Barbara

are you for real? I honestly can't say because the lack of sense confuses me...

somehow I missed this post, Thomas, and as usual I agree 100% with it. Perfect assessment. except that it wasn't him who produced that... the best players we had upfront in my opinion were Eto'o, André and Ramires. Mata had missed passes 3 meters away from the guy he was passing to, he didn't create anything - except for one nice play I remember, he held the ball and most time did nothing with it. So yeah, we created chances while he was on the pitch... simply because André left at the same time he did...

a summary of what he said by the end of the match. I agree with most. He did made a mistake with the André sub imo. Something any manager in the world does once in a while. Some more often than not.

came here just to post it, and then I find you requested it I'd be afraid if I were the guy he was screaming at. He looks like a psycho ready for the kill in the second - and I say this lightly, as a joke, so don't take those words seriously

I think it wasn't one of his best matches, but the disgraceful, pathetic or whatever were the other three adjectives used seem stretching it a bit. Something I always praise him about was off today: his long passes. When Everton started to overcrowd the second third, he tried a few times, but they didn't go as he wanted - except one time if I remember correctly. He should have stopped with them then and admitted that he wasn't feeling the ball well today to make that kind of thing. Our defense looked sort of clueless in their positioning more than once and he wasn't the only one. It was a hot mess in 2-3 occasions. I had problems particularly with Luiz when he left the box and came to mark the guy in the flank while Everton was setting up the play. It wasn't counter-attack or anything, but when they were high in our field. He's a CB his main responsibility when the opponent is retaining possession in the attack and looking for a break is inside the box. I don't like when he goes outside the box, especially too close to the side line because Terry is slow - although normally good positioning. This is Cole and Ivanovic jobs helped by Hazard and André/Ramires. It happened a few times in the second (early in the second). It bothers me. What doesn't bothers me is when he goes higher - but still through the middle, trying to anticipate and intercept. He's an aggressor kind of CB, not the one that sits deep and waits to tackled. I like it that he steps up going 2-3 meters out of the box - in the middle - because he has a high rate of interceptions there, and it's easier to recover if he fails, there are normally our double pivots there and when Oscar is playing he's closely by, so David can try and anticipate taking matters on his hands. But please don't go to the flanks mark their wingers and FB because leaving only Terry (and Cole or Ivanovic depending on which side he's moving to) is a liability, not only because of Terry, but because normally there isn't someone to quickly cover him because the other players aren't too close to the box and it's one thing to have Oscar for example tackling a few meters outside the box, another completely different is expecting him to enter the box and mark a striker for example.

wow... I came here to post about his match today and maybe have a debate with you guys about us using a 4-1-4-1 with him being the holding DM '1', but I came across the weirdest posts posted yesterday (09/13). I don't even read beyond page 180 because it seemed I was entering the Twilight zone... Anyway, the 4-1-4-1 thing. It doesn't make much sense, I'll be the first to say, but he was good defensively today - as he is usually - that I thought maybe that would be the solution for our AM in some matches and a good alternative for when the 4-2-3-1 isn't working (I'm still convinced our players fit better a 4-3-3 formation than a 4-2-3-1 formation, but Mourinho will insist on the latter) What if we play him ahead of the defense and ahead of him Hazard - Oscar - Mata - André/Willian/Kevin and a striker ahead of them. Oscar and André are options against more dangerous team as they have impressive work rates - like for example ManUtd as their midfield wasn't exactly threatening. Willian for matches when we need a fast-dribbling player in the wing (some of our home games against weaker sides that will sit deep against us) and Kevin for the matches in the between of both scenarios (matches against mid-tables teams at home or cup games) . It does sacrifice both Ramires and Lamps at once (reason alone why it will never happen, sadly), but this is not something I think we should play at all matches, but when we want to bring something different, have an unexpected game play or fix matches that aren't going our way. It could have been the case today as I see Everton the kind of opponent that we wouldn't miss much having only one player in the pivot. There was so many players Barry could mark by himself especially if we have both Oscar and Mata in the middle. As I said, as an alternative, not our most used formation. I can envision it working and the only CM that could make it work for us is Mikel.

I keep expecting and saying to myself: today is going to be the day Eden will flourish... I keep being disappointed *sighs* but I'll wait patiently because I know the day will come. He needs help not to find himself stuck between 2,3,4 players all the time, and he also needs to just step up and face them off a few times. yeah, if I had to blame anyone for the lack of link up it would be Cole, but also Oscar and Mata. It's not only the LB that can link up with him, but also the CAM and even the striker. I think there are two issues right now: he's not confident enough (or whatever is the reason) to pass by opponents, by dribbling or running (preferably both) and he's too isolated in our left side, except when he's near the corner. Players should approach him a bit higher - by the upper corner of the box and link up with him there. So I partially blame him and partially blame the rest of the team that seem to just expect him to work his magic and simply get rid of 3-4 players all by himself. ITA. That's what I mean in the posts I had earlier the week. I want to see a bolder Eden that isn't afraid of facing off the opponents. He's been playing sub-par to his own level, but somehow he still accounts to himself at least MOTM 15 votes for each official match we played this season

higher work-rate than Oscar? I'm not even sure his work-rate is better than Schürrle's - who is a very tactical player, mind you. I'm the head of Kevin's fanclub, I like him a lot, but there's a reason why he plays better than Hazard - who is much better a player - in Belgium NT and only there. Different games plans, different players, also different leagues. NT football is much easier to play (if you're talented of course) than EPL. He had a great first half against Hull and was invisible in the following match he started (although he showed some improvement in the second half just before he was subbed). So I don't take into account whatever he does for Belgium NT - especially against the likes of Scotland, Serbia and other light and weak sides they play. I've watched the France match - and France is far from their best, really, really, really, really far, but still better than what Belgium have been playing in the qualifying - except maybe for Croatia, but if that's the case it's close and Belgium struggled more than I expected in that match. Don't particularly remember how Kevin did then, but I guess the lack of resemblance might be saying... That said, I think he should have been used instead of Lamps which led Ramires to be moved to the wing. He needs more matches to get used to the league. I think he's one of our best players in theory and I can't wait for that to become reality - and given how Hazard has been playing for us maybe he might outshine Eden here as well, because I liked the best of Kevin much more than I liked the best of Eden for us this season so far, but it's too early to tell. I just disagree immensely about the work-rate comment and the fact that playing well for Belgium NT (or any other NT, really) should be the reference when the kind of football played in WC qualifying can't differ more from EPL

dude this is his first match ever in EPL... the same is to be said about Willian, was about André, and will be about anyone who comes from other lighter leagues. How about in January if he still can't find his right feet then you bring this premature as heck argument? Today he was much better than Torres + Ba + Lukaku in all three previous EPL matches, so I guess it's one step forward. Gosh these threads really are annoying at times... most times when we don't win.

I think he's the player that worked the hardest there - which he also did in other matches. Can we give the lad months to adapt? Yeah, his finishing is lousy more often than not, but he has time to improve it. He's so useful in many other things. I only voted on Eto'o instead of him because somehow I felt like voting for Eto'o. He missed chances, but at least he was there to create them and to have them - which is more than 95% of the others players we had today. When he was subbed I think he was in a crescendo, he was getting better and I would have kept him longer. We need him to play. Willian can warm the bench with Mata (what? it will happen, we all know it will, so preferences aren't even relevant) because we need André to start games so he can adapt and someone should send him a memo about extra training. The guys that have the best finishing around more often than not admit to go train finishing after the rest of the team leaves. He isn't as talented as Hazard or Mata - far from it actually - but I feel he's been more useful than both for us this season. Offensively and defensively. I'm very happy with this signing.

twice now I think we took away the wrong players - who despite being not very good in the first half, were starting to peak in the second: Kevin (against Aston Villa) and André today. I would have given André a few more minutes and then replaced him if he didn't keep the crescendo. I'm not exempting him from guilt, but we didn't lose width because Mourinho purposefully decided to send the width to the skies. It didn't work as he expected. We remind me a lot of RM in the first two months playing under Mourinho. Then we improved a lot (we won in October by 6-1, 1-4, 6-1 and 1-3 - although two of those wins were against teams that ended up relegated), but it took another three months for the team to be sharp. Those were some long five-six months because despite the scores we've struggled and you all know how the weaker sides of La Liga are... shamefully useless and they give up on the matches against RM and Barça in the dressing room. But tactically and technically it wasn't until around February/2011 that we started playing like the RM we were for the next two and a half seasons. I keep saying this season is transitional and a few people disagree because of the squad we have. It doesn't matter how deep the squad - if anything it will make Mourinho take longer to figure out the best players to play.

well I remember many occasions where he was just by Ivanovic's side or with Oscar approaching him. I'm not saying it was a good sub, I'm just saying that Mourinho's plan wasn't to make us lose width - which I don't even think we did to be honest, as I said I remember many times seeing him there with the ball. Mou had a plan - it may have been a bad one and I can agree with you, but we didn't play without width. We played technically bad all over the pitch. Jose's still getting to know the players and right now he trusts a few guys more than the rest: Oscar, Ramires, Lamps, Ivan, Hazard. He'll play with the players he trusts more until others earn his trust as well. He's making a few mistakes, but he's just getting started.

I didn't see anyone singling him out in the match's thread... but in his thread he has to be the player we talk about - unless you decide that blaming Mikel for Mata's invisible match makes any sense and brings him to the convo here (it wasn't you, I know, but I'm still shocked I read it). And if most people think the obvious - that he had a bad match - then that's what you'll read here. If we go to André thread people will talk about him, the same on Oscar's etc and how they perceived the players' display will permeate their posting. This is not singling out a player. Oscar is more and more the owner of the position and that creates a problem for us because Hazard can't figure out how to get rid of the double-triple men-marking on him, Oscar isn't much creative and then we're relying mostly at the right wing. We have a problem and I hope the answer to it comes soon. We have 6 players for the 3 positions, and they're all very good players, so God helps us with them becoming more confident and efficient soon.

@Strike also said the same, and sorry to disagree, but which match did you guys watch? Oscar for Mata did nothing to our width as we changed the players in the center and when Lampard entered Ramires moved to the right wing. Maybe going with Kevin in a direct exchange would have been better, but don't give me this width BS. Ramires was in the RW at all times once the subs were done. Did it work? No. But Mata was completely useless and André while one of the players who created more for us was in a bad day technically - so much for creating and not capitalizing. I said during HT and I'll repeat it: I would have brought Torres for Schurrle and let Samuel move to the right - where he likes to play and where he created a few things for us today. And then I added: if Torres plays badly it'll just be another guy who had a poor day for us. At the end of the day Lampard, Oscar and Torres were just as bad as the rest of team technically. The whole team tried, they fought, they worked hard, but their last touch was just poor throughout the whole match. Also, I'm just disagreeing with you guys, I don't want to fight and I'm not saying you don't have the right to think this way, but it's hard for me to understand someone say we were without wingers and lost width when Ramires was presenting himself to play in the right from the moment Lamps came in. It was yet another case of players lacking quality, but that's the beginning and the end of the problem in my eyes.

Hazard is the player with more consistent voting in our MOTM poll. It really doesn't matter what he does in the matches, he'll always have at least 15 votes - regardless of how invisible he might be. I don't know what people take into account - and I don't mean Belgians here, as normally there are votes for Eden from all over. It makes no sense in my head. He's doing a good amount of nothing for us - with a few exceptions - since the season began and if you check the others polls he had certainly at least 15 votes in each of them. It's not even that sometimes he does play well, but how in all of our matches this season there were players who had clearly much better matches than him but he's still always voted expressively every single time - for someone that so far had one good match, one so-so and three completely forgettable matches with one, at most two moments of shine there's some serious overrating going on. It has to be wishful thinking because everything else is a stretch in my eyes.

I agree... just looking to the bench and seeing how the alternative is Bertrand is so depressing... and I've been complaining about Cole for a while now - because the guy is only human, he has great matches, but sometimes he disappears and others he's just plain poor. we have two good RFB and one good prospect in Wallace and half a good LFB... That said defensively I think Cole is still decent most of the time, is going to the attack where he fails more often now.

thank you, Mourinho for saying the obvious!!!!!!! Although not so obvious around here it seems. The only situation a team that lost deserves to win is when they're unlucky (this is not a fact, just my opinion). We weren't unlucky, we were incompetent finishing, our defense had moments of pure bad positioning and coverage and there wasn't a pattern, we didn't seem to have a clear game plan. We had a bit of everything and still nothing. I voted for Eto'o because he tried a lot, the same goes for Schurrle. Were they awful in a couple of their finishing? Yeah and we have a couple of unlucky shots, but a couple of them don't make us the ones who deserved to win when we failed rather than Everton made the impossible. 22 attempts and only 6 on target is a horrible stat. Everton had 11/5... so they deserve to score more than we do. Did they players fight and tried their best and gave their everything? Sure they did. One question though... is anything different from that expect from them? This is not me saying we are a disgrace, just that we were awful. There's no problem to admit we had a bad match - it wasn't clearly our day. It isn't Mourinho's fault and not even the players if everything they tried they were bad while doing it - with some exceptions. Admitting a match we played bad - especially the second half - is okay. It's no overreaction, it's been only the 5th match in the season and we have to wait until the tactics settle, the team gets used to Mourinho and things start happening. It's a process, not immediate consequence. I'm not worried, I don't think it could cost us anything - title, CL spot, whatever because it's only a loss when we had a bad day. The season is long, there are other 34 matches to be played. But to say anything but admit a poor performance, on a bad day - even if the players showed clutch - seems like settling for too little or just making up excuses.

it was an individually poor match individually from at least 12 of the players who took part on it. As a result collectively this match was just a big failure. I can't choose a man of the match right now because honestly, they were all either awful, poor, or indifferent. For the sake of the poll I'll vote on someone, but it was through and through a poor performance from basically everyone involved

can we at least draw this?

this is hideous and a nightmare

Hazard fouled Luiz... not Mirallas...

lol Torres for Cole

which is why I suggested having BOTH for the second half... Eto'o is creating more than all of our AM together. He'll get tired by 60-70 and then we could get Kevin in. way better than simply getting Kevin now

WOO HOO INTER GOAL oops, wrong thread

he scored against Bayern a goal much more difficult than the ones Mata, André e Eto'o missed tonight, so yeah, I'd take my chances as everyone is sucking balls. If he sucks too, he'll just suck equally. The hate on him here is so overboard