English Football Thread 2012/2013

[Ollie_H]

What happened to Rooney by the way - I didn't hear about any injury.

Apparently, he turned up to training with a bug on Friday and the medical staff sent him home not wanting it to affect the rest of the squad.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

The clear difference between Utd and Chelsea is the form of the players. Chelsea's players are already in the form of their lives. I guess that comes down to great management by Carlo Ancelotti. Scholes was good, Berbatov was involved in all our major attacks, and Nani came on and put in some good crosses but otherwise we were just lacking something. 15 shots and 1 goal from it (and an own goal) is not good enough. Chelsea scored 6 when they didn't even have 50% possession.

 

[JBlues08]

While I'm happy that Man Utd dropped points yesterday but it's only 2 games into the season. I'm sure even we will have a hard time dealing with Fulham when we play them and especially, it is a London derby.

I just only see Man City's lineup against Liverpool. Mancini is playing 3 defensive midfielders again. The team may not gel yet but seriously, they are at home, he should try to go for it. Hope it won't be like the game last season. Want to Liverpool to win though. :laugh

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Don't want to jump on the bandwagon too quickly but City have looked MUCH better. Hodgson under-estimated City (after their performance vs Spurs) and went with 2 creative central midfielders, but City have made their midfield advantage count, the wide players have got back defensively and they've defended much better as a unit and been so much more cohesive in attack.

 

[JBlues08]

Don't want to jump on the bandwagon too quickly but City have looked MUCH better. Hodgson under-estimated City (after their performance vs Spurs) and went with 2 creative central midfielders, but City have made their midfield advantage count, the wide players have got back defensively and they've defended much better as a unit and been so much more cohesive in attack.

Man City were pretty good in the match and most of their attacks came on their right hand side where they consistently expose Agger's position. But like you said there, it remains to be seen whether they can do it consistently.

 

[mattfb]

Don't want to jump on the bandwagon too quickly but City have looked MUCH better. Hodgson under-estimated City (after their performance vs Spurs) and went with 2 creative central midfielders, but City have made their midfield advantage count, the wide players have got back defensively and they've defended much better as a unit and been so much more cohesive in attack.

Lucas barely plays a forward pass tbf... Probably our best defensive option.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

I think Woy got it wrong yesterday. He played to suit the situation to last week where City were awful and Hodgson packed the central midfield with creative players. The problems were that Man City utilised their man advantage in midfield. Hodgson didn't change anything about it. He could've either a) Made either Ngog or Torres track back and hassle the midfield which is very important when playing the 4-4-2 vs a 4-5-1 variant or b) Took off Ngog and brought on Poulsen and allowed Gerrard further up the pitch.

Gerrard had little to no influence on the game and proved my theory that Andy Gray knows nothing about football. He was raving about Gerrard playing in the centre and being the heartbeat of the team. Gerrard is positionally awful, and can't make the difference he makes in the centre of a 2 man midfield. To get him to play effectively he should be in a free role to accomodate for his awful positioning.

But Hodgson didn't change anything and allowed everything to go on. Funnily enough, if they'd played the "Benitez way" they'd probably have won lol.

 

[Haarithan]

I am furious Roy played Lucas instead of Poulsen . Adam Johnson simply finished Lucas and Skrtel and ate them

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Blaming Lucas for it all is incredibly harsh. Gerrard was hardly brilliant, he was no more than a passenger in that match. Agger totally struggled vs Johnson as he's a) not a natural left back and b) Johnson kept cutting inside onto Agger's weaker foot.

 

[Haarithan]

^ Then why did Roy sign Poulsen if he did not want to play him....to make him the next Aquilani ??

Even worse news now is that he is planning to rest Gerrard and torres for Trabzonspor 2nd leg away clash with an aggregate lead of only 1-0.
I think Liverpool have every chance to be eliminated now

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Like I said, I think he under-estimated City. vs Spurs, City played incredibly deep and Spurs' central midfielders had all the time in the world. I think that's what Woy's thinking was with Lucas and Gerrard.

And it's only Twabzonthpor

 

[Bevab]

Roy seems to be a bad manager.. Gerrard and Torres can be played nice if given chances. Wayne Rooney looks terrible.

 

[Haarithan]

Hey torres and jovanovic have been rested ahead of ahectic schedule while gerrard has a minor hip injury and Agger is yet to recover from his concussion he suffered against arsenal. He shouldn't have played against city.

Probable starting XI against tranzonspor tonight:

Reina-Glen Johnson-Carragher-Skrtel-Aurelio-Poulsen-Lucas-Kuyt-Joe Cole-Babel-N'gog . Formation will probably be something like this:


Reina


Johnson...................Carragher.......Skrtel.......................Fabio Aurelio



Lucas............Poulsen


Kuyt.............................................................................................Joe Cole



N'Gog............................Babel



My prediction : Trabzonspor 2-1 Liverpool ........Liverpool advance on away goals rule

 

[Ollie_H]

Roy seems to be a bad manager.. Gerrard and Torres can be played nice if given chances. Wayne Rooney looks terrible.

Your comments on here really don't add anything to any form of discussion and show that you clearly know nothing about football. Did you not see Hodgson take a mediocre Fulham side to the Europa League final? He clearly isn't a bad manager.

 

[Haarithan]

Amazing to see Liverpool win 2-1 yesterday with 4 of their first team players not available . To me Kuyt was fantastic as he always has and dominated the entire pitch.
But trabzonspor played better for 80 mins before the last 10 mins went to madness for them