Barbara

Both of which I'm completely familiar with, but I really don't see how that's the case... yeah you could argue that Terry was zonal marking instead of man marking, but once Luiz leaves his position someone has to cover him. It isn't so frozen that Luiz can't leave because Terry for some reason is the man responsible for zonal marking. A football match is an alive system where you have to adapt, improvise, and react all the time... zonal marking is about distributing players, Terry and Luiz as CBs are both responsible for the box - mainly - but still only one takes the 'blame' for not being effective in the zone he was supposed to cover. At least now I have a clue of what you're talking about though, so thanks for answering.

thanks for that. Amazing vid - despite the very annoying song - that showcases perfectly how useful he was creating/linking up plays, giving key passes, using his body and finishing. I think he looks great in all honesty. Those aren't the kind of mistakes we see Torres making - Torres' issues are technical while Eto'o's issues in this match seemed to be sharpness, if that was caused because of fitness, adapting in a new team, bad luck or a consequence of aging, I don't know, but I'm sure no one else (maybe except Schürrle who may have tied with him) created more chances for us than Eto'o did whether he was finishing, assisting, or giving key-passes. It's progress from Torres x10. I do hope it's not an aging thing because the class, the first touch, the vision and the intelligence are all clearly there. The finishing though I can't justify.

I had to re-watch the goal because it really bothered me I couldn't have a clue of what Sherry said in his last post. What I see is John Terry running from one side to the other inside the box, blindly and marking no one. I see Ivanovic divided between marking Jelavic and Naismith because there are two of them and only one of him. The same way Luiz should have stayed inside the box marking them, so should have Terry. Terry looks more lost imo because you see Luiz looking inside the box and seeing who he's going to mark while Terry is moving forward, then backward not knowing where to go. You see Terry approaching Naismith when Schürrle presses Barkley (I guess), then Terry completely abandons him and starts running to the left and then backwards. so let me do my own analysis, and please Sherry, sweetie, don't be offended. Football is a very subjective thing, people will have different interpretations of it all the time. We just happen to disagree about this instance. 1) I see Luiz leaving the box to cover the gap JDY and The Skipper mentioned, and while he does that Terry approaches Naismith - which is the right thing to do. 2) then for no apparent reason at all, Terry abandons the man that had only him marking. We see Ivanovic behind Naismith, but Jelavic is behind Ivan, so Terry can't assume Ivan can mark both by himself. Also there are two Everton players where he's moving now surrounded by three Chelsea players, which makes even more pointless for him to move to the left, in the meanwhile Luiz quickly looks inside the box and approaches the player closer to him. Mikel is at fault too because he shouldn't go with Ramires and Cole to the edge of the box to press the guy who's going to cross, he should run towards the guy entering the box just by his side. the basic rule of marking players is, you cover the one closest to you, I cover the one closest to me. Mikel should have covered the guy between him and Luiz as Luiz is clearly running to mark the guy ahead of him. All while Terry continues to move forward - to the left. 3) Then we finish with Terry having a guy on his back, a guy that Luiz is running to mark and it's easier to mark when you're seeing the opponent rather than when he's on your back. Mikel is still clueless and not marking the guy ahead of him at all. And then I agree with you Ivanovic becomes a victim because he's left between both Jelavic and Naismith and sort of deciding for Naismith, he doesn't have enough time to reach the ball crossed on his back. If the guy had crossed the ball to the man just behind Terry the same would have happened because he wouldn't have time enough to step back and clear the ball with his head. So Luiz is running late, Terry is running to a place that makes no sense, and Ivanovic poor thing is trying to multiply himself and mark two men that are 3 meters apart. Also Schurrle sort of gives up after he presses Barkley (the vid quality is really bad as you can see and I can't see properly who are the players. so I'm assuming is Barkley) and watches as the ball moves, instead of trying to have a bit of awareness from what's going on around him and trying to help. Also this happened at the 45' mark and while it's no excuse for the players to lose focus, I guess they were already thinking of a shower, listening to Mou, getting a massage from Eva or whatever they do during half time. So yeah, there are awareness issues with Luiz, then Terry, then Schürrle and Ivanovic is sacrificed. Mikel doesn't help and Ramires and Cole are the ones trying to intercept a cross, but not even the two of them can stop the guy from crossing. There are so many mistakes there that we should just assume our players were lost. And the worst part is that it didn't happen only this time. It happened another 2-3 times during the first half, that I remember vividly. They lacked communication, opponent's movement awareness and efficient marking. I do admit I was harsh on Ivanovic. The way I remembered the goal Terry was closer to Naismith, but in reality he wasn't. He was marking no one, moving to a place that made no sense, while Luiz was running late, Mikel was being useless and Schürrle was watching it all happening, while Ivan was being sacrificed - poor thing.

so can you leave and re-join every time we play City?

Why on earth Terry isn't supposed to mark? There are two opponents - Naismith and Jelavic and two of our defending players in the box, please tell me why can't Ivan mark one and Terry the other? I completely fail to understand the concept you're trying to sell me. And how come a back that allows the guy he's marking to head the ball is making his job alright? That's what I meant, either Ivan or Terry should have been closer to the men they were marking so they could have a better chance of clearing the ball with a header... a play we see in all football matches too many times to count... How come can Terry and Ivanovic be victims? It's a collective fail, absolutely, but the men allowing the opponents to head when they could do a better job marking them fail the most imo. so we disagree because I could never understand the reasoning that one of our defenders is supposed to mark while others aren't. Football isn't as static and perfectly designed as you're making it out to be. Those are people there, not robots or fictional players in a video-game that fulfill functions perfect to a T. There's something called coverage. If one player leaves position, the other can go there and cover him. I read this post of yours numerous times and still it makes no sense whatsoever in my head. No sense at all. Let's agree to disagree. The way you seem to see football is something I've never head of... there's no dynamism whatsoever, just static, cemented functions that you gave to players. Really, the more I read it the less sense it makes. I must be too slow to comprehend it - I'm not being sarcastic at all. I'm feeling very much dumb now because I have no idea of what you're trying to imply here. No idea at all. which is why in my analysis two days ago of his positioning I have no problem with him occupying that specific zone, not when he's filling a gap, not when he's trying to anticipate, be pro-active, intercept the ball and give us a counter-attack chance. I'm all for it.

I agree with many of your points, Ry (may I? Although Ryan is my very fave name in English for boys, I have a tendency of abbreviating everything). I don't think he's a bad player. I think he's inconstant. He's young, even if he's going to be 23 this year as someone pointed, he's still under development. Many players started peaking too early in their careers lately and I guess it leads us to lose the grasp of the reality for most. A player who is 22, 23 has plenty of time to improve and peaking at 25, 26 is absolutely normal and acceptable. It's still the case with most athletes in all sports. now how fair is it with him to be a third option for one position? Because Willian can play quite well in the middle and he can do the false 9 if Mourinho wants him to (something I don't think he will, but still), so in theory he's third in more than one position. Eden is Mourinho's untouchable, he will only miss when he's injured and absolutely needs rest and even then both Kevin and André would be ahead of him. I think Willian caused a problem to Mourinho, not to Moses. Moses would play even less than he played last season. Much less actually. How fair is that? For one to be considered a squad player he has to have play I'd say at least 25% of the matches (whether starting or coming as a sub), don't you agree? Take Willian out of the equation. With Mata, Oscar, Hazard, André and Kevin, when would Moses play? The Swindon match and others of the likes of it, the eventual sub in the last 15 minutes. He wouldn't be selected to even be in the bench many times because we can't have only AM in the bench... Also I didn't mean he doesn't fit at all. I meant others fit better. Not only for their work-rate, but also because of their style. For certain kind of matches though he'd fit better than André, for example. But in my opinion Kevin is an improved Moses through and through in everything you listed (except maybe the strong part, although Kevin isn't small and he's strong. It's tough to push him away with your body). I think he should have left, I don't think loaning our players to a club like Liverpool is wise though. I feel like we are belittling Liverpool and writing them off from the title contenders. That could be a mistake, although they've been consistently shit for the past few years we should never underestimate a club with their force, tradition and history. I know this is one of the worst shit to read, but sometimes those things still win you matches, they can unbalance a few matches, so I wouldn't underestimate them or Arsenal - just made fun

I disagree about the analysis just like The Skipper and you'd find a post by me complaining about Luiz's positioning in general just after the match, so my point here isn't even defending Luiz, he's was in the wrong, but among all players involved, he's the last one that should take the blame, that's over-analyzing. If the two backs that were marking the players had done it properly, they would have cleared the ball, end of it. Was it bad that there were only two of them? Yes, but if they had done their part well the the ball would have been sent to corner or outside the box, simple as that. The lack of a player (in this case Luiz for not keeping his position inside the box) is only the main problem if an opponent is left unmarked - which is why I complained about his positioning. If he doesn't hold position the risks are that other defenders won't make it in time to fill a position he should be filling. That's not the case in this goal at all. Everton players weren't unmarked, Ivan and Terry were there. They were badly marked which is different. I can't for the life of me blame a third player when there are two players who failed to do their part well against two opponents allowing them to touch the ball. So had Luiz left his position and either player from Everton were left completely unmarked because Terry and Ivan couldn't reach them in time, I would blame Luiz mostly. Now Luiz allowed us to be even in numbers (2 against 2) and that's a problem, but had Ivan marked better or Terry, we wouldn't have conceded. If we keep back tracking to every possible mistake done in a play, we'll find culprits everywhere because a football match is filled of mistakes. Ramires failed, Luiz was poor in his decision making, but at the end of the day Ivan and Terry did a horrible job marking their men. I also agree with bushman about the expectation of this kind of mistake not happening again just because Mourinho is the manager. if people think that then they need to watch the match between Dortumund x Real Madrid last season (first leg in Germany) in a team Mourinho had been working for three seasons already. Individual mistakes happen all the time in football. Mourinho isn't going to fix it, the player won't fix it because if it was that tangible and simple we wouldn't see experienced players making mistakes and they do. So expecting Mourinho to make things like to never happen again is not only naïve, but also very unrealistic. Also if you think that because of that Luiz is going to see the bench, then we'll be left with no player to start because Terry, Cahill, Cole and Ivan are all subjected to make a mistake here and there and some of them will probably be much worse than a bad decision about positioning. I have no doubts Luiz (as well as others) will get better under Mourinho and his awareness will improve, but Mourinho won't make any player infallible, Mourinho won't bench a player because of one mistake (especially one that was barely the reason why we conceded at all) and if Luiz leaves the starting 11 is because of many things combined, not one tiny detail in a goal conceded where others were more to blame than him. Also the man himself defended Luiz and said many times he likes him - so I don't buy the 'Luiz is not the kind of player Mourinho likes' first because he is, second because while Mourinho was reticent and sometimes vague about Mata while clearing up transfers rumors he went out of his way to state Luiz wouldn't leave us because he counts on him and praised him as a player.

on the other hand he had one goal in EPL in 23 matches... so yeah, I guess that maybe is concerning, don't you think? I know we play other competitions too, but I refuse to use EL stats for anything because we should never consider that our Europe competition (although it's funny we'll face both Basel and Steua in Champions League - but then again group stage can be a snooze fest since UEFA changed the rules and we have these likes spread in many groups). So if a player can't perform in our biggest competition (maybe not in importance, but because it's the longest one - although I'm one of those people that consider the national league to be as important as the European), he presents a problem for us. We can't have players only for UCL or only for English Cups... the UCL issue is that sometimes we face Steua and Basel and sometimes we face Juve and Shakhtar and while he scored the saving goal against Shakhtar last year (in the 3x2 home win), I still think it's too little for us to think we have the player we need for the position. Also, all this is personal and subjective. I'd rather have a player that plays at least level 7.0 at all matches (having a 8.0-match once in a while) than a guy that plays a 8.5-9.0 match and then a collection of 5.0-6.0 matches. I choose consistency over the guy that plays one good match and two invisible (and imo Moses's proportion was much worse than that). So that's why I like André better. He fits well in the system Mourinho has in place and he's constant - in the good and in the bad, and that's already impressive because the guy is adapting to a completely different league, so I think the most normal is for those guys to have seasons like Oscar had, playing one match well and a bunch being invisible. André for only 4-5 matches with us is showing that with time the position will be his to be taken. I also agree with that. sweetie, let me be very didactic with you. I said Kevin de Bruyne and André Schürrle alone prove that Moses should leave because they showed - even with few matches - that they fit our system better, I said clearly WILLIAN OR NO WILLIAN, he should have left. That means that even if Willian didn't join, there was no space for Moses. Then I also commentated that Willian is an amazing player who may end up being among the starting 11. He may not. André is going to be fierce competition. Now, do you understand it? Because I'm out of resources to try to make you understand what I stated so clearly in a five-sentence post.

Can you see the word think in the sentence? I don't know in Hong Kong, but around here 'think' means something you guess will happen, not a fact. He's an amazing player - something I don't think Moses is btw - and I said I think he'll prove himself in the team. Should I draw now, or it is clear enough for you? Also did you ignore the part I said that André and Kevin alone proved they fit the team better or were you only worried about nitpicking (badly)? I think he fits better the team and is producing well - given this is his first season in EPL. He's bad on finishing, but he has created a lot for us. Also I saw the post about the Brazilian thing... well, I'll have to ask you to do the same I asked the girl to do, and that is reading my post: I think Moses should leave because of André and Kevin alone. People were commentating on Willian so I did too. But if you want to think I'm being biased, be my guest. I couldn't care less, mate. I won't deny though Brazil has the best record on producing footie players in the history of the sport... just look throughout the years... the 5 WC titles might testify to that. Both Ronaldo's, Kaká, Romário, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Lúcio, Juan, and now Thiago Silva, Neymar, Dani Alves, Marcelo... I can't complain. But Chelsea have enough of them. Real Madrid and Inter could use some (or more) Brazilian pedigree. Because if I'm going to be labeled biased, I might as well be cocky about it.

my Oscar shirt was delivered today will take pics tomorrow

that must be why I can't understand half of the things he said after 'Ashely Cole was a winger'. But he does have a point. Except in Brazil. Kids in Brazil want to be the next Roberto Carlos (although of course, they'd rather be the next Neymar) because FB are seen as attacking players in Brazil (sort of wingers, but not quite) which is why most FBs that leave to Europe have to learn how to defend, but they can cross the heck out of everything. Which is why when I first joined here I suggested Kevin to replace Cole That's how we see the thing. A FB's main responsibility for the fans is attacking, linking up plays, making runs, crossing balls. Managers of course demand them to defend as well, but most of them will overlook the defensive deficiencies if they can perform well attacking. So yeah, kids here want to be FBs Nobody wants to speak like Jamie Carragher though

Every player that leaves us automatically becomes overrated so we can bash the board. If a player doesn't perform for us - or is inconstant, he might as well leave... maybe allowing them to go to EPL teams might not be the best deal because they can fit their system perfectly, so I'd rather not loan/sell for them. But fact is, Willian or no Willian, Moses had no place for us in our squad with both Kevin and André alone because both of them are much better than him. André has performing better than Moses did for us if you ask me. So I'm not going to complain the kid left. Maybe I'll complain he left to Liverpool, but he should have left, end of it. Willian is amazing and I think he'll end up the season either playing in the starting XI or being a super sub. Don't ask me who'll leave the team for that to happen, probably André or Mata.

some of the British accents are so annoying to hear... thanks God I don't have to hear Jamie commentating matches in Brazil.

Well if Mata (and the team) continue to perform like they did with Mata on, I guess he'll see the bench a lot of times this season. People are making a capital mistake by giving Mata the credit for our last 30 minutes. Mata did absolutely NOTHING in the almost 60 minutes he played. Oscar amounted the same in the 30 minutes he played. The reason why we dropped after the subs was because Schürrle - not Mata - was subbed. Schürrle is the guy that was more involved in our attack - along with Eto'o. In 60 minutes Mata took part of one successful attack play in the middle of the first half. That was his contribution. Oscar was just the same. Mata is very creative and he has the best vision in our team. That's about it though and if he doesn't deliver the creativity he's a liability because he's slow, small and can't defend for his life. Some people would rather keep him in the team because you never know when he'll work his magic with a great pass or even scoring. In the 200 minutes he played for us it haven't happened while all other AM we have had produced many key-passes and a couple of assists and goals. Also it's easy to blame Mourinho, but it wasn't Mourinho who tired him out for 2 years, it wasn't Mourinho who caused his injury during the pre-season, it wasn't because of Mourinho he was completely unfit during the Aston Villa match and Mourinho has little or nothing to be blamed for his more than forgettable match against Everton. Mata isn't playing what he used to. He admitted this injury was the first in his whole career, so who knows if he needs time or if he's lacking confidence to move. The former seems more likely as the injury was too light for him to be insecure about his moves. He's our most creative player, we need him, but we need him playing in high level... otherwise we don't need him at all.

I'm a very patient girl... I'll work with the free transfers because I want to change only 2 players, so I'll wait a couple of weeks and do the transfers I want. My team isn't bad... it's just not yet what I want. I want to change the reserve goalkeeper - it has to be my main goalkeeper direct substitute so if McGregor is injured, I won't be zero'ed I don't like my midfield much so I'll probably offload Hazard and Mirallas and get Oscar and someone else. I'm giving Hazard this month. If he continues to be pathetic in fantasy footie he's totally getting replaced. I already lost 0.2 on him, that motherfucker.

I'm doing terrible - as expected - but I refuse to use my wildcard. When I'm too tempted I resort to Ankit PM and he quickly convince me to let go. Actually the only reason I was tempted to use it is because there were two weeks without no football that matters - sorry but I hate international footie - so until the next break early in October, I think I won't be tempted to make drastic changes. And if Eden doesn't warrant me some points this month I'll drop him. Good for nothing 9.5 until now and I could have had someone else. He's already 9.3 and dropping - as really he's been awful fantasy wise so far. Robin is my eternal captain and Özil is going to be my eternal vice-captain. Forever and ever those two. And dear Giroud, I now have you, so please, keep it going

actually I don't mind the off topic - I'd be an hypocrite if I said I did - but people tend to think that Oscar is the problem and the reason why Mata is on the bench and under-performing so far. And things here lately get heated quickly, and it seems that there is a competition between the two of them. So I was thinking ahead and hoping to avoid another fall out - not between you and Jason, but others. I think Oscar is taking advantage because of what Mourinho prefers, but no one other than Mata (and Mourinho himself, of course) are responsible for what happened with the Spaniard this season.

Why do I click on Oscar's thread and all I can read is an ongoing conversation about Mata? Please move it there

there was a rant written and about to be posted... never mind.

I think he'll surprise many people this season... I even think I underrated a couple of things about him and I guess we're in for a surprise

First Ben Affleck, now this. Are they trying hard to ruin the one superhero I like?

Essien isn't even part of the CL squad I hope we start someone + Marco. I don't care if it's Mikel or Lamps. I'd rather Mikel, but I guess Mou will start Lamps. this is my preferred lineup Cech Azpili - Luiz - Cahill - Cole Mikel - Marco Kevin - Mata - Hazard Eto'o

I thought that was Manchester United... you know... the defending champions, at their turf and all. I'm mistaken I guess.

you made me laugh out loud here mate, cheers *still laughing*

there are two things: the fact know Mata is quality and the fact that he's been lacking it ever since the Confed Cup. I personally ain't saying he's crap. It doesn't change the fact that he did nothing for us in two matches and did all but one good play in the Confed Cup's final... I don't know what the problem is, he wasn't injured during CC - maybe tired, but not injured. I think with time he'll go back to his usual, doesn't change the fact he's been invisible - to say the least - in the two matches he played. Kevin had one good match and a so-so match. The fair thing would Hazard being treated by Mourinho like everyone else, but he isn't and Mourinho said in his post-match interview that he thinks Hazard is going great (I don't know which matches he has been watching except for the Bayern match and a few good plays that wouldn't make a 10m vid. But as Hazard has preferential treatment because he's Mourinho's untouchable, it leaves Kevin with option to play only in the right where he has Willian and André for competition. André played better than Kevin if we sum all their matches. If we compare their best displays, Kevin first half against Hull was better than André against Bayern imo, but André has been more constant as he played well in other matches while Kevin wasn't necessarily good against ManU and when he seemed to finally be improving, he was subbed. Anyway, it's too early for most of our players. Some because they're adapting (Kevin, André - and Eto'o and Willian will go through the same), others because they're still to find their best form (Mata and Eden). We need time.