MANoWAR

the defence though, step forward Fejinoord's finest!

take off hulk

wtf is this? horrible opening.

would this mean that we revert to the 4-3-3 more often? most of his time at arsenal was an AM either way. or oscar would be dropped

in what way? i may as well then say hazard isn't proven yet based on how inconsistent he often was last season.

azpilicueta, matic too.

wengerout and traitor both trending lool

BREAKING NEWS SSN 5 YEAR DEAL!!!111111 That's real; was not a photoshop!

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Club-News/2014/Jun/manchester-united-announces-sponsorship-agreement-with-cho-a-pharm.aspx how many sponsors do these guys have? sheesh

this. although tbh i don't mind josh bishop

lamps is a lot better as an impact sub.

has rooney done anything?

It seems as if Willian's main role is to defend. Our tactics are more focused on tracking back because than getting into advanced positions. There's also the case that our tactic 70% of the time is pass to Hazard or shoot from long range, kinda hard for Willian to get loads of goals when our tactics are so bad when it comes to breaking down teams. It's so mechanical and tbh if it wasn't for our very high work rate we'd probably just scraped top 4 Willian's build up play has also been very good -- he's very important in stringing our player together whereas I haven't seen that as much with Schurrle. Schurrle is a useful player to have but isn't the kind of guy that could see taking on defences in the way hazard or willian would, either. He was never the sort of guy who relies solely on his goals, his build up play and work rate was what made him so good at Shakhtar, only thing is that he played a free role at Shakhtar and strung the play, at Chelsea our play is mechanical and our tactic is pass to Hazard, if not pass to Ivanovic/Ramires to cross or shoot which almost undoubtedly never reaches it's man or hits the target. He may not be a 30m sort of player yet but we'll see next season. Nonetheless, the final third from Willian isn't going to improve if we have one guy in the box facing 4 defenders that he has to thread through..

Let's look at some other clubs. If Mourinho had dropped Ibrahimovic at inter, or Eto'o, do you think that Ibra would not complain every other week? Lukaku has been doing what you expect every world class potential striker to have been doing. It's the same way you hear Sturridge complaining that he wanted to be used as the central striker at Chelsea and know he doesn't seem to be having a problem now, does he? It's Lukaku's character; it's not poisonous in the dressing room if you nurture it properly. There are plenty of other managers with bad players i.e the likes of Prandelli have a bunch of dickheads to take care of (Cassano, Balotelli are their strikers) and Italy are doing absolutely fine with those two. I do think we'd have got Lukaku to start eventually last season, but with a world cup place yes he was right to force a move, guy is ridiculous now. I think we should tell him that he's an important player and mean it, not like how Mourinho said that De Bruyne was important and would be used the next season. Even if he doesn't do it in the media, just give Lukaku a phone call and tell him his position, reassure him a place. It's not even as if Lukaku won't do a job out wide, he did it for Everton at times this season, if you can get a guy to respect you, even if he has a perceived poisonous character you can get him to do what you want. How do you think that Lukaku is supposed to feel when he's doing great and the manager of his club is undermining his achievements with backhanded comments? I like Mourinho, but him and Lukaku do not seem compatible, if Lukaku was 4 years older and he had been playing games regularly for Chelsea however they'd be best of friends and we know that. If we want to win the title, we need to keep Lukaku, otherwise we're going to come 3rd again. What if Costa gets injured -- or burnt out? Or banned? I like how some people are so adamant that, if he goes to another club he'll then have the same kind of issues that he has here. Or, there's another way of looking at it: He goes to another club, the manager nurtures him/managers him quite well and he bangs 20+ goals a season? Not saying Mourinho won't be able to do that but let's see.

Can't really see where he'll start tbh. Willian is a much better footballer than him and contributes more to the team overall (inb4 goals stats). Unless Oscar is dropped next season and hazard moves centrally for a period.

These suggestions of selling him are just bizarre really. my word. Just no.

central midfielder or midfielders on the whole...?

I'm so confused reading these posts. How come we are able to sign him cheaper than the rest -- how was this made? Secondly, how is he on loan on Benfica if we have to pay to get him?

those quotes by lukaku have definitely been twisted if you read the french version i.e the one that he actually said. He said nothing bad really.

I think you're being unreasonable here.

yeah on rawk they do the same. It's hilarious

if anyone wants some entertainment feel free to look at the (premature?) reactions of arsenal fans! http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=310722&start=2670

so did I. I think ox has shown more potential

he's shown more than barkley has really.

yeah same but there's no chance we'll get him tbh