Strike

Why is the forum obsessed with Mikel?

The Sporting match thread is locked so I'll leave this here You're wrong. Youth integration does not happen this way. If Schurrle and Luis, two fantastic players who would walk into any other team in England, have to impress in such limited windows, what about the actual youth players? You cant expect Loftus Cheek to walk in and impress in 8 minutes of a dead rubber. Look at how the best youngsters were blooded into the senior team. Wilshere, Pogba, Varane, Zouma, Sterling etc Sometimes you have to give them a chance and see how they handle it. At Chelsea, it is tougher I agree, the competition is obviously very high and Mourinho is a competitive man who will stick to the best choice of players. But this is precisely why I don't have faith in his promises whenever he talks about youth integration. Yesterday he talked up RLC, in August it was Bamford, last year it was Chalobah and so on..

Maybe Jose was saving Loftus Cheek for this game

I don't know about that. I'm skeptic. Mourinho can make all the promises he wants in the press but as long there isn't anything tangible to back the claims, i'll remain skeptic. He's shown a strict preference to a core XI, where by even Luis, Schurrle aren't getting much of a look-in let alone the youth

i'll have to see it to believe that academy players will get chances

it's time for RLC

Ivanovic at Centre back. Cahill sits out a couple

The loss is out of the way. Should light a fire under some players.

Courtois Ivan Cahill Terry luis Matic Fabregas Schurrle Oscar Hazard Remy

Win here and this will be the best November run in years

yeah... i would love reus

the forum's new wet dream now taking over from hulk, falcao , cavani.

none will happen

nobody in nobody out

has a history of fading towards the second half of the season. should be rotated sometimes

this. i remember the 0-0. he was terrific. it was around this time that his performances were good and i thought he would quietly replace ashley at some point but unfortunately never got an extended run of games to prove himself. also, both di matteo and rafa tried him on the wing for some reason when there were clearly better wingers in the team

Long way to go. City can catch up especially once they finish bottom of their Champions League group. They will then have just the league and the FA Cup left to play for

Think at some point Ivanovic will put a shift at CB. Maybe in the crunch stretch of games in december. then we'll see Luis and Azpi in the two fullback positions

no story here. express is just looking for hits

fullback is the strongest position at the club right now. all 3 performing to the levels expected. this guy is the pick of the lot though, one mad red card aside he's been superb

good to see him playing well. no regrets on letting him go

Daniel Sturridge definitely. Was a big fan of him Also, the sales in 2010 after winning the double. Ballack and Carvalho with no viable replacements coming in

Good stuff vs Liverpool. Controlled the game till 2-1, then not really threatened heavily. Cahill handball aside

yeah. this team isn't like 10 years ago. atleast not as much as people are making it out to be. agree with the Barca part. Completely reshaped Barca from Deco, Eto'o, Ronaldinho to the dominant team of 2008-2011. Somehow not credited enough for that

Overall, I don't mind the draws. Keeps the players focussed and grounded