Magic Lamps

Ramires would love this game. Bad pitch, loads of space and most opposition players (hendo, sakho, can, skrtl, gerrard) just on his technical level

lucky courtois but i think he just was inside the box. ref got this spot on

and we always lose as soon as cahill gets into situations where he has to tackle.

Our defense is really our weak link. Not that we defend badly but fast games like this one expose them. Once there is a tiny gap between our midfield and defence, Cahill and ivanovic when on their own always look like letting attacker run, pass and shoot

Willian is the only player who has maintained the same level of performance. He might never play extraordinarily well but he is damn consistent at what he does.

such an abysmal performance by us. Really have to up or game to not concede again. frantic pace to the game, Mikel and Matic both can't cope with that

we just should not concede those goals. he just runs 20m, matic misses him and cahill backs off.

it was coming and extremely bad defending.

we somehow unlearned how to counter attack.

lol next time one bashes GC for backing off. Look at Skrtl keeping 5m distance to FAbregas who is not exactly blessed with pace as if he had ebola.

terrible start by us. Still the lead is gonna benefit our play. Mikel not really in the game so far.

Yeah, pretty frustrating them to play such an unconventional lineup to surprise people and then get it leaked. Hope Mou got this.

I thought he would be busy taking the black Pearl back from Jack sparrow.

which plays into our cards. They have to try and go at us wihtout their precious yaya. WE can wait for the counter attack. Take out one of their 3 world class players and they look average. Milner, Navas, Fernando, Demichelis, Clichy, Mangala.... You won't see more average , but mostly PL-proven player material in one squad. If that lot win the EPL, it would be an evidence of incapacity for the league and especially us. They have needed a 36 y.o. Chelsea reject's goals to be remotedly close to us. Now put them into place.

This season we have mostly lost points in those games we expected to do so. away in Manchester, Newcastle, Spurs and Southampton - all hard places to go. But the only remaining tough away fixtures are the 3 London derbies. Hull and Villa at a stretch. On paper our remaining league fixtures are criminally easy. Beat City and we are champions - simple as. I know it is a long way to go, but without major injuries, I don't see how we will lose an 8 point lead again. The challenge now is keeping our squad fresh. Our main disadvantage is our inferior squad size. It will be interesting to see how Mourinho juggles our ressources to keep the team fresh for the City clash and for the upoming months.

A worthy successor of Maloud and King Kalou in Chelsea's proud tradition of defensive wingers. After closely watching him vs Swansea and rewatching some material from last season I think I have identified his main strengths and weaknesses and most common patterns of play. I know most of you are probably aware but I would like to summarize them once again. +He always tracks the fullback (yay) and sometimes even tackles. +He can shift the ball to his right rather quickly +When he has space he usually carries the ball a good 30 yards forward with his pace and dribbling skills +has a really neat technique +when his best passing option is obvious he always delivers a pin point pass +delivers the pass to the assist extremely often (twice vs swans e.g.). If this stat would be counted he would lead it. -if he has no space or no clear option what to do he always does something stupid -if he wants to shoot or cross he always shifts the ball to his right and runs after it. Every defender knows this -he has almost no end product -has really bad luck -awful set pieces -aimless crosses even if they pass the marker -horrendous decision making Whether it is low-football IQ or Jose telling him to limits himself offensively it is just not effective enough to warrant a starting place. And I don't believe this balance shit either. It is not that he is Philipp Lahm on the wing. Kalou also tracked back every time. Still he had some end product. Willian is just predictable. If he would at least go to his left at times - just for variety. On the other hand he is smooth in his movement and passing, keeping the game flow, so I see why Mou likes him. But even for that he has too many turnovers. I still hope he will have that stand out season like Malouda in 2009/10 in his late 20ies when suddenly all his tricks came off and he was one of our better players. But until and after then we should look for better alternatives.

tbh it depends on the performance. If City play like they did today, We should comfortably beat them with an average performance. Jose often tends not to risk a loss in big games and plays for the draw. IMO we should play for the win against City as long as Agüero has not regained his form and Toure is at the ACN. Fernando/Fernandinho/Lampard should not be a match for Fab+Matic.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=100724 That is great news on two accounts. Him being a homegrown squad memeber (?) now menas he is much more valuable to us. Also he can be shifted away more easily.

As soon as you take out Yaya, City lose their sting. A decent Arsenal side dominated them at will today. When City come to the bridge they will endure another Waterloo.

the Arse clearances always go behind the goal. maybe they have figuered out that Citys corners are rather shite

now arsenal players are faking injuries. Wenger has learned.

HIs first name is jesus because he stands still on crosses.

that should be game over. a goal by giroud. id believe it

The only way City can score is a cheated set piece or an Arse player getting sent off .... or Lampard.

lol. look at Wengers new coat. Looks like a onesie