youlots

^ crikey....try & understand, I don't always agree with abra - in fact I'd say that I disagree with his views more often than not. However, two things: he's been on this forum for a long time & is therefore worthy of respect and, he doesn't post sh*t. In your case however.....

well...I don't know...I think a lot of top players would still like to play under Jose if given the chance.

^ abra I think it's also fair to say that Carlo had a much better roster than we do at present - and even he had his 'bad moment' where our form dipped. He was the subject of ridicule at the time in some quarters of the press for that characterisation - even on this forum it was said by some that he had no plan B. Do you really think that had that 'bad moment' not ended, that Carlo would have been treated any different by the press than what Jose is now?

Fixed it for you. Hope you don't mind. It's a combination of fascination & repulsion at one and the same time. Tall poppy syndrome.

yes...a difficult conundrum...it must be the case that at the start of the season the minimum requirement set was to be in the top 4 come end of season. Now even that is looking very unlikely with our roster/form. I assume that when the board/owner made a statement in support of Jose recently, the expectation of top 4 was still there & that no assurance had been given behind the scenes to Jose that that expectation had been dispensed with even if there are now misgivings/an acceptance by the board/owner that the roster is deficient. Hence the on-going quandary for Jose now regarding selection. I wish that the board would privately tell Jose that he should now experiment as much as he likes and that the roster will be seriously looked at in January and come the end of the season with a view to making some wholesale changes.

^ you represent the best of what this forum is chipst(a)r, well said as usual.

is the parrot annoying you....he's a good parrot - he really is.....alas, if only you knew him....

^ yeah...look...I'm not orientated that way - not that there's anything wrong with that of course - sweet of you to ask though.

oh this is delicious....now it's Jose the pirate....keelhaul him! Then off with his head!

hehe...it gets better....those sexist pirates...what were they thinking! what secrets were the pirates telling them exactly? somefink about treasure yeah? hilarious.

Listen sailor - this is how it works in grown-ups land: if you put something forward & you're then asked for the source then you're obliged to provide it. Got it - or didn't you get that far in school?

is that the best you can do? I asked a simple question in regards to your initial assertion? You didn't answer & instead elected to sidestep. You're pulled up on that & on your other recurring speculations & now you retreat to the corner like the wounded pathetic creature you are. Pitiful really.

More deflection....battlling to save face now aren't you? It's origin is known - Seagram's designer came up with it & was then used by the US Government. More malarkey from you - 'rumoured to be a sailor's quote' - come on then, supply the provenance of that?

hehe...had a dig around did you LB & came up a bit short on provenance of that saying didn't you? NM above is of course quite right - hardly pirates then was it? No. Do you have the decency to admit that you were talking out of your arse? No. So you deflect like usual you disingenuous turd. Now you want us to believe that there's a referee conspiracy & that if Jose is nicer to everybody then it'll all somehow come together & we'll all live happily ever after! And I'm the "myopic" one? Hilarious.

hehe.....old pirate saying eh? Well you are of course wrong but, nonetheless, I want you to provide the academic source for that assertion please. And you think all the refs hold a grudge against us do you (solely down to Jose so you say)? That excuses Clattenberg's time-keeping does it? Or his generosity concerning Lucas does it? The inference you seemingly want us to draw is that if we have another manager the refs might be kinder to us is it? You're a joke w/o a punchline. Go away.

mmmm....well you can take that view or, you can try & understand what Jose may have been thinking: when Mikel was replaced by Fabregas at the 71 minute mark he was on a yellow & had played mid-week (with ovetime & w/o having been replaced at Stoke) & was being shown up a bit for pace albeit relative to some of our other players he was doing his job. Just before the substitution Oscar had had that 50 metre speccy which Mignolet did well to parry away but apart from that we had created very little threat at all - apart from Kenedy' initial foray after he'd replaced Hazard. Jose knew that Fabregas was fresh (having not played mid-week) and would provide us with further options in attack. I can understand his thinking - it was a calculated gamble & taken so as to try & win the game. Tell me this, was Fabregas to blame for Coutinho's 2nd or Benteke's goal? Of course not, so what's your point exactly? We'll never know what would have occurred had Matic come on instead of Fabregas but I think it likely that at least attack wise we would have been even more sterile. To say as you do that "we look[ed] like taking the lead..." is rubbish - how many shots on goal had we had in 25 odd minutes in the 2nd? very, very few - so why do you speculate? Who knows - other than to blame the manager. Then you go on to speculate some more concerning Ivanovic. Look, if you can't have the decency to look at the game objectively before making your conclusions - do us a favour & don't post - because it's simplistic crap that doesn't lead anywhere. Ok?

^ etc etc

^ situation normal after we've played/won/lost to the poo...in they come & out they'll go. Some of course do a better job of disguising themselves than others.

mmmmm......or in other words...."I speculate as follows w/o really having any idea or evidence to back my theories but in some, non-defined way, I know that I'm right....because I watch a make-believe tv program that is full of intrigue & so I am very astute to the ways of the world....."

dear shedenders - meet the new Darogba....

I wish the moderators of this site had the balls to put you out to permanent pasture instead.

he could wear a wig...perhaps an affro...might help liven up these rather silly ceremonies.

mmmm...your understanding of paronomasia isn't that great either.

NM - my understanding was that he's based in London.

^ mmmm...well choose to believe what you want to believe. All I know is that invariably with football or any subject really, there are opinions of those who matter and more often than not many opinions of those who don't. What Marcotti doesn't know about football is probably very little. And he certainly is far more well connected in the football world than you or I. If one chooses to dismiss all journalists on the basis that....well I don't what basis you're relying on exactly in the present context, then that is a matter for you, but it seems to me that it's rather an obtuse position to take really.