|
Post by raliverpool on May 12, 2014 20:30:22 GMT 1
rather than sit back and allow suarez the run of the green. they are very very weak in defence. of course on their day they can beat us, but if we play at our best we can beat them You sound like you've just given the average Premier League team talk prior to playing Liverpool FC this past season!
|
|
frag
Member
*Paranoid Android*
I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.
Posts: 25,375
|
Post by frag on May 15, 2014 19:01:16 GMT 1
The absolute perfect squad really, would maybe have gone for Cole but not to the point where his exclusion is a disappointment. Smalling isn't great but he's 4th choice centre half and 3rd choice right back, it's not like he's going to play! Him and Jones mean we can get away with an extra midfielder and only 7 defenders, always the best way! I would've had Carrick in for Lampard, but apart from that, I agree with you. It's a good squad, given the available players. Italy are thought of as slow starters, but that applies to the group stage as a whole rather than the first match. Here are their results going back to the point where I got bored going through wikipedia: Year / Results (match order) / Pts 2010 DDL 2
2006 WDW 7
2002 WLD 4
1998 DWW 7
1994 LWD 4
1990 WWW 9
1986 DDW 5
1982 DDD 3
Cut that at 2002, and their first match is best; go back to the 80s and there's little to choose: 1st match: 3-4-1 2nd match: 3-4-1 3rd match: 4-3-1
...and going back to 1994, they're 2-2-1 in each of the three matches.
Competitive England-Italy matches tend to be short on goals, and of course it's being played in a rainforest, so I'd expect it to finish 0-0 or 1-0 either way.
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 16, 2014 15:39:00 GMT 1
My thoughts on the England squad, apologies it's rather lengthy... 50/50 on Cole. I’ve never been a fan of his but think we’ll miss his experience defensively, but if he was only considered as backup there was no point in taking him. It was interesting on the Footballers Football Show a few months back to hear Hodgson mention a story from his time with Switzerland at USA 94. There was someone who scored a couple of goals in a warm-up game prior to the tournament who he then left out, (hadn’t heard of him). At the time he wanted to take the best players for each position in his squad rather than players who probably weren’t going to play but were good people, good travellers or just people who’d helped them along the way and it’s something he regrets now. Lampard falls into that category of player, I’m not sure Cole does. The fact he didn’t want to be on the stand-by list only reinforces that. As for the debate about his decision to retire when he did, can see both sides, including doing it that day so as not to distract from the squad announcement the following day, but he hasn’t helped himself. I forget the exact date, but sometime in the run-up to the tournament, think a week or so before, if someone gets injured you can call someone up from outside the 30. Hodgson has apparently said that if Baines or Shaw were to get injured at that time he’d phone Cole up. Average age of the final 23 is 26, our youngest since 1958, (2010 was the oldest). Happy with that, pretty good blend of youth and experience. Got the right balance coming into the World Cup myself too, excited by the young talent but also cautious because of the group we’re in. Tbh though, the squad by and large picked itself. Hodgson would have had some very tough calls to make if players hadn’t been ruled out through injury. I know Lampard gets plenty of stick, here and elsewhere, but I’d rather him than Carrick and Cleverley in the squad as he can at least pop up with a goal, and also score a penalty! There were calls on the Reading forum for Kieran Gibbs, someone I haven't been particularly convinced by at international level, good or bad, but tbf his stats did stack up well this season at club level, 4 assists compared to Shaw's 1, and I think he's perhaps unfortunate that Flanagan on the standby list can cover both full-back positions. Also, Hodgson may have seen more Liverpool games recently simply because they have more England players. Interesting to read this the other day, given that Everton, Southampton and Liverpool seem to have provided the bulk of the squad. According to whoscored.com PL: Everton: 4231 = 35 games Southampton: 4231 = 30 games, 433 = 5 games Liverpool: 433 = 14 games, 4231 = 9 games, 41212 = 5 games Obviously Liverpool have mixed it up more but it shows how flexible they are. Hodgson isn't likely to play a diamond formation but I can see him using either of the other two, with 4231 probably being most likely, so interesting to see how similar Everton and Southampton are... considering the injuries, I hope our starting lineup looks something like this hart, johnson, cahill, jagielka, baines, gerrard, barkley, lallana, sterling, sturridge and rooney. that would be my starting lineup although im aware wilshere will get the nod over barkley if 60% fit preferably playing in a kinda liverpool formation with gerrard playing the deep lying play maker roll, sterling playing his usual wing role but lallana on the other side instead of coutinho (which is an improvement) and sturridge and rooney through the middle like liverpool do with sturridge and suarez with barkley in a slightly more advanced position, wilshere could easily fill the same role or even henderson if we need more a donkey worker rather than advanced playmaker as he will be used to the players and formation From what I saw on the Reading forum that's largely what most went for, apart from maybe Henderson (think Wilshere may have been mentioned too) for Barkley. Wouldn't Barkley be better in a more advanced position?
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 16, 2014 15:43:09 GMT 1
Going off a slight tangent, good to see Pogrebnyak make Russia’s squad, certainly a surprise as from looking at World Soccer he wasn’t expected to. Ex Royal Oliver Bozanic in the Aussie squad (and expected to be in the 23). Attacking central/left-sided midfielder, who 4 years ago was on loan to Cheltenham and Aldershot, and walked out on Aldershot 2 weeks before the end of the season after a bust-up with another player which infuriated then manager (and ex Reading assistant) Kevin Dillon. Amazing the progress he’s made in 4 years!
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 16, 2014 16:25:04 GMT 1
Something else I've just remembered. Rooney said this week that this is the fittest he's been going into a tournament since 2004 I think, certainly the fittest going into a World Cup anyway. He also said the team spirit is the best it's ever been in his time with England.
The 2004 comparison is an interesting one for me as that was the last tournament year prior to this when Reading hadn't had a successful season...and I think maybe because of that i'm looking forward to this World Cup more than most England have been involved in in the last 20 years.
|
|
frag
Member
*Paranoid Android*
I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.
Posts: 25,375
|
Post by frag on May 21, 2014 20:38:19 GMT 1
Rooney said this week that this is the fittest he's been going into a tournament since 2004 I think, certainly the fittest going into a World Cup anyway. He also said the team spirit is the best it's ever been in his time with England. The fittest he's been for a tournament for 10 years, and he's missed the last three games with injury! Maybe he's comparing the team spirit to that of Man Utd, which can't have been good, but maybe also the young squad could bond... I'm actually looking forward to our friendly against Peru - I bet people don't say/type that often!
|
|
Paddy
Member
*Pick up a P..P...P.. Paddy*
Best newcomer 2009
Posts: 19,422
|
Post by Paddy on May 22, 2014 9:51:24 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by Panda on May 22, 2014 10:21:03 GMT 1
"Estimates on his recovery range from 15 days to a minimum of four weeks." If Suarez is out though, that should be Uruguay out in the first round. They are the biggest example of a one-man team at this World Cup (closely followed by Portugal).
|
|
Paddy
Member
*Pick up a P..P...P.. Paddy*
Best newcomer 2009
Posts: 19,422
|
Post by Paddy on May 22, 2014 10:30:35 GMT 1
But Phil Jones had the same op in 2012 and took 10 weeks to recover.
|
|
|
Post by o on May 22, 2014 12:58:04 GMT 1
Dont they also have Higuain or is he Argentinian? They do have Forlan though as well.
|
|
Paddy
Member
*Pick up a P..P...P.. Paddy*
Best newcomer 2009
Posts: 19,422
|
Post by Paddy on May 22, 2014 13:33:20 GMT 1
Higuain is Argentinian. Diego Forlan is now 35 and his international goal scoring ratio is pretty poor. Last year scored 3 in 14 matches. Cavani is the striker to look for in the Uruguay team. 3:1, a goal every 3 matches.
|
|
|
Post by o on May 22, 2014 13:47:31 GMT 1
He's bound to be fit anyway
|
|
|
Post by Razzle Dazzle on May 22, 2014 13:49:56 GMT 1
Cavani cost 65m and is better than our strikers. So i wouldnt count the chickens just yet but theres no doubt they will struggle without suarez
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 25, 2014 10:35:05 GMT 1
Rooney said this week that this is the fittest he's been going into a tournament since 2004 I think, certainly the fittest going into a World Cup anyway. He also said the team spirit is the best it's ever been in his time with England. The fittest he's been for a tournament for 10 years, and he's missed the last three games with injury! Maybe he's comparing the team spirit to that of Man Utd, which can't have been good, but maybe also the young squad could bond... I'm actually looking forward to our friendly against Peru - I bet people don't say/type that often! I didn't get the impression from reading the interview that Man Utd had anything to do with it, but the young guys coming into the squad may have had a big part in it.. Ditto about the Peru game, going to it on Friday and looking forward to it more than most England games I've been to. I am concerned though as I think in the last 3 England games I've been to (certainly the end of season games in the last 2 years) someone has gone off with a serious injury...Sturridge last year put him out for a while, Cahill missed the Euros, Walcott in the San Marino game early on in the World Cup qualifying campaign, (can't remember how serious this one was though). Think there may have been someone else as well in the 2012 friendly against Belgium.
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 25, 2014 10:39:00 GMT 1
Dont they also have Higuain or is he Argentinian? They do have Forlan though as well. They've got Cavani, as already said. If Suarez is out then I would be more optimistic about England's chances in that game, wouldn't expect us to lose, but I still wouldn't be looking at it as a guaranteed win. This is an example of why i'm not doing my world cup predictions until much closer to the start of the tournament. Too many things can happen, there's already been players ruled out of the World Cup in the last week or so and there's still 3 weeks to go!
|
|
|
Post by Panda on May 25, 2014 13:26:08 GMT 1
Here's one for Tom... In 1966: Real Madrid won the European Cup Atletico Madrid won the Spanish League Ajax won the Dutch League Celtic won the Scottish League Austria won Eurovision Spain were the European champions England won the World Cup In 2014: Real Madrid won the Champions League Atletico Madrid won the Spanish League Ajax won the Dutch League Celtic won the Scottish League Austria won Eurovision Spain are the European champions ...
|
|
|
Post by Maximo Mark on May 25, 2014 19:27:48 GMT 1
There's a version that's done the rounds over the internet since last night that's wrong. A shame they couldn't have made it accurate...
|
|
|
Post by Panda on May 25, 2014 20:10:42 GMT 1
There's a version that's done the rounds over the internet since last night that's wrong. A shame they couldn't have made it accurate... I saw a version that mentioned Man City winning "their league" in 1966, but that league was the old Division 2.
|
|
|
Post by Maximo Mark on May 25, 2014 20:21:21 GMT 1
It had Austria, Atletico and Real, but also that Fulham got relegated (they finished in the bottom 3 but only 2 teams went down) and it was the last time a team came from 2-0 down to win the FA Cup (but Liverpool did that 8 years ago).
|
|
|
Post by smokeyb on May 25, 2014 21:54:13 GMT 1
Here's one for Tom... In 1966: Real Madrid won the European Cup Atletico Madrid won the Spanish League Ajax won the Dutch League Celtic won the Scottish League Austria won Eurovision Spain were the European champions England won the World Cup In 2014: Real Madrid won the Champions League Atletico Madrid won the Spanish League Ajax won the Dutch League Celtic won the Scottish League Austria won Eurovision Spain are the European champions ... Surely the big difference was England played all their games at Wembley in '66, not somewhere in the amazon.
|
|