming that he's lost all his confidence again. Plus we have AVB who has managed Torres well this season and I trust him to keep Torres' head focused on the positives from the game etc

Don't think the miss will affect him that much. He will move on and AVB won't let him linger on it On another note, great to actually see some EMOTION from him. Taunting the Utd fans after he scored (), the scream of frustration after he blazed it over the bar, even the couple of times where he went to complain to the ref.. at least he fucking cares

Exactly!!!! I was thinking the same thing. The presenters here were going crazy, analysing every single detail about that chance and commenting that "he's back to square one" and all that rubbish! If that was Ramires again or something there's no way they would have made such a meal of it. He will take a lot of heart from yesterday's performance and AVB will continute to motivate him.

Well done AVB. Really pleased with mostly everything that went on. Only thing I was disappointed with was the Lukaku sub. but other than that, that was the first time in... years that we reacted like that. We have always lacked passion in such situations but we were excellent yesterday up. Pity that Torres missed the chance or I would have bet my house that we would have gotten a point. But even after the final whistle, I was smiling because I was delighted with the way we went about our football. KTBFFH! Me too! Especially after seeing that fucker grin at the referee/his players right before taking it

Kind of disappointed that mikel isn't playing, but I trust Raul to do a good job there

Well done AVB! That's how it should have been handled by Carlo. A manager should protect and defend his players. Luiz has a great deal to work on and AVB surely knows that but it can be done in training etc.

Oh okay, thanks. I'm biased because I'm really not a fan of his. I hate his attitude and I'd prefer to give a youngster a chance rather than just keep him to be a super-sub (I mean next season onwards). I know that he can be quality and can potentially contribute by coming off the bench but 90% of the time he can't be bothered to run or do anything useful and I just dislike the way he goes about everything

What do you mean? What was said?

He's been using the media to try and 'force' the club to give him a new contract. He has said in practically every single interview that he wants to 'end his career' at Chelsea, etc. The fact that nothing has been done in so long has to be a sign that he's not going to get one!

lol they look unhappy kalou must have been playing

Cech may want to experience other leagues. This will be his 8th season here. I'm glad Courtois is getting good experience and is doing well! We've signed him for 6-8 million, which isn't a lot of money and I'm sure if we decide to sell him (if Cech wants to stay here for a number of years) then we will recoup that amount or maybe get more

Questions about the Man Utd game... he was very calm which one journo picked up on and asked him why so and AVB just said that he wants the players to do their best... the result will have no impact on the final table because there is such a long way to go and gave examples of Man Utd-Newcastle and also us-Utd last year where there were huge gaps reduced Talked about the managers role in the game... journo asked about AVB v Fergie and he said it's not about managers going head to head.. the only role managers have is to motivate players, exploit their talent to get them to reach their full potential and then it's all up to them The only question about Torres was about whether he was pleased with his contribution and he just said he was happy with the collective team performance on Tuesday and then said that he will answer every single Torres question in that manner: by talking about the team in general and it won't help their (the media's) "obsession" which got laughs Asked whether he was following English football when Fergie became manager.. he said he was too young.. asked when he took notice of the EPL.. his love for the EPL started only after they started broadcasting the league more widely... he said the first EPL team he studied was Blackburn Asked to talk about the scouting work on Utd that he did under Jose but he said that except for a few players, they have a different team so he cannot compare them Said he's happy to have so many players fit and available even though it gives him headaches... "it takes a little bit of his heart out" every time he has to make a selection for a match because he leaves quality players out Both Hilario and Turnbull aren't 100% fit. Hilario apparently got a big knock yesterday in training and has gone for a scan. Turnbull is 80% according to him. but one of them will definitely be on the bench tomorrow

Cheers great teaser. The clue about it happening a couple of weeks ago was the one that helped

Excellent press conference yet again

Not a single one of them played in an international break? I know Raul did but that was a friendly... wasn't it? so maybe it refers to actual qualifiers?

that reply does not help at all it only makes things more confusing!

I thought that too, but then Sturridge is involved and I don't know what would be so unusual about his nationality. McEachran yes because he has Scottish roots

Wow this is tough. Could torres be in? Mata?

I say we'll win 1-0 with a Mata fk :eyebrows: :eyebrows: :eyebrows: