2010-2011 Football Thread

[Nieval]

...and I assume Yaya Touré will make his mark over the season.

I'm actually of the opinion that he was played out of position in Barcelona but excelled because of his abundance in talent. Of the few things Mancini might get right at Man City will be the unveiling of Toure as the ultimate, complete, box-box midfielder. Trust me when I say this, watch this space.

On Fletcher, am I the only one who disapproves of his new role this season? His forward runs have increased in frequency, abit too much, and when partnered with Scholes, this tends to leave us outnumbered in midfield. I'd love the return of the combative ball wining midfielder that ultimately lead to his fan favourite status, afterall Fletcher's strength wasn't in the quantity of runs he made but in the timing and quality of his forward dashes.

 

[Peterkro]

Hope this hasn't been posted before, 'arry gets the hump with interviewer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fulsHPpBr1U

 

[Jaffa Cake]

The term 'wheeling and dealing' is obviously meant as a backhanded compliment, as 'Arry has earnt a reputation as a 'shrewd player in the transfer market'. It's interesting though that he kicks off in the manner that he does, it seems he's tired of the tag and also perhaps thinks there's some reference there to the *ahem* rumours surrounding some of his transfer and business dealings.

Because, as we all know, 'Arry could teach the Pakistani cricket team a thing or two about murky dealings. Allegedly, of course...

 

[Peterkro]

'Arry and brown paper bags,surely not.

 

[pachyderm]

Hope this hasn't been posted before, 'arry gets the hump with interviewer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fulsHPpBr1U

"I'm a football man..." - God bless your Sir Harry...

 

[Lord Blackadder]

It's interesting though that he kicks off in the manner that he does, it seems he's tired of the tag and also perhaps thinks there's some reference there to the *ahem* rumours surrounding some of his transfer and business dealings.

Well, if he's suddenly decided he doesn't like the tag he's a little late...maybe he should start making bad deals until people stop talking about his wheeler-dealing.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

A quiet transfer deadline day for us, the only two bits of business involving the Mighty Tigers were Anthony Gardner heading out to Crystal Palace on loan until January, while Cardiff City defender Anthony Gerrard will be making the East Riding his home until the end of the season.

I was a little surprised about Gardner's switch, I'm guessing the main motivation with that one is to knock a bit more off the wage bill. However, I think the Gerrard deal could be a good bit of business, he's a proven Championship defender and that's one of the things we're crying out for at the moment.

 

[swiftaw]

A quiet transfer deadline day for us, the only two bits of business involving the Mighty Tigers were Anthony Gardner heading out to Crystal Palace on loan until January, while Cardiff City defender Anthony Gerrard will be making the East Riding his home until the end of the season.

I was a little surprised about Gardner's switch, I'm guessing the main motivation with that one is to knock a bit more off the wage bill. However, I think the Gerrard deal could be a good bit of business, he's a proven Championship defender and that's one of the things we're crying out for at the moment.

So you didn't manage to get rid of Bullard then?

Wigan managed to bring in Tom Cleverly on loan for the season from United, and signed Chelsea's Franco Di Santo. Amazingly nobody left today, despite rumors that N'Zogbia was leaving.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

So you didn't manage to get rid of Bullard then?

Nope. The Million Dollar question – or, more to the point, the £45,000 a week question – is whether or not we actually play him now...

 

[aloofman]

Bob Bradley extended as USMNT manager through 2014 World Cup. Not sure if that's good or bad.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Nope. The Million Dollar question – or, more to the point, the £45,000 a week question – is whether or not we actually play him now...

I would think you'd have to play him, provided he isn't going to strike or massively upset the dressing room...

I say bring Deano back.

Bob Bradley extended as USMNT manager through 2014 World Cup. Not sure if that's good or bad.

Both, in a way. I would like to see what, say, a Jurgen Klinsman would do with the squad. But at the same time, I think Bradley has done a competent job overall. He has his favorites, but he's also tried a lot of new faces in the run-up to the 2010 WC, and some of those guys will be coming through the ranks as players retire or fall to the wayside.

During the WC, he showed an ability to change tactics if things weren't going right. And while I wouldn't say we exceeded expectations at the World Cup, we didn't disappoint either. If you go in ranked 14th in the world by FIFA and finish 14th in the tournament, that's not so horrible eh?

 

[Fuzzy14]

Ladies and gentlemen, Dean Windass is back at the age of 41.

Also rather impresive is that David Weir is in the Scotland squad facing Lithuania this Friday, being a sprightly 40 years old.

Re:'Arry; was that live on Sky? Rather silly, the bloke was just doing his job and to be honest the journo could have been a lot more nasty than that. On a similar ilk from a while back here is Dundee Utd's Jim McLean (15 seconds from end) where John Barnes (not that one) got a smack.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

What do you think of the Weir callup Fuzzy? Is it just foolish nostalgia (cough-Beckham-cough) or is he good enough to be there? His performances for Rangers certainly seem decent despite his age.

 

[Fuzzy14]

I've not managed to watch 90 minutes due to geography, but I gather he's played a couple of league games this season so rather than nostalgia I think it's because he keeps himself remarkably fit and we've got nobody better!

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The little I've heard indicates he's good enough, I was just curious to hear a "local" perspective...though I guess you aren't technicaly "local" at the moment.

 

[Silencio]

I'm actually of the opinion that he was played out of position in Barcelona but excelled because of his abundance in talent. Of the few things Mancini might get right at Man City will be the unveiling of Toure as the ultimate, complete, box-box midfielder. Trust me when I say this, watch this space.

I agree. Against Liverpool he got forward a lot more than he did with Barca and looked very good doing it. Remains to be seen if Mancini doesn't screw it up, though, but they have enough actual defensive midfielders to play him in a freer role.

On Fletcher, am I the only one who disapproves of his new role this season? His forward runs have increased in frequency, abit too much, and when partnered with Scholes, this tends to leave us outnumbered in midfield. I'd love the return of the combative ball wining midfielder that ultimately lead to his fan favourite status, afterall Fletcher's strength wasn't in the quantity of runs he made but in the timing and quality of his forward dashes.

Fletch has also become a pretty complete box-to-box player, racking up some big goals and assists for us last season (and has already scored one in this young season). I imagine he'll stay back more against tougher competition, or we'll play 4-5-1 more. (Anderson, Carrick, or both of them simply must come good this year, or there will be trouble.) As long as Fletch has the endurance to run run run like he's currently doing, I don't mind too much.

 

[aloofman]

If you go in ranked 14th in the world by FIFA and finish 14th in the tournament, that's not so horrible eh?

I suppose not. I guess I'm one of those who wonders if the US players need a superstar manager who can light a fire under them. But the people out there who think he's been a disaster are being completely unrealistic.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I can't believe we just tried to buy Carlton Cole. Have Liverpool really sunk so low?

I suppose not. I guess I'm one of those who wonders if the US players need a superstar manager who can light a fire under them. But the people out there who think he's been a disaster are being completely unrealistic.

Indeed. Bradley has taken the USA to new heights - we haven't won any major silverware, but he's improved the squad. The naysayers are the people who are still bitter we failed to get Klinsman.

It's interesting to note that US Soccer (our FA) have been hinting that they are interested in recruiting a foreign manager after Bradley leaves the USA job. Quite the opposite from the English FA's stance.

 

[oscillatewildly]

I agree. Against Liverpool he got forward a lot more than he did with Barca and looked very good doing it. Remains to be seen if Mancini doesn't screw it up, though, but they have enough actual defensive midfielders to play him in a freer role.



Fletch has also become a pretty complete box-to-box player, racking up some big goals and assists for us last season (and has already scored one in this young season). I imagine he'll stay back more against tougher competition, or we'll play 4-5-1 more. (Anderson, Carrick, or both of them simply must come good this year, or there will be trouble.) As long as Fletch has the endurance to run run run like he's currently doing, I don't mind too much.

Can they play 4-5-1 if Rooney's form flatlines? Still, the next couple of league games are against lesser opposition, so he should bag some goals.

Edit - Shouldn't have been surprised by Spurs, but disappointed re their activity given Europe.

Cheers,
OW

 

[swiftaw]

Wasn't everyone supposed to name their 25 man squads by today? Haven't seen any news about it.

Edit: Here we go:

Arsenal (20): Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski, Cesc Fabregas, Laurent Koscielny, Vito Mannone, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Alexandre Song, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastien Squillaci.

Aston Villa (22): Brad Friedel; Brad Guzan; James Collins; Carlos Cuellar; Curtis Davies; Habib Beye; Richard Dunne; Eric Lichaj; Stephen Warnock; Luke Young; Stewart Downing; Jonathan Hogg; Stephen Ireland; Isaiah Osbourne; Stiliyan Petrov; Nigel Reo-Coker; Moustapha Salifou; Steve Sidwell; Ashley Young; Gabriel Agbonlahor; John Carew; Emile Heskey.

Birmingham (25): Maik Taylor, Stephen Carr, David Murphy, Lee Bowyer, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome, Garry O'Connor, Barry Ferguson, Colin Doyle, Matt Derbyshire, Scott Dann, James McFadden, Michel, Keith Fahy, Nikola Zigic, Stuart Parnaby, Alexander Hleb, Jean Beausejour, Ben Foster, Martin Jiranek, James O'Shea.

Blackburn (21): Paul Robinson, Martin Olsson, Chris Samba, Gael Givet, Ryan Nelsen, Brett Emerton, David Dunn, Nikola Kalinic, El-Hadji Diouf, Vince Grella, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Mark Bunn, Steven Nzonzi, Keith Andrews, Michel Salgado, Jason Brown, Frank Fielding, Pascal Chimbonda, Mame Biram Diouf, Jason Roberts, Benjani.

Blackpool (24): Charlie Adam, Alex John-Baptiste, Chris Basham, Stephen Crainey, Malaury Martin, Daniel Coid, Ishmael Demontagnac, Neal Eardley, Robert Edwards, Jason Euell, Ian Evatt, Matthew Gilks, Elliot Grandin, Marlon Harewood, Dekel Keinan, Brett Ormerod, Keith Southern, Ludovic Sylvestre, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Luke Varney, David Vaughan, DJ Campbell, David Carney, Richard Kingston.

Bolton (24): Robbie Blake, Adam Bogdan, Gary Cahill, Tamir Cohen, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, Sean Davis, Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner, Stuart Holden, Jussi Jaaskalainen, Ivan Klasnic, Zat Knight, Chung Yong-lee, Fabrice Muamba, Andy O'Brien, Joey O'Brien, Martin Petrov, Sam Ricketts, Paul Robinson, Jlloyd Samuel, Gretar Steinsson, Matt Taylor, Al Al-Habsi.

Chelsea (25): Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Yossi Benayoun, Didier Drogba, John Mikel Obi, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Yury Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou, Ross Turnbull, John Terry, Alex, Nicolas Anelka, Henrique Hilario, Daniel Sturridge, Patrick van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma, Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini, Josh McEachran.

Everton (21): Tim Howard, Mikel Arteta, Jan Mucha, Steven Pienaar, Iain Turner, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville, Seamus Coleman, Tim Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Louis Saha, Sylvain Distin, James Vaughan, John Heitinga, Victor Anichebe, Leigton Baines, Yakubu, Marouane Fellaini, Jermaine Beckford, Leon Osman.

Fulham (25): Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale, John Pantsil, Fredrik Stoor, Aaron Hughes, Rafik Halliche, Chris Baird, Brede Hangeland, Carlos Salcido, Stephen Kelly, Zoltan Gera, Clinton Dempsey, Bjorn Helge Riise, Dickson Etuhu, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Danny Murphy, Jonathan Greening, Simon Davies, Damien Duff, Andrew Johnson, Diomansy Kamara, Moussa Dembele, Bobby Zamora, David Elm, Eddie Johnson.

Liverpool (21): Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Stephen Darby, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Brad Jones, Paul Konchesky, Jay Spearing, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Ryan Babel, Milan Jovanovic, Dirk Kuyt, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Lucas Leiva, Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen, Pepe Reina, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Skrtel, Fernando Torres

Manchester City (25): Shay Given, Joe Hart, Stuart Taylor, Jerome Boateng, Wayne Bridge, Aleksander Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Shaleum Logan, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Adam Johnson, Michael Johnson, James Milner, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Patrick Vieira, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jo, Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Tevez.

Manchester United (24): Ben Amos, Darren Fletcher, Tomasz Kuszczak, Darron Gibson, Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Park Ji-Sung, Jonathan Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, John O'Shea, Javier Hernandez, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.

Newcastle (23): Sol Campbell, Steven Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands, Jose Enrique, Alan Smith, Leon Best, Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez, Steve Harper, Kevin Nolan, Wayne Routledge, Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Mike Williamson, Xisco, Fraser Forster, Tim Krul, James Perch, Cheik Tiote, Hatem ben Arfa.

Stoke (25): Asmir Begovic, Danny Collins, Rory Delap, Salif Diao, Matthew Etherington, Abdoulaye Faye, Ricardo Fuller, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Danny Higginbotham, Robert Huth, Kenwyne Jones, Carlo Nash, Jermaine Pennant, Danny Pugh, Ryan Shawcross, Thomas Sorensen, Tuncay Sanli, Ryan Shotton, Tom Soares, Michael Tonge, Jonathan Walters, Glenn Whelan, Dean Whitehead, Andy Wilkinson, Marc Wilson.

Sunderland (24): Marcos Angeleri, Phil Bardsley, Darren Bent, Titus Bramble, Fraizer Campbell, Trevor Carson, Lee Cattermole, Paulo Da Silva, Ahmed El Mohamady, Anton Ferdinand, Craig Gordon, Asamoah Gyan, David Healy, Steed Malbranque, George McCartney, John Mensah, Simon Mignolet, Nedum Onuoha, Andy Reid, Kieran Richardson, Crisitjan Riveros, Michael Turner, Robbie Weir, Boudewijn Zenden.

Tottenham (25): Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Sebastian Bassong, David Bentley, Vedran Corluka, Peter Crouch, Carlo Cudicini, Heurelho Gomes, Michael Dawson, Jermain Defoe, William Gallas, Tom Huddlestone, Alan Hutton, Jermaine Jenas, Younes Kaboul, Robbie Keane, Ledley King, Niko Kranjcar, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Kyle Naughton, Jamie O'Hara, Wilson Palacios, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Stipe Pletikosa, Rafael van der Vaart.

West Brom (25): Giles Barnes; Roman Bednar; Chris Brunt; Scott Carson; Marek Cech; Simon Cox; Graham Dorrans; Marc-Antoine Fortune; Pablo Ibanez; Gonzalo Jara; Dean Kiely; Abdoulaye Meite; Ishmael Miller; James Morrison; Youssouf Mulumbu; Boaz Myhill; Peter Odemwingie; Jonas Olsson; Steven Reid; Paul Scharner; Nicky Shorey; Gabriel Tamas; Somen Tchoyi; Jerome Thomas; Gianni Zuiverloon.

West Ham (25): Ruud Boffin, Robert Green, Tal Ben Haim, Manuel da Costa, Danny Gabbidon, Herita Ilunga, Lars Jacobsen, Winston Reid, Jonathan Spector, Matthew Upson, Luis Boa Morte, Valon Behrami, Jack Collison, Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Radoslav Kovac, Mark Noble, Scott Parker, Pablo Barrera, Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines, Benni McCarthy, Victor Obinna, Frederic Piquionne.

Wigan Athletic (19): Chris Kirkland, Mike Pollitt, Charles N'Zogbia, Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Stephen Caldwell, Ben Watson, Hendry Thomas, Ronnie Stam, Jordi Gomez, Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame, Maynor Figueroa, Steve Gohouri, Daniel De Ridder, Ali Al-Habsi, Antolin Alcaraz, James McArthur, Mauro Boselli.

Wolves (25): Marcus Hahnemann; Wayne Hennessey; Carl Ikeme; Kevin Foley; Ronald Zubar; Richard Stearman; Jody Craddock; Christophe Berra; Steven Mouyokolo; George Elokobi; Stephen Ward; Jelle van Damme; Karl Henry; David Jones; Michael Mancienne; Dave Edwards; Greg Halford; Nenad Milijas; Adlene Guedioura; Matt Jarvis; Stephen Hunt; Kevin Doyle; Steven Fletcher; Sylvan Ebanks-Blake; Marcus Bent.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I love the fact that Sunderland fans have nicknamed Steven Mignolet (their Belgian goalkeeper) "Ming the Merciless".

Wasn't everyone supposed to name their 25 man squads by today? Haven't seen any news about it.

Edit: Here we go:

Good post. This makes me wonder if the Konchesky signing was influenced by the need to conform with the squad rule....

 

[Jaffa Cake]

swiftaw is like Sky Sports News, but better.

Haven't heard about our squad – we need to submit a 25 like the Premier League clubs, the main difference being that we have to have ten 'homegrown' as opposed to the top flight's eight. For one thing, it's going to be interesting to see if we name Bullard in our 25.

Of course, it's going to be interesting to see who is left out of their club's 25, as they're liable to be available on loan to the likes of us. Tables and crumbs, and all that.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Did nobody mention the Ibrahimovic transfer? I can't remember. Sounds like Guardiola wanted shot of him, and didn't care what it cost. He has Villa now anyway.

 

[takao]

Well, seeing as Man City had half a dozen expensive defensive midfielders, they'd better start appreciating them.

I think that the defensive midfield position is a hot item these days, after the success of the 4-2-3-1 we saw during the WC. USA usually started with a 4-4-2 (though we usually played one defensive midfielder plus Michael Bradley, who is a true box-to-box midfielder), England infamously used that formation as well, Chile had that exciting 3-3-1-3 or whatever it was...but most of the top sides seemed to rely on a couple defensive midfielders and used wingbacks. Brazil didn't have much luck with it but Germany and Spain did.

well it's no surprise the top three from the world cup all fielded the the very same 4-2-3-1 and the DMs they fielded (Schweinsteiger, van Bommel, Busquets, Xabi Alonso, de Jong, Khedira) all were either top 10 players on their position or the runner ups for a top 10 place

true but in reality i think the term "box to box midfielder" is way overplayed today...today every midfielder (and the fullbacks) has to be able to play box-to-box for 90minutes...
it's interesting that there is no german word for "box to box midfielders"

Brazil had the problem that for the system they fielded they simply didn't have the players who could play the more disciplined Dunga game... opposed to the germans, ghana who fitted their system exactly to their kind of players... ghana had Prince Boateng and Annan who ruled the midfield and germany currently have many extra attacking midfielder who are very variable (Müller, Kroos, Özil, Marin etc.) and their traditional strong DMs

I think it's down to an overall lack of quality in that department right now. These aren't the days when Keano and Vieira led and defined their teams.

Michael Essien and Darren Fletcher are the best by far in that position in the Premiership at the moment. Citeh certainly overstocked themselves in that position, and I assume Yaya Touré will make his mark over the season. And it doesn't help that there are really no good DMs featuring in the English national setup at the moment - they still really miss Owen Hargreaves.

I think I agree with your assessment of Meireles. A good bit of business by Liverpool, but bossing the midfield in Portugal and bossing the midfield in England are two different things.

Toure i would put into the DM top 10 at the moment even though his game making isn't his best skill... Essien can still be world class on some days but he simply doesn't have the consistency on other days it's just shocking ... just like Hargreaves can't walk from the bus to the locker room without getting injured
if he is fit and has match practice he is without a doubt the best english DM
it makes me appreciate though the physio department at Bayern where they managed to keep him on his feet... it's no surprise that Müller-Wohlfart also happens to be the head Physio at the german national team


side note on last second big name transfers: the Bundesliga also was quite happy with snatching up Huntelaar (Schalke), Camoranesi (Stuttgart), Diego (Wolfsburg), Mikael Silvestre (werder)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Jermaine Defoe scores in the 2nd minute against Bulgaria...signs portend England will win euro 2012?

well it's no surprise the top three from the world cup all fielded the the very same 4-2-3-1 and the DMs they fielded (Schweinsteiger, van Bommel, Busquets, Xabi Alonso, de Jong, Khedira) all were either top 10 players on their position or the runner ups for a top 10 place.

It is, however, interesting to note that Uruguay played a 4-4-2 for much of the tournament. They had an outstanding strike partnership in Suarez and Forlan.

true but in reality i think the term "box to box midfielder" is way overplayed today...today every midfielder (and the fullbacks) has to be able to play box-to-box for 90minutes...
it's interesting that there is no german word for "box to box midfielders"

Yeah, the term is pretty over-used. Michael Bradley was originally billed as more of a defensive midfielder, but he often gets involved in attacks while our second DM (such as Ricardo Clark) is generally much less likely to go forward. These days players are generally more fit, but you still see players like Xabi Alonso who are certainly not box-to-box players - he'll take long shots but he's most useful for beginning or developing attacks and maintaining possession, not making runs.

side note on last second big name transfers: the Bundesliga also was quite happy with snatching up Huntelaar (Schalke), Camoranesi (Stuttgart), Diego (Wolfsburg), Mikael Silvestre (werder)

Seems like the Bundesliga has been picking up some big names in the last several years in particular. Is there more money available these days? It seems that fashionably alternative side St. Pauli have not started well.