Magic Lamps

we loan out 30 players per season. ofc there will be some who don't play. i could list you at least as many examples of the opposite. but as far as i know about our germany loans (piazon, kalas) we do have those clauses that we get more money when the players play less. most clubs just don't care about those few quids. loan fees are just some hundred thousands of pounds and they money we get back would only be some 10 000s so most clus don't care about that really.

This. Neymar has imposed himself on the game by standing up as the leading man. AS for talent, Hazard should do the same for club and country but instead he is hiding behind others atm. Physically and technically they are equal IMO, maybe Hazard has a tiny bit better close control and better agility due to lower centre of gravity but Neymar has the ambition, the drive, the committment and is not afraid to fail. Hazard's inferiority in this regard does not only affect goals but his overall impact on the game. I got this feeling Hazard will never win anything big such as ballon d'or or CL, neither here nor at Real.

Our loan players excelling is nothing new. We have always had excellent prospects and youth products everyhwere showing what they got. We just tend to give them not remotedly as much time and chances as some regular first team members get...

Considering the quality of coaching there is about as much possibility for Northern ireland to win it as for belgium. But it is true. In the past few years, Belgium have produced the best footballing talent in the world.

Opinions are never wrong.

Have to disagree. Beckham had always been an average player with a decent cross or freekick in him but without the athleticism and ball control to be up there. And yes it has become a kind of fashion to praise Scholes for what he has achieved but the truth is he was into decline for most of his career becoming more of a mascot to Manchester United after turning 30. Both are perfect examples of the English completely misjudging their players.

Does the Brazilian national team still participate in the Gold Cup? Never seen them there since 2003

who else? Mourinho said he did not know the players but a person he trusts and who is in charge of transfers acquired them aka the technical director.

apart from the abyss in quality to those teams (in 2010/11 we once played bosingwa at centre back and zhirkov, ramires, mikel in midfield when getting spanked by Sunderland, , Drogba was least at fault for our slump. In both seasons we still relied on Lamps+Drogs for goals. In 2010/11 Drogs had malaria FFS and still got us over the line more often than not. Ofc we could not be perfect under these conditions with Lampard injured but iirc we fell back to 4th at worst. In 2010/11, we got into these position as AVB mostly dropped Drogs completely and while playing shit football, Lamps bailed him out about half a dozen times. In both cases, the quality in the squad was poorer than it is today and the form was impeded by illness/injury and bad man-management. But the mere presence of our big character back then prevented us from getting anywhere close to as clueless as we are today. 2010/11 and 2011/12 were blips, but what has happened this season is a huge mess and there is no one to light us the way out.

Everyone was having him as Lampard successor but due to his many limitations he is just an utility player. Even when on form, he is useless against half of the league aka every team that presses in midfield. Off he still can play a brilliant pass at times. It is not even his fault that he is such a choker. Mind he earned his shoes at arse. Now he is 28. And won't change anymore. It is the job of the manager to utilise him correctly and Mourinho does so, finally. He was an impact sub vs stoke. Against Norwich who are not as dangerous he should start IMO.

He will never be the best in the world, I think that is clear already. But true, Willian, Ramirez, Costa could use a bit better coaching in off the ball movement to make things easier for him. His shot that was deflected off target would have been a goal in 9 out of 10 cases anyway. He really must feel cursed this season still has not scored.

Despite Stoke defending great, we worked out like 4,5 100% chances and a couple of half-chances which should be enough to win a tight game. On the other end, we restricted them to 1 chance from which they scored due to a lucky ricochet. We were unlucky but that is mainly because of lack of confidence and the bad momentum we are in. you tend to get further unlucky in this kind of situations. But sometimes thing just look unlucky but in truth we are just not clinical enough. Can't blame it on tactics when the players don't get their heads right to finish. The players are still young and immature and don't know better. Maybe a psychologist could help idk. First and foremost our mentality has to change.

I don't know how good of an attacking coach Mourinho is. And it actually doesn't matter. A good manager knows his weaknesses and acts accordingly. Jürgen Klinsmann is completely clueless when it comes to tactics but is a great motivational speaker and fitness coach. So he hired Löw who is excellent tactically and transformed Germany from a team that exited the Euros in the group stage (they were actually playing like us are today back then) to an unlucky 3rd in the world.

which is what a professional player should fucking do. Hazard might still want to leave and rightly so. He is not at fault for the shit that is going on. a board not supplying quality players for him to play around (Costa, Ramires my ass) and a manager incapable to catalyze his ability. Not demanding any heads rolling but we really should change something about club and team is run otherwise we will never see him fulfill his potential.

the ref could just be replaced by a cone

Costa is so poor in the air just because of his bad timing. he has the height, strength and leap to be a monster in the air but just can't get his timing right. frustrating

the ref is such a moron again. why do we keep getting such ridiculously bad refs? ah right, all refs are shit

so so unlucky

somehow identical procedure to the cup game. fuck it. that is what you call a lucky and undeserved goal. will be even more of an uphill struggle now. playing stoke is not easy for a predictable team like us.

costa needs to stop diving for nothing. he is too theatrical when getting a knock even when it actualy should be a foul. just fall naturally not this raise-the-arms stuff

Jack Butland is quickly becoming one of the best goalies in the European top flight. Despite there is no output, we are playing with decent pace and intensity tho. btw Charlie Adam is an absolute tool. He is so out of shape, his beer belly is bigger than that of my 78 y.o. grandpa. No wonder he comes into a challenge with a week delay. And when he does he compensates his lack of sharpeness with completely unnecessary and brutal fouls. oh no pls not Willian. injured himself without contact, that is always nasty

scored a hattrick vs hannover tonight. one classic kalou goal where his shot is so badly placed that it somehow creeps under the goalkeeper, one decent solo goal and one penalty, 10 goals for Hertha BSC already this season, leading man of their resurgence into 5th place. http://www.footytube.com/video/hannover-96-hertha-bsc-nov06-383299?ref=hp_latestvideos

I think he is 179cm, which is a bit more than 5'10 + he has a good leap. He dealt with Yarmolenko who is almost 6'3 so he should do so with 5'5 Shaqiri when considering height only.

This. I think this is one of the few matches were Ramires in the pivot is an absolute must. When facing techncially limited teams but we still have to defend esp physically, he is the perfect option. ----------Bego------- Azpi--JT--Cahill-Baba -------Rami--Matic----- Pedro---Willian---Hazard -----------Costa------------ should be the lineup IMO. Fabregas will be overrun so i would not even start him. Costa gets the benefit of the doubt. We need him on fire soon, he will get chances in this game if he gets in the right positions and he will relish the physical battle with their defenders. Baba should keep his place as he kept Yarmolenko in his pocket in midweek so I trust him against Bojan, Arnautovic, Shaqiri whatever 2009 whizkid will come his way.

sublime free kick technique for a ten year old. not dissimilar to Willian's. I remember at 10 years i did not even remotedly knew what i was doing when taking a free kick, just hoofing it with full power in a somewhat reasonable direction no matter the distance haha. I hope your lad enjoys practicing set pieces, you seldom find good corner and free kick takers until u 13 level