manpe

Sounds totally legit. I mean, it's not like you have been wrong before.

Now he's ripping into club legends. http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11192549/manchester-uniteds-jose-mourinho-hits-back-at-paul-scholes-criticism "I think the only thing Paul Scholes does is to criticise. I don't think he comments, I think he criticises, which is a different thing, but not every one of us has to be phenomenal, like he was as a player. "He was a phenomenal player, that doesn't mean that we all have to be phenomenal. Paul (Pogba) tries to do his best all the time. Sometimes he plays very well, sometimes he plays well, and sometimes he does not play so well. "It is not Paul's fault that he made much more money than Paul Scholes. It is not Paul Pogba's fault, it's just the way football is. "But I think Scholesy will be in the history like a phenomenal player, not as a pundit. So I prefer to look at him as a phenomenal player who gave so much to the club I am proud to represent and every day I try to do my best. "If Paul one day decides to be a manager, I wish that he can be 25 per cent as successful as myself, because 50 per cent is 12 and a half silverware, 25 per cent is around six. If he is 25 per cent, he will be quite happy. "In my mind, Paul Scholes a phenomenal player, one of the best players I have ever seen playing in midfield and he gives so much to my club, I only can thank him for that, because the prestige of this club is based on people like him, so successful here." The bolded parts, I can't believe how far stuck he is up in his ass. I remember him bringing up the money argument before against somebody, might have been at Chelsea and also aimed at one of club legends. It's just ridiculous how he randomly brings it up as if that somehow invalidates their criticism, as if they are just jealous. And then the standard megalomaniac comment about his trophies, this doesn't surprise me anymore.

City dropped points, title race back on.

Yup this is the team I would put out (except Hazard for Kante's twin of course). But I'm afraid it will be Bakayoko in for Drinks and Cahill for Rüdi (though I don't mind GC so much, he's been solid). But I really hope Drinks retains his place, he brings just so much more than Bakayoko, doesn't look scared and knows what he's doing.

Better than Bakayoko at everything. Should be a starter with Baka the stand-in.

Willian's been outstanding, doing justice to Hazard's role.

Why mate? We posted at the same time, think it's cool.

Haha, great minds think alike

Morata pretty much useless with his feet. He should start lifting the ball in the air on 1-on-1's and head it in.

Started wondering, how big of a role us not being in CL last season could have played in our modest transfer window? Actually thinking about the last few transfer windows up to the one after we had won the league in 15/16. That might have been the board being arrogant and thinking this team was good enough with a few depth additions, we have seen this pattern before after having successful seasons. Then we had the freak meltdown season. In January it was clear we'd miss out on CL next season and the team was in deep crisis, clubs would ask hefty desperation tax and nobody would want to join that trainwreck anyway. Coming off a catastrophic season that wrecked our reputation and pushed us out of CL, it was bound to be difficult to get top class signings in January or in the summer. We did well however to get a few key additions like Kante and Luiz. Then last January there was not much available in the market, not for the right price at least, and all the good ones were in European competitions anyway. Who would leave to join us at that time? Nobody, and nobody did. We were in a healthy position in the league, so the club decided to be patient and go for the right targets in the summer. The idea was sensible, we did win the league and repaired our reputation, but maybe they couldn't foresee how inflated the market would be. With the money lost by not being in CL (and let's also not forget our expensive stadium project), we just didn't have the finances to push for those extra 10 or 20 millions that state-owned clubs with CL money had set to be the new norm. So, maybe our financial power will improve now that we're back in it. I don't think it will restore this quickly, I don't expect any fireworks this January, but next summer I'm hoping to see improvement in the club's ambition. Or maybe I'm just thinking of excuses to maintain hope.

Fair enough.

Well, this one sounds like it could be true. Not like one of those stories with a random or unrealistic name pulled out of a hat. He is (or was?) also known for his work-rate, something Conte looks for in players. Also Belgian, our club with the Belgian connection and all. Only 24, fits the club's policy of buying players with a resale value. Wouldn't mind this move at all, wanted him back when he was a firm favourite at Atletico, think a new environment and Conte could rejuvenate him.

Backtracking? It was not self-understanding, your exact words were "We are pathetic that's the truth". Nothing about the situation. If you knew how some would react even before you posted it pretty much shows you did it on purpose to get the reaction you were expecting, otherwise you would have worded it more accurately to reflect what you were saying in the above post. Then you go talking about the board and I can agree with the view that the board can make pathetic decisions. Will not quote the rest of your post because there are footballing parts I can agree with, and then the rest non-footballing related talk is just laughable, which I will not get into in this thread, as you said, to avoid a "tard war" that will not lead anywhere.

Courtois has registered 10 clean sheets in the Premier League this season, joint-highest alongside David de Gea and Man City's Ederson, while Tottenham's Hugo Lloris has seven. Courtois' save percentage (73.1 per cent) is higher than both Ederson (69.2) and Lloris (67.2), while Courtois has not made an error leading to a goal in the Premier League in the past two seasons, compared with De Gea (one), Ederson (one) and Lloris (five). And though Ederson's pass completion (87.4 per cent) towers above other Premier League goalkeepers, Courtois' rate (71.3) far outweighs former Real target De Gea's (55.3). ---- Impressive, makes me think he is underappreciated over here.

Maybe you're right, but that Georgy guy only complains and goes over the top with his comments about the club.. remember summer? His posts stood out like a sore thumb with negativity. Now again, January is approaching he has raised his head again, all it took was one stupidly inflated transfer to be confirmed to call our club pathetic and disgusting without even knowing what we will do during January.

And this makes the club pathetic and disgusting, okay... Should we really take Liverpool as an example in anything?

Neymar is obviously a good player, I don't deny that. But he's overrated so much and I don't like his face. Hazard is a warrior, he is strong and doesn't mind people kicking the shit out of him. Neymar would eat grass for 80 mins per game than actually do anything, diving champ that he is.

Ah, I think I finally see your point. You are saying that the global audience would rate him more if he was more prolific, hence the 3rd best player thing being sung only by those who watch English football. Neymar is ahead in popularity contest (Eden isn't even trying to compete tbf) and it's being unjustly translated into him being the better player, but no way anybody can convince me he is better than Hazard, for me he's an overrated possession wasting donkey. I wouldn't take anybody over Hazard in his position, not even Messi or Ronaldo. Love that guy.

We have a much better backline than Liverpool and in total it costed less than VVD alone. Wouldn't call that pathetic. What is pathetic though is you using one grossly inflated transfer to proclaim our beloved club to be pathetic the truth. Jog on to City forums, that's where you belong with such comments.

Ideally yes. It worked better last season because the formation was new in the league, reminiscent of how we obliterated the league introducing 4-3-3 in 2004. But most have figured it out by now, sooner or later it will become old news like 4-3-3. When you watch our games, it's clear that in some games we try to do what you described, but it doesn't work because teams know how we play and set up almost every game. We need variety.. or simply buy players that would make our 3CB system so strong that teams would struggle even when perfectly countered. Maybe we can do it with prolific wingers as WBs, who knows...

Why aren't Sterling or Salah being discussed as one of top 3 (or top anything tbh) when they score/assist more? Why is Hazard being discussed as one for years if he doesn't score/assist enough? Not only Chelsea fans do that, but also ex-players, pundits and journalists who have nothing to do with Chelsea. Bearing in mind how difficult it is to get ANY recognition being Chelsea, why does he attract so much praise and attention from outside? You also didn't answer my question - would you take Salah or Sterling over Hazard in our team? Elaborate your answer. If you take away half of Messi's goals and assists, would he be half as useful player? Please also explain how Neymar is better than Hazard.

Again using two basic metrics to measure a player's worth. Tell you what, Sterling and Salah are putting up bigger numbers than Hazard this season, therefore they must be better players. Would you take either instead of Hazard in our team? If yes, then fair enough, that's your rightful opinion. If no, then explain why.

I also find it a bit funny when people criticize Hazard for assists, when it is his teammates constantly robbing him of assists with shit finishing or decisions. Looking at purely the number behind assists is one of the most meaningless statistics without context, without looking at what the player does before creating key chances (chances created > assists).. and so on. And the way assists are sometimes counted is also ridiculous, but nobody looks at that. Some of the most important contributions are not and cannot be measured in numbers, not fairly anyway. Instead of statistics, use your eyes.

Understand your reasoning, but we need quality to be able to switch to 4 at the back. Can't do that with wingers or Alonso. I feel this 3 CB system is starting to hold us back in certain games where we need more bodies and movement up front. Playing 3 CBs and 2-3 CMs all the time, even against bus parking minnows, seems awfully counterproductive often times. It puts too much offensive responsiblity on only two or three players going up against 6-9 defenders. Then when we can't break through, those 3 CBs just start passing the ball among each other with all the space in the world because opposition is not interested in regaining the ball, they are happy to drop deep and mark the forwards out of the game so they can't receive the ball in dangerous positions. When the ball finally goes upfield, often the receiver doesn't have enough support and has no choice but to play back again and the purposeless side-to-side passing below half-way line begins all over. Anyway, this is why I would prefer our new LWB to be more of a LB than a LW. Somebody who is dangerous and quick going forward but also solid enough to play in a 4 defender system. We have a winger in Moses playing on one side already, and when we need to go 4 at the back we have a monster defender in Azpi to slot in there, while the more offensive minded full-back on the other side can bomb forward relentlessly. I really really want us to start using variations of 4-3-3 or even 4-4-2 at some point for us to become less predictable and more dangerous going forward when needed. How I miss Ash...

Probably too easily influenced by the critics and trolls in social media, fears of becoming an expensive failure and a target for mockery and all that as a result. Players who can't handle it should stop using them and concentrate on one thing only - training and listening to your coaches, not anonymous meme-heroes. But I'm speculating and could be way off from what is really bothering him.