CHOULO19

Did the ref really just stop the game to have some water? WTF!

I've always like Ross Barkley but he's been very impressive so far this season. Reminds me a little of a Frank when he was his age.

But he obviously knew at that point that there is a good chance he'd join us.

You mean like Torres who bagged a brace against us days before joining us?

He's a professional. He plays football for a living. He was clearly unhappy against Swansea but he still delivered two assists. He should be able to do it again.

Why?

After the calls we got in midweek, that's inevitable.

Yeah. He said that he's working hard to be fit and if he's not for united he'll be fit for Bayern.

Back to the actual game... I think Jose is likely to make some changes after the performance in mid week. I really hope Luiz is fit but it didn't sound like he will from what Jose said in the PC. I think it'll be a tight match settled by the odd goal.

Regardless of whether this makes sense or not (for me it's "not) or whether the price is too much or not (and for it is) we have to come to terms with the fact that the deal is done. Jose would not have spoken about it in his PC if everything hasn't already been decided. So I guess, just like we did with Schurrle, it's time to put away the criticism of what's wrong about this deal and support the lad when he puts on a Chelsea shirt.

I'm allergic to false nines. They cause me to think of Barcelona and the Spanish national team and I immediately feel the need to trow up Luckily, "false 9" is not in Jose's dictionary and is as far from his footballing philosophy as possible.

I wonder if Jose meant him when he said we'll probably have to loan out if we buy..

Have a bit too much time on your hands, Ron?

I just downloaded this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3Im9FPz-A Vintage Mourinho moment. Definitely worth remembering

In those two passes he did make a mistake, but he must have played that pass over a dozen times in that match because the manager's mistakes left him stranded with out passing options. He was bound to get a couple wrong. I was one of the biggest defenders of Rafa, but IMO he takes the blame for this one.

Iva's distribution was never as good as JT's or Luiz's. The manager should not expect him to to find the right pass under pressure for 90 mins. You can't play Mata in goal and then blame him for conceding goals. Our CB's were under pressure for the whole 90 mins because they had absolutely no passing options. We played the game without a holding midfielder and no one from the 3 AMs dropped to receive the ball. The mistakes from Iva were inevitable, if not in those two particular plays then definitely in some other plays.

You can see why JT is popular with the ladies

Not that he never made at CB, but that was strictly Benitez's fault. Our CBs had no passing options throughout the game and Swansea were constantly pressing them. Wrong back-passes were inevitable.

I'm talking about the past two seasons, and in the past two seasons he's played at CB much more than he has at RB. And he's done well at CB because he is one. That's why he wasn't sold despite his average performances at RB. And that's also why we went out and bought Azpi.

I made 10 changes. Which shows how happy I was with my original choices!

I'm all for trolling the spuds, but surely there must be a cheaper way to do so..

He's been a key player because of his ability to play at CB. In 20011/12 he was almost never used as a RB because AVB preferred Bosingwa and the injuries under RDM meant that he had to fill at CB most of the games. Last season he was only used at RB in the first two months under RDM but was almost never used at RB by Benitez who preferred Azpi. Why would he be sold? Last season he was our second best CB after Luiz.

I used my wirldcard in the first week. Is that a a bad thing?

I did not mean the accuracy of the passing but rather the technique of the passing. Mikel has better passing technique than Rami. He can execute the same pass with more ease and less time. Mikel lacks pace though, and will slow down the game if he has to dribble on the ball.

Of course not. But what kind of forum would we be if we did not jump to conclusions?!