dee25

It was the wrong decision because it would have taken something special for Eto'o to score from that angle vs where Salah was. If Willian had slipped that ball in front of Salah that would have created a clear cut goal scoring opportunity. Would Salah have finished? Who knows but passing that ball to Salah would have increased the chances of a goal since it puts the player one on one with the keeper.

The thing is, there were so many instances like that where either Willian or Oscar chose the wrong option or were just too slow in releasing the ball. If Willian had just passed the ball to Salah he would have been through, particularly since he has pace. Why pass it to Eto'o? What's Eto'o going to do from that angle?

The likes of Sterling and Henderson have showed more quality this season than Willian and Oscar. Yet people rather focus on poor officiating, which wouldn't have mattered if we had done our job. We put ourselves in this position and the team only have themselves to blame. Jose also has to take some part of the blame too, he's the one that coaches these players after all. Ramires looks a shadow of the player he was last season (and he wasn't much of one to begin with). Oscar has actually regressed, Hazard has only made small progress albeit not much. Matic hasn't the slight clue what he's supposed to be doing out there and his talent isn't being put to good use just like Oscar's and Hazard's. While our strikers are poor but the truth is, you put them in any other top side and I guarantee they would probably score more goals. We make it so difficult for them. How the hell are they to build any momentum when they have to feed off scraps? When the attacking play is so poor and the quality in the final third is non-existent? Really hoping we improve next season.

Omg

So many times on the break either Willian and Oscar had the chance to just slip someone through. *sigh* It's okay, they'll get better.

This is the point in the match I'm always left wondering where and how the goal is going to come. Striker or no striker, we shouldn't be looking so inept in the final third. It's a shame because you can tell the players are giving everything.

Willian needs to be a lot more decisive than that. Edit: wrong thread. :confused:

I'm in disbelief! Okay his tackles have always been clumsy but this season he's turned into a downright dirty player. Can't believe it.

Are you kidding me?!? What is wrong with you Ramires???

Holy shit. We just scored from a corner!

Anyone know why he isn't playing with the u21s today?

I think Costa is probably the ideal striker for Mourinho's system. He'd perfect for the style of play Mourinho wants and like you say, his movement is excellent. He makes A LOT of unselfish runs - runs that half of the time are no use to him but helps create space for the likes of Koke, Turan, Villa. So I agree with you on that. My point is that for Costa to be put in the same bracket as Cavani, he has to do what he's doing this season a few times more. Two seasons ago Costa couldn't get into the Atleti team and had to be sent on loan to Rayo. Two seasons ago Cavani had netted 33 goals for Napoli and since then has gone on to replicate that tally twice. @The only place to be I've already said that Costa's career has followed a similar trajectory as Drogba's (in that both are late bloomers) and although some might not want to compare them, I see a lot of similarities between the two. So you're preaching to the choir. And sure the gap might have narrowed between Costa and Cavani but there's still a considerable gap between Costa as his best and Cavani at his best.

Exactly this. Look at Soldado. He scored 81 goals in 3 seasons at Valencia including 30 goals last season - we all know how he has struggled since his move to spurs. Negredo also scored 30 goals last season and although he was excellent at first when he signed for City, but his form has drastically dipped since then. He only has 9 goals in 28 games in the league. That's one goal less than Eto'o. Sure Costa had a good goal tally playing on the wings last season but that's not so unusual in La Liga. If I'm not mistaken Michu scored 17 goals from midfield at Rayo, Aspas had about 12 goals or so predominantly playing on the wings. If he had stayed at Celta who knows how many goals he would have gone on to score this season. I think Costa has come leap and bounds from when he was on loan at Rayo Vallecano two seasons ago, but to say that there isn't much of a difference in level between Costa and Cavani is ridiculous. Of course there is. Costa is a late bloomer, and still has a lot to prove before one can put him in the same bracket as Cavani.

Adrian Durham exclusive: "Terry scoring against 8yr olds (& celebrating in their faces) is just mean and dirty - that's why I want liverpool skipper to lift the title."

It's okay. I gots this. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1pdl7x_steve-holland-press-conference-before-sunderland-match_sport

He turned 24 in 1st of September meaning he was 23 for only a few weeks in the season. You have players like Sterling and Shaw competing against a player that's five years older than them. If he's producing better stats/performances than them it's because he should be as he's significantly older.

He's also at least two years older than the oldest nominee and 5 years older than the others. He was born in 1989, that means he's 25 years old. To put that into perspective that's one year younger than Juan Mata, Costa, Lewandowski etc. That's such an unfair advantage. The cutoff for that award really should be 23.

Well I said, at times (emphasis on 'at times') he could look Ramires awkward on the ball, which is the truth. That's not an over-exaggeration in the slightest. Overstating his technical abilities would be to say he's a poor man's Drogba.

That's very true he doesn't seem to be a great passer of the ball but I'm hoping if we have an offensively minded left back and with Azpi in RB then that might compensate for it?? Ideally you'd want someone like Modric in central midfield but MVG and Matic are both (at the very least) technically sound so I don't think that pairing would limit us in attack. Marco also seems like he has goals in him.

I think if you're comparing Costa now to Drogba in his prime, then obviously Drogba is the better player. But when Drogba was Costa's age, from what I remember I don't think there's much between them in terms of quality.

I think Mourinho's aversion of the press lately is exactly the right thing to do. The media hype of Liverpool is at full force right now. Best for him to lay low and go about his business quietly especially at this point of our season where the players and coaching staff need to be fully focused at both tasks at hand.

I think 35m would be excellent business. I've watched quite a bit of Atletico's games this season and I have the same question mark about Costa as a few others do - is he a great striker or is he a product of a very good Atleti side? His technical ability is decent but nothing exceptional and while his link-up play might be better than Falcao's but sometimes he could look really awkward with the ball at his feet - Ramires awkward. But on the other hand he strikes me as a late bloomer type of player and to be honest I see so many similarities between him and Drogba in his first season here - the way they both play, their attitude, their fighting nature, and I think Costa even has that bit of rawness in his game that Drogba also had back then. So while I wouldn't put him on the same level as the great strikers, but I do see a lot of potential in him to reach those heights and I think he'd do well here - especially under Mourinho. One can only hope.

Can't believe that Mannone blunder. You had one job, Vito.... one job! Anyway, back in it! :woo:

Heard sunderland equalized. Don't want to watch now incase I jinx it. What's happening? Is City piling on pressure? HOLD ON SUNDERLAND!

Except Drogba didn't cost us 50 million pounds though?? 50m is twice as much what we paid for Didi and look at how long it took him to find his feet here. In his first season here I think he scored about 10 goals, 2nd season he scored around the same. Are people going to be satisfied with that return for 50m? Because it's very possible that Costa will need at least a season to settle in.