OneMoSalah

I'd rather we concentrated on dealing with their fullbacks who get high up the pitch, provide width and crosses for Carroll (particularly Jenkinson on the right) and also dealing with Downing and Alex Song who have been their 2 outstanding players this year. Song has too much class and ability to be given time on the ball, he can pick a pass and also breaks up a lot of play for them. I'd like to see Oscar or even Cesc in that number 10 role man mark him when West Ham have possession similarly to the way we had Lamps on Steven Gerrard at Anfield last season and Oscar on Pirlo in the CL at the bridge under Robbie. Obviously Carroll is a threat yes but he doesn't get the opportunity to win headers from crosses/long balls if we stop West Ham playing through Song, Downing and their full backs to get into those crossing situations. Beating Carroll in the air is quite hard to do so when he does get those long balls and knocks it down, we should concentrate on recovering the second ball more like we did against Stoke because realistically Andy Carroll is one of the best headers of the ball in England and 9 times out of 10 he will knock it down if he can.

mate you said it yourself, he's injury prone.... hes obviously made of polystyrene, I imagine if he even went to kick the ball his foot would just crumble to bits

Na the kids too injury prone, if he makes over 10 passes a game he'll probably shatter his whole skeleton at once or so you'd think listening to didierforevers posts.

I would honestly prefer to see Cesc there with him but Matic playing with Mikel and playing like that lets Mikel be a bit more positive because hes not the sole player with responsibility for holding like he was the other season playing next to Rami or next Lamps and even before that in a 3 when Essien, Ballack, Lampard etc where all here. I'd like to see Ake get a chance but I think Matic, Mikel, Ramires, Cesc for 2 deeper roles makes it virtually impossible to guarantee him regular game time there.

I mean Wenger has done some stupid shit before but he must be disappointed in his own judgement every time he sees this fella play for us. What a player. No offence to Frank but if Cesc stays here until hes done he will be held just as high in regard as him I feel. Might seem naive to say so but cmon its hard to say its not possible.

Mikel-Matic partnership gets better and better every game. What a performance. Cesc too played rathed good I thought.

His combination play is not terrible but still I don't even care if hes not quite on the same level as Cesc, Hazard and Oscar in terms of 1-2s and combination play. He's a striker, let him do his job which is fucking sticking the ball in the back of the net, run the channels, win fouls and when he can wind some opposition players up in the process (not his job but he does it anyway). I've not seen very many people mention how many fouls he wins from long balls, where he should be second best to it but he gets there beats the man and draws fouls like he did at Atletico. We've been crying out for a striker who plays like its life or death and scores 20+ goals a season for years now, I mean people seem to forget we had to put up with Torres for about 3 and a half years but still 'he's not good enough at one twos and combination play'? What the fuck. We have it very good, top of the league at Christmas, Diego has scored 12 goals so far, Cesc has been the best MF player in Europe in terms of assists and Matic is performing out of his skin most games with absolutely huge performances but yet still people want to complain.

They should still be judged on the defensive side more than the attacking side though. Players like Dani Alves and Gregory van der Wiel, who are regarded good fullbacks because they are good attacking players really annoys me haha. Anyway sure Azpi doesn't fly forward as much as Zabaleta who is a much more attack oriented fullback but he doesn't get caught out as much or give anyway anywhere near as many fouls as he does.

But my point is he's a fullback, he's the best fullback in the league because hes the best defensive fullback in the league. If you get what I mean.

On loan in Russia? Fuck that, loan him in the PL if hes going anywhere.

In my opinion saying defensive FB isn't necessary because fullbacks are defenders first and foremost and he is the best in England. If someones judging a fullback on the attacking side of his game ahead of the defensive side there's something wrong.

The curse of being the best full back in the premier league it seems.

Good player but he clearly lacks ambition, he's had numerous chances to leave France but he doesn't because he wants to 'rival Ibrahimovic' for the golden boot or thats so according to various quotes on twitter and news sites. What sort of bullshit ambition is that to have? If he had the chance to leave France and further his career, he should have done it. He will always be a good player but to become a better player it's necessary you have to make a move if you are say at a club like Lyon. Even Ronaldo left Manchester United to go to Madrid and hes gone from strength to strength a goal a game, more than 250 goals there. Not saying he will go to that level but if he had the chance to step up from Lyon, he should have taken it.

Why would someone who has won everything at Real Madrid and is on his way to becoming their next captain as well as a Real Madrid cult hero/legend want to reject a new deal? Fuck knows. Real just won the Club World Cup, he was part of a group of players who won the historic 10th CL title sfo maybe he feels he's achieved everything considering he's won every trophy he can on the international stage as well as on the club stage with Madrid but honestly, I can't see it, he will be their next captain, hes been there for close to 10 years already. Its not like Madrid are exactly going to regress either, fuck knows though it is interesting. I'd take him right now as he is vey comfortable playing on the left side despite being right footed, in the same way John Terry is, in my eyes he'd be a long term replacement for John but would also be able to play for so many years with him. Also in terms of defending set plays and attacking set plays, hes one of the best defenders in terms of attacking the ball be it in his own box or the opposition box, something Cahill doesn't fully convince me with every match as well as when he is one on one against more mobile strikers who will take him into the channels if they get the chance. Ramos is very quick, very strong and reads the game much better than he is given credit for. 20M would be a steal. If hes unsettled we should throw our hat in the ring.

If we sold Rami and he would sit on the bench I'd take him, no way he'd start over Matic or Cesc though. Think hes probably not even as good as Ramires but hes a bit more rounded in comparison to Rami.

Hes a good player but I can't believe Jose thought he'd be ready after one season on loan last year. Hes not at Chelsea quality yet and he still needs another loan spell where he will play at least 60 or 70% of the games as opposed to sitting on the bench at a club that will get relegated then needs to have his situation re-evaluated again. I'd rather have seen him playing at a club like Watford again or Reading or Cardiff - someone who's challenging for promotion or even just a mid table club as opposed to trying to avoid relegation in the PL which usually prompts managers to go for more experienced players.

His positioning is dodgy, its not too bad being a box to box midfielder as the sole responsibility of protecting the back 4 isn't on him and Juventus always have 3 central midfield players but imagine him being used as a holding midfielder? He has a lot to improve on positionally.

Re the whole goals = performances argument thingy. Hazard's individual performances weren't an issue as much last season. Eden said himself he wants to score more goals, make more assists and Jose has wanted him to 'decide' games more and his father (or step father whoever it was) wants Jose to get Eden to have some sort of ruthless side in him on the pitch. If he is going to be nominated for a top 3 place in the Ballon d'or shortlist in the next few years he needs much more goals and assists because Messi and Ronaldo are scoring 40+ a season each and creating at least 10-20 goals and hes not gonna win while they are still at a very high level it if he can't match those numbers lets be realistic.

Hes a bit poor positionally in all honesty, he's a great athlete and has great technique but hes 21 or 22, when you're 21 or 22 you are still learning and can improve on various aspects. I can't see him being a holder.

In a midfield 3 where he has a holder behind him and another player to share responsibilities with him yes maybe hes fine but in a midfield 2 considering we play with a #10? He'd be a liability in my eyes, very much like Toure with Fernandinho last season.

Medical staff should be ashamed of themselves, could they go any fucking slower at one point? I mean when two professional footballers have to go get involved to speed things up as well just shows that some of these people, who are being entrusted with professional athletes (who are people with families first and foremost) health and wellbeing if they need their assistance, need to have a long hard fucking look at themselves. Sure it was only a cut in the mouth and many might feel I'm overreacting a bit but imagine if it was much much more severe say like what happened to Fabrice Muamba when he had heart issues on the pitch or even something like Petr's head injury. These guys need to be fucking quick and quite frankly I'd be embarrassed if the med team at the Bridge took that long to get on the park to see to an injury. Good to see Kurt's ok and its nothing major.

Really? Ask Choulo what he thinks of Pogba potentially playing as a sitting midfielder, or other Juventus fans who watch him regularly.

Mikel and Matic gives Cesc even more freedom I feel, he obviously has to muck in and do defensive work but with two number 6's in the team I feel we have an even better platform to build on.

Sure since he made his debut when he was 16 or 17 years old, he has been injured frequently for maybe a combined total of 7 months out of 5 years? So yeah is he 'injury prone' then, is he really? No he is not. It is a bullshit opinion and I think I also seen you post in the Reus thread that Reus is also injury prone too when in reality he really isn't.

Disappointed because he isn't a similar sort of player, its like saying I want to replace Hazard with Mats Hummels. Pogba plays box to box or sometimes as a more advanced midfield player not as a holding midfield player.