The only place to be

Actually forgot how much I hated Leeds. But I also forgot what an absolute cunt Michael Brown is. Then you've got Diouf and Warnock. Beating them was a brilliant Christmas present but I really thought we were awful in the first half. I'm going to avoid criticising performances that I normally would and put it all down to the effects of long flights and minimal rest. Glad we've got this period of games out of the way and we can get back to normality against Villa.

I actually predicted they would beat Liverpool and then lose to us because I couldn't see them losing both games, but I didn't think they'd win both either (bizarre logic I know). Despite their win, Liverpool should've put them away early. They had enough chances and I expect Villa will come for the draw. The key is locking down Benteke who has been rather impressive so far. It might be a good game to try Luiz in midfield again. Honestly could see this game going in any direction. If Villa get their tactics spot on then we could see another game like the Stoke home one, but if they make a mistake early on then I can see the floodgates opening.

Give Woodgate some credit for not injuring himself doing that. Anyways, off to Elland Road for the first time in over 15 years. COME ON YOU BLUES! :blue scalf:

Defoe is arguably the best natural finisher this country has produced in the last decade. Danny isn't. He's a good player with a ton of potential but he's still the same kid who left City because they wouldn't pay him £60k a week. Personally I think we've done well to replace him with Moses and if we get him, Walcott. I'm not that upset he's leaving either - I was more upset when we sold Jon Harley if I'm being honest. Or Sam Dalla Bona. Ultimately though it comes down to the contract situation. £12 million for him would be pretty good business if we're being honest.

I'm driving up separately and leaving the shirt at home today. If it wasn't so near Christmas and I didn't need to look so pretty I might brave it. Plus I'm going up with the old man. If things get hairy he's slower than me.

Having gone through that, the best thing I can say about it is that it's long and seems to have a lot of stats copied and pasted. I think you've used some stats to support your agenda and I think that damages the credibility of this attempted article. For instance I don't think the stats you're using throughout this pertain to Fellaini's possible position at Chelsea (a DM, not the second striker/no. 10/advanced midfield role he plays at Everton). I also think you have to bear in mind the fact that he is playing for a significantly weaker team who don't put such an emphasis on possession as Chelsea do. One of the points I do think has some merit is It’s fair to say that Fellaini offers something in between Ramires and Mikel when it happens to recover the ball. Right now we seem to have two players who do the job of one. Ramires tends to cover Mikel's deficiencies without offering enough going forward. There are also questions over Mikel's workrate, which I believe is an area where you praise Fellaini in particular his stamina. One think I don't see you make much mention of is one of the things you really notice when actually watching the games rather than relying on stats - attitude. Fellaini is a personality in that midfield, someone who steps up and puts the team on his back. Just look at the Man United game where he went on a one-man wrecking spree and drove his team forward. Mikel, in my view, is the complete opposite. He looks good when we're playing well but he has a tendency to disappear when the going is tough (Juventus, Shakhtar, West Ham, West Brom). To me that comes down to his personality - inside he's still the same kid who turned up late for training and nearly got chucked out of the club. In that position you need a guy who doesn't shirk challenges (Makelele, Deschamps, Wisey). And the Shawcross incident is nothing - even Spackers twatted monkey-face on the odd occasion. :lol2:

I actually agree with this, but I will point out one thing about Falcao - Guardiola is a massive fan of his. He's commented on him a few times, calling him the 'best in the box in the world'. I wouldn't discount this signing actually being either the 'presumptive next manager's' choice or at least a bit of bait to get him.

Agree with all of that too. I think Roman knew but simply how Rafa was viewed but simply decided to press on with it because he's looking at a much bigger picture. The guy sees us with a top manager (Guardiola) moving towards a more self-sustaining period through the academy and scouting systems, on the way to a new stadium somewhere fairly local and with the club becoming bigger overseas. i think he just decided 'fuck it' and go for a bit of short-term pain. Not looking forward to the Leeds game because I think you're right about Warnock. Leaving in a few hours for it and I'm going to be sick the whole way up. Coe is my ideal choice. A man of integrity, beloved by everyone in this country and a bit further abroad and like you say, a proper Chelsea fan. I remember seeing him years ago at the Bridge, usually around the ramp that used to lead into the East Stand (him and Alec Stewart used to hang around there from what I recall), and I think it would help our image enormously. Those days of Duff and Robben were fantastic but the whole club is moving towards something a little different underpinned by better longer-term planning.

Think you're being a little pedantic there. The view is that Torres won't score the goals that we need. That's not just an assumption but a verdict most fans have come to having watched him for two years. They're reasoned guesses more than assumptions. It's the reason Falcao will cost us so much, because there's a view that he will score goals.

Huh? I'm saying that there's a concern over Torres being able to score the goals we need to finish top-four. I'm presuming the reason we're entertaining the notion of spending £40 million on a striker is that he will be more likely to score those goals. So no, it isn't self-contradictory.

A lot of assumptions being made in this thread. 1. The view is that Falcao will enable us to get into the Champions League next season and that's not something you can say about us with Torres as our main striker. Next year's CL revenue is kinda important so waiting until summer when Lewandowski might be available is a little unlikely. 2. Torres future isn't certain at this point in time. 3. Falcao's £200,000 wages seem to have originated in the Mail. 4. No-one is sure exactly what the recent commercial deals are actually worth. The figures surrounding the Gazprom deal in particular would be fairly interesting. 5. The expiring contracts. Cole will be expensive to replace, but I'm not sure we need to replace Lampard because I'm not sure he has a position in the squad at the moment that requires replacing. We'll have McEachran returning next year as well as De Bruyne. Those are two, young cheap midfielders. I actually think we may well be looking at Fellaini too. 6. The board have done a pretty remarkable job in recent years so I'd be inclined to trust them on this.

Torres will almost certainly still start the rest of the games in 2012. Playing a Championship side might be a good idea to get his eye in whilst not risking another injury to a player we're looking to offload in about two weeks. Let's be honest, Torres doesn't seem to have a problem scoring against shit teams in recent weeks.

In hindsight, the concerns surrounding Torres at that time are easy to see e.g. the injuries, the loss in form etc. Falcao does seem to be bang in-form and much more resilient. The most important factor for me has been his place in the squad six months down the line. It's all well and good spending £80 million on players but if they aren't going to be in the next manager's plans then it's all rather pointless. However it does seem as though Guardiola (if we assume he is the first choice) is a fan of Falcao, as are the higher-ups at Real Madrid so you'd assume he wouldn't be too hard to sell if it all goes pear-shaped. The other important factor is Torres. I've always thought Athletico would be the best place to sell him to for all parties concerned, so I'm hoping he's going the other way at the same time. I simply don't see the value in having him around the club. Over the past 18 months we've had some unfortunate things happen and he happens to be one of them. It would be cathartic to see him fuck off (I mean that in the nicest way possible).

Not sure what the value in playing Sturridge is when he seems to be leaving.

Mikel or Ramires.

Then you'll be happy to know that Torres and Sutton were both bought when they were 26, whilst Fleck was 27 - Falcao is 26 (27 in February). On the plus side, Pep Guardiola is a big fan of Falcao.

But in the role I see Fellaini playing, he actually has to drop back into defence and become a third centre-half at times, like Busquets at Barca. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved us to pick up Cabaye a few years ago for £5 million but I think the club have a type of player in mind for certain positions (look at Chalobah and Loftus-Cheek, or even Ake in the reserves/academy) and Fellaini fits that.

One of my criticisms of him was that he didn't seem to score 'important' goals, but he seemed to be improving in that area ever so slightly. But the simple fact is that not all goals are equal and that's illustrated by two players; Lampard and Kalou. The number of goals that Lampard scored that were either the first or winning goal is astounding, whereas Kalou often came on (especially under Ancelotti if memory serves) when we were already a few goals up and he'd add a few more. It's one of the reasons Lampard is probably our greatest ever player.

I can't be the only pessimistic arsehole thinking this could be Torres Mk.2? Or Shevchenko Mk.3? Or Sutton Mk.4? Or Fleck Mk. 5?

See I'd prefer a defensive midfielder who gets stuck in and dominates the ball. You can stick Luiz or Oscar alongside him if you want a distributor but I think we need to shore things up first, and yes that means that I essentially want him to replace Mikel although part of me wonders what Mikel would be like if he had less defensive duties. Cabaye and Moutinho would be great options alongside someone like that, although personally I think we have enough and I'd also be inclined to give Josh a go there.

Well there's your problem. You can't do that. As much as I dislike Torres, your analysis of his goals is rather pathetic. The Reading goal for example was the goal that put us 3-2 up. The goal against Arsenal was the first one, and a very good one at that. The one at Norwich was the one that drew us level after going behind. They were vital goals and that's one of the things he wasn't really doing before, but he still isn't doing it enough. And on a 'purely mathematical basis' wouldn't we have exactly four less points, not three?

I can't speak for everyone, but I want to play him as a DM based on his performances as a DM. When we were first linked with him, he was showing signs of being a real star in that position but Everton have moved him forward to fill a need.

I don't disagree with any of that, but I think Roman decided he would put up with it for 6 months. Let's be honest, the short-term thinking of the first decade of Roman's ownership has left us in a bit of shit. The Champions League win papered over a lot of cracks in terms of a dearth of players aged about 25 who we simply never bought in and we've still not replaced Mourinho. The Club World Cup might have bought Rafa a bit of peace (and he's definitely got to beat Leeds) but now his job is simply to get top four and then leave. This last 18 months from AVB's appointment to the JT stuff, and then the Mikel stuff has been pretty awful with some real high spots. This summer needs to see some real changes and that may include the last remnants of Mourinho's team leaving (even JT). In an ideal world I'd like a clean break at the top of the club and there is an ideal man for that who would help our image but this is complete pie in the sky thinking - Seb Coe.

Glad he's out when we go up there - could've seen him giving Mikel a hell of a time. £20 million for him would be a good price but I can't see Everton going for that. That's less than we paid for Essien, Luiz, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Carvalho and only £4 million more than we paid for Mikel.

Grant had his moments where he was booed by the crowd too. Think Arsenal at home, even though his changes actually worked. My point about him is that he was seen as nothing but a puppet for Roman to pick the team through. The thing that him and Di Matteo had in common is that they both left the key players to do their own thing and in both instances they reverted to the type of tactics they'd been taught under Mourinho. Robbie's achievements were amazing, but we had a healthy dose of luck in the semis and the final. The Rafa appointment makes a lot of sense in context. Yes he's hated by the fans but I think Roman's thinking was that he'd put a fan favourite in charge (full-time) less than 6 months earlier and he wasn't happy with the results. On paper, Benitez is a logical choice too. He was available short-term, he'd had experience of the Premier League and his achievements stack up pretty well against most managers. As a person to steady the ship for 6 months I think it makes more sense than the Grant appointment. If Robbie had lost the final (like Grant) then Rafa would've been in here from the summer. One penalty goes in, one penalty misses and everything changes. Imagine if we'd won in Moscow and Grant was made manager full-time.