Logic

Absolutely. He'd need to be able to distribute the play well but he wouldn't need to be an Alonso when it comes to passing. Lucas has himself said he needed to adapt his game to his new role as he was more used to play further forward with Gremio and the Brazil youth-teams.

Am I the only one who'd want more of an old school anchorman in midfield (Makelele/Busquet-type) with Lucas pushed further forward into the 2 in a 4-1-2-3? Something going by the links we've had like: Wanyama Lucas - Stevie (or is this complete madness?)

Oh the humanity. He saves shots because he's trying to protect himself, saves 1-1's but he looks scared. And we need a world class back-up keeper... I think I'll pass on any further discussion on this.

He's a f*cking back-up keeper. And if it wasn't for him we'd have been humiliated against Southampton.

Goal difference. Thought that was a better barometer than points. I'm sure many will disagree. And those are just the league.

An objective look at things. First and last full season for Rafa and last season for King Kenny and current season for Brendan. Disclaimer: This was just something I put together in 10min so if you see any errors please let me know.

Wouldn't mind a sub now... Wisdom/Hendo for Skrtel/Johnson

There needs to be more freekicks like this. The opposition has 3-6 men bound to a specific spot in the area. With a bit of ingenuity teams should be able to score more from these situations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzV4KNj51Do (there are probably more recent examples but this one always comes up in my mind when discussing this.)

We should keep him but loan him to some decent sides for a season or two more. If he puts more bulk on that frame he might become a decent enough squad option in the future.

What a pass by Suso... Morgan should have scored there.

Things are looking up.

He hasn't been performing well enough in his most recent performances (compared to his competitors)?

Anyone got a sopcast link for this? The usual place is letting me down.

To all of those wanting a sugar-daddy to buy us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JJIBF_qaY (and yes, he'd probably dislike the current owners...)

Anyone got a sopcast link? Wiziwig is letting me down...

It actually looks like he makes himself smaller rather than larger in that particular situation. But I won't blame him for not saving what was pretty much a 1v1 situation.

I sort of agree with that. Still worth looking into wtf happened there. Like I said, we've only Lucas behind the ball when we lose it. He tries to close down the player who makes the second pass that finds the man in space. But when they have created that situation you expect both your fullbacks to sprint back to strengthen the defense. Johnson does that while Enrique looks beaten from the start.

Just took a closer look at their second goal. Enrique should be thrown out of the plane on the way to Russia. We lose the ball high up the field with only Lucas and the back 5 behind the ball (though not sure Johnson was behind the ball). Nothing wrong with that when you are chasing the game but two simple passes by them gives us this situation. (sorry about the quality of these images) But then while dropping back in defense Enrique takes ages to get back in line with the central defenders and actually never gets back into position. Johnson is making a real effort of getting back into position on the right and Stevie, who's 15-20m more advanced to begin with, is darting back into position to shield the central defence. Compare Stevie's, GloJo's and Enrique's position in this last one vs. their respective starting positions. Now Agger doesn't exactly cover himself in glory but at least he makes an effort. *Disclaimer: it's at the end of the game and Enrique might tbf be exhausted at that time...

Walk off.

The defending for their first is a f*cking disaster. They are able to open up an area in front of Reina that's as wide as the f*cking goal. We put Agger on McAuley, Enrique on Olsson and Carra on Lukaku. Just that can be discussed for ages... We then have Stevie and Johnson marking the zones in front of the posts. After that I'm not even sure what we are trying. Lukaku and Long (?) run for the Stevies zone and drag both their markers with them while at the same time one of their blocks Reina and another blocks McAuleys marker. Several questions arise here. Was Carra supposed to be marking the zone in front of Reina or was he marking Lukaku? If he's marking Lukaku do we really f*cking set up so that the area just in front of Reina is wide open on corners? Also... what is Enrique doing in all this? He seems to be somewhere between a deep coma or being hypnotized by the ball because at no time is he doing his job properly. At this point both Olsson and McAuley run to the point they'd decided on before the game and both Agger and Enrique have lost their men! Agger is behind McAuley and Enrique is flatfooted because of his coma-like state. Here we have a goal-wide open space from Reina and to the D. At a corner. With two of theirs running into that space as planned. And now for the worst part. 1. Johnson moves away from his area, not to the post and not to the space created when Lukaku dragged Carra away but towards Reina&co. 2. We are defending 3v2 wide of the goal at near post. Have a 3v1 in Reinas zone but a 2v2 in the area just infront of him. What was the plan? 3. And finally, even if McAuley doesn't put that away Olsson probably will because he is also now in front of his marker. I'd say this was schoolboy defending but that would be insulting the 10 year olds who just learned how to defend a corner... After watching this you have to ask 1) did we plan defending corners in such a way that one run from Lukaku leaves us wide open in front of goal? or 2) do the players not follow the plan or just simply ignore it? If there are other options please tell me because if it's either of the above we are in some serious trouble in the future.

There's one thing I agree with in that article: “I hate Manchester United”

Actually agree with that. Was more thinking about the posts before yours.

Have people already written off Borini? Based on his 7 games with us? Most knowledgable fans in the world?

This isn't going to end well unless we wake up in defence...