blue out west

i understand what you're saying but there's no reason to start him in midfield. we have essien and mikel who are both way better in that role. having essien or mikel in there means that luiz CAN roam from his CB position and do the things he did today, thats why AVB played that formation. its also why he picked the 11 and the formation he did in napoli.

3 long balls in the first 20-25' maybe, but on the game he gave away possession many more times than that. he has all the athleticism and a good feel for the game, he is just soooo green still in every way (offense and defense). AVB clearly told him to build the attack almost exclusively because we don;t have a proper playmaking central mid and it puts so much pressure on our team shape and defense on the counter when we rely on a CB to start every single move. especially when that CB isn't pique, its young luiz.

confidence and experience are related though and i think its important for him to get these opportunities and he is growing, as he has expected to

woooooooooooooooooooo thats a hot 11 i had convinced myself a diamond would be best i really like the look of that. also i don't like studge on the right at all. far better in the centre or on the left if he has to i still would like to see rooney play behind studge and wellbeck though.

he can get involved playing at centre back especially with ash not fit and bos out, we shouldn;t be pushing up with our fullbacks anyway. also luiz was extremely wasteful with possession this game but no one remembers this??? why, because he scored a pretty goal?

i highly doubt ash is anywhere near fully fit so lets keep that in mind it drove me nuts listening to the commentary with the guys pretending that ash terry lamps mikel and essien had no fitness issues the last while

gerrard is inconsistent, picks terrible passes most of the time, and is glorified for the 30% of the time he doesn't make an unnecessary mistake. he is the best looking player i've ever seen in highlights in comparison to how he actually plays a whole 90. a great way to see how seriously someone watches football is to ask them about gerrard. everyone can appreciate a 32 meter laser beam to the top corner. lampard does all the small things. he keeps team shape, makes incisive runs for his teammates' space and to provide goal threat, finishes like a CF, can put it in with any kind of shot there is (and has done it against the best clubs and in the best competitions in the world), he's a winner who scores pivotal goals and crucial moments, he's just as dangerous from set pieces and simply scores way more goals than gerrard.

its worth considering that all the players mentioned enjoy a league that suits perfectly their style of play, and they're all totally different than the english game. re-reading that post i quoted, messi was being coddled on the wing for a very long time... and he was also taking enormous amounts of testosterone. neymar has comparable technique to messi right now. to be fair, messi has always relied mostly on his outstanding balance, lower body strength and ball control which is a lot different to neymar. the brazilian is more of a trickster, he passes and moves, and uses his agility to create shooting opportunities from anywhere he happens to be whereas messi is more the type to make gutsy runs through the middle of defenses.

on the age i'll correct myself, neymar is a year younger than hazard and a few months older than gotze on the subject of athleticism its not really close. gotze has good mobility but he doesn't really have much pace, a good burst but not much flat out. same with hazard, they are both pretty agile players though. in comparison to neymar they don't have the flat out pace, agility or burst of speed that the brazilian does, and neymar also has phenomenal balance and an underrated ability in the air.

okay roman do you think you can procrastinate with the squad anymore?

i reckon napoli is getting tired

the midfield has been the issue mostly in holding the ball and being composed and efficient. is it a surprise since we've been without essien, mikel and lamps so much?

great ball in and take by drogs

id be very happy with a 2-2 score line and 2 away goals going back to the bridge. this fixture was tough before kickoff and it only got harder with bosingwa off

obviously you haven't. probably one of the morons who thinks he's better than mikel

since when was he not a snail? and how does he break up play if he gets nowhere near the player or the ball, like what would happen if he came on here? meireles isn't getting beat as badly or as much as romeu would be, makes less mistakes and passes way better which is what we need to do. but hey anyone with a brain knows this stuff already

ironic you say that when he cleared the ball from right in front of a napoli forward in the box right before that, which was a much more dangerous... our squad is worn out, injured and doesn't have enough quality

meireles has been beat for pace and positioning all game so you want to bring on a guy who is twice as slow and has poor positioning himself? okay you're a moron

box to box midfielder on his left foot, wtf do you expect

its all good we still have the away goal and have been the better team. just need to hold together. we'll score another.

i think he just didn't see mata early at all on another note, fantastic chance by luiz

DAMMIT WE HAVE NO PLAYERS!!!!!!!!!!! if we get another injury in this game im gonna cry

and you will certainly never mention when malouda does something positive like... oh i don't know, start a goal scoring move like he just did

why do i even come to threads like this *facepalm* be fans

a little optimism wouldn't hurt, gents