The only place to be

For it to be a successful cross, it has to be met by one of our players. Who? You can't just say it's not a valid argument when it absolutely is. Newcastle are shit. They defend poorly, they offered very little that day so of course it was easier for Eto'o to find space. Unfortunately, the vast majority of times Ivanovic crosses it's second or third phase attacks where the defences have reorganised and our first choice of attack (the counter) has broken down. In those instances, we're missing a Drogba to win those headers.

I said he was one of the most important players for us and I stand by that. He's key to the way we distribute the ball from goal-kicks, he's worked most of the season without a proper right-winger (Willian does a good job but isn't comparable to Hazard on the left) and he's popped up with key goals. The pace of a full-back? I've not seen many wingers go past Ivanovic on the outside whilst his engine to get up and down that right-wing is outstanding. You see him as a centre-back and that's fine, but I think you continue to look through that prism no matter what he does. He reminds me a lot of Gary Neville in so many regards and the same accusations were often levelled at him...they were misplaced too in my opinion.

As a unit they've been the foundation of everything good we've done this season. If you want to disagree then you're more than welcome to, but his goals alone have added at least 4 points to our total (against City and Villa). Azpi has been tremendous as well in recent months but he's not been any better than Ivanovic and has made 9 less starts. Cech has not had a better season. That's a ridiculous comment to make. He was dropped because of his poor form. Who should he be crossing the ball to? I know Drogba's in the banner but he doesn't play for us anymore so who exactly should he be crossing to? Oscar? Hazard? He put in a ball on Saturday that was perfect. It was a cross that Beckham would be proud of, yet Eto'o simply couldn't get to it which sums up this whole 'he should cross better' argument. The targets for crosses don't exist. And the FACT is that the same criticisms were levelled against Azpi all of last season. Feel free to check his thread - you'll notice the person defending him in EXACTLY the same way is me. Does that make him 'not a full-back'?

You're a joke mate. Even when he starts putting in decent crosses consistently people like you will still look to moan rather than giving him the credit he deserves. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. I think Cech was at fault in small part too which was raised by others. You seem to want to look to Ivanovic and as I said at the time it was an imaginative view to take. Feel free to suggest that. In fact why not actually have the balls to take me to task on that comment rather than making snide little comments and retweeting any old shit you find on twitter like you normally do. Cech hasn't been a cornerstone of our success this season. He's been in poor form compared to his normal standards, he's cost us goals and he's been dropped because of it. I have no problems making such a comment. The problem with this site is that you can't put mods or admins on ignore so just do me a favour and don't respond.

Give it all the you want but Ivanovic has been one of our best players and you always seem to be one of the first to pick up on any slight mistake he makes (the West Brom one was the latest one because apparently he didn't close down the crosser properly ). He's been a cornerstone of much of our success this season - try supporting him.

Played for about 70 minutes in the Newcastle game and was probably one of their worst players, although that might be harsh as no-one was any good in the match.

Mourinho acquiesced. It's his call and his error (in my opinion).

I agree that he shouldn't have loaned out Lukaku, but I honestly don't see the harm in him being realistic about our striking situation. It's almost certainly going to cost us trophies, it's something he tried to address in the summer and what exactly are the ramifications of being honest about Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba? One of them is certainly leaving, one of them is possibly leaving and one of them is out of contract in a few months. Are they going to suddenly get worse? If just one of them looks as those comments and has an attack of pride and competitive spirit then we are better off. This is just one of those moments that opens up Jose to possible criticism from certain quarters. His arse doesn't need saving for fuck's sake. Here's part of an interview of him discussing Cahill's importance by the way.

You have a point, but I think he might be just what we want IF he recovers from that injury. ACL injuries aren't all the same and players recover differently from them so I wouldn't write him off just yet. Yes, he would be expensive but if he scores goals like he has done then he could be the difference between winning a title and not winning a title. Jose has got us winning games against the 'big boys' without a striker for all intents, but we still need someone who can poke home a goal against the weaker teams. Look at that cross Ivanovic put in against Everton - that was tailor-made for a poacher like Falcao but Eto'o simply couldn't make it. Look at the chances we created against West Ham or even some of the breaks against West Brom. Those are the games crying out for an out and out striker.

Yeah, it might dent our strikers confidence and stop them from being the free-scoring beasts that they are. It was a low-risk, high-reward thing to say. Maybe it spurs them on to prove him wrong (like Azpi did when he wasn't playing earlier in the season) or maybe it just hastens their exit in the summer. It's also a devastatingly effective assessment of Falcao's current situation. I'm not his biggest fan but if Jose thinks he's the man for us then it's a nice way to turn his head. Jose has spent a lot of time downplaying our chances this season and he's right to do so. We don't have a striker and that was evident on Saturday. Without that person to lead the line everything else we do on the pitch can be quite pointless because there's no player up top to keep the defenders honest. You need that threat from a number 9 to occupy the thoughts of the defenders which in turn gives an extra half-yard of space to the likes of Hazard and Willian.

He's has a very good season and went through a bit of a rough patch when people like you piled on him. The Ivanovic of Saturday has been the Ivanovic of much of this season and he's one of our most important players on the pitch, yet at the slightest blip in form certain people decided to single him out.

Really no reason to go overboard on him. It was only a couple of weeks ago that he was putting in a fine performance at home to Newcastle, and a couple of weeks before that he was the match-winner in the cup game against Stoke. At the start of the season everything went through him and he was our most important player, but he just looks a little jaded at the moment. He never got going on Saturday and I'm not sure how much a part this 'injury' played but at his best he's a remarkable player.

Amazing how Liverpool play. They make the pitch massive but leave huge swathes of grass empty when teams regain possession. Sturridge and Suarez drop deep, go wide and play almost everywhere except in the traditional number 9 spot. It's the complete opposite to the Mourinho philosophy and if they try it against top teams who can keep it tight then they could get ripped to shreds. Of course if all goes to plan then they can put 5 on you.

Made the right changes today and altered the match. He's done that a few times this season and turned draws into wins so he deserves plenty of credit for that win.

I'm not trying to justify Torres's performances...I just think they're both players who used to be good but are both past it. Eto'o won us the game against United, Torres won us the City game....yay for them. Ultimately neither of them is the answer and both of them are symptomatic of problems from different eras.

There you go...Cech makes a couple of good saves and everyone goes nuts. Told you it happens. Anyway, no-one is saying he's shit. In fact he's very good. It's just that we have another keeper who is just as good and 10 years younger.

He did a decent job. We were getting overrun in midfield and he was a good extra body to throw in there. He's always been capable of being a good player but his problem is consistency and I don't see how 90 45 good minutes changes that. Not sure why Matic is being brought up but as he is it should be noted that he was absolutely remarkable in every regard and probably will be next game too....Ramires, well it's a coin toss.

Pace in behind defences which is why he'll probably start against Galatasaray. Both are poor players, they're just poor in different ways.

Don't want to play a game where Matic isn't involved. Could just go with the same team that played against Arsenal in December, look to keep it tight and hit them on the break. Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpi Ramires Mikel Lampard Willian Torres Hazard Yay...a team with Mikel in it. Could throw Luiz in the middle instead of one of Lamps or Mikel. Bizarrely disinterested in this match, mostly because I'd like to see us focus on being the best in England this season.

Good thing he was injured....would hate to think that he was yanked off because he was completely shit.

A quality performance today, a class above every other player on the pitch and back to what he was doing for Watford hopefully. He's got a fantastic touch, he seems to get around the pitch a lot faster and consistently, he shows a desire to make runs and win the ball back and he nearly got the winning assist at the end with a fantastic ball through that some chap managed to sky. Keep it up and maybe he'll earn himself a loan to Brighton next season (hopefully not, he's better than Mikel already in my opinion).

It's just so nice that he's back to doing what he does best - playing football. That's down to Mourinho and he's rehabilitated a man who was divisive (putting it very kindly) for a number of reasons. All that stuff has gone whilst he's making more noise on the pitch and he's one of the best in the league again. He's our most important player alongside Cahill. He's the stage upon which Hazard can do his dance.

Was about to write off our title chances when it looked like two more dropped points.....and I think I still might. The lack of a good striker (not a bit decent like Eto'o) is murdering every good thing we do anywhere else on the pitch and that's a shame because we ARE doing a lot of good things on the pitch. First things first, Azpilicueta put in one of the best displays of the season. Utterly remarkable, strong, good on the ball and commitment means he's my man of the match. Then there's that Terry and Cahill partnership - impregnable, indefatigable and wins games. With those two at the heart of the defence then we are always going to be in with a chance of nicking it in the 93rd minute. Matic is that guy - that guy we've been looking for since Maka left. His energy around the pitch is fantastic, he doesn't go missing, he looks to move the ball forward at almost every opportunity, he fights for every ball, he's strong, he's a leader....fuck it, he's everything Mikel isn't. Ivanovic is back to his best, and that cross in the second-half was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately Eto'o's mobility scooter got stuck in the turf and he fell slowly to the ground a few inches behind the ball. Hopefully the old dear won't need a new hip after that. Ramires injected some pace into affairs and even showed some nice touches which EVERYONE knows he is capable of. They also realise he isn't capable of doing it consistently. That shot was reminiscent of Essien's goal against Arsenal a few seasons back and summed up Ramires to a tee. Like Essien, but not quite. Willian has nice hair. Torres.....well if Chris Moyles can call himself a second-hand car dealer on his taxes then I suppose Torres can just about get away with calling himself a footballer. That he still gets on tells you just how useless Ba must be. Oh, and YAY....Schurrle's still alive. So all in all, we won. Optimists will say that champions play bad and still get a result, whilst pessimists will once again note that we don't have anything resembling a class striker up front. It has cost us, it will cost us again but it will get fixed in the summer. If we are a ship then we have a solid hull, a fine captain....and a fuckload of deadwood to clear out before adding the sails.

Cech does have more experience, but then he's 10 years older and has been at a top club playing behind fantastic defences for much of it. if you compare them at the same age, then Courtois is undoubtably the better keeper. That's surely beyond dispute. If you compare their recent form, only one of them has been dropped. Ask yourself an honest question - which goalkeeper is improving over the last 12-18 months? We have two fantastic keepers who are very hard to separate on any measure except one - their age. Why on Earth would you not choose the younger one? Sentimentality is the only reason. Oh, and as for experience the argument against Courtois was the he wasn't used to English football and that he'd struggle to deal with crosses at places like Stoke and West Brom. Well Cech struggled with crosses at both of those places. That should tell you exactly what the value of experience is.

I preferred the days we were linked to Paulo Maldini, because he was a proper legend of football.