Stats

Fair enough but to go Monaco who will not even have any form of European football next season says it all. He can go to a club who will play Champions League football.

Next, Falcao will say "I believe in the ambition for the club and believe they are going places", same old, same old

Ca't believe some thought Ramires was poor. IMO he was our best player, countless running back and forwards and scoring a fantastic goal. His work rate was exceptional. His acceleration on the ball was excellent sometimes and yeah he slipped when he was played through by Mata but he just slipped. Happens with many footballers. He had a very good game. Benitez got us a very good win on the weekend and I gave him credit as it was due but once again I find myself completely baffled at some of his decisions. Taking off Hazard this time around was more understandable compared to when he took him off at Anfield but leaving out Ba (AGAIN) is crazy. Torres worked hard as usual but once again just does not offer any kind of threat in terms of scoring. Ba would of given them much more problems to deal with. I can't understand that logic of Rafa. It is not like he is RVP and Falcao. who can play bad but only needs once chance to score. If he made these changes in the game against Liverpool and Spurs maybe we would have picked up 6 points but no. Annoying we did not get that win because we had chances to finish them off but we are definitely still in pole position. I am hoping Villa have taken their foot of the gas a little as they should have done enough to survive. I expect us to win the next game against Villa. Hopefully Spurs have problems down at Stoke.

Was watching the highlights of City and WBA. The acceleration he used to get past Toure was quite astonishing. Shame he could not connect the finish but the way he latched on to that ball was quite frightening. Let's get things in to perspective as well. Toure is one of quicker CB in the Premier League. Underlies how brilliant his acceleration is.

Those fools who believe he can't perform in big games

I like Ray Wilkins but he has always had some personal problem with Luiz. He was berating him yesterday after what happened. I can guarantee you if that was a Lampard or so he would not be the same. I mean a few months ago when Luiz was making some blunders he always slated him, but IIRC after Luiz has vastly improved over the recent months I have never heard him praise him and take back those comments.

Well, Bale's role has changed now. He hardly plays on the left. He has a free role and plays as a second striker and that is why he is reaching near 30 goals this season.

Fantastic win and just about deserved. Thought every player was good. Only player who somewhat managed to be quite exposed was Cole but later on second half recovered with well timed tackles and interceptions. Also, Moses missed a sitter but he had a good game and caused problems to their defence and I think he can be happy with his shift. His work rate was good, the amount of times he came deep to collect the ball and initiate an attack was countless and I think he has proven to his critics recently that he is quite a useful squad player. As much as people don't like Rafa, credit has to go to him. Got tactics spot on and the decision to bring on Torres to combine with Ba was quite essential. Thanks God we hanged on for the win because if a injury time goal for United like what happened when we played Liverpool, repeated itself I honestly think I would of lost it. Big win for us, firmly in our hands, I just hope the boys don't get complacent in any way what so ever. Spurs beta United at OT for the first time in many years and same could happen so we need 100%. Also think Azpi is making that RB slot a position of his own for sure now. Countless brilliant performances and once again I think Ramires proved his quality and why he has to be in the starting 11 for most games. His role was vital today and IIRC had a huge part in the goal. We are third and in recent games where people expected us to slip up due to Europa League participation, we have done excellently while still on our way to a final. Brilliant job by the players and yeah people will say United did not play their best team but having Hazard out of the whole squad was a big blow and managing to pull of a win is excellent. Bring on Spurs and oh yeah it was funny that United picked up their first red card of this season and of all people to hand out that red card was Howard Webb

Fortunately at this stage of the season the rule is scrapped so he is available

We have looked good so far. Ashley Cole seems the weak link so far, getting exploited down that right flank far too much.

They are both equally important. If we were to win today then lose to Spurs we still would be in top 4 so very much significant game. If we lose today now, then the Spurs games becomes twice more important.

Really agree with you. Looks a quality player but to say he looks miles better than Mikel is a bit to much, reasons being because Mikel is playing in the PL and Chalobah in the Championship. 2 completely different leagues. But, yeah I am with you, really impressed with every game I see him. Composure, technique, strength and only 18. Will be brilliant if he goes up with Watford.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1622925-chelsea-comment-should-romelu-lukaku-be-made-first-choice-striker-next-season Nice little read, I certainly think he should/ is ready.

LOL, you sure you have not had to many knocks to your head in the ring recently. Some of your posts have been really strange.

Now your second. I vote you as well, think I liked quite a few of your posts last month and you contribute regularly. I vote you.

AMEN!

Ridiculous to call him rubbish. Quality striker IMO. Inconsistent is the word but if you compare him to most of the strikers we have and have had, his goal tally a season is better than most of them.

Erm... David Luiz?

I don't understand how you make that conclusion. Maybe Falcao is more talked about and sounds appealing to people but Lewandowski is only 24 so is only going to get better. Last season he managed 30 goals for his club and this season has done even better managing a total of 34 club goals and still more to come I assume. Not just the fact that he is regularly scoring in one of the most improving leagues, he has proved himself on the elite stage of the Champions League as well. A return of 10 goals in the UCL is excellent. He scored 4 against Real Madrid. Says it all, I think he is an excellent striker.

Well I guess he has is own right to state that even if it sounds a bit exaggerated. However I think he is pointing out to the fact that City have not established themselves on the elite stage of the Champions League yet, whereas Shakhtar have managed to win the Europa League and have surpassed the UCL group stages, in contrast to City who have not. If I was a manager I would not want to sell my best players and you have to make statements that put off other teams, especially as Shakhtar's finances are very good.

This is a wishlist transfer and should stay like that. Anyone stating we should try and sign him, it is not going to happen. He has not been there long. Dortmund have him on a long-term contract and he has no reason to leave. They have potential all over the team and they are on the verge of reaching the UCL final and possibly winning it who knows. I doubt he would want to come here for now anyway unless we make a drastic bid and Dortmund have no choice to sell but that is not going to happen. Would be amazed to see it happen but I guess wishes are there for a reason.

Went to the game. Good win, we should have had more though. Ba could have had a hatrick but relatively easy win. Michu could not get a sniff in the game. He is a very good player but next season i don't think he will be so prolific as he will be more known to players next season and from what I have seen there is not much to his game apart from his movement. Anyway game points... thought every player put in a shift. My MOTM would have to be Luiz. He made the transition from CB to the CM role today with ease and dominated throughout. Cahill also had an excellent game, loved his sliding tackle on Routledge in the first half. This is one game where I saw the serious potential of Oscar. Excellent display. Was a bit sluggish for moments of the first half but scored a brilliant finish and second half was really impressive. I am not going to have a go at Benitez because we won the game but i find it odd that he is really insistent on not using subs and if so does it very late. Minor but just surprises me. Clear to see that despite our win, Swansea still seem to be on their honeymoon period. This was one of our remaining fixtures in the PL where I thought this would be the easiest win on paper. Now, every other game in the PL we have got will be difficult. Will require 100%. If we can play the way we did against United in the FA Cup, we can beat them. Whatever happens next week, at least we still will be in top 4 until our Spurs game so just imagine beating United, would be massive as I can see Spurs destroying Southampton. Also on the other hand nice to see Hazard and Mata in the PFA team of the year :cfc:

Shutup. There is an ex-blue thread for a reason. If you don't like him, that is you, don't understand why personally why but he deserves recognition when he does well, especially as he was not given a chance to prove himself here.

Watching him. Excellent player, what were we thinking, I will never know. Movement, trickery, pace, goals. I don't think there is much difference between him and Ba. Different players tbh, but watching today's game I just know I am going to be regretting selling him to Liverpool.

Even if we can't sell Torres, I will keep him because he is in a different class to him, Torres is awful. If we can't ship him off, which would be understandable because no sane manager would want him in their team, then so be it. There is no way we should even consider keeping Torres at the expense of Lukaku.