petre.ispirescu

Spot on mate and one thing I would like to add is that people these days draw conclusions way too early in the season. You win two in a row, hooray we're going to win the league. You lose one, nah we're not good enough, need to rethink everything. It's like they never learn and it's like this every single season. Last season at this exact moment Chelsea was losing 0-3 at the Emirates and was trailing City by eight points IIRC. And by the way City was demolating everything in front of them just like they do now. I'm not saying it is surely going to happen the same thing (Chelsea to come from behind and City to start dropping points all of a sudden), maybe City won't even lose a single game this season. But can anybody predict the future? Especially in the EPL? Everything is possible in this league. And let's not forget Chelsea have definitely had the worst schedule so far. And on top of that, prior to yesterday's match, Chelsea have played Atletico in Madrid and were coming after an emotional win. I'm not trying to find excuses, no way, although I don't think it would be wrong to talk about the two days rest in between these two massive games. I mean - with an International break coming up, surely this match could have been moved on Monday night, or at least Sunday night. But Saturday? After finishing the game in Madrid close to midnight on Wednesday?... Whereas Liverpool play on Tuesday night and get to play late on Sunday afternoon... Look at Real Madrid now - they are currently seven points behind Barcelona. A side led by Messi that could win every match in that two horse league. But nobody is talking about the league being finished already and other crap like we've seen on this forum. For me the worst thing about the defeat against City is not the result. Or anything related to this game. It's the fact that I saw a lot of United fans taking the piss, some of them saying "can we write Chelsea off now?". No you can't you fucking bellends. You've played no decent team so far and had the easiest schedule a team could dream of. I hate Liverpool and Spurs with a passion, but my God how I'd wish they beat the shit out of United in the next rounds.

Listen, I think the worst thing about modern football is primarily the lack of respect that fans show towards opposition, making them into missing certain aspects about the football game and think their team is entitled to every trophy. I'm reading all the comments and once again I feel exactly the same like I was feeling after the Arsenal match when everybody thought Arsenal would come here and get thumped. Fans (all over the world) nowadays can't see past their own teams and this is wrong. We've played Atletico twice under Mourinho and both times it was a complete shitshow. Remember Diego Simeone at that point - he was definitely the most defensive manager in this whole world, but it did not matter for Mourinho. We went to Madrid, played with 5 at the back and had no chance to score and then we came back to London and Mourinho played with six defenders! (Cole, JT, Cahill, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Azpilicueta) and got humiliated by Atletico. Now a few days back we go to Madrid again and completely dominate Atletico. So Conte has showed us that this team can play attacking football and will do so. But my point is and this is what I want to emphasize - as much as all the fans hate him and judge him by his last (trophyless) season, Pep Guardiola is a once in a generation manager. Is he better than Conte when it comes to defending drills? I don't think so. But is he better in the other half of the pitch? Definitely. And for me the best attacking manager in the world. This guy has had a difficult first season, but now he's built a squad to play his way. Chelsea do not have the personnel to beat a Guardiola team at his own game, this is why Conte has chosen to sit back and try to hit on the counter. This is what Guardiola does - presses high up the pitch, plays with a lot of energy, two passes tops, lots of interchanging and freedom in the last third. We simply do not have technically gifted players like City does, nor a similar playing style. For me it is no shame we have lost against this City side.

I don't get Bobby Madley - every Arsenal free kick outside of the box, he whistles the first millisecond. For example the Sanchez free kick just before the Lacazette tap in - could have easily played the advantage, but did not. Totally opposite of what he did in the other penalty area with Jay Rodriguez. Why the hell would you play advantage there when it was a crystal clear penalty kick?! Still... How many chances do West Brom need though???

Story of Coutinho's career so far, too. Scores the wonder goal every now and then, everybody especially the media is in awe of him, but they never say it's the first goal in his last 30 attempts. Probably one of the most wasteful and selfish long range shooters in European football.

Maybe Conte had a bad day, too. It happens. It is a human thing. Chelsea do not possess the best squad in world football, nor have made stellar transfer windows lately. Also Conte does not earn absurd wages. So my point is that Conte, at least in my view, should not be under any pressure, especially coming from us, the fans. It's only a year and a couple of months since he's been with Chelsea and IMHO he's changed the club a lot, both in style of play and mentality. First season in England - wins the league title with a record breaking 30 wins in a season. And scores 85 goals, Chelsea's second best tally in the Abramovich era. Only after Carlo's Chelsea. Some might say it's only because Chelsea have had no European nights and a lot of time to rest, but if you ask me these numbers do not come by accident. Conte has truly reinvigorated this club and will surely continue to do so, this is why I find it pathetic to criticise this man after a bad result. It really means we are a fickle bunch if we can't digest a draw against a big rival. Derby matches are always imprevisible because of their nature and rivalry, maybe the problem is the fans that think Arsenal are some sort of Watford in disguise and not Conte.

Think the overreaction in here is a bit puerile to be fair. Yes we hate Arsenal and we make fun of them, truth is they are not as big as they think they are, but they are not Huddersfield either. I for one was not expecting a walk in the park. They were bound to a decent game against top opposition at some point, you can't expect them to be steamrolled each and every time they face a big team. Shit happens and we could not win. They did a good job in the first half, we made it hard for them in the second. Saw a lot of people criticising Conte for his team selection et al. Give the guy a break - it's only the first match since he came at the club in which Chelsea did not score at The Bride. He's not had the perfect transfer window and has had the most difficult schedule so far in PL. People creaming all over Manchester clubs' results - Really, haven't you learned your lesson yet? Titles are not decided in September... Barcelona have won the treble after starting to mount a challenge only late in January. Madrid never looks like anything special in the 1st half of the season. Big teams always peak between late February and May. Look at Paris last night - if Conte did a bad job with this players, what about Paris at home against a bunch of youngsters? Totally shite, Lyon had a clear penalty denied in the 1st half, missed glorious chances in the 2nd half and Paris won by two own goals.

Please don't fix it if it's not broken - Rudiger D.Luiz Azpilicueta. Hazard?! Loves to play against Arsenal, but is he fully fit yet? Hope so. Looked in chill mode in mid-week, but maybe Conte instructed him to just go out there and enjoy himself and forget about defensive duties. Between Moses and Zappacosta, I think the latter looks like the better defender. And very good going forward, too. But think Moses gets the nod here - Zappacosta needs a few more matches to get used to the EPL pace. Morata Hazard Willian M.Alonso Kante Bakayoko Moses Rudiger D.Luiz Azpilicueta Courtois

No way Antonio Conte is going to experiment in this game. Batshuayi Willian Pedro M.Alonso Bakayoko Fabregas Zappacosta Cahill Christensen Azpi/D.Luiz Courtois

This is the club that has payed a combined fee of 55M to Liverpool for Benteke and Sakho - utter dross worth 20-25M tops together. For this thing alone I have no sympathy for them and I hope they relegate at the end of the season.

Inches close.

Think Koscielny should have called it a day and retire had that Luxembourg player scored there when he hit the post. That amateur completely humiliated him for Christ's sake haha

The weight on Mertens' pass though....... Robbed Eden off a clear goalscoring chance

Tired of all this talk mate and it seems that the media and the opposition fans have once again turned your head upside down and made you see whatever they want you to see. Exactly like Mourinho did last season when he underachieved with the most expensive squad ever assembled. "If it wasn't for all the missed chances..." - this is what I kept hearing during all last season from Mourinho and United fans. Somehow Mourinho turned their minds and mislead them into thinking he did a great job, but players let the club down by missing chance after chance. Wow, what a great logic this is!!! Let me tell you something - if every club would put away every goalscoring chance they have, even WBA would finish the season with 100+ goals scored. Every team misses tons of chances during the season. We've scored 85 goals during last season. But did we have only 85 chances of scoring? Or 90? Hell no, we've probably had 250+ scoring opportunities. What if we had capitalised on at least 80% of our chances like Mourinho kept talking about? We'd have won the league title by February... But this "If it wasn't for all the missed chances..." was only a United thing last season because Mourinho and the United fans were the only ones that kept talking about it. Like they were the only ones missing chances and others were scoring with every shot on goal... It is exactly what is happening now with Matic. We've all wanted him out of our starting line-up for two years now. How many of us have asked for his head, especially after EVERY SINGLE match against a big team in which he was completely useless and got exposed everytime when Chelsea faced a decent set of midfielder? Matic is a decent option to have against lesser teams, but he is of no use against big teams. But this has no relevance now that he is at United and United fans keep spouting absolute shite, with some Chelsea fans biting the bait every single time. It's like they've signed Iniesta's heir and we're left with a poor man's Charlie Adam. "Wow, they let Matic go and replaced him with Danny fucking Drinkwater! Haha" - it's something coming from the United fans, that you hear and read everyday now. When the truth is we've replaced Matic with Bakayoko and Chalobah with Drinkwater. We've replaced Matic with a younger and better version, French league title winner and UCL semi-finalist at only 22, playing in a two-man midfield. Exactly the tactics we use. Drinkwater for Chalobah - An England international, former EPL winner and Kante's former partner in a two-man midfield, to sit on the bench and act as a back-up only. Chelsea have not signed world beaters, but at least they are players to fit Conte's philosophy - Rudiger and Christensen (basically feels like a new signing) have played in a three at the back formation at Roma and Gladbach, Bakayoko and Drinkwater have played in a two-man midfield, Zappacosta is a wing back, Morata is versatile and not only a target man. But when some listen too much to the oppositions fans taking the piss out of hate and envy, reality gets disrupted. Afterall Chelsea have won two out of the last three league titles in England - time in which United were always deemed as favourites to win it after assembling the most expensive squad in football history.

Think it's only a fabricated rumour by the club to keep us fans on our seats and make this deadline day a bit exciting. When in truth everything's going to end in a few hours, club will inform some Chelsea related journous that they have tried for Mahrez all day (as reported!), did everything, but for some reason deal did not go through, now it's all over, window is closed, see you in the winter, fans should support the club and manager, bla bla bla..

City do not get Alexis, Arsenal get to keep an unhappy player and will lose him on a free next summer, or for peanuts in the winter, they also do not get a super talent in Lemar. They are also in total freefall, are probably going to miss on Champions League next season, too, going to lose their two best players on a free next summer (Alexis & Ozil). It's not even one year ago that them bastards were laughing at as for finishing 10th. How things have changed haha. They deserve everything they get these days, full time wankers with delusion of grandeur.

Think we're ok in the wing-back areas now with the arrival of this Italian fella - Alonso and Azpi for the LB/LWB, Moses and Zappacosta for the RB/RWB. Apart from Azpi, not top players, but decent ones. Centre-back position packed with very good players IMHO. Two positions we need to address now - New back-up centre mid and another attacking player. Mahrez would be ideal, probably the most entertaining left footed player we'd have since Robben. Another centre mid - I do not know. Drinkwater maybe?

Got to give this lad a break has a difficult choice to make... RWB for a team always in the hunt for trophies come March-April or CM and league winner in September already with Liverpool and also "the moral winner" of the league come May.

Chadli, Witsel, Origi are in the senior squad. To be fair, if I would be touted as the next big thing in Belgian football like Charly Musonda is, I would reject the U-21 call, too. Divock Origi for fucks sake he's been chosen in French league worst team of the season a few years back, looks like a complete donkey everytime he goes on a football pitch and still makes the senior squad. Origi and Januzaj are two of the most overrated players in world football for the past 4-5 years, I have never understood the hype around them, they are fucking dog shite.

Looked good v Everton and I think it's actually a good idea to go to the NT and hopefully play the full 90' against Gibraltar.

Look at that bench haha. Grandfather Caballero and his nephews

Courtois Rudiger d.Luiz Cahill Azpilicueta Cesc Kante m.Alonso Willian Michy Boga

No wonder 7/10 players leaving PL talk about the huge media pressure in England. Journalists, pundits etc. would do everything to have the best players/managers in this league just to make them look miserable afterwards. Happening everywhere I do agree, but I think it's on another level in the UK. They kept talking shite for weeks about Conte being at swords with the board - the next day he signs an improved contract. Now supposedly the players are unhappy with him... Me as a fan get so annoyed about this. What about Conte? He's been a class act last season, but I think this season we will see him more distant from the media, maybe even picking some fights with them throughout the season.

Not an entire starting 11 full of local lads of course but surely there must be talented players in the Academy that you can count on and nurture them into top players with the right management and patience.

Know it won't happen but I wish we'd batter them something like three goals scored before HT and five, six goals scored at FT and make a statement that we're not dead and burried as they all think we are. Burnley are absolutely dog shite away from home and on top of this they've lost three important starters. Only Jack Cork is a decent signing - Bardsley and Walters are irrelevant. We're having problems of our own, but it's going to be a easy win. Hopefully a very big one followed by a positive result against Spurs at their bogey ground to shut everyone's mouth off.