The Football Thread - Season 2011/2012 - Part 2

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Be interesting to hear his thoughts on why players are in are why some aren't.

To be fair - apart from the inclusion of Downing (and those we learned would miss out yesterday) - you couldn't make much of a difference by tinkering.
 
The sad reality is an individuals the team is just not that good. Probably why Roy was the best appointment, as hopefully he will get the best out of them as a team. Let's see!
 
He must have missed all Liverpool's games then LOL
 
dinners said:
He must have missed all Liverpool's games then LOL
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It's going to be glorious if downing ends up scoring a goal that wins us a game, or puts us into knockout stages etc.

You are never going to hear the end of it off me :lol::lol::lol:
 
Love that he included ruddy, he's had an immense season.

Also pleased to see Defoe go, he's done fantastic as an impact substitute for Spurs. Think I read he's the first player to come off the bench and score 20 goals in all competitions in a season.

The players I don't understand are glen Johnson, downing and carroll. They've all had terrible seasons and the odd 20 minutes here or there shouldn't be enough to change that.

I do find it funny that Lennon seems to have lost his place in preference for the mighty Ox :lol:

I'd also have liked to see Scholes take Gerrard's place after their respective seasons but that was always an unlikely thing to convince him to come back to international football.
 
joescrivens said:
It's going to be glorious if downing ends up scoring a goal that wins us a game, or puts us into knockout stages etc.

You are never going to hear the end of it off me :lol::lol::lol:
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We never hear the end of you anyway when it comes to deluded Liverpool remarks or desperate United bashing ;)

Once they're wearing England shirts I'll support them all regardless of which club they play for and be delighted if they perform well :thumbs:

Unfortunately - I fully expect you to keep your coloured glasses on throughout ;)
 
TriggerHappy said:
Love that he included ruddy, he's had an immense season.

Also pleased to see Defoe go, he's done fantastic as an impact substitute for Spurs. Think I read he's the first player to come off the bench and score 20 goals in all competitions in a season.

The players I don't understand are glen Johnson, downing and carroll. They've all had terrible seasons and the odd 20 minutes here or there shouldn't be enough to change that.

I do find it funny that Lennon seems to have lost his place in preference for the mighty Ox :lol:

I'd also have liked to see Scholes take Gerrard's place after their respective seasons but that was always an unlikely thing to convince him to come back to international football.
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i agree that johnson shouldn't have gone.

I think he has been very uninspiring this season.

Gerrard swapping with scholes would have been a good idea and I say that with a heavy heart, but I think gerrard has seen better days. Scholes has been top since he came back.

Caroll and downing - I'm glad about and think they will both prove you all wrong. If they do I shall be milking every minute with you lot. :nuts::nuts:
 
TriggerHappy said:
Love that he included ruddy, he's had an immense season.

Also pleased to see Defoe go, he's done fantastic as an impact substitute for Spurs. Think I read he's the first player to come off the bench and score 20 goals in all competitions in a season.

The players I don't understand are glen Johnson, downing and carroll. They've all had terrible seasons and the odd 20 minutes here or there shouldn't be enough to change that.

I do find it funny that Lennon seems to have lost his place in preference for the mighty Ox :lol:

I'd also have liked to see Scholes take Gerrard's place after their respective seasons but that was always an unlikely thing to convince him to come back to international football.
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Not sure about Scholes for a busy schedule (if he was available) but I think Carrick was expected.

The reserve choices were - Stand-by list: Jack Butland, Phil Jagielka, Jordan Henderson, Adam Johnson, Daniel Sturridge.

We'll have to wait on his reasoning I guess.
 
dinners said:
Not sure about Scholes for a busy schedule (if he was available) but I think Carrick was expected.

The reserve choices were - Stand-by list: Jack Butland, Phil Jagielka, Jordan Henderson, Adam Johnson, Daniel Sturridge.

We'll have to wait on his reasoning I guess.
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don't get henderson in that reserve list. Glad carrick isn't in there though, think he's poor.
 
joescrivens said:
Caroll and downing - I'm glad about and think they will both prove you all wrong. If they do I shall be milking every minute with you lot. :nuts::nuts:
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It will just reflect very very poorly on what Liverpool did with them.

Need to nip that in the bud :thumbs:
 
I'm pleasantly surprised and quite like the look of that squad and I think they could do well. As long as Gerrard doesn't get any further than the bench.
 
If Carroll scores a single goal and you start giving him the old brown noise I don't know what to say. I expect a good goal rate from a striker, not just one, to be proved wrong about him. I'd still contend Holt would do better though.

Carrick is another person I'd forgotten about. I'd see him in the squad before Gerrard too.

It's the Downing pick that really has be disappointed though. Still, he'll be able to keep up our penalty reputation if it comes down to those!

Someone on twitter had be laughing when they pointed out Everton's Howard (a goalkeeper) has more premier league goals than downing this season.
 
The Carrick thing we'll have to wait and see what his reasons are as it does seem an odd one after having a very good season.

Certainly seems to be one of the main talking points so far in the media.
 
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TriggerHappy said:
If Carroll scores a single goal and you start giving him the old brown noise I don't know what to say. I expect a good goal rate from a striker, not just one, to be proved wrong about him. I'd still contend Holt would do better though.
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don't worry if all he does is score one goal and otherwise put in a poor perfromance then I won't bleat about it.

If he plays every game like he did against chelsea when we beat them 4-1 without scoring though, and his prescence and play helps set goals up and win games - will your opinion be he was poor because he didn't put the ball in the back of the net?

If so I think that is very naive - a team is about all players getting the win with their performance, not one striker scoring the goals that win the games.
 
Well, well, well.

Great to see the Ox there. Surprised by Downing (of course the stats referring to his PL games are important - he's a midfielder - he should be assisting and popping up with some goals). But if he scores a winner for us, of course I'll eat my shoe and be delighted.

I don't want to do a 'Joe' here, but I was confident Danny Wellbeck would be included - I'm happy about that.

Also Michael Carrick omission is strange.

Captain?
 
Anyway Joe - need to try and stop this one being all about club tittle tattle. I think if we have a Euro thread we need to ban it too !!

All we can do is see what questions are asked at the press conference. Hopefully he will be able to put over good reasons for the squad he's gone for.

I think Downing being left footed might have been a factor.
 
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PMK said:
Surprised by Downing (of course the stats referring to his PL games are important - he's a midfielder - he should be assisting and popping up with some goals). But if he scores a winner for us, of course I'll eat my shoe and be delighted.
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But stats referring to cup games aren't relevant? Why's that then?

PMK said:
Captain?
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I think he should stick with scott parker
 
I hope I’m wrong, but the Liverpool inclusions seem to me to be a way to avoid any chance of the 'sour grapes at getting sacked comments'. On form it I just can’t see the justification for any of them. It would have been very easy to replace Gerrard who has been a shadow of his former self and if the justification for leaving Rio out is injuries then surely Gerrard is out, Johnson can’t defend at all, Carroll can’t hit a barn door with a banjo and Downing is just rubbish.

For me it would have been;
Carrick instead of Gerrard
Richards instead of Johnson
Crouch instead of Carrol
Anyone at all instead of Downing
 
Happy with Gerrard as Captain rather than Terry.
 
joescrivens said:
don't worry if all he does is score one goal and otherwise put in a poor perfromance then I won't bleat about it.

If he plays every game like he did against chelsea when we beat them 4-1 without scoring though, and his prescence and play helps set goals up and win games - will your opinion be he was poor because he didn't put the ball in the back of the net?

If so I think that is very naive - a team is about all players getting the win with their performance, not one striker scoring the goals that win the games.
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That would depend on the number of assists he has and the type of chance he's squandered.
 
joescrivens said:
But stats referring to cup games aren't relevant? Why's that then?
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Find them for me and I'll happily digest.

Let's not forget, many of the PL teams don't really take the micky mouse cup competition too seriously, often opting for youngsters, fringe players.

If you are too blind to see that many commentators, forums, twitterers, Facebookers are surprised to see Downing in the squad, then that's up to you to ignore. I hope he does well for us, of course, but his inclusion is surprising.

I think Glen Johnson has been chosen because he's been a regular at right back for England for a while now.

Starting 11 for France game? 4-3-3 surely?
 
Based on what he said in the press conference it seems as though Richards wasn't in competition with Johnson but it was between Richards and Jones.
 
PMK said:
Find them for me and I'll happily digest.

Let's not forget, many of the PL teams don't really take the micky mouse cup competition too seriously, often opting for youngsters, fringe players.

If you are too blind to see that many commentators, forums, twitterers, Facebookers are surprised to see Downing in the squad, then that's up to you to ignore. I hope he does well for us, of course, but his inclusion is surprising.
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well everyone is going on about him not scoring any goals or assists, when he has scored in the fa cup and had assists. Not sure how the competition being a fringe player version is relevant when the goal that springs to my mind was against stoke who had the same lineup they use in a premier league game.

How can a goal in the PL against relegated wolves be more meaningful than a goal in a cup game against stoke with full strength.

Yes I understand why people are surprised. I'm not debating that. It was more this whole stats in the PL thing that baffled me.
 
joescrivens said:
well everyone is going on about him not scoring any goals or assists, when he has scored in the fa cup and had assists. Not sure how the competition being a fringe player version is relevant when the goal that springs to my mind was against stoke who had the same lineup they use in a premier league game.

How can a goal in the PL against relegated wolves be more meaningful than a goal in a cup game against stoke with full strength.

Yes I understand why people are surprised. I'm not debating that. It was more this whole stats in the PL thing that baffled me.
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So he scored a goal against Stoke in the cup? Are they the extent of the stats?

He still went throughout the Premier League season without doing his job. Think that resonates. I just don't see it as that baffling, but of course I am trying to explain this to a blinkered Liverpool fan ;)

I'm not trying to make out that I hate Downing, like I said, I hope he proves me wrong.
 
Downing???? Even Tim Howard has scored more PL goals than him.
 
PMK said:
So he scored a goal against Stoke in the cup? Are they the extent of the stats?
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No that isn't the extent of the stats. That's just the first thing that springs to mind.

The question is why would scoring that one goal against wolves in the PL make that one stat more relevant than scoring one goal in the quarter finals of the FA Cup to put them into the semi final?

Gareth barry had only 1 goal in 34 games in the PL - is that 1 goal more relevant then. That's baffling to me.
 
and by the way if you liked phil's video above you can now buy it on dvd :D

Stewart-Downing-DVD.jpg
 
PMK said:
Starting 11 for France game? 4-3-3 surely?
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Hart
Johnson--Cahill--Terry--Cole
Lampard--Barry
Walcott--Gerrard--Young-
Carroll
​

Blimey that's bigder text than I'd planned but yes - 4:4:3 (of sorts) but have Carroll holding up to bring the likes of Gerrard/Walcott & Young into attack with Barry & Lampard deeper.
 
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Yes, he scored a goal against stoke but Johnson has scored 7 goals and 4 assists in all competitions compared to 1 goal and 2 assists from downing who's played more games. His selection just makes no sense.
 
TriggerHappy said:
Yes, he scored a goal against stoke but Johnson has scored 7 goals and 4 assists in all competitions compared to 1 goal and 2 assists from downing who's played more games. His selection just makes no sense.
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if you just go on stats it doesn't.

But if you go on actually having seen him play and potential. It does - in my opinion of course - oh and obviously hodgsons - which is the one that matters since it's his decision.

we'll see if it was the right one or not
 
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