Celery1989

Just came across an amazing chant for John Obi Mikel on Twitter. I don't think many know of it but it's brilliant: 'When we're in times of trouble, Jose plays a midfield three, He's not quite Makelele, John Obi. And on that night in Munich, Robben fcked his penalty, Who was that sh*t stirring? John Obi. John Obi, John Obi, John Obi, John Obi, Not quite Makelele, John Obi.' Genius! This must go viral!

Given the injuries United might have to play Rooney in midfield now and then Falcao upfront. I don't think they can afford to not have Rooney up front though. Alternatively what I could see them doing is playing Fellaini deep with Herrera, Mata in the hole and putting Di Maria on the right. Whatever the case, we need to press high and hard tomorrow and not sit back for a draw. They will be there for the taking defensively.

A few points on what has been discussed over the last few pages: David Luiz - Is he ever going to grow up? 4 years on from his move to Chelsea and he still looks like the same lost little boy that he was when he came here. Luiz' biggest problem is that he plays purely on emotion given his lack of maturity, which means that his performances under pressures tend to be polarised between the excellent (Munich) and the horrific (Last night, Germany 7-1 Brazil). I'll always look back on Luiz' and his endeavours at Chelsea with good grace. But I'm very glad that we got rid of him and that he is someone else's problem now. Pep Guardiola - I have to agree with the assertion of many that Pep still needs to prove himself to a certain extent. He inherited arguably the most technically gifted team to have ever played the game at a time when Real Madrid were in a mess. I give him credit for making them press more up the pitch and for moving Messi into the 'False 9' role, but the fact that that team was able to take over the world with a rookie manager at the helm says a lot about how superior at that time. At Bayern the team have been poor in the CL whilst has had no real challenge for the Bundesliga crown. I think if he does ultimately end up at City then there might be somewhat of a learning curve.

Exactly. Dortmund won 1 title and 1 Uefa Cup between their CL victory and the Klopp era.

They are a massive club, obviously. But Bayern Munich are bigger, and in the Bundesliga that is the be all and end all. Ultimately, Bayern will prevail, even if one of their competitors has a successful period for a year or two. Klopp would be great for City, I think. He is a great man manager, sound tactically and also astute in the transfer market. In short, he's everything that the Engineer is not. He's rebuilt Dortmund's squad several times having lost key players which is what he would have to do at City this Summer too. I also think he'd be breath of fresh air for the PL and good for English football overall.

If they got Benitez - lol. He's doing a poor job at Napoli, I can't see that they'd be looking at him. I dont City need Ancelotti. He's an excellent coach, knows the PL obvs and would certainly improve them in Europe. But City need someone who is good at rebuilding teams/squads which isn't something Ancelotti is particularly good at IMO. I'm sure he'd be able to get more out of that ageing team than Pellegrini, but I think more important for City will be starting over next year. In this regard, I think Klopp might be a better fit. But you have to question whether he's really all that either, given how poor Dortmund were earlier this year season. Simeone would be the one if it was me, but he's just signed a new deal and apparently his style of football is too pragmatic for them. So there doesn't seem to be any obvious candidate. I wonder, perhaps Pellegrini might stay by default? Ultimately, Guardiola is the guy they want, and his contract will run out at the end of next year...

This. I was there as well, the celebrations for the goal were incredible. The end went absolutely beserk! Great day, will remember that one for a long time!

Pellegrini will go, and he deserves to. When Mancini was sacked, City's official statement said that it was the lack of 'holistic' development which led to Mancini's dismissal. Look at City this season: Poor showings in both domestic cups, a weak title defence and a characteristically limp effort in the CL knockout phase. Add to that the lack of youth development and yet more poor signings (I omit Bony from this as it's too early to judge him) and I simply don't see how Pellegrini will stay, given the reasoning behind Mancini's firing. Simeone would be perfect for City, He'd give them some steel, keep the players motivated and would be able to find good signings for for relatively modest prices. Thankfully he's just signed a new deal, so who else can City realistically recruit that is better than Pellegrini? To be quite honest I can't think of anyone other than perhaps Jurgen Klopp, but I'm not convinced by him any more.

Worrying times for City fans. Whilst the spine of their team is exceptionally talented, it’s ageing quickly and they just don’t seem to have the same hunger any more IMO. Add to that a tactically clueless manager who can’t motivate the players, and a squad which, actually, isn’t really all that good, and you’ve got serious problems. I think their biggest problem has been the inability to find players that can adequately replace the likes of Aguero, Toure, Kompany, Silva etc when they are injured. If you look at their record in the transfer market in recent seasons it’s really poor, untold millions waste on players like Mangala, Garcia, Navas, Jovetic etc. who just aren’t up to it. And they barely ever seem to have all their top players fit at the same time. Huge Summer ahead of City as a club.

Campbell was never captain material IMO at club level let alone country.

https://lockerdome.com/6169461380096065/7542393880854802 Anyone see this? Torres posting about how amazing the Liverpool fans supposedly are after the charity game he played there yesterday. Seriously, what a c***. Torres barely acknowledged us at all during his stint here, despite being given more support than any other player I've ever seen in my 20 odd years of following the club.

13 out of 15. The Chelsea-related one is somewhat misleading actually because Azpilicueta has scored for us (COC, Arsenal away last year). The table relates to League goals though.

^ Pretty tough to argue with that team really. I think other honourable mentions could be Berahino, Downing, Skrtel and Herrera. Coquelin too if he'd been integrated into their side earlier, he's been terrific since December.

It's funny because what was being billed as a 4/5 team scrap for 3rd and 4th could be almost over in 2 weeks' time. Arsenal play Liverpool at the Emirates and United play Villa at Old Trafford. Given the suspensions and injuries Liverpool have, as well as Arsenal's and United's recent form, Liverpool could quite conceivably find themselves 8 points off 4th with 7 games to. That would be a really tall order.

On a side note, thought Fabregas was a bit more like his old self today, especially in the first half. Also nice for Willian to get an assist. Ramires was so poor though, what has happened to this guy? His first touch is staggeringly poor, especially for a Brazilian midfielder! I used to put up with his lack of technique because he could score terrific goals but he doesn't any more. As much as I love his tenacity and the threat he poses on the break, surely we could find another CM who can provide those attributes but that can actually pass and control the ball properly? Finally it was good to see Felipe Luis get a game. I quite like him as a player, he offers us much more in attack than Dave despite not being as solid defensively. Would like to see him continue against against Stoke, especially as we are at home and because they don't have much of a threat on their RW.

Can't believe some are writing Cuadrado off already. The lad's barely had a chance. Give him a full pre-season, let him acclimate to living England as well a little bit and then we'll see how he does next season.

Absolutely vital win, but with that said, I'm quite concerned about the way we're playing. We're either terrific or abysmal it seems and we need to sort it out at the back. I'd go with Zouma until the end of the season, Cahill is too vulnerable for me. Really happy for Remy as well, he's a good player that needs to be used more. 3 more points closer to the title, come on the Chels!

Is vipleague.is the same as vip box/vip football? I use the latter and the streams are ok but you have to clicky through several adverts to actually get them working!

Not to mention the fact that we f*cked up the Capital One Cup when we were easily the best team left in it, and the Club World Cup when we were easily the best team to enter that too. Yes, the players deserve blame too, but Benitez's lack of motivational skills and dumb substitutions clearly were a factor too. The job that Benitez did was Ok IMO overall. He wasn't a total failure but he also definitely was not a resounding success either. Still a c*** though.

Chelsea Arsenal City Liverpool

Disappointed after last night’s performance, but strangely not as depressed as I normally am when we bow out of the CL. It’s a lot easier to take when you know that the opposition were far better than you over the two legs and therefore deserve it. I never thought we’d really win the CL this year, we’re still lacking in certain areas of the squad, whilst some of the players that we do have need to build more mental resilience. That said, it doesn’t excuse how we played. It was an insipid performance from what appeared to be a complacent set of players. Courtois was excellent but everyone else performed at varying levels of mediocrity. We played against 10 men for an hour and half and the best we could create was a lucky goal from a corner and a penalty. The tactics didn’t help, we were simply too cautious and should have looked to attack them more. It was as though our gameplan after the red card lulled the players into a false sense of security. This was José’s mistake, big time. The ref had a shocker as well, the only key decision he got right was our pen in ET, everything else was incorrect. Costa should have gone, so should have Luiz, Ibra was very unlucky indeed. My biggest concern though is that we look clueless in attack at the moment, aside from Hazard our players look frightened to do anything positive. Even simple things like taking a player on with a dribble, or having a shot ffs. José’s needs to release the handbrake and let these guys play. We’re not the 2004/5 team that could consistently grind out 1-0 victories. This side is built much more to attack, and we simply need to let the players express themselves. Sunday is massive now, we need a win badly, and a performance.

Won't lie I often go to the toilet just before half time, sorry to have offended any one! In my defence I usually wait for a goal kick/stoppage in play so as to cause the least amount of disturbance. The fact is that if you want to actually enjoy your beer at HT and go to the toilet you have to leave early.

Beer Girls in the West Stand. Get as much booze in as possible, be that in or outside the ground - you only actually need to be in your seat 5 mins or so before as that is when the Liquidator etc start.

Poor performance from United once again, LVG's implementation of his "philosophy" clearly isn't working. I can't remember United playing with any kind of sustained rhythm or fluency at any point this season. At this rate, I don't see them making the top 4, and whether they do or don't, that team/squad needs a hell of a lot more investment. In fact, of their signings so far, only Herrera has been consistently good whilst there are big question marks still hanging over practically all of the others, save for Blind who has been ok for the most part. In short, the club's a mess at the moment, and it's a miracle they even are 4th at the moment in light of how poor they've been this season. I know it was his own decision to leave rather than to stay and fight for his place, but I really do feel for Juan Mata. He effectively left our bench for United's and doesn't even get a look in any more under LVG, who evidently doesn't rate him. He needs to leave this Summer, for the good of his own career. Unfortunately there isn't any obvious move on for him that I can see, he doesn't fit any of the big 3 in Spain; Real are absolutely stacked in the attacking positions, Barca's current formation has no room for a classic no.10, and I cannot see Simeone taking on a player that is largely useless defensively. Perhaps he could go to Juve to play behind Tevez? Top quality player and a really decent person as well, can't help but think Mata regrets leaving. If it wasn't for the World Cup, I think he'd have seen it out until the Summer and perhaps then made a more considered transfer elsewhere.

Personally I would set up the same as we did against West Ham, except with Matic coming as the DM in place of Zouma. PSG will come at us, they have to. So I would set up 4-3-3, with a tactical, defensive mindset and a focus on the counter-attack. I would also go with Cahill over Zouma in this, he's been excellent in the last two games in which we played in a similar way to which I expect to see us on Wednesday. Also Ramires has been looking good of late whilst Oscar has been poor, so more reason to play 4-3-3 rather than 4-2-3-1. There's no debate at all IMO so Courtois to start, especially given how brilliant he was against West Ham. And how some are suggesting that Cuadrado should start is completely beyond me. It is exactly this type of game which demands Willian's best qualities - workrate, tactical awareness, quick link-up play. ---------------Courtois--------------- ---Iva----Cahill-----Terry---Azpi--- -----------------Matic----------------- ------Ramires---------Fabregas----- ---Willian-----------------Hazard---- -----------------Costa-----------------