You'd think so. Given his tactical genius + his hatred of individual mistakes, Mourinho's the one manager I would expect to realise that Dave has never been a CB.

Cech Azpilicueta Cahill Terry(c) Cole Mikel Ramires Schurrle Mata Hazard Torres

Schwarzer Kalas Essien Oscar Willian Eto'o Ba

Man City 3-1 up

Should be in front overall, but trying too much tippy tappy stuff in these conditions.

Yep, and giving the ball away too much. Shocking conditions mind. Might be best to bring on Ba soon and start lumping it a bit.

Mata not happy

Mata finally starting to look pissed off. Don't blame him tbh.

edit: wtf Oscar?? Why the hell didn't he stay on his feet?

Oscar could have scored then had he not thought of deceiving the referee..

He was trying to get the keeper sent of, why not just take the goal lol

Oscar- kinda - makes up for his stupidity. 13 months and a striker finally has an away goal \o/

Should do it......

Subs make complete sense now. That's why he's Jose.

Yep. Willian's been far better than I ever expected. Now it's just Schurrle I don't really understand - aside from the 2 against Stoke I don't think he's really done too much for us.

Lovely goal for 3-0. Comfortable away win

I would have been pissed off with such a poor performance.

Bless him

I don't think Mata can compete with Oscar's engine, though he might be more skillful. Schurrle usually has a very good engine and him and Willian are about even I think. I hope we find a role for Mata that he's okay with, but if not I hope we don't stop him from finding another team as he seems a decent bloke and has done really well for us.

Bu..er Bentnder

Bendtner of all people scores a late goal for Arsenal.

Really do hope this sparks a turnaround in our away form. Man City seem to have got over theirs...can't afford to keep dropping points to teams we should be beating.

Taxi for big Sam?

If it is I am sure Madrid and Barca are standing by to swoop

Schurrle - like Mata and de Bruyne - hasn't really had a run this season. He scored twice at Stoke and hadn't started since...I don't really have an opinion on him right now, but Willian has impressed quite a bit. My biggest issue with him so far is that he doesn't create as many direct chances as he should, but I can't fault his teamwork and tracking back. Happy to admit I appear to be wrong about his signing.


2 good performances in-a-row, plus our 3rd clean sheet in 4 matches and an away goal from one of our strikers. Things looking good again

13th highest paid manager in the world....couldn't believe it when I heard that the other day.

Oscar is such a great player. He will be the start of the next World Cup.

When he pressed the defender to his own back line, I just knew he would nip around and take the ball. He does this every game! Wonderful stuff.

Eden hazard is also a fantastic player. The ball seems glued to his feet at times, the best dribbler in world football. Again, I cannot believe he actually plays for us. How lucky we are at the bridge.

So lucky, that a player like mata is surplus to requirements. I love this player, but I think he slows up play so much that it just isn't working out. 40 million or an exchange for Rooney/ falcao to make the team stronger and I would have to listen.

Willian is getting better each start. His final ball and decisions are still not as they should be, but his effort and work rate are impressive. He helped put pressure on ston today and changed the game.

To think we have players like de bruyne and shurrle on the bench,and Moses and Lukaku and courtois on loan, I think in the second half of the season our depth will see us through.

It is a shame about Mata. Not only a great player but also comes across as a decent bloke.
But it has to be said he no longer seems to fit into the style of play.
I would hate to see him playing for another PL side mind.

Traore gone to Vitesse on loan, and we've recalled Hutchinson and Kakuta. No idea why.

I would snap anyones hands off if they offered £40m+ for Mata. I wouldnt like to see him playing in the premier league though, i think PSG / Monaco would be good bets for him.

A swap deal involving Mata and Falcao would be amazing and cement us as strong title contenders. Mata is sadly surplus to requirements given the form of Hazard/Oscar, he is a luxury at the moment.

And i agree that Willian has been impressive in the last few games - still not £30m worth mind, but he has been an OK buy, if a slightly odd one given our attacking midfielders.

Maybe there's a limit to how many players Vitesse can loan at a time? Wouldn't be surprised if we're trying to sell Kakuta in this window too.