The Official Football Thread 2005/2006 (7 Viewers)

[A2RAYA]

i think we're missing moore alot...he's a lot beter than vidmar and popa...and i wouldnt trust neil in central defence against a sth american opposition..i can see him making a stupid/late tackle on a player and getting sent off

 

[bazookajoe]

Moving to other fixtures, England using a 4-5-1 against Wales, Rooney the lone striker. Luke Young starting due to Gary Neville's injury.

 

[AcStyle*]

Moving to other fixtures, England using a 4-5-1 against Wales, Rooney the lone striker. Luke Young starting due to Gary Neville's injury.

England leading 1-0 thx to a deflected Joe Cole goal with not long to go...

 

[slip]

Hiddink has said that the team last night will not resemble the team in november, i think he means both as individual players, but also how they play collectively as a group.

I really have a couple of concerns about who is in the team. I havent been impressed by emerton now for a number of years... i think last night the quality of ball he supplied was well below par, if kewell gets himself fit we will be alot better with him and chipperfield running the wings(even if they are both left footed).

lazaridis was injured thats why he didnt make the team, but i dont think vidmar and popa are good enough to fce the south americans. gimme laza, moore, neill and if we need a couple more i would look at thwaite and lujbo.

from last ngiht i gather Hiddink wants

1gk
2 out and out strikers
1 sweeper
2 stoppers
1 midfielder (defensive)
2 wingers ( at least 1 possibly both have to be able to drop to defence for a 4-4-2 or 5-3-2, emerton and chipper can do this but i dont really think emerton is upto it)
2 midfielders (attacking)

given that i dont think there are actually to many players assured of a spot.

keeper - schwazer or spider
forwards - aloisi and viduka (only two i consider assured really)
sweeper - moore but hiddink has shown that he is willing to use others
stoppers - neill, lazaridis, possibly a few others
defensive mid - skoko, grella??
wingers - kewell, chipper, emerton, lazaridis
attacking mids - kewell, cahill, bresiano, culina, grella??

 

[A2RAYA]

i think in midfield we're fine in that we got plenty of cover and quality in kewell, if hes ever fit, bresciano, cahill, culina, skoko and grella while viduka and aloisi did the job in attack too but it's the defence that needs serious sorting out..it needs speed..we're going to get raped by the sth americans unless we find a quick defender that can do the job at the back

 

[slip]

how fast is thwaite?

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

Chippers is good. Emmo has gotten progressively shiter since joining Blackburn.I woulda loved to see Elrich given a go tonight.

And Numero is right. The South Americans will fuck us up defensively.

chipperfield and sterjovski are highly regarded by the swiss and have been tipped to join bigger clubs though their form for basel. i think he would be our ideal winger. emmo has got shitter since joining rovers, he needs a change of scenery, and not neccessarily to another epl club.

with only a little thought to it, this would be my first XI:

formation: 3-4-1-2

keeps: Schwarzer
LB: Lazaridis
SW: Moore
RB: Emerton
LW: Chippers
CM: Cahill
CM: Brecsiano
CF: Kewell
ST: Duke (formally) of Celtic
ST: Aloisi

Bench:
Kalac
Neill
Skoko
Culina
Agostino

obviously many of you wont agree, and in my haste to post this i may have made a major ommission. im willing to make concessions. sorry popa, ive been a fan but i think your time is up.

Edit: and before any of you have probably seen this, ive made a change...

 

[copious]

Ypour missing a player. Anyway That defensive trio will get owned against sth american opposition. Even if Chippo and Emo fall back to create a 4-4-2, its too attacking minded. Im concerned about our defense =(

 

[A2RAYA]

who is this thwaite dude anyway? am i missing something here or am i just lost?? i keep hearing his name but i've never heard of him

 

[Numero Uno]

yeh i got no idea who thwaite is as well
meh
if you play in south america and you are leading on aggurgate
u should play a
5-4-1
formation and DEFEND DEFEND DEFEND !

 

[...]

yeh i got no idea who thwaite is as well
meh
if you play in south america and you are leading on aggurgate
u should play a
5-4-1
formation and DEFEND DEFEND DEFEND !

Men behind ball!!
defend in front of penalty area!!
man mark striker!

 

[A2RAYA]

i disagree...it don't think it will work..it's been tried in the past...not jsut with australia but with lots of other teams...italy is supposedly the master of it but how often has it worked in recent times. Somehow i don't think it'l work with australia with the unpredictable defence we have atm. Plus inviting a sth american team to attack u while you sit back and absorb it is suicide 90% of the time. I think the best way is to play your normal game but don't go crazy in attack nor in defence..control the midfield first and foremost

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

nah...Italy just had an extraordinarily bad and out of date coach .... Greece applied the strategy very well in the euros last year. the problem with australia is that we dont have many good defenders....or even half decent. so we will still be shit playing defensively and will probably let in a couple of goals... then players like neill will have brain explosions(thank god muscat is no longer there) and get sent off conceding penalties etc etc.

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

it doesnt matter how many we have back against quality oppostion, the concerns are that australian defence is not technically good enough. 3-5-2 can be effective against teams such as uruguay in montevideo if we get behind the ball. defence isnt left up to the back line. it starts up front. the midfield have also been responsible for our previous defensive lapses. 5-4-1 may not be neccessarily defensively better, coz we'll have to play the whole game on the back foot, we'll lose ball too easy up front and it'll add pressure on the backline.

there is a good reason we signed guus to manage us. he is more equipped to make a technical decision than any manager we have had previously, and should have things right come november

 

[copious]

Judging by what the players have said about Guus, I wish we would of got him earlier. I think he'll have the players mentally on song, however technically I dunno if we can do it in time. i hope we do though :S

 

[timbk2]

uraguay currently back in 5th place in their comp.. 2 games left to go.. i hope Chile overtake em.

otherwise, we have no chance. Forlan, Zayaleta vs. Popovic, Vidmar = gonnnski

 

[timbk2]

whatever happened to Max Vieri. ... seemslike he disappeared into fat air. all this talk about him, wanting to play his brother christian, if Italy play Aust in the world cup. .. and he is gone after like 2 appearances

 

[Numero Uno]

yeh vieri is a worthless player
hes just living in the shadow of his brother

 

[RUB!X]

vieri missed a howler for italy midweek, open goal 2 meters out ... haha ...
cmon hungary, qualify damn it !! got to beat sweden midweek to have a chance ...
uraguay are 5th again .. they will tear our defence to shreds ... i hope we face chile ... only a few games left ...
i still find it hard to believe Nth America get 3.5 places, seams so unfair ...

 

[LMF^^]

Well US and Mexico will alwayz get 2 placez there, perhapz it should just go back to 3 placez instead.

I guess the US team may be underestimated at timez, they gotta play quite well to run out comprehensive winnerz over Mexico, and we know Mexico ain't no pushover.