Jase

Inclined to agree with the points there but if you noticed, the point I was making to TOPTB was not we couldn't create chances at all but rather that we struggled to create chances and do so consistently when opponents sat back and defended against us. Hence, why I pointed out periods in the matches in which the opposition have done so.

Pellegrini will really be an idiot if he plays 2 STs again after getting torn apart by Bayern and us because he played a 4-4-2. No against us, City practically sat back, defend and played on the counter even in the first half. It's because they did that, we couldn't create much. They pressed, hurried, tackled and intercepted our passes and we ended up couldn't do anything. They couldn't handled us two weeks ago because they were simply too attack minded which resulted in them being open and susceptible to counter attacks. City changed their approach against us on Saturday and they looked much better, never mind the stupid overused excuse of tiredness. Also, just because they are used to having the ball doesn't mean they can't tweak their approach to play on the counter. It's ridiculous to suggest so. I simply used that game as an example on a broader scale that they can be adaptable. Even we, United, Bayern etc all used to have tons of possession in most of our games but still capable of being defensive and play on the counter when coming up against a team like Barcelona.

Ashley's ready! Cole's lack of football at Chelsea can benefit England, Jose tells Roy

Man City face 'worst Barcelona team in years', says Mourinho

Anyone who watches Barcelona these days will know they are not all about possession football anymore and the defence is even more hopeless than before, it that wasn't the case already, which City can definitely exploit. And the way City setup and played against us on Saturday showed they can mix it up and play on the break. It was almost if they were experimenting that against us then...

Just saw that. WTH?!

Same but later in the competition. If City and/or Arsenal get KOed now, they can pretty much focus on the league while we can't (assuming we beat Galatasaray), even if we can cope. The amount of fixtures and mental focus here can make a huge difference.

If you realized, City and Liverpool's fixtures against the Top 7 are pretty much lopsided and opposite of each other. In the first half of the season, City played 5 of them at home and 1 away while Liverpool played 5 away from home and only 1 at home. The others have a more balanced fixtures.

Think that was because he felt annoyed at being asked so many times about De Bruyne and Mata - who weren't playing much then - even when he has explained once or twice about it. It's probably only fair that we get to know at least what is going on with Schurrle when we haven't even heard anything as to why he's isn't playing much yet.

Don't get me wrong. Am totally disregarding that factor altogether but have seen it been thrown around and overused as an excuse for the last 2 results. It's a valid factor but shouldn't be blown out of proportion as the sole reason why we failed to win in the last 2 games.

We did create but how many of them were really clear cut chances and how consistent did we do in those situations onward in the matches I mentioned?

It's the classic diversion tactic. Hardly a word has been mentioned of our last 2 poor performances especially after the West Brom game. But still, it's ridiculous not one (NOT ONE!) fella in asking such things and everyone only seem to bother in indulging getting quotes and soundbites out of Mourinho. Why so? You referring to the De Bruyne and Mata situation?

Think that has also been a slight problem away from home. We've just seen it at West Brom last week and it did happen at Everton (in the 2nd half after they went 1-0 up), Newcastle, Hull (in the first half) and at Stoke (at 2-2 onwards).

TBF, think the broader issue from that comment is we've generally struggled to break down teams when they are on the defensive against us, denying us time and space to create anything of note. This would of course apply to most other teams but we do seem to have a problem than most in this scenario and we have seen that before. Inclined to agree with your second point as we definitely need something different, a bit more variation in our play than we've right now like perhaps getting a deep lying playmaker.

Actually, it's only 3 in the league. They were rather 'generous' in giving the other 2 where one - in the 2-1 away win vs Lausanne - was when his shot cannoned off the post, hit the GK's back and went into the net for a Basel goal while the other - in Basel's 4-1 home win vs FC Thun - saw his pass to Andrist who then shot first time but saw it saved by the keeper before managing to score on the second attempt after the ball fell back to him from the save.

For the title race sake, hope they do. Would be nice to see that Guardiola getting screwed too!

But the better known websites don't seem to have it though.

While you're at it, hope Arsenal somehow get past Bayern too.

You are suggesting us to get 10 men behind the ball? GTFO!

Chelsea and Manchester United need to forget about Edinson Cavani

Probably won't happen but sort of mentioned this before, seriously hope someone ask Mourinho about Schurrle in his next press conference. A bit silly and ridiculous that not one fella from the media seem to ask him about this and only bother in asking silly/repetitive questions!

No worries. It's normal for sites not to have the full statistics record of players if they are playing in the lesser known league like the Swiss league, for instance, and it's easier for them to record down goals than say assists. Only have to check the score results and not watch the highlights/matches to know. Lazy bastards!

Merged with the old thread. On the player itself, has he actually joined us? I've just checked again and didn't come across any report from reliable sources on this. Heck, not even the dodgy Daily Fail has anything on this.

Salah actually has 4 assists this season - 3 in 18 league appearances for Basel and 1 in the Champions League. Swiss League: Streller's goal vs Lausanne Sport (2-0) Xhaka's goal vs St. Gallen (1-1) Streller's goal vs FC Sion (3-1) Champions League: Sio's goal vs Ludogorets Razgrad (4-2) That Champions League assist came in the qualifying rounds though and from the highlights, not 100% sure if it was Salah who assisted the goal but it look like him. Otherwise, he definitely has those league assists!