1st half I thought we were outstanding, all very composed and not one player looked like he was having a bad day. AVB then brings Malouda on and changes MATA FOR TORRES (?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?) and we suddenly look like dogshite, hope that is a lesson for AVB because there was no need to take either Sturridge or Mata off! I would've let Torres have a complete break today or brought him on for Anelka and maybe gave Luiz a chunk of the match in terms of playing against United. Very pleased for Sturridge and happy we got a win, but I was absolutely ****ting myself after Sunderland scored and well played to John Terry for those 5 or 6 clearances after.
Didn't understand them changes either mate, Malouda for Sturridge ( one of our best players today ) and him and mata both play left, then Torres for possibly our best player of the day ( Mata ) Weird subs, don't understand them one bit.
I agree, only reason I could possibly think of was to save them for Leverkusen on Tuesday night. Either way, I think we needed to leave at least one of them on the field, the pace of the game completely deflated with Malouda on.
Sunderland put us to sleep with their lack of pressing, urgency, creative play, energy, etc. Couldn't recover when they put one in. Pretty poor sequence that was. I agree about Terry, they showed a shot of him after the whistle and he looked quite unhappy to put it mildly. I somewhat understood who he pulled off when you look ahead to Tuesday, but who he put on in their places was a bit puzzling. I figured he'd play Torres at some point, though. It'd have dominated the headlines even more than it is going to already if he'd sat all game.
Yeah hopefully Nando gains some sort of form on Tuesday alone, be quality to have him confident for United next week.
I'm hoping he starts on Tuesday, and if he doesn't get any form Drogba starts next week, given he's cleared medically. Can't remember if Romeu is in the CL squad, but if he is maybe try to work him in to see if the Spanish influence could help Torres. Anything is worth trying at this point in my opinion.
To be honest i'd like to see mata-torres-sturridge vs bayern and if torres still can't get firing then a 4-4-2 vs united with mata on the left and sturridge on the right then Drogba and Lukaku up front would be the best option, imagine the power of them two up against united, I think tuesdays d-day for torres if mata and sturridge star alongside him because if he still can't look like his oldself with them two alongside him then i don't know what else we can do to get him firing. O well heres hoping tuesdays a good night, be good to see ballack back aswell!!
I feel playing Drog and Lukaku would be a bit redundant, since from what I've heard/seen they're very similar. Maybe go back to the Drog-Anelka partnership. I do agree with it being D-Day of sorts for Torres if that's the setup on Tuesday, or any setup with him playing. I need to make sure I remind myself to find a stream of the game, wouldn't mind seeing Ballack playing again, even if it is against.
Yep i've seen a lot of Lukaku they are very similar but they would work very very good together because they play the same way and know what each others going to do because there be doing the same. And yep it's a good homecoming for ballack hopefully he has a very good game but doesn't score lol, did anyone watch a stream of the game today? Would be interested to see how Romeu looked in the last 10minutes, apparently Meireles had a very good game as well which is good. Be another bonus when Luiz comes back as well. Attacking potential is looking very good at the moment - Mata,Meireles,Sturridge were all very impressive today according to the report, saw sturridges goal on a website and i must say it was outstanding and he just had so much confidence in doing it which is great to see.
Mata was very good, easily best attacker today. Sturridge I felt took a bit of time to get going, although that can be said of most of the team. Pretty goal, though. As for Romeu, I don't think I heard his name once after he came on. Meireles had a solid game for his first with us, seemed pretty integrated already. I glad we picked him up, might not be the most creative but I liked him when I watched the odd Porto match a year or two back. I do like having midfield options now.
Nothing to worry about, as i've said before this is the last season of the mourinho era and then next season it will be the avb era & style. It's a transition season so i'll be happy with 3rd, would love to beat them dirty mancs but the way there playing at the moment and the way were playing is making me not look forward to it but i'm sure were do all right and hopefully a nice comfortable victory vs bayern on tuesday will give us a confidence boost
I wouldn't like to just lay down and settle for 3rd, I fully expect us to be close to top position and if we don't win anything, missing them by a nat's whisker. We are capable of beating United, we just haven't settled into our season yet, I mean we've conceeded in 3/4 games albeit winning them. United are on a roll, thundering through games at ease. People forget last season far too quickly, we were exactly the same, if I remember correctly we had a GD of +21 at this point which is better than Uniteds...then look what happened. I'm fairly glad we haven't peaked early, hopefully United have. Score next week? 2-0 United if we perform like we did 2nd half today, 1st half Norwich, 1st half West Brom. If we actually turn up and put up a fight then we could come away with a point. Can't see us winning.
Me either mate, i'd love to win the league or something but i'm just saying whereas recent seasons i've expected us to be right up there but this season i don't because AVB has actually come in and is making changes to the team for example every manager since mourinho that has come in hasn't done nothing to the actually core of the team apart from keep it exactly the same and play exactly the same where has AVB wants us to play his style, his sytem and wants his team and at the end of the season i can see a lot of people leaving and a lot of people coming in which are going to bring the pace and skill we need, the mourinho era will end at the end of the season and the avb era will begin next season, so i'm just saying i'm not as bothered in recent seasons how we do this year because we need to start over again. Honest opinion i can see Malouda,Anelka,Kalou,Fererira,Turnbull and Hilario all going at the end of the season and for some reason i also see Drog,Cole and Mikel/Essien leaving as well with about 5 new players coming in and 3 of them being modric,pereira and van der wiel.
I thought we got too comfortable and just didn't press our domination. I think if there was a trophy at stake today we could have had a 5 goal margin!
I know what you mean, he is in the middle of renovating the squad and it will take time. Realistically we won't win the CL this year but I believe if we gel quickly and get Torres firing then we can win the league and other domestics
Exactly mate, be nice to win something this season but lets just look to the future which looks good and worst case scenario torres doesn't get firing then we've got sturridge and lukaku, thought meireles played very good today as well, great signing by avb as he really wanted him and he added some class and a final ball today and mata ia just looking unbelievable and will definitely be one of the worlds best, looking forward to having luiz back as well, didn't think ivanovic looked very comfortable today, terry was outstanding, would of liked to see Josh though, lampards really worrying me and i think our legend has finally had his day, this seasons his just been dreadful and is really holding us back
Summed up pretty well in all honesty. First half excellent, freedom and movement in our play was top class. Mata pulling the strings demanding the ball every time and the outstanding Meireles, how refreshing it was to see the holding midfielder looking to pass quickly and forward, great pass for studge's goal as well. The subs completely killed our game Malouda and Torres obviously have a problem with each other as Malouda just wont give him the ball. Front 3 of Mata Torres and Sturridge tuesday night will do nicely.
