robsblubot

If you win you are hated... period. The ones who you beat will always hate you. If you win by playing pragmatic football you are hated more. If you win and play the "the beautiful game," a la Liverpool atm or Barcelona before, you are hated less. now if you play pragmatic football and you lose, you are liked. but if you play "the beautiful game" and lose, then you are loved!

Fair enough, but in his defense (as if he needed it) he and many here (including myself) have very specific problems with Mikel's game. I read elsewhere a description that matches how I feel about him, "his game lacks urgency." I'm not saying he has no value, but I feel that his extremely short-passing game can only be useful in very specific conditions - such as yesterday. Italian football is a lot slower than the BPL, so it's very likely Mikel will do better there than here. Similarly, DL will prob play a lot better as a "defender" for Barcelona, but for different reasons (system). I'm not as sure as TPTB concerning who should leave and stay, but if Jose is part of the owner's long term plan, then Jose's system is the ultimate goal. And if we all see Mikel as a good squad player, it seems Jose doesnt.

Also with ankle injuries, they will need to wait until tomorrow to see what the swelling looks like, etc.

thought dislocated shoulder meant very little: it all depends on the damage done by the unnatural movement (nerve, muscle, even bone). Reckon they will get a clearer picture by tomorrow and the day after.

Torres will start instead of Ba just because he still got (slightly) more pace than Ba, or at least that used to be the case. I don't rate either, but would indeed start Torres away and Ba at home (with Eto unavailable).

Let's forget about his lack of creativity and his inability to pick up a pass (much less assist someone) for a second here. The boy can barely run! I actually remember how he used to play in the beginning of the season, and his movement was absolutely fantastic. He'd be all over the place, moving into channels opening up spaces for him and his teammates, whcih also improved the odds of assisting and/or scoring. Now I look at him and he doesn't move... doesn't chase as much. Doesn't tackle as much. What the hell is going on? I don't think we are going to get the answer though. The club will attempt to hide that until the season is over. No need to give too much information to your opponents at thsi point, but I have no doubt something is off with him.

Well we have to hope Jose is only starting Ramires because he's got no better option atm. Weren't for CL and I reckon Luiz/Lamps would have started last match. We clearly have several under performing players at the moment - really terrible timing! Ramires is one of them, Oscar another. While I think Oscar's issue is physical (coaching staff might know more bc he can barely run!), Ramires' remains a mystery. I value technique too highly to rate Ramires. Still value what he offers to some degree: dedication, aggressiveness, pace, work rate, etc. His passing is just not good enough to make him the player we need. I'd play Luiz instead without missing a beat - far better footballer in general. Luiz is a bit too similar to Matic though. Our midfield bbecomes a bit heavy with them. We need someone mobile like Ramires but with better technique (spec first touch and passing).

Indeed. He has been a nuisance this season, specially lately. There is no denying that, but going from that to, "he's useless lets sell him!" is kinda crazy to me. Now if we are talking about improving on Ramires, then yes, like someone like Vidal/Pogba, then it's a different story. I for one, had never heard of David Luiz before we signed him - don't follow Benfica/portugal. Seen lots of Ramires though, and his game hasn't changed a bit. He was no youngster when we signed him and if we didn't want "the athlete" Ramires, then someone made a huge mistake. Because that's what Ramires is and has always been. Even for Brazil, as you know Ramires isn't a starter and I reckon he shouldn't be for us either, but he can be a useful player nonetheless for no other reason than his ability (poor choice of words) to play in different positions; he has even played in RB!

Don't need him. Rather get a younger player like Wickham for a 3rd option striker. We need to sign first option, and second can very well be Lukaku. Bony seems like a good player, with strength and a good first touch, but Wickham has got that too and he's 19!

I like him - good player, but nowhere near ready. He's able to play on wings too so good rotation player in my book

Ramires is what he is - been there that before. Expect him to break down an opponent with a creative movement, or a perfect throughball is just unrealistic. Same way it's unrealistic to expect Ivanovic to become an attacking minded fullback at home. These are defensive players and we just started the match with too many of them. PLus of course, our piss poor strikers. Ba can score more goals than Torres, but boy, the football doesn't like him much.

We are a stoic team. Defensively solid, which takes away from us when going forward. Something's gotta give and that's the strategy we currently employ. I side with skipper that our team is just not setup for this type of matches. At some point Sunderland projected their FWs forward because our defense remained very deep for the entirety of the match. If one goes by numbers alone, if our opponent defends with 11 and we have 3-4 players still sitting in defense, well the numbers aren't on our side. The way we play is far more suited for single-elimination competitions... Cl here we g!

What a fucking aweful player cattermole is. He showcases the point that desire isn't everything; gotta know how to play football and he doesn't. Really poor strategy against a poor side. Not enough players committed forward. Matic goes all the way back to pick up the football to carry it forward. This is just too old school for me.

Don't rate modric much, great technique but nothing else. Vidal on the other hard has got everything including technique. I agree we can't get him though. Our results prove that we aren't lacking as much as ppl say aside from strikers of course. the grass is always greener... We do need better rotation players though.

that's how you tight-mark an 8-yeard-old...

Might as well get Maxi Lopez too for the free soup opera drama...

They are shit. The only way for us not to trash them is if we play like shit. And even then, we would still pull a 1x0 win. Defending against them is real easy: mark Ki and Adam Johnson in the middle/wide and then tight mark Borini, who can turn and shoot. That's pretty much it. Don't see anything in Jozy - yeah power and strength are nice qualities spec in the BPL, but you gotta know how to play footy and he doesn't. This is the perfect time to rest a couple/few players - whoever needs a rest (the coaching staff should have that information). I'd rest Terry and Azpi regardless though - just too many games in a row.

Well, Liverpool have been performing very well lately and we haven't. They've got one world class striker and a good one, while we've got nothing. Thought Sturridge did not have the best of matches, but Suarez was unplayable. City lost, but played a hell lot better in the second half; reckon they deserved to even win that match, had it not been for Kompany's miskick and they'd have goten at least 1 point. Aguero is coming back at the right time as well. He's prob not 100% yet, but he doesn't need to be. Our best player is out for another couple of games, and reckon he too won't come back at 100%. Tourse is a big loss, but they got cover there. We are not favorites and can't think of any reasons why we should be. Would love if we won it anyway, but realistically, we must accept our opponents are better poised to take it.

I meant the team and I agree Shalah did well. Although I'd not play Salah so often at this moment... yes because he's so young and I believe composure/experience is more important in the final games of the season. Pressure should not be put on young players at thsi time. Again, I thought Andre's long shooting was more important then than any ability to get into positions. Agree to disagree then (on the performance). The commentator on TV said, and rightfully so, that although Chelsea would prob end up winning the match, we are not a side that can take this type of advantage (in numbers) and really hurt the opponent. Yes, the strikers are very poor, but it's not just that. It's the system and some players. People who are expecting to win the league easy next season with (far) better striker options are going to get a reality check. I personally think Mourinho's system (Scolari's and a number of other head-coaches) of low defense line, high pressure to cause opponent's mistake is best suited for cup competitions. The defensive solidity of these type of systems don't help you so much in long championships. Case in point: Liverpool... Discussion for a different thread though.

@CHOULO, yeah maybe that was it. Right, but I don't rate any of our strikers, so having a player like Andre, who can score from distance (as he has), could've been important in a game where the opponent was defending in their own half. It was a horrible performance against a very poor opponent. We were very fortunate to have gotten the 3 points. Swansea only got like 3 good players and that's pretty much it. What a terrible defender Williams is: so poor on the ball... Swansea want to play possession, but you can't do that with defenders like that.

Although I understand why Salah started the match, I don't understand why he was left on the pitch in the second half. The idea was obviously that Salah would be able to exploit any spaces left behind Swansea's defense line. That was not going to happen after they were a man down so early on. At that point on, composure was far more important than anything else. Andre would have been far more of a threat than Salah at this stage. He wasn't bad or anything. He did miss a open net chance, but both Ba and especially Eto missed them too. Eto was absolutely ridiculous and sad esp for those like me who watched Liverpool and City's match few minutes before.

I'm also very confused.... If he does have a release clause, all Chelsea need to do is bid 35m and then there is no need to speak with Atletico whatsoever. Costa would be the only one to talk to, and reckon he'd have agreed terms by then. really strange story if true.

Kompany is strong and composed, but lacks technique and that was what costed city appoint today.

You've just described how every other deal is done in football. When the seller is not very keen on selling, the buyer needs to trigger the release clause - or get very close to.

The bad and the ugly... Actually the other way around. If Ba is happy with being the 3rd option striker, then I'd call it a luxury and try to keep him even on somewhat high wages. He has shown commendable professionalism and dedication to the club. He has also scored important goals for the club, which makes the above numbers misleading. However, if he demands to be, or for other reasons becomes, the 2nd or even first option for the striker position, then I'd be very worried indeed. For no other reason than that our opponents have far better options there. Ba is just not good enough to play regularly for a top side. As an option, he can certainly score goals as a physical poacher. Same way say Andy Carrol can do it, but as a target man.