The College Dropout

Maybe I should state my stance more clearly. I believe it's possible black people within English football are getting discriminated against when it comes to positions of power or authority. E.g. being black British is a factor that contributes negatively in their prospects of becoming managers or England captain. Stereotyped as not captain material for example. They are just not seen in that light. Same way that fans/managers think black midfielders that can barely defend or tackle get played as holding midfielders. I know race plays a factor in people's perceptions. IMO if Sol Campbell is exactly the same but white, he has at least double the captain caps. Every other white CB of his pedigree has that at least. Not the 10 year bollocks.

Oh and I'll be shocked if Rooney doesn't become the England captain. The squeaky clean stuff is BS.

Maybe in the 3 times they gave him the chance they decided he wasn't captain material. If it was a race thing why did they bother giving him the armband once? Let alone 3 times? Are they the racist version of people who only smoke sociably? He's not captain material but they let him captain the side on three separate occasions? How does that even make sense? But the fact he did captain the side 3 times means there wasn't any racism anyway? I hope you see how it's very easy to use an excuse at any turn. If Jonathan Woodgate had managed 73 caps, i'm certain he would've captained England more than 3 times and wouldn't have been overlooked in favour of Michael f***ing Owen. Aye, right. A player with a criminal record and a history of smashing glasses over his head in Middlesbrough would get the nod to captain England over (rightly or wrongly) one of the first names on the teamsheet with a squeaky-clean image. You're surpassing yourself big time in this thread. because Steven Gerrard, Tony Adams and John Terry are squeaky clean.

If you want to look for excuses you'll find them. His 3 England captain caps is just as atrong ammunition for him indeed being captain material as him not. As he was enough material to have the armband more than once for 2 managers I believe. 2 of the 3 English centre backs with over 60 caps but less than 8 captain caps are black. That's only 2 examples but it's certainly suspicious. I find people are too quick to dismiss the notion that black players might get discriminated against in English football. As if there's not monkey noises discrimination doesn't exist. There's certainly no way Owen should've been captain ahead of Campbell and I'm open to the possibility that his race negatively affected his chances.

Koscielny would be great for them. He loves defending high up and pressing attackers.

Benfica are a very good outfit. We had them on the ropes but failed to land a knockdown which very may have been a KO (2-0 up away from home). They where the better side no doubt but had we been more ruthless in that first half, we may have had an unassailable lead by half time.

dependent on wages.

Maybe in the 3 times they gave him the chance they decided he wasn't captain material. If it was a race thing why did they bother giving him the armband once? Let alone 3 times? Are they the racist version of people who only smoke sociably? He's not captain material but they let him captain the side on three separate occasions? How does that even make sense? But the fact he did captain the side 3 times means there wasn't any racism anyway? I hope you see how it's very easy to use an excuse at any turn. If Jonathan Woodgate had managed 73 caps, i'm certain he would've captained England more than 3 times and wouldn't have been overlooked in favour of Michael fucking Owen.

He did captain England 3 times. So the "not captain material" line wears thin. And even that "captain material" line is liable to prejudice and discrimination because people may not think black players in general are captain material. I know a lot of people like to believe there's no racial discrimination in our sports or businesses.

I've come to the conclusion, that you won't find a CB as good as Campbell for so long, with less England captain caps that is white. It's certainly suspicious that between he and Ferdinand there are only 10 captain caps. The closest two in comparison (in caps) have almost twice the captain caps.

There's no H in the name either man.

Great cup side. They'll have to prioritise the league or CL in the near future. Really lack the squad depth. That cost them the 3 points against Madrid the other week. Ancelotti can bring on the likes of Isco & Jese.

How many penalties has Koscielny given away in the last 3 seasons?

LOL

Yep.

Been a long time in the FA Cup. Been a long time since we've put a decent run together in that competition. When was the last QF?

Disagree. We won't go far with that approach. Let him play a role and he'll be great.

Agreed.

Why the only 2 midtable teams in the league haven't bothered in the cups I don't know...

Rooney has never won the golden boot, not that means f*** all. Some of the leagues best ever strikers have never won it. So he's consistently got 15-20 goals. Very good. Very consistent. But enough to put him in the top 5 or so of strikers in any season? Nope. Maybe at the very top end of his form aye.

So the once then.

Oh and as for his goals. He's won the golden boot once?

Yep that was the one season I was thinking of. That's 3/4 years ago at this point. So you have any this year? Last? The season before? Didn't think so. You have to go back to 2011 before this world class player did the business in a big match. Talk about big performances in big games not braces against Newcastle United and Crystal Palace. We are talking world class performances against top teams.

I hate the sudden disregard for the importance of qualifiers when judging a player as well. It's as if you don't need to win them to get into the major tournaments. None of the teams in our group will be there. The quality will be higher and that's where I fear for Rooney's effectiveness. He's great at destroying average sides no doubt.

In any case Wayne Rooney doesn't make the difference in top matches because he is not world class. Manchester United will never win the league while Rooney is their top striker. A very good striker but he'll not lead a team to glory. He's a very good striker but his lack of top performances in big occasions is not surprising when you realise he's not world class. Centre your team around Rooney and you'll never maximise potential. He's best for a team dove tailing for another player. Unfortunately England don't have that option and we'll look to Wayne in the summer.