The only place to be

Honestly, that means fuck all. Why wouldn't the club sign him to a five year deal even if they wanted to sell him tomorrow? He has transfer value (although I think we'd be lucky to get more than £10 million) so you want to retain the possibility of cashing in for as long as possible.

Exactly how I feel. He's got so many tools that could make him a world-class player, but it's his attitude that lets him down. I've said it before, but he had attitude issues when he first came here and I'm a big believer in people's character reverting to type under pressure. I think we need leadership throughout the spine of the team, and that really isn't Mikel. Has he ever been considered for captain at Chelsea? 300-odd appearances by the end of the season, his country's captain yet if anyone here suggested it they'd be laughed out of the building.

It was the biggest open secret in the game for about 12 months. Every decision, be it players we bought in or the players we let go to clear space for future transfers was being made in order to get Guardiola. There's enough blame to go around, including the current board, the past board and some of the playing staff, but ultimately it comes down to what Roman did in the first five years of his ownership. But people make mistakes, especially when they're relatively inexperienced and the good thing is he doesn't seem to be making the same ones. In fact, he seems to be trying to rectify one of his bigger mistakes by re-hiring Jose.

Once he decided that we needed to have essentially two teams to cope with the schedule, I think it probably was. I think he decided for the games against the stronger teams, he needed a midfield who would be stronger defensively to allow the front four to do their thing. It worked in the last round against United and then against Sunderland, so it probably made sense yesterday. I'll be honest, I wasn't clamouring for Lamps to come on because I thought we had enough to get the equaliser. Maybe there's an argument for Lamps to come on to hit a few 25-yarders but he hasn't been in the best of form recently (although he did well against Rubin Kazan).

It was either Man City away, or Man United away in the cup.

He was poor on the wings yesterday, but he really did show some heart and bite in the double pivot when Mikel went off. I think we've got to seriously think about playing him there more because I don't see him displacing Mata from the 10 spot anytime soon and he certainly isn't a winger in my opinion, especially if we get Schurrle in.

So everyone's on the same page now? Took long enough. So what are the options? Do we sell him? Who would realistically put in a bid of more than £10 million? Is he destined to be a squad player, because having seen his response to coming off the bench against Rubin Kazan I don't know if we can trust him to put in a shift.

All this talk about bulking up is a little bit silly in my opinion. People seem to be confusing size with workrate and physicality. Mikel is 6'2" but he plays like a midget because he has no heart. The Dortmund and Madrid teams that Man City were eliminated from the CL by weren't physical giants, but simply worked harder and had a player in the team who could stop City - we need a Khedira who can put in a shift and then release the ball to his attackers with the minimum of fuss. I'd be interested to see if Oscar gets more starts in the pivot going forward though, because he worked his bollocks off in that position yesterday and he's a much more tenacious player then one might think.

And how hard did we go after Modric? He's the player we all saw as the answer for that pivot position and we tried to get him, so it's not like we didn't identify areas that we needed to improve upon within the squad. That 'other attacking player' might turn out to be the guy we need in that position too. I think this current board can be accused of focusing too much on the medium to long-term, but that's because the previous bunch of idiots didn't. They happily bought in ready-made players like Shevchenko, Sidwell, Boulharouz, PIzarro, Anelka, Belletti, Malouda etc. rather than looking to either develop young players from the academy (which in fairness they probably couldn't) or buy in through the market. Now we're actually doing that but we're lacking players in the 25-29 age range because we didn't do the right things 7 years ago. And that's why we're having a bad season now. Shock, horror, a guy who only had 3 years experience of owning a club made mistakes. Fortunately he seems to have learnt from them which is why I still believe we have a strong future, but this season is about as bad as it gets for this club nowadays.

Those two bolded statements aren't contradictory? It's so easy to blame his advisors, but the other accusation laid at their feet is that they're nothing but 'yes men'. People criticising them can't have it both ways. Roman wanted Guardiola. Roman wagered this club's immediate future on getting Guardiola. Funnily enough, that has consequences. Now if you want to look at the players we let go then fine, but be honest about it. You say Lukaku could have helped, but do you mean the Lukaku before his loan or the Lukaku we have now? People were writing him off in the summer, now people are saying we shouldn't have let him go. The same goes for Essien. Are you saying we should have kept a player on the wage bill who has had TWO major knee injuries and played less than 21 games in THREE of the last FOUR seasons? Or do you want the Essien that we have now, apparently fit and available? Calling for the board to be sacked is easy. No board is popular because they spend most of their time saying 'no' to things, and most fans haven't got a clue what they do. You'll never run short of likes calling for the board to be sacked, especially if it gives people someone to blame who isn't a billionaire that happens to bankroll your club.

Ultimately it's Roman's fault. He's the one who wanted Guardiola. so he was always going to bin Robbie at the first chance (probably shouldn't have given him the job full-time in the first place because he was never the right choice) and he wanted a short-term man in charge and the only one realistically available was Benitez. People can blame the board but they need to be specific. Some are blaming them for Jose going, but some of the people involved in that are long gone. Emenalo is a popular choice but if you look at the signings made under his tenure they've been much better in my opinion. This season was years in the making. We didn't plan long-term from about 2006 until 2011, and now we're racing to catch-up. Fortunately the future looks bright but it's going to be a bit painful getting there. That's all on Roman though.

Getting a lot of criticism but people are missing one thing - he had 84% pass completion percentage today!! To put that into context, Barry only had 82% and Nasri only 78% so aren't you glad we didn't have those players instead?? All you haters focus too much on what you see on the 'television' with your 'eyes' when you really should base everything around statistics that mean something.

We lost it where we've lost every game this season - in the midfield. Is it even worth criticising Mikel anymore? Most people know by now that he's nothing but a passenger. If Thursday didn't make that clear then he put in another reminder today - if you still don't get it then you're beyond help I'm afraid. What was encouraging was how good Oscar looked there when Mikel went off, and not for the first time. He's not a winger, he can't play wide, he needs to play through the middle and that means putting him in the double pivot. Ivanovic lost his man once again proving why we need a no-nonsense shit-kicker in defence and if it isn't going to be JT anymore, we need to go into the market. But honestly, City are the best team in England and they've got our number at the moment. I can't be bothered to have a pop at Foy because he's a bad ref and we already knew that. City probably deserved to win on the balance of play but there was enough guts, determination and quality on show (except you Mikel) to be proud of and encouraged for the future.

Had a shocker today - can't see Watford getting promoted based on recent form and he needs to be around a better manager than Franco.

His age and salary wouldn't be such an issue if he had a position in the team in which he can perform at a high level - he doesn't.

I'm basing it on watching many youth games involving Ake and many games watching Lamps. The fact is that our midfield is weak at the moment which is why people are talking about putting Luiz there and moving to a three-man midfield. It's exactly why Lampard's contract hasn't been renewed.

You may not have seen Ake intercepting that well, but he did. In fact he worked hard throughout the game and he's very much a defensive midfielder nowadays and has been for a while. The argument you're putting forward is based on nothing more than your love for Lamps which is why it's pointless discussing this with you. A midfield of Rami, Ake and Mikel would provide a stable platform to allow the creative players to do their thing. Personally I'd stick with the 4231 though and put Rami and Mikel there.

Cole isn't going anywhere. Bertrand will probably get another year and in all likelihood a deal for Shaw that includes a year at Southampton is the best we can hope for. Torres still needs to go, and hopefully his recent burst of good form will tempt some buyers. Ivanovic has had a poor patch this year, but he's been good in recent games and it's too early to say he'll be gone in the summer. Why no Lamps? Out of contract, doesn't fit our system and would cost a fair bit. His agent also thinks his teammates have demeaned themselves by being covered in paint (to sell t-shirts, which helps pay their wages - oh the horror!) so surrounding him with people like Mata, Terry and Hazard might not be to his liking. Been a weak link in far too many games this year.

I don't hate Lampard, but the argument you're putting forward is purely sentimental. If you want to outfight that Man City midfield then why would you pick Lampard over Ake? By what metric is he a better option for that role in 2013? Ake works harder, he intercepts more passes, he tackles better and he's a better defensively-minded player whilst also having solid technical skills. I love Lamps, and I really am not a fan of Mikel but I'd pick Mikel ahead of Lampard in this game every time because he's better suited to that role in the team. In fact Lamps doesn't have a role in a 4231 because he's not good enough for a position in the double pivot. People wanting to change to a 433 have to acknowledge that they're pushing Mata into a position where he's not as effective despite him being our best player.

If you want to outmuscle them in midfield, why not Ake? He was solid against Kazan getting team high interceptions and distributing the ball well.

Romeu has been a massive miss for us. He could've really made that position his own and saved us from having to endure Mikel so much.

What does pass completion have to do with anything? Against Southampton and Rubin Kazan, his pass completion was above 84% which is great. Did he play well in those matches?

I think you're just struggling to come to terms with the fact that Lamps doesn't play these big games anymore. He plays Thursdays nights against Rubin or Saturday against Southampton, and we cross our fingers that he plays well. Away to City we had Rami on the wing and Lamps in the middle - we need to go with Rami in the middle (alongside Mikel) and Lamps on the bench and pray that they have a good game. That's where the game will be won and lost.

The only point that I've seen evidence of is the wingers tracking back, and that's primarily been Hazard. But is that the effect of Benitez or is that simply a person in his first season in the league getting used to the additional responsibilities associated with that position? The same goes for Azpi - he always seemed destined to take that right-back spot which isn't surprising considering Ivanovic, despite his performances over the years in the position, has always been a part-time right-back in a lot of people's eyes. Honestly I think Benitez has done the bare minimum that you would expect from any coach familiar with the rigours of the Premier League - the only difference is that he was happy to sign a six-month contract.

This is the most accurate point. He was probably the best option on paper from the options available. But his appointment wasn't 'spot on'. That'll generate discussion but only because it's so wide of the mark. It was a panic decision that was the result of years of mismanagement and an unhealthy and ultimately unproductive obsession with Pep Guardiola. Has he done well? He's done okay, but let's not ignore the fact that we have quality players at this club and every club around us has been poor or going through their own transition. Robbie is not a top-class coach by any stretch of the imagination but he had us top of the league with the players looking at times like they were playing without much in the way of instruction. Not much has changed in Benitez's time here. Benitez has been hamstrung primarily by our lack of options in midfield but let's not go overboard in praising him or his appointment just to be a contrarian.