CHOULO19

You called me?

I tried once but no one answered

What happened to the punk thread? Shame it died down, was really enjoying it.

Yeah my comment was not aimed at Boga in particular who I think is an amazing talent,especially if you consider his age. Was just making a point, that I worry more about youngsters who rely on speed and dribbling ability when they want to make the step up to the first team.

Ask Ferdinand, or Yossi!

Classy gesture. Very classy.

There was a cross across his 6 yard box, he tries to intercept but realizes he's made a wrong decision leaving his far post exposed and does brilliantly well to recover. The right decision was to run across his line and cover the far post since he could clearly see that there is no Real attacked between his CBs. Simple, really. Absolutely no need for all that over-analyzing

I think it was too pacey to catch. Yes it was a great save, but the point is he was forced to make that save because of the mistake he made in decision making. I don't mean to be harsh on him, he's only 21, just pointing out where Cech is still better than Thibaut right now.

Had an excellent game and made a couple of world class saves. Would be interesting to see where he goes next season, I honestly think he's going to stay at Athletico and play with CL with them. Great reflexes, yes, but you also have to notice that he made that save much harder than it would have been because he made the wrong choice at first in trying to get a touch on the cross. I know this is one incident and I'm only using it as an example, but that for me is the difference currently between Thibaut and Cech: Positioning, decision making which obviously come with experience. For me, Cech is still much better, and is likely to still be for the next 2-3 seasons, but obviously Courtois has a huge future ahead of him so we'll have to see how the club handles this delicate situation.

Actually those qualities in youngster worry me the most. Because it is so hard to take those qualities to the first team where defenders are faster, stronger and a lot better. It is a huge step up. I'd be much more confident about players like RLC or Chalobah who's best attributes are passing, tactical awareness and work-rate because those are much more likely to translate to the PL level. EDIT: Don't get me wrong, Boga is obviously a special player with loads of potential, I was just making a general remark.

When was that?

Isn't he something like 22-23?

Who cares? We didn't literally throw his transfer fee and wages down the toilet, but signing Yossi was the closest thing.

I just hope that Jose, if he really is coming, does not see him as the solution to our pivot problems, because if he does, we are screwed. I agree with TOPTB, now is the perfect time to cut our losses and sell Essien.

Mate, you're trying to change the very nature of football fans, here. The guy, like Gomez for example, who in 90 mins makes 5 passes has one shot and scores a goal will always all the glory while the guy who makes 60-70 passes at a 90% accuracy and controls the whole game gets overlooked. It's so difficult to explain to people how important things like passing, tactical awareness..etc are. The argument is always "Anyone can make a pass" and no one realizes how difficult it is to get that pass right 9 times out of 10. Football fans, even 'pundits' have always and will always judge players on individual incidents rather than overall performances. Talk to someone about Fellaini and he will bring the utd game into the discussion. Any Falcao discussion will inevitably include the hat-trick he scored against us..etc. I love Frank as much as the next Chelsea fan, but Scholes is on a different level. In terms of tactical awareness, defensive work rate, footballing IQ..Paul is miles ahead. He's also, undoubtedly the best passer in the history of this league.

Yup. Imagine Mata playing as a striker against Stoke between Huth and Shawcross!

LOL

Well he does seem to like taking jobs where everyone hates his guts..

Surely not. That just defies logic!

Honestly I see nothing wrong with it. He is our captain, it's normal that he lifts the cup even if he misses the final. Especially if that captain has done and sacrificed for the club as much as JT has. Besides, I enjoy the funny photoshopped images

He helps around in training and does a lot behind the scenes. Most of our new signings, like Torres, Luiz, Marin, Mata (Luiz even said that Paulo is the most amazing person he has ever met) have come out and said that they have learned a lot from him. Which is why I can only see him taking up a coaching position if he decides to hang up his boots.

And then people get offended when I say that most of the Mikel 'criticism' is just hare and insults

The thing is, I think this united squad has the ability to 'flop' if the manager does not get it right and finish way off the top because in terms of quality of players, they are no where near city or even us which is evident from their performances in 'big' matches this season. If they lose that little belief that they could always scrape a slim win against smaller teams, they're in big trouble.

@Shogun, great work, mate. Thanks!

I have some excellent "Opposition Views" for you this week thanks to @Shogun I asked him about Moyes leaving, Everton's future and this game of course: Opposition Views Here