CHOULO19

Was probably our best player yesterday. Won most of the balls that led to our attacks and gave Di Maria no space at all in the middle where he hurt us the most in Paris. HE lost Rabiot?! The man almost high-fived Willian as he went past him:

I think he was actually injured from the start and it was always a question of how much he can stay out there. Right from the beginning you could see that he wasn't running right and he was just standing there when PSG had the ball saving his energy for when we attack. Great goal to give us hope, but we have no replacement for him.

Motta gave the ball away in dangerous areas several times (for the goal as well?) and probably should have been sent off with a proper ref on the pitch. Don't get me wrong, he did some excellent work, especially in the second half, but masterclass? Not even close...

Actually did well, certainly better than I expected though you have to give credit to Hazard and Cesc for that as well for rarely leaving him exposed to a 1vs1 situation.

He had a poor game, but calm the fuck down! Still BY FAR our best defender...

Tbf, that first was some funny shit! Someone GIF that, please!

Well that was fun while it lasted....guess we'll have to focus on that FA cup...

Yeah of course it could. There are risks with both Baba and Kenedey and I just think that Kenedey is the gamble with a bigger risk but a higher reward potential, and as the underdogs in a European knock out match, this is probably one of the best times to make that gamble.

Kenedy at LB means that Guus is going all out offensive from the start. Personally I would have probably preferred to see Baba start and then have Kenedey as an extra attacking option but have to respect Guus for having the balls to play him from the start.

Anyone else would gladly take a 0-0 first half? An early goal might be dangerous as the tendency would be sit back and defend it. On the other hand, we're likely to concede in the 90 mins regardless of whether/when we score so scoring early would leave a lot more time to get a second goal which most likely will be needed.. Of course, we could concede first, but our chances at that point would be quite bad.

Could have really used Pedro's experience for this one. Instead it will be Oscar on the wing....sigh.

Yeah, I just tried it and even with an ad-blocker you still can't sign in. @Thendo for now, don't click on 'Sign In' in the banner, instead, click on the downward arrow in the top right corner (where your profile would be once signed in) and fill the username and password from there. It works fine. EDIT: For anyone else having the same issue, this is what I mean:

Sam Hutchinson reveals the mental torture he endured as injuries threatened career Brilliant if sad, interview with Sam. Would absolutely LOVE to see him in the PL next season.

Clean sheets are a product of the work of the entire team. Amateurish keeper mistakes, however, only have to do with the keeper making them...

I don't realistically see us keeping a clean sheet, so I'm hoping for an extra-time 3-1 win. Penalties would be too nerve wrecking..

The moment he took that first touch I shouted 'GOAL'! Having watched him a lot with Vitesse I knew he does not miss from those positions. And he sure did not disappoint!

Both we and the ref really did our best so Stoke can get a point from this....

The dip in form was always going to be inevitable and most likely in his second season here. Do people forget how young he is, especially for a keeper? In a sense, it's actually good that he is having this dip in a season where results don't matter as they usually would. He'll learn from this and get valuable experience on how to deal with low points.

Very encouraging stuff. I think another full season on loan there would do him a world of good.

Dear Guus, if you're going to give him playing time on his current form ahead of RLC, at the very least don't start him at the same time as Oscar! I just can't handle them both at the same time...

Late reply, I know, but he always plays left midfield in Allegri's system because that makes it very easy to switch to 3-5-2 when overloading central midfield with Evra moving forward as a left winger. It has roved to be an effective strategy difficult to defend against especially for teams parking the bus (which is practically everyone in the Serie A vs Juve) but against Bayern it was a huge mistake because they absolutely killed us on the wings. Should have gone with an actual winger instead of a second striker and Pogba at #10, imo.

Costa's movement and runs are world class, but he comes no where near Didier in terms of aerial ability, hold up play, link up play, dribbling...etc. Of course Drogba had awful periods here, but my initial point regarding the stat is that Drogba and Costa are very different players so you can't compare them in goals. How does he compare to Aguero or even Torres at Liverpool?

Yeah, that hamstring will be key to whether or not he can still improve. Unfortunately every time he seems to be reaching new levels he gets an injury set back. Yeah, no doubt.

Sorry if it was not clear in my post, but I was actually talking about current form Costa. For all we know he might still surpass prime Drogba (though frankly, unlikely).