Andy

It's risky, but I'd rather take the gamble of playing a high line than sit back and invite pressure onto us.

Was a good run, tbf. Exactly. Good run and inch perfect cross. Sometimes you just have to accept that you're going to concede goals like that, and the challenge is in how you respond.

I stopped reading after the second word in the first paragraph.

Lads, Ben Arfa is not running in circles, he is walking in rectangles. Enrique is strafing into the center of midfield where he becomes our playmaker. The only risks in the formation are the potential high-impact collisions between Nolan and Guttierez/Nolan and Carroll as they make their runs. Sol Campbell is kept as far away from these runs as possible so as to prevent the collisions becoming utterly catastrophic.

Harper Colo Sol -----------> Taylor ^ | | | | v | | Routledge Barton <----- Enrique ^ Guttierez | | <---- Ben Arfa Nolan | <----- | -------> Carroll -------------> Fucking ridiculous. We all know Carroll can't play on the wing. he could play left wing, his crosses are very good Good point. Harper Colo Sol -----------> Taylor ^ | | | | v | | Routledge Barton <----- Enrique ________ | | <------ Guttierez | v | | | <---- Ben Arfa | Nolan | | <----- | | -----------------------------|------------- | | v | Carroll ------------------------|--------------------> v

Harper Colo Sol -----------> Taylor ^ | | | | v | | Routledge Barton <----- Enrique ^ Guttierez | | <---- Ben Arfa Nolan | <----- | -------> Carroll ------------->

Harper Taylor Colo Sol Enrique Guthrie Barton Routledge Ben Arfa Gutierrez Carroll In an ideal world.

Don't worry dude. We've all done it. Even I did it once.

Barton will do as DM. Barton is a box to box midfielder, as is Guthrie as is Gosling. We need someone to just sit in front of the back 4 and break attacks up. The only person who barely resembles that is Smith, and he's not exactly an expert at it. What Danny Guthrie have you been watching? He's a decent CM, but I wouldn't say he was a dynamic box to box midfielder. He's clearly confusing him with Danny Gootrie, our stand-in midfielder on Tuesday.

Falling for what?

Felt some kind of nostalgic twinge towards Dave's classic sig there.

lol

Always drop him for Kone. Why? What are his limitations?

Can we have some FIFA 10 opinions, just to be sure?

I could of swore Ugh.

Xavi over Zidane PS: Do you want the 2002 WC Nicky Butt as well? (voted as the Best Player of the Tournament by no less than Pele) - he was pretty decent at passing the ball 5 yards as well Xavi is a good player, but Fabregas did in 20minutes what Xavi couldn't do in 90+ minutes. To give Xavi, who is a good player in a good team, the same billing as Zidane, is ridiculous. Why hasn't Ronaldo destroyed you in this thread yet? This is right up there with the worst posts I've ever read on this forum. Xavi has been utterly instrumental in the resurgence of Barcelona over the last five or six years -- the likes of Ronaldinho and Messi got the accolades, but I'm sure any Barcelona fan will tell you that Xavi has been their most consistent player by some distance, continuously, at the very highest levels, throughout pretty much his entire career. He makes top class midfielders look dismally average when they're up against him. Zidane was a match-winner in that he got the goals and the assists, Xavi is a match-winner through his ability to completely dictate the tempo and flow of a game, through his touch, his constant availability to his teammates, his passing range, and his ability to work the ball in ridiculously tight situations. Comparing him to Nicky Butt is total idiocy.

Xavi is the best midfielder I have seen in my lifetime. Not just his passing accuracy, but his positioning, his vision, his time on the ball, and his ability to wiggle his way out of impossibly tight situations in the center of the park are literally second to none. Completely different type of player to Zidane though. You might as well compare Baresi and Van Basten.

Not been at his best, but he's clearly lacking fitness and regardless of that he's proven yet again that he can score goals at absolute crunch moments.

rotund?

Could Iniesta do what Xavi does in terms of completely controlling every single game he plays in? I've never seen him have anything other than a great game when he's played in the center.

Xavi and Iniesta are on par with each other, as central midfielders, for me. Iniesta is more versatile and you could argue that that makes him a better player.

Pedro had a good game tonight apart from that one on one, to be honest. He was by far Spain's best attacking player. I don't know how anybody can label Iniesta as "gash" either, he's had a good tournament considering he's probably only 80% fit.

Commentators keep criticising Spain's style, but they're playing the Germans very intelligently here tbh.

The commentary has been marginally less annoying without a co-commentator.

Aye, he would have saved that.