TrippingStep

Marcelo isn't injured? If not I could see him wreaking havoc in Manchester defence in the second leg.

He seems to play better without Mata and him and Ramires covering each other and moving inside, they left spaces for Azpilicueta's run. A bit more south american style with change of rythm. With Mata on the team, we play a bit more direct. Oscar is better when we spend a little more time on the build-up.

I agree, it was a disappointing game. I understand why Dortmund was winning their group with the way Real and Manchester City play. Very disappointed in the way Real played. Ozil is much better with Germany when there are more movements and runs around him. Manchester defended deep but they weren't that good defensively I thought. If Real had plays with three players, one running, another one on link-up and an other one running in their back, they could have had many opportunities. Barça would have trashed Manchester United with the space they would have had on the ball.

We have Torres. And I would have liked to see him play more. I bet that he would have connected well with Hazard on the pitch the more they would have played together. Sturridge has good runs off the ball and is not as pathetic as Gervinho in the link-up play. The special play of Lille was Hazard moving some defenders and releasing the ball in the space created to Gervinho.

Liverpool have not gread midfielders but they know what their role is. Suarez and Sturridge have more freedom to move around. I think what helps him is that he can manage his run even better on Suarez run with the ball that also move defenders.

Bertrand playing the whole game and Ivanovic as right back is a joke that I didn't like. Debuchy since last year has lost quite a lot of space and has never been really good with the ball, quite easy to close him down as he has only a right foot and his only trick is pushing the ball in front of him. And at 2-1, I don't know why we didn't just play a keep the ball game, making the Newcastle players run to have the ball back instead of losing the ball easily. That's the thing I hate the most with the way we play under Benitez, we don't keep the ball as well. Ok we had to do more runs, play a bit more direct but not always like we seems to do and lose a lot of ball. That's why we have more difficulties against smaller teams who defends deep, we don't play anymore a more intricate game. I hope we don't have the same problem as last year under AVB, a clash between players and the style of play they want on the field. Luiz, Moses, Hazard, Mikel return is needed.

yes. But I would be more optimitic if we changed the formation. With Mikel, Moses, Luiz, Hazard back. I think we should try a 4-3-3. We could rotate Hazard Mata Moses as inside forward on either side of the pitch. Luiz, Lampard, Oscar, Ramires in the two more advanced player of the three in midfield.

With Mikel, Moses, Luiz, Hazard back. I think we should try a 4-3-3. We could rotate Hazard Mata Moses as inside forward on either side of the pitch. Luiz, Lampard, Oscar, Ramires in the two more advanced player of the three in midfield. Sorry wrong topic. It was meant to go in the "will we finish in top 4" and I think yes.

Not great pace but more than Debuchy. But it's not only Torres that can exploit Debuchy weaknesses. If I was Benitez, I would target Debuchy's zone when we attack, we will have free-kicks, opportunities behind his back, can slow him down quite easily when he's in possession of the ball.

No Bertrand please. I would play Torres and Ba. With a specific role for Torres on the left, Debuchy is not good against forward with a bit of pace.

On Bertrand, I disagree on nearly all points. Ok, on counter-attacks, he can do good runs but it's not Ramires but defensively he's not that good, not that good pressing the ball, not that good cutting the passing lanes. Link-up play is bad and for his runs agaisnt Packed teams, against stoke I didn't find him very good, there was a play where there was a huge gap inside the box behind two players that were in front of Hazard and he did an outside run close the line. I've not seen him making a good match, only averages one. Offered little in defense and offense, often off tempo defensively eventhough he's supposed to add in that department.

Azpilicueta was a good buy.

When does his contract expire? I think the club should sell him and buy a left back next summer.

Not a fan. He loses the ball easily, is often over agressive to gain the ball. I don't understand how you can prefer him to Capoue.

I agree on some points. But for point 3, I think it depends a lot on his fitness level. I've seen matches where he did lot of movements to create space for other players. the first match against CSKA of LIlle, he didn't receive many balls, the russians putting double or triple covering. On the Pedretti goal, he moved a cska player that was in front of the box covering for an inside turn when Hazard moved to the right to receive a ball that he let pass for a Pedretti alone with no pressure. Yes Hazard played many matches but I'm not sure I rate Garcia very well. He's good to bring the best of a particul point of an offensive player like he did with Gervinho, Bastos, focusing on a very strong point but to the detriment of the all-around play. That's why I've said that I would have prefered if Hazard had Puel on the beginning of his career. If you look at Garcia, he misused a lot of midfielder or had problems with them, Gueye, Cabaye, Obraniak all had problems with him. Hazard is bad at pressing, defensively when he is on, it's more channeling the play into certain areas that he's best at. What I would like to see more is Oscar playing more central, a bit behind Hazard to develop more some understanding they have, they had good moves of Oscar coming from behind using the back to goal play of Hazard laying off the ball to him in the space. Perhaps next year when they will have the all pre-season to adjust that.

That's better but I fear for our left side unless Oscar drifts there from his central position to make a link-up solution to Hazard. Lampard must not come forward too early, otherwise, we will not be able to build up play on the left.

Our bench is shit. No Luiz, no central midfield.

Especially Hazard as Ba was involved on some good runs after a flick of Ba in front of his defender.

Why not Ba? What happened to Luiz?

I'm not sure. In the youth category and in the eurou17, he was used as a trequartista. Under Puel, he was only 17 in januari and when he came as a substitue, he was often used as a forward or just behind it. It's in the first year with Garcia that he was used in the wing, quite high in the pitch and that he would dribble a lot. It's only the year of the title, that he was used a lot more in the build-up like I wanted, he was playing behind Sow and Gervinho. If you look at Garcia's team, it's often imbalanced and he relies a lot on individuality for his goals, Bastos and his shots from distance, letting Gervinho run a lot with the ball while he was better without it. For me there would have been more one touch passing under Puel than Garcia, I don't remember Lille playing good passing move from the back under pressure, two three fast passes to move the ball away from a pressing zone. For me Garcia is like Mancini, not a good coach but City and Inter were champions because of the quality of their attacking players but in Europe the team play was not good.

Crazy, they had good results lately. After the first 10 games, why not but after a positive run of games, it doesn't make sense.

I disagree. Ronaldo is a beast, he's taller and has more top speed. Hazard pace is more on the first 10 meters not his top speed. Bale is more like a Ronaldo with less quality.

That's why I would have prefered that he had Puel as a coach, at least during a year when he was 18-19 than Garcia. The positional play of the team under Garcia has never been very good for me, an imbalanced team.

I think I have a crush on this girl. And she made good comments.

We need Luiz in midfield.