Arq

With a lot of calls for creativity in the midfield, let me adjust your lineup Castiel and go on a flyer here... ----------------- Cech --------------- ---Paulo - Luiz - Terry - Cole--- -------- Ramires - Romeu -------- Sturridge - McEachran - Mata --------------- Torres -------------- Is this injecting too much youth in our lineup? I figure if Josh in the middle isn't working, we can always slide Mata in and put Malouda on the wing. This also allows for a pretty seamless transition to a 4-3-3 if need be as well.

Definitely. I hope they don't try a third though. I think at that point the theme would be getting a bit thin. My wife and I just caught Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows yesterday. This was a very good flick especially if you enjoyed the first one.

QPR just scored. Meh...

That would be great.

You were spot on... Unfortunately.

Really hoping the Liverpool score stays 1-1.

I think we probably need 2 players this window to really help us for the Spring push: 1. Gary Cahill - We need some depth on our back line. Luiz has calmed down, but he's still prone to having issues. Getting Cahill would alleviate that as well as being able to give JT a rest once in a while. This also allows us to play Ivan at RB which would help at that position as well. 2. Eden Hazard - Instantly would take over for Mata at LW pushing Mata to the center. This allows us to effectively ether go with a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 depending on who's in our midfield or current situation on the pitch. Having Mata as our primary AM would help us out immensely and also fills in our midfield need. This makes our starting 11 potentially look like this for January onward: --------------------Cech--------------------- ---Ivan---Cahill/Luiz---JT------Cole----- -----------------Romeu--------------------- ---------Ramires--------------------------- ----------------------Mata------------------ --Sturridge---------------------Hazard--- -----------------Torres---------------------- We still have Lampard, Meireles, and even Mikel if need be for our midfield. I would keep Malouda because I think he's still serviceable as a player. Cahill is a direct replacement for Alex and Hazard is a direct replacement for Anelka. If we wanted to go after another midfielder, obviously the club likes Modric but I don't see that happening. Götze has supposedly said if he were going to go anywhere, that he'd prefer La Liga (but that's just news reporting and we know how spotty that is). He would be worth trying to tempt to come over. Reus is another option but his strengths are AM and Winger only and if we grabbed Hazard, we wouldn't want Reus to take time away from Sturridge. That's my two coppers on the situation. We need something, that's for sure. I hope AVB and crew have something up their sleeve or it could possibly be a long(er) season.

Ah, didn't realize that (I might have missed the commentators saying something about it). Still wouldn't have put Paulo in for him. We could have dropped Romeu back a little closer to the back line and brought in Kalou for Bossy. It's one thing to try to protect a 2-1 lead, but at 1-1 I would have gone for it. That sub told me, by his actions, that AVB wasn't playing for the win.

To be fair, I'm not sure what AVB was thinking today. Let's look at the subs: Malouda for Lamps - I like this change with moving Mata to the center. Mata was doing well and Lamps was just slow in midfield today. Put the guy that can create in the middle and someone with some pace on the wing. Drogba for Sturridge - Ok, I could have bought this if AVB wanted to go with a 4-4-2 (even though we've seen that formation with Drogs and Torres up front fail for us) but it looked to me that he stuck with the 4-3-3 and put Torres at that RW position. Um, why? Torres was showing some hunger and didn't have a bad game at all. Once he moved, he was completely out of sorts and effectively out of the game. Paulo for Bossy - Again, why? What was this going to buy us if we were really sending more forward. As much as I like Romeu, I probably would have pulled him for Kalou and added another attacking option. So as much as I agree that we were pretty lethargic out there, the subs were baffling after the first imho. AVB certainly didn't do himself any favours.

More points dropped... I'm frustrated right now.

3.5 min lads... C'mon!

The match in itself is scary too.

Paulo on for Bossy.

Drogba on for Sturridge.

So close. Keep the pressure on lads.

Lamps off for Malouda... Mata to center?

Mata!!! Get in there!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you. Hope you all have a great time with family and friends.

5-7million? Yes please. I'd be happy if we got him for 8million or less. He's a perfect player to compliment our back line and I see him getting even better in the future.

Brilliant post and spot on Nonro.

Good performance from us tonight. I was hoping for the result, but it very well could have gone the other way. I thought the lads were pushing for the win, especially in the second half. MOTM for me was JT. He was spectacular the whole match. Club legend and leader!

Beer and watching our Blues... What more could one ask for? Oh, how about three points tonight? That would make the night perfect.

I saw this... Unbelievable. I believe I heard that they didn't lose the game because of it.

This is probably accurate. I'm sure there's something at some level to the story but I'm sure it's blown way out of proportion.

He should have done that from the first go around imho, but I agree.