Roiling football blather

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crackerjack

Well-known member
I was at the England game last night and came away feeling horribly deja vu. Hard to be belive that in 2008 England are still lining up with Beckham, James and Heskey, with the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum still unsolved and without a natural left winger.

Both goals from set pieces, no real fluidity, outsmarted where it matters (ie on the ground) by a neat but unremarkable Czech team, we were lucky to get a draw. Capello seems profoundly conservative in his approach, the new blood isn't coming through fast enough and the old just seems content in its underachievement. Apart from Rooney, who looked a class act and Rio, who was solid, it was dismal and desperately predictable. Trouble is, apart from leaving Beckham on the bench and bringing in someone who can keep up, and dropping Lampard to play Stevie G in the middle and Cole wide (or Ashley young if he's up to it), I can't see what changes to make. Richards for Brown, sure, but what else? I sense doom.:(
 
hucks

hucks

Your Message Here
crackerjack said:
I was at the England game last night and came away feeling horribly deja vu.

Trouble is, apart from leaving Beckham on the bench and bringing in someone who can keep up, and dropping Lampard to play Stevie G in the middle and Cole wide (or Ashley young if he's up to it), I can't see what changes to make. Richards for Brown, sure, but what else? I sense doom.:(
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Carrick/ Barry and Hargreaves, Gerrard Cole and Young in front of them and Rooney striker? We'd keep the ball better, there's a bit more pace, and it's a formation that has fluidity built in.

Though I note that Capello says they played 4-3-2-1 last night, not 4-4-2, and that Gerrard was on the left of the 2 with Rooney. Didn't see the game, but by all accounts that's not how we looked. Maybe the players just aren't clever enough to adapt to anything other than 4-4-2.

I'd keep Brown over Richards, tho. Under rated vs over rated.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Didn't watch the game yesterday but I have to say the present is bad and the future looks worse for the England side. I knew we should have got in one of those experienced Dutch coaches such as Advocaat, Hiddink or McClaren.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
hucks said:
Carrick/ Barry and Hargreaves, Gerrard Cole and Young in front of them and Rooney striker? We'd keep the ball better, there's a bit more pace, and it's a formation that has fluidity built in.

Though I note that Capello says they played 4-3-2-1 last night, not 4-4-2, and that Gerrard was on the left of the 2 with Rooney. Didn't see the game, but by all accounts that's not how we looked. Maybe the players just aren't clever enough to adapt to anything other than 4-4-2.
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They were definitely 4-4-2, or 4-4-1-1 given how deep Rooney played most of the time. Gerrard came inside quite a lot, but that's just the usual indiscipline when either he or Lampard play left.

I'd keep Brown over Richards, tho. Under rated vs over rated
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Brown's OK, but I like Richards - he brings a wild card element, both at our end and theirs. He'll need more defensive awareness before a man like Capello trusts him, but that'll come.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Arf"
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I thank you. I lived in the Netherlands for as long as Schteven but I never picked up the accent.
Anyway, agree that Richards should play. He's about the only new blood who is coming through and I think he's a genuinely exciting player. The gaps in his game can be filled in because he's got all the physical attributes. Basically you can teach someone positional sense more easily than you can teach them to be bigger or faster or stronger in the tackle.
I can't believe that they are still relying on Beckham and set-pieces though, especially in a friendly, how long is he gonna last for? We're not exactly free-scoring at the moment so I dread to think what we'll be like when he can't lumber to the corner spot anymore.
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
crackerjack said:
the Gerrard/Lampard conundrum still unsolved
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utterly farcical that this is still an issue. just fucking DROP THEM. both of them, either of them (my pref would be lampard), i really don't care. how many times do we need it proven that they don't work together? why wasn't young even in the squad? why do i feel like i've been having the same conversation about england for a decade now? i think it's because i have, in fact, been having the same conversation about england for a decade now.

i only saw the highlights of the game, and we seemed to be passing it more neatly (is this fair?) - but otherwise same old depressing stuff...

won't things at least get better when becks/lamps/etc sod off and the micah richards/ashley young generation come through? probably not til after 2010 world cup alas...
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
mos dan said:
i only saw the highlights of the game, and we seemed to be passing it more neatly (is this fair?) - but otherwise same old depressing stuff...
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They kept it well enough in positions where they couldn't do any real damage, yeah. But penetration? Forget it. The occasional good throughball from Gerrard and rooney (1 each, iirc) and that was it. And not only can beckham not track back, he can only hit a standing ball because he doesn't have the pace to create even a yard to put the cross in. Downing showed a brief glimpse of proper wingplay when he beat his man, made a yard, slung in a really good cross, better than any of Beckham's bar the corner that got the goal. Beckham's contribution still looks essential if you look at the goal assists stats, but people need to factor in his utter uselessness in most other depts.
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
crackerjack said:
Beckham's contribution still looks essential if you look at the goal assists stats, but people need to factor in his utter uselessness in most other depts.
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agree completely. even five years ago he couldn't run, couldn't beat a man, couldn't tackle. now it's just ridiculous. the most singularly-focused one-trick-pony ever to play for england.
 
T

tom pr

Well-known member
main problem with beckham is that the more he plays crap and still manages to set up a goal a game, the more we'll rely on set pieces and the more capello will try to justify his inclusion. i can see why he's in the team, but it's so backward-looking to keep him there.

i was at the game (friend of mine got corporate tickets- god knows i wouldn't have paid to sit with a bunch of west ham fans) and the midfield was a shambles. there were several points first half where rooney, gerrard, ashley cole and beckham were all on the left, lampard and barry were mincing around on the half-way line (which, of course is where barry was meant to be, but why isn't lampard bombing forward?), meaning the only option in the box was defoe and the only option on the right was wes brown.

i don't know if capello watched chelsea on the weekend and wanted his midfielders to have free reign to interchange, but when you're doing that with people as terminally undisciplined as gerrard, as positionally senseless as rooney and beckham, and as uninterested as lampard, then you end up with... well, what you got the other night.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Just as Harry Redknapp is sounding like the sage of old England, he comes up with this:


HARRY REDKNAPP last night called on England to ditch David Beckham — and put Wayne Rooney in his place.
Just like the rest of the nation, the Pompey boss was dismayed by Wednesday’s pitiful 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic.

Three Lions boss Fabio Capello tried playing Rooney as a frontman behind Jermain Defoe — but the United star flopped, constantly running out of position.

Redknapp now believes Capello needs to push Roo into a wide right role — replacing Becks — in a bid to get the best out of him.

Redknapp said: “Wayne would do damage on the right. Becks is a good character to have around and is still a good player.

"But this is a position where Rooney could really do us proud in the World Cup qualifers.”
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IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I read something the other day about how Mourinho has privately suggested a reason why Shevchenko didn't perform for Chelsea. The article also said that if you knew the reason you would know why he won't say it in public. The journalist then went on to say that it would be interesting to see how Shev will perform now he's back in Milan as though it could somehow bear out the story. Anyone know what he was on about?
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
I read something the other day about how Mourinho has privately suggested a reason why Shevchenko didn't perform for Chelsea. The article also said that if you knew the reason you would know why he won't say it in public. The journalist then went on to say that it would be interesting to see how Shev will perform now he's back in Milan as though it could somehow bear out the story. Anyone know what he was on about?
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Nope, saw the same Martin Samuel piece as you and wondered just the same. What could it be? More coke available in London? He's got addicted to Perfect Fried Chicken? His wife's shagging Boris Johnson? Anyone out there know? Answers on a pm if you'd rather;)
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Maybe Milan have a doping programme - it would explain how Maldini is still playing and, let's face it, I wouldn't put anything past the ref-bribing, match-fixing, punishment avoiding scum.
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
Another Man U player winning over the locals.

"In future, I would like to test myself in another top league. I'm thinking of Spain.

"At least there will be no reason to complain about the weather. In England, they say that Manchester is the city of rain. Its main attraction is considered to be the timetable at the railway station, where trains leave for other, less rainy cities."
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article4617393.ece
 
mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
One of the comments:
As far as I am concerned, Vidic seems willing to die for the cause every time he plays. If he has long term thoughts about not necessarily playing for Manchester for the rest of his life, well that just makes him a human being.
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IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well, I'd have to agree with the sentiment at least - if that's what he looks like unsettled then I'd love to see him playing for a team that he actually wants to play for. He's certainly displaying a more professional attitude than Berbatov for example.
 
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