CHOULO19

PS: Petr Cech can probably send in better deliveries from set pieces than what we've seen from Shirley today.

Three words: Off the pace.

https://vimeo.com/87881296

Well can't you dine in instead?!

No! We'll concede half a dozen goals if we play that....too much space between the two CBs!

That was exactly what was needed from him and Jose would be very happy with him. We had practically nothing of the possession in the second half before he came on. What he was supposed to do is keep the ball and string a few passes together. The objective was not to counter attack, the objective was not to concede a second which we would most likely have had we continued to play like we did in the first 18 minutes of the second half. Reread my post to TOPTB and just let those numbers sink in:

Defensively he did well yesterday, but his decision making on the ball at times is just

Was his type of game yesterday and he did very well. Took his goal well and was unlucky not to get a second when Muslera pulled off that amazing reaction save.

In the first 18 minutes of the second half we completed just 32 of 48 attempted passes. Then in the next 20 minutes after Mikel came on, we completed 91 out of 108 attempted passes. I'm not saying that was all down to Mikel, but he played a big part in that transformation. They were killing us at the start of the second half and we weren't able to keep possession for our life. It does not matter whether Mikel's passes were forward or backwards as long as we kept possession and killed their momentum. We would have most likely conceded a second had Mikel not came on.

Don't get where the criticism comes from, he came on to do a job and he did exactly what he came on to do. He killed the Gala momentum, kept the ball and gave us a lot more possession than we were having. Before he came on in the second half, the game was being playing in our third and we weren't putting together more than 3 passes in a row.

I thought he started the game well and played a role in us dominating the first 30 minutes, but in the second half, especially towards the end of it, he just looked like he didn't have the legs to carry on. He was literally walking the last ten minutes of the game. Was very surprised that Jose didn't bring Oscar on for him.

The goal aside, I thought he had a very good game, especially in the first half. I've never seen a defender dominate Drogba in the air like JT did. Granted it's now a 35yo Drogba, but still, he did very well in the air.

Rumors that Inter have made contact with him to take him back to Italy next season.

Both him and JT at fault for the goal. Cech's mistake is that he hesitates because he was unsure if Melo, on the near post would be able to get a flick on the ball. But he needs to be more assertive in that six-yard box. He did make a really great save afterwards, though.

Dude, Terry had the ball in his hands when the second one was thrown in. Of course the ref had to stop play. Plus the whistle came before Yilmaz tried to shoot at goal. He was never going to score if the ref didn't blow the whistle, Cech literally took his hand away from the ball after the whistle came. He was always going to save that. The ref had a terrible game with a lot of mistakes, but that was not one of them.

You know he was just having fun, right? Not everything is so serious. And you are right, it is really annoying not being able to argue with the older members, thankfully it is not true and completely imagined. We have been debating for about an hour now and you, and the others have expressed your opinion as have I and zolayes. Just because I don't agree with your opinion, doesn't mean I'm trying to stop you from saying it. We're just having a discussion.

PLEASE, don't! I still have nightmares about him...

Yes, you did, when you called it decent football and everything else is pathetic. I find decent football whatever approach brings my team a good result. Of course you can have whatever opinion about what the team should be playing like, but if you don't support and cheer the team on after a good result, then you're not really doing your job as a supporter.

Not a 110% maybe, but enough. I think the team defended hard. I don't mind the performance because in the knock-out stages in the UCL, each game has nothing to do with the next. The performance is over and now we go back to England for a different game where the performance will be completely different. It's not like the team can't dominate games, we've done this many times this season. We're just not at a stage where we can put in great performances every game. Everybody should know that by now.

Well then we're playing football you don't like, which, while imo is a view that lacks flexibility and pragmatism, you are entitled to. However, you can't go labeling the football you like as "decent football" and everything else as pathetic, because as we just agreed on, there is no one way to play football. That's like saying there are decent cultures, or beliefs and anything different is pathetic. It's self-righteous crap. I agree that some players didn't give 110% today, but overall, the worked hard and defended well and managed to grind out a decent result from a difficult place, so I'm content.

"Decent football" implies that there is only one way of playing football, and then you compare to it and decide what is decent and what is not. Obviously that is completely wrong, because the rules allow for infinite styles and approaches to football. As for what you can ask from your team, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing you, as a supporter, can ask is for the players to come out, give 110% effort and do everything in their power for the team to win, which is the aim of football. Booing your team when they get a good result defeats the purpose of sport.

Even that isn't enough, we need to do it while playing "proper" football

No, the aim of the fans is to get behind their team, support them, and push them into winning. You don't support a team when they entertain you and then stop when they don't. When you support a team, you become part of it and its success becomes your success and similarly its pain, yours.