The only place to be

The United match is overrated (assuming you mean the cup one at their gaff). Their midfield is fairly appalling and doesn't put pressure on other team's midfield. It's their weak link that has been exposed countless times. ANY team and I can't put enough emphasis on the ANY part that puts pressure on our pivot, in particular Mikel has had success. He's our weak link - look at Southampton away or Steaua at home for recent examples. He's a passenger who looks good if other players carry him or opposition teams stand off him. No-one who gives a shit about this club in even the slightest way, or has even the slightest knowledge about football can continually defend this guy and see him as a lynchpin in this team going forward on current form.

Aren't ready? For what exactly? In what way aren't they 'ready'? I'm really coming to the end of my tether with people looking on Wikiedia at someone's age and coming to the considered opinion that they're 'not ready'. Can you be anymore specific than that?

Did you actually watch the whole 90 minutes? He was good in the first-half, but we completely lost control of the second-half. Having read this thread and your contributions, I can't take you seriously on Mikel. You talk utter shit about him simply to wind people up and now you're saying he's got good leadership skills?? Are you trolling the Chelsea fans in this thread? I agree. When we start to get under pressure he's the first one to disappear when he should be one of the leaders in this team. 300 fucking appearances almost and he's still a fucking choker of the highest order. His lack of character is reflected in the team now. When you look at how players like Luiz and Rami have stepped up this year despite having some rough patches, and then this cunt strolls around the pitch IF WE'RE FUCKING LUCKY barely putting any effort in. The only people I despise more than him are the people who constantly defend him whether he's had a good game or a bad game.

Have you seen his pass completion stats? If Barcelona ever hear about whoscored.com, we're fucked.

We don't have to finish fourth and we aren't fucking Liverpool. Whatever happens, we need a new midfielder but we're not as far away from being a title contender as some people seem to think. We might even bring back some of our kids for loan next season and have a team that resembles this. Cech Azpi Terry Luiz Cole Oscar Chalobah Hazard Mata Schurrle Lukaku With our bench options I think we have a good shot at the league and I'd pay good money to watch that team. Whatever happens, the league has to be the highest priority next season because it's been too long since we've been able to say we're the best team in England. And before anyone says that team is too young and that we'll never win anything with kids, I don't care. Quality and character are all that matters and that team has both in spades.

Hasn't had the best of months has he. Started the game better yesterday but just faded away. Is anyone else worried that if we finish outside the top four Real Madrid or Barca might come in for him??

It's not a good point - it's a fucking ridiculous point propagated by retards on Twitter. I've tried explaining why there was so much added time and anyone who bothered to watch the fucking match would probably have a clue as well, but let's continue indulging in conspiracy theories because it's easier than looking at our own deficiencies. :banghead: :banghead:

I really think we should have a proper discussion about this because it gets brought up so much as if it's an inarguable fact that our board are useless. I think it's very easy to blame them and not look at the reality of the situation. Have mistakes been made? Absolutely. But let's look at their work (and I mean the board we have in place RIGHT NOW, not the blokes we had around a few years ago) as a whole and judge them rather than throwing around easy bait that has no purpose but to garner 'likes'.

We've shown at times that we're capable of beating the best teams. We outplayed United at their place, we beat Arsenal twice, we should've got more against City in the semi, we beat Spurs at their place and we've played some beautiful stuff this season. Some players like Mata and Luiz have grown in stature. We've got players out on loan doing the business and our youth teams are arguably amongst the best in the world. If you can't be optimistic about Chelsea at this point in time then I don't know what to say to you. We've been poor overall this season, yet we're still fourth in the table with a manager no-one likes and few rate but who is definitely leaving and there will be a queue of good managers waiting to take over (we pay millions and have a strong squad).

I would prefer if we had kept Sturridge over Torres, but the reality was that we couldn't get rid of him. Why would a club spend £20 million+ on a striker who costs at least £100,000 p/w in wages but doesn't seem able to score consistently anymore? We had to give him chances to regain his form and that meant Danny didn't get as many chances, although he still did get chances and wasn't the world beater some seem to think he is. Add the fact that he was on an expiring contract and a team came in with a large bid for him and you have an unfortunate situation. It wasn't the worst bit of business we've done, but it's become a situation that some people are wasting too many tears on and others are wasting too much time on trying to rationalise. It happened. He left. He moved on. We'll move on. But if he has another game like yesterday this season, I'd be surprised.

I can understand certain fans doing that. But I also noticed that this thread has been kinda dead since February. In the intervening time he's been relatively quiet and some of the murmurings from the Liverpool fans have come close to what we said about him. Did any of the people who criticised him laud it over the fans who praised him? No. They let sleeping dogs lie. But as soon as there's a sniff of their being an opportunity for his supporters to do the opposite the usual suspects pop up and they loved it.

I don't think it solves everything. But in players like Mata, Azpi, Luiz, Cech, Hazard and Oscar we have the framework for a title-winning side. Throw in Lukaku, Ba, Schurrle, Rami and possibly De Bruyne and you've got something special. I honestly believe that with the acquisition of a strong midfielder and a solid CB we've got a team capable of winning the league, so long as we have a guy in charge who can unify the club. I also think we've got a lot of exciting young talent coming through to sustain this club for years to come. The priority for next season is winning the league. I think whatever happens in the next five games we've got a good shot at doing that and focusing on the top four as the be all and end all is a little myopic.

The sixth Backstreet Boy

I think people are taking it as an opportunity not just to bash the club for making a decision to sell a player, but also to bash fans who didn't rate this player in the first place. Constantly living in the past and crying over spilt milk is what Liverpool fans do. We sold him, he had a good game against us but our future is bright without him. We have Lukaku.

You're talking out of your arse if you think it's been obvious since January. It hasn't. We're still in control of our own destiny and all of our remaining games are winnable. It's going to be tough though. I agreed with you on the Europa League thing, but we've got a chance at silverware now and we should go for it. If we don't get Champions League football next year, it's not the end of the world. This club is going to make a run at the league whatever happens because we've got great players and there are good managers out there. As for the clowns in charge, yes I agree that where we are is a result of bad decisions but the ones in charge now seem to have a better plan for us going forward than the ones 5 years ago.

He bit someone on a football pitch. He actually holds onto his arm and moves his head towards him to do it. Look at the reaction around the web and you'll see a similar level of disbelief. Are you simple or something? Are there a lot of first-cousin marriages in your family? Small-gene pool? Why don't you try and be better than your genetic make-up would suggest?

I watch it and wonder why Bertrand shows him onto his left foot. I wonder why Benayoun isn't a bit closer. One of Luiz or Ivanovic should be on him but once again it shows that we need another CB who is a rock. Maybe JT can be that guy for one more season but I'd love us to pick someone up in the summer. In the first half I actually thought we were in total control and Mikel and Rami looked solid. in the second-half our midfield looked lost for the first 10 minutes. Rami improved but once again when we needed a bit of leadership and control in the middle it was lacking. I'd still like to see Oscar deployed in the middle. I really don't know why he can't play in the pivot, but we probably need someone alongside him who is a bit stronger than Rami or Mikel.

No. QPR, Southampton, Reading cost us a top four and no amount of bitey little cunts will change the fact that we've not been that good this season. He got 7 games in Holland, so that is the bare minimum. Throw in the fact he got 8 games for racism and is a repeat offender and he's looking at 10 games minimum in my opinion. Of course this puts Liverpool in a tough position. They pride themselves on somehow being 'better' than other clubs, more pure or some bullshit and this guy is a disgrace to their club. But he's also their best player, so what comes first - pride or selfishness?

Our penalty, their free-kick, Oscar's injury, Bertrand tackle and fracas, four subs+Lamps sub in injury time.

Then you're just inviting pressure onto you. With 30 seconds left what you want is a team forced to lump balls into the area because those are the easiest ones to defend. In theory. What I don't understand is Torres playing ahead of Ba with Thursday's game in mind.

So you bring on a defender? Who for? A midfielder, so you concede more space in the midfield and can't put as much pressure on them. I'm not defending his choices, but when you make tactical changes like bringing on a CB for a midfielder it has ramifications further up the pitch. It was a hopeful lob into the box, and we should've dealt with it better. If you can't do that then you will concede goals, whoever the coach is.

If I'm Benitez, I don't change the shape. He never does, so what I do is put on fresher players to keep the opposition honest. Ultimately players missed assignments. Suarez wasn't marked properly and their players weren't closed down fast enough, but I don't know if I can be bothered to blame Benitez for that. The 11 players on the pitch should've been able to hold out. I criticised him for not bringing on JT against Reading, but that was just stupid defending and individual fuck-ups. That might be down to his coaching in the week leading up to games but I think we have a severe leadership deficiency in our squad right now.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and remember Suarez bit someone and be more shocked than I am right now. I think at the moment it hasn't sunk in. Once the media get the teeth into in I think the gravity of what he did will hit me. If he got 10 games I wouldn't be surprised. If he got 20 I wouldn't be surprised and if he got nothing I wouldn't be surprised.

Exactly. The most important thing next season is winning the league and we can do that if we finish 4th or 5th this season, in my opinion. If Jose comes without us being in the CL, then he becomes a bigger legend here. He comes when it isn't the easy choice, and we build something special. If he doesn't then we appoint someone else and they may well lead us to great things. Maybe if we can't spend, we're forced to give youth a chance. There are no certainties in life. Finishing top four doesn't guarantee anything, and finishing fifth could be more damaging than I care to think about right now but when I look at where this club is heading I can't help but be hopeful whatever happens.

Mods, come on. We've had this guy trolling for months now and it's getting to be a fucking joke. We've lost a game in pretty shit circumstances, fans are pissed and this cunt comes on and slags off our fans? It's not even like he's trying to hide it anymore and it's taking the piss. Why isn't he banned?