CHOULO19

It's not a linear equation. I'm sorry but these kind of comparisons are way too simplistic. It's like saying Stoke beat City and Sunderland beat Stoke so Sunderland are better than City. There are soooo many other factors. If anything, Jose would not have been able to take that team close to the championship if it weren't for the work that Rafa did, because under RDM we simply didn't resemble anything like a team. For me, the importance of the work that Benitez did was not the winning the EL (though that was great to win) it was that he enlisted some sort of system in the team and helped key players such as Azpi, Hazard, Luiz...etc. develop as players and in that system which set us up for the successes of the next couple of seasons under Jose.

I just can't see him going back to Real so soon with much of the players still there. I think those bridges are burned...

Absolutely loving everything he's saying.

No idea why people thought you were TOPTB, you clearly actually are Sam Harris!

Think Bamford will be back on loan shortly and Remy deserves some minutes. Unless Hiddink and the board plan on keeping Bamford instead of Failcao for the second half of the season, then yes, this would be the ideal game for him to start.

Tbf, I'll never forgive Michael for not knocking him out... Surrounding is annoying but everyone does it. Waving imaginary cards on the other hand.....not pretty.

Completely agree with that. Especially annoying since the ref, if anything, got more 50-50 calls in our favor than in Palace's. Cesc and Oscar seem to do it the most.

Yes, I know. I didn't say we haven't. Just think it's very important to do so now.

For goodness sake, let's string two wins together.

He's done great, imo. I think this is the thing to do when the team is in a crisis: first steady the defense and solidify the midfield, then allow attacking players to express themselves. Obviously easier said than implemented but we seem on our way towards that.

I wonder if the posters who were blaming Matic's bad performances on Cesc will now say that Fabregas' bad performances were actually because of Matic since he had a different partner today in Mikel and was excellent. To clarify, I don't believe either of those statements to be true, but surely that logic has to go both ways?

Not only was that a good performance, but 3-0 away at Palace really is a great result, and it easily have been 4 or 5. Willian was brilliant in the second half, Costa had a good game, but for me Mikel was MOTM. Controlled the midfield brilliantly under a lot of pressure and managed to always play the right pass. We REALLY needed that performance and that scoreline for the confidence to start to flow again. So well done to the players and manager and hopefully we can take the momentum into the next few matches.

Yes, this @Jim. I have to reload the page everytime.

Come on you BLIUES!

Looks brilliant. Love the latest posts on the right of the main page. You've outdone yourself @Jim!

Test

Oh absolutely. They obviously have similar pace, mental strength, ability and desire to get involved (especially when the team is down)...etc. They're basically footballing twins! What are you even talking about, mate?!

Really? I feel more sorry for us because Jose and his agent left us stuck with this guy instead of a third striker who can actually help when he clearly all along was never going to offer anything for us. And what's worse is that people actually tried to justify this loan at the start because "El Tigre"

Not really the points you originally made and I tried to refute, but anyway... Yes, Ramires(technical ability) and Mikel(dynamism) are deeply flawed and so are Matic(consistency) and Fabregas(physical abilities). For me, Fabregas should not be starting for any top team, while Matic is certainly good enough to start and Mikel and Ramires good enough to be backups, though you can definitely have better options than all three of them. I just don't think that that is a pressing priority considering all the other more critical deficiencies we have in team at the moment (including replacing Fabregas himself).

People call him a loyal servant not because he's stayed a long period, they call him loyal because throughout his time here he always did his best for the team and always acted professionally, helping when asked to and never complaining or acting in a selfish manner. And even when that term is used as one of the reasons to keep him, it's not meant that the club owes him anything, at least not to me; it is used in a sense that we know the level of professionalism and dedication we can expect from him. Also, Mikel and Ramires are NOT the reasons why Matic and Fabregas were never rested. They were rarely rested because because Jose Mourinho does not believe in rotation. In fact, Ramires and Mikel were still our most used squad players along with Zouma despite all the minutes that Matic and Fabregas still played.

Yes, but obviously Arsenal have spent many more millions. I honestly still think that City will end up winning it despite their awful away form.

Wait, when did this already turn into the plural? He's literally played two matches, we pretty much dominated the first but let in stupid goals and still should have won had it not been for our inability to finish, and the second was a terrible performance and undeserved draw. Generally speaking, you need more than two examples to deduce a pattern, especially when the two examples are so different.

If you look at this team and this season and think that the first player that we should get rid of is Mikel then that is quite clearly not a rational opinion but one based on personal bias. For me, he's an experienced player who's been a loyal servant to the club and who can come in at any time despite lack of minutes and provide adequate cover in central midfield and even CB as we saw a couple of seasons ago against Atletico. A good squad player and literally our least expensive player outside of the youth. That's not at all to say that he is irreplaceable or even very important. For me, if he decides to leave, then god bless, and I thank him and wish him all the best in the world, and if he wants to stay and help the team more, then all the merrier.

I really like this Leicester team. They're tactically good and very well assembled. But they're not actually going to win the league, are they? My prediction for them is that Maherez and Vardy will go on some sort of goal drought and score 5-6 goals collectively in the second half of the season which will see Leicester slump and finish just outside of the top 4.

Costa would have taken the a heavy touch, lost the ball to De Gea, then went down without contact appealing for a red card then randomly elbowed someone a minute later because he rightly did not get the call he wanted.