Smallest squad we've had?

[Chelsea? 892]

that 4-1 loss seems like a lack of effort to me. I will be really pissed if we play like that for the club world cup.

[gary gordon 1,777]

Ok so because we defended like that for 4 games we can automatically do it for a whole season? Doubt it because if we could why couldn't we not do it last night? Or against Reading? Or Man City in the Community Shield? We've been ripped a new arse hole at times and gotten away with it the last few seasons, the defense is faltering. Team has no balance too.

Couldn't agree more. Would take our defensive style of recent seasons and closing out the league with 3 weeks to go then trying to be a team we can't, It's a massive test that already cost one poor cunt his job, now i fear it will cost another..

[TheCount 146]

People have written of frank every year for the last few years, terry to and ferraria, but every single year they have to eat shit when the big games come alone and everyones little kids cant handle it, excluding last nite that was a disgrace.

The old players have their place and their worth always become apparent, thats not to say ofc we dont need replacements but writing them off is something only a arsenal wenger lover boy would want.

Also the post above is bugged please delete it/ignore cheers.

Ok so because we defended like that for 4 games we can automatically do it for a whole season? Doubt it because if we could why couldn't we not do it last night? Or against Reading? Or Man City in the Community Shield? We've been ripped a new arse hole at times and gotten away with it the last few seasons, the defense is faltering. The current team has no balance too.

To be fair you all wanted this type of football, now your complaining when its goes badly? as mourinho said, you can either play attacking Brazilian style football or you can win.

[Rowan_Osborn 58]

Ok so because we defended like that for 4 games we can automatically do it for a whole season? Doubt it because if we could why couldn't we not do it last night? Or against Reading? Or Man City in the Community Shield? We've been ripped a new arse hole at times and gotten away with it the last few seasons, the defense is faltering. The current team has no balance too.

It depends how we set up and the tactics we intend to use. Against Bayern and Barca we set out to defend and counter attack. All four of our games this season we have expected to be on the front foot and score first then defend, last night it didn't work. Against Man City we were unlucky with Ivan's sending off as it restricted our ability to defend and gave City space to play with. We will develop balance, this is still a new, young side and we can't expect it to be perfect from the outset.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Let me remind everyone that we would have killed to have this squad last year. Since then, we have replaced Bos, with Azpi, Alex with Cahil, the likes of Kalou and Anelka with Hazard and Marin. I really don't see what the board can do more! We're a really hard bunch to please.

[Strike 7,474]

so is that going to stop us buying players we need? i dont think so. and when has buying a player in January ever helped anybody? where do i start how about Anelka, G.Cahill, Papiss Cisse, Vidic, Evra, Suarez, Mascherano, Walcott, Agger, Jelavic ect ect ect the list goes on and on! Im baffled that you would even think buying a player in January wouldn't help anyone!

yes, it makes no sense generally but he meant in that season. someone posted that if we do have problems we can buy in january but ideally even i would want the squad built before the start of the season and only bringin in reinforcements in january if there is an injury or a sale.

[gary gordon 1,777]

People have written of frank every year for the last few years, terry to and ferraria, but every single year they have to eat shit when the big games come alone and everyones little kids cant handle it, excluding last nite that was a disgrace.

The old players have their place and their worth always become apparent, thats not to say ofc we dont need replacements but writing them off is something only a arsenal wenger lover boy would want.

Also the post above is bugged please delete it/ignore cheers.

To be fair you all wanted this type of football, now your complaining when its goes badly? as mourinho said, you can either play attacking Brazilian style football or you can win.

Not me. I've loved the way we've played since 04

[Strike 7,474]

Let me remind everyone that we would have killed to have this squad last year. Since then, we have replaced Bos, with Azpi, Alex with Cahil, the likes of Kalou and Anelka with Hazard and Marin. I really don't see what the board can do more! We're a really hard bunch to please.

not to mention the shift in play at the start of the season. emphasis on retaining possession and all that... we are going in the right direction but it is a bridge too far to expect us to go back to the way we were under Ance or Hiddink or Jose.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

It depends how we set up and the tactics we intend to use. Against Bayern and Barca we set out to defend and counter attack. All four of our games this season we have expected to be on the front foot and score first then defend, last night it didn't work. Against Man City we were unlucky with Ivan's sending off as it restricted our ability to defend and gave City space to play with. We will develop balance, this is still a new, young side and we can't expect it to be perfect from the outset.

Unlucky against City? Restricted our ability to defend? Ivanovic should be at center back so he can defend from there. Not out at RB where some slow cunt/Kolarov can get past him. (YES EVEN KOLAROV OUTPACED IVANOVIC WTF) If Ivanovic was at CB and Luiz wasn't, I reckon he would tried to close Tevez down a bit earlier preventing the ugly bastard from working space to score, rather than Luiz sitting admiring his ugly face letting him do whatever he wants. We restricted our own ability to defend by being lazy and just waiting for other players to do something.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

It's not even strikers department I'm worried about, it's the lack of defensive options in midfield. Mikel, I'll defend him when needs be, isn't right for the "style" of football we're trying to play and Romeu isn't getting his chances/lacks match fitness even if he was thrown in. I think if we'd have pursued Modric again our squad would be near-perfect. I believe we're lacking severe depth in midfield. Yea we've got the attacking options of Hazard, Mata, Marin, Moses etc. But we've only got Mikel, Meireles & Romeu to give us some cover at the back.

That cover is vital in attacking football cause as we saw yesterday, we're quite vulnerable on the counter attack. We lack that link between defensive & offense. QPR signed Granero from Real Madrid.. I can't believe a player like that is ending up at QPR because he'd have fitted perfectly into our system!

Other than that, I'm satisfied.

[King11Didier 916]

Seriously? I hope you are kidding. He had ONE bad game and some people don't want him to play there anymore. Wake up, open your eyes and start looking at the squad positively. Ivanović is maybe not the very best right back offensively but very, very decent when defending.

One bad game?From the start of the season he haven't ONE GOOD game.Yes he scored 2 goals but they were so easy that Torres could scored them.He is VERY bad at Defending from the start of the season.Very slow and he stays too far from the attacker.

[Rowan_Osborn 58]

Unlucky against City? Restricted our ability to defend? Ivanovic should be at center back so he can defend from there. Not out at RB where some slow cunt/Kolarov can get past him. (YES EVEN KOLAROV OUTPACED IVANOVIC WTF) If Ivanovic was at CB and Luiz wasn't, I reckon he would tried to close Tevez down a bit earlier preventing the ugly bastard from working space to score, rather than Luiz sitting admiring his ugly face letting him do whatever he wants. We restricted our own ability to defend by being lazy and just waiting for other players to do something.

Ivan was the best RB in the league a couple of seasons ago. He is a better RB than he is a CB. Being a player down clearly effected our ability to defend. I agree Tevez shouldn't of been given that much space. He run across the whole edge of the box and not one player put in a challenge. No DMs helped but the defence should of been able to cope.

We will take a while to settle in defence as our new AMS offer little cover and we played last year with a lot of cover in these positions, this is why Ivan is getting exposed. We play better with Bertrand because our fullbacks are used to the cover. When we gel as a team we will be able to defend more effectively. I still think we need a quick CM to play alongside a more defence minded one, Ramires would be perfect for this, as this would prevent us being exposed by speed.

[Rowan_Osborn 58]

It's not even strikers department I'm worried about, it's the lack of defensive options in midfield. Mikel, I'll defend him when needs be, isn't right for the "style" of football we're trying to play and Romeu isn't getting his chances/lacks match fitness even if he was thrown in. I think if we'd have pursued Modric again our squad would be near-perfect. I believe we're lacking severe depth in midfield. Yea we've got the attacking options of Hazard, Mata, Marin, Moses etc. But we've only got Mikel, Meireles & Romeu to give us some cover at the back.

That cover is vital in attacking football cause as we saw yesterday, we're quite vulnerable on the counter attack. We lack that link between defensive & offense. QPR signed Granero from Real Madrid.. I can't believe a player like that is ending up at QPR because he'd have fitted perfectly into our system!

Other than that, I'm satisfied.

We can't defend against pace, as our defence is very slow. We need a faster CM in either Lampard or Mikel's position to help us counteract this.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Ivan was the best RB in the league a couple of seasons ago. He is a better RB than he is a CB. Being a player down clearly effected our ability to defend. I agree Tevez shouldn't of been given that much space. He run across the whole edge of the box and not one player put in a challenge. No DMs helped but the defence should of been able to cope.

We will take a while to settle in defence as our new AMS offer little cover and we played last year with a lot of cover in these positions, this is why Ivan is getting exposed. We play better with Bertrand because our fullbacks are used to the cover. When we gel as a team we will be able to defend more effectively. I still think we need a quick CM to play alongside a more defence minded one, Ramires would be perfect for this, as this would prevent us being exposed by speed.

Na I disagree about Branna being a better RB than a CB. At full back he is constantly exposed for pace, he hasn't got the pace to recover if he fucks up. I have been saying he should be used at CB rather than RB for ages but everyone seems to think hes the worlds best when hes clearly below average at RB. If you put anyone with a bit of pace to compete with him then he is fucked, like a fat kid running away from a tiger. Imo Ramires is played on the right to compensate for Branna being slow but its clearly not working and when you've just bought a RB who is billed to have great potential you should play him. Why he didn't get the nod was beyond me.

I agree about the fact our attacking midfielders offer no defensive cover but they are there to do their primary job which is create space and chances. Oscar getting stuck in last night was encouraging though.

We do need time to gel but I'm sick of seeing Branna at RB, hes fucking useless there. Can't cross, can't keep up with people, seems clumsy at times bla bla bla list could go on.

[CRonaldo 55]

Well it's a way of seing the team...

Just remember that before this one and after the 3 wins in PL, it would have been totally different, with comments like "Mikel: very strong DM", "Luiz: best CB in the world" and many others.

It's just one loss.

Ok it's bad, but the same thing done yesterday afternoon would have give totally different results.