Announcement

**C0ckney** · October 13, 2005, 06:11

Wow... England were like, playing real football.

yeah it was nice to see

although you can perhaps question the wisdom of starting the game without a left footed player, the team looked well balanced. all the players that came in looked useful, leadly king had an excellent game and shaun wright-phillips looked a real threat on the right.

selection headaches

**MikeH** · October 13, 2005, 07:32

Yes. balance, balance, balance

Echoing what someone said on another forum I'd like to see that formation (with the holding midfielder and a proper right winger) continue for the next friendly.

I'd still have Carrick above King and hopefully Ashley Cole and G Nev will be back.

**Maquiladora** · October 13, 2005, 08:10

Theres no way Beckham will get dropped in the WC though.

Its obvious now a holding player has to play, whether that means dropping J. Cole for Gerrard to play in CMF and A. Cole plays down all the left wing, or dropping Gerrard.

I agree Carrick is better too, he has everything King has but with better long passing.

**MikeH** · October 13, 2005, 08:17

IMO dropping Joe Cole and having Gerrard left side of 3 midfielders would be madness. It has to be Gerrard losing out for the holding player.

Becks will play that's true but can Erikkson make him stay on the right? Can he f*ck.

**Maquiladora** · October 13, 2005, 08:54

Beckham has become like the corner kicker in subbuteo, useless most of the time because he cant run, but spectacular when wheeled out for corners, and freekicks if you didnt play by the rules.

Whereas Wright-Phillips would tear past any left-back at the WC.

**MikeH** · October 13, 2005, 09:01

Exactly.

**duke o' york** · October 13, 2005, 16:01

I'd drop Lampard in favour of Gerrard.

**FrustratedPoet** · October 13, 2005, 17:58

Originally posted by MikeH
Echoing what someone said on another forum ...

I taught him everything he knows....

**FrustratedPoet** · October 13, 2005, 18:00

I'd leave Ledley in, though. I like the option of him being able to fill in at the back if one of the defenders gets caught forward (which they tend to do). Carrick wouldn't be able to do that nearly so well.

**FrustratedPoet** · October 13, 2005, 18:02

Originally posted by duke o' york
I'd drop Lampard in favour of Gerrard.

I would have said that before last night, but the way I see it is that Lampard is the guy in possession of the shirt. If he starts playing poorly, or if Gerrard really tears it up for Liverpool (which he hasn't done yet this season) then maybe things will change, but for now Lampard is the man.

Basically I'm just saying we should play whichever one of them seems on best form at the time. At the moment that's Lampard, but we don't have a game for another month so I suppose that could easily change.

**C0ckney** · October 13, 2005, 18:43

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
I'd leave Ledley in, though. I like the option of him being able to fill in at the back if one of the defenders gets caught forward (which they tend to do). Carrick wouldn't be able to do that nearly so well.

the great thing about king is that he's happy playing as a centre-half, so when rio ferdinand goes on a little foray into the opposing half, which he's good at, king can stop us being exposed at the back.

**MikeH** · October 14, 2005, 04:04

Originally posted by duke o' york
I'd drop Lampard in favour of Gerrard.

Either of them would be superb in that position... but Lampard's the one who's there at the moment. He scored the winners in the last two matches and his goal record is tremendous at all levels...

But if he's injured and Gerrard has to step in, well, what a great replacement!

**Fidel** · October 14, 2005, 13:30

we sent those perrenial cheaters and whiners spain into playoffs. too bad bosnia could not deny them that place, too.

i was shocked to see that uefa changed its rules so as to have seeded draw for playoffs. that probably saved sorry spanish team, but i hope that slovakia will somehow manage to kick them out.

**CerberusIV** · October 17, 2005, 06:40

This one amused me.

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | West Bromwich Albion | Angry Albion deny Blatter claims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/4344456.stm

BBC, Sport, BBC Sport, bbc.co.uk, world, uk, international, foreign, british, online, service

West Brom have angrily rejected claims from Fifa president Sepp Blatter that the club field weakened teams against the top Premiership sides.

Blatter alleged an Albion official told him they do not play their best line-up against the top sides because "they know they are going to lose".

However a club spokesman said: "We are astonished and totally mystified by Mr Blatter's remarks.

"We utterly refute what Mr Blatter suggests," he added.

The comments referred to the defeat West Brom suffered at the hands of champions Chelsea in August.

Albion lost 4-0, having made five changes to the team that had beaten Portsmouth four days earlier.

And the club have always rejected claims that they were attempting to rest players for the contest with Birmingham later that week.

"We can categorically state that no Albion official has spoken to Mr Blatter this year - let alone in the past month," added the West Brom spokesman.

"The management of the club field what they consider to be their strongest available side for every game - and will continue to do so.

"As always, this will be the case when the team plays against Arsenal on Saturday.

"It is also worth pointing out to Mr Blatter that we did in fact draw our away games at Arsenal and Manchester United last season."

And the punchline?

West Brom beat Arsenal 2-1 last Saturday.

FIFA really are idiots.

Announcement

World Football Thread VI

World Football Thread VI

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment