CHOULO19

Something, I think we are not taking into consideration, is that the Christmas period was supposed to be our easier period in the season. So I'm not sure how I feel about our position in the form table. Our next few fixtures, I think, will be a lot more telling about whether or not we have turned the corner:

Thought he was a bit slow to react to the Funes Mori goal (certainly not as slow as Zouma and Iva, though. Legend has it that both are still rooted to the spot watching the ball). It seemed he lost the flight of the ball for a second. Obviously not the main culprit for the goal, though.

My opinion of Matic? My opinion that he has the ability to be a top class player with certain limitations (like his right foot and stamina) if he can work on his consistency? My opinion that next season we should be a key player in the system that we plan to build? Or are you talking about him being poor this season? Because that is NOT my opinion, that is undeniable fact.

I'm sorry, but it seems to me that your defense of Matic' performance has absolutely nothing to do with Matic, nor his actual performances but are deeply rooted in your dislike for Mikel. I can't debate that because there is nothing logical behind that, it's an emotional reaction. Again, I couldn't care less about market value. There are more exceptions than cases that follow the made up 'rule'. Yes, Messi has the highest market value in the world, but on the other hand, not a single player from Juve's XI in the CL final last season cost more than 10m. If Matic does not wish to fight for his place until at least he is performing better than Mikel, then frankly he can leave. Finally, when your argument to keep playing Matic is based on how good Ivanovic has been playing...................

His positioning was often awful solely because of personal errors. There were several times on Everton attacks where he was occupying space that neither restricts passing options nor player movement. That's not tactics, just shit defending and positional awareness. You do know that players don't just have an overall 'rating' and you just pick the one with the higher number, right? Same applies for so called 'market value', btw. There are different qualities in different roles as well as varying form and mental and physical readiness. I don't intend to be mean, but honestly, your annoyance at the key role that Mikel (a CHELSEA player) has played in helping the team since Guus' return, is quite amusing to watch. You really need to stop making excuses for Matic and blaming his poor performances on other players. He has been inexcusably terrible throughout this season (bar half a game or two) and completely deserves to be sitting on the bench at the moment. Of course that doesn't mean that we should sell him. On form and in the right role, he has the ability to be our most important and complete midfielder.

Yes because football is that simplistic that goals scored and conceded are a direct result of single substitution. By that logic Matic should be sold for destroying our ability to score goals since we scored 3 after he went off! This forum, indeed...

I'd bite your hand off for a draw right now!

To be fair, neither Tibo nor Cech nor even De Gea have been consistently excellent this season. I think Butland has probably been the standout keeper so far this season (though admittedly I don't watch him as frequently as the 3 I mentioned before).

Not sure if it was mainly down to not being used to playing along side Mikel, but his positioning against Everton.....shocking.

Watched the replay of the second half and bits of the first and I have to say, apart from the first 10 minutes of the second half, we were not nearly as bad as people have made out to be. Some were saying that we got lucky with the deflection and offside goals, but we created more than enough chances to score 3 goals while Everton scored from all but one of their shots on target. Thought we were the better team and deserved to win it after the Oscar for Matic sub.

Is he even going to be fit for this?

Tbf, CLL scoring a 98th minute back heel offside equalizer to make Martinez cry is why I live..

Tbf, I did NOT predict getting a point before kick off, so I'm not upset at all about the result. Will watch the replay tomorrow to see the performances, but from what I saw from the goals, our defenders made some really shocking mistakes.

I WANT TO SEE ROBERTO MARTINEZ CRYYY!!!!! EDIT: Also, get in, although a point does not really make a difference, mentally it can prove important.

Can't watch, but at least we're not losing and are yet to concede which is considerably better than the prematch predictions on here, so I can't understand what everyone is moaning about...

So it's Matic instead of Rami, but thanks Guus!

Hope he scores an own goal, gives away two penalties then gets sent off as you break down in tears of bitterness and sorrow

I know it won't happen, but I'd like to see Ramires partner Mikel today with Cesc playing higher.

That size is good. Could be a bit bigger. Both would look good, imo.

Are you saying that he was actually Jose Mourinho?!

Am I the only one who thought he was poor apart from the goal? Sure, he ran a lot, but he gave the ball away cheaply sooo many times and got beaten too easily on the wing a couple of times. That said, even playing with 10 would have been an upgrade on Pedro's first half performance!

Alright, can we at least agree not to talk about top 4 as a possibility until we actually manage to win just two matches in a single month? It's not about the gap till top 4 it's about our inability to perform to a level that would take us to top 4.

So, there is no issue with the club killing the atmosphere at games with bans on standing and loud singing because 'sing songs' have absolutely no influence on the performance of the team?! Of course, it has an effect. If that is the case, then the criticism does not apply because what I was criticizing did not actually happen.

Yeah so it was aimed at the players and to a lesser degree the new manager. Perfectly reasonable opinion to have, btw, just that when we have 6-7 minutes to score a goal we desperately need, not particularly helpful for the motivation and morale of the team. Especially when the chanting starts when we concede whilst everyone was singing the players' names a couple of minutes before. Yes, but I was asking specifically about timing when the chants start. To be clear, I'm talking about the 'Jose Mourinho, Jose Mourinho' chants that started after we conceded and could be heard for a full minute or two before it was drowned out by the WBA fans chanting 'Champions of England, you're having a laugh' not the chants about referees. So why do you, as stadium going fan, think THAT particular chant was started in that particular timing?

Alright, I'll take your word for it, but tell me, what was the aim of chanting 'Jose Mourinho' when the team needed a goal desperately, and why start the chant when we concede an equaliser in particular?