Barbara

Opposition fans would also be an option, just to make it 10

Mourinho has lost the plot with this Falcao thing... completely lost it.

Well, to start off, Kenedy is a completely different player to Willian. We all complain about how much covering Willian has to do for Iva, but in reality he's awful in the final third. Kenedy is way more direct. He should improve his decision making (much like Willian needs to), but he's more decisive than Willian despite being only 19. Mourinho did drop Cahill for Zouma and is integrating Kenedy to the team, so I think in general he must believe the youngsters we have in the ranks aren't good enough for us. Although in our current situation, we should bring as many Academy players as possible. If they have the right mindset, they'll draw their blood in the pitch to keep their spots, something our seniors players aren't bothering at all.

well, with an assist to his name. He's done his part. LOL He's been atrocious, really.

but then he should also sub Cesc... if we were bad with a Matic-Mikel pivot, we'll look even worse with Matic-Cesc

He had positives and negatives last season, but this season has been straight negatives. There isn't one thing he's good at. Not one. We're all claiming for Baba, but we don't know at all how well he'll respond. If Mourinho had given Luís more chances last season I DOUBT with all his struggle to find the timing and way to defend in EPL he and Azpili would have been worse than Iva has been now. SEriously, how many goals we conceded this season he was mainly, entirely or partially at fault?

someone let me know when I should bother watching it again. I had to leave briefly and I don't feel compelled to come back. Has the second half started already?

The thing is, I think is unfair to demand him to do it like that. We can hope, but no defense in a top team in the world should require that much protection. It's almost like leaving a one-year old on his own, you know. They don't know the basic or fail to do the basic and then we must hope and pray our DM saves the day. There's so much is fair to demand from him, but we really miss his best days.

could he remember now how to protect our defense to the maximum as he did last season? While I don't have all the answers to our current problems one of the big ones is that. I don't think it's his entire responsibility to cover for our deficient defense, but we miss it because we're just exposed now that our defense is relying basically on their (lack of) capability of defending. Zouma has been our best defender in those five rounds imo. We scream about Iva, but Azpili hasn't been nearly as good defensively as he used too, Cahill wasn't too bad, but he's never too good either and Terry had ups and downs.

Mourinho firmly believes in Iva's important goals and leadership in the pitch. He should just use his brains and realize neither is paying off the amount of goals and work our GK have to put up because of his defensive mistakes. It's really simple, the damage he brings is much bigger than the good he serves.

Fabregas doesn't need to be indefinitely dropped, just until he regains some form and against some sort of opposition, now Iva should never play for us again. Not in the the fourth round of COC

in the five minutes I didn't watch? I really didn't watch the last five minutes... Because until then he was MIA

Mourinho should have DROPPED Cesc, not moved him to the #10. Ivanovic shouldn't ever play for us, but I don't see José having the balls to drop either.

exactly how I feel. I'm so dumbfounded that I don't even bother. The players won't bother, the manager doesn't really bother either. Why would I?

sorry, that's a ridiculous assessment if serious...

we look a mess. The only thing our training sessions are good is to injury our players for weeks. Our defense is ridiculous. Our defending is even worse and our attack players look uninspired, insipid, and just plain poor. There's nothing worth mentioning in this team right now. Yeah, some people pointed some problems we had last season when we won points playing bad, I did too, but never thought it was the end of the world. Nothing explains how bad this team plays. Yeah, Ivanovic may fail now and then, but fact remains two Everton players headed the ball completely unmarked... another one got to shoot from the edge of the box, unmarked, no one to close in and tackle. I wonder what the problem here is because we don't have one single good performer for a while - except the keepers.

please... people here complain about Oscar's inconsistency when he plays well half of a season while Coutinho plays well a handful matches plus a few other screams there and here. He's better technically I agree, but much more inconsistent. If he was a Chelsea player, his thread would have double the posts Oscar's has moaning about every breath he takes. If both figure out their inconsistency issues, I think Coutinho will become be best player, but as it stands, Oscar is more consistent than him and that's saying a lot. But then I read a little further and someone says he can do the same work rate as Oscar... I'm done with his lack of logic. You guys can get your pants wet for Coutinho all you want, but as DYC said, three different NT coaches with completely different styles don't think Coutinho is NT material yet (in the starting eleven). As much as I think Dunga and Felipão are stupid, Mano isn't and the fact Coutinho - being Brazilian and having his name ending naturally with inho - isn't in a bigger club, with bigger ambitions should just prove you that he isn't the second coming some TCers make him out to be. Brazilian players - as bad as they are recently with few exceptions - are still a fancy brand of players in the world. If Coutinho was half what has been written in this forum by him, he'd be in a much bigger club than poor old Liverpool.

LOL I don't know which WC you've watched, the one I did, Belgium didn't perform well, despite how far they went and Kev was nothing special - just like the whole team. So he was the best player in a completely insipid team? Sure. A player ready to shine in the highest level would have taken the team to a new level (with doesn't have much to do with the result, I'm talking about performance here). I'll stop the nonsense just after you

I don't think he'll flop, he's too good for that. But he's not ready for the highest level yet imo. He proved that being nearly invisible in the WC while he carried Belgium in the the qualifying. The same with Wolfsburg... they were visibly the second strength in Germany and haven't faced much trouble to be in that position, so he shone in the league. When time came for the team to show their true colors in the Europa League, they were dismissed by a third tier Spanish side... Of course, I'm not blaming de Bruyne for Belgium shy WC campaign (regardless of how far they went, they were a letdown for me personally and except in one match they played a boring, uninspiring and bad football throughout the tournament) or Wolfsburg disappointing EL performance, it's just it was the biggest stages he had the chance to shine and he was very invisible on both imo. I think he's very young and can make it in the big stage later in his career. I just feel he's not there yet. He may prove me wrong and be it already this season, but given City's usual lack of confidence and competence playing UCL knockouts (when they actually make it that far) and seemingly being one level above their rivals in England, Kev might shine in the league as they may face little competition from other teams, but I don't think he'll bring them to the next level on UCL knockouts..

People's memory is becoming the biggest mystery in the universe at this pace. I don't understand how it works around here, it's fathomless

this picture we have for his thread is a travesty, lol, every time I see it I have to double check the name. I'm sure we can find a better one... he doesn't even have that haircut anymore and yeah, I'm nitpicking

have no idea, there's nothing in Brazilian media about his recovery

And we thought Azpilicueta was a difficult name to say. Let's call him Joe and hope for a similar journey here

why are our physios fucked off and what does it have to do with Kenedy? Did I miss something (honest question).

it was meant to... the ones who feel the way I think they do will know what I meant... But what about all the rest? Care to refute everything I said about Willian being our second best player when we sucked or about the team playing its best collective football whenever Oscar was playing well? Both things can't be a coincidence if it keeps happening for long stretches of time.