If United can beat City, then title is definitely ON for Mourinho

Pep Guardiola: Has respect for Jose Mourinho

Pep Guardiola: Has respect for Jose Mourinho

Can Man Utd get one Man City this weekend? And why doesn’t Jurgen Klopp start with Liverpool’s top four attacking talents? It’s all in our forum…

 

Join in the debate…

 

Klopp doesn’t fancy big quartet together

Klopp in his rotation, seems like he does not want to start our 4 top attacking players together i.e. Salah, Mane, Firmino and Coutinho, so as to keep them fresh and hungry. In the previous 4 games, only Salah has been involved in all, while the other three have been involved in 3 games, although Mane only played for 5 min in one of them.

Going by this theory, Salah will most likely not start on Wednesday, and we could see a front three of Mane, Firmino (or Sturridge) and Coutinho counter-attacking with speed like against Brighton. Just speculating, doesn’t bother me either way as long as we win both matches next week

Songman

 

Having looked at it again, if Klopp does rotate, I can see Firmino, rather than Salah, being rested on Wednesday, mainly because it will be his third full game in 7 days. Also it is too important a game to not start with Salah.

Thus a 433, with Coutinho in midfield and Sturridge as striker. Don’t care if I’m right or wrong, as long as we win.

Ideal scenario is to go up by a few goals early in the game, so as to take off most/all of our top attackers for the derby

Songman

 

I’d go with that songman and keep bobby fresh for the derby because that fat twat Sam will do everything he can to frustrate us like he did with Sunderland a couple of seasons ago. Moscow are pants and if we don’t do them then we barely deserve to be in the Europa.

Shanksy

 

Aubameyang for Liverpool?

Just read the rumours and I so hope they are true. If we were to land Abu that would be a major game changer for me and a proper reason to get excited. Yes we need defenders, everyone and their dog knows that.

Could you imagine Abu with Mane and Salah feeding him from the sides and maybe even Couts from the centre? Mouthwatering.

Shanksy

 

Problem is Klopp has stated quite clearly he prefers to work with players he has never worked with before i.e. starting with a clean slate. Hence why he has never signed any of his former players for Liverpool.

Not saying it can’t happen, but be aware of this

Songman 

 

Attitiude stinks?

He’s had attitude problems the last couple of seasons and probably why BvB wanted to get rid in the summer but with no takers and likely this winter too. Personally I wouldn’t touch him, our strike force is not what needs attention especially in the middle of the season. All those wanting him, you would drop Firmino? In my eyes the most important part of our attack, and not just his work rate.

His movement is one of the reasons Salah has so many goals, stick a more orthodox striker there and he could take up the space Salah wants to move into.

Personally I would like a young speedy striker in to replace Sturidge but not one that would demand to start every game. One that can be used as an alternative, like in the 442 vs West Ham.

thereeps

 

Mustafi under fire

Can you believe that Steve? People sing his praises and then he produces a massive clanger that costs us a goal! If that doesn’t just sum up Arsenal, then I don’t know what does. Jeremy Wilson in the Telegraph made a great point that its ok for people to bang on about the chances we missed and how much possession we had, but if you defend like we did in the first 15 minutes, we won’t win anything.

Wenger talked about how frustrating it is to play the way we did and not even get a point but for me the most frustrating thing is that we can’t produce the consistency and the big game performances when it matters. Its been that way for years. It takes a certain type of character to step up and make sure they play their best in these crucial games and when we needed them the most, they bottled it.

Andy528

 

What is needed to win titles?

This is for all the naive posters who wasted an ample amount of time on here debating whether appealing to the ref,and reactions matter or not.Really,I don’t want to keep harping on about that but to all those people who thought it dosen’t matter it never has I really found it to be the height of naiveity.

Please watch the entire video ,it not only makes for a good watch but also makes for a good debate of how different the Arsenal team is now.

To summarise,legends of the game(Kneown,ferdinand and lampard) speak about how football should be played and what’s necessary to win titles.These are legends,so credibility is as much as it gets.

Not a good message for young kids,but they explain the reality of the situation and kneown says that appealing is one of the most important factors in winning key decisions.Ferdinand says the moment you’re in the tunnel,the battle starts from there as you have no friends you want to fight for every decision,Lamps says the 2-4 seconds is a thinking time for refs to analyse their decision just after the foul is commited and reactions of players are important as well.

Hell,even graham poll who was a ref and very experienced says that atleast 50% of refs are influenced by players and intimidated by the atmosphere,and that is just natural which I’ve been saying all along.When he says half the refs,I say atleast 80% of refs.

Knewon also describes how important it is to have characters in the dressing room,and leaders.Arsenal have none at the moment.He use to go as far as looking for fergie in the tunnel and stopping him going to the ref before the game to influence him.Oh How I missed the good old days,Now it’s the exact opposite of team we use to have!!!

the specialone

 

Conte making the correct calls up front

Thought it was a good team and very surprised, but pleased, that Rudiger got the nod ahead of Cahill. That for me is the defence of the future

Drinkwater complimented Kante perfectly and I would have few issues with them starting together for a while. Surprised at Moses who got stronger as the game went on when I expected him to tire. He had a good game

However, it is up front where Conte has been making the correct calls. Morata needs Hazard and Hazard is just loving the freedom he has. Add Fabregas to the mix where he does not have to defend much and just ping decent balls around and you suddenly find yourself with a team that all appear to be enjoying their football once again

Of course we were expected to win and a sloppy goal to concede but did anyone ever doubt which way the result would finish? If it was not for their keeper it could have been more as well

For me, Hazard is the key to everything at the moment so we need him fit and available for the big games but for most of the others as well. Whether he starts or comes on he has to feature in most games unless the replacements have a good day and can secure the win without him – but without him that spark does go missing…? KTBFFH

CFC1905

 

Is Courtois expendable?

Thibaut Courtois: Clarifies Chelsea future

Courtious can go I never rated him as one of the best in the world. Nowdays that title seems to apply purely on names only. If you look at De Gea’s performance against Arsenal well if Courtiuos was in Uniteds goals Arsenal would have won that game. Theres a few classy keepers that would love to come to Chelsea and as backup we have Caballero and quite a few good young ones on loan as well.

notnice

 

Do not think that Courtois has done much wrong and has been a decent servant over the years and saved us many points. Would prefer him to stay as that shows loyalty and continuity, however, no one is irreplaceable but a replacement would probably cost us

Do not think that Blackman is good enough but he seems to doing reasonably well at SUFC..?

The agent is more than aware that we would prefer to keep Courtois and because Real are still looking for a keeper he believes this gives him some leverage. Time will tell and with the WC in the summer all players will be in the shop window so be prepared for many stories.

Chelsea should try to tie both Courtois and Hazard down to long term contracts before the end of the season but you can full understand that players may also be reluctant to do that in the hope that their performances will get them a better contract or offers to move if that is what they want – assuming of course that they play well and do themselves justice…? KTBFFH

CFC1905

 

From personal point of view Courtois is dispensable.

Good goalkeeper yes but there are still some good goalkeepers out there after all Emenalo was able to scout him out from Belgium league likewise we can find another blunder that way.
Would I prefer he sign on yes but not at any cost. The theory of Courtois signing having influence on Hazard doesn’t hold because they aren’t close at all outside the game. Hazard is close to Musonda and Batshuayi.

shedend

 

Petr Cech scenario all over again…

We revisit the decision to replace Legend Peter Cech here dont we. I was dead against letting the big man go and his performances havent really dipped since he joined Arsenal. Jose and the club decided to get rid of Chech at all costs for a grumpy teen who is now holding out for all the megaman pieces as South Parks Cartman would say.

Has Courtouis kicked on since booting Chech out of the side… no.
Is he a big contributor to the defence… Yes I think he is.
Is he worth 200 Grand a week… Sad reflection of the game he’s demanding it.
Are there comparable keepers of a similar or younger age who can do a similar job… Yes
But how much will they cost to buy in…

And that’s the crux of the argument. Would it be cheaper to give in to the demands of a player rather than sell in the summer at max value and buy a replacement…

Romansdirtypants

 

Can United beat City?

Happy, yes of course we can beat City. Will we? Well I wouldn’t bet on it, especially without Pogba.

I’m worried they’ll just dominate possession and eventually it’ll translate into goals. We just haven’t got the type of players who can keep possession for long spells unfortunately. But if we can replicate that ‘in their faces’ type performance that Ferguson used to insist on against better teams, you never know.

jm1502

 

JM – I don’t think you would have bet on us beating Watford or Arsenal either though. That’s not a dig, I’m just saying this united team is capable of beating anyone and we’ve perhaps been a little dismissive of how good they can be this week.

I would hope back at OT we would beat City, certainly be more confident with Pogba in the team and I’m not sure what Jose is going to do about that.
But we’ve blown Watford and Arsenal away this week away from home. If we can complete the hat trick by beating City then surely we’re in the title race and probably favourites!

happyhurling