The Footy... (2011-2012 season)

djjaycool said:
The English side will not win the Euro's this year, so why not go young to build international experience? What will happen is the search for fools gold with old squad and a disappointing result. Look at other euro squads who put the the elder statements out to pasture (Germany, Holland, France) or the sides that din't England and Italy) Just my 2 cents from an outside point of view.
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I generally agree, and believe we need to try something new instead of going with the same approach, and same players, but I don't think a radical change in personnel is required.

It's a myth that the German, French & Dutch teams were filled with youth, they had plenty of vets in their squads - might not neccesarily have all been playing on the pitch at the same time, but far from the fledgings that a lot of people will have you believe. A good mixture of experience and hungry young blood has always been the key to success, this is not a new phenomenon.

One of the major issue with the England set-up in the past decade - 2 decades is that there are players who are automatically in the team on repuatation alone, not form.

Not only that, but how many managers have been insistant on playing our best 11 players and then trying to fit them into a 4-4-2 (or any formation for that matter). You start with the basics. Pick a system, then pick the best player for each position - not the other way around.

From there, you tweak. Some players won't have any chemistry playing together. Other combinations will. It wont neccesarily be your best 11 players on paper that make your best starting 11.
 
vodka jon said:
If you read the MEN article which started this conversation it stated that city had £300m on the pitch Utd £250m with a £30m striker on the bench
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Yes...

But how much £££ worth of talent did City (and Utd) have that weren't in their 18 man squads, who were sitting around scratching their arses?!?!

That would be a more telling picture.
 
white_isle_calling said:
Yes...

But how much £££ worth of talent did City (and Utd) have that weren't in their 18 man squads, who were sitting around scratching their arses?!?!

That would be a more telling picture.
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YAWN...

Old news, we are on to slagging off the FA Cup final/Battersea stadium now

This pub/football chat doesn't wait for stragglers you know!! please keep up :lol:
 
vodka jon said:
YAWN...

Old news, we are on to slagging off the FA Cup final/Battersea stadium now

This pub/football chat doesn't wait for stragglers you know!! please keep up :lol:
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Oh, in that case...

I hope Chelsea win... for the simple fact it will infuriate me hearing Liverpool fans bang on about what a successful season they've had should they win 2 cups, turning a blind eye to their atrocious league form.
 
white_isle_calling said:
Oh, in that case...

I hope Chelsea win... for the simple fact it will infuriate me hearing Liverpool fans bang on about what a successful season they've had should they win 2 cups, turning a blind eye to their atrocious league form.
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That would be painful:cry:

I have full confidence in a Chelsea Win and will be taking some of the 6/4 on offer for a 90mins victory.
 
Intresting data on the Final tomorrow

On all three occasions Liverpool had beaten Everton in an FA Cup semi-final before this season, the Reds went on to lose the final.

Only three teams have previously won the League Cup and FA Cup in the same season: Arsenal in 92/93, Liverpool in 00/01 and Chelsea in 06/07.

Liverpool could become the first team to achieve two FA/League Cup doubles, after they won both cups in 2000/01.

Chelsea have only lost one of their last 33 FA Cup matches (excluding penalty shootout defeats).

That one defeat, 0-1 against Barnsley in March 2008, is also the only time the Blues have failed to score in their last 39 FA Cup games (100 goals in total).

Excluding penalty shoot-out defeats, Chelsea are unbeaten in 22 FA Cup games, only one side has ever gone longer without defeat in the competition: Blackburn Rovers between October 1883 and November 1886 (23 games).

Since the start of the 2006/07 competition, Frank Lampard has scored more goals than any other player in the FA Cup proper (19).

This will be the 10th FA Cup meeting between these two sides and the first FA Cup final contested by them.

There has never been a draw in the nine previous FA Cup meetings between these teams, with Chelsea holding a narrow (5-4) advantage in the head to head record.

This FA Cup fixture has seen an average of 3.8 goals over the nine previous encounters.
The Blues have won five of their last six FA Cup final appearances, keeping a clean sheet in four of these victories.

Conversely, Liverpool have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight FA Cup final appearances (2-0 v Sunderland in 1992).

The Reds have won four of their last five FA Cup final matches, the last victory coming after a penalty shoot-out against West Ham.

Liverpool have won their last four games against Chelsea in all competitions, scoring seven goals and conceding just one in the process.

This will be the 31st meeting between these two sides since 2004/05.

Only once in their last 29 FA Cup games have Chelsea conceded more than once in a game, keeping 12 clean sheets in this period.

Excluding the Community Shield, Didier Drogba has scored in all seven of his matches at Wembley.

Suarez has scored in all three of his FA Cup appearances for the Reds.

Maxi Rodriguez has scored for Liverpool in both of his appearances against Chelsea this season.

In only one of the last six clashes between these two teams have both sides managed to get on the scoresheet.
 
matt collins said:
Chelsea have put in a bid for Battersea Power Station BTW
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I have mixed emotions about this.

On one hand its an eye-sore sitting on very valuable land. On the other it has some kind of rustic charm, and it always gives me a sense of euphoria when I pass it on the train heading into Victoria because I know I'm almost in the City :)

Bottom line is, somebody needs to do something with that sight, may as well be Chelsea. Been standing around dorment for long enough. Needs a lot of work, and we know Roman has the means to invest.

Fairly certain it is grade 2 listed though, so presumably a lot of the existing structure will have to remain. Not sure how that would work :confused:

It'd be iconic certainly, but pretty? Hmmm...
 
No complaints about today's result.

We couldn't break Chelsea down until Carroll came on, Drogba was at his annoying best and it wasn't over the line.

Well done Chelsea.
 
Woohoo!! :D

RE: that non-goal. I'll be honest: I thought the ball was over the line! And I was sitting halfway across the stadium. Then Weloveliam texts me to say that it had gone over and I thought we'd just gotten lucky again... and finally gotten revenge for the "ghost goal" :lol: But other people I've spoken to said replays clearly show the ball didn't cross the line.

Whatever the case, one more trophy for us :D

Onward to Munich!!
(hopefully there we'll play better in the 2nd half because yesterday we rode our luck a little too long!)
 
Morbyd said:
Woohoo!! :D

RE: that non-goal. I'll be honest: I thought the ball was over the line! And I was sitting halfway across the stadium. Then Weloveliam texts me to say that it had gone over and I thought we'd just gotten lucky again... and finally gotten revenge for the "ghost goal" :lol: But other people I've spoken to said replays clearly show the ball didn't cross the line.

Whatever the case, one more trophy for us :D

Onward to Munich!!
(hopefully there we'll play better in the 2nd half because yesterday we rode our luck a little too long!)
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You wont be so lucky in Munich :) I personally think the Carroll header was a goal, but it was damn close either way.
 
white_isle_calling said:
I generally agree, and believe we need to try something new instead of going with the same approach, and same players, but I don't think a radical change in personnel is required.

It's a myth that the German, French & Dutch teams were filled with youth, they had plenty of vets in their squads - might not neccesarily have all been playing on the pitch at the same time, but far from the fledgings that a lot of people will have you believe. A good mixture of experience and hungry young blood has always been the key to success, this is not a new phenomenon.

One of the major issue with the England set-up in the past decade - 2 decades is that there are players who are automatically in the team on repuatation alone, not form.

Not only that, but how many managers have been insistant on playing our best 11 players and then trying to fit them into a 4-4-2 (or any formation for that matter). You start with the basics. Pick a system, then pick the best player for each position - not the other way around.

From there, you tweak. Some players won't have any chemistry playing together. Other combinations will. It wont neccesarily be your best 11 players on paper that make your best starting 11.
Click to expand...
The USA does the same thing, people get selected on reputation instead of form. If you look at the last world cup Walcott was taken just to sit on the bench.
Morbyd said:
Woohoo!! :D

RE: that non-goal. I'll be honest: I thought the ball was over the line! And I was sitting halfway across the stadium. Then Weloveliam texts me to say that it had gone over and I thought we'd just gotten lucky again... and finally gotten revenge for the "ghost goal" :lol: But other people I've spoken to said replays clearly show the ball didn't cross the line.

Whatever the case, one more trophy for us :D

Onward to Munich!!
(hopefully there we'll play better in the 2nd half because yesterday we rode our luck a little too long!)
Click to expand...

The goal or non goal was so close that it screams for goal line technology!
 
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