new football season 2007/8

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aren't British police wonderful?

munch,
you are probably right its in the blood, ( claret n blue )
been thinking about an away season ticket instead of a home one for next season - now thats where the real excitement begins!
scotty

Arry outspived by City as they land Benjani for £3.85 million.

england did ok in my view tonight but wasnt impressed but there again it was only a friendly against a very mediocre swiss team.

As usual for the last 2 years Joe Cole was the best player in an England shirt. Bentley, Rooney and Gerrard also played well. It'll take time, but already there were some signs of more composed, structured football being played.

Still early days.

Mark

Joe Cole excepted, I wasn't impressed at all - when's Capello going ... one forward ... did the Swiss keeper have to make a save?

Sorry, but I really can't see England going anywhere at the moment - certainly not to the next world cup.

ATB Rotf

as mark says early days give it time.

Would a football fan who didn't know the teams have been able to tell which one was 44th in the FIFA ranking?

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Joe Cole excepted, I wasn't impressed at all - when's Capello going ... one forward ... did the Swiss keeper have to make a save?

I seem to remember the 'keeper making quite a few saves, ROTF. Statistics here. 17 efforts on goal with 7 on target is not too bad. More of a worry is the lack of concentration at the back we seem to perpetually suffer. I am sure Capello will nail this.

Other than that there was much less hoofing up the pitch, more passing as the game went on (admittedly not all went to the man, but the 'oles' were coming thick and fast at the end!), and midfielders actually supporting and running past the front man. Some good signs.

This is more intelligent football and will take a while for our, ahem, intellectually less well-bestowed footballers to become fluent with this style of play. But, ultimately, it is more effective than the more bombastic 'up and at 'em' style we seem to prefer to employ at international level.

Give it time.

Thought rooney was excellent and should have got the MOTM award not gerrard.

Regardless of the tame performance, no one doubts that Capello is a brilliant manager. He'll get it right, give him time.

And the players are obviously all terrified of him, which is pretty funny.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next month in Paris.

the players will probably go on the piss at some paris night club

I was impressed 2nd half, thought Bentley was excellent as was Rooney, Cole clearly excellent and Gerrard held it together very well. Not convinced by Wright Philips despite the tap in. Thought Wes Brown was a bit suspect in first half. MOM - Rooney. Certainly seems to be a bit more structure and professionalism to the team. Early doors, but a good start and it was a friendly.

No mobiles, No WAGS, No Flip flops, No Mudd Club, No CBGBs

quote:

Originally posted by Chillkram:

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Joe Cole excepted, I wasn't impressed at all - when's Capello going ... one forward ... did the Swiss keeper have to make a save?

I seem to remember the 'keeper making quite a few saves, ROTF. Statistics here. 17 efforts on goal with 7 on target is not too bad. More of a worry is the lack of concentration at the back we seem to perpetually suffer. I am sure Capello will nail this.

Other than that there was much less hoofing up the pitch, more passing as the game went on (admittedly not all went to the man, but the 'oles' were coming thick and fast at the end!), and midfielders actually supporting and running past the front man. Some good signs.

This is more intelligent football and will take a while for our, ahem, intellectually less well-bestowed footballers to become fluent with this style of play. But, ultimately, it is more effective than the more bombastic 'up and at 'em' style we seem to prefer to employ at international level.

Give it time.

Yes Mark yours is the voice of reason, but all I wanted was to see England play like they did when I saw them beat Holland in Euro 96. I still think we need to play 2 forwards - I'd have put Dave Kitson up front with Rooney. I was not convinced by the defence at all.

Time well tell .... I just think it was the wrong appointment, but we did need some discipline re-introduced.

I think Scotland will do well with GB

OK so he's Italian, but I think that playing a lone striker, in a friendly, at home for your first match & against fairly weak opposition is a bit negative. It would have been nice to see a bit more attacking flair & gung-ho attitude. Maybe when he's had a bit more time.
& Gerrard as MOTM?? I don't get that at all.
Matt.

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
Would a football fan who didn't know the teams have been able to tell which one was 44th in the FIFA ranking?

They might hazard a guess at the team that lost.

They might even think there was a fairly impressive second half performance from a pretty much a scratch team.

It was only a friendly and England (I was going to put "we" but I am half Irish) are starting from a relatively low base but I think there are encouraging signs.

I assume that Owen Hargreaves had a slight injury as otherwise it would be complete madness not to play him - in conjunction with that central midfielder who like the coach can't speak coherent English. Although he is probably England's best overall player.

NO not Beckham - in case you wanted to play him out of position. Obviously I'm also not referring to not the Spanish learning crocked Lumpoflard - long may he remain on the sidlines.

My personal view is that England lack any flair players - Rooney is the closest but he doesn't get a free rein at OT. Gerrard is a class act but his game plan is agressive power / stamina with the occasional touch of class/style.

England are lacking a genuine midfield "playmaker" and I don't see where one is coming from at the moment.

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Dolan:
My personal view is that England lack any flair players -

Joe Cole?

quote:

England are lacking a genuine midfield "playmaker" and I don't see where one is coming from at the moment.

David Bentley?

quote:

Sorry but i think the whole lot should go,
He should bring in a whole new team.

Like who? The list of candidates is sadly lacking.

Given that only three of the team that lost to Craoatia were in the starting line up I'd say he has changed it.

For our shopping list, we need...

A new goalie
A right back (I'd move Richards into the middle)
I'd keep Rio for now. Woodgate is a decent understudy. Not sure if there are any decent young centre backs coming through. NUs Taylor looks ok but is probably short of international quality)
A left back - Cashley isn't the player he was. There are one or two younger candidates around.
Midfield looked ok (Bentley, Hargreaves/Barry, Gerrard and Cole)
A striker to play up front with Rooney

Another 3 goals and anoher victory for QPR. The days of propping up the table seem far off now. Could we even dare to think about the play-offs?!!

15th place!!!

Nice to see ROTF celebrating over on the Tractor Boys thread. Unfortunately QPR's winning streak came to an end tonight, losing 2-4 at home to Burnley despite being 2-0 up!

Bugger. I shouldn't have mentioned the play offs!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Paul who lives 3 doors up from me is a QPR fan.
He goes to every home game and has been a sponsor of players for a few years.
He is not a happy man tonight.

Munch, I know him. He's the one who sits in the Ellerslie Road stand!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Chillkram:
Nice to see ROTF celebrating over on the Tractor Boys thread.
Mark

Thanks

... away, we can't stop winning away, we can't stop ....

ATB Rotf

now we need some home form

rotf,

what ya reckon ! play offs ??

scotty

quote:

Originally posted by scottyhammer:
rotf,

what ya reckon ! play offs ??

scotty

We're not too good at those ...

Sill it was a great day at Wembley - and that Reuser goal.