madras

I was taking a look through the Wayne Bridge thread to see how many actually wanted us to sign him and came across this: I.. don't know what to say.. just say "bridge had a mare today but he is better in all respects than baines"

And rightly so. The English media is a cancer to the national team. a general chat thing but the english media is a cancer to the nation

well i still don't think he is as good as is made out by some

I think this is part of the reason Rafa wanted to stick him on the wing and at least have him whip in crosses instead of thumping long balls out of the reach of his teamates all game! Rafa recognized that Alonso and Mascherano were actually real central midfielders and not Gerrard. possibly but neither alonso or mascherano are midfielders who can arrive late into the box and score. also the idea of whipping crosses in isn't really the continental style is it ?

An important difference I've seen when living in England is English boys hardly play football in their free time, and when they play it's institutionalised and on full size grass pitches. In the cities in Holland the culture is completely different. I live in Rotterdam, where there is hardly any space for full size football pitches in the city centre, so youngsters very often play football every day after school and in their free time on small, concrete pitches.. The objectives are completely different too, as it´s not about scoring goals, but about trickery. A goal without beautiful passing, movement and/or skill will be laughed at and possibly not even counted. It´s not until these boys are in their early to mid teens that they get picked up by scouts and start to work on the tactical and physical aspects of the game. In this way in Rotterdam alone in recent years talents such as Van Persie and Drenthe have surfaced. If a player is intelligent and motivated enough playing more effective football, tactics and physical strength can be learned/trained. The extraordinary levels of skill that many players possess are self-thought, and often these players will say they actually played with far more talented players out on the concrete pitches, but these other youngster didn´t have the desire to make it out in the professional world of football.. so why is the dutch league, outside the top 4 or 5 horrible and of a very poor standard ? what happened to the likes of ajax picking up kids at about 8yrs and schooling them ? probably cos the netherlands is a small country and the best players move abroad. 93 dutch players playing outside netherlands at the moment. how many england players are plying their trade abroad? one or two obscure players probably, like colin kazim richards, and he's half turkish. english players arent playing abroad as they don't need to finacially

An important difference I've seen when living in England is English boys hardly play football in their free time, and when they play it's institutionalised and on full size grass pitches. In the cities in Holland the culture is completely different. I live in Rotterdam, where there is hardly any space for full size football pitches in the city centre, so youngsters very often play football every day after school and in their free time on small, concrete pitches.. The objectives are completely different too, as it´s not about scoring goals, but about trickery. A goal without beautiful passing, movement and/or skill will be laughed at and possibly not even counted. It´s not until these boys are in their early to mid teens that they get picked up by scouts and start to work on the tactical and physical aspects of the game. In this way in Rotterdam alone in recent years talents such as Van Persie and Drenthe have surfaced. If a player is intelligent and motivated enough playing more effective football, tactics and physical strength can be learned/trained. The extraordinary levels of skill that many players possess are self-thought, and often these players will say they actually played with far more talented players out on the concrete pitches, but these other youngster didn´t have the desire to make it out in the professional world of football.. so why is the dutch league, outside the top 4 or 5 horrible and of a very poor standard ? what happened to the likes of ajax picking up kids at about 8yrs and schooling them ? I don´t think it´s of a horrible standard. The Premiership would be worse without the money and having to rely mainly on homegrown players, as is the case in Holland. Clubs like Ajax and Feyenoord pick up youngsters at a young age and train them for a couple of hours a week, but that won´t stop them playing their own game in their own spare time.. on the other hand the dutch can have the pick of african and south american youth because of more lax employment laws.

An important difference I've seen when living in England is English boys hardly play football in their free time, and when they play it's institutionalised and on full size grass pitches. In the cities in Holland the culture is completely different. I live in Rotterdam, where there is hardly any space for full size football pitches in the city centre, so youngsters very often play football every day after school and in their free time on small, concrete pitches.. The objectives are completely different too, as it´s not about scoring goals, but about trickery. A goal without beautiful passing, movement and/or skill will be laughed at and possibly not even counted. It´s not until these boys are in their early to mid teens that they get picked up by scouts and start to work on the tactical and physical aspects of the game. In this way in Rotterdam alone in recent years talents such as Van Persie and Drenthe have surfaced. If a player is intelligent and motivated enough playing more effective football, tactics and physical strength can be learned/trained. The extraordinary levels of skill that many players possess are self-thought, and often these players will say they actually played with far more talented players out on the concrete pitches, but these other youngster didn´t have the desire to make it out in the professional world of football.. so why is the dutch league, outside the top 4 or 5 horrible and of a very poor standard ? what happened to the likes of ajax picking up kids at about 8yrs and schooling them ?

for all that i don't think he'll be asked.

Tomorrow 8:30. Listening to 5live. Apparently Capello wants the job. they have to let a certain amount of time go by, enough to let mclaren think he's gonna keep his job.

never mind,could see the return of the home internationals

Aye, his Russian shirts will be selling like hot cakes now. doesn't he run a travel agency specialising in selling luxury hols to footballers....well a few now have an extra few weeks to kill next summer

warren barton will now be the happiest man in england

aye, you say that now that mourinho is no longer in the country

What those hoofs and little floaters down the middle? and the crosses not getting past the first man, the defence playing like strangers,the feeling that you have a squad good enough bit everything you see screams "not". To be quite honest how many of those out there would get in the Barca or Real or Milan sides? if richards,gerrard,lampard became available barca and real would be interested.

What those hoofs and little floaters down the middle? and the crosses not getting past the first man, the defence playing like strangers,the feeling that you have a squad good enough bit everything you see screams "not".

no-one else think it was like watching nufc over the last few weeks ?

fifa should make the rule that managers have to conform to the same qualification conditions as players.

i think ashley would make up allardyce's mind. "you can take it if you want"

i meant robert i meant robert smith not robert (of toon V spurs) I know man. does everyone else ? hang on...you knew that i meant robert smith ? I knew that you meant him second time, rather than Laurent Robert. I did think you meant Alan first time though, I thought it'd be funnier that way and you're a funny guy madras. Is that adequately cleared up? na..............(now trying to think of other smith's i could have meant)

i meant robert i meant robert smith not robert (of toon V spurs) I know man. does everyone else ? hang on...you knew that i meant robert smith ?

i meant robert i meant robert smith not robert (of toon V spurs) I know man. does everyone else ?

i meant robert i meant robert smith not robert (of toon V spurs)

i meant robert

by tomorrows tabloids the line up will be the queen disraeli attlee lord kitchener gazza benn powell churchill rooney diana saville subs.....prince william smith ayres dickens posh wood/walters cleese

aye, he's a back and thats the problem (i saw a gap and went for it)