Terry named England Captain

Tweedledum wrote:

Sir Parks Lives wrote:If you wanna see Rio at his absolute best get a video of the Man United vs Milan game at Old Trafford 2004/2005.

Absolute class performance.

Is that the one you drew 0-0?

Whats the Rooney/Scholes sitution? they ok to play yet?

no they lost 1-0 in that game.

Tweedledum wrote:

Sir Parks Lives wrote:If you wanna see Rio at his absolute best get a video of the Man United vs Milan game at Old Trafford 2004/2005.

Absolute class performance.

Is that the one you drew 0-0?

Whats the Rooney/Scholes sitution? they ok to play yet?

No we lost 1 - 0. It was the game where Carroll spilled the ball into Crespo's path who had been in Rio's pocket all night (oh how I wanted to slice up Carroll).

Scholes and Rooney can both play against Fulham, however they could be banned for the next 3 games after that - Charlton, Watford and Spurs. Meaning back for the Arsenal game, the 5th game of the season.

I think were appealing at the moment though and Rooney could get off, whilst Scholes could get one game.

Scholes will most likely miss the Charlton game which is no great loss TBH

poiuy1 wrote:Scholes will most likely miss the Charlton game which is no great loss TBH

as long as we have another midfield signing by then.

Otherwise with Carrick out as well, it could be back to Giggs and O'Shea.

@ your avator

I don't think it matters TBH against Charlton you could play Fletcher and O'shea and still dominate.

Carrick should be back by the start of Septemeber i think they said, whats that site that gives you an update and report on all the sportsman injuries i remember people referring to it on 606?

Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

S4P wrote:Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

only the best centre backs anticipate crap goalkeeping.

@ TS,

Of course Rio's mistake v Hungary was going to be all over the news because it was both self inflicted, as well as crazy. At least Terry's mistake(s) were genuine, where he was trying to clear the ball, instead of trying to nutmeg/maradonna turn/whatever the f*ck he was trying to do. This is what I mean about Rio, he has moments of doziness (no doubt his drugs/booze problem he had has affected his brain in someway)

Indeed, the other reason I don't rate Rio too highly is his positioning which is rather frightningly, considering he is meant to be one of the 'worlds greatest defenders' quite poor. This again, may be down to the fact that he has had a drugs/booze problem, affecting his brain or it might be down to the fact that he just doesn't read the game well (which is more than likely as JT once had a minor booze problem when he very first came to the scene and it hasn't affected this side of his game).

S4P wrote:Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

sorry park, I didn't see your post at the top of this page.

@ SP4... ur post about seeing terry live is the most relevent one yet.. I question how many people here have seen him on even more than one occasion... i guarantee their opinion will be vastly different once they have..

@ cotr

It's the same about Drogba. Before I saw Drogba play, I thought he was an overrated useless tw@t who contributed very little, and was no where near worth £24m, even though the locals who go to the games regularly were saying what a great player he was. I couldn't believe it.

Yet when I went to watch Didier for the first time (have seen him play about 6 or 7 times now and my opinion hasn't changed) I was really impressed. He does so much running, so many tackles, plays people in, and imo, if people believe Rooney is worth £27m, then I'd say £24m for Drog is a bargain. I still believe that if he had the composure of Eto'o and Henry (and he gives himself enough chances to but then messes quite a few up), he'd probably be the best striker in the world.

The same with Terry, when you watch him live, you see his excellent vocal skills (something sky sports cameras don't obviously pick up on). Also his awareness of what's going on (something Makelele obviously can't do for him). You also see just how dominant he is aerially. imo, his game reading makes up for his lack of pace and as long as he's playing with someone who's reasonably quick (Carvalho, Gallas, Ferdinand and co are no slow coaches) then there is no problem whatsoever.

@ SP4.. it's the same reason i started to really dislike lampard as a player and also see how good essien is for your team... the games i saw gave me the impression essien controlled everything... maybe ballack will take over this role this year..

To be honest with you, I wasn't as impressed with Essien as maybe I hoped. Then again, Makelele had quite an average first season, as did Drogba, but both of those had excellent 2nd seasons. I think players need time to adapt to the Prem and I think Essien will be an awesome player, and when he did play well he was fantastic (at the world cup he showed his form again), I just thought maybe he was a tad too inconsistent last season.

The one I was disappointed with was Wright-Phillips. Everyone talked about how 'he wasn't getting enough games' and maybe they're right, but the time he was on, (excluding the Everton match), he did very little, when players like Joe Cole and Robben were putting in good performances.

Likewise with Lamps, I thought he started the season really well, but then disappeared more and more as the season went on. He did play well though in the 2 pre-season games that I saw (MLS and Feyenord), where he was linking up with Ballack nicely, so hopefully that'll happen more (from my point of view) this season.

Essien will IMO have a very good season this season, I am seriously worried by the amount of midfielders that you have though and trying to keep them all happy.

I know there has been a fair amount of Lampard bashing this summer but I said before the summer started that Chelsea could do with selling Lampard - he is noe of the best at what he does, but it makes the teams style unnattractive and also it doesn't help break down the really good teams in Europe. Lampard is a good passer but hes not the most creative, his main strength being the fact that hes a goalscoring midfielder.

Ballack is clearly a better player than him and Essien if given a chance is also a bit better because he has a superb engine on him - although he won't get you many goals.

Mikel from what i've seen also looks a fantastic talent and is probably being groomed to replace Ballack.

If it was me I'd go Maka, Essien and Ballack - this looks fantastic because you have the positioning and timing of Maka, the drive and energy of Essien and the guile and end product of Ballack.

agree with all that tweedle... also the one major reason i wouldnt play lamps is to get the best out of shevchenko... i don't think lampard has either the ability or will to pick out his runs.. will be interesting to see if the team continues to be built around lampard's strengths..

I wouldn't have Lamps in the team either, but he and ballack worked well together so I'm afraid JM will pick him.

For me the back 4 picks itself:

Ferreira---Terry---Gallas---Bridge

I know Carvalho's a great defender, but he's too rash imo to be a main starter.

The midfield I would go with:

-------------Makelele-----------
Joe Cole----Ballack----Robben

And up front:

---------Drogba----Shevchenko--------

Although I might consider starting Kalou for CL games.

Really?!

Ballack and Lamps worked well together? How well? I can think of a lot of players that have worked well together in a friendly but its a different matter when you're playing Barca in the knock out stages of the CL.

Also last year, you didn't even do too well in the group stages - thats what led to all the problems in the first place

S4P wrote:Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

He was great in both games but his best performance came at Old Trafford. Shame most people didn't see it as Chelsea - Barcelona game was on at the same time. It was Silvestre who was nearest to Crespo when he scored not Rio & I don't even blame Silvestre as it was one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes considering the importance of the game I've ever seen.

Sir Parks Lives wrote:

S4P wrote:Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

He was great in both games but his best performance came at Old Trafford. Shame most people didn't see it as Chelsea - Barcelona game was on at the same time. It was Silvestre who was nearest to Crespo when he scored not Rio & I don't even blame Silvestre as it was one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes considering the importance of the game I've ever seen.

like i said only the best defenders anticpate crap keeping

Terry would get into ANY club side in the world. And thats not a joke

Tweedledum wrote:Really?!

Ballack and Lamps worked well together? How well? I can think of a lot of players that have worked well together in a friendly but its a different matter when you're playing Barca in the knock out stages of the CL.

Also last year, you didn't even do too well in the group stages - thats what led to all the problems in the first place

well enough considering the fact they'd never played together in a competitive match before. I don't like the idea of the 2 playing together, I'd prefer one (and out of the 2 of them, on current form, it's gotta be Ballack), but credit where it's due, they played well enough together and Lampard's goal v Feyenord was a sublime chip.

Henry add weight to our King V terry arguement:

Thierry Henry has given England manager Steve McClaren food for thought by naming Ledley King as the only defender who can get the better of him without fouling.
The Arsenal skipper has been the Barclays Premiership’s number one striker for a number of seasons and is arguably the best in the world.

But the Frenchman admitted he had not always come out on top in derby clashes with Tottenham Hotspur captain King, who was used only occasionally in the national team by previous England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

He said: “I don’t like defenders who hold the shirts of other players. The only defender here who doesn’t do that and sometimes still gets the ball off my feet easily is Ledley King.

“He is the only guy who doesn’t hold players. He will get the ball off you without you even noticing. For me, that is a good defender.

“He plays without any contact yet is somehow still strong and gets the ball without doing any fouls.”

Tweed:This is from the EPL website http://www.premierleague.com/fapl.rac?command=setSelectedId&nextPage=enNewsLatest&id=1341974&type=com.fapl.website.news.NewsItem&categoryCode=NewsLatestFAPremierLeagueNews&breadcrumb=latestfa_breadcrumb
Good Practice to mention the source dont want to get in trouble.

King was carrying a sore knee last year in my mind Ledley is better than Ferdinand............

I would have mentioned the source apart from the fact its MAJORLY stretched the screen

use http://tinyurl.com

it avoids screwing up the screen width.

Emmanuele Elboue wrote:

Sir Parks Lives wrote:

S4P wrote:Indeed which Milan game are you referring to Parky? The one at OT where Seedorf hit a shot from outside the area and then a central defender failed to follow Crespo's run as it bounced off the keeper?

Or the game in the SS, where Cafu hit a hopeful cross into your box and Crespo had a free header in the middle of the area, where a central defender should've been marking him?

Ok, maybe he had a great all round game, I can't remember, but he seemed to me to be at fault (or one of the players at fault) for both of Milan's goals.

He was great in both games but his best performance came at Old Trafford. Shame most people didn't see it as Chelsea - Barcelona game was on at the same time. It was Silvestre who was nearest to Crespo when he scored not Rio & I don't even blame Silvestre as it was one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes considering the importance of the game I've ever seen.

like i said only the best defenders anticpate crap keeping

What the fuck are you on about, I just said Silvestre was marking him. Rio can't mark everyone on the pitch.

If Rio has to anticipate that Caroll is going to make an error, then Caroll shouldn't even be a pro footballer.

It's not about anticipating the mistake. It's about the defender (Park says it was meant to be Silvestre) so in that case, Silvestre should still have tracked the run of his marker (Crespo in this case)

We can all blame the defenders but when a keeper makes an error like that all blame on defenders goes out of the window.

I would of quite happily kicked Carroll in the teeth that night. People who hadn't even watched the game and had been watching the Chelsea vs Barcelona game automatically come to the conclusion we had been outplayed when some of our players played out of there skin - Ferdinand, Scholes especially.

Then Carroll had the check when offered a contract to ask to be the first choice goalkeeper.

As a goalie "its never the goalies fault". But wen a ball comes at you like it did to Carroll, then theres no excuse.