darrus

Now again, who said Jose was mad to start Eto'O instead of Torres? Loving the scoreline

This defence is shocking, really.

Now who was against Eto'O starting?

WTF our defence?

Would be terrible to lose Jose's home record to Moyes of all people (where's the running away in fear smiley when you need it?). Definitely not an easy match, though on paper we seem to be favorites. If our defence holds as well as in last matches we can do well.

I don't think it has anything to do with other players, more like general lack of self-belief. Something like you tell someone 10000 times that he is sh*t and he'll finally start believing that he is sh*t. Not that it is completely unwarranted, sadly. But Mourinho is doing a clever thing praising him at every opportunity.

In a way I so want him to do well, and not only because we are stuck with him, but it could potentially be a great story if he overcomes whatever problems he has. It even looks like he's improved his speed and pace recently, he is running, he is trying. And should finally take confidence in the fact that he is scoring. But he's just so shocking at times. And I wasn't the only one noticing in a match thread that sometimes AMs look like they are avoiding passing the ball to him. That's just a bit worrying.

Yess!!! Happily taking back everything bad I said about Nando today

Torress wtf?

ffs, can't we hold a ball for some minutes?

Because Torres is as useless as me in front of the goal?

Well done between Oscar and Willian there.

Now just hoping our defence doesn't fall asleep. I'd like 1 more goal. Or even 2 to be certain of the outcome.

He caught half the defence and keeper on his fake shot, then took his time and scored. Brilliant.

Hazard I love you!!!

Why is their keeper playing so well?

Are referees told to not give a foul unless Hazard is knocked out?

F*ck's sake, can we score in front of the open goal?!

If that wasn't a wake-up call I don't know what will be.

Too careless.

Jose just said "no way". Clever man.

Well, good luck to him competing with Isco and Alonso/di Maria who are much better suited to the way Real is playing. Really you believe every bullshit you read without thinking?

Thanks, I was trying to say this but you said it much better.

And third time in a row you're missing the point. Who talks of Crystal Palace? We are not them. But you don't even have to go far for examples. When Inter played Barcelona Pep had much better players overall, Jose had better system and came out on top. Fergie didn't start with the world beaters. Pep himself worked with a system, not with talented players, and as far as I know without Messi Barcelona is still beating opponents by 4-0 scoreline because they are not dependant on one player. Jose with Leiria beat Sporting and Porto, Jose's Porto beat United, Freiburg taking points off Bayern, Atletico beating Real etc etc. Once more - one (1) player no matter how good he is will not win you anything. A bunch of great players who have no clue will not win you anything. Good players who know what they are doing on the pitch are winning cups. It's that simple. Say we had Mata as the one player we are relying to pull us through this season - he's had 1 goal and 2 assists in 15 matches, where would we be now?

You're missing the point again. Why even the question arises of who is superior to whom, for God's sake? What does it matter? The only thing that matters is team results and position in the table. The systems should be compared, not the players. Let's try it this way. The system that is built around Mata or any other player is wrong by default because if said player tomorrow gets an injury or just slump in form you have no team and no strategy. The system that works regardless of players is better because it has ways to adapt. In this case yes, Oscar who can play center, right or left and still impact the team's performance is better than Mata who can play only one position and only when he has space. But more important is that you can replace Oscar with Hazard or even Willian and still have the team work and get results. Having good players doesn't by default win matches - Real Madrid in 2000's is a prime example. Having one outstanding player who doesn't fit in the system is not going to get you results - Ibrahimovich's career in Barcelona is an example. A system built around strengths of most of your players and can be easily modified is much more productive. Having talented players like we have in this system just makes it better. Noone argues that Suarez is better player than Torres, but it only proves the initial point - relying on one good player to win is not working.