Magic Lamps

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.

Was not that bad even though clearly lacking sharpness. The way he assisted hazards glorious chance was brilliant movement. Also he got 3 city players booked which under a competent referee might have led to a sending off.

The thing is, we already knew he was shite in big games. he proved that about 100 times at Arsenal and Barcelona. He was bought as a flat track bully, so he should fucking be played as such. On the other hand leaving him out in a big game would mean playing ramires and/or mikel. so yeah we definitely need a midfielder.

that is the point. we did not walk the league 3 months ago. we scrambled over the finish line by sheer luck and individual brilliance. that was the time we should have thought about reinforcements.

Honestly, he can't be any worse defensively than Ivanovic, who he is ideally replacing. Also where is the point of playing ivanovic for his aerial ability and strength when he can't even unbalance Kompany in order to prevent him from scoring? welcome to the sinking ship baba.

yeah has worked brilliantly so far. If this is the only reason to play Fabregas in a big game, I propse hazard also starts practising set pieces.

we thoroughly missed him.

err. because we played a high line in the second half for which jt does not have the pace.

we will see. might be too late. everyone on here knew we were too shite to mount a title challenge in preseason already. Just the board/mourinho did not.

the writing has been on the wall for half a year now. But still no signings, no direction. I can't belive how anyone could make us title favourites.

well, at least cuadrado has been decent since coming on.

we are getting humiliated here. this is not funny. we have tried our best in the 2nd half but we are just a league below city this season.

ivanovic ffs. yes kompany is strong, but you could at least unbalance him.

Congratulations to the Premier league title, city.