didn't watch the first half, so my comments are only about the second and ET What an electric game... we fuck needed to have a game like this and win it. I think it'll do wonders to our mental strength, drive and whatnot. It's no surprise Iva is the one who stepped up (literally) and scored. I keep saying it all the time, he makes so many mistakes, but there's no biggest winner, warrior, mentally determined player in our squad as him (maybe DD now that he's back). I read on my twitter on my way home people hissing on Zouma. I didn't see the first, but I don't need to. He's a freaking 19yo, he IS likely to make mistakes and to be nervous, but that was a huge response by Mourinho (I'll reach him in a bit) and even a bigger one by Kurt. Chances are Cahill would have done mistakes too, the difference is that a match like this can work months - maybe years - to Kurt's confidence and growth while it could do nothing to Cahill, as he won't improve - only get worse in fact. So regardless of the mistakes he may have done in the first, he was very solid in the second, no nonsense and I'm very happy for him. I don't expect to see Cahill any time soon in the lineup - maybe with the exception of the City match this weekend (I'd still go with Zouma tbh, Cahill cost us a few goals this season already, so I'd rather have Zouma and even if he makes a mistake, it's still better than Cahill). I'm worried about Cesc. We absolutely need him against City. Actually I'd play Rami in the pivot with Matic (felt Matic was a bit shaky today compared to his own standards, and maybe it's his old stamina problem. He's been overplayed and maybe he needs some serious rest) and Cesc as #10. I'd go with Willian in the RW - despite all his limitations and bench Oscar. I thought Oscar had a good second half and ET - nothing fabulous, but he was linking up well with Hazard and Costa, but I don't think he can play against City after playing 120 minutes today and 90 in the weekend. Costa was so big there, fighting, hissing, pressing, being a pain in the arse. It doesn't matter if he scored or not, what matters is that he is lively, he fights. If we had a few more characters like him in the squad (the same as Iva) we'd be champions come March. We need this profile in the team I won't get tired of saying it. Azpili was amazing when he came on (only watched Luís a little bit in the second, but I thought he was quite good too). I don't know why people were giving Hazard stick... I think he tried to solve the game for us and he's the one that drew the free kick from which Willian superbly assisted Iva - the beast. And last but not least, I hope the constant moaners will give Mourinho a fucking break. Dropped Cahill rightfully after he failed to lead the defense against a third division team. It doesn't matter Zouma is only 19 as some people were complaining. This is to shut the moaners up about him not promoting youth. It doesn't matter much that Zouma isn't from our academy, the thing is when he saw quality in a youngster to come and do a job a senior was failing at, he did it. Just like he did with Varane. Luís also played - which shows at least intent on us being more offensive, as Azpili is the epitome of a defensive FB. I haven't seen the first half so I don't know what went wrong then (it could have been a nervous Zouma), but we didn't park the bus, we didn't sit deep, we didn't give Liverpool the ball in the second, and especially we didn't do it in the ET when the scoreline would see us through. I caught some of his words to the players. He was telling them they could score at any given moment, that although the scoreline saw us through, we should use our heads, and did we use it? brilliant last 15 minutes, with the team holding possession in the final third, instead of trying to score a second. They were exploring Liverpool tiredness and patiently waiting for an open, but without going straight for it. Still Ramires missed two incredible chances (no surprise there) and I felt we were more dangerous than they were. I don't expect to see a lot of praise for him in this thread or on his... if anything I'm positive there will be some criticizing him for whatever they felt was his fault in the first half. I just hope the ones criticizing him for employing Kurt aren't the same hypocrites demanding youth to be played or for him to drop his 'favorites'. The game was frenetic and it let me on the edge of my seat while I was watching, but kudos to the team, to the manager and to the fans in the stadium. We're through, we played a big team, we were pressured and we overcame it all and surfaced as winners. I feel like this win will factor a lot more in our league campaign than whatever result we see Saturday (despite being highly motivated, the players will be tired, so I don't think a bad result against City will be a disaster). We needed to fight our way through a semifinal knockout, something Mourinho seemingly can never win according to some and we did it in a great way imo.
