CHOULO19

Ah, but we're not a 'club', are we? We're a 'brand'!

We really shouldn't, but we'll no doubt have a ceremony this season because the club wants to make money and get media attention by attracting celebrities.

If only we still had Jose just for this one match..

I missed the first 20 mins ad well, but he made a few comical errors in the first half. Didn't help either that our midfield was allowing runners through like they weren't even there... Can't imagine Miazga would have done a lot worse.

Didn't state anything that differs with any of the above. Also, I specifically said 'time' not space because there was obviously lots of space yesterday. Of course he's no Pirlo (and even Pirlo was marked out of plenty of matches in his time at Juve), but I think we can create a system where we can capitalize a lot more on his passing abilities if Conte wishes to.

Yeah and how many players have that ability to make those passes? That's why he is the best passer in the league in terms of ability. Btw, most of the key passes he made yesterday were one-touch, so the argument about time is pretty weak in this particular case.

No one without blue tinted glasses ever thought that Thibaut was only second to Neuer in the world. I don't understand, what exactly had he done at Atletico that was so incredible? He had solid performances along with the odd great save. The clean sheets stats are for the entire team, not just him. I remember watching entire Atleti matches with Thibaut not having to deal with more than one shot on target all game. Jose didn't let Lukaku go, Romelu asked to leave. Also striker is VERY different than GK. Incomparable. On any account, in what areas do you think Thibaut is better than Petr? For me, while both can be prone to the occosional mistake, Petr is quite clearly better at organizing his defense, decision making (especially in 1vs1s), kicking, and positioning (the most important aspect for the goal keeper) while Thibaut is only better in the air.

His passing today has absolutely nothing to do with the opposition, it's pure ability. He has numerous deficiencies such as lack of pace and positional awareness that can be costly against the 'bigger' teams, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he is the best passer on the league.

I accept nothing less than last season's Tevez!

Who says he can't play the Pirlo role?!

Missed the first 20 mins...why in the world was Mikel playing CB? That was comical to watch in the first half Cesc, though.... Great to have Eden on the scoreline though he still looks VERY far from his last season self. Can't believe not a single youngster started against f***ing Bournemouth when we have literally nothing at stake. smfh...

Am I the only one who wants him to score 20+ goals next season as a second striker under Conte just for the laughs?!

Here's a guy I'd like to see given some minutes with the first team. If we don't give players like him some playing time when we LITERALLY have nothing to lose, then just shut down the bloody academy.

Storm in a teacup this. There is no way we will be looking to sell him this summer and it would be beyond cuntish from him to push for a move after what the club has done for him. Petr has made mistakes for Arsenal this season, but he is still undoubtedly and objectively better than Thibaut. Not sure anyone can argue otherwise. We didn't choose Thibaut over Petr based on skill, we chose based on a ten-year age difference and a hope that Thibuat will become better than Petr in the near future.

Brown being beyond awful for Vitesse this season should not take away from how mostly poor Solanke has been, even for an 18yo.

Use it how, though? And please don't say to get Pogba, because Cinderella has more chance of joining us next season than Paul...

"I forgot how to play football" http://www.beinsports.com/en/premier-league/video/i-forgot-how-to-play-football-fabregas/243761

I think those are more aimed at preventing the 'fixing' of matches.

Sorry, I honestly didn't mean to twist what you said, but that is genuinely my recollection of the debate. So, do you think we should play more young players than we have? And I don't mean start the U21 XI, but at a bare minimum, for me, we should be starting Traore, Kenedey and Miazga every match, in addition of course to RLC. Have one or two from the U21/19s on the bench and give them cameos. Don't think that's too much to ask for at all...

A bit off topic @Tomo do you still think that we will 'definitely' finish top half likely in top 7? Because iirc a bit over a month or so ago, that was your argument for why we shouldn't play A LOT more youth in our matches. Given that we've not picked up many points in the games since and that even the points we did pick up are largely irrelevant since we look set for a bottom half finish, should we in retrospect have given a lot more chances for academy players and should we do so for the remaining matches?

Why should he have been in the team when Azpi was objectively consistently performing better? He played in 26 matches last season, including a run of 6 or 7 matches in November when Azpi was suspended for 3 matches in the league and Jose decided to keep playing Luis in the cups and CL as well. In that run he made several costly mistakes and generally failed to impress so Azpi was back in the side the moment he returned from suspension. I really don't get how that was 'short-term' vision from Jose. In what sense? His decision was to give more playing time to the younger player who was consistently performing better. And there certainly was no lack of patience from Jose on this matter as he kept giving Luis chances and playing time till the end of the season despite failing to displace Azpi. If anything, it was Luis who lacked patience because he decided to go back to Atleti after just one season instead of giving himself another season to adjust more and try to win a starting a place.

What a performance last night! MOTM for me by some distance Oh, and for those trying to rewrite history, the problem with this 'hindsight' of yours is that apart from a few glimpses Luis never actually impressed playing for us despite getting many chances and even long (6-7 matches) runs in the team and he was consistently outperformed by Azpi at LB. He just was never able to replicate his Atleti form with us.

Well that doesn't sound too good...

Well, what do you know? Turns out Barca aren't that great against 11 men...