Jase

I can't really disagree with that but think what people want to see with Guardiola is him taking a struggling team to the very top, like say either one of the Milan teams right now. No doubt his achievements have their merits but it kinda help his cause a lot, if you like, when he had the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi at Barcelona (not that Messi has gone over the hill) and a winning, strong side like Bayern. He would gain a lot more credibility if he can rebuild a team like Inter/Milan.

Probably just a ploy to get him out of the Spain squad ahead of the international matches..

Is Wenger just tactically naive or pure stubborn? It's quite farcical how he didn't even bother to change anything when Chambers was having a nightmare all game against Montero. Why not at least shift Chambers to CB and put Monreal at RB?! The goal from Sigurdsson was an absolute beauty. Never thought he would manage to put that in, especially in the manner that he did. Stunning strike from a classy, underrated player.

What a mess. :lol:

That I can't dispute, though I didn't exactly include that in the argument in the first place. True but on the other hand, one could argue that Benitez did a bad job at motivating the players to go again and went about the task in the wrong manner. More crucially perhaps, most of the players in that Inter side was already over the hill or nearly there. Mourinho squeezed every ounce of quality left in that squad to win the treble before he left. Never mind just needing to motivate the players, you practically need to change their squad as well. Look where they are now since 2010. At Bayern, yes, it's not easy to motivate the players after they've won the treble but the thing is, all the players in the squad were still in their prime or heading there. They didn't have the situation like Inter did. So in that sense, Guardiola took over not just a winning team but one still in their prime. It's almost easy for him to just come in, get the players to continue going and remain on the trophy winning trail.

Said it before, their upcoming fixtures will tell us more about them. Between end of this month to mid-January, they'll face Man United (twice), Arsenal (twice), Man City, Chelsea and Everton.

Funny thing is even when Azpi has played at LB this season, Hazard still managed to play well and provide decisive contribution in the final third. The end results of when Hazard plays with Azpi on the left side is not much of a difference to Hazard-Luis on the left at the moment.

That might be true but again, it's still harsh to think Irvine would not have learned from his previous mistakes. West Brom didn't begin the season well but he managed to turn it around and get them into some decent form.

That's harsh. Irvine is doing a decent job there right now and West Brom have been more than decent under him. They are pretty much still like the side under Clarke and Mel - solid/organized defensively, defend with a low block, capable of playing on the break, good going forward.

I said "praise", not "complain". Positive praises do not interest anyone? If that's the case, then we should start filling this place with negative posts and don't even bother about praising the team and players' performances.

Here's a stat - Chelsea have now won 3 consecutive Premier League matches against Liverpool since Mourinho returned. In the 11 matches before that (Feb 2008 - May 2013), the Blues won only twice with both victories coming in the 2009/10 season.

Best for some of the players to get a bit of rest because December is gonna be hell. We have 8 matches to play including trips to Newcastle, Stoke and Derby.

He'll probably just choose the easiest job with a ready-made team and continue with being 'lucky' in football management...

Still being the Torres that we all know...rubbish. In fact, at times, he looks even worse than when he was still here!

I'm appalled that Keira Knightley, of all people(!), actually defended his punditry two days ago!

Phil Neville's analysis of the game... :lol: :lol: :lol:

While it's annoying to go through another international break, one should look at the bright side. This will be the last round of international games until March (IIRC).

Another good performance from Hazard. He's not only getting better but his consistency is also improving. Am happy that he's taking more shots this season but he really needs to improve his finishing and learn to be more decisive/ruthless.

Azpi is really like a god. He may not venture forward a lot from LB under Mourinho but more often than not, when he does go forward, he will end up providing something crucial in the final third. His assist in the Villa game earlier this season, the one for Torres against Galatasaray being the prime examples.

Absolutely thrilled to get the win at Anfield. Good to see that we performed much better that we did in the previous games, especially having to come from behind. Had been wondering and wanting to see what would Mourinho do, how would we react when we go behind in one of these big away games, despite Liverpool's poor form. And we responded brilliantly and really should have won by a more convincing scoreline had we been more ruthless in the attacking third. Now, with us being 8 points ahead of City (thanks QPR!), can enjoy the weekend and the upcoming international break sitting nicely at the top. As for that Cahill penalty incident, the referee probably should have given a penalty but looking back at what happened in this fixture two seasons ago, where Suarez wasn't sent off for his bite and Sturridge for his dangerous tackle on Bertrand, I'd say what comes around, goes around. I also can't really stand watching Rodgers' interviews these days. Getting more delusional and he must really be fooling himself if thought they deserve something from the point. Barely threatened all game. In fact, they hardly did anything of note.

Somewhat amazed at how quiet this thread is. When we dropped points against City and United, people went on a rampage at how negative/defensive/pragmatic Mourinho was in those matches. Now, we didn't really see any of that from Mourinho against Liverpool and nobody even seem to say anything good about it, especially when people were calling for him to be braver in those two matches.

Clearly you haven't watched any of our recent matches against West Brom...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtuzTeO1Weo

Not sure what to expect from today's game but hopefully, we can get the win especially after what happened (twice!) in Manchester.

Chelsea vs West Brom PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT 2014/15 Premier League Match 12 22nd November, Saturday, 2014 Stamford Bridge 15:00 Kick Off (UK time)