CHOULO19

I know I was just asking. No need to give me that look... I think, with a game in hand, we can afford a draw here. One of the toughest places to go in the league and a point would keep us 3rd. I'd take a draw right now.

Didn't we beat them in the Carling cup there last season? Or did we win on pens? I can't remember.

I already edited my post and said this isn't aimed towards you. Your post is one example of what's been happening way too often. And I'm not just talking about insults but more about the branding and name calling of posters based on the opinions they express which is preventing any real discussions from happening and instead turning them into a name-calling contest.

It's so frustrating that you can't have a different opinion around here anymore. Criticizing Torres makes you a hater, supporting him makes you a fan boy; Criticizing the owner makes you plastic and being a Mikel fan makes you retarded. You know, when I first joined TC, you could voice a different opinion and get logical opinions and analysis in reply not prejudice claims about you and insults. Obviously a lot has changed, unfortunately.. I don't like Luiz in midfield; How does that make me a Luiz hater? I'll have you know that when everyone was slating him including all the British media, Tomo, LDN, myself and a few other posters were the only people defending him and praising his abilities. PS: This post is not directed at you personally Muzchap but rather at a lot of people on here.

I wince at the stupidity of our board whenever I am reminded of that. Hopefully the 10-11 season have taught them to deal better with a similar situation.

I kind of agree with both of you. Mata's finishing could be better, but he is still our best finisher (Sturridge aside) which speaks volume about our attacking options.

Well we won the CL with Bosingwa playing at CB, should we buy him back and play him there every match? We won because the opposition were not good enough nor committed enough to take advantage of Luiz's mistakes. Allow me to disagree. Just watch our midfield getting ripped apart when he plays against a good passing side.

His previous two games were not good. He was sloppy and out of position most of the times. He was actually slightly better today, imo, but still no where good enough to be playing there regularly. No I don't judge him on something that is not his job like shooting. I judge him on how he's doing his job which is ball retention, covering and tactical awareness which he scores very low on.

Nop, dead serious.

Solid 1-0 victory like the good ol' times. Very happy we got the win at such a difficult place. Our defensive performance was immense. Mikel and Cahil were awesome. Oh, and please stop playing Luiz in midfield, he was terrible.

How did he do today? I see he played 76 mins.

Sorry, no opposition views for this one. Couldn't find anyone to do it and was too lazy to keep searching.

He's not Pirlo or Xavi Luiz attempted zero through balls against Villa and 10 long balls which he missed 5 of. That will hard split defenses or force them to raise the white flag. On any account Luiz would not be doing his job as a DM if he attempts too many through and long balls. The main job of the DM is to keep possession and make sure that the ball moves from defense to attack without being cut out. You force the opposition to make mistakes by keeping the ball and pressure on them not by attempting difficult passes and loosing possession which would relieve all the pressure. Check Leed's goal against us to see why a player in this position should keep it simple. And there are no "small" teams in the PL. In fact, the teams that are down in the table often counter much better than the top teams.

You misread my post mate. I was saying that no way that the article is true. He will definitely get a new contract.

Of course the club will have contract talks with Frank and Ash. No reason for the club to not want them here on lower wages.

LOL no way. John will get a new contract, I'm sure of it.

I know that we all want him to stay for sentimental reasons, but when you come to think of it logically you have to say that the club has a very good point. Setting aside what he has done for the club in the past and just looking at what he can offer in the next 2 seasons it is really unjustifiable to be paying him 160k/wk when he's likely to miss more than half of our matches. I think whether he stays or not is completely in his hands, he can either take a huge pay cut and stay or continue with his current wages and move to the US or middle east.

Fair enough. Agree to disagree

I don't want to go off topic, but Essien and Torres, prior to injury, relied mainly on their speed and strength which they lost a great deal of with their respective injuries. Villa on the other hand relies more on instinct, movement and clinical finishing in his game (not to say he does not rely on speed, but no where near the old Torres). I know it's only glimpses, but he has showed since returning that he still got some of his abilities.

Where am I? Did I click on the wrong forum?! People with different opinions agreeing and liking each other and....showing respect? It's just so beautiful to see :')

While I, of course, respect your opinion (and the ones of the season ticket holders around you , though I have no idea how they got into the discussion we are having) you don't seem to have too much to back it up with. While passion is not to be underestimated it always comes second best to ability; otherwise, like I jokingly suggested, a of the most passionate 11 fans would win every match. Yes the passion for the shirt played a part of our CL triumph last season, but more important were the experience of our players and the defensive tactics that Robbie implemented that would have never had worked if our players didn't have the tactical discipline and awareness at all times - something Luiz seems to be lacking at DM.

Let me put it this way: In today's game, you can't win without spending and spending big, but only a great manager can spend big, change more than half the team and win. It takes a special set of managerial talents, even if you have all the money in the world, to get the right players that would fit into your team and then create chemistry in your team. Those 2 are not exceptions, look at Carlo who despite being a great manager, practically has all the money in the world and is still failing at PSG ( I know that they are top but with the squad he has compared to the other team, I consider it a failure to not be at least 8-10 points clear at the top by now )

Welcome Samuel. Hope you stick around this time Merry Christmas.

Think you're overlooking this a bit too quick mate. To begin with, I think we all agree that what we have up front atm needs replacing. The options in the market that we would consider as targets are mostly too expensive especially with the inflated Jan prices. Villa would be the only world-class striker that would come relatively cheap. Granted that he is only a quick fix, I think that is exactly what we need atm since the club has obviously not decided what to do with Torres. Moreover, despite the great potential of our current team, we are sorely lacking experience which Villa has loads of. Yes he is getting old, but I would bet anything that he would be an instant hit here because our current style of play is perfect for him. David is, imo, the best striker in history in terms of movement (debatable, I know) and I just can't imagine him not scoring when he has the likes of Mata, Hazard and Oscar picking up his runs. He also showed in the small time since his return from injury that he still can finish.

LOL by that logic we might as well pick 11 people from the crowd before every match to play the match, I'm sure they'll show much more passion than any over-paid athlete! Luiz might have the passion, but he sure doesn't have the footballing ability nor the tactical awareness to be our first choice DM.