ethicalstrategy

Width. Anyone with half a brain knows that you beat a packed defence by getting the ball wide and getting in behind the fullbacks. You also need to move the ball quickly. We did neither last night. Having had one opportunity to play against them you'd have thought a top manager would have come up with a plan to open them up. I knew last night would be tough. Swansea are a very decent team. But to go out with such a whimper, without creating one decent chance, is just embarrassing. Fair play to Swansea. They were better than us and deserve to be in the final.

Hopefully all of them will still be involved under Scolari. Might try and get along if I can.

Like that, but the ground will be full, so more like 41,246.

I give you:

Whoosh...

Slagging off Brendan, supporting Torres and Benitez??? What's got in to the boy? Leave him in the North East wastelands forever I say!

Same article in the Independent. Source of scuffle rumour was Trizia Fiorellino, the chair of the Chelsea supporters group. 'Toxic' Chelsea mood grows as Fernando Torres boos spark scuffles among fans

Dance music you say? You'll have to help me. Is it a waltz or a foxtrot?

Sorry to piss on the Luiz bonfire, but I'm less impressed than most with how he played. I think he exhibits the same strengths and weaknesses as he does when he plays at centre back. He is great on the ball and very dynamic but he is also very indisciplined positionally. Last night in the second half he was all over the place, especially after Lamps came on. He more or less abandoned any idea of playing in a more holding role and was marauding around the pitch. I don't actually think that helped the team at all. Cahill is a good player but I am not yet convinced he is top class. I think he has been culpable in a lot of goals that we have conceded this season and he has got off lightly compared to some of Luiz's errors at CB. I think he ought to have done a lot better against Michu for Swansea's opener. Oscar was wasted wide right. He needs to be on the ball and involved more centrally. Forcing him to stay wide and defend more takes away his strengths. We would have been better off playing Marin in that system. Torres was a waste of space. Why he started only Benitez and Roman know. Not bringing Ba on until the 80th minute was one of the worst bits of management I've seen in a long time. Ivan made two howlers. Even I can't think of a way to blame Benitez for that. As long as he doesn't repeat those mistakes in the next few games then I'm prepare to overlook them given his past record. In fact, in the continued absence of JT and Frank, I'd be inclined to make him captain. Overall, we played well in the first half, less so in the second. If we decide to play a full eleven from the start then I reckon we have a chance of turning it around.

Also, this is fantastic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4ZW6f89QI&feature=youtube_gdata_player'>

Love that song moi, but my fav is still Heroes.

I wouldn't describe myself as a pessimist, but I can foresee Shakhtar beating Juve and us conceding a late equaliser which knocks us out. Hmm, so maybe I am a pessimist after all!

I can well believe it!

I haven't given up on him yet. He played pretty well last year. The problem this season is that he is more exposed (along with the rest of our defence) and hasn't had the experience and leadership of JT and Frank around him.

If Moyes was offered the job he'd take it in the blink of an eye.

It's going to be interesting. My inclination is to say "f**k it" and go with what was working before. Cech Ivanovic Luiz Cahill Cole Mikel Ramires Oscar Mata Hazard Torres

That's not really creative accounting. The spreading of the cost of an asset over its' expected lifetime is standard accounting practise. The capitalisation of debt to equity is also a tangible injection of cash which, incidentally, doesn't directly impact the profit and loss account. There has been a huge indifference to the fact that we have actually made a small profit rather than a massive loss. It has pissed on so many people's bonfires that they can't bring themselves to recognise it as any sort of achievement. That doesn't mean I agree with or am happy about Robbie's sacking. I think it is madness. But given the choice between having Roman and not, I'll choose have.

Rather depends on whether you can service the interest on that mortgage.

A huge night and some big calls for Robbie to make. I would say our main problem over the last few matches, including the ones that we have won, is that we need to score 3 goals to offset the defensive errors. You can only keep doing that for so long. Against Swansea, Liverpool and WBA we didn't get those goals and our defensive lapses hurt us. So tonight we can't afford to lose. We have to be tighter at the back and that means we have to sacrifice something up front, at least to start with. The full backs need proper cover and we need to get in and around Juve in midfield. I'd be thinking along the lines of a 4-3-3 Cech Ivanovic Cahill Luiz Cole Mikel Ramires Oscar Mata Hazard Moses Let Mata or Hazard get in and around Pirlo, Mikel can sit in front of the back four and get Oscar and Ramires can help the full backs out. You could swap Torres for Moses, but at least Moses has got a couple of goals recently.

We definitely need a win with the City game coming up next. Ordinarily an away draw wouldn't be a bad result but the points dropped at Swansea and at home to Liverpool have changed that. I also agree that we need to find an alternative line up that can be effective. We cannot go all season playing Mata, Oscar and Hazard. Moses, Marin and Sturridge have to contribute as well.

Just been confirmed by Gigi that Oscar is not on twitter

Seems to be related to wage savings rather than transfer monies received. Signings of Cahill , Mata, Hazard and Lukaku are in the period but fees written off over the life of the contract.

I think that's fair enough when the play is in front of them. It doesn't work so well if the ball is played out wide with the full backs up field. If they cover across then that leaves the opposition midfielders space to stroll through the middle - as we saw last night. One man's 4-2-3-1 is another man's 4-4-1-1. In a 4-4-1-1 there would be no doubt that the two wide players would cover their full backs.

You'll have to explain that one to me. I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

I can understand why you feel like that, but I'd say that Cahill has made just as many errors as Luiz this season. The Man U league game is a good example. He was at fault for at least one of their goals and for Ivanovic being sent off. That's not to say Cahill isn't any good, just that he has his own weaknesses too. Where I think we are lacking most defensively at the moment is in organisation and leadership. Luckily we have the solution to that!