Magic Lamps

I think the match at the Etihad will decide the title. If we can get a point there we got a chance. No question they will be outscoring us over the season, and their power in midfield mixed with their variety of styles of their attackers enhances the probability that at least one of them will make a difference every match. But City are not used to play in three campaigns. If they make it past Barca they will make it to the semis and they will inevitably rest players for the CL, which could be an advantage for their opponents. Yes they got an epic squad, but they got some outstanding performers. Toure, Kompany and Agüero are their main assets. leave two of those out and they are not exactly world-beaters anymore. Also their strikeforce is frightening but Dzeko or Negredo alone can be easily contained, whilst our strikeforce is so shit, it does not really matter who plays lol.

Matic or not, we should win this with Ramires-Mikel, too. I doubt he has learned all the tactics already so I guess he will be an attentive watcher on the bench, which is completely fine. Our big plus is our attack, so we should run at them. Hazard is our in-form player and he is currently one of the top ten attackers in the world and surely the most dangerous in the league. He can make goals out of nowhere, but Utd can not indulge on only covering him with three players as there will be Willian, Oscar and our striker moving around their D, too. I am sure with Jose, it is safety first, but we won all our big matches at home so far IIRC and his plan was usually spot on without the need of extra-insurance via 3man midfield. I am pretty sure MOu will go out ----------Cech---------- Iva--Cahill---Terry-Azpi ------Rami--Mikel-------- Willian--Oscar--Hazard ---------Torres----------- with Schürrle, Luiz and maybe Matic coming from the bench. which is a much stronger team than anything Moyes can throw at us. I have trust in every player except the striker. They probably will lineup ------------De Gea------- Rafael-Smalling--Vidic-Evra -----Carrick---Fletcher----- Valencia--Kagawa--Januzai ------------Welbeck---------- ish which will offer them a certain level of protection, but honestly lacks the class to trouble us if we do our job. Still there are some factors we have to consider. They tend to be helped by inexplicable ref decisions or crazy mistakes by the opponent. Further they surely will be out to prove a point as they got nothing to lose. Some players like Januzai and Welbeck have gained form in the absence of their star men. Somehow there still has to be a remainder of that Fergie mentality.

Draxler might well go to Arsenal, but I won't mind that. He might be a gem but is massively overrated. He can dribble and score goals, but most people have only seen his highlight reel. Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Mata are all better players than him. We can't go out and buy every talented AM, even tough in recent years the club has pretty much done that. I don't mind talented players coming to England, be it our rivals. We want to be champions in a strong league not in a league that is avoided by talent. Buying players only to lock them for rivals has seldom brought success.

Well Roo is 28 and physically damaged, Mata is 25 and rarely injured. Roo might be the better palyer with a way higher ceiling and a far wider range of abilities, but Mata offers more value for money long term, considering he also only costs half of Rooney wages. Mata can still develop, even though it might be too late for us.

Yeah but it also inhibits the joy when thing turn out good eventually. When we played the CL final i was so worried about a defeat in pnealty shoot-out because of moscow, I needed hours to really understand that we had done it..

I'd also trust cbc here, cos in every employment contract they have a scan of the ID, so I rather think some internet sites fucked it up.

i'll take your word for it. Fifa and some internet sites have him born 8th january 1988, whilst wikipedia,tm and our official website have him 1st august 1988 so i was confused.

I think benfica had to sell him so cheap because they probably would not have got that much for him later. He is 26 now and while still young he won't get any younger. Is he cup-tied btw?

20.7m pound is a really good fee in this inflated market, for a very good, very solid all-round midfielder. Maybe he is indeed the best we can do right now, with everyone classy locked in a long term contract. So Welcome back to the Bridge, Nemanja

No better time to play Utd. They are in pathetic form and nothing without RvP and Rooney. Even if the latter makes it into the starting lineup, which I assume Moyes will force him too, I think we can cope with one dangerous player who is not even at full fitness. On paper, we are head and shoulders above them. But this is the kind of game where utd's luck can be a factor. All we can do is not underestimate a wounded beast and run at them. Our midfield has been immense in all of the recent fixtures against them. Esp Mikel-Ramires have owned Carrick, Cleverly etc every time. This will be vital, cos Moyes is surely shitting his pants in fear of Hazard, Oscar, Willian, who are all in great form so he will be try to double them on the flanks. So if we get control of the midfield, we can slice through their open central defence. Once our AMs get past the midfield, running at their D will cos them various problems. The only real question is the striker, cos all of them ahve been kinda average. Torres has been scoring in recent weeks, but he always fucks it up against ManU, so I'd rather have Eto'o, cos Utd will be tight and Eto'o is best in tight spaces, even though his chance conversion has been poor. Jose will surely choose Torres though

Whilst this signing at least shows that the clubs is finally aware of our weakness in the DP, i think Matic might not be the right player. Whilst a really good DLP/DM, he is massively overrated. he did not cut it here the first time and while am sure he will do now because of the lack of genuine rivals, he is not the level we should be aiming for. On a positive note his strengths exactly balance with Ramires's. He offers height, strength, has vision and can pick a pass. Is also a decent tackler and is very disciplined in his positioning. Though I think he is not exactly athletic, always looks slow and i doubt he can catch up with the pace of the epl. His skillset is not exactly accomplished. I still think he is a decent addition, but what we need to be up there with Bayern and Barca is a worldclass mid which he is not and will never be. He is a good option to have for the future, cos he has the right age, will reach his peak soon, and with him, Mikel, Ramires we got at least 3 players with energy&experience whose best is yet to come. Add van Ginkel and the other prospects to that list and our midfield is set for years. Unfortunately, we just don't have the quality yet.

He surely will not come here this window, cup-tied, middle of the season and shit. On a different note, looking at Utd's performances in recent weeks, they will be there for the taking next week. We really should go all out on them like we did vs Southampton and Liverpool and it will be a slaughter. A high-scoring victory would also send the right signal in the title race.

Thing is , whilst we are not exactly prolific in front of goal, we can't trust our defense either when we can't even defend a 1-0 lead against a team like Southampton.

He has 3 goals from outside the box this season alone. It has been 3 off target. You know how many shots Cristiano Ronaldo skies per day?

Is it only me or is Lamps having an awesome match?

^fuck etoo, if you can't finish it hold it up for Lamps for the tap it

lamps 9th goal in 12 games. Also one of his favourite oppositions

it was just written lamps would score, he made about half a dozen runs in the box in the first half. now put this tie to bed and don't risk any injuries.

DP

Better win ugly than lose in beauty. While we did not play particularly well, we were not exactly shite, cos we created enough chances. The biggest problem still is our lack of conversion. Ramires best finisher in the team my ass. Against Arsenal we won't have too much of the ball and also not too many chances so we have to take the ones we get. Nothing is more sweet than taking first spot from its holders, so we should go all outon arsenal next week. We can win this, player for player we are head and shoulders above them

lol. once again

this is what mou said about killer instinct. we are through with 3 players but can't make the goal

He is strong, can run, pick a pass and has a ferocious shot. He is really balanced and has no significant weaknesses. But, yeah he is not really any better than Ramires. He would be a decent option for depth, but we need a strong, creative pass master next to Rami to balance their attributes completely. But for a decent price I would not say no.

We tried him as striker vs ManU and it did not go too well. I think he has all the tools to be a fairly prolific striker, cos he works hard, is direct, is not afraid to shoot. This player comes in so refreshingly old fashioned between all those wanna-be playmakers. Still Mou played him as no 10 in the first half??? He is best on the left wing where he can use his pace and his shooting. he would need time to adapt to lead the line, even though he has the tools. Maybe worth a shot in the next to games vs relatively easy opponents, but should not be a permament solution. Let Ba have a few games, IMO he has done decent so far.

Just rewatched the game. We could ahve easily been 3-0 up before Stoke even came near our goal, but our finishing has been wasteful. So much for "Ramires being best finisher in the team". Lamps would have easily scored twice from the opportunities Ramires had in the first half.