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And... no... being a ram doesn't make it any better.

 

Bit late... Derby won yesterday.

 

If only Glass were still playing...

 

I'm a time traveler!

 

Only pre-season but Costa seems to be netting a few for Chelsea. Could very well be the CF that wins them the title this year.

 

suits them down to the ground imo.

they will be the team to beat it seems but city still have merits as i rate their manager higher. a manager who goes to win verses a guy who'll defended for a 0-0 away at a top 4.

 

To be fair, I don't like it or Mourinho, but his tactics v the top 4 were spot on. It wasn't against them they lost the title, it was against the smaller teams where they didn't have the goal scorer to get that all important goal. I think they have that player now.

 

Fabregas feeding Costa has the potential to be lethal. I'm just hoping they're not on the same wave length.

I guess similar to when Torres went to Chelsea - they didn't have a player on his wave length. Whereas Torres and Gerrard were the perfect example of players being on the same wave length - which paid dividends.

 

well....... so the 0-0 v utd when everyone else who tried took all 3 points is not as bad as west brom at home then?

i'll back citeh's approach under pelligrini any day.... thats not rodgers tactics and a team at 0-0 that had the title in its hand panicking cos it couldn't find a goal...

 

remember this is the same guy who sent out e'tto to assault henderson... there no co-incidence that henderson is seen at vital by rodgers and a chelsea player crunched him first minute

 

United aren't top 4 so don't count

But that was early on before anyone really knew how pants United were. Like it or not, Chelsea got their tactics spot on against all the top 4. No coincidence they didn't lose against is, City or Arsenal in the league. As I said, they lost the title by dropping points to the lower league teams who sat back and defended. They didn't have the striker to put away that 1 chance when it came their way. With Costa, they now potentially have that striker.

 

pertinent word is aren't as in today.... back then utd were champions and mourinho basically went and defend early in the season.... did you or did you not think moyes was a rank decision? i did.

the point is pellirini will try to find the best way to win... lfc on the other hand just went for it totally whereas mourinho is quite happy being totally and utterly negative. pelligrini is the better manager

thats my point.

your point on costa is perfectly fair, just not the one i'm focused on

 

Don't think Costa will set the league alight with his goalscoring - he's bound to get some though with the quality of player they have behind him, only a complete tool would screw up getting double figures (like Torres ). I also don't rate Fabregas too much. He's lazy...

In other news, Rooney has been made captain. The guy who's asked to leave twice (three times?). Yup

 

Disagree on both points. Fabregas is a top cm and would have loved him here. Just the creative cm we could do with.

Costa was going to join us n everyone was excited, we didn't get him, he had an even better season n now he's not as good n won't set the world alight because he's joined Chelsea?

 

For gone conclusion that one. Who else were they going to pick? Jones, Smalling, Cleverly? Only really RVP to challenge Shrek on that front.
Rumours were that it was also written into his last contract, to be made Cpt after Vidic left.

On a Man Yoo topic, they've got one weak defence this season, Jones, Smalling, Evans for CB, Shaw, Varela and Rafael as FB's. Looks very thin.
Wingers converted to Fullbacks, not the best option as they always want to go forward.

 

I never wanted either of them, if you're bored enough or don't believe me, you're welcome to check back on my posts before they moved anywhere. Don't rate them, don't want them, never wanted them. Pretty confident they'll just do 'alright' at Chavski, but nothing special.

Fabregas isn't a top CM. There's a reason Barca didn't want him as a long term replacement for Xavi despite him being 34, nor their fans bothered about him. He was lazy, doesn't press and doesn't defend. Arsenal built their team around him so that he could drift around as he pleased to great effect, but when he's got to muck in, he's really not great.

Welcome to bookmark this post btw, we'll see how they do at the end of the season

Edit: Fabregas would be awful for us! We need a high energy, pressing midfield. Look how we flunked without Hendo last season. Fabregas does not do high energy or pressing.

 

Fair enough. Each to their own

You say Arsenal built there nidfield around him, well City built there's around Toure, worked ok.

We seem to be building outs around Gerrard.

Barca built their whole team around Messi, worked ok for them for 3 or 4 years.

I'm not saying Fabregas is that level but if he's going to score you 15 goals from midfield like he did for Araenal, and like Ramsay is doing for them now, you build your midfield to get the best out of them in my opinion.

 

What did Arsenal win with Fabregas though for all his goals and a team build entirely around him?
My opinion on Toure is well noted, same as Fab. Great going forward, useless at anything defensively. Last few times I've watched City, the end up doing better (as a team) without him on the pitch).

Ramsey and Messi are very different. Both contribute to the whole team in different phases, pressing, attacking and tracking back. Ramsey is one of the best all round midfielders in the league imo, does everything and that's what a CM should do. Messi is a very well rounded forward equally. They don't need another player next to them to babysit or balance them.

Anyway, like I said, we'll see come the end of the season

 

I don't think our midfield needs Fibreglass. I'm not doing him down, but I think we're ok as we are.

 

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