Caporegime
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What about an in-form Arshavin? There's also Nasri, Song and Vermaelen.
English League Football ** spoilers ** [11th - 15th September 2010]
- Thread starter red11
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What about an in-form Arshavin? There's also Nasri, Song and Vermaelen.
While I don't agree with Hodgson's comments, I equally don't believe he's happy with mediocrity. He's just down playing expectations to shield against criticism if things don't go well. He does go ott though; in our first pre-season game he was talking about damange limitation.
Caporegime
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chelsea have better versions of them, vermaelen is good but vidic is better, i would take him but he would be bench material unless something happened to vidic or terry, but they have alex and ivanovic already, will need to see if he continues his form and maybe even get better, he is still young yet is he not?
Song is like Mikel, can be good for some spells, but a complete liability when you need him the most. Song likes to dash forward as if he's wayne rooney, sure its worked once or twice but generally it doesnt and can catch the team out. Mikel on the other hand just likes to self destruct and assist the other teams goals. There are much better version of DM's in the EPL. i'd take de jong over song.
i just thought of someone else now, Arteta, although he would really need to fight for a place, if Lampard, Gerrard, Fabregas already fill in that role.
Caporegime
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No Rooney, Berbatov, Nani, Valencia either?
Still, this is quite a pointless thing to be discussing in all honesty. Some of your opinions on players are at the best of times, invalid, heh
i rate torres, drogba and tevez over rooney and berbatov.
malouda, zhirkov, kalou, a. johnson over nani and valencia.
my opinion is my opinion, therefore valid, you may disagree but what you state is hardly fact now is it, veryone is entitled to their opinion.
The real madrid manager didnt rate makelele and got rid of him, even though zidane said he was the engine within a rolls royce, differing opinions there? everyones opinion is different, if it was the same then you would all be sheep. thats why i havent jumped on the rooney is the best bandwagon, i dont rate him as the best so i will voice it as so. other people on the other hand will like to be a part of the flock and just follow what the tabloids/pundits say rather than get their own facts.
Caporegime
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Is it really that tough to ask, I said EXCLUDING City, ie, don't take them into account, not that I wouldn't choose any of theres if I hadn't excluded the team.
Why did I exclude them, because rather than a stunning 1st 11 and a mediocre second 11, they've gone and bought 562 players in every position, its a daft team and really an unfair comparison because they'll eventually get rid of a lot of deadwood and narrow down the team to 11 first teamer's, some great back up and a lot of "can be played against Wolves/derby's/crapity crap crap teams". Why, because once you have a first eleven(you don't yet, the manager doesn't know who to keep) why pay 100mil a year to the guys who never play.
So next time, try reading what I said, if I wanted to say I wouldn't take a single City player, I'D HAVE SAID THAT. For the record over Liverpool I'd take De Jong, Tevez, Toure, Kompany, the other Toure if he shows his old form, and would have said Bellamy and Ireland aswell.
Anyway, jesus , all this hassel over Reina, I did't say he was crap, I'd take him at Arsenal, I wouldn't take him over Cech, and maybe not VDS, why, currently(its pretty contextual here) Cech and VDS aren't playing any worse than him, infact both have been great for just as long, as Reina, theres no reason NOT to take him over them, but no reason to take him either.
I think picking Ashley Cole over Konchesky would make for a significantly stronger team, I think picking Reina over Cech or VDS, would be an inconsequential change, they are of the same level.
Its like arguing over Fabregas, Lampard, Xavi, Iniesta, whose the best assist maker in the world right now, ask 100 people and you'd have each get 25 votes(the sane ones all voting for Fabregas obviously
), ask 100 people whose best out of Konchesky/Cole, or Lucas/Mikel/Fletcher, Gerrard on current form/Fabregas/Lampard, babel/Malouda/Walcrap/Modric/Young.Reina, theres no clear answer, in all but 3 players at Liverpool 99/100 people would pick a non Liverpool player, even in terms of Gerrard currently most would pick Lamps/Fabregas over him, most on Torres in this last 3 months would pick Drogba, Berbatov, RVP.
As for Villa, compared to Liverpool, Dunne and Collins are a MUCH better CB pair, much much better, left back, pretty equal, right back, Johnson can't defend which rules him out, Young, Downing over Babel and Maxi maybe, I don't like Downing but I'd take him, Young wipes the floor with them, Ngog or Gabby, easy choice, Petrov of Lucas, easy choice.
When you'd take the majority of the Villa team over the Liverpool team, why on earth do you expect Liverpool to be brilliant.
Caporegime
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As usual I (and most other humans no doubt) disagree with Drunkenmaster.
IMO, virtually every team, including the "big" ones, in the premier league would take Reina. He's made 2 or 3 slip ups in the last 12 months, but then again so does every single keeper in the world. So does every player in the world in fact, its just that when a keeper does it , the effects are much more noticeable.
Even with those 2 or 3 slip ups, the pro's of Reina FAR FAR outweigh the few slips he has made.
I would wager that every manager in the league would jump at the chance to sign Reina.
With your whole post you managed to make a big huge mistake, you disagreed with everything I said, based on one player. Read my previous post to this one, I didn't say he was crap, theres just no reason to take him over the other keepers available. Yes I'd take Reina in a second at Arsenal but would you really bring in Reina to Chelsea or Utd, the only two really title competitive teams, not a chance, I wouldn't make a change for changes sake.
My point of my post however, was the VAST MAJORITY of Liverpools team is simply not good enough to be a "very good" team, IE, top 6, and drawing with Brum and Arsenal are infact GOOD results for them, not bad or unexpected.
SO you disagree on Reina, but that was one minor part of a post with an entirely different point, IE Liverpools quality/ability, not Reina's specifically.
Take my whole post, who would you take from Liverpool apart from Reina(and if Reina is he going to be the difference between winning the title and not in the team you assemble without a single Liverpool player?) over other players in the top 6-8? If essentially none, or at best 3 all on their best form(two most certainly are not even close to their best) they how are they being considered a team that underperformed last year and are dissappointing this year.
Caporegime
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Shockingly I disagree, why, because guys like Babel, Cole, Maxi, Gerrard, Torres, caragher, Johnson all seem to have this attitude that they deserve to win, that they are title contenders and the team is brilliant. Its a team of individuals that benitez put together, who don't play well together at all.
They need a jolt, they need to think a midtable finish is whats coming if they don't start working hard, stop rapping and start training, start working together, work hard in a training regime, get some disciplined football going at the club. Keep telling them its an easy 5th/6th finish and they'll play like they'll cruise into the Europa cup, and thats rubbish, the majority of the team isn't good enough to let Liverpool cruise into 5th/6th and the single worst thing would be the manager acting like they can. Babel, Maxi, Lucas, no improvement, very little effot, complete waste of space frankly, Johnson keeps getting called up for England, after a 17mil transfer, and yet he can't defend to save his life, maybe he could if he wasn't constantly out of position, no one knows as no ones seen it.
Someone needs to scare the living crap out of the players in that team to force them to buck up their idea's, Babel seems to put more time into rapping and twitter than playing football, Cole thinks he's the single best player in the world, Maxi gave up playing for anything but a paycheck 5 years ago(truly awful buy from Benitez) Torres plays like he deserves better despite the fact he's played like a retard for 5 months. Caragher thinks GBH is the best way to defend.
Liverpool players attitude, and their fans attitude/acceptance of how good the team is needs to change dramatically before the team improves on the pitch, at least the guy in charge knows that.
With your whole post you managed to make a big huge mistake, you say I disagreed with everything you said. Thats not the case, I disagreed with a particular aspect of what you said which I then explained. Nowhere did I say I disagreed with everything you said, I only said I disagreed. It is possible to disagree with someone but not disagree with everything they said.
Okay now i have had time to reflect, this is my take on the game (I was there, in the city fans, fortunatly i didnt have a lot to cheer for my personal safety i guess)
Anyway:
It was pretty clear the problems we would be having from the first 3 mins or so.
Our back 4 stayed right ontop of pepe's feet, so to speak, for the entire game. They never pushed up once. And to boot, every time Glen Johnson got past the halfway line RH gave him a colossal bollocking for it.
Our midfield 4 were also playing super deep, even when in possession. The central two played behind the halfway line for the entire game, only venturing forward when they had no other choice (to collect a loose ball from a clearance) and again, the few times lucas tried to push up he was told to drop back.
Gerrard, when he dropped deep (to assist a midfield being over-run with pressure due to playing so god damn deep) was told to move back up field.
Long ball tactics =/ Boot the ball to Torres / Stevie, try to collect the flick on and take a shot at goal. The other banks of 4 playing deep to try and not concede.
Roy seemed lacking in ideas, he seemed like a man who has only managed 4 away wins in how many years now?
Our worst games under Rafa last year were -never- as bad as this, not even close.
I have given away my ticket to the United game, i couldnt bear to see another performance like this, so im off to play golf instead
I've supported pool through thick and thin (Souness
), it always felt like my team, like liverpool, a team who wanted to win even if they seemingly stand no chance. This is not liverpool anymore.
Anyway:
It was pretty clear the problems we would be having from the first 3 mins or so.
Our back 4 stayed right ontop of pepe's feet, so to speak, for the entire game. They never pushed up once. And to boot, every time Glen Johnson got past the halfway line RH gave him a colossal bollocking for it.
Our midfield 4 were also playing super deep, even when in possession. The central two played behind the halfway line for the entire game, only venturing forward when they had no other choice (to collect a loose ball from a clearance) and again, the few times lucas tried to push up he was told to drop back.
Gerrard, when he dropped deep (to assist a midfield being over-run with pressure due to playing so god damn deep) was told to move back up field.
Long ball tactics =/ Boot the ball to Torres / Stevie, try to collect the flick on and take a shot at goal. The other banks of 4 playing deep to try and not concede.
Roy seemed lacking in ideas, he seemed like a man who has only managed 4 away wins in how many years now?
Our worst games under Rafa last year were -never- as bad as this, not even close.
I have given away my ticket to the United game, i couldnt bear to see another performance like this, so im off to play golf instead
I've supported pool through thick and thin (Souness
), it always felt like my team, like liverpool, a team who wanted to win even if they seemingly stand no chance. This is not liverpool anymore.
He never gets this when I argue with him, so don't expect a recognition of this.
Man of Honour
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Ok so that's 4 games for Spurs and no goals from our CFs. Not good really.
Don't concentrate on the negatives, I'd say we're doing well considering none of our strikers has hit form. Just wait and see Crouch to get one in Hamburg tomorrow.
Caporegime
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if you guys are aiming for top 4 or doing well in champions league, then i would have sold crouch and pavulchenko (or whatever his name is) and some other dead wood you guys are carrying and got better players in. van der vaart is an extremely good signing, if you get a striker rated as good as him , then you will have done well. i think the italian league may have some cheap decent strikers on offer, but they find it extremely difficult to adapt to the EPL after playing in italy.
the transfer market is now closed, so you guys will have to stick with what you have now, it all rests on defoe, who is currently injured.
crouch averages 1 goal every 4 games, thats not good enough for a top 4 striker. puvalchenko (or whatever his name is) averages even less.
keane is a good rotation player and i reckon hes better than crouch but even he doesnt cut the mustard for a top 4 team striker, he is however an amazing backup player or used well in rotation/subs.
defoe is your main man up front and now without him, and hes out for a long time, your team could easily start to drop points in games they would have won with him. its a big blow for spurs, luckily your midfield is extremely strong though, i would even risk playing some of your midfielders up front.
Defoe is certainly first choice but I disagree with your assessment of the others.
Crouch's record in the Europe is impressive, and don't forget he is more than a goal scorer and gives Spurs a great plan B. He was also an ever present in the league last year and we finished 4th.
Pavyluchenko just needs some game time, he's a form player, I wouldn't write him off. Most teams would love a backup striker as good as he is.
Keane is still a legend in my eyes, he needs to regain some belief but he is a great all round player but not the pacey front man he was in his youth.
Crouch's record in the Europe is impressive, and don't forget he is more than a goal scorer and gives Spurs a great plan B. He was also an ever present in the league last year and we finished 4th.
Pavyluchenko just needs some game time, he's a form player, I wouldn't write him off. Most teams would love a backup striker as good as he is.
Keane is still a legend in my eyes, he needs to regain some belief but he is a great all round player but not the pacey front man he was in his youth.
I really rate Keane, and its a bit of a shame to see that he's lost his way a bit. His previous (pre-Liverpool move) form for Tottenham shows he's easily capable of being a top forward in the Premiership at least. Thing is, he looked good in the Ireland game I watched the other day, so it's odd that it's not showing for club. Maybe he just doesn't fit the system you lot play these days?
Caporegime
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he doesnt get a game for his club and this could be his main psychological problem. he wants games, thats why he went on loan to celtic. celtic cant afford to buy him or his wages otherwise they would have taken him away from spurs quite easily.
he is a great player, he just needs games, sure spurs have used him here and there, but he needs more.
