manpe

Credit's due where credit's due... he is inconsistent, BUT today he was good.. take nothing away from him from this performance. It wouldn't be too nice to see comments a la "he's still shitstick".. encouragement and compliment is something we all need, even if it is on rare occasions.

Sentiment... Anelka must go, he's old and past it, we shouldn't make exceptions if we want to turn this team around.. we shouldn't hold on to him just because he is above average when he feels like it. He doesn't have anything new to offer. Far too inconsistent just like Malouda and Kalou, but on his day better than both. It's a correct decision to let him go.

True, we were without a left winger... tbh we attacked very rarely on the left, mostly through centre or right.. It's a new situation for us, previously we were used to abusing the left side.

wow, WHS... the most reliable source around

Perhaps AVB taking Lipton's advice, playing the old spine and reverting back to Jose tactics Naah I think it was an emergency decision, because December is the month where you don't fuck about with wannabe Barca tactics, especially in our position... It will be interesting to see if he keeps it like that against strong oppositions or not throughout the season.

I also noticed that our line was a bit deeper this time around... And we played so much better with it.

I don't know what you guys are on about, I thought Drogba was good... He showed intent and didn't sulk, we tend to say that we appreciate players who give effort... He did give it and imo his contribution was more than just the goal.

I was afraid that our attackers' sublime display will mask Terry's performance, but I'm glad to read that many fans noticed his immense contribution. I know who I will be voting for in the MotM thread

We were really lucky tbh. Luiz should have been off, Lampard didn't convert his penalty, Luiz and Drogba nearly had own goals (both struck the woodwork), the JT goal-line clearance, the Ameobi shot at the bar... But then we went on a rampage And all the bad/lucky things won't matter. It was simply our day, FINALLY! And it wasn't some pissy Wolves, it was Newcastle, a team above us in the table. And I'm really glad Kalou got a chance. Both Malouda and Anelka have been underperforming, so I agreed with the members who said that Kalou deserved a chance now. And he did really well too, I don't think he made a bad pass.. He actually put Sturridge through, could have had an assist in addition to his good goal (not a tap in btw). Well done lad And today we saw why Drogba is so good even at 33... He doesn't have pace anymore, but his strength, link-up play, hold-up play and everything else is still there. His header was classic Didier. The whole attacking 3 was good today and it showed in the scoreline.

This is not a transition period, AVB said it himself

I'm bored so I'll post my expected lineup Cech Ivan - Luiz - Terry - Cole Ramires - Meireles Mata Sturridge - Drogba - Kalou Yes I named Kalou.. whatever

wow group B is deadly.. how is it possible that group A and B are so many lightyears apart?

well that's reassuring.. where did he say that though?

Suppose it's a step in the right direction... makes offloading the others in summer a bit easier.. but that also means we'll almost certainly be signing 2 players aswell.. one centre back and it's difficult to say with Anelka, but the other can be anything from playmaker to winger

and your inside source... is it trustworthy? it would hardly be surprising if those 2 went though but why must they train away from other players and even park away? wtf

If we get over this slump and finish anywhere between 2-4th place, we will look back and say that we overreacted in hindsight.... It's a good comparison, but future which we will later call history needs to be written day by day, not find solace and hope on what happened 10 years ago to another team. But saying that, I do hope we will have the right to be all smart and all come May and say that we overreacted... although it won't change anything in terms of how we view the team, the mask's off and it's blatantly visible that in order to replicate what ManU did the season after, we will need changes. It essentially won't matter on which position we finish at in the end, although financially and commercially (and for AVB's job security) it should be in top 4 for obvious reasons... Top 4 is still very much a realistic objective, who disagrees, is just simply being overly pessimistic.. Look at Arsenal, in the beginning all fingers were pointed at them, now they are pointed at us and none of us dares to make fun of them anymore.. Things change oh so quickly in football.

Whatever, they always tweak the layout... I like it, it's cleaner.. as long as it plays videos I'm fine with it

tbh during the Roman period I have never felt that the managers were concerned with our future or progress, it was only instant success on their minds and who could blame them - they knew that was what the owners were after and they knew they wouldn't be there for long-term either. That's why you see things like Borini, Stoch and Töre amongst others... they had potential, but they weren't on the needed level yet, they had to play more regularly in order to become that level, but they got overlooked because it was easier to patch it up by buying finished products.. so the potentials leave to other clubs in pursuit of happiness. I'm really really hopeful this will change with AVB, but if he gets teabagged... then we'll be back to square one, buying expensive panic flops and hoping they work miracles with no drive and desire, only showing passion when on their way to collect their paychecks... while letting hungry future hopefuls rot or leave.

well yeah, but as you said, managers are too afraid to experiment to such extremes because if it doesn't work out, then......... NEEEXT

Chalobah is 16 ffs, yes he'd most likely make more mistakes than Luiz or anybody else in our defence

having a balanced squad with quality is vital for the whole team, lack of it is probably the cause of our strikers' piss poor form... dunno. and we should remember that Torres's shit form stretches further before he even joined Chelsea, there is something wrong with him too, but we have other strikers in the team who aren't firing either

Wasn't active in the forum around the time this topic was discussed, but if I had been I would have probably answered in this order: Agüero, Neymar, Lukaku... I would still answer in the same order, but the first 2 are long gone already so no point

Lukaku is much faster than Drogs

At first I had a sheep, but now I have a goat because shonex thought the sheep was a goat, then I held him hostage to make me a new avatar with a goat... Does it have a deeper meaning? Yes it does.

for what it's worth, I think Only blue is far superior to CFC_8... I somewhy dislike usernames with numbers