venom2011

All started with the insane selection by Del Bosque. 5 slow, aging midfielders and not a credible goal threat amongst them. What was the point of selecting Costa in front of that lot? Pedro, Fabregas, Cazorla, Mata. All goal scorers who also rack up assists. Edit: Forgot Koke.

Willian -trolled Spurs Salah - trolled Pool Mata's fee - trolled United And now this guy. *slow clap*

It's not virtually the same system, as you ask something different from the players in the formation. But throughout any CFC match you'll see every 451/433/4231 hybrid, depending on Jose's instructions, oppo, period of the game etc. Jose, Ancelotti and dare I say even Rafa have all said that the system is not important. Having the right players and creating balance are far more critical to success. People are focusing on trying to fit Fabregas into their idea of a 4-3-3 with Oscar and Matic. But whether that will ever be realised is a toss-up because Oscar/Fabregas + Matic and Ramires is simply better balanced, regardless of formation.

I will bet you a tenner that the next tweet will be his 3000th.

Quite right. And I agree with some people when they speak about too much being made about his latest comments but this isn't the sole reason why this lad gets under the skin of some supporters: "I don't like people talking to me about the Champions League. It wasn't me, but my team that won," he said. "When [salomon] Kalou put the cup on my lap in the bus I asked him to take it away immediately. I didn't want to touch it because just as with the Champions League I had no part in it at all," he told De Standaard newspaper. and Then, even though Jose wanted him in the squad this past season, he would not hear of it. He wanted to improve himself and earn a place in the World Cup squad. And this was possibly at a substantial cost to us. Who knows how much stronger our league run would have been with him in the squad. Ambition is a great thing to have but sometimes it can flow over and turn the person into a complete tw*t.

The speaking doesn't help, but Jose will rate him fairly on what he sees. Lukaku at the beginning of the season scored some goals for West Brom and he was behind Shane Long in the pecking order. His touch was outrageously poor and he regularly made poor decisions. He has now improved a bit but absolutely no coach in any top side would have him as his number one. He is very good for a 21 yr old. And just good if you disregard age. I'm not too fussed if we sell him and replace him with someone better.

Like Jose said: 'He likes to speak'. The boy has no interest in fighting for his place. Good luck to him.

Just to mess with them is worth +- £5mil so he's only costing about £22mil. A steal I tell you. Can we write off the £5m under FFP?

...................Costa............... Hazard......................Willian ......Fabregas......Ramires.... ...................Matic................ LB........Terry....Cahill.....Azpi Now that is a proper 4-3-3. With everyone, most notably Ramires, in their best position. I'd still want to see the 4-2-3-1 though but for a long time we've not had the right kind of midfielders for it. I'm always fascinated by the potential partnerships down the flanks. Can you imagine how much destruction Hazard, Fabregas and say Shaw/Felipe would cause down the left?

That's like saying let's not sign Hazard because we already have Kakuta. Varane is a better quality player right now and has as much, if not more, talent that any one of them.For a reasonable price I'd much rather sell one of them and go for Varane. Timing is everything in the transfer market.

So you let go 2 players with a large amount of PL experience, then relying on MvG, Chalobah and Pogba to see some serious game time? I'm sorry but that is going backwards as far as I'm concerned. Imagine Matic injured on the opening day and then we're left with Ramires and some youngsters. I don't care how talented they are, Pogba may need time to adapt and the other two are untested. No coach at a top club would sanction such a situation. Jose knows exactly what he's doing and next season he aims to win, not become Arsenal.

Far too open indeed. I don't think RDM took it too lightly at all. I honestly believe he was out of his depth.

Doubt it had any effect on his though

This. Whichever player Jose selects is fine. One offers you immediate quality and the other value for money + greater potential. Anyone thinking Lukaku is a better striker than Mandzukic right now is delusional.

Agreed about the inconsistency. He seems a touch temperamental but still have high hopes for him.

I beg to differ. He is a little powerhouse with a really powerful shot on him and he can finish from just about anywhere. Speed isn't really a big part of his game.

Yeah a really neat finisher. It's difficult to say if he can make it here, I do consider Feruz and Brown to be bigger talents. Worth keeping an eye on.

They also said the same when United spunked €30m on an 18yr old Anderson.....

Prospects yes. But there are many of those. Is he good enough yet to be backup to Cahill and Terry? I personally doubt it, but Jose I'm sure will take a long hard look in preseason. It's difficult to judge whether a player is ready when he comes from a weaker league and hasn't played a great deal, regardless of talent. Stones though has seen 26 appearances this season and has looked assured at this level. Ultimately we should trust Jose to make the right choice.

This same Lescott that was integral to their previous title-winning defence? He is not top bracket but he is also not dreadful by ANY stretch of the imagination. That's like saying Mata is dreadful because he can't 'beat out friggin Oscar'.

Only 13 appearances after a lengthy injury. He is a good talent. I don't think he'd care what you call him.

If you think the idea of choosing Lescott over Kalas in a crunch game is a joke, then I'm afraid we have to end this discussion.

Agree on Mata. OP saying it takes just one pass to change a game....well it certainly didn't change United's fortunes in the latter half of the season. Would we have been better against weaker sides? Possibly. Would we have been weaker against better sides? I'd say certainly. Stoke and Sunderland were weaker sides we faced when our game was relatively offensive, recovering after the Everton loss. Mourinho recognized the fragility and the legitimate risk in continuing as we were. And he responded accordingly. I would never say his tactics were a mistake at all. Teams simply can't go from scintillating football against weak oppo to parking a bus in the next game. A tactical equilibrium must be achieved for consistency.

Except we don't have a brand new CB who plays regularly in a top European league. Firstly he's hardly had a game this season and Ligue 1 is not a top European league. And who exactly is our Croatian CB? Why are you obsessed with freshening things up? I ,and just about every top coach, value experience at the back. I don't want gambles to be taken with seriously inexperienced but undoubtedly talented players. I can't remember a season in almost the last decade when we never had at least 4 relatively experienced options at CB, why start now? I have no idea what this has to do with their options in this past season. You would take him over them based on potential. If we were playing City tomorrow in the last game of the season to decide the title, you'd be an idiot to start him over them. Ermmm that's kind of what being a defensive unit is all about. - constantly looking after each other - even more so when you're sitting deep.

In that scenario Azpilicueta, Cahill or Ivanovic cannot be given a break, and that is not the situation you want during crunch periods. Kalas was completely protected at Anfield given how packed we were in defence. Don't get me wrong, bringing either Kalas or Zouma into the mix is fine, but not both at the same time when we're looking to properly challenge next season.