Shak

An absolute travesty of a game, we'd have been favourites in the final as well had we won. Smacked them round the place, I remember going absolutely mental in my living room when Lee buried that header, was sure we'd go on from there and win. We just switched of for a split second after the goal and Poyet the cunt has to get a brilliant goal. I'll hate him always.

I reckon Ronaldinho is a cert to leave Barca soon enough tbh. Agree with you about Iniesta, he's immense. Fabregas is twice the player Iniesta was at the same age though tbh, and will prove better in the long run in my opinion. We need a focal point CF, a playmaker in midfield and someone who can do something a bit special out wide anyway, those are the three needs I see. A suggestion I'd put forth for the winger is Quaresma from Porto. Poor man's Cristiano Ronaldo, which is pretty good really. Would give us that spark and player that full-backs just hate to play against, definitely make us so much more entertaining. If anyone says he'd never leave Porto to come here I'll flatten them, by the way. Only due to the fact Iniesta never broke into the first team later on due to Barca's strength in depth at the time, I'm sure Fabregas wouldn't be half the player he is now as well if it wasn't for Wenger playing him at such an earliy age. Doesn't really change anything regarding who will ultimately be the better player though.

I reckon Ronaldinho is a cert to leave Barca soon enough tbh. Agree with you about Iniesta, he's immense. Fabregas is twice the player Iniesta was at the same age though tbh, and will prove better in the long run in my opinion. We need a focal point CF, a playmaker in midfield and someone who can do something a bit special out wide anyway, those are the three needs I see. A suggestion I'd put forth for the winger is Quaresma from Porto. Poor man's Cristiano Ronaldo, which is pretty good really. Would give us that spark and player that full-backs just hate to play against, definitely make us so much more entertaining. If anyone says he'd never leave Porto to come here I'll flatten them, by the way.

Then sulked when we wouldn't let him move to Barca, the c***.

Ginola was fantastic value for money, only cost about £2.5m or so wasn't it? He annihilated teams in his first year.

1-2-1 / 3-1 formation, not sure what you'd call it. Best way to play it is. One man, your paciest player ideally, up top at all times, rarely dropping back too far inside his own half. His job is to press the opposition when they have the ball, nothing too cavalier but not just goal-hanging either. Leaving him up top will always give you the threat of one quick ball forward and an easy goal if the other team doesn't keep a good eye on him. The 3 at the back then play in zones, one in the middle and one either side. Going man-for-man is tricky as you can get dragged all over the place very easily. 5-a-side pitches are generally quite small so you'll never be too far from your teammates and thus won't leave much space for the opponents. When you have the ball the two wide defenders become wingers/strikers and get forward to support the lone striker, while the centreback sort of hangs back and makes himself available for the easy pass for his teammates and can burst forward the odd time when a blatant chance develops. You generally want your best player playing CB as he basically will dictate your playmaking and has to be able to read the game well, while you want a small pacey fucker up front.

My uncle grew up as a Chelsea fan, said winning the title the way they did was rather hollow after the initial euphoria of winning it. Supports Barnsley now. Glory-shunner I suppose would be the term for him. The way things are going at the moment though, there's gonna be lots of clubs throwing ridiculous money around all the time so it's unlikely a Chelsea-esque domination of the transfer market will come about again, simply because there's so many minted clubs. So yeah, bring it on Mike.

do we have the players for a 4-3-3? who occupies the all-important target man role and who plays as wide forwards? Martins and N'Zogbia either side of Viduka is the only forward line that would be in anyway suited to the 4-3-3 IMO. Viduka won't bully people around so he's not ideal for it (Drogba being the perfect 4-3-3 CF for me) but his touch and ability to bring others into the game is top notch so he is someone you can play the ball into feet to.

4-3-3 surely, given how wretched we've been the last two games with a 4-4-2. ------------------- Harper Taylor -- Rozenhal -- Faye -- Enrique ----------------- Geremi ----------- Barton --- Emre Martins ----------------------- N'Zogbia ----------------- Viduka Would be my choice, Smith instead of Viduka if Viduka isn't fit. Could do with the extra man in the middle for what will obviously be a very physical game, while I'm very keen to see Martins and N'Zogbia either side of a front man as they have the pace and direct style neccessary.

It may be his best position, but it doesn't make him a good option there.

I was positive about his appointment and still want to give him time, but there really is no excuse for doing stupid things like playing Milner and N'Zogbia on the wrong sides or sending out the starting line-up he did at Reading last week. There's no real margin for error with the style of football he tries to play, if you lose there's generally not going to be much in the way of positives to take from the game because the football isn't great to watch. Still supporting him, but I'm not as confident about him now as I was when he took over.

Terrible post.

It's been two months FFS Anyway, dreadful result today but by all accounts it was a fluke start so I wouldn't put too much stock in it. Last weeks game was much more worrying.

Hindsight ftw!!

Fuckin hell, went to take the dog for a walk and thought I'd hardly miss much in the first ten minutes. Absolutely sickened, just in shock moreso than anything.

That was a brilliant game of football tbh, both sides were fantastic and had to work so hard for everything and did so. What a cool head from Gallas with that finish.

Be very surprised if it's Emre and Barton in CM. Just seems too cavalier for Big Sam, must be Butt instead of Emre?

Was gonna post just that, can see him developing into one of those players who you'd love to just wait beside his bed in the morning and punch him in the face as soon as he wakes up.

Just like all your other posts then.

Obviously doesn't get enough sun where he lives.

Quite the long-shot I'll admit, but if we're looking for a player to build our team around and Ashley fancies really splashing the cash and trying to make a statement then Andres Iniesta at Barcelona would be my number one choice. Reckon he may have to leave Barca eventually to play every week, especially if they really push for Fabregas next summer, which is possible. Even then he's got Xavi ahead of him in the pecking order at the moment, and despite the fact that he's seemingly been around forever Xavi is only 27. I'm sure bigger clubs would want him too, but it's worth a shot. Basically he's a much better version of Emre who shows up all the time, he'd be immense in the Premiership.

I don't care who plays as long as they all have a good time.

Really? I like the lineup Elma posted but I still think its a little harsh on 2 or 3 players and Emre is one of those. I think you have to play Emre at home. > In a 4-3-3, agree totally. But with proper wingers and someone like Barton who will get forward from the middle in a 4-4-2 then there really isn't much of a place for Emre, who doesn't fit into either CM role in a 4-4-2. Very pleased with that if it is the starting line-up.

How long would it go on for? I can definitely see the case for it tbh, two or three week break in mid-late January would be a good idea imo. Have it after the FA Cup 3rd round games, or better yet at the same time as the African Nations Cup. Can't have it over the Christmas period though, need my football then.