Barbara

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.

somehow I survived this...

we could play Rami in the pivot and Cesc as a #10 with Oscar or Willian moving to the bench. Ideal imo

it wasn't even a foul for yellow... this is fucking blatant robbery

not before facing City... we may not have Cesc... if we don't have Diego either, we're screwed

Best thing of this game was Mourinho giving instructions to the team before ET and then he realized the camera catching his words and told the cameraman to fuck off. Legend!

FUCK YEAH IVA

My poor heart... I'm about to have a nerves syncope

this is a frenetic game... I'm not sure I'm breathing...

Ramires can go fuck himself. Zouma is on the ground a damn staccato and he doesn't reach the ball and waits a pass? Grow a brain!!!!!! and yeah, I'm buzzed and sort of a pile of nerves

Ever since I arrived home it's been all us... but reading a few pages back it seems like we sucked monkey balls in the first... is that correct?

now he shows a yellow? He can go fuck a rotten pussy, this cunt

Ramires can't complete a 2m pass.... what in the fucking world is he useful for? does it look serious?

fucking cunt

Injured Fabregas? what in the world happened to my man? Please tell me it's precaution

So I take it the referee has been sucking?

Just arrived home... we're been amazing for those 5 minutes how was the first? and what the fuck? that should see a yellow FUCK ME

The only good thing about the article is the summarized stats. The guy claimed Diego is an aerial threat... lolYour point is great though. Diego scores more than Kun although I believe Kun is the best goalscorer in general. What detracts from Aguero is his injuries. He spends a lot of time recovering off the pitch, but also a few matches recovering form. Not worthy if you don't have good replacements imo

For those of you that love so much to compare Costa with others - especially Aguero. I'm quite happy with our choice, especially as he isn't made of glass. http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/jan/260115-chelsea-vs-man-city-diego-costa-vs-sergio-aguero.html special attention to their linkup play in terms of chances created - as some here insist on claiming Costa is terrible at it and should be more like Aguero although he has twice more chances created than Kun... Yep, 'nuff said 33 Chances created (incl. assists) 16

There's a reason why this is the only Argentinean I really love Ex players simply love Jose, don't they?

another Willian in disguise signing, we should be trying to get rid of his captive starting place (for lack of better competition) not assuring we have another player like him. No, thank you!

actually he stole my post. I'm no longer the member with the longest posts - first because I worked my arse off to try to be more objective, second because I was royally displaced. I'm sort of sad We desperately need Varane. Can anyone please give me hope this could actually happen? He just signed a contract extension, but please, someone tell me there are actually chances of him coming here. I can't stand having Cahill starting matches for us anymore and we can't just throw Zouma under the bus, his transition to the main team should be smooth, not out of necessity when the senior player can't do shit even against a third division team... if we bring Varane, he substitutes Cahill now, with Zouma having some odd matches and then substitutes Terry in a few years (God knows how many) and we have both frenchmen making ours one of the best defenses in the world. Come on, if we need to break the bank to make it happen, just do it!

my very first post about this tragic embarrassment had been something along the lines - if I had to take a guess I'd say it's more related to players not giving enough like they didn't against Villa, Sunderland, Palace last season. Of course, I had no concrete proof of that, was just taking a guess, but as you confirm it, I'm more convinced than ever that some players we have among reserves and first team players have no business playing here, if not for technical reasons, than for mental (and maybe even commitment and seriousness) reasons. Thanks for the summary, Hutcho Daniel, this is a third division team, most people here were complaining about him not rotating enough and when he does against a third division team he's to blame? If we had won 2-0 no one would have this kind of claim about his changes. I don't blame him for rotating that much against a 3rd division team although maybe I'd blame him for not subbing first team players earlier - which again, is an embarrassment for all those players that were there. Also if commentary is to go by, Oscar was doing a lot of good things in the first. You completely forgot he played 90 minutes... he's to blame for whatever he didn't do in the second, although it seems like he was a sparkle in the team in the first.

were you there? sorry, I didn't catch it in the thread and I wrote that post while I was still 6 pages or so back - still filled with so many opinionated people that didn't watch the match

I edited my post, I wasn't sure if you were there when I first answered as I was going through the thread and still 5-6 pages back. When I finally reached last page I realized you were there. I wasn't being cynical, I was actually asking a question of how we were set up tactically, what could have possibly justify - from a tactics point of view - what happened. I asked a few more question in my now edited post (the one you quoted). I agree on the Drogba thing as you describe it. If he has no condition to play, just sub him off. I don't agree about the bus. We shouldn't park the bus against a third division side playing at home winning 2-0. If Mourinho did that some here would ask for his immediate dismissal... I think we should have continued to play seriously and it would have afforded appearance by Aké and RLC... there's no way we should park a bus winning 2-0, first half, at home against Bradford, but I respect your take on it. Thanks for the explanation, although except for using Drogba (which is a selection mistake, not a tactical mistake) I can't see what Mourinho did so wrong for people who haven't even watched the match call his tactics pathetic...