ethicalstrategy

Not the beer talking I promise! I have spent 4 months telling everyone that we have no worries finishing in the top four. I don't believe that anymore. What do you think might change to pull us back on track? The only change we've seen from Carlo is to switch to an even narrower formation. Having finally shown a bit of form against Bolton and Sunderland its all gone pear shaped again. We aren't even getting a bit of luck. I could live ( will have to live) with not winning anything, especially if we were bringing some youth through. But we are not even doing that! Missing out on at least fourth though is a whole new question. We are not showing anything like the form that we need to get past Man City or Spurs. If we wait until the summer we will still be shipping Carlo out. At least if we make a change now there is a chance to get fourth.

Would like to put on record that they gave our under 12 team a big hand when they paraded their European trophy at half time. Top marks for that.

It's obvious that we won't finish in the top four if we don't do something now. Carlo has had nearly 4 months to turn things around. Waiting until the summer will mean no trophies and no CL.

A very strange match. We were average in the first half and much better in the second half and extra time. But we still looked very short on confidence and tried to force things too much. Everton were never at the races and our defence for the most part looked very solid. The equaliser was just one of those things. Nothing could be done to stop it, other than not conceding the free kick in the first place. Taken in isolation I'd just say the gods weren't on our side today, but after nearly four months of bad form and bad luck it has to be more than that. We have lost that invincibility. That ability to win when not playing well, to hang in when the going gets tough. Now the late goal is expected. It is happening all too often. Something needs to change and I fear it must be the manager. Voted JT as MoTM.

Doesn't matter whether it's fair or not. The only way to get out of this slump is to change the manager. He has had long enough to turn things around and there is no sign that he can do it. There is no point giving him the money to build his own team. He can't manage this one so what makes anyone think he will be able to manage a brand new one - not that that is a realistic option anyway.

The thing which makes both Eidur's and Hernan's better than Rooney's is that the ball was going across them and so the timing to hit it flush is a lot harder. Rooney's was less an overhead kick and more a flying volley. Excellent nevertheless.

I'm with Goose on the Barca w**kfest. I thought Arsenal played really well and deserved their win. It's the first time I've really seen Wilshire play and he was excellent. It was interesting to see Barca run out of steam in the second half. Too many piss easy matches in La Liga. I expect that they will get through but Arsenal have a chance if they play as well again.

What I don't understand is how Carlo can't see the bleeding obvious. The problem is a lack of width. The way he has us setup means that it is easy for teams to defend against us. With Malouda and Anelka tucking in instead of going wide it also takes away all of the space for the midfield and means that we are constantly trying to thread balls through the eye of a needle and giving the ball away. If we want to get the best out of Frank and break down determined defences then we need to get some width and stretch those defences.

How could I have got it so wrong?? Maybe if I see him live I'll realise he is crap? I'll get back to you after saturday. Looking forward to those pints too!

3 Or maybe 4 Perhaps 5 More importantly, I'd hope we might take one!!

What are you surprised at? Not that I'd have him back, surely? I'm sure he knows exactly what he's doing. That's one of the reasons I like him! I didn't make any comment about any of the rest of what you posted. I was merely putting forward a plausible reason for him being at the match last night. As opposed to the wholly implausible suggestion that he was coming back as our manager.

I'd have him back as well. But it will never happen. My guess is that he was in London to tap up Drogba. Bad news for Adabeyor. And us.

Come on Chippy, admit it, Jose is better than Carlo. You know it's true. :D

Can I refer you to this please? The master speaks Personally, I think there is quite a bit of difference between ridiculing the rumour and ridiculing the poster. There is even more difference between either of those and directly calling people f**king c**ts. So let's stay on topic please.

I'm pretty sure we signed one of those, once. Not telling you who though!

Quite right. Not to mention the blatant penalty for a foul on Malouda that he just ignored. I vote Luiz. Exceptional

It's always a bad sign when the players look lost on the pitch. I have to agree that we have a Scolari situation on our hands. The players don't look like they really know what's going on. A big match on Saturday, followed by another big one next midweek. Anything other than two victories and I think it will be curtains for Mr A. Interesting that Butch could see exactly what was wrong.

If ever a topic needed to be put in the rumour section then this is it. In fact I think I'll ask Loz to create special section called "unbelievable, incredible, never going to happen rumours"!

Yep

Mistake dropping Drogba. We need him fit and motivated. Dropping him will achieve the opposite. If he needed to leave out a striker then it should have been Anelka.

At Bolton Sturridge is playing up front. If was playing here instead of Kalou it would be in a wide role. It's not quite the same thing. The comparison ought to be with Sturridge playing ahead of Drogba or Anelka. With Torres coming the opportunities to play up front went from slim to non existent. Sending him on loan was a good move. The big question is whether he will come back next season as a starting striker. I very much doubt it.

Personally I'd be very sorry to see him go. He has had a difficult season so far through a combination of injury and illness and the performance of the team as a whole has not helped matters. Nevertheless, I still think he offers a huge amount to the team and would be loathe to see him dropped as some seem to be advocating. I'd have him ahead of Anelka any day of the week.

I'd imagine it won't get as far as that. Lose to Copenhagen and he's gone. Lose to Fulham tomorrow and he's on very shaky ground.

That's an interesting idea. BUT, is it really any different to what we play already? Let's take your line up and make a couple of tweaks: -------------------------------Cech -------Boss-----------Ivan---------JT--------Ashley -------------------------Essien/Mikel ------------Ramires------------------Lamps-- ----------------------------Anelka --------------------Drogba--------Torres That gives us the 4-diamond-4 formation that we used against Sunderland and Liverpool. Except, the idea when we have the ball is that we move into this formation with the fullbacks pressing on and the holding midfielder dropping back to form a three man defence. ----------------------------------Cech ----------------Ivan--------Essien/Mikel-------JT ----Boss-------------Ramires---------Lamps--------Ashley ---------------------------------Anelka -----------------------Drogba--------Torres Which is a 3-5-2 (or 3-4-1-2, if you prefer) In other words, that is pretty much what we were playing in our last two matches. Against Sunderland it worked very well because a) they couldn't shut Anelka out of the game and B) both Cole and Bosingwa were able to get forward. Against Liverpool it was a problem because Lucas sat on Anelka, Liverpool packed the midfield with 6 players and Kelly and Johnson stopped Cole and Bosingwa getting forward. The truth is that there is no one way to play which will always work. The only real constant is that we need to have width to break down packed defences. If the full backs can't provide it then we have to adapt and find from elsewhere, which means changing tactics. Unfortunately, this is one area where Carlo has consistently been found wanting. As I have said on many occasions, in most matches the pattern is set fairly early. We either play well and win or we play poorly and don't win. I have seen very few matches where we have turned things around. My team to start against Fulham would be. -------------------------Cech Ivanovic-----------JT------Luis--------------Cole -----Essien---------Lampard-------Malouda ---------------------McEachran ----------Torres-------------------Drogba

Luiz starting for Brazil. Ramirez on the bench. Strange as he was "unavailable" on Sunday. Malouda captaining France.