CHOULO19

Mata + KDB = 37m + 17m = 54m Matic + Salah + Zouma = 21m + 11m + 12.5m = 43.5m 54m - 43.5m = 10.5m Still great business, just not great math

Not his debut. He came on for Piazon in their previous game for the last 20 mins or so.

Took an underachieving Spainish NT and made them the most dominant NT probably in history. RIP http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/5456/international-football/2014/02/01/4586799/spain-european-championship-winning-coach-luis-aragones-dies

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30, actually.

We've just bought a central midfielder and we have MVG and possibly Romeu returning next season. I really doubt we will be targeting another CM in the summer.

Why are people stressing about the title. Our aim has always been top 3. If something happen to City and they seriously fuck up, then we or Arsenal can capitalize. But this is City's title to lose regardless of the outcome of this match.

City are going to play against West Ham?!

You can't blame the passers if there are no passing options. Show me an incident when someone was actually making a run and Mikel played it backwards or sideways instead. On any account, in our system, it's not the job of the pivot to get the ball into the box. That is why we built the system around a player like Oscar playing in the number 10 position: because Jose wants him to drop and receive the ball and he clearly has instructions to do so; we don't want to play long balls. But despite that, the back four and Mikel did try more long balls yesterday than usual to change the style a bit. But on any account, if you're playing 4-2-31 and relying on your two pivot players to create chances, then you've probably already lost the match. Of course it is only normal, that our AMs were taking more touches with the way that Westham were defending, you can't expect them to improvise something when there are 10 men between them and the goal, but it just shows that our offensive system could not, or rather our players aren't yet playing the system well enough to, deal with this kind of defending. This isn't just yesterday, this has been the main issue since the start of the season: the movement of the front four and turning half chances into chances and goals. Jose himself has singled out these two issues numerous times as our main problems. This has nothing to the CMs. If it were one shot, then yes you would be absolutely right, but we're talking about 38 shots in one game. You would expect one of our four top players in attack to come up with a decisive finish, a decisive pass, a decisive run...anything. So, without a doubt I put the blame on the finishing of the front four when we have 39 shots and only 9 on target and no goals. We played most of the match in their final third, it's a complete failure that we could not come up with a single goal even if Westham got lucky at times. Firstly, of course everyone contributes to the attack, but I can't blame the defenders and pivot players for bad finishing but I can blame the attackers for it. But yes, I do completely disagree that we needed more attacking players. We played the vast majority of the game in their final third. More attacking player would only have meant more people crowding the guy on the ball and making it even more impossible to shoot and more chance for them to relieve the pressure with counter attacks because we would have left ourselves more open at the back. What we needed was more quality in the final ball or final shot. The last point couldn't be more far from the truth. Arsenal play with Flamini against weaker sides just like they used to rely on Song very much to keep the ball and pressure on teams that defend against them. And City, when they won the league, used to start with Toure as a DM against weaker teams and then bring Barry or De Jong on for an AM when the game wasn't going their way and they would often end up winning the match.

Their two number 5 had a big game yesterday. But I wonder why Jose didn't call for a few more timeouts. We needed them!

I swear, I spend more on evaluating players than on actual transfers! But the leagues are looking very good and competitive. I've increased the number of promotion/relegation places to 3 so everyone would be fighting for something. First game on Sunday.

I actually agree with all of this. The only part of Jose's system which I still have question marks about is the attacking in the final third and the movement he wants from his front four especially that they don't seem to be able to do it consistently. Couldn't agree more about our positioning in the box, was miles better last season. We didn't play better because the ball was moving faster because the ball was moving at the exact same speed which is the speed of the movement of the front four. All of Hazard, Willian and Oscar where still taking 4-5 touches before playing it back to the full back more often than not. The difference was that Westham had no one to track Lamps late runs into the box whereas Rami was doing practically nothing in the box-to-box role. Speaking of Lampard, he should have had 2-3 goals if his finishing was better but instead he took his shots straight at the defenders or straight at the keeper. Hazard had 3-4 shots where he should have done much better with the finishing like the one at the start of the second half where he cut inside and it opened up for him but he missed the far post and the shot during stoppage time where he cut it back on his left and had a shot from inside the area but put it over the bar. Oscar was unlucky with a couple of shots and the post but he too had a couple of shots from inside the area but couldn't manage to hit the target. Eto'o was also unlucky not to score at the end of the first half but he too had a few shots where he should have done better. And don't get me started on Mikel's and Matic's shooting. 38 shots, only 9 on target and no goals. You can't possibly look beyond the finishing.

He also did it in the season where they won the league. He would bring on Barry for an attacking midfielder and more often than not it would work out for them. Plus, I gave Mancini as an example because he did it here in the EPL. Lot's of Italian managers do it: Ancelotti at Milan, Lippi at Juve...etc. On any account, I'm not saying that we should have brought on another DM yesterday, I was just using this case to explain how a DM can be important in breaking defending teams. Not just by breaking up counters, but by winning clearances back, and offering an outlet when players get stuck by the touch line and just generally ensuring that his team keep possession and keep the pressure on the other team and keep them in the final third. Yesterday, Carrol was a huge disturbance with his physical presence and his constant dropping to press our midfielders from behind. Our CBs just couldn't follow him so deep especially with the fullbacks so high up the pitch. If we didn't have Mikel and then Matic on, he would have won most of the clearances and started a lot of attacks and then there's a good chance we would have conceded. As for the changes from Stoke, I agree Willian lacks decisiveness in the final third, so do all our players in all honesty, but Schurrle isn't in great form at the moment and I think Willian provides much more especially that his movement off the ball is exactly what Jose wants, I think. Lampard is 35, there is always a case against him starting 2 games in 3-4 days, although, I thought he should have come on earlier for the invisible Ramires because his late runs could have made a difference and they actually did but unfortunately his finishing was off yesterday. Cech for Mark is an obvious one. Can't really argue against Iva at RB because I still can't wrap my head around it. As for not starting Matic, I can see why Jose did that because he's still trying to find his feet and fit in the team as was clear by his poor performance when he came on yesterday. At the end of the day, the result had little to do with our CMs or fullbacks and a lot to do with the finishing of the front 4.

Exactly. We have to look at the finishing of our front 4.

Funny thing is that Jose obviously thought we needed physical presence and a defensive midfielder yesterday or he would have started Rami and Lamps instead. Even when subbed Mikel off he brought Matic on to do the exact same job because Matic can (theoretically) shoot from distance. It's not really a foreign concept to play a defensive midfielder against teams that will defend deep to keep them pinned in. It's used by most top managers in the world. In fact, Italian managers used to bring on another defensive midfielder when they need a goal to win all the clearances and ensure that the opposite teams stays pinned in the final third like Mancini used to do at City. But I guess we are all in la la land...

Thought he was bad at RB.....up until I saw him at LB!

Nah, it just means we're raising the spirits of a young keeper just like Jose was "counting" on Kalas this season..

Had a good game just like most our players today. Kept the ball well despite Caroll trying to put pressure on him from behind. Recycled possession well and won most of the clearances, especially in the second half, before moving the ball forward again which is exactly why you need a defensive midfielder against teams that will park the bus. Plus, we needed a physical presence in midfield today. So either him or Matic had to start, and judging by Nemanjas performance when he came on, I'd say he still hasn't found his feet and settled in too well so Jose made the right choice, IMO.

Of course! I was punching the couch when Frank missed that last one, but we can't criticise them without being hypocrites.

Funny, that is exactly how I felt after that Barca game... Pretty pathetic to be mad at Westham. In fact, if anything, I praise their heroic defending especially the two CBs.

This is the most intelligent post in this whole thread, IMO.

I've just set up the new season. A short 7-week season with 3 divisions and 8 teams each. Best of luck to everyone.

I think there's enough physicality in the side even without Ba with the likes of JT, Iva and Mikel.

Good lineup. Now, let's hammer them! :blue scalf:

Hahaha. I'm getting old