Plavi26

He was giving an interview right after the trophy celebration and the reporter asked him about his opinion on his 70m transfer. He told him he "doesn't give a f*** about that, we just won the Champions League."

What a day and what a match. I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to say hello to all the Shed End dwellers on this great night of celebration 🙂

I voted middle. He's a decent player, but I think it will take him a few months to acclimatize to our system and way of playing - however, like with Moses, I think Conte could make him a better player. I honestly don't expect him to have a good number of minutes in the first few months with the club.

We had an option to buy back, but I believe it expired either last season or the season before.

My brother follows Juventus and he says we should not be too worried about the score in pre-season. Apparently the pre-season training regime under Conte is brutal and until match fitness is completely regained by the players, results are usually pretty bad at the start due to exhaustion.

As long as he can score from the opportunities, I have no issues with this. The problem with Torres was that he could not finish even on the easiest of changes for us. His movement was never really that much of an issue.

Boring half and it shows some of these players haven't played frequently. I think Ake, Cesc and Willian had a good half.

PEDRO!!!!!

As much as I don't like their article, I think he might have been fighting for his life initially. This seems to be a similar injury as the one Cech suffered. I hope Mason recovers without any problems and we can see him back on the pitch.

Alonso's crossing is really good...too bad we don't really have anyone to attack the balls. I think we need Fabregas on to put more pressure on them.

Seriously?!

Ivan will be paired with Costa in a 3-5-2

Very good performance to get a result from a team that will take points from a good number of the sides in the Top 4. Costa has been fantastic this year - I don't know what Conte said to him or how he's motivating him but it seems to have wonders. He is enjoying is football and has really change his approach to the game. I think Conte has got the tactics right for this game as well, I just think that people don't realize how good West Brom are at shutting down teams. I think playing Fabregas instead of Matic would have left us exposed to the counter and also the long ball that was being applied, which is how West Brom get most of their goals. Pedro and Hazard were to be used as the creative sparks to open up the defense. However, once it was clear it will not work, the change of tactic and formation was applied to the team, I'll concede that it should have been done a bit earlier.

I didn't follow the cup, so that's really good news for us and a bit of a surprise considering how good they were in the last few international competitions.

I'm happy for him and he really made the RWB position his own - however, looking back at the last two games, I still think he has room for improvement on his awareness. During the Spurs game, in the first half, he seemed to be pinned down and really did not know when to go up and when to stay back to help out. During the City game, I think he got exposed defensively on few occasions, where Luiz and Azpi had to cover for him. He will probably only get better as the season progresses as he is new to the role. One thing that would need to be addressed soon (same for Alsono on the other) who is his replacement. He will be leaving for the ACON soon and right now, apart from an inexperienced Aina, we don't have anyone to really take over that position. I know that Conte has used Ivanovic as a sub in the last few games, but his complete lack of pace and ability to cross the ball showed that he could not really deployed in that position. The possible short term solution would be to bring Zouma into the side and give Azpi a few games as a RWB.

I think in general, it's a good thing that these stories are being brought to light. I hope the victim can get some closure in this whole story. However, one thing that I don't understand, if Johnson went to the club and wanted an investigation or a recognition of the issue, shouldn't he have had a legal representative as recommended to him by the PFA? Also, why didn't the police or the PFA alert the FA themselves before Johnson went to Chelsea? I hope our legal team gets investigated over this whole procedure, because the club would not have an issue right now if they would have not made any payments. Also, I hope the FA defines a clear legal process for both the victim and the club for this type of issue.

The problem is that Baba had enough playing time last year with the first team squad to show what he was capable off, and honestly I don't think he impressed anyone. He could have one or two good runs up the pitch, but he was always susceptible to losing the ball in attack and in defense he was a liability. Unless he improves over the course of the year, I don't see him as being the back-up to Alonso.

Costa and Luiz the stands out for me as well. I gave it to Costa mainly because that I believe Luiz got a bit lucky on that challenge on Aguero - I think Aguero made the most of it, but on another day and another ref that could have been a red.

Back to the top we go!!!!

This seems more and more like it's going to be a repeat of the game last year. Same slow start from us in the first half and then we slowly start taking over the game. I doubt they can keep the pressure up like this in the next 45 minutes and I believe that's why they have so many draws. They pressure too hard at the start and hope to bury the game before the start of the second half.

I guess this would be appropriate

I think the back three formation also helps cover his characteristics that were deemed risky in the pass. When he goes on those offensive runs, now he has two CB covering for him and also two capable DM's. One thing I like is that his rash challenges seem to have disappeared.

How is that not a foul?

WHAT A GOAL!!!!

HAZARD!!!!!