Magic Lamps

Decent result, horrible negative performance. We should have dominated ManUtd and exploited their lack of confidence instead we allowed them to build momentum. Remy is probably not that good but he surely is better than Oscar.

we all have dreams but we all know that is never gonna happen too. I am not a fan of RLC he is by no means as good as the hype around him suggests IMO but even tho there have been countless occasions were his capabilites would have been much more handy than everything FAbregas, Ramires or Mikel can offer. At this point I feel like a midfield consisting of mikel-rlc-matic genuinely lacks drive and creativity and to undo the similar midfield of Schweinsteiger-Carrick-Schneiderlin we should feature 3 attacking mids like usual. so I'd much rather give Kenedy a shot

oh no. not again.was surely that reckless tackle for the penalty. also means Oscar will play vs United.

Hiddink will pick youth they said. I don't get rid of the impression that Hiddink will go the short term route and play as many established players as possible. Why the heck will no manager finally resolve the Azpilicueta/Ivanovic makehsift defence? Also replacing Zouma with Cahill was a horrible decision. Sloppy, wayward and unlucky performance. We clearly lacked intelligence in attack. Esp Oscar's and Willian's decision making and off-the ball movement was horrific. The number of times they just passed the ball over the touchline was incredible. Also Courtois, whilst unlucky with the goals had some really nervous momenents dropping the ball or parrying it just a few yards away. miserable performance. At least Costa started scoring again even though he undid himself when getting that suspension. Remy however will be eager to impress the new manager so could be blessing in disguise he best news however is that Hazard is back and raring to go

Yeah, we got that.

scapegoat again. By all means wasn't the worst today. Yes he shouldn't be starting at a club like this and out of position but today he put in a decent performance and was not at fault at all for any of the goals or our erratic offensive display. Criticizing him is ok, but pretending his selection would be our only problem completely misses the point. Our deficiencies go far deeper than him.

oh shit Costa out for ManU once he started firing again.

who put Oscar on penno duties? his mind is clearly not cut out for high pressure jobs. Often if the regular penalty taker just came in the game and the stand in taker still steps up he misses. had this situation with drogba-lampard often enough still did not learn from it. to conclude we went from predictable, lame, unispired and unlucky under Jose to wayward, sloppy, erratic and unlucky under Guus. but at least we have not lost the game yet. feared for a liverpool deja vu when that ighalo deflection went in

He is most probably still more useful in the no. 10 role than Fabregas. And since Fabregas is shit in the no. 6 role, too. It would make him completely obsolete. But if he came back we would have to not have improved much. Mata due to his lack of defensive and athletic ability is a specialist just like Fabregas (despite a better one) and hence no long term solution for the no. 10 spot.

what I find increasingly funny about Emenalo is that he had a spell at my hometown 4th tier club Eintracht Trier during the time I was born so it was probably destiny that we would end up attached to the same club later. Also he looks like Gus Fring from breaking bad. Other than that I would appreciate having a technical director with actual experience in transfer dealings and such not some puppet out of Roman's magic hat.

I don't see this as a problem. IMO the manager should be much more like a coach, like the teams in Germany handle it. The board needs to consist of visionary football men who implement their vision and buy players, deploy talents accordingly whilst the manager/coach's job should be to get the best out of the squad he has. There is no sense in pursuing managers' vision since those only stay for a couple of years anyway.

Heynckes did return to Bayern twice and won the quadruple. Coincidentally, he also was caretaker in 2009 just like Hiddink. How amazign it would be if Hiddink, who is by no means tactically inferior to Heynckes, could just take all his experience together and create the perfect blueprint our team has to play. That Bayern team of 2013 might not have played the prettiest football but it was tactically one of the best drilled sides that I have ever seen. Dynamic, aggressive, full of intelligent off-the ball runs. Every player at any given time knew exactly what to do, where to run in stark contrast to the often ponderous style of posession based football LvG or Pep play. If Hiddink could instill that kind of instinct into our players I'd be happy even if we win nothing this season. This is probably Hiddink's last job in football, let's hope he crowns it with his masterpiece.

that article quotes 74m for Hazard. I think we can easily get 90 out of this deal. The question is however what do we need more Hazard or the money. And secondly we should only sell Hazard if we have a replacement lined up who is at least as good. What's all the cash worth when you buy a dozen average players with it like Liverpool and Tottenham did? They sold their ticket to CL football for a bunch of Lamelas and Lamberts. Welcome back to mediocrity. Hope we spare ourselves that relegation.

If there is one guy in the world who is as much of a choker as Fabregas, it is Özil.

erm because of his powerful driving runs through midfield, bulldozing players out of the way? Being a powerhouse doesn't mean you are not technically gifted. NOt sure what to make of it. City vs Arsenal for the title is like pest vs cholera. I would hate for Arsenal to break their duck, cos this is what they are all about. eternal chokers. HOwever City would mean 3 titles in 5 years, most dominant english side despite having won every of those title by default and sheer luck/incompetence of rivals. If only Leicester could go the distance. But my bet for them is still 6th, 5th if they bring in some decent players. But they could only win the title if they would somehow manage to sign an international class goalkeeper like Sirigu, Keylor Navas, Zieler or Leno, 2 proven defenders and a playmaker and incorporate them all seamlessly into their team.

yup. that contributed to our downfall. Jose obviously pressurized Hazard too much with that statement, he couldn't stand the expectation and crumbled pathetically. Just again emphasizes the gap in quality between Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi (and many more) and Hazard. But also a clear hint how easy it is to get it wrong with man management. When Jose applied that trick to other players they rose to greatness instead of crumbling. Same trick, weaker mind. If Hazard had responded to that the other way round, who knows, beloved Jose might still be in the dugout.

agree. perfect squad player. Benteke however is only a poor man's Lukaku and I said that when we still had Lukaku^^.Would be a decent squad player, too but for 30m+ we can do better

mesmerizing performance. always has been a real prospect. Still only 20. So sad we will never have the patience with him but look at Barca. Talents there only are required to be good enough to start aged 22-24. The same time should be given to our academy graduates. Ake is best in DM and LB, not exactly positions we got too much quality and cover, so why not giving it a shot in 1-1.5 years?

good run but what does M'Vila actually do there. Oscar is his opponent and he does not even bother to jog there, just casually strots around when he should track Oscar like mad. Sunderland's defending in that situation almost looks intentionally shit. Poor Oscar did not score there but Pantillimon - whilst an average goalie overall - is a monster 1 on 1. So Oscar had his 1 good game in 10 and people are digging out the KDB comparisons again? It is a funny world.

Still no idea what they see in him, prolly want to play him RB to replace Dani Alves. Could work in La Liga but was never going to work here. And even though he created 25 chances he only has 2 goals 4 assists in 20 games. Hardly breathtaking, so 25m should be a fair return for us, almost recovering the fee we paid. with the 2m loan fee, he cost us 4m net+wages which was totally worth the gamble and rejunevating Willian.

goal by Pedro, good cross by Ivanovic... a) the apocalypse is near Christmas came a tad early or c) Jose left ....

It is harsh to say the players raising the game is a sign of them having got Jose fired deliberately. Even players like Ivanvoic who Jose always sticked to played better than before. It is just something lifted from them that made them play more freely. Also the opponent was whack. I am sure we would have won this game under Jose, too.

Because of his amicable relationship with the Chelsea fans, his appointment might go some way appeasing the die-hard Mourinho supporters who will cry for mutiny now. I don't know if he still got it tactically but from that perspective he might be nice choice. Our goal this season apart from getting far in the CL and winning the FA Cup is however limiting the damage and keeping Hazard no matter how bad fans think his attitude is. And Hiddink will play a key role in that too.

Tibos major weakness was always his handling. He almost never catches a ball and often parries it back into the danger area. Really should do better with such soft headers from far out. But Azpi, who has endured some torrid 2weeks, might have been a bit closer to Borini, even though that is a bit harsh.

I did not participate in the blame game JOse vs the players vs the board. Pretty sure everyone is accountable for our lack of success this season to some extent. But accusing Mourinho of not having any attacking tactics in his locker or the players for performing badly on purpose is just nonsense. You don't become such a decorated manager without having any plan on how to implement attacking football whilst you dont become a professional footballer by playing to lose. In some cases the most obvious answer is the right one, so I'll quote the unforgettable Didier Drogba on this one again: The lack of confidence, complacency because of lack of signings and just having won the Premier League, the inability to process Jose's messages as a consequence of that, the lack of sharpness at the beginning of the season, tactical mistakes by Jose himself.... all little reasons that can make the difference between top 4 and bottom 5 in such a competitive league. No need to single out anyone for this. In the end when someone has to get sacked it will always be the manager because it is the most straightforward and easiest thing to do. Is this fair? Probably not. But it is harder to change those structures in football than to accept them. The managers, the fans always know this before. Just as in the Lampard to City and Arsenal to Cech cases we should stop lamenting over spilled milk and not discredit ourselves by heaping blame on a legend of the cub, which Jose still is. Gratitude for what he has done for the club and a honorable discharge are what he deserves. If we all move on, we'll sleep better. It is almost 6 in the morning here, so I will surely try to do so. KTBFFH