Worldwide Soccer Thread I

[MikeH]

Yep. 5 of those 8 are home games too.

Be nice to wrap it up before the Champs League Semis.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
I hadn't noticed that sectarian lyric in your sig before.....

Interesting timing, given the current focus on stamping out sectarianism in football.

it's been there for ages. comes from old firm derbys.

international games coming up, you can tell sven is confident we can beat northen ireland, emile hesky is back in the squad!

[Imran Siddiqui]

emile hesky is back in the squad!

For the love of all that is holy, why?

[MikeH]

He's been playing pretty well, and he's always combined well with Owen. NI will be a tight physical game...

Heskey is one of those England players that gets a lot of abuse, like Phil Neville, that is totally out of proportion to their actual lack of quality. Both mainly get criticized for being **** when they've been played out of position, Heskey on the wing or Phil Nevill at full back.

Now that's a troll.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Heh...

Just get Rooney to play with Owen, IMO.

---

Interesting...

UEFA just said that Mourinho lied about Rijkaard talking to Frisk in the corridors, and are going to start disciplinary proceedings!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=328390&cc=5901

[C0ckney]

heskey has done well at birmingham, he's even scoring a few as well it's not that he's a rubbish striker, it's just that he should never be first choice for england.

talking of england strikers, it's all gone a bit downhill for poor old alan smith, hardly playing these days and now he's at least 6th choice striker for england, ouch!

[Imran Siddiqui]

it's not that he's a rubbish striker, it's just that he should never be first choice for england.

Yep, that's my position as well. Good in the EPL, but he should be a backup on the English team. Then again, against Northern Ireland, maybe Sven doesn't think it'll much matter .

Though I don't think he'll pull out that 4-3-3 formation again .

[MikeH]

I think he has been selected as backup...

[C0ckney]

yeah, dunno why we've got five strikers in the sqaud though.

[MikeH]

Anyway it's only Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan.

As for Chelsea, I would be shocked if they get more than a reprimand and a fine.

[MikeH]

Originally posted by C0ckney
yeah, dunno why we've got five strikers in the sqaud though.

I think he might play 3 up, hence 5 strikers.

[C0ckney]

well if he does, lets hope it works better than last time, and that we don't have andy johnson being played out on the right :/

[MikeH]

Depends who it's against... if one of the three is Rooney in the hole with Owen + 1 as proper strikers I think it could work really well. Got Joe Cole as a Hole alternative too.

The +1 would he Johnson or Heskey in that situation I think.

I think if it was me I'd play Owen and Rooney up top with Cole in the hole and Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham (or Dyer) as a narrower midfield three.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by MikeH
Anyway it's only Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan.

As for Chelsea, I would be shocked if they get more than a reprimand and a fine.

True about NI and Azer...

As for Chelsea, this is more of a 'point' for the anti-Mourinho people (my Lord are there are a lot of them... like gnats!) to use against Chelsea and their wunder-manager.

well if he does, lets hope it works better than last time, and that we don't have andy johnson being played out on the right :/

All to appease Beckham. Isn't SWP hurt at the moment anyway? Just go to a 4-4-2 and no one will complain that Becks is on the right if SWP is injured. Oh, and a 4-4-2 allows Downing to show what he can do on the left (if they start him, of course).

[MikeH]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
As for Chelsea, this is more of a 'point' for the anti-Mourinho people (my Lord are there are a lot of them... like gnats!) to use against Chelsea and their wunder-manager.

They're just jealous.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
All to appease Beckham. Isn't SWP hurt at the moment anyway? Just go to a 4-4-2 and no one will complain that Becks is on the right if SWP is injured. Oh, and a 4-4-2 allows Downing to show what he can do on the left (if they start him, of course).

I don't think Downing is quite ready for the full international stage, but if they do play a straight 4-4-2 I'd certainly pick him on the left. This is opposition he should be able to do very well against. I don't think he's defensively good enough (yet) to be the first choice against more dangerous teams and we have other, better luxury players to choose from.