Jonty

One of those wins that was a real team performance, if i had to pick one i'd say Oscar, as I think he was responsible for starting most of our good attacking play and was energetic in defence.

When is the draw for the semi?

Was a bit worried at half time but the team showed great character, 5-1 at Leeds and a Torres goal, what more can a lad ask for.

How have all the weak teams ended up in the seeded pot with us, thats just bloody unfair.

It is midway through the 2021/2022 season, the team currently in a period of transition is in a major slump of form and is on the verge of being knocked out in the round of 16 in the Champions League. Our promising young manager, referred to in the media as "the overhyped one", has fallen out with the old guard of Oscar, Hazard, Lukaku, Courtois, KDB and Chalobah, Roman loses patience and sacks our cocky young Portuguese manager, and appoints his assistant Didier Drogba as interim manager until the end of the season. He goes on to lead the team on an extraordinary CL run, culminating with a final against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Their manager David Moyes, and his increasingly purple nose, have no answer for Lukaku's fantastic display of power up front as Drogba instructs him via earpiece on his every move. All is going well at half-time as we lead 2-0, until Roman heads down to the dressing room and commands Drogba to bring on our other striker. 38 year old Fernando Torres struts onto the pitch and scores a hat trick of own goals. Following the final goal, a streaker clambers onto the pitch and hugs El Nino, celebrating the culmination of plan that has been in place for over a decade. The streaker is identified as Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez. Following the loss, DD is sacked as manager and replaced by Steven Gerrard who is awarded a lifetime contract. Chelsea Football Club disbands shortly after.

we won the champions league all of 7 months ago and were top of the table 2 months ago we just had a bad run of form as every team has, we still have one of the most quality squads in the world, a huge dedicated fanbase, a billionaire owner and the ability to attract nearly any player or manager in world football we want so no i'd say we aren't in a decline.

No doubt it's going to be a tough decision when the season comes where whoever the manager is has to choose between them. If Cech really does have long term joint problems then it would make the decision easier, but if hes able to keep at the top level until hes 40 like VDS then he would have another decade in him. It might come down to testing them both out like United have done with De Gea and Lindegaard and then making the choice based on form.

Their invincibles team barely had any English players in it at all.

We should also start playing our home games at Anfield, the dimensions of the pitch at SB are also inhibiting Torres.

I can see this being another one of those games where Torres gets knocked onto the ground and appeals for a free kick everytime the ball is within 10 feet of him, going to be a long night if we don't get an early goal i'm afraid.

whats with the sudden hate for cech on here, f**king ridiculous

Tough one but i'd say Oscar just edges it over Hazard and Azpilicueta. I expect all 3 to form part of the "new guard" over the next decade though. Moses & Marin I still really haven't seen enough of.

There really is no reason why we can't be pursuing both with the depth that we have, especially if we pick up a striker in January.

Any credibility in this article went out the window when I saw this "about the author" bit at the bottom About ScottScott is a Manchester United fan who owns The Republik of Mancunia

Don't think ever before in the Roman era has there been so much dispute over our strongest 11. Dunno if thats a good or a bad thing, probably a bit of both.

I believe Torres isn't scoring because hes inhibited by Cech's poor distribution, time to bring in Reina.

Theres not many things that will get the fans on your back quicker than being selfish. Maybe being lazy but that's about it. edit: Personally i'd still rather see Sturridge up front ahead of Torres or Walcott.

Would have said Luiz but he made a few errors even if he did want it the most, I remember him passing it right to an attacker on the edge of our box early on in the game? I think, was quite plastered to be fair. I thought Cahill had a good game, was unlucky not to score from that corner, and Oscar was probably the best player on the pitch when he came on.

fair enough that shot was pretty brilliant, i'd forgotten it in all my rage still, he's had a good few games lately but yesterday he was completely useless by comparison

To be fair malouda had 1 or 2 good seasons, from memory he was one of our best players under Hiddink and also had one under Carlo where he was top goalscorer. If he could have consistently played like that he would have been one of our key players.

seriously?

I agree i'd rather have Sterling than Walcott, younger, more skillful and has a better shot. Wouldn't really be a like for like swap though, Walcott/Sturridge would both prefer to play through the middle (even though they often don't) and Sterling normally plays on the wing? We have plenty of wingers.

Torres can have a 2/10 because i'm in a forgiving mood, which then leaves Moses with a generous 0.5/10. And Rafa for taking 70 minutes to bring on Oscar, bringing off Hazard, and for making a defender come on in 80th minute when we're 1-0 down, he can have a square f**k off.

We need a manager that can get the respect of the players while at the same time giving them a kick up the ass, thats what Jose, Carlo and RDM had in common.

Sturridge ahead of Torres Ramires ahead of Mikel Rest is pretty indisputable.