Magic Lamps

It's just a shame how much Utd always got the ref on their side in the crucial fixture. Neither was Shelvey a red nor this a penalty. This club probably would be relegated if there wasn't something odd in most of their matches

good for us, bad for England. I really understand his decision, no idea why the F.A. has done this tomfoolery of re-stripping him off the captaincy before he was freed from all allegations and making their own murky investigations afterwards.

--------Blackman Azpi--Cahill-Luiz-Bertrand ------Romeu-Lamps------- Moses---Piazon---Marin ----------Sturridge-------- lookin forward to playin a high line once again. Our ball recapture was sublime at times against Stoke. Hoep marin and Studge are fit, they will rip Wolves apart if they are. First time we got a really decent B-team. Won't get knocked outo f the tournament as soon as the last 2 years.

wonder whether he can be a deep-lying playmaker, cos he clearly is a no.8, the problem, in our 4-2-3-1 there is no no.8

koscielny tpyical arsenal, once you've overcome yourself to deservedly compliment an arsenal player for his performance he ruins it a sec later

City do not look very dangerous at all, arsenal are lucky scoring, but koscielny crowns his exceptional peformance with a goal. hope it ends so, esp. aftermanU having won at liverpool. (damn)

You're right. splashing out for one striker is always a big risk. Esp when they had their best years and are already into decline which torres was at liverpool, which shevchenko was at Milan. As we've seen any striker can get into a goal drought and for some the system has to be build around him and for some even then the goals won't come. Everyone knows we perversley overpaid for Torres and for a striker who is only as good as his "service","his confidence" or whatever excuse s.o. find for the shit performances Torres delivers week in weekt out. the next striker which is only necessary when Torres goes on that way and studge gets injured 1. has to be cheap 2. a stable personality 3. does not give a fuck about service or confidence but simply scores goals.

The best footballer is hazard, the best player is Mata and the most important man in the team is lamps.

Three points all that matter.

THERE IT IS. knew one had to pick an unlikely scorer

how can an average player as etherington be up against 3 of our players and come away with a free kick?

our ball retention is sublime, our conversion rate not

only watched the 2nd half. did hazard really play so badly? because we need so who can score

that's our problem now. we got nice skillz, showing lovely football at stage but we have no scorer

all refs are incapable of staying on par with the modern game. In the EPL there is an extra caprice in their decisions. Actually, every referee and his assistants commits numerous grave mistakes every game (wrestling in the box before a corner, flagging onside for offside every 3rd time etc). We've simply grown used to that. The "beneficial" side of these decisions is that the underdog is always helped a bit, as the attacking team usually get the big decisions against them (penalty, offside, hidden foul plays in the box etc.). Makes games closer but with less goals.

azpi-cahill-luiz-cole -----romeu--Mikel--- -Moses-Oscar--Mata --------Sturridge----- 1. would love to see marin, probably our most agile defender + mata has not to go the full distance 2. stoke will provide little threat up front so we can play a high line with our fastest and most mobile defenders 3. mikel does not deserve to play but lamps needs rest and ramires even less deserves to play 4. Sturridge deserves a start, torres was already useless against stokes big defenders twice last year. (btw is sturridge taller than nando? he is listed as 1.88m/6'2'' but a friend of mine has met him and is exactly as tall at about 6') 5. Remember what hard work we made of stoke fixtures last year? we need mobility and pace amap

I would not generally but one game I'd pick exactly one formation most fans demand with the players they want and demonstrate that it wont work.

He's 34 he can not invent himself completely new. He is not efficient in a 4-2-3-1 in most games but our best option for the dlp role. Nonetheless he can't defy his natural offensive instincts. Anyway the 4-2-3-1 is simply playing him and Ramires out of position. In a 4-3-3 he still can be an attacking force as its his natural position. Of course he has to be used more sporadically but when he is used he has to be rather offensive.

One thing, I wanna see Cesar Azpilicueta vs Stoke. Ivanovic is a great defender but he is not necessarily a great footballer. He is rock solid but his technique is average and his crossing is simply woeful. Exactly in this game Hazard became useless playing on the right because, Ivanovic could not feed him. Cesar offers way more possibilities in terms of attacking

That's exactly what a forward is about. He can score goals out of nothing, he is a clinical finisher and he knows how to position himself to nick in the rebound, he has the killer instinct, Torres seems to have lost. I do not remember one match when he was awful in a more offensive role. I remember him playing CAM under AVB (Stoke, Bolton, Sunderland) when he was great.

Frank's probably the better striker atm. The reason why we lack efficiency in front of goal is that our best finisher Mr Frank Lampard is restricted to a defensive role.

In addition to his sublime goal, we must not forget that he kept Pirlo quiet all game. He might not be the best tackler but his agile, adamant closing down of juve players in posession was key to them not overrunning our midfield all the time. Today we showed some good pressing in the opposition's half and he was central to it. This boy is our future.

hey, many teams play with only one striker, It's torres job to make himself available. He simply becomes invisible in lenghty periods of the match

One Fellaini does not make a summer. IMO he is rather a better and more complete mikel. You seldom see him run, with or without the ball, probably even less often than Mikel, but he is better in his passing, shooting, tackling and is arieally great. IMO u have to combine Fellani with a more mobile and faster DM like M'villa or a deep lying playmaker who can intercept etc. fellaini - modric or fellaini - m villa would be quite a good combination. If we are only to buy one DM, Etienne capoue is the man to buy.

Very disappointed, hope this does not become a "slump". Its always a disgrace to concede a 2 goal lead, but we were completely outplayed in midfield at times in the second half, mikel made far too many mistakes, torres is back to his usual useless self and ramires and ivanovic are so bad technically they are a dead end for our play Juve did nothing to deserve that draw, but I don't care, we got denied a penalty once agian as refs don't buy unfair tackles on hazard any more. I rather care aobut the bad mistakes we committed. Several players committed amateur errors. A.Cole, Oscar, Hazard were class, luiz, lamps, terry, cech and iva were okay but torres and Ramires were utter BS. Ramires is technically no match for a RW cause HE IS NO RW. Ivanovic also provided little help as he is technically limited, too. Torres does try but he again got "no service" as his runs were crap, he always was found in the channels or near the corner flags but never in the box. Lamps is missed in front even more than he is out of position in the pivot. No idea why we had no Moses to offer sth against the great and strong Asamoah, our right side was never really up to it. Nonetheless much better than against QPR we will demolish Stoke with a similar performance IF WE TAKE OUR CHANCES. Mata HAD to score or cross for torres who was completely free to wrap things up and there was a great chance by ramires were he decided to dribble instead of shooting. In european football u simply HAVE to defend a 2 goal lead at home. Imagine this in a k.o. game, it would be a horrific result. This game (once again ) showed 1) RDM has to utilize the right players in THEIR position 2) 4-2-3-1 with Ramy on the wing is crap 3) Mikel is not that good 4) Lamps should play more offensive or not at all 5) Oscar is a gem and is fit for first-team action 6) Torres is crap 7) We need more quality in CM and ST 8) Ivanovic is not that good 9) Terry and Offside trap do not match 10) There's an awful lot of work to do