tomasjj

We need to take advantage of the space behind their fullbacks when they push up, so I would prefer the 4231 to the Venables formation.

Skrtel saved Mascher a few times when he was caught upfield after being sucked towards the ball in eagerness.

Someone has been watching football too. And youtube. First heard about him from Jonathan Wilson's column in the Guardian. Good stuff on Eastern European talents there.

Alexis Sanchez edit: oh...sorry it said 2 wingers. Alan Dzagoev. Not really a winger, but we play with semi-kind of wingers anyway.

If Robben is on the right, Arby doing a Messi on him would be nice...apart from us not having another right back...

Doesn't make it easier for him to go past people when there are no decoys though.

He looked lost again. However, it looks quite daft when our lads give him the ball then f*** off and leave him alone to weave some magic past 3 opponents. We gave him the ball and then f***ed off from him. No runs, no options. Not saying Babel wouldn't have lost the ball anyway, but that was truly crazy stuff.

Says a lot about how poor it has been that.

I don't think Lucas was that poor yesterday. Is he good enough, probably not. Will he be, I don't know yet, maybe in another kind of league. If you are looking to scapegoat someone for yesterday, I'd start at Riera who was abysmal. Shame, after a decent start, he has fallen apart completely and struggles to find red shirts. Maschers passing was improved slightly, but still he must up his game.

Carra repeatedly ignored passing it to Lucas when he took up the similar positions that Alonso use to take up. Looked like he did not trust him, thus choose to leave him out. Carra could do with a rest himself, btw.

Carra should plays less. Still good, but for how long? I am also surprised that Skrtel is preferred to Agger in most games.

Tell you what, unless we sort out our set pieces, especially defensive ones, we will have a hard time coming from OT with points.

Disagree that his time is up. He must shoulder some of the blame, as must the players. I never expected the league this year, even if throwing away a good chance of opening up a gap at the top irks be big time. I expected 3rd this seaon and a CL semi final. Next season was the one I expected a proper league challenge from Rafa and the lads. I am trying to stay true to that perspective, but it is hard with some of the poor football that has been served up lately, and throwing away a good chance at the top.

We are not playing anything like Catenaccio though. No sweeper, no man marking.

Aye. I have found that odd as well. Seems Harry wants to replace him with another big strong striker, which makes it even more strange.

Hear hear. The argument is ridiculous.

How about looking at goals conceded in total? It is not our defending that is the problem, but our lack creativity, guile, battering rams that makes us unable to break teams down. Fella is looking for a stick to bash Rafa with that is not there. Chief writer my a***. Apart from putting Slur in his place, Rafa should concentrate more on his own team though, agreed.

He'd fit well in the Italian league then. He would even have time to look in the mirror while on the pitch.

The pace issue, apart from his obvious knob attitude, is what makes me negative towards signing Bentley too. Especially with Riera on the left, we need someone with pace on the other side. And does he have much skill? Can he beat a man if he has to? I seem to remember him crossing mostly from deep, a bit like Beckham. Ah... I seem to have more than one issue with this fella

Yeah, now he does. But he is pre-dominantly right footed and can surely play on the right too.

Afellay is a Dutch international. He has 13 caps for them. Good player.

I know. Those kind of players seem to be in short supply nowadays, especially crossing is an ability they often lack. Here are a few alternatives off the top of my head: Affelay from PSV looks decent. Jeremy Menez, who went from Monaco to Rome is talented. Suarez from Ajax. Valencia at Wigan. Quaresma...that old chestnut. I reckon even Lucho Gonzales from Porto could play on the right in a 4131 and do well, even if I think he is more deployed in center normally. Not sure if he has the pace though. A mate mentioned Alexis Sanchez from Udinese, but I haven't seen him play yet. Still, I am not sold on any of them being of the Ribery class, which is what I would really prefer.

I say yes to Sturridge. Talented lad. That said, it is a class right winger we need. To make up for Riera's lack of pace, he needs to be quick. Crossing ability is also needed as Arbeloa cannot cross. He should be creative and skillful too, but that will cost a fortune. However, we need another top class player to go with SG and Torres. Sell Keane and deadwood like Benny, even Lucas, and promote El Zhar and such to fill up the numbers.

They ballsed up and are trying to fix it. How about sacking the responsible c**** instead?

27 mill? Will never happen. I am not sure I would give him a new contract. We need to sign players who can play in the position, not move people around. I would sell for 10-12 mill. That said, he would be a good back up option as striker or right forward, but not a starter for me.