francozola

Ramires and Meireles would alwayshave more energy than lampard and essien, even if they had played against spurs (ramires did). So it was indeed a decision to play energetic players since we were away from home, but it was still a purely tactical decision. IMO he's just saying it to reduce media talk about him dropping those 2. Definitely agree about the AVB point. He was completely right to drop Essien and lampard for Napoli away IMO, but Meireles and Ramires were given wrong roles and were dreadful. Not defending him on that at all. Unfortunately mikel was injured during that period, right? It's just that RDM is handling these things much better than AVB. But i still fully believe that lampard and Essien were dropped and not rested on Tuesday.

Those players weren't being rested though. It was a tactical decision, same as Napoli. We have Villa next in the Prem, so if RDM wanted to rest them, he could have chosen to do it on Saturday. It's obvious to anyone that Prem should not be our focus any more - since the players clearly do not give a fuck about it Whether you believe it to be true (RDM's decision to be a better one than AVB's) is each person's own opinion. But the media are only saying these things to laugh about AVB

Agree 1000000000000000000% Also the media yesterday before the game saying it was such a refreshing approach by RDM to rest them, to keep them fresh, etc. Cunts.

What a SUPERB pro he is. His fitness levels for someone who hasn't been playing at all is simply amazing. Compare his performance, energy, work ethic to some of our other players and you will think he's the one playing week in week out, and not them

Wouldn't play him in the prem anymore except against Liverpool and arse. No hope in us getting 4th IMO. Save his energy for the CL and FA Cup games

Agree with that. I'd play him ahead of Drogba in all the games from now on. Except against Barcelona IF we reach the semis and get them. Drogba simply does not deserve to start. Torres as a striker isn't anything special either but a better option than Drogs

I think we should get rid of the "unreliable sources" rule. That being said, could we maybe reduce the number of urls that are posted whenever someone is 'linked' to us? We really don't need to post a link to every single article that pops up regarding player X. If its interesting and has potential to lead to some form of discussion, then by all means, but most of the time no one even replies (not even the poster of the link has anything to add) and they're kind of meaningless.

Mostly what I wanted to say has already been posted so some quick points - what a fabulous result this is. Not the best performance but away ties in Europe are always like this and to come out with a win and more importantly, an away goal is brilliant - great job by Robbie. Very good team. Glad he left lampard, Drogba and Essien out. - Meireles did alright. Just mentioning this because no one has talked about him. He did his job decently. A couple of mistakes but overall a good peformance. I can't stand the way he gets slagged off here sometimes. The hypocrisy is unbelievable, especially when lampard hasn't been doing better at all. Forgot he was actually subbed on until he fucked up a chance in the 85th or so minute. Don't want to go on the bandwagon about this Meireles vs lampard issue, but I simply can't stand some people's hypocrisy when talking about it. - Luiz, Ramires superb. Torres good energy. Kalou good work ethic. Overall a great result

Overall it's been a good half

Probably because he played for porto

This strange starting XI has actually made me more optimistic! Didn't think Di Matteo would drop Lampard, Essien and Drogba. Really fair play to him. Essiens been awful these last few weeks. Drogba pathetic against Spurs while Torres has at least seemed enthusiastic. Meireles isn't as bad as he is made out to be. With Mikel alongside him he'll be more comfortable (I hope)

Thought RDM would suck up to the old guard for the rest of the season but I'm glad to see he's taking some chances with putting lampard, Essien and Drogba on the bench.

Energy - Ramires and Meireles - chosen over lampard and Essien. Essien shouldn't be starting at all anyway. He's completely finished and put in back to back abysmal performances. Like that Torres is playing over Drogba. Like that Paulo chosen over Bosingwa. Kalou over Sturridge I don't really agree with

You'd rather see Bosingwa?

Meireles probably chosen since he can actually run. Similar midfield to Napoli away. But with mikel as the DM instead of Meireles it'll be more solid

Like this team! With the exception of Kalou lol.glad Drogba is on the bench. That awful performance on Saturday didn't deserve a start

I think they'll agree to it. But let's beat benfica first..........

It's our clueless board who make it hard. All the players he has listed are very much available in the market for similar prices - they've either got clauses in their contracts or are at smaller clubs who would accept decent offers

Welcome! :)

Yeah definitely. That applies to..... pretty much every single youth player we've had in the last 10 years

Agree, I'd start with Torres too. Anyway I'm just glad to be playing a quarter-final CL game, so am not really nervous for the game. Lets see if I still feel this way 24 hours from now lol

Di Santo I kinda agree - he's pretty poor at Wigan. But Sinclair would be a million times better than Kalou and Malouda. He puts in 100% every game, and if we'd actually given him a proper chance we'd see that he is good enough to be a squad player. Now, instead of that we're stuck with those 2 muppets on 60-80K a week doing fuck all, shooting from 40 yards or falling over the ball

:doh:

well every club has dumbass fans who don't know what they're talking about Where did you get that from??

um what? People are just pointing out some minor flaws in his game. Why is that wrong? Everyone recognizes that he's our best player. And he's definitely not short of support, so I don't know what you're talking about tbh.