Mike S

I doubt he was thinking that at all. I agree Masch was our man of the match but I also thought alonso played very well and didn't deserve to be subbed either

We played really well. The way alonso and mascherano dominated all four of Milan's central midfielders was brilliant, and mascherano even took care of kaka as well. People saying milan played poorly and were there for the taking, mostly that was because of our central midfield stopping them playing Gerrard played well first half, linked well with kuyt. Started rushing things a bit when he got tired. A couple of mistakes at the back, and our left side wasn't that great but overall a very good performance from us. Congratulations to Milan, we'll see them next year

correct. We don't score that many goals on the couter attack. Riise vs barca I guess is one but I can't think of many others

He's as good as Pirlo and better defensively He's better than Gilberto At Barca he would replace Motta, Ednilson or whoever they use as holding midfielder. It's ALbelda who gets into the spanish team ahead of him anyway (as none of Xavi, Fabregas or Iniesta are holding midfielders.) I don't know why the spanish coach thinks Albelda is a better player than him.

absolutely spot on fred milne and mr kite. anyway he'll start in athens, so if ballague is correct then he's staying

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I think he's improved the physical side of his game quite a bit and is more willing to just boot it clear if necessary. I agree with whoever said he needs to think a bit more about his distribution

bloody hell, people are happy to let xabi go in exchange for a striker. leaving us with one holding midfielder who hasn't shown any evidence (so far) that he can cut it in english football

That was more to do with our central defenders shifting over too far when they have the ball on our left. It's happened a few times this season, I haven't seen highlights but I don't htink there was any reason for Carra and Sami to get dragged so far across to the near post for either of their chances.

He's been poor for a few games though. There's no harm in saying that he's struggling for form, particularly defensively. And Gonzalez gave him pretty good assistance today.

He doesn't do anywhere near as much defensive work as Alonso. Gilberto does most of that in the arsenal midfield, him and alonso are more comparable in their positions and responsibilities than alonso and fabregas. Fabregas is an excellent player of course

That was how we played against them at anfield last year

I agree with both of these. With Sissoko, he should at least be breaking into the box more often. He's never going to be prolific with shots from distance, or even likely to hit the target very often from there, or play others through. But if he made a habit of arriving late into the box (similar to scholes' goal last weekend) then I could see him scuffing a few goals in each season. His stamina and pace mean that even if he gets ahead of the ball and we lose it he should be able to get back in time to recover (in a way that Xabi can't)

Agree with all of this. Alonso MOTM Most pleasing was Reina's performance, that was very much the Pepe of last season - dominant in his area and a crucial save

Talking about thinbgs that f*** you off, that great move we put together down the left in the first half leaving Pennant unmarked in the centre.. if Pennant had even half Speed's desire to get to the ball that would have been a goal Rafa rotates players based on their physical condition and suitability for particular games. Neither of these really apply for keepers

It's not our form in general that's the problem, it's the away results. Last season we had a successful formula away from home, defending deep but pressing once they got into our half, and then either holding it up through Crouch or looking to play Cisse through. For whatever reason Rafa moved away from that vs Sheff utd and Everton and I think our confidence suffered from those 2 results. I don't we're far off though, it took a scruffy win at Villa to get going away last year and we seemed to take a lot of confidence from that.

Bizarre. Until the last 5 minutes when his legs went I thought he was our best player. If he couldn't pass it 10 yards, and most of our play went through him, how come we dominated possession? Reina 6 MIsread the freekick but otherwise good Finnan 5 Made some early mistakes and overpowered for the 2nd Carra 6 Solid Sami 7 DId well in the air Riise 6 Pretty good, should have saved last week's shooting for today though Gerrard 6 Involved in most of our good moves in the first half, and worked hard. Awful 2nd half Sissoko 7 The usual rreally Alonso 7 Ran the game, unucky with his first half strike Pennant 3 Rubbish. No conviction at all. Kuyt 6 Worked hard Bellamy 5 Made a lot of runs but no confidence in front of goal Subs 5 None of them had any impact, if anything we lost our rhythm once they came on

I agree with most of this. I don't like Gerrard sulking about not playing in the centre. Essentially he's in the fabled 'free role' that every midfield player wants. If he had been in the centre for today's game and breaking forward all the time he would have left one player in central midfield against 4 for chelsea and we would have been over run. The reason why chelsea looked so average today, as you say, was due to the work of Xabi and Momo in the centre.

If we play 4 central midfielders then we can have runners from central midfield. Then everyone will be complaining about lack of width.

I thought we played well today. Defence were all good, Agger impressive again. Xabi had an excellent game - physically dominant and good distribution. Tje front two worked really hard but they were let down by their composure at vital moments. Only poor performances were from Pennant and Gerrard

and it's b******s. he's had plenty of games where he's had nothing to do and hasn't tried do anything crazy

At least one of Crouch or Kuyt must start. Crouch for me based on his goalscoring form.

There was a queue. I started at 15th. They just have your number blocked.