Mole_Toonfan

Our best spell of the season (imjh) came when Tiote was injured and Guthrie was paired with Cabaye. We didnt play like Stoke then

If Tiote is out my positivity goes down the drain.

Why? Will just make it a 'Top 8' then. Thinking of this, do you think they genuinely would make it a 'Top x' until one of the 'top' teams dropped out of the top 10? They would just make it the "Big 11" then.

I think they could have finished above Fiorentina and Verona yes and with some luck above Samp too ( although they were better) Also England were 5th favourites in this country because on the amount of stupid people in this country that lay ridiculous amounts of money on us to me they were far from 5th favourites..... I dont consider Argentina average, thier defence was far from average as was thier forward line the only thing that was average about them was thier midfield and that was what Maradona improved drastically. As for Messi and Argentina i think they should play him in midfield or as the "1" in a 4-2-1-3, thier attacking options are fantastic but thier midfield is rather meh and i think Messi is probably as good as any they have for that role. Zabaleta Garay Coloccini Ansaldi Banega Mascherano Messi Di Maria Higuian/Aguero Lavezzi But i expect them to never use Messi in a role which will lead them to success and ultimately fail.

I ask that question after most of his pressers tbh.

Did the post from the other forum say "think Arteta" if so thats good because thats just type of player we need someone who is an expert in keeping possession and recycling it.

Seriously ?

They have quite alot of exciting youngsters, Madrid actually have a very good youth system they just sell them instead of promoting them like Barca...... Mbwia most likely yo join us? Me like

Yh i dont think we will catch Tottenham either dropping points against Sunderland and Wolves when we should have won really did us in as far as catching Spurs go. Do believe if we beat West Brom on sunday we can finish above Chelsea, ill be satisfied with finishing above the scousers tho.

hmm i know Madrid fans rave about him and wish he would be given more minutes but tbh i doubt he would want to come here to be back up when he can stay in Madrid to do the same thing. Good player tho, target man with decent pace and technique........think Young Fernando Llorente.

Right seeing as last few days Ba, Tiote and Krul are leaving for Chelsea according to the wonderful media....... Who will be on the national media back page tomorrow? Place your votes ! I think Xisco and Simpson in a package worth 20m would be a fine piece of business for them.

Well they were 5th favorites at best and would probably have gone out in the quarters without him which is pretty average, as England have shown recently. Maradona was their only foreigner in 87, so at best he was the catalyst for some second rate Italians to join. De Napoli and Bagni were the only ones with a good amount of caps for Italy. Roma by contrast had Boniek, Ancelotti, Conti, Giannini, Berggreen and finished 7th. I can't see how Napoli would get higher than 8th, which was exactly the middle of the table. 5th favourites is average now? You and i obviously have a very different interpretation of the word "average" and about Roma i would argue they underperformed they had the players to finish higher imo while i can agree across the board they had better players than Napoli i dont think Napoli would have finished that low although it is true without Maradona signing half of the players or perhaps more wouldnt have joined. My argument is they had a very good team with or without Maradona and not a crap team that without Maradona would have struggled to finish in the top half like some portray. Maradona was that special player that took them to a level they would have never reached without him but even so they were not scrubs like people say. Oh and Maradona joined in 84 not 87.

Aye a few more Suarez should do the trick, they can discriminate their way to the title. Calling every black n*gga's should be extremely effective.

You seem to be neglecting the fact Argentina's defence was utterly fantastic in 86, ok going forward outside of Valdano and Maradona it could be argued wasnt the best but thier defence more than made up for it....... I agree they wouldnt have won it without Maradona but the mere fact people make them out to be average without him is utter crap IMO so goes for Napoli they had a wonderful side who wouldnt of won the league without Maradona but they still wouldnt have finished mid table IMO. Yes they nearly got relegated before he joined but signing Maradona was the catalyst for others to join, they had a great side but it wasnt Maradona and 10 scrubs like its often portrayed.

It's rubbish imo, Maradona is the only one who could be argued play for a "lesser" team and even that is massive hyperbole imo.... The Napoli and Argentina sides that Maradona were apart of where miles better than people give them credit for, the way people talk you would think it was the equivalent of Messi going to Wigan and winning the PL and that was simply not the case Napoli and Argentina had some wonderful players outside of Maradona. Also agree with mojorisin.

Plus Madrid's fixture list is much much harder....... they have to go to Osasuna, home to Valencia, away to Atletico, home to Sevilla and away to Bilbao and also have Sporting Gijon who they always struggle against. Meanwhile most of Barca's games are against teams in the bottom half and mostly at home and probably away to Levante being thier hardest game. If Barca beat them in the Clasico i think they will win it which would provide me with unbelievable lulz.

Sod 6th, considering Chelsea and Tottenham's form and the fact they play each other at the weekend its all about 4th !

No i responded to the post that they gave us the run around when they came to SJP which wasnt the case its obvious they are one of the best footballing sides in the league....... Just in that particular game they was more defensive than Inter at Camp Nou and had no ambition to get anything other than a 0-0 draw.

Stifle us? we dominated possession until Tiote went off we had 20 attempts compared to thier 3 they couldnt spring 3 passes together until Tiote went off. Do you just like disagreeing for the sake of it? even when you know its utter bollocks.

Only in last 15 mans when Tiote went off....... we had 65% possession for the first hour ffs they spent most of the game camped in thier own penalty area. Wont deny they play miles better football than us but that game they didnt they parked the bus.

Thing is they didnt, we completed dominated that match and Swansea hardly a shot on goal all game they was one of the most negative teams to come to SJP all season long.

Yep because Mikel and Romeu are vastly superior

Obertan dropped for performance reasons if that was the case he would be playing with the reserves since September

Felipao is forgetting about Didi BTW i do agree with the notion that you can watch full games of players from the 50s and 60s but theres nothing like watching each and every game live through out someones career.

Going by Pardew's history there doesnt need to be a reason to drop Ben Arfa