blue out west

lol comparing neymar to robinho neymar is still a teenager and already as good or better in most ways to robinho you people who think goetze is even on his level are mad hazard is better than goetze neymar better than both but as far as who we need, i want eriksen from ajax. plays central, fantastic athlete, very good reader of the game, more well rounded than the other names mentioned. goetze is frail and hazard isn't that good for our squad

I'm excited because every time we have HUGE pressure and I firmly resign myself to a 3-0 defeat (vs city, utd and valencia especially) we end up really rising to the occasion. its so strange because in those games we don't play a different style, you can just sense the urgency and focus the players have over other games... things like that go to show that AVBs tactics and trainings work, he just doesnt have the motivations and man management aspects totally sorted yet. we have the quality for sure to win a war of attrition in italy here. here's my 11 cech essien -- brane -- luiz -- bert ------------ mikel ------------- ramires ---------- lamps sturridge--drogs---mata also a 4-2-3-1 with mikel and essien holding with cahill @ CB and brane @ RB would be good too

i agree but not on the malouda being a dire attacker thing... we have enough brawny athletic guys that can get themselves into good forward areas and get a decent hard shot or cross out of their feet, which is the kind of player malouda is. that's not what we need to break down well drilled defences though, mata's creativity is needed then. malouda, for me, is a very good player for the middle of the park because of his athleticism, and that does free up players ilke mata to be more influential in the area they can be best in.

he shouldn't feel that much pressure and to an extent what happens in a footballing career (playing or managing) will always blow in the wind.. he knows that, he's been around the game and the business, and he is young in his position. we should recognize that he is like a hot prospect of a manager, andre still has a lot of top top level experience to acquire and time to develop more his way of doing things. if andre stays with us i have no doubt he will continually improve-- and more importantly, give the club an identity that its been lacking since jose.

I think AVB is a good manager but he has too much pressure from the board and ownership... Think about it, he was brought in to not just bring the biggest trophies but to also do it iwth the style that is fashionable right now, lots of flair and passing... but we don't have that kind of squad! We have a FANTASTIC squad of super athletes with tremendous mental assets and also strong technique... but they are not the best at playing 1 strict style perfectly whether it is negative or postiive possession style. Our players are all similar in the way that they are best playing direct and aggressive, and adapt to the style of the opponents.The players we have can win 1v1 battles when we can match the tactics, because the strength and speed we have can win most challenges in the first instances. Then once the first battle for the ball is won, we have a shot or pass.. but we arent pass-pass-pass players... its different. I don't know if that makes any sense but what I'm trying to say is whats needed are practical tactics or our players can't perform, if we continue forcing this barcelona style possession style on the team then we will have to replace at least half of the squad to make it work.

i guess neither of us are much of guardian readers are we because apparently if you dont play like barca you play like barbarians. this mentality disgusts me in football im just so sick of the influence of playing aesthetics... and anyone who questions the quality of the squad needs to watch some other clubs

lol you're mad we have a perfect squad to play exactly the same or far better than the mourinho years when we play a practical style we dominate when we try to imitate barca to please romans eyes only we lose lets see barca play defensive and direct mourinho style football and see if their small technical squad can do it... they cant

get your head out of your ass, look at our squad, it has as much talent as any in the world this is all romans fault, if he didnt force coaches to play 'sexy football' bullshit we would stay winning instead HE IS SO COCKY to think you can choose to win and how you win... well hopefully roman has finally learned.. practicality = reality

has he even TRIED TO PLAY A DIAMOND ONCE

i find barca the most boring club to watch in the world and i actually enjoyed watching mourinho games so i dont understand at all the whole idea of sexy football pass pass pass snoozefest kickabouts work for some clubs tho but barca mostly wins because they have an entire academy devoted to 1 way of playing and they also cheat like hell now roman wanna have his club look like a spanish club, well you're too arrogant. watch some other sports for a change and see how hard it is too win have to work with what you have and we have great players but they are not pass and move players.

now its a place where we practice our stupid pass and move drills like theres nobody else out there then the opposition pops up and scores on us

how do you think barca players would react to being forced to play like 2005 chelsea? not well makes sense doesnt it we might as well just f'n play players in random positions, this style is ALL WRONG. we have direct players and we are passing the f'ing ball around so stupidly.

because sturridge wasnt doing anything right, not completing passes, giving away possession, making bad decisions, missing hte target, AND he is not the set piece threat that drogba is this club has got it all wrong why are we playing strictly possession and pressure football with THE WORST PLAYERS FOR IT. we deserve this 10000% because of the stubbornness of playing the completely wrong style spit in the face of all sense and practicality and this, unsurprisingly is what you get.

AVB isnt confused he was brought in to establish a sexy football style this is the ARROGANCE of modern football the idea that you can win and 'play sexy' well, good thing that we have finally got a manager who is not negative and direct like Jose...! roman, you are so arrogant. we should have never gone without Jose. now our club is a laughing stock our style of play does not suit our players at all

He wasn't hyped by anyone except the typical chelsea fan who bashed malaria ill drogba just like they bashed new-to-england ramires. Romeu was far and away the worst chelsea player at 0-0 and only started playing with any real composure and reading the game with any effectiveness while we were 2 goals up. Not surprising to me because I don't have a thing for young spanish boys, and nor do I worship farca like most of you... so I haven't been shocked at all that it took til now for romeu to get a PL start. Don't be mistaken either, if we didn't have tougher fixtures and a lot of them coming up there's no way he starts this game. At 0-0 his timing was terrible, he was out of position more than not, conceded needless fouls in bad areas, almost allowed wolves to go ahead off that corner (one of 2 times he completely missed the ball in our box, almost resulting in goals) and wasn't making good or quick decisions. There was one moment he just played a little short backpass in the 2nd half and got a round of applause around the bridge for it. Mikel would have been booed. Whatever though, its not like the romeu lovers/mikel haters are a rational bunch, so its too be expected.

i guess i'm one of the few supporters not getting mailed roman's personal medical marijuana

LOL I predicted this. by far the worst player in a blue shirt today and STILL being hyped to shit. you guys are unbelievable.

fresh legs to pressure the tired wolves defense and deep mid(s)

thank god AVB isn't a chelsea fan. drogba was one of the best players in the early going today.. torres has been inconsistent at best in his last few appearances and we have fixture congestion now. by the way not surprised by our 2 weakest players on the day being the ones my fellow fans have been calling for-- meireles but especially romeu. the spaniard was really bad in particular before the first goal, almost allowed wolves to go ahead too. but i bet no one saw that much less the needless fouls conceded, possession given away, poor positioning and poor marking. at least he setteld down after we went 3-0 up thats really what you need in a DM. i expect to hear the screams of protest again next game when mikel starts.

I hope so Nice to see the bashing of Mikel will never end. if only he was younger, had light skin and gotten for cheap

Mikel is selected in most big fixtures soooo

Too true, and look at what the youngsters have done for Arsenal. I'm happy we have smart managers who make selections based on the real world and not back pages. Back on topic I've been waiting for years to see Mikel's passing and other attacking traits utilized. He's so strong you naturally want to see that strength deployed in the best part of the pitch but AVB has found a good system to make use of both his athleticism and technique.

I guess deduction isn't really your thing. Ramires wasn't bossing shit he was getting up and down the pitch as he does. Mikel is the one who sits in the middle and breaks up + starts attacks. It seems that if someone isn't flailing around or doing fancy moves all the time and scoring then he's a worthless footballer. So boring to talk with you people.

I don't think he's not at all ready for the PL but I wouldn't say he would be a top DM in the PL on the back of 2 good CC outings (where he had almost zero pressure) and 1 good home game vs Genk who is even weaker than the CC squads used by Everton and Fulham. As for those stats Romeu has a really small sample size against poor opposition in some of the least consequential games that we've been involved in. In those those games he hasn't really been under consistent pressure at any time, whereas Mikel was the motor that kept us in control vs QPR with 9 men. On the subject of forward passes you should look at the chalkboards and also remember how those games were. Forward passing success rate from a DM is highly affected by the kind of pressure and formation being played by the defense. You really want to see Bertrand play over Ashley? Are you mad? I can understand playing Bertrand and Romeu over Ashley and Mikel for squad rotation purposes against weaker opposition but seriously... that's crazy. Comparing Utd to Blackburn... Kean > Fergie? Heh. Seriously thats a pretty funny post.

Yeah but if England were to win such a match you know who the papers would be praising.......... man u haha