Jase

He wasn't at 100% because of his that foot injury before and the fact that he was probably asked to focus more defending than attacking due to Azpi playing at LB.

And Mikel + Lampard, Azpilicueta + Ivanovic, Torres + Eto'o and the list goes on..... But that's not to say those who prefer one over the other are exactly wrong..

Any German speaker care to translate this post-Schalke interview of Schurrle?

:lol: Schurrle..

According to Portuguese newspaper A Bola, Fergie chose to sign Bebe rather than Hazard back in 2010... http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/346834/Manchester-United-missed-chance-to-sign-Chelsea-s-Eden-Hazard-settled-on-Bebe-instead

Have I even said it's about satisfying a player here? No. I said as much as Bertrand more shown he is more than equipped last season to be playing in such games.. Not that I'm disputing that point but it's all good that playing Azpi at LB worked on Tuesday. Had the selection failed then, I wonder what would have people made of it...Guess we'll never know.. And just a side note, I wonder how many times in previous years with our other managers when they made selections like Mourinho has made this season, people used the same reason as you mentioned or the one Choulo stated above to justify their decision. I remember some getting sticks from the fans for making similar decisions even if those decisions worked out in the end...

Leif has sort of mention of this in his post above and Pjanic won't really work in the pivot. If you're gonna play him in a 4-2-3-1, then play as a CAM where his abilities and creativity with the ball can be maximised to its full potential. Otherwise, he can play in the midfield but in a 4-3-3 as one of the three CMs. That way he can bomb forward and cause damage to the opposition without having to worry too much about leaving his team behind exposed while of course, still doing his fair share of defensive work and this is somewhat similar to how Lampard was previously used in a 4-3-3.

And Real Sociedad.

Seriously, that moment alone was really hilarious. He took the shot and the ball just stopped after rolling 2-3 yards.

I suggest you guys to go watch the Benfica v Olympiakos game. The wet, and I mean WET, pitch is making it an utterly hilarious viewing alone.

My word.

Funnily enough if we beat City on Sunday, we would have won 6, drawn 2 and lost 1 and got 20 points and that was exactly the same tally we got to after 9 league games back in 2004/05 season under Mourinho.

*bump*

Wrong place. Moving the thread...

Still unconfirmed. He has been ruled out of City's game tonight against CSKA Moscow and Pellegrini said last week that he hopes to have Kompany back for this game.

If 3 teams are on the same number of points in the group stage, then the rules to determine their position becomes different. What this means then is a mini-league will be created involving those teams. So in this case and going by the first rule there, Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli have all beaten and lost to one another. Arsenal W - Napoli 2-0 L - Dortmund 1-2 Dortmund L - Napoli 1-2 W - Arsenal 2-1 Napoli W - Dortmund 2-1 L - Arsenal 0-2 Each of them have 3 points in this mini league and because of this, we then go to the second rule and look at the GD of the teams in matches between them. Arsenal have a GD 1, Dortmund GD 0 and Napoli GD -1. Hence, this is why Arsenal are still top of their group, Dortmund in second despite having better GD and Napoli in third.

That part goes in hand with the point of the whole post. Don't quote it out of context..

Think it will also depends on whether Mourinho actually wanting him or not as he might have a preference for someone else instead.

Have my doubts whether his robust style would actually suit the playing style that we are (supposedly) trying to implement here. And let's not forget that he may be shining now for Atletico Madrid because they are playing a style that suits him (and his team) and the fact that they also play with 2 strikers, which could have been beneficial to him.

It's never a Phil Driver's post in this forum if he doesn't include the same old repetitive 'attacks' to Mikel every single time..

So what? People speak of Bertrand like as if he is a Conference level defender or one like Bosingwa. If we are to say whether a player should start the next game based on their performances like what Mourinho has supposedly been doing, then Bertrand certainly deserves one yesterday after the Cardiff game and he has proven himself more than good enough to play games like this last season in place of Cole.

You would be a fool if you take Mourinho's words seriously there. Those players that won't be starting or playing this Sunday against City will start against Arsenal next Tuesday.

While it was great to see Azpi playing tonight, seeing him taking the place at LB must have probably felt like a blow to Bertrand especially after his good performance against Cardiff.

Would also like to mention that a win here would be a massive boost for us, not just because that would continue our winning run, but more importantly prove that we can beat the big teams, something that we haven't done yet this season - Man United, Bayern, Tottenham.

I...I...I hate you!