Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:29 pm  

I agree that Baines is probably over-rated, but the truth is, any left back in the world would have been hung out to dry playing in that line-up and that system that Hodgson employed on Saturday night.

Baines's strength at Everton has that he has always had a left midfielder who he could work in tandem with - On Saturday night, Rooney showed, to put it politely, that left midfield isn't his position.

As for Ashley Cole, yes, in his day he was a very good left back, but the fact that he lost his club spot to a player who is actually a right back, shows that his powers have waned massively and even he would have been exposed against Italy.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:26 am  

Surreal to see Jo coming on for Brazil. One of the worst players to wear a City shirt, and that's saying a lot. When he played for City it seemed his sole role in the team was to try and win throw ins from hoofed clearances. And he wasn't much good at that.

Incredibly, he was actually better than the Brazilian he replaced

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:06 pm  

I have to say I think this Brasil midfield may just be the worst I've seen in my life time.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:32 pm  

Charlie Sheen wrote:

I have to say I think this Brasil midfield may just be the worst I've seen in my life time.

They are a lousy side full stop.

They are undoubtedly the worst Brazil side I have ever witnessed - It will be criminal if they get anywhere near the final, never mind win the thing.

Yes, the sight of Jo coming on is indeed a surreal one, but, for me, no more a surreal sight than the vastly overrated Willian jogging on and performing upto his usual mediocre standard - Throw in Ramires and Paulinho, who are just decent PL quality footballers, that overrated full back from Real Madrid, the awful Fred... the list is endless.

If ever a side lived on the glories of its vastly superior predecessors, then this it.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:48 pm  

Adios Espana.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:07 pm  

This brazil team is dog sh*t. (By their historic standards).

Half a dozen teams can take them, no problem. I'd be suprised if they make it past the quarter finals.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:55 pm  

Same old same old from England so far. Totally unable to keep the ball and with none of the ruthless finishing the other sides always seem to have.

I can't believe he went with the same lineup. Get Lallana and Barkley on now, don't wait for fifteen minutes before the end. Playing the Liverpool system just wont work as we don't get any width and Baines and Johnson cant get forward. Sick of Gerrard and Henderson giving the ball away.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:58 pm  

England have no world class players and that is proving the difference, those star moments of quality in these tight games.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:59 pm  

So annoyingley and depressingly predictable.

England slow, cumbersome, lacking world class quality. Undone by world class quality. Every 50/50 known to man being given against england as is madatory in major tournaments, uruguay should have been down to 10 at 0-0 so theres the typical sense of injustice.

f*cksake.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:02 pm  

FlexWheeler wrote:

England have no world class players and that is proving the difference, those star moments of quality in these tight games.

England have a team good enough to get out of that group, Uruguay are basically Stoke with Luis Suarez. Utterly terrible performance again tonight from England. Suarez is world class, but would any other team in the World Cup give him that chance in the first place? We finally got back into it and another Pizza Hut advert moment from an England player. Gerrard is pants. He tries to play this Pirlo-esque role but apart from spraying balls from one fullback to the other, what good does he do exactly? He doesn't even screen the back four as he has no mobility, so he's just in no mans land all the time.

Hodgson is going, his decision to keep the narrow Liverpool-style formation bombed tonight. England aren't technically gifted enough to play like that. We need width. So noticable again tonight that the moment Barkley and Lallana come on, Baines and Johnson are able to get forward.

So, so disappointing. Alright we were never going to win it, but we could at least have got past Colombia into the quarters.