Magic Lamps

that is why messi is better than ronaldo

Niang should have made a Ramires-memorial chip

soooo close, that could have been the tie

remember Meireles with his silly misplaced passes for us. It is like Milan have 3 meireleses in midfield

Milan are not really coping with Barca's pressing and on the other hand are not clever enough, when Barca make a mistake.

lol. there is a chelsea flag in the stands. :cfc:

Abbiati is so unathletic. Cech would have gone up in a heartbeat to get ready for the rebound

Barcas offense might be in better shape today, but their defence is still shaky.

anway. one goal for Milan is all they need. and a striker like drogba would be helpful for them today, too.

I actually saw nearly the entire Milan team apart from the offense as average. I mean Ambrosini, Muntari oh shit anyway, the first leag was even more remarkable because their team is not really a vintage milan side. Well. This was not to be denied. Incredible strike.

2-1 sounds fair. If Milan perform like they did in the first leg, the question won't even arise anyway.

lol, I presume there is an imminent link ^^. They don't need to. I got no problems with them winning 3-1

IMO Mikel, as all of our midfielders is simply not made for a double pivot. He is perfect for the holding role in a 4-3-3, which worked so well under Ancelotti. Though his lack of shooting and running ability leaves to much up to his pivot partner. He is exactly the same type of player as busquets (bar being a diving, skinny cuntface). Also busquets would be swamped by playing in a double pivot with s.o. like Ramires or Lampard next to him. Mikel's development really has stalled for years and he is to blame that he could not add some dimensions to his play when he was younger, but now we have to deal with that and Mikel is our best holding midfielder. Now we can either play fuckin 4-3-3 again, where all of our midfielders are played to their strengths or we can play a 4-2-3-1 where we will have problems with our double pivot we buy two players who actually ARE suited to form one. Besides our striker,owner and manager, the tactical deficiencies and mistakes that come along always playing at least one centre midfielder out of position in a system he is not suited to have hurt us the most this season. People are always demanding the signings of Capoue/Benat/Cabaye, players who are acutally made for the pivot, but lets look at it differently, wouldn't it be easier to sign one out and out winger and play a ---------Mikel----- ---Rami-----Lamps/Oscar midfield and play Hazard or Moses as false 9? We played most of the season under RDM, all games in the EL and also against ManU where demba ba could not hold up a single ball without a striker, so why not continue with it? Hazard, Lamps and Mata are responsible for the goals, also Ramires is a decent finisher. Think about it, in the games we played really well, 2nd half against Utd....err....2nd half against Brentford home.....1st half against Arsenal and unde RDM also against Utd 2nd half, tottenham away, did we really need a striker in these? Neither was there a striker goal nor more than 1 striker assist. You can say, they make runs, but I bet moses and Hazard can make these runs at least as good. I mean, it is not a neccessity to appraoch any game this way, but our striker is in any case our weakest link in the offense and apart from the fact that is impossible to be worse than Torres, it would be great to have a plan B

not necessarily. Fergie never would have lost against Corinthians. Except for the strikers, our first team is simply better than Utd's player for player

Lets not get too carried away here. Demba Ba has a decen record overall this and last season, too. Romelu is blessed with an extraordinary athleticism, but there is now way he will be as good as Cavani or van Nistelrooy that soon, and that is okay, he is only 19 but still already has the ability to break any defense down on his day. But Cavani and van Nistelroy, prior to their athleticism score(d) most goals on courtesy of their amazing technique, from all kinds of positions, they can dribble, curl, shoot from distance and have an amazing first touch. When you look at the great strikers, they score great goals in big matches, cos u do not get many chances in these games it often takes sth extraordinary to score in there. Remember this dribbling+goal from van Nistelrooy from an angle of about 5° or his countless close chest controls and perfectly placed volley finishes? Seen these incredible 30m curler from Cavani or his nutmeg+faint to get through 3 defenders? Till we see Romelu do sth like this, lets stay on our toes aprreciate his development and wait with the comparisons.

Oscar, mata, hazard constantly change position deos not matter where they play on paper. And even if, Mata due to his lack of any pace is even less fitted for the wing than Oscar.

Falcao is going nowhere, also Suarez or Cavani, as much as i would like him here is not coming for less than 50m and I do not see us spending so much on a striker again, no matter how different the signs are this time. I think it is much more likely and also retracable to buy someone cheap in the 23-27 y bracket and I appreciate that. Even though we lack a big name in that department, I would appreciate that. Le foondre sounds a valid option, but he is not someone who would fit that well into our team specifically, his link-up play is average. He is a clinical finisher has great reactions and movement, reminds one of Inzaghi or Roy Makaay the way he is ghosting around and that he is English makes him almost attractive, but there is a reason why he does not play from Start at Reading; he is not able to lead the line, he is just a poacher but no modern striker. He would be a fourth striking option at best, cos he can always score, but we are looking for someone who we can rely on a constant level. Iago Aspas comes to my mind, cos his linkup play is excellent and his finishing is good. Overall I think, if we want to continue that 4-2-3-1 which is probable as our 3 maestros can feature within, we should incorporate these 5 players in our squad, whether it is buy, academy or get back from loan I do not care, it is more about the player type, so the squad continues to evolve. we do not have to be perfect, you do not even have to be good to win big titles as Utd and ourselves have shown so often. - a CB of international standard in or approaching his best years. We need it for numbers cos 3,5 CBs are not enough IMO and our prospects will either be never good enough or will only be it when Terry and maybe even ivanovic are about to leave/retire. But we also need him not to have open house every time we face a better opened, we have conceded at least two goals agaisnt atletico madrid, man city twice and ManU twice in our big games this season. Possibilites: Hummels (very expensive), Papadopolus (still young, but amazing statistics), Otamendi (well, getting better every game and 15m release clause, reasonable), Juan Jesus (well, very young but top prospect) - a holding midfielder who can run, pass, tackle, is fine technically, robust and at best can also shoots. Candidates: our very own Chalobah, Etienne Capoue, Sung-Young Ki, Tiote - a Deep Lying Playmaker, obvious reasons: McEachran (prob not ready yet), Kevin de Bruyne (not really deep-lying, but prob can also play there), Benat (not my favourite option, too expensive and too incapable defensively, rather a no. 8), Ever Banega, - an out-and-out winger, Bale (lol, never gonna get him, Gaitan (too slow, imo), James Rodriguez (do not know much about him) at best right sided cos Hazard is set for the left wing: Jonathan biabiany, Antoine Griezman, Germaine Lens (all just before reaching their peak and damn damn fast), Iker munian - a striker who offers a plan B to the big/strong thrust-striker Ba/lukaku: Iago Aspas, islam Feruz (mentioned so often lol, no idea whether he is rady), iago aspas, le fondre,

Lampard was okay today, but against the Manchester teams, who play rather direct he is not able to cover ground fast enough and his tendency to drift forward can leave us exposed or at least he will be too far away from the opponent to make the tackle. Mikel and Ramires are much more suited for the double pivot in these kind of games. Lamps would be more effective as sub in such a game. With him on in the last 20 mins we would have a better chance of scoring late. against teams like Arsenal, Barca or Bayern, where we will not have as much posession his distribution from deep to initiate the counter and his long-range passing are still important.

The sad thing about these encounters is that all Utd need is a bit of luck or a slick move/good ball and they lead, whereas we put in a hell lot of effort, though never or only close beat them, even though we have been all over them and should have comfortably finished the job. We must be more clever and clinical. We are so much more talented and committed in these encounters but they always snatch a result they do not deserved cos they do make the most out of their chances. Also their keeper may it be Howard, van der Saar or now de Gea always is at his very best in matches against us whereas either Cech or one of our defenders or both always have a blackout against them. I mean Luiz and Cahill might not be the creme de la crema of centreback pairings but they are still leagues above Ferdicunt+Johny "referee-approved kungfu-killer" evans.

Yup. he is fine, but he committed 2 dangerous and unncecessary turnovers, which proves his passing and vision is actually not that prefect. Whereas he is great to calm the play and regain posession he is always a little to leisure in these situations. It is natural team mates laud each other but i would not derive my view of of a player on accoutn of that. I think Modric&Mikel would be a nearly perfect double pivot for example, but most double pivot cominations including either Mikel or Ramires lack dribbling and passing prowess .

RDM you could tell always had a plan, Rafa is just a blind chicken that surprisingly has got sth right. I bet everyone would have either started Hazard or sent him in in the 2nd half, so no genius about that.

Things I have learned today. a)I agree the Mikel-Ramires is our best pivot for these kind of big games against teams that play fast, direct football like City & Utd. Nonetheless, the Rami-Mikel pivot can only be a stopgap with the limitations Mikel got in running and passing and rambo got in skill and passing, we have to replace them. .Awful from Cech at the first goal, some alarming signs from him this season, maybe it is not too early to call back Courtois.... c)2nd goal can always happen, Luiz minorly at fault, cos he either has o leave it or clear it, both he could have done without that detrimental consequences. Luiz+Cahill simply both are too error prone, but Ivanovic is not innocent either + Terry is declining (still he has to play these games). I feel we need to BUY another CB s.o. really reliable here. d).We probably the best team in the league technically but there are some players who simply have to work on their basic skills. Ramires and Moses are only in their team because of their physical attributes but it is never too late to work on its weaknesses. It's not they are too bad technically completely, as they boht have their moments, but both have to work on their technical relaiblility. e).Dave (yet) and Demba Ba are actually not that good. f) Lamps as a sub would be far more valuable in this match than from the beginning. Imagine we started Mikel and would have thrown in Lamps instead of Torres, we would have had a much bigger chance of getting that winning goal. He should start big matches against teams like Bayern, Barca or Arsenal where his experience, organisation and distribution from deep is more valuable than cover from Mikel or running from Ramires (in the pivot) g) Hazard, Mata are so classy when the team is defending like Utd today, the world will be stunned next year when we can unleash them in even better form under a better manager, hopefully in the CL

what a goal by hazard, suddenly we can do this

need a goal: bring on a defensive for an goalscoring midfielder

our finishing is completely off