jasonb

I liked him too, technically excellent and a good football brain though never quite as prolific for a No.9 role. His versatility meant he lasted past Ranieri well into the Mourinho period. This is the match, poor quality video yet note it is also the match where Robben makes his debut.

Its a funny game, Leicester won the league by 10 points yet without Shinji Okazaki's goals on paper they come second to Arsenal on goal difference. Coming mainly from the bench he scored three times to obtain the victory and one for a draw. A £7m buy from Stuttgart. He only seemed to come on when Vardy and Mahrez could not break down the opposition.

Drogba hit more than 20 goals in just two seasons out of 9 nine seasons. In one of these 2006, he had Arjen Robben, Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou as other attacking players. In 2009, he had Florent Malouda, Anelka and Kalou as other attacking players. What made him special for me was the nature of his goals scoring the type of goal no-one else could through his technical ability and strength. As others have said the defenders then and Lampard were regularly contributing goals too.

Too late to vote yet think we will win. Would have preferred Silva to be on the bench yet still think we will have enough. Now let the chaps do it on the pitch.

Yep the John Neal revolution from 2nd Division mediocrity to 6th in Division 1.

That would be great if it happened, somehow don't think it will.

Last window the rumour was we wanted £50m for Gallagher and that got me thinking. I think we need to recoup about £60m to be compliant with FFP in June. I was recently thinking it might be Enzo and Sterling that move on though now following Enzo's performance against Villa think Enzo will stay unless his form drops off a cliff between now and June. So my current thinking is Sterling and possibly Mudryk. Fulham have Willian, what's the bet that Barcelona come in for Willian and Fulham take Sterling off our hands for a cut price deal? If we let Mudryk go try and put in a resale percentage unless of course it a bigger club.

I can remember them coming to the Bridge in Feb 1990 and seeing Gareth Hall score a scrappy winning goal for us in a hard fought match. We were singing. 'You're going with down with West Ham.' This was Fergie's third season and they were just above the relegation zone, looking back they think Mark Robbins goal away at Forest in the 3rd round of the FA Cup turned thier season around and they went on to win the FA cup. Next season 1990-1991 they finished 6th.

Good to call out Harding. On Hoddle re Gullit, I went to Spain in 96 in-between jobs, flight delayed so missed the last bus and got a cab Talking in beginners Spanish mentioned I was a Chelsea fan and no reaction, mentioned the players and instantly when he heard Gullit then he knew who Chelsea were, the penny had dropped.

I just had a look at the squad in 93, the unlucky Paul Elliott and it's worth considering some of the others, Robert Fleck, Tony Cascarino, Frank Spencer Sinclair, Damien Mathew, Craig Burley, Andy Myers, David Lee and Mal Donaghy. Now there were of course some decent players, Wise, Peacock, Moonkou yet they were in short supply and this is not taken into account with managerial win percentages.

If our success against Villa was largely down to being able to pack out the midfield because we did not need to worry about Silva's defensive pace then we are going to struggle when he plays and he seems to be our least injury prone central defender. Suggests to me that this is our Achilles heel just like Liverpool with TTA. Don't think we can fix that until the summer. Dropping Sterling also improved our attack as it gave Madueke a full 90 and allowed Jackson to run the left channel which he seemed to do better than Sterling recently.

It would not be beyond Hodgson to big up the injuries and then we find Monday two of their better players are actually playing, it's managerial psychology. If we think Palace are going to park the bus let's have some players on that can get free kicks around the box and see if Enzo can produce that magic again. It would also be nice to see Madueke on the right wing again to see how he fares in back to back games.

Put a small bet on us to win odds of 3.30 against a CFC win 🙂

Hopeful, think we are inconsistent and Villa are the better team though we are capable of winning. Depends on players hunger, focus and a lot of other factors including luck,

I've often felt 3 Cbs covers defensive weakness whether of the CBs or midfield, it might help. We recently lost to a strong Liverpool side not quite the same side that Arsenal faced and Wolves scored 3 at Utd. The media seem to be pushing this as they like a story I would prefer to see us at Villa and after Palace before making a decision yet we will just need to wait and see how they chips fall.

Jorginho and Havertz win it for Arsenal who would thought? Loved seeing Martinelli cleverly nudge VVD towards the onrushing keeper.........

A very quiet transfer window, is this just about fears of FFP getting teeth or are football revenues falling?

That used to work when football was 3pm on a Saturday, I expect.

Had a look again, 3 epl wins, loss to Boro away, Beat Boro at home and drawed re Villa. I agree performances are mixed. I'm also on the Shed End forum most popular prediction pre-match was 3-1 to Liverpool. Poch keeps resting players, is it the medicine men testing muscle contractions or is he trying to keep the whole squad involved? I also agree it is frustrating we are not used to being average or C+.

Poch went to Anfield on the back a 5 match winning run, are we expecting too much in his first season with a very inexperienced squad ?

Palmer is not a No.9 he is a No.10. It is about nature not height, the way he reacts and anticipates to what happens on the pitch.

Press are linking him with Utd?

Hopefully we will use this for motivation when we play them at Wembley.

I think you mean Barkley, anyone know what's happened to him? Seems to be a key player for Luton.

Yes indeed though he scored with a rocket of a header against Norwich.