Jase

Think the four teams in the top 4 now will be the four teams who will finish there come end of the season. The only question is, the final league position of those teams.

Oh, as if Ake can't do the job if he was given it... Punishing Zouma?! Oh god.

I remember a journalist once mentioned Marc Wilmots is Belgium's Roy Hodgson.

Yes but what did I say after that as well? "Play Zouma - a CB - out of position in DM." Same point as I mentioned in the previous post. You need to stop treating Ake as if he's a 16-year-old who has no first-team experience whatsoever. He's got that and has proved more than adequate in the Premier League and in Europe. This issue here stems from the fact that Mourinho just doesn't trust the youth players to begin with.

He's moaned several times about wanting to play in the Champions League and that's probably he doesn't look bothered too much half of the time.

Not arguing whether Mourinho made the right decision or not. The point was, we had a DM available in reserve to take Matic's and Mikel's place, but instead, Mourinho went for someone who isn't a midfielder to play that role. If you were Ake back then, you would have been very disappointed.

AND HE ACTUALLY BEAT THE FIRST MAN WITH THE CORNER!! :rant:

Willian has assisted only 3 Premier League goals in 28 matches this season. He has managed 2 in one game against France.

Jose Mourinho makes his move for midfielder Andre Gomes

Really? Matic and Mikel were suspended and injured respectively earlier this month and yet what did Mourinho do? Play Zouma - a CB - out of position in DM. Was probably soul-destroying experience to see that happened. Oh he'll play but how many games to be exact? He clearly won't be 100% fit and considering Reading are not entirely out of relegation trouble yet, would Steve Clarke be patient and give him sufficient game time to get his rhythm going? The funny thing is, had Benitez stayed on as our manager, he might have played regularly in the first team. Benitez appeared to really rate Ake.

Every defender makes mistake but the best or better ones make fewer than others. Vertonghen has his qualities but he's a tad too error prone from a defensive point of view.

Or those first time ball over the top passes to Drogba. Simple but extremely effective. That's the issue right there. Many have become so blinded by Lampard's goals that they can't even see his other qualities. He's really a much more complete midfielder than people give him credit for.

Life is good...until next December...

Wow. We sure know how to ruin young players in our books. Let him rot in the team all season and then suddenly loan him out for a month. What's the point?!

Using the defensive deficiencies of others to justify Vertonghen's is not very convincing, is it? It's just like saying 'oh, it's ok Ivanovic and Cahill make defensive errors because others do it too'.

Don't think I'm being harsh at all. He tends to be quite slack when marking players and not to mention, him getting brushed aside so easily in challenges. For instance, look back at the goal Remy scored against Spurs last December or even David Nugent last weekend.

But I still wouldn't put him in the trustworthy/reliable category.

He's already 26 though and right now, I would say he's better than Vertonghen. The latter has been ridiculously bad.

True but then again, I don't quite recall other big clubs being interested in Ivanovic and Azpi, for instance, when we got them and look at how that turned out.

Maybe but both are equally average/bad.

Kolo Toure will likely play against Arsenal then. Oh dear.

Each to their own. To say the League Cup is a low level competition is unfair, to put it kindly. It's very similar to the FA Cup (in terms of the football leagues sides competing in it) and the only difference is that the League Cup doesn't have the prestige and long history to go with it.

Lampard's passing range and box-to-box ability are criminally underrated.

Toby Alderweireld appears to be on the move this summer - http://www.espnfc.co.uk/story/2365421/southampton-defender-toby-alderweireld-hints-at-tottenham-move IF we can't get someone like Varane in (doubt we can), would he be a good option..?

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