CHOULO19

Well that's your choice and opinion, but because we opted for that short-term gain instead of managerial stability, we won't be challenging for the CL for at least a few seasons. As for Frank, you can twist it all you want, but at the end of the day, if you are a professional who is being paid 150k/wk, the least you could do is give 100% and try your best to make the manager's plans work because that is his job. And if he thinks you should be on the bench then you shut your mouth and sit there and try to change his mind in training. But if you fail to do that and conspire to get the manager fired and compromise the team's whole season just to get more playing time then you are just being an extremely selfish cunt. AVB had been using this "modified" high-line 3 months before he was sacked, specifically from the City home game. "Different caliber" is just another way of saying that Spurs players are actual professionals and not just a bunch of spoiled millionaires. Harry's system was completely different, not to mention he had better squad with Modric and VDV. Again. This only highlights the fact that we need a long-time managerial solution more than anything. Go back and watch our matches against Everton and WBA and you'll see Cole and Frank clearly time-wasting when the team was losing. I can never think of either of them the same after that. I am not saying he is blameless. In fact I'll be the first to criticize his high-line and lack of trust in youth players. But that does not justify how some players acted last season. They are the ones that let the team and fans down.

His whole post was about how childish it is to compare the two and then you go and ask him that?!!

I'll take long term success over short-term gain any day of the week. Our season is ruined yet again because we had to fire the manager. What more proof do you want that we need more than anything, even more than winning a CL, is managerial stability. AVB could and should have been the solution if Lampard and co didn't try to sabotage their own team to get him fired. Fine. Let's change the question: What did AVB do differently at Tottenham. Fine, let's say that we were expected to win the league and CL despite that being as unlikely as Spurs winning them. That doesn't make RDM under more pressure than AVB. The former had just won two cups and was backed by everyone while the latter had been slatted on a daily basis for a few month and had been written off from the first day he took the spurs job. I highly doubt that. If Boas doesn't get a CL spot, he'll have the same fate as Harry. But that is the whole point. AVB is not responsible for some players refusing to play and intentionally not performing to get him sacked just so they don't get replaced.

Our managerial situation only proves more that it was a mistake to sack Boas. Yes, he was inexperienced and 6 months later he is not anymore? AVB hasn't changed, he just have, at Spurs, players that are willing to give 100% and not waste time when the team is losing like Frank and Cole did like against Everton and WBA. And do you think Rafa was expected by the board to win the league?! The expectations both here and at Spurs were to finish in the top four this season. Thanks to AVB. If his team is doing well when others are under performing, then he is currently doing a better job than Mancini, Benitez and Wenger. I'm not ignoring what happened here last year, just saying that it was not all AVB's fault and that he could have done well here if the players didn't selfishly put their interest ahead of the team's and actually tried to give 100%. And why on earth would he accept to come back here?!

After spending more than 80m since he left. That's probably less than what the whole Tottenham squad cost! What's more likely? That AVB turned from absolute shit to great in a few months or that the fault was in our players? Lower expectations? They're above us in the league! He was under immense pressure when he came to Tottenham after the fiasco here last season. Everyone said he would be fired by Jan, he had everything to prove. And Tottenham were doing very well even before Bale hit his current form. We're playing in the same league with a squad that has loads more quality and are sitting behind them in the table.. Yes, you got me. I guess my cover is blown. I am a special agent, hired by AVB himself to destroy Chelsea's image among it's supporters and repair Boas' image. You sound delusional, mate. Why would I want to protect AVB's image? He's managing our top rival this season. I want nothing more than for him to fail. But ignoring facts and pretending that AVB is not proving that he is an excellent manager is not going to help.

Very un-Brazilian in that sense!

In case you haven't noticed, his much weaker team is above us in the table. But of course, it was his "poor man-management skills" to blame for the team's failure last season not the selfishness of our multimillionaires putting their interest ahead of the club's..

That AVB guy seems very good, we should try to get him..

He's playing on the right. Weird.

Game is not over yet. Expect Arsenal to get back in it. EDIT: And while I was writing that Arsenal score!

Starts for Malaga in an hour against Courtois' Athletico.

I think @Strike and @SeB might be interested.

From the little research I did, apparently their keeper is far from their best player. Could be vulnerable to long-range shots. They play 3-4-3 which is interesting.

Speaking of the voting, Ba needs to get more credit from you people, he had excellent game and was pivotal for us creating so much chances. Personally I thought Oscar was brilliant but he ruined it with the easy misses that could have cost us a lot in the last 15 mins. That's why I voted for Cech.

I would love to see a pivot of Mikel-Ake being given a shot. I have a feeling it would work better than anything else we have atm..

Yes. That being said, I would be happy with a few red cards today..

Welcome to TC, mate. Please feel free to ask me or any other mod/admin if you have any questions. Hope you stick around

I'll go for a draw because there will be a point "lost" between the two. But I just know that Arsenal will win.

Hope to see Ake and Marin start. Probably be another scrappy 1-0 win like the one in Prague.

This man is just pure class. I have so much respect for him. https://twitter.com/dembabafoot/status/308000337627844608

Tbh, I didn't think Rami had such a good game. It was not, definitely an improvement on previous performances, but not brilliant. His defending was just too aggressive but luckily WBA didn't commit men forward in the first 70 mins. Speaking of aggressive, what was with Hazard today? Twice he escaped the YC card in the first half before he finally got one in the second.

‏@bghayward Reports emerging that Víctor Valdés punched referee Pérez Lasa in the changing rooms and has been taken to the police station in Madrid. What the actual f***?!

Needs to stop practicing his finishing with Torres!

One stat sums up the match: 19 shots on target, 1 goal.

Played 90 mins as Boro beat league leaders Cardiff 2-1.