Strike

Criticism of Pellegrini is that he hasn't won trophies in Europe but his work at Villarreal and Malaga must be noted. He is a good 'coach' as in he's a good tactician etc but I am not sure of his managerial ability i.e handling City squad, media, probably mind games with Moyes or Mourinho

I remember your prediction that Man City would go on to rule England in the next few years. You would have been proved right had it not been for Mancini screwing up in the Transfer Window.

@CHOULO19, spot on I think I was misunderstood by some ppl here. I did not think of the gender while posting that. I was thinking of something Manpe posted somewhere about your kindness and empathy to total strangers on the internet @DDA, Read the above

You might want to rephrase that. But yeah, his passing set him apart but until age caught up, all the other aspects of his game were good, except for tackling ofcourse

Welcome to the forum. Agree with that but that's the price you have to pay for talent now. The transfer price is not really a true reflection of the players' ability but rather a reflection of how much his price is driven up by competition

I don't even remember this!

The media are pushing Chelsea vs Arsenal as a big London rivalry now but I hate Spuds more tbh

He has adapted to a Right-Back role at Madrid which is good because Ivanovic looks comfortable at CB and Azpilicueta can get some rest with Essien playing few games

I genuinely thought we strengthened our bench last year. But a combination of daft sales - Meireles and Essien, injuries - Marin and Romeu and poor form of few others meant that only 12-13 players were the core of the team

Yeah and Jose is not a done deal.

A week ago, Xabi Alonso looked likely. Now, all the Real Madrid links have gone dead

Ferguson Moyes vs Mourinho Hiddink vs Mancini Pellegrini This will be the biggest letdown ever

Now that Moyes to United is done and Pellegrini to City looks dead on, if Chelsea don't get Mourinho ( ), then I'd take Hiddink. But a name like Hiddink will only have a negative effect on the manager. If the team is not doing well, there will be media pressure on manager and the stories will eventually spawn from lazy journos that Roman will replace Manager X with Hiddink. A name like Emenalo is no threat. Don't think we should hire a big name director of football

What about Guus Hiddink? If Roman can convince him out of retirement

Yes. While on the other hand Ramires is just a poor passer of the ball generally. Not a good fit together, these 2. I think Luiz should not be played at DM at all from next season. We'll have Oriol Romeu and probably Michael Essien back and we have to expect a new playmaking midfielder in the summer. Luiz at DM was more out of necessity than talent

Luiz-Rami pivot is just pathetic imo. Neither can pass. Both have one of the worst pass-completion rates in Chelsea squad. Sure, Luiz has picked out the long balls from defence at times, but his passing has been woeful whenever he's played at midfield. Against Spurs, he had a 71% pass-completion rate(?) and that too with Parker and Huddlestone in the opposition midfield who are close to immobile. He brings a good defensive cover to the pivot but Luiz-Rami is asking for suicide. They f*** up so many counter-attacks! Against Aston Villa - Luiz came on at half-time and had an awful ten mins, misplacing half of the passes he made. Pass completion in this game was 72% and it only improved after Benteke's sending off when he got more space.

I wonder why. We've been raiding Porto since 2004

That just shows how little you expect from Rafa. He does something completely ordinary like putting Luiz in midfield after going down to 10 men and you're praising it like it's tacitical ingenuity

I think BluesChick has an unfair advantage in the Most-Liked forumer category

Full sleeves uncomfortable as it looks?

Pellegrini is a good tactician but I can't help but smile when I think that the Manchester clubs will have Moyes and Pellegrini at the helm. Jose will eat them alive in mindgames

Signings like Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair get you nowhere

*Wigan

You couldn't script that finish! Watford in Wembley!