Jase

But Raphael is my cat.

Who's Azil?

The one that springs to mind immediately is that Clattenburg fiasco at the Bridge against United last season...Torres wrongly sent off and then, that CLEAR offside winning goal! And hell, where was the apology for that Chris Foy debacle against QPR?!

Not necessary exactly that but somewhere along the lines of it.

Indeed especially when Mourinho only sees it as a Plan B rather than starting/default formation with it..

Ok now, calm down lads. Don't need to get into petty fights over something here. Just agree to disagree or ignore one another..

Chelsea's Mata on city living, Mourinho and the World Cup

You're like 2 hours late on that one. No longer newsflash...

I get what you mean but like I've been saying, that's all hypothetical situation and won't necessarily work out. Not as simple as it looks. If the players actually turn up and put in 100% effort and commitment from the first minute till the last, we wouldn't even be talking about changing the formation to this and that!

You mean 'copYing'?

Mourinho spotted with a shaved haircut at his presser today. He's ready for war...

Thought you understand me but but...it seems like you don't. :cry:

1. How sure are you that the change to a 3-5-2 formation will suddenly work and make us play better? Every time when we do that in games is because of the reasons I have mentioned in the previous post and also for the fact that we needed to win the game. There was extra pressure and hence came more urgency in the play. How about if the players actually start putting in more effort and commitment from the first minute to begin with? I don't get why people always to think a change of formation will suddenly turn a team's average-poor performances into a great one. It's not always that simple. 2. On paper, the 3-5-2 may look like a decent formation and setup to play but it's not as simple as it looks to carry out. The formation is essentially and will have problems against teams with wingers or wing plays. And that is one of, if not their main, strengths of West Ham. It doesn't matter whether they expect it or not. It boils down to the mentality of the players when the game kicks off. For all you know, if we are slow to turn up and still slowly adjusting to this change of formation all of sudden and West Ham immediately turn it on and score, then what? Change to a 3-4-3 formation? 3. The 3-5-2 formation have worked for Juventus because they have trained and work on it for ages now and also the nature of Serie A suits it. If we are already having problems in playing well and arguably even, still trying to understand what Mourinho wants from the team, why try to complicate matters by switching to a whole different formation altogether when we have to start from the basics to get it right? We may have switched to that formation during games but I doubt Mourinho really put in extensive training into that with the players compare to if the 3-5-2 system was actually the default formation for a team to begin with.

And Cole is fit for selection.

Here's two (encouraging, maybe) stats ahead of this game... 1. West Ham have only won 1 of their 5 Premier League games at Upton Park this season - D1 L3. That win was a 2-0 success over Cardiff back in August. 2. West Ham have only won 2 of their 11 Premier League games this season - 2-0 win vs Cardiff and 3-0 vs Tottenham. (In other words, they haven't won when teams scored against them...or when they have not scored themselves. )

Oh Rapha...you take things way too seriously sometimes..

In what sense has the 3-5-2 or ours tear defensive teams apart? We may have had some joy with it this season but that's because we started throwing more attacking players on the pitch (some even playing as FBs) and the oppositions didn't have the time and/or couldn't react quickly enough to the change. It's just sheer persistence and pressure that has got us over the line with that formation this season. And moreover, let's not forget we also got exposed and had luck on our side such as the games against Norwich and Cardiff. Could have conceded the second goal, when at 1-1, but didn't and we managed to get some luck in the end at both ends. The 3-5-2 system is not all that conquering and great like you're making it out to be. With Mourinho, that formation is only meant to be a Plan B, nothing more.

3-5-2 is never gonna be starting formation for us, not with Mourinho. It's only gonna be the usual backup plan. The problem now isn't so much gotta do with the formation but just the level and consistency of performances haven't been good enough. If everybody is performing at their best, the default 4-2-3-1 wouldn't really be an issue (despite its flaws with certain players in positions). We are only switching to the 3-5-2 because of the desperate performances we have been seeing.

But but, you didn't exactly approve the signing of Willian did you?

Amazing to see the full match being uploaded but the most damning and rubbish thing about it is that it's ITV coverage! :banghead: The emotion and reaction of Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend during the game is so flat, passionless and even feels robotic! Quite pathetic especially if you compare it with Sky's coverage with Martin Tyler and Gary Neville..

That can practically be applied to just about every game and week...

Talk about jumping into the bandwagon just because Cahill didn't start against Germany in 1 meaningless friendly. Guess we should disregard the fact he started majority of England's games including the WC qualifiers before that eh? And Mourinho has said as much before that his first priority is always to think about Chelsea. I don't think he bothers too much how players perform for their NT teams. From his POV, he's only gonna pick players that are performing for him and Cahill arguably has done better than Luiz this season for the club.

Just regarding that Torres wasn't allowed much space against Newcastle, yes while that maybe true, I don't really buy into it as an excuse or reason for his non-performance then. The City game is an example. He didn't just stick himself between the 2 CBs and instead, was causing havoc by dropping deep and running at defenders, moving out wide where he gets more time and space and was doing the damage from there. But yet against Newcastle, we saw none of that and he was sticking himself against the 2 CBs making it all too easy for his threat (or non-existent threat) to be neutralized and made redundant.

Just had to laugh at this.. Tottenham dodged a bullet in not signing Willian

Erm, not exactly. Reports then said we paid £30m for Willian.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23814060