The Mak

None of the players care. They don't care about the Europa league. They don't care about Rafa. They don't care about the shirt.

Fucking hell Lamps...back to Mata...

Can someone tell me what goddamn channel it's being shown on in UK/Ireland? God, this is embarrassing...

Not in a million years. Have we seriously not learned from Sheva and Torres? Why the hell should we even think about signing players touching 30 on massive wages? Sure, he can play a number of positions, but have we forgotten about our great young players like Lukaku, KDB etc. who can give us over a decade of service and have the potential to be as good as, or even better than, Rooney? Seriously, some fans see a big name and say "yup! definitely!". Whereas I see him as someone who is going to struggle with his weight and fitness in the next couple of years, possibly ending up like THE Ronaldo. Not to mention he's one of the most inconsistent strikers on the planet; can score loads, but tends to come in spurts throughout the season and when he's playing bad, everyone knows about it. Put it this way, it's nearing the end of the season and Fergie is worried about his fitness...If he's unfit and still acting the tart by smoking/drinking etc. at his age, in a club like United, under a manager like Fergie, then I shudder to think what he'd be like at any other club, never mind here. Personally, when compared to the brilliant youth players we can play for many, many years instead of him for only a few, I'll put Rooney in the 'never' column, thanks.

There we go. All this talk about Modric playing with Mikel, Modric being the only player to sign etc. Well the first thing I would do is buy Capoué and relegate Mikel to the bench. Then think about a DLP in the form of Modric/Moutinho/Beñat. I've always said that any DM worth their salt can do what Mikel does, but a team like Chelsea should have one that can also pass and/or cover ground. Capoué seems to have a decent enough passing range, certainly better than Mikel's, but can also cover ground and get at players when needs be. But I guess we won't go for him until someone else buys him and triples his price tag...

Not sure if you're actually agreeing with me or "doing a Mourinho"...

I do realise that Fergie isn't stupid. He knows well what Mourinho is up to. But as I said, he simply loves the adulation. It's his weakness. It's like putting a steak in front of a dog; he can't help himself. Instead, he seemed to focus on Ronaldo's return (and seems to have got his (ex-)players to put the pressure on him), which would've suited Mourinho down to the ground, since Madrid have more ways to score than just Ronaldo (especially when you consider he had a bad game and still managed to score).

Exactly guys. The main point here is that everything José says or does has a purpose. EVERYTHING. This brings me to those who believe he's too 'friendly' with Ferguson and pandering for the united job... Seriously, do you guys believe that the only reason for him showing so much 'respect' towards Fergie, over numerous years I might add, is for the United job? I don't think you guys know him too well. Ok, perhaps he may want the job, perhaps not, you never know with José. However, I do think many are missing the main reason why he acts so friendly with Fergie. The question is, what does Fergie love more than anything? For his ego to be fed of course. "Oh Sir Alex is great, the best around, the best there ever will be" etc. etc. He loves it. Can't get enough of it. José dishes it out every time and Fergie absolutely laps it up. The most reasonable United fan I've ever come across told me that it's sickening to watch the two of them together. That's because José has managed to completely nullify Fergie's influence outside his tactics; no mind games with each other, no media crap, nothing. Fact is, José has Fergie like putty in the palm of his hand every time they meet. What other manager can say the same? None. By treating Fergie like this, José saves himself so much time and energy by not being dragged into a psychological battle with Fergie; trying to get into each others heads, pressurising players/officials etc., all of it is gone. Most importantly, none of his players become distracted. They are solely focused on the game, tactics and that's it. No matter what team he manages, José will always have the upper hand against United because he limits Fergie's influence. The utter genius of this man cannot be underestimated. This means he can also get away with subtle comments like "the whole world will be watching"; it's like a slight of hand. He is an absolute master at winning and treating Fergie this way is just another tool to help him and his players achieve victory. It can be argued that both José and Fergie are the best managers at mind games, but I see only one true champion.

Thank you! Yes I will, even though his was closer. I believe Mata should be our only free kick taker. Dangerous from close range and brilliant delivery from distance.

He still took a shot from a 40yd+ free kick that Ronaldo would have difficulty getting on target, nevermind scoring. Just because it's Lampard, doesn't mean I can't criticise him.

Sometimes I wish Lampard would hurry up and get the record just so HE WOULD STOP SHOOTING FROM RIDICULOUS DISTANCES! Jesus, how do you shoot from that far out? And as the years progressed, Lamps' free-kick 'technique' just turned into smashing it as hard as he can. Just let Mata whip it into the box.

While what he said my be true, the sly dig at Roman and the board doesn't help. His rant was just that, for him. I don't believe it'll bring anything positive at all. So I'm going asleep now with the hope that he'll be sacked by tomorrow. Couldn't give a shit who we appoint instead. Just as long as I know he's not in charge and can't spite/sabotage us. (Though, honestly, I'm more scared of his incompetence than him sabotaging us) Night all! Sweet dreams (of sackings!)

Well we all know what happens to Chelsea managers after West Brom games...

Exactly mate. He's nearly as pathetic as Mancini at this stage.

I WANT PROOF OF HIM SAYING THIS STUFF! VIDEOS! Especially the one about the europe league. Yeah Rafa. Because it's the fans fault if we don't make 4th. I'm pretty sure the fans don't want Torres to start over Ba, Bertrand on the left, or Oscar out wide. You fucking fat incompetent tit.

Great goal and great play! Hazard really is a great player to bring on. Imagine being a Boro defender and seeing that sub! But I have to draw attention to the chance just before the goal; Ramires bursting forward with the ball. It just shows he's purely a CM. Great counter-attacking player. Don't get that from him on the right really or when he's shackled as a DM (But can afford to do it against Boro though), he needs to be in the centre, but we don't have the formation for him.

Torres is the biggest fucking joke. Gets in the way of two of his own team mates on the break, eventually gets the ball, slows everything down, can't even get a shot off and gets made to look like a fool by a championship player. Pathetic. Fucking better be gone by the start of next season.

Missed the first half lads, how was Aké? Looks to be doing a brilliant job!

No, no. I believe the spelling is SHIT.

Torres...naked.

First, sorry for the super late response. I've been meaning to get back to you, but I put my initial post up during a procrastination period I was having during essay, they're all done now though! Anyways, I do agree with everything you've said. But I've actually always thought that about Oscar, not just since he's been deployed on the wing (which I think is ridiculous). I've no doubt he will become world class and our attacking-midfielder options are brilliant (especially when KDB returns), but I was just looking at things from a defensive point of view that's all. I was just posting with JDY there and we were saying we never 'built from the back' and instead, being Chelsea, did it the other way around, and now we're paying for it. I thought that if we bought a quality DLP and/or a DM during the summer instead of Oscar (leaving him until next year maybe?), I would imagine we would be a bit more solid at the back. Either that, or don't play 4-2-3-1. Stupid pivot. I'd much rather see Oscar and Rami sitting next to Mikel in a 4-3-3. I mean both have great engines and Mikel is...the best we have as a DM sadly!

Exactly. What's the saying? 'Build from the back' right? You're right, we did the opposite in many ways, and decided to shoehorn existing players into unnatural positions. Lampard and Mikel were fine for last year when we had our backs to the wall, but wanting to play expansive football with the same players in the same position? Forget about it, a recipe for disaster. For me, all last season I was saying "Mata needs a creative partner, if we got that in the summer, we'd be ok". Then we signed Hazard and I thought "Great! Job done!". But then Oscar came along and I first thought, "Who is he?" and then "He must be a DM!", because it's only logical right? Nope. I was actually disappointed to find out we just spent £25m on another attacking midfielder, considering our massive elephant-like hole where a DLP should be. Romeu is difficult alright, but either way, we can only hope this doesn't hurt his development. If he does move on, it'd be nice to see his stock rise beforehand at least. However, if Barca is indeed the team you're thinking of, I would imagine that Busquets pretty much has the DM position nailed for Barca for the remainder of his career, and he's only 24. Also, you have to acknowledge their acquisition of Song during the summer. I don't think they'll ever come back for Romeu and I can't see him going anywhere else. Especially since the only other team I would consider 'a step up' for any of our players would be Madrid and I don't think he'll ever go there.

This! My sentiments exactly. I love Rami to bits, but he just doesn't fit the system. He's a box-to-box CM - not a winger, attacking-midfielder or defensive-midfielder. Putting him in any role other than his natural position just limits his abilities; It's like shackling him. Sadly, if we are determined to continue with 4-2-3-1, then he needs to be sold and the money used for a quality DM/DLP. We're not doing anyone any favours by just keeping him, a player we paid £17m+ for, and shoehorning him into unnatural positions just because he's a 'midfielder'.

As you can see JDY, I agree with absolutely everything you've said! This is what I was trying to get at when I started the thread 'Why are we playing 4-2-3-1?' months ago. If you don't have the players for a formation, you don't play it. Simples. But we continue to persist with this formation, though it feels like there is a big disconnect where DMs are supposed to operate. I don't see Mikel as adequate enough; while Lamps, Ramires and Luiz are not DMs (I'd feel bad rulling out Romeu, since he never really gotten a chance). If we got 2 quality DMs, such as Beñat and Capoué, then great. Play 4-2-3-1. But if not, I'd much rather see a 4-3-3 like you said, or a 4-3-2-1 with Mikel sitting deep and Lamps/Ramires/Oscar alongside him.

West Ham, a bunch of incompetent barbarians. The second goal in particular was atrocious to give away...and, with form he's in, how do you give Bale that space and time?