capriccioso

I don't think it'll be that simple. We'll be hard pressed to stop them from scoring, especially because we're attacking which plays right into the hands of their counter-attacking philosophy.

It's been at the most 2 years since our name last struck fear into the hearts of all across Europe. But I suppose for Napoli fans, being this far in the Champions League is new to them and they look at us as a club thats always been there or thereabouts and automatically assume we're still one of the best teams in Europe.

I hope not!

We need 3 goals to go through IMO, and even then, it'll be a close run thing. I can't see us keeping a clean sheet, we may need 4 goals.

You Napolitans are too afraid. We're not that good, we're not Barcelona!

Hi Dj Borgs Most likely 4-3-3. Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Drogba, Sturridge.

But everyone likes pasta The thing with Inter was, Mourinho had it already instilled into them that they were invincible. From what I've seen over on the Napoli forum, their manager isn't the best going around plus they have a shaky defence. If we get an early goal we can make them extremely nervous, but if we don't, they'll grow in confidence throughout the match. It's also up to the crowd who're attending on Thursday, to make a lot of sustained noise, chanting etc. and intimidate them.

I reckon we need Mikel for this game. It's going to be one of those games where an early goal is absolutely vital, if we can score inside of 10 minutes we'll have them worried and nervous the whole night. I think we may not progress if we leave it too late, I can't see us getting up if we take say, 40-50 minutes to find a goal.

Just read that all in one breath , great post. I don't fully understand FFP, if we miss out on the Champions League, can't we spend whatever we like until the time comes where we are in the qualifying places again?

I don't have permission to view the forum

I feel for Lukaku. 18 million pounds and he's barely had a game. We should alternate between Sturridge and Lukaku in pre-season or towards the end of this season if we have the luxury of not having to win. That can tell us if Romelu and Sturridge are ready to step up. If they are do we need to buy a new striker? What about that Mexican bloke we signed who's on loan, hows he done?

We know 100% that Zimabwean elections are rigged, but we just sit back and do pointless stuff like revoke Sir Mugabe's knighthood/honorary degrees. This may be the cynical communist in me, but why Kony? Why Uganda? There are dozens of mass-murdering, child enslaving warlords strewn across the continent, why is Kony getting all the attention, given that him and his organisation have left Uganda? I can't help but feel there's a subtle agenda here. Perhaps the US are trying to combat Chinese expansion into Africa. But as far as I know Uganda has no strategic value, its landlocked, although wiki reckons they have reasonably large levels of as yet untapped resources like oil.

Looks like Lampard with darker skin. Well spotted, BB.

Or white in the case of Spuds.

Why don't you like Fulham? I do

Who's Syed?

Eva Carneirooo..... Eva Carneiroooooo (sung to rhyme with Jose Mourinhooooo) I can see it happening.

Why stop one African rebel leader when there are dozens as bad or worse as him spread around the continent? Even if you get rid of him someone will take his place. It's like trying to shovel shit against the tide, there's very little we can do to stop this if we focus on the highest levels of leadership. We should look to eliminate the root causes that motivate rebels; for example this Kony bloke was rebelling against the awful leader of Uganda at the time, Idi Amin, who's rap sheet would make Kony look like a small time street thug. There wouldn't be any rebels if African countries had by and large stable, trustworthy and competent governments. This is where we, the industrialized world, should focus our efforts, supporting governments and manipulating elections to ensure that its a sane candidate that comes to power. The 2008 elections in Zimbabwe are a good example, Morgan Tsvangirai may not be Franklin D Roosevelt but he's streets ahead of that insane old man Sir Robert Mugabe, and yet Mugabe rigged the election and swore himself in as President for what must feel like the 10th term of office.

So, Mourinho's been ruled out. That leaves us with Rafa

Hahahaha the first person EN meets and greets is Eva.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Ivory Coast keeper Copa looks quite a bit like deceased rapper Tupac Shakur:

This is the kind of fixture the old Chelsea (i.e. under Villas-Boas and during 'bad moment') where we'd drop points. Lets see what happens with di Matteo. Usually there's a honeymoon period with our new managers before we turn to shit a few weeks/months in.

The point stands that he is a cheat. He dives, he hand-of-god's goals etc. He may not be a drug cheat, but he still breaks the conventional rules of football.

Wow, you've put a lot of effort into this thread, it looks great I don't think our group is that difficult, Oman and Jordan aren't all that but they'll be tricky on the road. Japan is a huge worry, whereas Iraq could potentially beat us but apart from them I'm not worried. South Korea's group, meanwhile looks really easy. Qatar, Lebanon and Uzbekistan should be walkovers, and I don't know much about Iran but I don't think they're all that, They could go through with maximum points, whereas I'm sure we'll drop a couple here and there. Group A in UEFA will probably be the tightest, and Portugal have been handed a ridiculously easy group.

Perhaps thats why his goalkeeping has declined of late