Magic Lamps

ivanovic is such a liability. everytime he has to defend he gets beaten. about time, azpi takes his place and baba on the left.

2-3 wtf our attacking has improved but our defence is still shambles

1 day with the team and directly develops instant understanding with hazard. i remember one pundit said his football intelligence was his main quality. so true. the way he runs through the lines and links up with the others is just so smooth and intuitive.

that was a nice goal by azpi. we play some really efficient football today.

btw pedro is pure fucking quality. such quick thinking.

willian must be the worst finisher ever

Without obligation to buy... Not a great deal for us. 1.5 is only a fraction of his depreciation in value within a year given his age. But I guess there were no better options... Other sources have it as 18m permanent... Too good to be true

idk. wasn't he really decent for sevilla? i remember him scoring those two brilliant individual goals there ...well I just checked those two were his only goals there Anyway. I understand that with his injury record no one wants him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLkjRYQjfgE never mind a highlight reel but 3:11 made me laugh.

well...i've read the opposite in medical literature...don't know about your German https://books.google.de/books?id=xzNAJDlQJyEC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=erm%C3%BCdung+achillessehnenriss&source=bl&ots=__u3zFw0uS&sig=58ADd4QNqooxt8UbTZ8umBBpxoE&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAGoVChMIkJm82oe5xwIVCToUCh22QwNK#v=onepage&q=erm%C3%BCdung%20achillessehnenriss&f=false

Probably he would have got injured here as well. Injuries are most often due to fatigue of the tissue. He played a copa america only had a short holiday and did not recover properly. Bullet dodged.

Maybe. But Ramirez is subnormal whilst luiz next to magic was normal enough to own the shit out of yaya,fernandinho and silva

Kdb and otamendi or not - city will win the title this season and there is nothing we can do about it. We could have done when the transfer window opened and choose not to. Pedro, baba, stones are decent signings but too little too late. How come? Kompany is only 2 years older than ota and their best defender so far. TV deal maybe

maybe, but it is not that he is hopeless in that regard. He is bigger than e.g. thiago Silva who is better than any pl defender. It is not that bulking up a few kgs is particularly difficult. His other physical abilities like stamina, leap, agility, pace are rather decent for a cb.

I have seen him only 3 full games and every time he was the real deal. Absolutely flawless. Also in terms of playing style he is similar to stones. Quick, ball playing, proactive.

and Ramires and Moses

Stones has had exactly as many good seasons as otamendi + 6 years younger and homegrown. Both are overpriced and we are getting mugged but otamendi is surely no benchmark

Laporte buy out is 35,6 m pounds and I think he is better than stones...Everton are playing with fire here

Hasn't it always been this way. Anyway, offside is a nice concept, but in almost every game there is a controversial offside decision, cos the linesmen can't call it right. Either bring in technology to call it right or just abandon the rule.

Maybe we should follow vitesse to distract us from our epl blues. Arnheim might have a better chance winning the eredivisie than cfc winning the epl. heck, with the squad we have, arnheim probably even have better chance of winning the premier league . btw how come vitesse have 2 games in 3 days when the next matchday of the eredivisie is the next weekend?

also no idea what has happened to Rami. Remember Ramires of 2012. He was so instinctive in his decisionmaking. whenever he did receive the ball in space he just ran towards goal and shoot. instrumental figure in our cl and fa cup win back then. he still has the same stamina and pace today, just his instincts are gone. he has become ponderous on the ball which is deadly for a player with such a low football iq.

It's not the signing itself that is the problem but the scheduling of our signings IMO. We headed into the season with just bego and falcao signed whilst it was clear as daylight to everyone that that can not be enough, ok, we needed a backup goalie and if jose really trust ramires and mikel as backup midfielders fair enough but even he acknowledged that we need defenders. not only in numbers but with terry and ivanovic rapidly declining (the latter has been since 2 years) we should have fucking signed some defenders first before indulging in a luxury signing like falcao. it is a gamble. if it pays off, great if not, we still have 2 other strikers and if they are injured,mou had no problem playing without a striker in 2013 so what. But apart from the defnite lack of quality and depth in our dreadful squad, it is also the system and the tactics that have been found out. We have no width whatsoever. when we attacked from the wings last season, the players (mostly ivanovic and hazard, sometimes oscar and rarely willian) entered the box through the channels. Now ivanovic is detoriating, that only leaves hazard which makes us extremely predictable. also as willian does never risk entering the box, hazard usually has to move to his side to help him out which wastes an attacking option on his flank. Secondly, as our main threat goes through the middle, we need actual playmakers there. when either fabregas or oscar (whose movement is extremely important to get space in the middle) is out, we are very limited there, as willian and ramires don't have the footballing iq to make space for through balls (mostly cesc's) to costa. Against City, we made it so easy for them. we negated our threat through the middle by playing Ramires ourselves. AS for the threat of ivanovic, he is really easy to defend. they just sent kolarov to face him so he had no space to run into, tried to cross, which he is shit at and every cross of his got blocked or into the stands. As we are obviously too dumb to sign a winger or a midfielder to remedy one of those issues, we should at least change the system to play more to our strength. IMO we should either go Pep mode and omit one of our anyway useless defenders (read Ivanovic) and play some kind of 3-6-1 ------------Tibo--------- --Cahill--Zoum--Azpi-- ----------Matic--------- Willian--Fabregas-Oscar Moses---Costa----Hazard with Oscar and Willian's defensive workrates, this should be enough to see of most smaller sides. The midfield would be packed and offer us the opportunity for high pressing and fast ball retention. or try the good old 4-3-3 again. esp in big matches where Fabregas is useless I could imagine it working. + -Azpi-JT--Cahill--Baba ---------Matic---------- ---Willian---Oscar--- Moses--Costa--Hazard In terms of personel it would only be Moses instead of Ivanovic which I don't imagine as too problematic. Moses tracks back by nature, is strong and has great aerial ability despite his height due to his amazing leap. Bascially he has all of Iva's strengths while not as many weaknesses. He is not that great offensively but at least is not allergic to scoring or assisting goals unlike Willian. we should really give it a try. i could see either system working with a bit of conditioning + it would make us less predictable instantly.

that's the dream. It is unfair to say he did not have great games. He was brilliant vs Leicester, Stoke and Everton at home last season. But it is true he scores and assists not enough despite having the skills to do so. Technically or physically he is by no means distinctly inferior to Hazard. But mentally he is not as quick, as hungry, as confident and calm (and even Hazard himself is not hungry enough) As many have pointed out, he is best when receiving the ball with space and in midfield. in the final third and from a stationary position against a deep sitting opponent he is completely useless. this is why imo he should be played in midfield not on the wing. our 4-2-3-1 is shit anyways. Oscar is not a no.10 and fabregas is not a no.6. all three willian, fabregas and oscar would be best in a mid 3 just not at the same time of course.

http://talksport.com/football/reports-chelsea-sending-scouts-watch-ghana-teen-star-godfred-donsah-150817163060 this might actually be real. interesting prospect. explosive and decent strength. but another bison? idk. Lets not forget, Ess was the whole package. He had toure-like strength and pace, but more explosive and full of running all day long, excellent short passing, brilliant positioning and interceptions, great tackler, thunderous shot... god i miss him, players like him in general are so rare nowadays.

He is not. Only 1 game ban.