The only place to be

I think it's Cech's old injury cropping up and costing us a goal. If you look carefully you can see David Luiz blowing really hard at Anichebe. Cech was probably worried about getting caught in the crosswind and ending up headfirst in the stands. Really we may have lost two points but at least no-one got hurt.

I think this is a fantastically original approach to analysing the goal.

He was playing in defence and midfield, but if you want to keep on bringing up the fact that he was good when we were largely SHIT then more power to you. Cech didn't come out, Ivanovic didn't waggle his hands in the air to stop the cross....anything to avoid criticising your boy. It's alright, no-one begrudges someone saying they were wrong about stuff. It happens a lot in a man's life. We limited them to a cross into the box aimed at Victor Anichebe. Luiz loses his man AND DOESN'T EVEN CHALLENGE HIS HEADER. But yeah, he's a scapegoat. There is no pattern of poor play from him this season that saw him DROPPED TWICE and limited to TWO LEAGUE STARTS SINCE NOVEMEBER 2ND.

Er, actually Ivanovic makes his way over as the ball is going to Berahino. Then the full-back makes an overlapping run so Ivanovic can't just dive in. You were spot on. Terry being out is a massive loss in games like this.

Actually I think you'll find he's also watching the run from the full-back who was getting to the byline. But yeah, putting his hands behind his back was awful. Should've had them in the air.

He's had good games. But I'll take consistency and reliability over 'good games'. For fuck's sake he isn't a bad player so you'd expect him to have had good games amongst the 130-odd he's played for him. That's the bare minimum. We denied them clear goalscoring opportunities. In fact that tactic worked until Luiz lost his man in the 87th minute. And how would you describe Anichebe's movement? What was so good about it that made Luiz lose his man? Come on, you're doing quite the Anichebe impression yourself ducking that question. I think if you watch the goal then you'll see that's not true. Luiz has already lost Anichebe before Cech leaves his line.

Cech should've come for the ball, but how the fuck Anichebe gets in front of Luiz I don't know.

Exactly. Because Brazil don't have to deal with players of Anichebe's quality? And you have an agenda as well. He's your favourite player so can you judge him honestly? It's very easy to say people are scapegoating him but our tactics limited West Brom to one shot on target all game. Here's a simple question. Was Anichebe's movement too good for a Chelsea-quality defender to defend against? Was it the pace or the movement or the agility of Victor Anichebe's run that made it so good? Why?

They didn't park the bus. They defended well but we scored from a corner and it wasn't against the run of play. They actually left a lot of space in the second half and we should've scored, but they managed ONE SHOT ON TARGET and scored from it.

Because it's a very tiring tactic and we had a game on Saturday. Why didn't the tactic work? Because Anichebe got free from his marker.

I would say this is a copy and paste from a post you made a couple of weeks ago, but I can't see you bemoaning the selection of Ivanovic.

It was Mikel tonight wasn't it? Or was it Torres? Oh and Mourinho for his tactics. Maybe it was the guy who let Anichebe get away from him....or did that not happen? Maybe it's because he hasn't played much at centre-back recently....oh wait, that excuse got used at the weekend for one of the incidents against Newcastle. Oh, nearly forgot.....Munich, Champions League, plays well for Brazil, only form, why else would Barca value him at £30 million, future captain, sun was in his eyes. That's all of them isn't it?

He let Victor Anichebe get away for him for the goal. He also let De Jong get away from him on Saturday. People might feel he's being targetted unnecessarily, but I don't think we concede that goal if Terry and Cahill are the partnership. But yeah he got the assist for the goal and he nearly got that free-kick near the goal as well, and I'm sure there was a 50 yard pass somewhere in the mix. I've praised him in certain games this year when he's played in midfield, but I simply don't think he's a good enough centre-back for Chelsea Football Club. Oh, and scapegoat, scapegoat, scapegoat, scapegoat...now no-one else has to say it.

Deserve? What does deserve have to do with sport? Play badly and win by grinding out games through strength of character. That's what we did so many times under Mourinho because we had MEN we could rely on. Other teams will drop points and we're still in the race but it's frustrating to drop two points like that. Don't know why Mikel is getting any stick. Don't like the guy but he didn't make any errors when he came on.

Title-winning teams play badly and GRIND out results. Their goal came from David Luiz not being able to mark Victor Anichebe. The rest of the players were fighting for that win like they fought for it at City. I'm sure there's people who will bash Mourinho for looking to see out a 1-0 win at West Brom because there's been fuck-all else for them to moan about recently but that was the type of game we should have seen out. Oh well.

We can't afford to be without John Terry....simple as that. Did enough for the win but fucking shocking marking of Anichebe cost us two points.

Stop with the insults little boy.

Come on mate. You know what Jose's playing at but we're title challengers no matter what he says. We've got probably the strongest squad of all the teams and there is absolutely nothing wrong with defending a 1-0 lead on a tuesday in West Brom. Unfortunately the one person we can't lose is John Terry.

Because Anichebe was Luiz's man and he let him get away from him much too easily....just like he did with De Jong on Saturday. But he nearly got that free-kick near the goal and I'm sure he'll instagram a picture of himself with his tongue sticking out....what a character.

We should be able to defend a one goal lead away to West Brom. That was the result of INDIVIDUAL MISTAKES, but not surprised to see you jumping in.

But Luiz plays 50 yard passes.

http://www.sportlemon.tv/20140211/vv52fa59004c3b73.14228125-746832.html

Sorry, but if that remarkably harsh critique was even halfway accurate then he isn't good enough to be 2nd or 3rd choice for us.

Poor form and injuries meant he wasn't the same player for us when he left. This wasn't a Ronaldo or Bale forcing a move, but the club letting someone leave when they weren't doing the business anymore.

Money is important but I don't think United have been that astute in the market. We tend to get a lot more value from the market than they do, as do Arsenal and they don't quite have the unlimited funds City do. They've actually underinvested in key areas of their team for a while now and the chickens are coming home to roost. They have an ageing squad and a coach who is woefully under-qualified to either re-build the squad in his own philosophy or simply manage the squad in the way Fergie did last season. I actually think some people are seriously underestimating just how much trouble they could be in. United might be a massive name but the people running the ship are going to be asked to do things they've NEVER done before. The Glazers are going to need to invest like they've NEVER done before. Woodward is a rookie and needs to start being better in the transfer market (the Fellaini deal was a clusterfuck and should've seen him sacked on the spot). Moyes needs to manage a massive squad, implement his own tactics and beat a top four team. Young players like Smalling, Jones, Cleverley and Welbeck need to step up and take some of the strain. Then you look at who is leaving. Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic - that's 3/4 of their starting defence from last season. Van Persie will be 31 when the season starts. Even players like Valencia and Young will be 29 next season and their youth team is not the beast it once was. So yes United are a massive name with a big revenue, but that is massively dependent on the success on the pitch in the long-term (short-term they can ride it out). Throw in the fact that Us, City and even Liverpool are getting stronger both on the pitch and off it (and both us and the Scousers are young teams) and United have a lot to worry about.