do these fucks never learn

and rightly so

Wd have johnson, richards and hutton over alves

valdes not much better than any of england's shit keepers mind you...

Valdes
Alves Pique Ferdinand Cole
Busquets Xavi Iniesta
Messi Villa Rooney

Would be alright. Being charitable to Rooney there, and I don't even think Valdes is that good. Maybe Joe Hart could make it depending on how he does in the Champions League next year.

Valdes has been ridiculously good for the past 2 seasons

Also Pedro >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rooney

what makes me lol is there is one player in the england team i'd have over his barca counterpart in a heartbeat based on ability alone and he wasn't mentioned: ashley cole
--ladyboner (a hoy hoy)

totally

       james
alves  ferdinand  pique  rooney
            
   xavi   fabregas   iniesta
messi                    gerrard
            villa

i'm going to create this team tonight on fifa.

tbfttl rodwell seems fairly intelligent for an english footballer

i guess he is in the awkward position of answering leading qns from hacks

albrighton quote worse

the only english midfielder that could work at barca is huddlestone

foster

alves dann pique warnock

xavi gerrard lampard messi

rooney carroll

do think there is scope for a separate thread noting when british isles footballers claim technical parity with... well, anyone, i guess.

Not sure who these "British Isles Footballers" are... any of them not English?

fletcher >>>>>>> busquiets

uhm

no

Absolutely, have you ever seen him play for Scotland?

Absolutely, not as good as Busquets, in case there's any confusion there. Not even as good as Gary Caldwell when he plays for Scotland.

fletcher is pretty good but busquets is probably the best dmid around now

sandro, thudd, jenas

but busquiets is a dick

is there a reason u spel it like that

boo

cambiasso was great but i think he trailed off badly in the last year

Fletcher is hardly that likeable is he? Suppose anyone looks good in comparison to Busquets. He was also pretty crap last season even before his mysterious virus

i kinda like him

makes the most of his talents

Yaya Toure > Busquets

uhm

no

uhm

yes

yaya isn't a dmid, he was a playmaker at monaco and has just has his best season ever playing predominantly as a goalscoring box to box type

so... a creative player who is still better at dm than sergio buscunts

do u srsly think he is better than the player who has just replaced him

i mean i know it's a hoy but still

eduardo replaced henry doesn't mean he was better than him

yeah that's exactly the right comparison

Can't think why Barcelona would have replaced the African midfielder with the homegrown Catalan type.

jesus u ppl

like do u get anything about football

touré was patently inferior to busquets at dmid while they were still playing in the same side

toure is better than busquets, but not at dm, and certainly not as dm at barca

Song is also not a dm, and neither is thudd. They just hang round there while performing other functions

like do u get anything about football

― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:02 (5 minutes ago)

this is the one where they throw the ball, wear helmets and text pictures of their weiners, right?

touré will never be as good at any given role as busquets is at his

featuring delap, cech and shelvey, yeah xp

:-)

if u srsly believe barcelona overpromote their own youngsters at the expense of bought players u might want to consider former new messi bojan krkic whose agent is currently complaining he is getting shafted by barca who are trying to sell him to udinese against his will

DM at Barca is kinda different to being DM anywhere else though because they keep posession so well there just aren't as many opposition attacks to break up. Be interesting to see how Busquets would do behind midfielders that aren't Xavi and Iniesta.

In any other team Toure or Mascherano would be the better pick. Obviously Busquets is by miles a better passer of the ball than Mascherano, even if Masch is as good at positioning and better at tackling.

I mean obviously Barca are the best team in 20 years so who are we to judge but...

busquet's main attributes are his close control and positioning, his passing is usually pretty simple

How many simple passes have you seen Mascherano fuck up though?

i kinda hate busquets, wanted them to keep touré and thought mascherano would displace him this season, but the last season confirmed he is just insanely good at what he does, and i think 80% of that is transferrable to another top level side

then again my idea was that barca could do without without a dedicated deep lying, purely destructive midfielder hence my pref for touré as a kinda roving box to box type alongside x & i

but seeing busquets this season i doubt even fabregas is good enough to displace busquets and change the system of their midfield

cesc is going because xavi is getting on and iniesta hasn't the greatest injury record, not because of the cunt

After the 3rd Hungary goal goes in there's a shell-shocked astonishment pervading Wembley. The nearest anologue is half-time at Germany-Brazil 2014, this sense that the best team in the world is giving the much-hyped home favorites a shellacking.

Quite fancy watching that later. I've read a lot about it - even paid money to get football nemesis on special order from the library a couple years ago - but have watched maybe a minute of footage.

Nandor Hidegkuti 4eva

mortensen getting knocked out at 45 minutes, not 5

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/13/louis-van-gaal-paul-scholes-manchester-united-coaching-staff

Scholes as a coach (as opposed to a manager) is not the worst idea I've ever heard, even if the article itself is terrible.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3731977/I-d-hailed-foreign-boss-claims-Burnley-manager-Sean-Dyche.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/sean-dyche-wants-a-pizza-the-action-as-burnley-return-to-the-top-flight-a7181411.html

why didnt i get round to reading this bollocks through sooner. i'm crying

that's classic material

'go on Pep, tell us about your pizzas'

bbc radio pundit following interview with Woy: "you really hope he can get a job in this country as a Director of Football and not have to go to China or America or somewhere like that"

because it would suck to work in those place, of course

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4114400/Darren-Fletcher-Manchester-United-illness-dream-West-Brom.html

'People talk about teams pressing but we did that first and then Barcelona took it on,' Fletcher explained.

'Before that in Spain it was, "You have it, we have it and then let's see who is best with it". But they saw what United did and realised that was the way to go.

'It's perfect. You don't even let the opposition have the chance to be in that lovely nice game. Barca eliminated that, but we did that first.'

Pep Guardiola has not had it all his own way at Manchester City and Fletcher's take on that and his belief in Pulis's methods are fascinating.

Fletcher said: 'I heard Guardiola speak about the English use of the 'second ball' and it was interesting. English teams recognise you can control a game without possession.

'Turning teams round, playing a ball up and not caring if you win the first ball but ensuring you win the second or third ball. That's unique to British football.

'I am not sure you get too many of those phrases in Spain, where your manager always talks about pass completion.

'That's why stats don't always work. There are times when I can play a pass that's not complete, but it's what this team needs.

'It can leave a good team facing its own goal. They have to put the ball out of play and then we have territory and a throw-in that we have worked at.

'So now the ball is in their area and we get a chance or a corner. We are progressing but I haven't completed a pass have I?

'So my stats are down but I have done my job.

'At Man City or Barcelona, your passing stats will be off the charts but you have to look at football with your eyes as well. A pass that goes five yards isn't always that dangerous, is it?'

To listen to the way Fletcher has broadened his understanding in two years is intriguing. He has designs on coaching and keeps thoughts and ideas in a notebook.

christ help us all

Fletcher is hardly that likeable is he? Suppose anyone looks good in comparison to Busquets. He was also pretty crap last season even before his mysterious virus

― Number None, Thursday, 16 June 2011 14:34 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i kinda like him

― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Thursday, 16 June 2011 14:47 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

makes the most of his talents

― http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteAmericanFolks.jpg (nakhchivan), Thursday, 16 June 2011 14:47 Bookmark

Posted at 20:15
Post update
Newcastle 3-0 Rochdale

In all seriousness Rochdale play some lovely football on the eye and should be applauded for it, I guess. You don't concede goals like that under Keith Curle though.

it's proving a poor night for lower-league goalies thinking they're iniesta, that's all

nothing wrong with passing it around the back if you have personnel who can handle it

lower league goalies thinking they're iniesta are tempting fate. before they know it they'll find themselves growing grapes, sending their quids on running a bodega in sussex, until one day the sky cracks open, death reigneth and a voice from above booms: 'you're trying to make wine in england ffs, what did you expect other than excrutiating pain and unending suffering, mortal?'

:D

like nigel blackwell himself

I'll take it!

it's proving a poor night for lower-league goalies thinking they're iniesta, that's all

nothing wrong with passing it around the back if you have personnel who can handle it

Did you see the Bournemouth game at the weekend?

that guy is a lower-league goalie making his three or four career EPL appearances tbf