OneMoSalah

A player who cost £32 million, looked a £10m player tonight. Got to pick it up.

In a way I agree with your point but their isn't even a desire to win from the lads out there. Hazard was fucking useless, as he was against Everton. Our best player is basically 4th choice anywhere in the 3 behind the striker, our best RB is on the bench/out the squad most of the time even though Ivanovic who is better suited to a role at CB, plays there. We've played good for maybe 135 minutes in 7 games.

Obviously its hard for Mata to influence a game when he's rusty due a lack of game time, hes only going to get back to his best if he plays which means someone will have to miss out. Out of all the players we have Mata is the best, I don't get Mourinho not giving him starts against certain teams. Sure Bayern and United I understand but not Basel or Everton, ridiculous selection at times. Maybe it would be better for Mata if he were to leave and go to a team where he might be more appreciated by his manager (got a hunch for sure that Jose doesn't want him now for sure). One start in 6 games? Ridiculous. Even if Mata could get minutes with the u21s team or whatever like Marin did last year, would keep him fresh so when we take him on he can make an impact.

Needs to stop picking Lampard and Ivanovic for a start and needs to play Mata and Azpi. Team choices have been very strange at times. Obviously early days but it makes absolutely no sense to utilize Ivanovic at RB when he offers next to nothing going forward and is up against a very speedy player like Stocker or Salah. I hope Jose isn't just not playing Mata, Azpi and Torres to prove a point after all the problems with Spaniards in Madrid because if thats the case he might as well sell them.

- Mourinho really needs to start playing Azpi and Mata. - Finishing poor. - Hazard needs a fucking boot up the arse as well, unacceptable that a player of his talent and ability is playing so average. - Willian looked good as did Oscar. - Mata under Mourinho has gone from our best player to an ordinary looking player. I'm confused and pissed at the same time, team needs sorted out. When your best player can't get a chance to impress the coach because 'he doesn't like him' or 'doesn't think he suits his tactics' then maybe its best he leaves. I am annoyed like fuck with Mourinho refusing to pick Mata from the start. Hes clearly fit enough to play, just needs more of a chance.

Lol oh, I am not very good at time zones haha!

Not a single Scottish City on that (assuming that Perth is the Australian Perth) lol even though Perth in Scotland is hardly a city. Ah well 6pm is London so I am assuming its the same.

Apparently its being released at 6pm in the UK.. it looks awesome though so as long as I end up with it I dont mind

Same, my iTunes says there is no software update.. hmmm..

Totally agree with The Skipper. Eto'o has won much much much more, and all over the world in different leagues. Torres perhaps internationally but hes only won the 3 trophies here at club level I thinkk. Take away Torre's international achievements, bar the Euro 2008 where he played a key role and the 3 trophies he's won at Chelsea which he didn't do much in, hes won 1 trophy... although teams win titles not individuals.

Not really. Mikel in the past has done the same, hes not always backwards/sideways. I was just disputing your point that you said Maka didn't do well offensively, maybe not in goals and assists but he did start attacks for us.

I don't know why fans dislike Mikel. It is hard to go from somone like Makelele (who was arguably the best in that position until Busquets now a days) to Mikel who is still very good but not quite as good as Maka. I'm not certain why a lot of people think we need to sell him, when Carlo came in he started to establish himself as a key part of this team (SeB done a very good article on here about it, I'm sure you'll have read it), giving more freedom to the likes of Lampard/Deco/Ballack or whoever else as Essien was out injured for a long time (think it was one of his knee injuries) and the team a base to go and play. I don't get why Mikel isn't popular with the fans, I honestly don't, he does his job well, it doesn't make sense.

2005/06 I think. Was 1-0, not 2-1 got the score wrong..

Makelele's contribution in attack was poor? Watch the 2-1 loss against Fulham from 2006, where Chris Coleman made sure Makelele was marked when we had possession so he couldn't get attacks started, we struggled. Maka was slightly more than a DM, he started our attacks after regaining the ball, sure not quite the same contribution as a winger or #10 but he effectively started them at times. We were quite fortunate we played a 3 man midfield as most teams in England still played 2 men midfields, if other teams had done what Fulham had done we would have struggled to get going at times. Just because you have 0 goals and 0 assists doesn't always mean you are bad offensively, you get players who create a lot of chances but don't get any assists or players who like Maka sometimes played that pass before the key pass that is vitally as important as the key pass.

Think Oscar will score one or two tonight, would like to see him surpass his total of goals last year, he even said that himself after the Liverpool game, that he wants more than 10 or 11 or whatever it was this season.

Yes but Makelele was a bit different from Mikel in terms of quality (the guy has the defensive midfield role named the Makelele role for a reason). A defensive midfielders game isn't exactly spectacular but as Toronto said you need guys like Mikel who play simple error-free football and are 9 times out of 10 available to receive the ball when his team mates are under pressure and fill gaps left when Luiz or Terry step into midfield or are caught out on the counter or whatever. It was the same with Pep Guardiola at Barca when he was a player all those years ago, he played in Cryuff's dream team as it was called, his game looked the simplest and easiest to people but he held that team together when players like Michael Laudrup (who he famously told to play it simple), Rivaldo, Begiristain, Romario etc. The thing is his game was appreciated by fans, unlike Mikels it would seem. It was the same with Paul Scholes (arguably the best English midfielder of the last 20 years), who Zidane said is the best midfield player in the world years ago and a lot of Spanish players like Xavi and Iniesta have praised, who at times was underappreciated as he wasn't David Beckham or Mark Hughes or whoever else played for United. He wasn't even a holding midfielder or that but even in his late career he played a lot under Fergie as United didn't really have anyone who did the same apart from Carrick who you could say initially struggled at United when he first went there, who could do what he did.

Well in my opinion, Mikels a better distributor, has better tactical awareness, better at retaining possession and filling gaps in than Capoue is. I liked the look of Capoue when he played in Ligue 1 but hes nothing we don't already have. Perhaps the only thing Capoue has over Mikel is hes more versatile as he can play CB, is a tad more mobile and aggressive but you don't necessarily need to be aggressive to be a holding midfielder.

Well based on how United defended tonight they have no chance in hell of winning the CL lmao. Leverkusen's final ball was poor, against top quality opposition who can play through teams they will be fucked.

I'm buzzing for the new iOS that comes out tomorrow, should be good.

Haha I am 110% screwed. Anyway I've read nearly every post in this thread and this thread has become what this thread was here to warn people about/stop people doing. Jesus... Well done Spike mate, pls dont ban me within a week you fud.

I remember watching him in 2010 when he was on loan at Rangers in a few Old Firm games and other games, he looked a pretty decent player at times but very inconsistent. Think he used to play Man City, has all the tools to be a good player though, hes very fast and a good dribbler with a decent final ball. Thats some goal he got tonight though.

Did Mourinho say 4 under 22 year old players will start? I wonder if that includes Kalas and van Ginkel ...

Aubameyang was always someone dubbed with a big future years ago, he used to play for AC Milan as a kid but was let go due to attitude problems.... then he picked his career back up in France with Dijon, Lille, Monaco and Saint Etienne.

This....

Still envy the fact they have 4 potential 20-30 goal a season strikers. Sure you might disagree with that but Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic have scored a lot of goals in the respective leagues they all played in before each. They can all get 20 goals but its going to be hard for them all to play obviously.