Title Run In

[Steve 10,227]

Liverpool are a real threat. Us and Liverpool have the easiest runs until the end of the season, we are going to need some luck on our side to win it from here!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I'm not a big fan of counting matches because on any day, any team can do over a top side but if we're still in contention when we go to Anfield then I'd be happy. Liverpool are very beatable with the right setup. Pissed me off watching United yesterday because they just let Liverpool play their game. Fuck me, just stick Valencia on and run at Flanagan all day for a start and watch him get sent-off.

Neither am I - normally... I think I'm just doing it to console myself after the disaster that last weekend proved to be!

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Liverpool are a real threat. Us and Liverpool have the easiest runs until the end of the season, we are going to need some luck on our side to win it from here!

[Jase 43,479]

Aslong as Liverpool doesn't win it and we finish above them then i'm fine with not winning the league.

Agree with that! If we don't win it, then I hope City do. Otherwise, just imagine those trash talking if Liverpool or Arsenal were to win it...

[Roquila 1,335]

Agree with that! If we don't win it, then I hope City do. Otherwise, just imagine those trash talking if Liverpool or Arsenal were to win it...

Imagine all the Liverpool fans..... They are sitting in the 6-8th position for years now and they just wont stop talking, imagine them winning the league... Do you have a spare rope?

[Steve 10,227]

I am going to ban all photos of this guys ugly mug from our forum.

[Jase 43,479]

Imagine all the Liverpool fans..... They are sitting in the 6-8th position for years now and they just wont stop talking, imagine them winning the league... Do you have a spare rope?

Hmmm, how to handle this? @Stingray, I'll leave this to you..

[The Skipper 20,593]

Your argument about 2 players away from a complete squad butresses my point that most overrate our squad and players a great deal. Then again complete squad would be relative to the standard one wishes to set and judge a squad by.

If the aim and ultimate goal was to become/rejoin Europe's elite then we would have needed more than just 2 signings to complete the squad. for starters, Ashley cole is on the way out and Ivanovic's only real competition at right back is the current first choice LB.

I meant that after the summer transfer window we were probably around 2 players away from a complete squad (when we still had Mata, KDB & Lukaku before he went out on loan). The squad depth was strong at that time, and the only thing we needed then IMO was a Matic and maybe a top class striker. As the season has gone on though it became more clear that we needed a midfield maestro next to Matic, and also needed a new LB since Mou doesn't rate Bertrand or Cole.

Secondly we have no regista sans midfield controller. so with the signing of a defensive midfielder in Matic, we are still desperately lacking a top class midfielder who can orchestrate play from deep and be the link between defence and attack. our Xavi/Bastian/Gundogan/Pirlo if you will. Add to that Lampard,an AM forced to play in CM, is obviously on the wane and likely on the way out in the summer, Ramires clearly lacks the technical ability and intelligence required to play and flourish in CM at a club with big aspirations and Mikel isn't the most reliable midfielder around which imho leaves Matic has the only real midfielder worth his salt in the current squad.

I agree that that became quite obvious as soon as we got Matic. So maybe you could push from needing two signings to complete the squad to maybe 3, which still isn't as far off as you're trying to make it seem.

Also despite all the attacking midfielders and wingers we purchased over the last 3 seasons, how many of them actually good enough and consistently produce the goods. Oscar must be the most uncreative no 10 (if you want to call him that) at any top European club statistically and visually and William, for all his technical ability consistently lacks the end product and schurrle isn't much better for all his intelligent attacking runs. And I'm not even sure others like Marin and Moses are even good enough as squad options which again leaves only Hazard as the genuine quality out of all the AM's and Wingers we have. A classic case of quantity over quality.

I always say it's a shame that we let both Mata and KDB go because I knew Oscar was going to suffer burn out/ a drop of form soon due to the high amount of games he's been playing over the last two seasons.

Before we sold Mata and KDB, the depth in our AM strata was one of the best out there. Willian, Hazard, Schurrle, Mata and KDB is a very strong group of players IMO - all of these were signed under Emenalo - but Mourinho wants to take the squad in a different direction. He's reduced the quality of our AM strata by sending out two of those for various reasons and bringing in Salah (whom I didn't want to begin with) so if you really want to blame anyone for the quantity over quality theme in our AM strata, then it shouldn't be Emenalo but rather Jose.

The same can also be applied to the striking position. Ba is clearly not good enough, Eto'o is past his prime and Torres is unreliable and has never been since his game has deteriorated to the point of no return which means that unless Jose rates and likes Lukaku and sees him in his future plans, we would require more than just one striker signing.

Or you could look at it in this way; we bring Lukaku back, ship off Torres and Ba, renew Eto'o's contract and get in 1 top quality striker, so next season our strikeforce would consist of X, Lukaku & Eto'o, which is very strong IMO.

I'm not so sure it would only require 2 key signings, one of which we have already made in Matic, in order to complete the jigsaw.

You will have to forgive me for having high standard.

I was talking about needing two/three after the summer transfer window but obviously because the squad has been rejuggled since and with certain players underperforming it isn't the case anymore. As I've said before, you cannot blame Emenalo for that because as TOPTB mentioned above me, our transfer policy since he's come in as technical director has been so much better than what it was before he came.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I was talking about needing two/three after the summer transfer window but obviously because the squad has been rejuggled since and with certain players underperforming it isn't the case anymore. As I've said before, you cannot blame Emenalo for that because as TOPTB mentioned above me, our transfer policy since he's come in as technical director has been so much better than what it was before he came.

Just looking at the first 11, we had one of the most fantastic spines of any team in this country ever (Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Lamps, Makelele, Drogba) but it was expensively assembled over a shortish period of time and the players around them were top quality and expensive too.

FFP means that isn't possible anymore, but regardless of that our purchases before Emenalo were simply not good enough. Luiz, Torres, Shevechenko, SWP, Zhirkov, Bosingwa, Benayoun, Boulharouz etc. were all overpriced, under-performed and had little re-sale value when things didn't work out.

Since then we've largely looked to younger players who make money for us even if things don't quite work out (De Bruyne, Mata and possibly Courtois). Players like Hazard, Matic, Azpilicueta and hopefully even Oscar are young but already established in the first team, whilst we have a wealth of young talent who really need to start getting chances here. I don't think Emenalo is solely responsible for that but I think it's astounding the divide between the credit he doesn't get when things are going right and the amount of shit he gets when things start to go wrong.

[Strike 7,212]

post Torres, i can think of only Moses as a possible bad deal

[The only place to be 11,313]

post Torres, i can think of only Moses as a possible bad deal

Marin didn't work out but that's because we signed Hazard instead. Meireles certainly contributed to the team and we only made a £4 million loss on him.

The rest are too soon to tell, but even players who don't work out seem to have a lot of value left in them. Romeu could probably make back most of his fee, Bamford has probably doubled what we paid for him and even Ba is probably worth about £5 million still.

Moses could probably fetch at least £5 million, plus there's whatever Liverpool paid for him this year and to be honest he's still a young man (probably).

[lionsden 4,689]

I'm sorry but I judge results and substance/tangible rather than potential especially when it concerns football at the highest level and huge capital and investment. He became technical director in 2011 and since that time He's managed to turn us into nothing but one of europes biggeet loan sharks and his signings hasnt significantly strenghtened the current first team to the level you had expect given the money that has been spent since that time.

perhaps when these potentials actually become reality and the likes of lukaku,courtois,oscar and co starts making quantifiable and significant contributions directly in the first team that elevates us I might give him some credit. For now he's no better than a wall street trader gambling huge sums on his investment paying off in the future. Not impressed one bit until I actually see results.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'm sorry but I judge results and substance/tangible rather than potential especially when it concerns football at the highest level and huge capital and investment. He became technical director in 2011 and since that time He's managed to turn us into nothing but one of europes biggeet loan sharks and his signings hasnt significantly strenghtened the current first team to the level you had expect given the money that has been spent since that time.

perhaps when these potentials actually become reality and the likes of lukaku,courtois,oscar and co starts making quantifiable and significant contributions directly in the first team that elevates us I might give him some credit. For now he's no better than a wall street trader gambling huge sums on his investment paying off in the future. Not impressed one bit until I actually see results.

Premier League finishes - 6, 3, 1*

Champions League

Europa League

FA Cup

FFP compliance

If you honestly think the signings of players like Eden Hazard, Cesar Azpilicueta, Nemanja Matic and Thibaut Courtois aren't a considerable improvement on the execrable signings made previous to his appointment then I honestly don't know what to say to you.

You decrying us as 'loan sharks' is fucking ridiculous as well. We've amassed a lot of talent in a league where it's hard to actually develop young players, and through the use of the loan system the majority have either become better players or grown in value. Considering the piss poor job done before his appointment I think the guy deserves a bit more credit.

[didierforever 7,349]

post Torres, i can think of only Moses as a possible bad deal

How???

Moses did his job in the only season. He was a 7mil buy as a 4th/5th choice Am. Moses did a pretty good job in cups for us.

Plus I can think of marin (almost the same fee) as a much much vigger failure.

[lionsden 4,689]

I meant that after the summer transfer window we were probably around 2 players away from a complete squad (when we still had Mata, KDB & Lukaku before he went out on loan). The squad depth was strong at that time, and the only thing we needed then IMO was a Matic and maybe a top class striker. As the season has gone on though it became more clear that we needed a midfield maestro next to Matic, and also needed a new LB since Mou doesn't rate Bertrand or Cole.

I agree that that became quite obvious as soon as we got Matic. So maybe you could push from needing two signings to complete the squad to maybe 3, which still isn't as far off as you're trying to make it seem.

I always say it's a shame that we let both Mata and KDB go because I knew Oscar was going to suffer burn out/ a drop of form soon due to the high amount of games he's been playing over the last two seasons.

Before we sold Mata and KDB, the depth in our AM strata was one of the best out there. Willian, Hazard, Schurrle, Mata and KDB is a very strong group of players IMO - all of these were signed under Emenalo - but Mourinho wants to take the squad in a different direction. He's reduced the quality of our AM strata by sending out two of those for various reasons and bringing in Salah (whom I didn't want to begin with) so if you really want to blame anyone for the quantity over quality theme in our AM strata, then it shouldn't be Emenalo but rather Jose.

Or you could look at it in this way; we bring Lukaku back, ship off Torres and Ba, renew Eto'o's contract and get in 1 top quality striker, so next season our strikeforce would consist of X, Lukaku & Eto'o, which is very strong IMO.

I was talking about needing two/three after the summer transfer window but obviously because the squad has been rejuggled since and with certain players underperforming it isn't the case anymore. As I've said before, you cannot blame Emenalo for that because as TOPTB mentioned above me, our transfer policy since he's come in as technical director has been so much better than what it was before he came.

Ok fair enough. In that case jose gets the blame for the reshuffling and downsizing of the squad but even before that and objectively speaking, do you not think emenalo was a bit too optimistic with his signings and could have done a much better job with the amount of money he has spent?

[The Skipper 20,593]

Just looking at the first 11, we had one of the most fantastic spines of any team in this country ever (Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Lamps, Makelele, Drogba) but it was expensively assembled over a shortish period of time and the players around them were top quality and expensive too.

FFP means that isn't possible anymore, but regardless of that our purchases before Emenalo were simply not good enough. Luiz, Torres, Shevechenko, SWP, Zhirkov, Bosingwa, Benayoun, Boulharouz etc. were all overpriced, under-performed and had little re-sale value when things didn't work out.

Since then we've largely looked to younger players who make money for us even if things don't quite work out (De Bruyne, Mata and possibly Courtois). Players like Hazard, Matic, Azpilicueta and hopefully even Oscar are young but already established in the first team, whilst we have a wealth of young talent who really need to start getting chances here. I don't think Emenalo is solely responsible for that but I think it's astounding the divide between the credit he doesn't get when things are going right and the amount of shit he gets when things start to go wrong.

Agree with most of that post except for Luiz & Zhirkov having little or no resale value. We still recouped most of what we spent on Zhirkov, and also Luiz hasn't really been under performing up until this season - yet he's still being quoted at going for at least around the price we bought him for.

Everything else I agree with though, like you said it is amazing how he never gets any credit whatsoever but as soon as things aren't looking on the up the unjustifiable complaints about him start flocking in. He's done a good job here.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Agree with most of that post except for Luiz & Zhirkov having little or no resale value. We still recouped most of what we spent on Zhirkov, and also Luiz hasn't really been under performing up until this season - yet he's still being quoted at going for at least around the price we bought him for.

Everything else I agree with though, like you said it is amazing how he never gets any credit whatsoever but as soon as things aren't looking on the up the unjustifiable complaints about him start flocking in. He's done a good job here.

Zhirkov's deal was dodgy as fuck but you're right about Luiz. He was similar to Mata in that he was bought fairly young (23 ish) and is still in his prime.

[bushman 2,043]

Ok fair enough. In that case jose gets the blame for the reshuffling and downsizing of the squad but even before that and objectively speaking, do you not think emenalo was a bit too optimistic with his signings and could have done a much better job with the amount of money he has spent?

How much more did you expect? Look at the stats, it could help you a lot.