Ikon

We lack directness on the flanks.

That yellow FFS! And they then moved the freekick 500000 yards forward. Utter cunt this ref

I thought Metalist played well against us, did miss the final ball though. I think they are gonna be even better today.

Anita will be up for this me thinks.

ShOla

They will lose their cellphones there like thousands have anyway. Everyone i know (including myself) has got their phones stolen in Barcelona. Full of thieves that city. Apart from that it's quite nice.

I haven't seen any people in here say that we should start him no matter what (if not fit)

Might very much be the case.

and i'm sure we'll play him as soon as he's ready. Maybe, maybe not. When he came back from France he went straight in to our team against Spurs without any real 'full training' with the rest of our squad, more or less. Therefore i think he's had quite a lot of training over there this time as well. Will he start? dunno about that, time will tell.

Im sure he has done quite a lot of 'full training' at Clarefontaine though. And not just his rehab.

Let's wait and see

Honestly can't see him being much less fit than he was in our first game against Spurs where he looked like our fittest player.

If he's in terrific shape but short of match fitness surely by playing him is the best way to get him match fit??

Personally i don't disagree with that. From what i've seen he gets his teams to play good football, not sure if it's good enough for their fans though. Might win the title and still get sacked cause the fans could demand an even more exciting football.

Question is, will the fans accept Ancelotti for a longer period? I can see him do well there but still don't make them play exciting enough to keep the fans happy.

I think he'll start against Southampton!

When Ben Arfa played centrally he wasn't fit or up to speed. Some people say that he didn't do well there and that is correct, but you can't compare that position then with when he played out on the right later when he was much fitter. Im not saying that we should play him centrally, but every now and then this comes up, that he looked lost there.

What Taylor wears is worse than anything i've ever seen before Jesus!

Bayern will raise their game when it matters.

Eh, close enough. Edit: never mind, thinking of Robben on the right. Close, yes, but not enough Ramsey/Cazorla as well

No malo? Except you didn't get it right going by that

Might be a Giggs, but this is from Ba "Alan Pardew greatly appreciates the quality of French football and the mentality of their players. "When they are fully integrated into the style of the Premier League, Newcastle could be one of the best clubs in the world."

How many points are we off relegation? Go for the tried and tested in midfield. Google it.

As a midfield two in a 4-4-2 that we've played most times apart from a shorter run last season they've been good and solid, but not much more imo. And in the new setup now considering Tiote's form and dwelling on the ball i don't think it's odd to prefer Anita instead, especially at home and against the 'lesser' teams.

Add some Auba Auba pace in the summer as well