manpe

You're being too pessimistic. At his age it's possible to adapt him to a new position. And an inside cutting wide player isn't that bad, because we have wing-backs bombing forward. As a winger he'll need to adjust his positioning and work harder defensively... Mourinho did similarly to Joe Cole, he was a lost man in defence, but after a while he became a versatile attacking player who was the first one to help out the full-back. Football can't be seen so one dimensionally, Sturridge has the attributes to be a wide player, I see no reason why he can't adapt to it. Hopefully he doesn't turn out like Kalou though. Teams and players do it all the time to fullfil the needs of the team, you work with what you got. He said himself he has more freedom on the flanks than in centre, so he obviously doesn't mind.

Do you know how large amount of goals he scores from passes? Most of Barca's goals come from teamwork and assists, Messi is no exception. In Chelsea he would struggle at the moment to be the best like he is now... No doubt he would make others around him play better, but his game would suffer. But that's not the point, we don't play like Barca and probably never will. Their style of play is not the only efficient one, hopefully we'll find one ourselves soon.

Heh... I remember one time I was watching a game, and I said to my friend "it seems Čech is our playmaker then"

I didn't realize I joined this forum in its 2nd day after being launched... so that must mean there were only a couple of tens of members around here, and now it has grown to 4k. Respect

you guys should wait before they actually play together before getting your panties wet

Torres defo wasn't ready to play against 'pool in his first game for us, none of the Chelsea fans know what Carlo was doing. Perhaps he hoped that Torres's knowledge of pool's defenders would come in handy.

The only ones who build themselves up and knock themselves down are the players themselves and a touch of good/bad luck. Negative journalism is a consequence not a cause, and it can turn into a bad circle because bad publicity doesn't help to build up confidence either. If he had turned out more efficient, then there would be none of this media bullshit. It can't come as a surprise that a €50m striker who's scored 1 goal will come under scrutiny in England. At the moment it's a worse case than it was with Sheva, he was much cheaper and scored more. Bottom line is that at the moment Torres is a flop, how I wish it wasn't true and I hope he can turn things around, but this bad spell will haunt him for a long time. And whoever flops, especially with such a price tag and with this reputation, tabloid junk will pick up on that... that's their bread. Football is a show, theatre and business. For us it's an entertaining show, for media it's business. Press won't shut themselves up, Torres has to do it.

Different variations of 4-3-3 and 4-5-1, can't see us playing anything else... perhaps only 4-4-2 diamond, as we've seen in the first couple of games, but I don't think we'll play it that often. I would no doubt play 4-3-3 with proper wingers.

When Mata and Sturridge are unavailable (injured), then we have no adequate cover... They MUST stay healthy

Götze and Ganso threads are much more plausible than the C.Ronaldo and Messi threads Hell, even this Holtby non-existent link is more realistic than the Ronaldo & Messi ones...

what?

You mean the best players in the world who play his position? Like Anelka and Kalou?... yeah, Kakuta has high standard players ahead of him Quick and witty little bastards, always having opposition sweating and chasing in full speed, making defenders feel embarrased of their profession. No way can we afford to drop one of them wizards to give a promising youngster a chance. But your point is fair. With how things are going, I can't see none of the Nicolas Kaloudas making way for him, they are far superior in our management's minds.

Apparently he's an Everton fan

Another good video ruined by shit music...

How many best-11 threads are here now?

Did I say something was wrong with low-risk passes? I just brought that out to show why statistically his passing accuracy is so good and to express my opinion on why he is not the best passer in the team, but just a decent one who does his job accurately most of the time. Centre-backs and defensive mids are usually instructed to play it safe on the sides or short through the middle in order not to lose possession in own half.

Ok, Mikel is a decent passer, but it's an overestimation saying he is our best passer. Most of his passes are sideways or low-risk short passes, he doesn't often attempt long-range passes. In terms of accuracy and vision I think Lampard and McEachran surpass him. I'm pretty sure Mata and Meireles won't disappoint either, with those 2 we have signed formidable passers and I think they are better than Mikel in that department.

Oh not another Kalou thread And Mata is a left winger/attacking mid... Him and Lampard played together against Norwich, so they aren't on the same spot.

I can't believe this thread even exists

Leaving out Bertrand from the CL squad and having Ferreira on bench while Ivanovic is also there is fucked up... if I were Ryan, I'd be really pissed. Our youth policy is the best in the world. And he's already 22, and hasn't still got a proper chance and is still being looked over. It pains me to say this but it would be best for him to leave the club if this continues.

Lol I read some posts from last year's summer where BlueLion was defending Kalou and saying he is a good super-sub and a decent squad player yada yada, bringing out his impressive stats and stuff.. but now he's not far from Term X's hatred level towards Kalou FC Just goes to show what a shit season kalou had

Dude showed immense determination in every game... that's the main thing I'll remember him for, always gave his all

Wouldn't mind seeing Romeu in action but I don't think it's gonna happen... My idea is to take a risk and play without a classical DM because Mikel doesn't offer much in attack and in terms of tempo, although he does offer some security in defence.. Meireles and Ramires can both cover further back while the other goes banzai mode in attack. It would be thinkable against weaker oppositions.

I've got big respect and like Mikel, but I hope Meireles gets a call instead of him this time.. to up the tempo. With Meireles, Mata and Danny we might finally see a more fluent game and maybe an eclipse of a Torres goal

fuck age... as long as the players perform I could care less if the player is 20 or 40.. the ManU coach can shove it up his a-hole