Chippy

Might be worth moving Rami in beside Matic and subbing Mikel (who is nothing like a sh*tbag) for Shurrle or Salah.

Jose in my opinion should bring Ash on for Mikel and push Luiz into midfield.

Have some faith, Jose is thinking and hopefully will come up with something.

I expected city to score first, we have to go for it now but need to stop giving them so much space when they attack.

Bets for today, half any winnings to the site. 15 Feb 2014 - Man City v Chelsea - Correct Score Chelsea 2-1 @ 12/1 Stake : £5.00 Estimated Returns : £65.00 And Edin Dzeko / Chelsea 2-1 @ 155/1 Stake : £2.00 Estimated Returns : £312.00 And Willian / Chelsea 2-1 @ 170/1 Stake : £2.00 Estimated Returns : £342.00 edit: And 15 Feb 2014 - Man City v Chelsea - Anytime Goalscorer Willian @ 11/2 Stake : £4.00 Estimated Returns : £26.00 Come on boys

I'm not worried about Ash at LB and think he'll show that he's still top class, last time he played he looked ok and had a lovely understanding with Hazard which could be good if he gets forward at all. More worried about CB although a fully concentrated Luiz and Ivan are still decent back up for a team with any aspirations. Good game and a bit of bite added by the medias desperate attempts to pit Jose against every other manager in the division...I like how he still comes out on top even with the media giving him something to answer and then headlining his answers as if they hadn't asked the questions. Looking forward to the game, win it and we are on course for a very winnable FA Cup, lose it and the concentration on the other two competitions might see us as Champions.

Pretty much my take on it Just, thinking about Cahills soft passback reminded me of the swansea game under the interim when Ivan had a bit of a mare...as you say, all players make mistakes, it's the regularity of mistakes that show if anything has been learned by them and in Davids case sadly I don't think he's any less prone to them now to he was last season.

I think we'd be further ahead if he was in the team, law of averages tells me even if he didn't fit with our player as well as he does there, his movement and his desire to shoot at any opportunity would have resulted in more goals than we are currently getting from our strikers. Nothing's certain and maybe we would have lost some from other players but without a crystal ball my gut feeling is he'd have done as well here as he's doing there.

There's no doubting that he's had some good games as a defender but games where he concentrates for the entire ninety minutes do feel few and far between, it isn't media or pundits that put my heart in my mouth when I see his name in the starting line up (unless it's in midfield) it's more often than not I've bet on us to win to nil and feel a lot less confident. Obviously with Cahill and JT out he has to play there and he could have a man of the match performance but there is always that feeling for me that he'll try to nip round the front instead of standing his ground or be woefully out of position. For me what we payed for Cahill has been a bargain and I feel more confident with him back there.

No idea to be honest, have a look at the link http://www.leaguemanagers.com/managers/pow-7354.html

Seems the five man panel of the LMA appreciated the away win at City. AWAY WIN AGAINST MAN CITY EARNS CHELSEA THE ACCOLADE The League Managers Association five-man Performance of the Week panel, comprising LMA Chairman Howard Wilkinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Joe Royle, Dave Bassett and Barry Fry, were in agreement that this week, the LMA Performance of the Week Award should go to Chelsea following their excellent 1-0 away win against Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League on 3 February 2014. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will receive a specially engraved crystal football in a presentation to commemorate the award. Chelsea won their first LMA Performance of the Week Award of the season to inflict a first home Barclays Premier League defeat of the season for the hosts at The Etihad Stadium. Branislav Ivanovic's stunning first-half goal proved to be the winner as City failed to score in a home league match for the first time since November 2010. Chelsea’s victory also put to an end the hosts 100% home league record this season where they had won 11 out of 11 of their previous matches. After the match, Mourinho was delighted with the outstanding performance; "We have beaten the best team, Manchester City, twice but they are the best team. I am not saying we are better than them but today we were the best team. "We do better in these big games because we love it. We love the big games and when you love it maybe you feel an extra motivation."

Like I said earlier in the thread, I'm more worried about the scouse threat despite their lack of squad depth than any threat from North london.

It's like a guilty pleasure, the one where Vic was sat in the hole in the wall cracked me up, what a laugh they must have earning money doing that eh?

Where's redandwhite tonight? I wonder if Arsenals keeper being man of the match will count in his book as a battering .

Oh my memory must be getting worse, don't know how I forgot the Blues brothers (not 2) Italian Job and Scum. Good to see a post from you Steve.

I thought I'd add to moyes and UTDs motivation by giving them the added burden of my expectations... 12 Feb 2014 - Arsenal v Man Utd - Correct Score Man Utd 2-1 @ 10/1 Stake : £10.00 Estimated Returns : £110.00 Half any winnings to the site,

How did I forget Bullit, that Car chase with the 66 mustang and the 70 charger...immense

I'm not of great taste when it comes to films and go through phases of liking different types of things, a few that have stuck with me over the years are: American Graffitti, love the old cars and the feelgood happy days style of this film, all the characters are good and the old music. Love Honour and Obey, yep a Ray Winstone classic...love an English gangster film and this was enjoyable. Streetfighter, the old one with Charles Bronson, good stuff. Gone in sixty seconds, loved the original and like the cornier Nickolas Cage one as well...Cars Cars Cars. The Cooler, William H Stacy, a strange bloke who is used to jinx gamblers gets the girl, don't know why I like it but I do.

It's a hard one to call team selection wise, I love the FA Cup and would dearly like to be looking for us in the next draw but as close as the top of the league is, it won't be great viewing when the line up comes out if we start with five or six players who although good enough to "serve it" (borrowing some of MSBs terminology) to City have not had much game time as a unit. I fancy putting out a side with pace on the wings and would at huge risk rest Hazard and Oscar, going with Salah Willian and Shurrle behind whichever striker plays. I would try to keep the midfield solid with Matic and Luiz in there but it feels a huge risk leaving Ramires, Oscar and Hazard out. I would start Ash and Azpi as wingbacks and Terry/Cahill or Terry/Ivan as CBs. There is a big shout for playing the usual suspects though as an FA Cup would be brilliant along with a top three finish.

I agree with you in the main as the whole team looked a bit fatigued last night and being used to Jose making changes that have a positive affect on proceedings it felt like Torres (just back from injury) was unlikely to have a big impact and was more likely given the run out for sharpness so the Mikel sub was a bit of a disappointment as it meant we had decided to sit on the slim lead although already under huge pressure. That and that neither player looked to be really up for it, You would have hoped for a rallying type performance to wake up the fading other nine which never happened (ok Mikel came on to sure things up and he wasn't going to be the one to push us on) so it instantly leaves those players open to the finger pointing when in fact the whole side were poor. The nervous defending gave the opposition a lift and maybe with hindsight a change there with maybe Luiz pushed into midfield and Ivan in the center could have helped. All said and done we had a bad night and I don't see comparing it to the West Ham game is fair, I think we played well against them but giving both those teams a bit of due praise, they stuck at it and gave us a fright...they will both have a couple more big games in them before the seasons over and hopefully have another impact on proceedings.

I think Ivans last nights tantrum is a rarity to be fair, he's a consistently good player in either of the positions he plays for us, Luiz is a nightmare as a CB and I wouldn't even chose him there against less physical forward, It's not just the physicality he struggles with, its positioning and decision making. He's a good player and has looked at his best for us in midfield but I'm starting to feel that the money touted about if it has any truth in it could be invested in a player or players that would be a better fit, he just makes me lose all confidence when we are under pressure and with Ivan, JT, Cahill, Ash and Azpi Until Zouma is ready we can still have a decent back four without Luiz in it, for now if it was my choice he would be back up for the CB and with one of the main two out I would play Ivan there. Not saying he wouldn't get games in the midfield though as he has looked better and better there.

Odd theory for me, I'd say Jose was one of the most pro-active managers in the game, always looking to make something happen when the need arises and usually good at sureing things up if he feels happy for things to stay the same.

Obviously everyone is upset that we just threw away a couple of points, some players had a bad day and even the manager didn't make choices that seemed to make us better...that said we don't know what our choices would have done and he's not wrong very often so maybe we should be putting this down to an off day all round and giving the opposition a bit of credit for really having a go. Jose just masterminded a great result against City and we will still be equal top or a point adrift equal second after the games have evened out...I'd have taken that happily if I was offered it a few months back. If everyone thinks City or Arsenal are above these type of results away from home against teams struggling for their premiership lives they must have been watching a different game to me over the last few years.

You can go over and over it as hopefully Jose and the players will, we didn't defend from the front like we have been, we seemed to be even more narrow and I felt being as Oscar and Ramires looked a bit off it would have been an ideal game for Shurrle to come on and stay wide either swapping Oscar and Ramires or subbing either of them. My main concern was Luiz and I'd have brought Ash on for Ramires and pushed Ivan central with Azpi going to his natural position before I changed anything further forward. Edit: obviously with Luiz moving to beside Matic. I'm sure Jose had his reasons for his changes and nobody expected such a spirited end to the game from WBA, they smelled the confusion in our defense and that was where I think the change would have helped most. A lot to play for and there will be nerves from all the title challengers.

I think it was a toss up between Matic Willian and Cahill, thought Oscar and Ramires looked out of sorts and Hazard might be carrying a bit too much expectation, he can't have stand out performances every game. I think at a push, I'll just about give it to Matic.