CHOULO19

That's what happens when you read comments in papers. Because the papers job is to turn into any situation into a drama so you would buy more papers/click more links. The simple explanation would be that Jose was only asked about why Hazard was dropped and answered the question. It's really that simple. Also, if all of this is about comments Jose made, then

Can't for the life me understand what the fuss is about. You can't really argue that Hazard does not deserve to be dropped after his performances this season. And with us desperately needing some changes and to try new things it was always going to be inevitable.

Just your average Ivanovic of the past two seasons, save the occasional goal. I'm not saying he was good, I've been saying he should not be a starting RB for a top team for years. I'm just saying that people are now scapegoating him for mistakes and flaws he always and made and had because the team is doing badly.

To be honest, if it were up to me, I'd start Zouma on the right and Iva centrally. But I know Jose would never do so. Iva has his very obvious faults and he did start the season in terrible form and has been targeted by almost every team we've played against this season, but I think his 'bad' performances have been greatly exaggerated especially in the past few weeks and he's being used as a scapegoat for an entire team that is under-performing. Honestly, since the Arsenal match Iva has not been any worse than how he's averagely performed at RB for the past couple of seasons.

Surely you don't give opportunities in crucial games! If we did not need Zouma at CB against Villa I would have been against starting Baba in such a must win game.

Obvious? To whom exactly? So far for us whenever he's been isolated 1vs1 he's done very well. I'd say our second best defender 1vs1 after Azpi.

2 months and a CL place would be gone and the board surely knows that. I think if we lose the next 2-3 matches, he's gone. I can't believe anyone who watches modern football still think it's about loyalty. It's about results.

That's a rather simplistic view of it. We're in a crisis right now we can't afford to be picky about it. Ideally in a situation like this you would go for defensive stability first and foremost and try to build on that rather than looking for extravagant football. Tbh, that's not the solution. No one in their right mind would choose that partnership for any top team. However that does seem to be our best bet at the moment given the lack of options.

Yes, obviously Baba offers more in attack (except obviously in set-pieces because Zouma is a beast in the air), but also very obviously Zouma offers more in defense where we've also been struggling a lot. From what I've seen from Baba he has far from inspired confidence on defense so far. I realize that there is obviously a valid argument for Baba over Zouma but I'm just saying it's no where near as obvious and unanimous as it is being made out. It's not about strength for strength's sake. We don't have the technical skills to dominate midfield with our passing and dribbling. In fact we've NEVER had that since even before Roman came. Instead we look to physically outperform our opponents. As for in defense, no matter how you put it there are very obvious advantages for height and strength.

Just one question: On what basis does everyone assume that Baba would have a better game at LB than Zouma at RB? That said, I really do hope that Baba starts as we'll be needing Zouma at CB.

Jeez. Talk about not giving the keeper a chance...swoosh!

Now, now. That's just paper talk as part of the media campaign to destroy Jose's image...

Or he's become a Jedi to try to use the force to save our season

That death stare! :wub:

I NEED that in a save-able video format!

Well you can criticize the manager, not wish physical harm on a human! That seems too obvious to even write, doesn't it?

Jeez, people. Have we really reached the stage of wishing prolonged injuries on our own players?! Sometimes we really do reach RAWK-standards around here...

He wasn't going to start the next couple of our games regardless. This might a blessing in disguise since the media won't be writing about all the 'issues' in the dressing room when he doesn't start.

Pedro is a 'player of the system'. When the system is working well expect him to consistently effective, but when the system is broken you won't see him making a difference.

There's a reason why he's a free agent, you know...but I guess it is better than playing Blackman if Asmir was to get injured or suspended till Thibaut returns from injury.

Google it, you lazy bastard! It was on WAGNH from some Serbian paper that interviewed him with the NT.

Apparently he's indicated to Serbian media that he is forbidden by the club to give his opinion about how Jose subbed him off and what he said about him afterwards.

He hasn't been played as second choice, though, has he? He's been consistently given considerable more minutes than Remy, which is a shame because even on poor form Remy can still offer A LOT more than Falcao. As for third strikers, we've had a couple of really good ones over the past few seasons that really offered something different to the team when they came on. Like Ba and Didier last season. Heck, I imagine Didier would still have been a much better option than Falcao this season. We could have played him when we need a target man instead of playing Zouma as striker.

Worse, it's not just in retrospective. The vast majority could see that this is exactly how this transfer would turn out because it was very obvious to anyone who saw him at united. But still some people made excuses to justify this transfer because of his name and marketability solely. The argument used back then was that "there was nothing to lose as this is only a loan". Financially maybe, but we've clearly lost the chance to have a proper backup striker!

It really isn't an excuse. That is genuinely how he thinks. In fact he's made similar justifications of selection for other players in the past. I even pointed out that that is why he didn't start Luis and Azpi together last season but people didn't take it seriously....maybe because it sounds incredibly silly for a top manager to think and do..