Good idea

We'll be making the good headlines in no time at all.Apart from that,he loves cutting in,instead of hugging the touchline. Exactly the kind of player Jose would want. haha.

I think both you and epsonstylux present pretty valid arguments, regarding players who need to be fielded consistently in order to prove themselves,or keeping faith with experienced heads, until players step up in training,have an amazing cameo,etc. Neither of you are wrong,and its all about finding that balance.

To be fair to Jose he has tried to mix it up slightly. I loved how kenedy got 30 minutes vs Liverpool and in other matches,lotus cheek has been given some minutes here and there,etc.

But I think if he really wants to make a strong 'statement' to those underperformers such as matic,cesc and eden,he'd give these young guns even more playing time as the season goes on and let those 'superstars' warm the bench until they show more fight. Of course the biggest risk is he'll lose the dressing room,with the exiled players most likely forming a faction against the youngsters and manager.

Having said that,I hope this is the exact solution he'll utilise,because frankly speaking it seems he' s tried everything else and its not working. I'd rather we lose with young players who are giving 200% to get into and remain in the first team rather than 'big names' who feel entitled to start each match.

That's just me though. But from the looks of it jose is slowly inching towards that outcome. The fact that he immediately took in the reserves game after the stoke defeat says a lot imo, so let's see what happens in our next match. I'm looking forward to RLC starting already

We're playing extremely well. Judging by how the season has gone, we'll probably concede soon

Chooses to finish his most difficult chance.lol.now if we sit back,I think we'll probably concede and lose this. Let's see what mentality we adopt after this.

That bad habit is creeping up on us again..tempo has dropped..so has the pace..sigh

Huhu desperately holding on. We really are a nervous wreck. 3 points what a bloody relief.

Baba's crosses were absolutely delicious vs macabi. Positioning is a little suspect at times,but I like the team's mentality during the match,it's obvious Jose told them to really have a go in attack, so as a result we left gaps at the back.

However, as we secured that second goal it became clear we could relax a little and this is what we need to do for a few more games,I.e; work for that 2 goal cushion as hard as we can.

Would prefer that we scored more from open play,but if setpieces are our only way out of this mess,so be it. Would like baba to continue on the left,but it does look like Iva will be reinstated and azpi returning to take over on the other side.

Spurs will be knackered from their Europa league adventure. We have a chance.

Errrr...come on..is remy that poor?

Cesc looks to be in one of his moods again..his passing has been really all over the place

Hazard and Pedro really need to attack rose and walker in the second half,who are in the ref's book. They'll be really nervous on one v ones,so we need to have a go.

First half clean sheet with very solid defending against a very attacking spurs. I'll take it!

Ok I think we look worse in the second half.

Dang..what a save from lloris

Matic starting to look extremely sloppy now. Worrying.

Parking the bus was fine,but like you said with both of their fullbacks booked, maybe the last 10 - 15 mins was a good time to put them under more pressure.

Could've won it, as we had the best chances throughout the match,even though we made it as 'boring' as possible. All three falling to hazard whereby he only made one almost count. That unmarked header,the other chance where he only needed to go past vertonghen and he'd be one on one vs the keeper but took a horrible second touch,and that third one via Iva's (of all people,lol) pinpoint cross, which was remarkably saved by lloris.

'Men of the match' were probably the whole backline, who kept Harry Kane and co extremely quiet.

But I'm giving it to Costa for that amazingly well placed toss of his training bib which somehow missed Jose and a dozen of our other coaching staff

Thanks for the updates Ketchum,it was an interesting insight into our flawed loan system.

Things are looking up for us imo,and after our first 'decent' result against a top team (no,arsenal doesn't count) I think we should be able to continue our recovery vs bournemouth. Throwing on kenedy and RLC at the last minute vs spurs was at least an indication that jose has plans for them,and I hope they take some positives from that.

Anyone noticed how unusually solid zouma and cahill were against the spuds?I mean the only 'panicky' moment I can recall was kane's deflected shot what begovic saved with relative ease,and dembele wriggled through once to get a good shot between one of our defender's legs. Anything else I missed?apart from that they huffed and puffed but when you analyse the chances both teams had,we actually looked more threatening and forced their defence into all sorts of trouble.

At this rate,this zouma and cahill partnership is worth persisting with, and I eagerly await their performance vs bournemouth. Would love to see kenedy start as well,but this time in attack. The kid's got something special in him,you can just sense it when he's on the ball

Anyone watching the utd and west ham match?blatant stamp from fellaini and an elbow from schweinsteiger,not even a booking for either one of them. Insane. We'd be two men down if it was at the bridge,easily.

clattenburg may as well strut around with a full utd kit , pretty sure nobody would notice.

City lost,southampton,spurs,utd all dropped a couple of points,we absolutely NEED to win this match.

Sigh. I kind of wish Costa or at least remy would be leading the line. Not a fan of the strikerless formation,especially at home. Hope it doesn't backfire

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 6 2015, 01:01 AM

Haha noticed that as well

Hmm I think we looked better vs spurs. Midfield has been all over the place. Oscar not doing enough.

Strikerless formation just not cutting it. Oscar off for Costa,that's all I ask. If we're not careful bournemouth will nick a goal,we'll start panicking and it's all downhill from there.

Hmmm...suddenly we don't look like scoring anymore.

Sigh..ivanovic as usual.