Leif

His real problem is he's a pussy.

Surely a decent bet?

He seems to keep making changes during the game either too early or too late (or just making the wrong changes full-stop.) We were playing great stuff when we started out in what looked to be a 4-3-2-1 tonight, but then for whatever reason, he changed it into the 4-2-3-1 which is when Juve got on-top. *sigh*

I wonder what it would be like to play with a striker and at least 1 capable defensive midfielder But no, seriously. Why the fuck is Luiz getting games over Cahill? He thinks he's fucking superman and marauds up the pitch to try and win the game by himself. It pisses me off. Why hasn't Azpi played yet? WHY THE FUCK CAN'T ROMEU GET A GAME?!

I hope no-one dares to defend Mikel after tonight. Even he knows he fucked up by pulling his top over his face. Can't believe he's in the starting XI of what are supposed to be European Champions.

And look. As usual, for some reason a fan favourite, Luiz strolls away, dismissing Di Matteo's orders.

It would be nice if we had a fucking striker who we can expect goals from.

Go on. Someone somehow try and defend Mikel now.

I can feel their goal coming. No pressure from us at all.

FFS CECH, MUST YOU ALWAYS KICK THE BALL AWAY!?

erm..

Didn't Manchester City use a 3-5-2 in the community shield against us? Or was it a 3-4-1-2? We did decently against them. Assuming Juve use a similar formation, at least we won't get completely dominated... I hope.

I have absolutely no idea which bet(s) to place on tonight's Champions League games. Far too close to call some of them for me. (I refuse to bet on us from now on.)

Drogba's equalizer against Bayern Munich. As soon as the goal went in, I grabbed my cat while he was sleeping (and woke him up of course) and bent him over and pretended to give it to him doggystyle (well, in this instance 'cattystyle'.) He meowed and seemed confused.

Everton seem to becoming most people's "second team"! Can't blame them. Wonderful club.

In my opinion, Lampard should adopt the Giggs role. He should play against the 'minos' in the Champions League as his experience is vital, and come off the bench when needed. When playing against the 'minos', he should play in the double pivot, even though he isn't that good there. We don't have anyone experienced and calm-headed enough to play there yet in my opinion. Against the big sides, I'd love Romeu to start playing again. He was wonderful against the likes of Newcastle and Manchester City last season. When coming on as a sub or playing in the FA Cup while Mata/Hazard etc. are resting, I really don't see why he can't play behind Torres. I'm positive that a Marin - Lampard - Moses combo would rip certain teams apart. That's a combo of pace on the wings, with decisiveness and an eye-for-goal in the centre. I'm sure that Torres's little flick ons would finally DO something if they simply fell to Lampard's feet right behind him. Boom. Goal. This doesn't solve the whole problem, but we need to work at this situation bit-by-bit. However, if we do stick with the 4-2-3-1, using this formation alone with these tactics baffles me. TWO holding midfielders!? I thought European Champions were supposed to show a bit more guts than that. Manchester City and Real Madrid have 2 double-pivots that I admire greatly. City's consists of a holding midfielder in Yaya Toure who becomes a box-to-box midfielder when space is opened up and Manchester City are on the counter-attack. Barry/Garcia just sit there, cool headed, trying to break down opposition moves. Real Madrid of course use a holding midfielder who becomes a box-to-box midfielder at times in Khedira, and then on top of that, they have the masterful Xabi Alonso who acts as a deep-lying playmaker as well as a player who can intercept well. Why aren't we doing either of the above with our pivot? It seems we're trying to use Mikel like Gareth Barry and Lampard, for some reason, like Yaya Toure... but... just... ugh. I can't even put into words how stupid that is. I believe we need to make a mix of Manchester City and Real Madrid's tactics a little. We should make it so that Mata acts as our Silva; Hazard as our Nasri/Aguero, with Marin/Moses playing as a winger to mix it up just a little like Di Maria. We then need to find not another holding midfielder, but an Xabi Alonso-esque player who can retain possession, recycle possession, and win back possession. Who's on the market who can play like that? I'm not too sure. I'd then be happy with having Romeu/Mikel rotating in the holding role depending on which tactics we're using and who we're up against; Romeu when we're playing a more attacking game, and Mikel when we're playing a more cautious game. I noticed last season that during most of his games, Romeu was absolutely masterful when it came to covering for Luiz when he roamed forward. Romeu would literally slot into the back 4, while the rest of our team moved slightly deeper to cover for Luiz as he ran up-front or up-wide. With Mikel, when Luiz goes forward, he just stays where he is most of the time, waiting to intercept the ball when the inevitable happens; Luiz loses the ball and the opposition counter-attacks. Perhaps instead of just looking at the idea of "Mikel and Lampard don't work", we should be looking at other bad combos, such as Mikel/Luiz, Ivanovic/Mikel (I believe they're too slow when both on the right), etc. Finally; in my opinion, the idea of being a 'counter-attacking team' to suit Torres is just an awful philosophy. Of course you need a base of tactics to work upon, but never should a team with such big aspirations limit themselves to just 1 or 2 styles of play. Every game is different, and every player is different. We should bring in the players to play numerous tactics well. For a start, it would be good to sign a player coming from a team who plays 4-2-3-1 for once if we're going to stick with this formation. I don't even know what I'm on about. I haven't slept yet. I'm just rambling and have probably made countless errors. I'm sure someone will correct me.

He's never walked away after being subbed off. Good enough for me.

I'm slightly more confident about this game after looking at things differently. Giovinco is their only player with pace I believe. Literally. Hazard should tear Asamoah a new one, while whoever's on our right-hand side should do a pretty good job if they have pace. (I'd personally use Moses, Sturridge, Ramires; in that order of preference.) I believe this is a game which we must press them... but I know Robbie doesn't have the balls to make us do that. We'll probably give Pirlo all the time in the world to pick pin-point passes, won't we? There goes that confidence.

Atletico Madrid's match tonight was thrilling. 4-3 the final score. Yes, Falcao scored, of course. I wonder if Falcao's ever gone 2 or 3 games without scoring since say... joining Porto.

fs. The main Juventus-fan Twitter accounts are so pompous and condescending. (They're like their versions of our ChelseaYouth, BlueChronicle etc.) https://twitter.com/Hashim0307 https://twitter.com/Juventus_FC_fan https://twitter.com/Adz77 They really are extremely rude towards their own fans. Hashim is probably the worst of the 3. Scroll through his timeline to when we were playing QPR. Assuming he's not removed the tweets (which he often does), you'll see some pretty idiotic stuff.

From the glimpses I caught of Roma last season, I thought they were basically playing similar to how we were playing under AVB. Anyway, sounds like Juventus are falling apart.

What a fucking goal from Lamela! I hope AS Roma don't throw this! Zemen's teams always concede. I am in love with this new football philosophy they've implemented. Beautiful stuff. Better than Barcelona. (Not as effective, but more entertaining.)

I've finally calmed down. After every single point we lose or trophy we lose, I go into a complete rager until around 12PM. (Unless it's a late kick-off, in which case I calm down around 3am and then sleep.) My head is clearer now, but my thoughts still remain. I want Torres out. I want Di Matteo to improve. I know he can help us improve, but only if he gets himself some balls. I absolutely love the guy though so this situation is hard. Mikel's back-pass infuriated me, especially considering I'd been watching Makelele highlights just this morning. Regardless of everything though; football is just a game, regardless how passionate most of us are. Try not to let it effect your mood too much like it does mine, although that's obviously a lot easier said than done. I'm going for a wank now.

I believe he's the one to keep us flirting with the top 6 with the occasional FA Cup triumph or win over a big rival; Not the man to take us to the next level. He doesn't have that same sort of philosophy of football which managers like, Pep, Wenger and, dare I say it, AVB have, which I believe is essential at a top club. (AVB just tried too much too quickly really. He also needs to grow as a person more.) In fact, it's not a matter of what sort of philosophy, but just having one at all! I know it's hard to do here considering our manager's rarely make transfers themselves, so surely someone should eventually be brought in who's already instilled the philosophy Roman wants elsewhere. We won the Champions League by taking a step back to when Mourinho managed us. We won the FA Cup by taking a step back and playing a little similar to how we played under Ancelotti. Winning trophies doesn't mean he's shown anything to hint he can move us forward.

But he didn't start Moses :'(