Muzchap

Cool I'm not a Tiote fan btw... I'm more Busquets... I think Mikel + attacking quarter + Ramires need to work harder in training to create space, if he then plays them in, I will be happy. If he doesn't #angry He has improved massively over last season, but still think we need a 'vision' passer to play alongside him... Or replace him, depending on above

Haters always gonna hate Hope we win some trophies this week and smash Leeds... Then when we Play Villa - because I'm back in blighty and have tickets So a minimum of a 4 game unbeaten run, otherwise Rafa out - lol :)

The smiley face fucked up my A and B points and as on iPad couldn't be arsed to fix... Mikel is an 'outlet' he should be playing through to the top 4 players... Romeu has had zero game time in comparison, so unfair to use that stat. IF an attacking player has to drop deep, that REDUCES our attacking threat... ? I can't be arsed to repeat everything I said, but I'm positive a World Class DM would make us a better team...

Ballack + Lampard were certainly more experienced than Mata/Oscar/Moses... But I don't think they have confidence in Mikel finding them... Hopefully we sign a good DM next to Mikel to take the pressure off and then we can see how the attacking lads respond to a good forward passer

Er not at all... Why should a defender score? Stop twisting my words... Mikel is supposed to: A) Provide defensive cover provide an outlet for defenders So yes, as a COUNTER attacking team, he should be doing more with the ball, so should Ramires. Instead our attacking players fall deeper and deeper to get the ball meaning less space/time on the ball and everything gets broken down. That's my point, be interested to see how wrong I am

Agree - but, is it a chicken and egg scenario... Do players drop deep to get the ball because they know he 'cannot' find them? If so then that is artificially distorting our shape and movement. I don't know - I like Mikel as a person, just don't like him in that role, feel we're way too slow...

Fuck Cruciate Ligament is bad - luckily he is young, but that going so early in his career is a massive blow... Dam hope he gets some good Xmas presents to cheer him up!!!

Wow, you, me and @kojo are either all correct or horribly wrong Lets see what happens

So 1 decent pass every 2 games? Fuck me that's worse than Torres!

Thing is, is he really that great defensively? He seems to stroll around and end up in terrible positions..? I have no diagrams, just my tired old eyes... I think him + Ramires need replacing, if honest - Busquets + Alonso will do

Yeah that's the point I'm trying to make, instead of answering my question, I get everything and the kitchen sink thrown in. As for Wolves not interested in that What I wanted answering was; Out of the 60+% of Mikel forward passes, how many were key passes... Not unreasonable?

Fair enough As long as we play Moses against teams in red, we'll always have a chance

Hmm who is Dorious? I'm not saying a GK should be providing the assists? What a weird and unrelated point! I'm talking about Broccoli! That's where it's at!!! Small trees, jumpers for goal posts..., But of Mikels 60+ % of forward passes, how many were key? It's like a dude that's good at chatting up women, but can't close the deal - at the end of the day he's still a wanker

Well I guess you misunderstood the KEY PASS part, by that I mean goal scoring opportunity... We need to create more chances and convert them As for turning over the ball, you make it sound like Mikel is the only defender on the pitch? He's an average defender at best...

Ok stats are great in say a production line, where you are comparing apples to apples. Unfortunately a football game can never be repeated exactly and that's where I hate stats. Take the point Seb made about my pass to Torres, he said he would only be able to play it straight back, but that's not true look at our first goal against Sunderland, Torres actually turned his man (shock I know) - Moses IIRC went wide to Hazard and we scored... More and more I'm now noticing Torres asking to be played in and we don't - this needs to improve and I just don't see Mikel sliding him through... We just go sideways or back, giving the opposition time to regroup and get organised. If we're playing to a Striker (Torres/Falcao/etc) who play on the last defenders shoulder we need great passers - Mikel + Ramires are not these people... Maybe Mikel has a deeper role, but we still need a good passer, if Mikel had Ramires or Essiens running ability I would be happier, but he is often slow to react 'anticipation'... Maybe Benitez can work with him in training? We need a world class DM and Striker in Jan. If we fail to do that, then we will be struggling hard for 4th in the Prem... Just my opinion

Hmm I actually think RB is pretty good tactically... At Loserpool he spent and sold quite a bit and has never had a blank chequebook like JM or the financial backing of Utd... SAF was nearly fired - people seem to forget that. JM was fired because of politics RB lost out to politics at Loserpool and didn't do great at Inter Hopefully we will win some trophies and see what the summer brings - whatever happens its not going to be dull

Stats like that really annoy me... Would I take a 70% pass rate with a few 'key' forward passes : Yes The 90% pass rate is either side to side or back, offers no attacking threat. My own eyes saw Romeu playing better football than Mikel, so imagine what a polished DM could do.. I would love Busquets + Romeu or even Mikel, but I don't believe Mikel + Ramires is the answer That's all I'm saying

Uh uh disagree - Mikel has about 4 options there Simplest one being to Torres who can lay off for either Mata or Moses on the overlap... I love your pictures, but like Art, there's lots of interpretations Mine is - Mikel needs to go to specsavers - he has no vision... Him + Romeu might work though, but thanks to injury we won't find out

Yup those people booing really need to take a good long fucking look at themselves... We've had lots of success recently and this shit is undermining things - like Utd and Blackburn - all that shit with the Glazers did have an impact on Utd (coupled with city's arrival) and it totally destroyed Blackburn. Thank fuck we're in Japan and Leeds - by the time we are back, hopefully with trophies, then this shit will stop! Even the RDM 16min stuff needs to stop - look forward not back!!!

You didn't look too hard then BBC are showing 3 matches, 2 semi finals and the Final All around 10:30 am kick off (semis) not sure about final was only worried about not booking any meetings during that time

Our attack has been pathetic since RB joined? Like seriously, how many games you been watching? We have scored 9 goals in 2 games? Our defence is conceding less and our overall shape and organisation have been much better. The loss of Romeu in first 20 mins against Sunderland hurt the team, but we still won! Think you need to go back and watch some matches - or stop drinking heavily...

Agreed he's a poor mans version Like a basic BMW looks the part but fuck all inside, what we need is the M version Sad but true! I've been sayin Busquets (biscuits as I call him) for a while now - he would be ideal, him and Falcao

That's what I thought at first he had poked himself in the eye Oh well I don't like seeing it but couldn't have happened to a bigger cunt Gonna love the racial motivation angle behind this...

Bah I would fine Samir Nasri for that shit defending!!! Hart had no chance with any of the goals to be fair ... Oh well 2nd or 3rd will do us nicely

It will be a draw Chill