(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

[HappyDayRiot]

^ Probably giving Cole at least a chance to prove his fitness.

The squad in general is garbage though. Same tired old faces, and token new inclusions who have already shown they're not good enough eg Cole, Zamora, Barry...

In all a good opening weekend, however. Bristol hammered, Leeds lose, Swansea lose and apparently pretty awful, Cardiff draw (though we could have won but for that damn Stoke goalkeeper!)... seriously though, Sheffield Utd? Anyone else here seen them play? What a bunch of timewasting thugs. Ched Evans, Leon Britton and Jamie Ward especially, and how the hell Simonsen didn't get booked for timewasting in the second half we'll never know. And the bloody referee was absolutely dreadful, giving drop-balls like they were going out of fashion.

Community Shield was decent too. Lovely goals, and true skill/hilarity at the Chicarito special. More of that please. He could be the man to help bring the best of Berbatov at last.

...and then all excitement is killed by international borefests. I'll watch England just to see how much booing there is.

[Jax]

Shazam! wrote:

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In fairness, Brown is fucking terrible.

Also, no Joe Cole and Jermaine Defoe? *facepalm*

Brown has always been a very decent defender compare to Glen Johnson who might be better off becoming a winger. We know what Defoe can do so theres no point in calling him up (the same should of gone for Rooney, Lamps etc). Joe Cole needs games at Liverpool to convince Capello and it looks Roy wants to play him in the hole so ENG could end up having a Barry/Gerrard/J.Cole midfield in the future, which sounds decent to me.

[trekkiebaggio]

Breaking news that O'Neill has resigned from Villa. Milner being sold over his head? Looks like Villa will have a tough start to the season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...la/8898993.stm

[Roger Wilco]

Sounds good.

[HappyDayRiot]

Probably over the Milner saga, the constant Ashley Young links and maybe even the Luke Young fiasco. Don't blame him for leaving, though the timing sucks.

Oh I also read that Villa have let Shorey go to WBA. Hard luck Jax!

[Jax]

^ Don't mind as much since we signed a Chelsea youngster Ryan Bertrand on loan for left back but yeh I would of prefered Shorey (he'll be playing championship footy soon with WBA).

As for O Neill I wonder if Lerner told him he won't be getting much of the transfer fee from Milner or that Young would be sold for the right price.

[HappyDayRiot]

^ Sounds like that's exactly what happened. Ah well, I had Villa to go backwards this year and they also certainly will now. Who on earth is the readymade natural replacement?

[Jax]

All the papers have Capello startibg 4-4-2 with...

Hart

Johnson Dawson Terry Cole

Milner Lampard Barry Gerrard

Zamora Rooney

Has Capello learn't anything ? why is he the only person left in English football suffering from denial...

4-4-2 still has a place but against weaker teams but why not use his only friendly for something else since after this we begin Q/F's against Bulgaria/Switzerland who like us can Q/F out of the group. Gerrard DOES NOT work on the left ffs why is Johnson there ?

if he sticks with 4-4-2 and the same players then we will not Q/F for Euro 2012.

[Shazam!]

Johnson is there by default.

As if Adam Johnson isn't on the left wing, with either Gerrard or Lampard in the middle (and the other dropped).

[Jax]

People point to Lamps goal record but unlike Stevie G, hes's not been chucked around the England lineup like a whore forced to be in several different postions over his England career. Gerrard scores, passes, tackles and commands game...

Lampard does not therefore Stevie G needs to be in the middle, Capello grow a brain cell or two and play A.Johnson on the left with Stevie down the middle.

[Jonny]

Jax wrote:

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Billy doesn't know his best system IMO and we still lack that winger that can rip a team to parts ever since Commons Left. I really respect the hard working Cohen but on the other wing we could do with a little bit of flair, maybe Peter Wittingham who we've been trying to sign for 12 months.

Also I'd prefer to play a 5 man midfield so we can get the best out of both Majewski and McGugan because we did not get enough goals from midfield last season and had mis firing forwards with the exception of Earnshaw so no need to play 2 up front. I would also love us to sign Nickey Shorey who cannot find a PL club so should suck it up and drop a league.

From our squad I rate highly...

Camp
Gunter
McKenna
McGugan
Majewski
Earnshaw
Cohen

I feel any of those could make it into the PL with a team and the rest of squad is very so/so.

Well I guess all we can do is wait and see at the moment and besides I'm basing my prediction on where you finished last year if I'm honest but anyways we'll see.

[Jonny]

Oh and I'm interested to see this Poulsen fella to see if he does well for Liverpool this season since it seems like he's joining soon. As for the England match I'm not that bothered really if I'm honest it's not exactly like it's my club that's playing lol.

[Jax]

My Ratings
Hart (7) - Didn't have much too do and could not stop the goal that never was but look assured and important save at the end.

Johnson (6) - A few misplaced passes and poor crossing ruined his forward attempts. Still look unconvincing at the back.

Terry (7) - Looked solid enough and helped Jagelkia settle in alongside. Past his peak but can benefit England still and we need it at the back so much.

Jagelkia (7) - Looks to had earned his place alongside JT in next months Q/F. Was solid throughout and with more experience and match time ewith Everton could step up to the next level in his game quite easily. Unlucky with own goal was Dawson's fault plus never went over the line.

A.Cole (6) - Got forward but then did nothing with the ball and looks less impressive at the back than recent years. I personally feel hes doesn't care much abou ENG these days.

Walcott (6) - Much better than his last few ENG caps but still making the same old mistakes. Apart from one great ball his crossing needs to improving and too often slows down with the ball and clearly is in 2 minds. Needs to drop the Arsenal mentality to pass at anytime and just run at players instead.

Lampard (5) - Worst player on the pitch was simply invisible to everyone. Doesn't suit the system and must be dropped to the bench, too slow to dominate a game unlike Gerrard.

Barry (6) - Worrying times for ENG/Barry, clearly past his peak and needs a better partner alongside him other than Lamps (Milner/Rodwell). Lacks pace but that just means he should adopt a more Makelele role though passing not to his normal high standards.

Johnson (6.5) - Flashes of what he could do and really should of scored. Will get better with age and experience but shown he can go past players a rare ENGLISH ability indeed. Must remain in the ENG XI

Gerrard (8.5) - Man of the match and a complete different player in the middle. Has been the next Hoddle for the last 4 years, played wrong by McClaren/Capello for too long but now could be set free. 2 world class goals and never stopped giving, a true captain performance.

Rooney (6) - Unlucky with offside goal when Stevie should passed it sooner but after that was back to being a mere shadow of his former self. Lucky ref didn't spot his 2 acts of Petchulant child like antics. The new system is right so Capello should remember these words no single player is bigger than the team = If can't operate up front on his own must be dropped for someone like Agbonlahor who offers real pace and goal threat. Wayne play off the defenders shoulders and through the gaps or get out.

SUBS...
Gibbs (7) - Was a breathe of fresh air with more energy than a power grid. Got forward well and beat players at ease not too metion his final ball looked better than Cole's. Didn't look out of his depth at all watch out Cashley.

Dawson (6) - Recovered after his mistake let Hungary score (well kind of). Needs to play with the likes of Terry/Ferdinand to get best out of him but most likely will start on the bench in september.

Young (6.5) - Looked decent though needs to be more confident on the ball. A few runs give us hope he can perform for England though will be better on the right than the left IMO.

Milner (6) - Didn't get much to do but sat in the hole alongside Barry and did a better job of it than Lampard. Until Rodwell is ready Milner should play the role alongside Barry pushing up when ENG are on the ball and slotting back when defending.

Zamora (7) - So unlucky not too score twice if it wasn't for two superb saves from the Hungary number 1. Powerful header at the end makes Crouch inability to head even worse but that chest turn and volley was the stuff Rooney should be doing. Will be in the squad next month and deserves to be.

Wilshire (N/A) - 10 mins not enough to see him but I have no doubt he can be the future repalcement for Gerrard after 2012 until then a become a key squad player to learn his trade.

Capello still got it wrong with no Rodwell who was the m,an of the match for the U21's this week. Also Agbonlahor must be in there and I wonder how well he would link up with someone like Zamora but there are decent signs still of what we saw. Capello retirement of Beckham was done in a poor way and he will never command the same respect again though lucky for him the players don't need him to play well as along as he picks the right ones.

[HappyDayRiot]

England did alright then? I didn't bother watching any of the friendlies and opted for the City v Burton game on the radio instead, my nerves wracked as I prayed we didn't become one of the dozen Championship clubs dumped out at the first time of asking. Apparently we even signed someone I've never heard of to play in time, so that was nice. Koumas had a good game... just a shame we only started playing in ET.

Apparently Neil Warnock claimed QPR don't care about the League Cup. Any Championship side who doesn't care about the one cup they have a decent chance of winning is a fool. I suppose it's all about promotion these days though. I still love the Cup. Both of them.

[MikeH92467]

I saw where Everton isn't planning on bringing back Landon Donovan because MLS wanted too much money to loan him out again. Donovan and Everton (fans and team) seemed to really hit it off last year, so I'm wondering if he might surface somewhere else on else on loan and what the reaction from Everton's fans would be if that happened.