CHOULO19

Well maybe the fact that you're laughing and gloating...

Yes, I also expect Moses and JT to start. Mainly something like: Cech Azpi-Cahil-JT-Cole Ramires-Lamps Osca-Mata-Moses Ba Which should be good enough to get the three points, imo.

I really don't get the argument the he's had a poor season or that he's past it. He ha 12 PL goals this season and is one of only three players (with Mata and Walcott) to get into double figures in both goals and assists in the PL this season and all that while playing out of his usual striker position. Why are you so happy about that? You sound like a utd fan!

I honestly think that Benitez will not start both of Mata and Hazard. He'll have an eye on the EL final.

Yes I understood you the first time, and again I say: Those are completely unrealistic expectations. Nathanial is, atm, is no where near Barry and Rodwell, let alone Carrick. They are on a different level technically and tactically. This position needs a lot of experience because the tactical awareness and decision making on and off the ball can only get better with match experience. I'm not pointing this out because I don't like Nathanial or don't think he is good, I'm pointing this out because you say that he could be a late addition to the WC squad, a few people agree and get their hopes up, then the next game Nathanial puts in an average performance that is no where near the England squad level and those people who got their hopes up get disappointed and start saying that he's not good enough. All I'm saying is that let's not get ahead of ourselves and see how Nathanial progresses. I get your concern and you may have a point. He's very sloppy now when under pressure and his decision making is poor at times. But he has the physical and technical skills to play this role. Those weakness are only natural, imo, at his age. You can't expect an 18yo with no experience to have the passing accuracy, retention skills, and tactical awareness of Carrick for example (I'd say Mikel but some people are allergic to praising him!). In fact most DMs only start to shine after they're 25-26. The main reason why I don't think Nathanial should switch back to defense is: Do you think that he could be, right now, a starter for a championship team at CB? I honestly don't think so.

The thing is, we don't know the nature of his reoccurring injuries. Only the medical staff do. I've noticed often he would be on the bench for one match, then two days later, without even playing, we'd read that he's unavailable due to injury.

Yeah it wasn't his best performance, but I didn't think he was that bad, especially if you consider that he is a 18yo playing the biggest match of his career so far in his first season of competitive football. Did people really expect him to completely control and run the show? This is what I meant in my criticism last week when some were saying that he'd make the England WC squad next year. Those unrealistic expectations will only make people write him off too quickly after a few below average performances which are inevitable at his age. The position that Chalobah plays is, imo, the toughest on the pitch and it requires a lot of experience and knowledge of the game. I don't think that Nathanial should switch back to defense. The fact that he made that position at Watford his own at such a young age alone is a huge achievement. It shows that he has potential to become something special, but that won't happen next season or the season after. He needs to be given time and be handled correctly by the club and the fans.

Should be. It's live on Al Jazeera (with english commentary) so you should be able to find a good stream.

Well who would you have brought on for the injured Hazard?

If this was in the daily mail it would have been great journalism I'm glad to see that some of the people that disagreed with me here at the time have come to agree with and mention some of the points I made here in the Rafa thread.

Would love to see Romeu start if Mikel is still out.

@stingray And people wonder why we don't have many female members..

Sooo much pessimism in one thread!

How the fuck do they get that tittle from those quotes: British journalism never stops amazing me, and I don;t mean in that in a positive sense.

Wait, wait. Forget the back heel for a second, anyone else notice the super-human burst of speed from Rami when that happened!

Again, I'm not saying other wise and just to make it clear: I think Rafa completely fucked up the substitutions (except the first one). But you can't just blame him for not winning when there were much much more obvious reasons why we did not win.

I'm not saying other wise, but this is not what stopped us from winning the match. The obvious reasons why we did not win are the defensive mistakes and poor finishing.

Could have rested some ke players in this one before the EL final had we won yesterday..

That's very easy to say in hind sight. No one was calling to bring Ba on before they scored in the 84th minute and chances are, with so little time remaining, Ba wouldn't have scored had he come on. And Torres was not the one missing all the chances, Mata, Hazard and Ramires were.

^^ Which is which?!

A lot of if's in there and the point is that those were not nearly our biggest problems yesterday. You just insist on blame him for the sake of it when he had nothing to do with the obvious reasons why we did not win the match.

Not necessarily. What proof is there that the subs would have scored? On the other hand, we would have surely won the game had Cahill and Luiz not made those silly mistakes and had one of our attackers scored one of those many clear cut chances. But it's just a lot easier to blame Benitez..

True. His best finishes, it seems, are the ones he does at full speed after running the length of the pitch!

True, but we're stuck with him and have to use him.

Give all the stick you want, but just don't say that that single sub in the 86th minute is what prevented us from winning when we practically gifted Tottenham two goals and wasted at least 3-4 clear-cut chances.