robsblubot

Torres said, "Look, I have ONE job on this lousy ship. It's STUPID, but I'm gonna do it, OKAY?" Torres to take every PK until his contract runs out...

hmm... his form is dipping, losing pace and mobility... not that clinical in front of the goal... would cost a fortune.... yup he'll be joining Chelsea in the summer!

David could not make contact, but the keeper is facing the play while the defenders had to start from the same (offside) line as United players. It's a terribly difficult cross to defend against, but less so for the keeper because he is facing the play. Keepers should not guess, or be proactive. They must be reactive and be very quick at that. Stop the shot, if an attacker (or Luiz ) heads it home, so be it. Mistake by Cech for me. Of course, I'm only saying this because it is Cech, and I expect world class performances from him.

If you are not excited about Hazard, Mata, and Oscar playing together... well, there are always other sports like tennis, basketball, etc. And Mata is "the old one" at 24!?!

Lets agree to disagree then. The keeper cannot ever be sure; like you said so yourself, anyone can get a touch, so why not handle the one case which he'd have known for sure? I've seen this very same cross/shot way too many times and for me the keeper must stop the shot. Hopefully we will hear from him (Cech) whether he'd have done something different or not.

First of all, I did not say Cech had a shocker, just that De Gea was better than him, and considering how highly I rate Cech, I personally expected better from him. OK, hope we are at least not going to debate the facts; so, Luiz could've, should've headed the ball--disagree myself because that's the most difficult piece of defending for any defender. The same way Cahill could've, should've headed the ball, or not let Hernandez get behind him. Anyway, the fact is nobody did touch the ball other than Rooney... So, what the fuck was Cech doing? Watching and hoping one of his defenders, or perhaps an United player was going to make contact?! That's not the right way to defend those balls. THe GK must defend the shot, until something else takes place; there was no action other than the free kick, and that led to the goal. It is really difficult not to blame Cech there. Good save on David's missed header, but nothing to write home about as it was just reflex (towards him). I wished he had prevented one of the United goals the same way De Gea did instead though. Who do you think played better, Cech or De Gea? We have a tendency to blame defenders for conceded goals, and strikers for the lack of goals, but thankfully football is not that simple. Funny how our defending go so much better with the very same players once Mickel got in...

United played better in the first half, and we played A HELL LOT better than them in the second half! The only reason they did not lose the game was because of Da Gea. For me Cech had a poor game, while De Gea was phenomenal. 1st United goal was more Garry's fault than Cech, but a player of his caliber should've done better. 2nd goal was 100% Cech's fault because in those types of crosses the GK has only one job which is preventing a goal from the direct kick; if someone heads it nice and scores, so be it, but the GK has to defend the direct shot. I just don't see the horror ppl see in our defense at times. We concede when we are outplayed which will always happen... It's all in the midfield though and there our problems are, or were until Mickel fixed them in the second half. Great comeback! Just imagine these young player when they mature a bit... Especially the 21yo Oscar and Hazard...

The likelihood of Rooney leaving United is the same as Torres leaving Chelsea. Both clubs want them out, so good luck trying to find a buyer considering their wages and level of play.

Finally got to watch a few videos of him... Seems to be a natural footballer, not that similar in characteristics to Lampard IMO. More of a Pivot type--reminds me of Spurs' Dembele in the way he touches and moves. Should be ready as a squad player-could be using him right now I reckon.

Just out of curiosity, who would that be? (I'm not up-to-date with the youngster atm)

No he is not worth 86M... Isn't his contract running out in a year or so?!

Completely agree, Chelsea would be perfect for him!

He's been very poor, especially his passing. needs to improve otherwise he will lose his place to... no one! Thin squad indeed!

I for one will refrain from criticizing Yaya for no other reason than his toying with both Mickel and Lampard last Sunday. Why on earth Ramires was not glued to Yaya inflicting maximum punishment at all times is beyond me (thanks Rafa!). * I do get some arrogance from him on the pitch though, but most good footballers have some degree of it.

Right, but Chelsea may want Lampard as a squad player, while Lampard may have a different idea. So, say he's offered a 90K a week as a rotation player, and he counters with his current (key player wages of) +-250K, what are Chelsea to do? Perhaps his agent has already hinted he won't accept a rotation/backup role for example. We just don't know. His performance against City was a liability; Mickel and Lampard IMO were our worst players on the pitch. Although it's really difficult to pinpoint specific players when they certainly did not (and do not) get enough support from the AMs and the wingers. In the 4-2-3-1 you don't really play with only 2 men in the center of the pitch--I guess we do.

Author of the article is really unkind to Corinthians (far bigger club than QPR in every possible way), but fair points regardless. They are not mutually exclusive: Roman can indeed be the best "thing" that has ever happen to Chelsea, and also a hinderance concerning long-term strategy, by the manner in which he mishandles managers and coaches.

We were completely dominated throughout the match, an pretty embarrassingly so at times, and here we are talking about a central defender. The midfield crumbled and the AM and wingers did not contribute enough to help win the midfield battle. Some players had shocking performances, but not the defenders. After all, we *only* lost by 2 goals....

harsh on Luiz and even Ramires considering he's played out of position for most of the match. Luiz did not have a great game, but I'd hardly call it shocking. Aside from a brain dead pass to Mickel, in which Mickel himself should've been more available, he was solid throughout the game though a bit subdued (still struggling with injury?). Cahill had a good game specially with his blocking. Now, with that out of the way, blocking is NOT the best strategy against quality players as they will put the ball in the back of the net as Toure and Tevez did, even though Cahill was, at both times, blocking in front of them. Iva was the weakest on the back IMO. Defense line was NOT the problem, aside from set pieces of course -- Rafa has always had problems with them. We were utterly dominated throughout the match, so Mickel and especially Lampard have to take much of the blame for that. Mickel must be more active in the midfield, closing down players at all times, which he did not do for Toure goal. And Lampard had a shocking performance, which made me ask whether he really deserves a new contract after today's performance. The other players, Mata and Hazard had poor games as well. We were too dominated to even talk about Ba, but he did get us a PK. We certainly need a real manager, with a long-term strategy, a plan. Football is never kind to short-term solutions.

That makes no sense; either he is world class or he isn't. If he isn't and depends heavily on a Makelele in front of him, then he isn't good enough. Personally I think he just ins't good enough, but I'd be happy if he proves me wrong. Why?! He just isn't aggressive, physical, or even technical enough to play for Chelsea--just IMHO.

It's worse than that... We'd have to pay part of his ridiculously high wages until his contract runs out.... Yes, we'd have to essentially PAY someone to play Torres... Considering his recent form, sounds about right to me.

You are right, Benfica confirmed that the total value was indeed 25m (value including Matic worth 4m). Interesting: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/david-luiz/mwverlaufgraph/spieler_46741.html The fact that he can also play in midfield will further increase his market value.

This is down to opinion, but there is one piece of evidence we can always rely on: market value. And concerning Market Value, Chelsea paid Benfica 21m pounds for him. The fact that Luiz' style does not seem to suit Chelsea, and some fans' idea of what a defender should do, worries me. Not for Luiz mind you, but Chelsea and fans. It's as if having a simple robotic (no pun intended) defender is something to aim for, esp a side who's goal is Europe and not a wet pitch at Stoke...

Shogun, I'm a big fan of Phil Jones actually... underrated player IMO. He can become a huge player for England, and unfortunately for United too. Been hearing so much about Baines, Pienar, Osman form, but did not see anything as usual. Still, thought Fellaini could've done better, especially with his passing, which was sub par. I still want Fellaini, real bad actually, just not sure (at all) he's a 30m player.

Very quiet game against United yesterday... Lost most disputes aside from a few headers.

good read on Neymar: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21409456 (Tim Vickery)