Reddish-Blue

Doesn't matter if he brings it or not, there is NO ALTERNATIVE in the squad. With Kante injured, our midfield was always going to be f*cked....but I didn't think it would be this bad. You say you expect players to use initiative and improve...but I would say most of the players from last year have regressed (apart from Kante). Courtois looks cocky, Azpi needs a breather, Luiz is back to the old Luiz (sometimes brilliant, other times headless chicken), Alonso has been found out defensively, Willian hasn't done much this season.

The scary thing is...Mourinho won't even need to set up defensively for the match against us. If I was Martial/Rashford/Miki, I'd be licking my lips for Sunday...Alonso/Zappa/Azpi are in for a long day at the office

I honestly don't know what people are expecting from him. He clearly wasn't the finished product at Monaco (if we wanted that, Fabinho was the obvious choice) and one of his former coaches (Makelele) said before the season that you won't see much from him for 1-2 seasons as he needs time to improve/adapt to a new team.

Incoming 1-0 to United at the Bridge....can't wait to read the papers on Monday!

Fekir would be a dream signing. Just like how we should have splashed the cash on Tolisso instead of Drinkwater... He'll probably end up at Bayern as well

It's honestly funny how Poch always dismisses the cup competitions. Winning any trophy (apart from the community shield/friendly cup) helps grow a mentality in the first team squad. It won't be long before certain players take the Danny Rose line of thinking about wages...

They finished third in a 2 horse race with Leicester. Spurs won't be winning the league anytime soon. It'll be interesting to see whether their players start leaving due to lack of trophies. Aldeweireld, Vertonghen, Eriksen and Kane could all be playing at a higher level..

They signed three guys who play the same position. Klassen, Rooney and Sigurdsson are all No.10's. Now the team has no width and they have no center forward.

But...he's the captain! You can't leave the Captain out of the side!

I honestly feel like he didn't want to take on the challenge at Chelsea (even though he had all the attributes to be a pretty good wingback in Conte's system) He prefers being a squad player for a 'fun' 'attacking' team than trying to improve himself and become a starter for a title-challenging side.

I don't see how it can be worse than the Atletico, City fixtures. At least now we have 4 midfielders ready to play in the first XI... As for the Qarabag match, We should be able to rest a few of the first teamers and still get a result (if we are serious about making a UCL run this season).

Musonda tried to do too much, lost the ball quite a bit. You can see the flashes of brilliance, he needs regular game time to build rhythm, to improve his decision-making, to improve his approach to the game. He's not going to displace Willian or Pedro anytime soon...and playing 1 cup match with the odd 15 minute appearance isn't going to help his development. Ampadu did as well as you would expect from a 17-year old. The one thing separating him from other youngsters is the composure in midfield. He doesn't look scared or intimated to be playing against men.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/24/leicester-3-leeds-1-michael-appleton-step-unbeaten-record-foxes/ Claude Puel to Leicester City, interesting choice.

He won't be available until late December.

His skillset seems perfect for the LWB role. Every time I saw him play for Schalke, he had that extra bit of pace over his opponent and he seems to have more stamina than Alonso. He just needs a chance to stake his claim.

That was very surprising, both Jim Beglin & Andy Townsend were shocked when they saw Deeney coming off for Watson (basically a Defensive mid)...and then after we score, he decides to bring on Gray.. Credit to Conte though, taking off Alonso and giving Michy the chance got us the 3 points. I wouldn't mind seeing a back-4 till Kante comes back into the side.

I feel like this is the role for him. He's not a starting XI guy in Conte's system but off the bench against teams that actually try to play the ball, he's the ideal impact sub.

Not a bad lineup considering our best midfielder is injured! Hopefully we create chances and let Morata do his thing infront of goal.

I'd rather grind out results than watch our team do nothing against relegation-threatened crystal palace. As for evolution, what do you expect? The club hasn't signed an attacking reinforcement in quite a while. We're being left behind by our rivals.

Even with the most successful CL manager...a team with no depth isn't going to make it to the latter stages of the competition. The last time we won it...we at least had 'known quality' in terms of Mikel, Meireles, Bertrand...guys who were capable of putting in a decent shift.

Apart from individual brilliance, I don't see us winning this game. They're in form, they'll be coming off a nice rest and they'll be playing without any pressure. If Watford lose: nothing happens. If Chelsea lose: the media will be licking their lips. "Crisis at Stamford Bridge" "Conte loses dressing room" etc etc

If a big offer were to come in (like Oscar), the club should consider selling him. He's done his best for the club, he tries hard most of the time, maybe he just needs a change in scenery (less-intense league) to reinvigorate himself.

I get the feeling that Atletico's goalkeeper coaching staff must be amazing. First they produce De Gea, then they help Courtois develop rapidly and now they have Oblak who looks class most of the time. As for Courtois at Chelsea, he never looked interested. It felt like he was happy to live in Spain and we 'forcefully' brought him back.

Let's not ruin the kid. He's better off playing week in week out (like Christensen) then coming back and 'waiting' for injuries like Ake last season. Surely we can find a stop-gap for a season or two...

City just have the perfect balance at the moment. Two creative maestro's in the midfield, two quality wingers, the best RB in England, a world class striker and one of Europe's elite young strikers. I wish we could address the key holes in the first team (RWB, LWB, RW) and become a dominant side.