Belgiannutt

I think you've got me mixed up with someone else. I never used the word "shameful" About the bolded : You did read the part about us getting dominated by 10 men at home right ? 2-2 might look better then 3-1 but our performance in that 2-2 was absolutely dreadful (apart from the opening 30 minutes). Arsenal were the better team in Monaco and at home they were the better side aswell. Monaco were just very clinical with their chances while Arsenal were very wasteful with theirs. Arsenal performance in both games > Our performance in both games.

Come on. We were very fortunate to get away with a 1-1 from Paris and i wouldn't exactly classify drawing at home against 10 men as "doing something right in managing the game." Sorry but giving our team any kind of credit for almost getting away with 2 narrow leads, against ten men, sounds ridiculous to me. Completely might have been an exaggeration but we were dominated by PSG. First half in PSG we were equal but that second half they dominated us and we were lucky to get away with a draw there. At home we played well for the first 30 minutes and were the better team but after the red card it was all PSG. We didn't create anything and our 2 goals came from a set piece and a penalty. They had the best chances to win. Cavani hitting the post. When you were watching the game it looked like we were the ones that were down a man. It's also not like we won 2-0 away from home.

Ashamed is a strong word but i do think our exit was worse then Arsenal's. Atleast they put up a fight. We were worse then PSG in both games. Especially in the second leg. 11 vs 10 at home and we were completely dominated by PSG. Do agree with you that Arsenal shouldn't be complimented on their performance. They should have always beaten this Monaco side.

What does it matter if we lost or not. Great we didn't lose, still out of the competition. PSG were the better team in both games. Not to mention we played with 11 vs 10 for over an hour yet still looked second best.

I really don't care what people on WAGH think. I've seen every game and for me he's a supporting player. He lacks the quality to actually carry this team as a key player. "He was critical, as Matic, Cesc, Hazard, and Costa." No, no he really wasn't. I don't know why others are saying his potential is overrated." Because he's barely improved since he got here. He's the same inconsistent player he was when he got here. A lot of people were convinced that he had the potential to be just as good as Hazard could be, some even going further and saying he could be better then Hazard. That hasn't really happened now has it ? If anything the gap between Hazard and Oscar has actually gotten bigger and bigger as the seasons went by. Now the gap between Hazard and Oscar is about the size of the Grand Canyon. "If he continued his first season half, he would be up there with Hazard as our POTY." No he wouldn't. Let's not overrate Oscar's first half of the season. He was good but he wasn't as good as you're making him out to be.

The outrage about this has been beyond ridiculous. Couple of months ago it was freedom of speech this, freedom of speech that. Now a professional football player says something bad about France, in a fit of anger, and it's " he needs to publicly apologize !" " He should leave this country !" and like Spike said it's pretty obvious that he was talking about the league not the country.

Our drop has more to do with Fabregas and Costa dropping form then Oscar imo. In the beginning of the season Costa was banging them in for fun and Fabregas was helping control games for us and upped the tempo. Oscar played his part as a supporting player but i never considered him to be a key player.

It's because we don't have enough players inside the box making runs to the near post or far post making low crosses viable options. This would also drag defenders back towards their own goal leaving space for cutbacks. Poor off the ball movement inside the box is something all our attackers suffer from. They all have the tendency to wait outside the box rather then make a run into the box. Couple of examples of this are : (using the video of Shpendi above your post) 0:41 Both Oscar and Costa at the near post but no one at the far post. One of them should have gone to the back post to try and spread out the defenders. 4:07 Hazard goes past Bertrand and has the opportunity to cross the ball in. Costa and Oscar are in the box but neither one of them is committing themselves to the near post or back post. 5:00 Hazard goes past "Wanyama?" again no one making a run to the near or far post. Costa is the only one in the box and Willian and Oscar arrive far too late to receive the ball. 9:15 Cuadrado in a good position to cross the ball in low but again no one running to the near post. Terry of all people is the one that makes the run to the far post.

Both. Oscar for playing like crap and Jose for continuing to play him. Because that "far younger player" is having his third season in a row where he's had "a dip in form" for most of the second part of the season. Also he's not THAT young anymore. He's gonna be 24 in september. The way you talk about him makes it seem like he some 18 y old kid having his first season of professional football. 3rd season here and he's shown almost no signs of improving even though he's been getting regular playing time. Patience has run out with him. Now personally i'm fine with keeping him as a squad player but he definitely shouldn't be a starter for us next season.

via Imgflip Meme Maker Wouldn't be suprised if that's actually on the board before the game.

I'm actually happy he did that. For me he realized the rest of the team wasn't going to be much help so he took it upon himself to force the issue. The seasons before the main criticism for Hazard was always that he was too passive at times. So i see this as big progress in his match mentality. Ofcourse this has the side effect of sometimes losing the ball when his teammates were open but with the way his teammates are playing i'm like "carry on Eden".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YujJbAfcsU

Have they worked this season ? While we are top of the league it's kinda worrying how many times this season we've struggled keeping a 1 goal lead. Looking back the main problem seems to be that when we go up a goal we stop playing and just sit deep. We invite pressure and simply can't handle it. Reason for this, imo, is that our defence can't be solid on it's own and needs help from our entire team to be solid defensively. Problem is that our opponent usually responds in kind by pushing more players higher up the pitch, basically negating our extra defensive support by offering extra offensive support to their own attackers. Normally that would lead to dangerous counters but our counter attacks this season have been non existant, apart from a few occasions. Personally i feel this is because our wingers are too deep when defending. When we recover the ball we only have one real outlet to pass to, Costa and he isn't great at holding onto the ball. This leaves our wingers getting the ball deep in their own half, trying to manoever their way past their marker while trying to outrun the players getting back into their defensive position. Usually the opposition delays our wingers long enough for other players to return and if they do happen to get past them then they just foul our wingers. Also because they foul us so deep in our own half they usually end up getting away with it without a booking because the counter simply didn't develop enough. In my head i kinda came up with a lineup that could make us stronger defensively while adding a new dimension to our counters. To be clear not saying that this is what we absolutely should do just trying to offer an example to what i mean with changing our approach. A 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 depending how you look at it. Costa Hazard Willian Matic Fabregas Ramires/Cuadrado Azpi/Luis Terry Zouma/Cahill Ivanovic/Azpi Courtois Basically a rip off of Atletico's system (although the roles for the front 2 would be a bit different). Defensively, 2 lines of 4 that stay compact and suffocate anything that comes in the zone we're trying to defend. Hazard would have to press the deepest midfield player so that he doesn't get too much time to pick his passes.( he could at times switch with Costa to relief the burden a bit) Hazard wouldn't have to track that midfielder all the way back though, when the deepest midfielder joins the attack and moves into the area our first line is defending Hazard should just stay high and remain as an outlet. If all three of the opponents midfielders are in the area we're defending then that would mean one of the opponents fullbacks would have to move back and tuck inside to defend on Hazard. Otherwise they'd effectively be playing 2 on 2 with only their CB's left to defend against Hazard and Costa. I can't see many teams playing 2 on 2 against Hazard and Costa not unless they're absolutely desperate to score. In attack. Hazard woud be our short range outlet. He'd be a good resting point for our team as he's the second best player in our team (behind Drogba) at playing with his back towards goal and holding up the ball. His ability to beat players also adds more of a fear factor and would make teams even more afraid of playing man to man. Costa would be our long range outlet. With Hazard being there to take care of the hold up play it would free Costa up a bit and would allow him to focus more on doing what he's good at, his off the ball movement. Dragging his marker wide or running in behind defenders. Willian and Ramirer/Cuadrado would be the runners and support the counter while Matic and Fabregas would hold their position and not join the counter. Sorry for the long post.

You performed better over the 2 legs no doubt about that but we are the better team. We have better players but we've been going through a slump since new year. We've played 15 games this year and have only played well in 2 games. Most of the other games we did just enough to win them but that's about it. If we played the way we did in the beginning of the season we would have beaten you and gone through to the next round. atm we just have too many players that are off form. Costa is one of the players that is off form. Like chelsea legend said he's a proven goalscorer in the spanish league and in the PL. He IS a worldclass striker (poacher) but he's just off form. Hazard just a regular player ? Don't be ridiculous. Your club has been after him since forever and he's repeatedly turned you guys down. Sounds to me like you're just bitter that he slammed the door in your faces once and for all by saying he'll never play for another French team besides Lille. Seems like you guys finally took the hint(s) after Hazard stated for the 1000th time that he didn't want to go to your team. About the first leg, thought the first half was quite even between the 2 teams. Second half you did dominate us but while you did have a number of good chances i didn't think Courtois had to make any real WC saves. The saves he made were saves that i expect a goalkeeper at this level to make. About the second leg, though we were slightly better in the opening 30 minutes. We made life difficult for you with our pressing and Hazard had some real joy down that right-hand side of yours. We both had our dangerous moments but we also both lacked the final pass to score. After the red card we stopped pressing and allowed you to get into the game. As the game continued you guys got better and better and in that second half you played better with 10 men then we did with 11 and in the end both teams got what they deserved based on both legs. Golden age might be over but the PL is still one of the best leagues in the world. It's still the most competitive and most physical league out there for me.

He hasn't been at his best this season but under Mourinho he was great. He 's 21 years old so ofcourse he's not worldclass yet but he definitely has the potential to be and he's already a great defender. Also how many worldclass defenders are there atm ? Not a lot i'd say. Most of them are either nearing 30 or are simply impossible to get. For me he's the best option to replace Terry in the long run.

Should be our number 1 transfer target in the summer. Worldclass defenders are a rare commodity these days. Varane at 21 is already a great defender and has the potential to be worldclass. With next season likely being Terry's last season it would be stupid not to go after Varane.

Willian is a weird one for me. He has great technical ability outside the final third but the moment he gets into the final third he turns into Ramires in terms of technical ability and decision making. Very weird. Was actually going to put Costa aswell. His first touch seems to be very hit and miss with lately it being more miss then hit. Cahill's basic technique is fine for a cb but his ability to play out from the back is not. He's absolutely horrendous at it imo. He waits and waits then when he gets pressed he panics and knocks it long into no man's land. Inconsistent technique and inability to play out from the back under pressure are things that i consider to be poor technical ability. I suppose i'm a bit too loose with the term "technical ability". Yeah i'd agree with the names you said. Luis, Hazard, Matic and Azpi on the right are the only players that possess the technical ability, mobility and intelligence to effectively handle getting pressed. Wish we'd go after Varane and Pogba in the summer. (or players of the same ilk) and Mourinho stopped using Ivanovic over Luis. We'd have such a great team. Costa Hazard Willian Pogba Fabregas Matic Luis Azpi Terry/Zouma Varane Courtois :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

True but that's down to our squad being riddled by players that have poor technical ability and Mourinho is responsible for playing/ buying them/not replacing them. Based on technical ability Oscar, Ramires, Ivanovic, Cahill and Willian shouldn't be starters for us. That's 5 players that are regulars for us yet lack the proper technical ability to play at the top level. It's totally unacceptable at this level that players consistently fuck up chances or cheaply give away possession because they can't properly control a football or panic when put under pressure or always make the wrong decision in the final third.

Agree with everything. That would be a magnificent squad.

Sacking Mourinho is ridiculous but he really does need to rethink his tactical approach for next season. If he wants to sit deep and counter then fine but make it work so that we don't concede chances and are actually capable of effectively countering. It just isn't working this season. We've got 10 behind the ball yet we're still conceding big chances and our counters have been very poor this season.

In that "5 %" he still managed to create more then all our other attackers combined.

We stopped pressing before that. Doesn't really matter though my point was that we stopped pressing when Oscar was still on the pitch. With or without Oscar we wouldn't have pressed the second half. Yeah he got it very wrong.

We stopped pressing after 20 minutes. With or without Oscar, it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game. Mourinho got his tactics wrong. We sat deep while we should have pressed.

:lol:

True but even if he was bought for 50 million i don't think RM fans would be happy with him. 12 goals in 28 games for a player that mostly relies on his goalscoring ability isn't good enough. He also isn't really a refined football player. His technical ability isn't up there with the best. That's also something that RM fans don't like about Bale. Isco, for example, is a fan favorite while he only has 3 goals and 8 assists in 24 games but his technical ability is up there with the best and he's also more of a creator and he works harder for the team then Bale does.