ethicalstrategy

I saw this tweeted by Honigstein. Pretty desperate to think about that sort of money for someone so crap. (Top marks though for finding an old thread rather than starting a new one - worth lots of brownie points! :) )

Cesar Alves - Luiz - Cahill - Evra Robben-Schweinsteiger-Xavi Ronaldo-Villa-Messi Wouldn't bother with any of the crap we have at the moment.

I think he has earned rather more playing time than he is getting. I don't think he ought to be a regular starter yet but I would like to see him get the chance to play behind the front two, either when we have a match sown up or if we are struggling like we were at the weekend. I can't see what harm that would do. If you are going to have him on the bench then you have to be prepared to play him. Otherwise send him on loan like the others.

Not sure about that. When did Ray leave? Around 1979?! Surely we would have got it sorted by now!

The most curmudgeonly congratulations of all time?? :)

Started the match. From what I've seen he is doing well. Pitch is a shocker. Quite amusing listening to commentary from the Chelsea TV boys Ben Andrews and Jason Cundy. Josh just played a nice ball through for Albrighton and Jason almost came in his pants :D Still 0-0

Agree with a lot of what you posted Butch, but not the above. Both players show a lot of movement off the ball. Anelka sometimes too much so. Both still have decent pace too. I do think Anelka has a tendency to slow play down when he is on the ball in deeper positions though. The problem on Sunday was much more tactical. We were setup to play through the middle and Liverpool were setup to counter that. Consequently, we had very little space to play in. We needed width but neither Cole not Bosingwa got forward much to provide it and when they did they tended to be isolated because we were so narrow in midfield. It was worrying to read Torres say that we hadn't expected them to play with three centre backs. Surely, we watched them play against Fulham?

This article from Sporting Intelligence goes into more detail. It's clear that whilst we won't have an immediate problem it will become an issue over time. I can understand the desire to stop clubs piling up debt and getting themselves in to financial difficulty but fundamentally I believe in the free market. It isn't the place of government or regulators to dictate how a business is funded beyond ensuring that it is within the law. If a club wants to gamble and it fails then it will go the way of Leeds. If someone with a lot of money wants to buy a club and invest in it then they should be allowed. There is no prerogative that says there should be a level playing field. There never has been and never will be. The FFP rules simply serve to ensure the maintenance of the status quo. The Madrid's, Barcelona's, Utd's and Bayern's of this world will continue to dominate. Little wonder that there is support for the initiative amongst the top European clubs.

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The defensive or holding midfielder is needed in a 4-3-3 to give licence to the other two midfielders to get forward and to provide cover if the full backs bomb on. If you play 4-4-2 then it is not an issue. Can't see us playing 4-4-2 though. It would need Malouda and Kalou to play as wingers leaving Frank, Ramires, Mikel and Essien to fight over the two central midfield spots.

A very disappointing afternoon. Liverpool deserve credit for the way they came with a game plan and executed it very well. Ancelotti deserves pelters for demonstrating yet again that he really isn't tactically astute. We could have played for a month and not scored. It's all very well criticising the midfield players but the way we were set up meant that everything went through the middle and we were outnumbered 4 to 6/7. It's hardly surprising that we couldn't hold on to the ball. We needed width and neither Cole nor Bosingwa provided it. Cole was isolated and Bosingwa doesn't look like he has the heart to take his man on. Defensively he was a major liability too. Ancelotti even said afterwards that we needed to move the ball quicker and have more width and yet he couldn't put that in to practice on the pitch. I would have been happy enough with a boring 0-0, which is what was on the cards from very early on. To concede such a piss poor goal though is really galling. Cech and Ivanovic should hang their heads in shame. Schoolboys would have been embarrassed by their defending for the goal. The one positive from the match was Luiz who was impressive from his very first touch. I think he will come in for Ivanovic, who will slot back in at right back. In practical terms it probably doesn't hurt us too much to lose. The league was already gone. Securing 3rd place has to be our objective in the league. The other main priority is getting ourselves sorted out for the sharp end of the CL. We ought to get past Copenhagen. If we don't then we can wave goodbye to Ancelotti. After that it will get tougher but I do think we have the players to make an impact provided the manager can get them set out properly and can get them believing in themselves. At the moment we don't have that self belief that pegs back lost causes. When we go behind we don't seems to be able to turn things around. I know that we have some players who are coming towards the end of their careers but we ought to be doing a lot better than we are.

I dont think you can tell anything from the TV coverage. Pre match the atmosphere was pretty good. More akin to a CL semi than a PL match. I agree that it got quieter as the game went on, but that was down to the seeming inevitability that we weren't going to score in a month of sundays. The Liverpool fans were pretty much quiet as mice up until we gifted them the goal.

Absolutely correct. I feel sorry for Blackpool. It's a joke.

Not Daddy's?

Watched Sex and drugs and rock'n'roll the other night. Discovered Baxter Dury. Not too sure about him.

I follow a few journos on twitter. Sid Lowe, Marcotti, Balague, Honigstein

A good chance to play some of the youngsters. Kakuta, Van Aanholt. Oh wait!

Sparingly rotated through necessity not choice though. I'm sure Carlo would love to swap things around more, but he doesn't trust the youngsters.

Not any more!

The problem for me is that the club took a conscious decision in the summer to promote some youngsters to the first team squad as replacements for fading stars. We are halfway through the season and it is clear that the club believes that most, if not all, are not ready to step up. Bruma may well go on loan if and when Luiz arrives. Van Aanholt and Kakuta have gone on loan. Borini is personna non grata over contract wrangles. That basically leaves Sturridge, who is struggling to get a game ahead of Kalou, and Josh who looks like the only one who really is ready but who is being treated with kid gloves. If ever you needed evidence that the club believe they have cocked it up, then there it is.

Official site Let's hope we don't get any injuries at left back.

Goes to show that the decision to rely on our youngsters to replace the old guard was very misguided. Carlo doesn't think he is ready. Hopefully a spell in the first team at Fulham will help get him ready for next year.

I'd say they were more serious than that. There was a complete lack of humour about the exchange and quite a degree of vitriol from both of them, including foul language from Gray. Both were disciplined and warned. Gray was terminated for another incident that took place in December. I don't see this a bit of a laugh. It is clear that Gray has a big problem with women in football and that's what has caused his demise. I can't bring myself to feel sorry for him.

Time for Keys to quietly fade away too me thinks.

Good performances from everyone. Even "that midfield" did OK. I couldn't decide so went for JT who had a hard time against Davies but eventually subdued him.