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View Poll Results: THE CHAMPIONS?

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  • Liverpool

    6 75.00%
  • Real Madrid

    2 25.00%
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Thread: Champions League final & Junternationals

  1. #701
    Senior Member Spoonsky's Avatar
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    Who would actually be your starting attacking players?

    I feel like the HYPE which automatically surrounds any decent English player might not help in this case. I’m not sure the squad is quite as strong as is sometimes claimed.

  2. #702
    Administrator Kikó's Avatar
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    You could argue England are weak in centre mid as well with the wide players being good but inconsistent/out of form (thinking Grealish, Sancho, Saka and Rashford). In my ongoing phase of being Gareth Southgate's number one fan, you could argue it's *him* that has made the team become a functioning one.

  3. #703
    Senior Member Spoonsky's Avatar
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    Yeah. Even Foden is brilliant at being a cog in the Man City machine, but does it translate to a totally different team and set up?

    Kane as well, he’s no longer exactly a classic center forward is he? He needs that Son figure and England don’t really seem to have anyone who would come close to fitting that bill at the moment.

    If you need stepovers from the left wing, though…

  4. #704
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    Foden is class, there's no "cog in the machine" about it.

    GK: Pickford/Ramsdale
    RB: James/TAA
    CB: Stones/White
    CB: Tomori/Maguire
    LB: Chilwell/Shaw
    CM: Rice/Phillips
    CM: Bellingham/Ward-Prowse/Henderson
    RW: Saka/Bowen
    AM: Foden/Maddison/Mount
    LW: Grealish/Sterling/Rashford/Sancho
    CF: Kane/DCL/Abraham

    That is a quality first 11 + depth, and it's not some FUT bollocks with no balance. Right wing and GK are probably the biggest weaknesses but you'll always have the odd position that's not absolute top class in international football.

    You don't need to play "5 up front", but playing 8 defensive players when you've got the likes of Foden, Grealish, Sterling, Kana, Sancho, Saka, Rashford (if he remembers how to play football) as your forward options is a war crime.

  5. #705
    I used to be funny.
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    You've got the pace in those five to make it work on the counter, though. Against a side that sits back, you're knackered.

  6. #706
    The Artist Formerly Known as Taz
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    Being high off the fumes of EPL hype distorts things. CM and CB are tragic for Brexitball so 3 at the back makes great sense and the only player with any reliable attacking output is Kane. Being near losers is as good as it'll get for you boys so Kiko is right.

  7. #707
    Senior Member -james-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by randomlegend View Post
    Foden is class, there's no "cog in the machine" about it.

    GK: Pickford/Ramsdale
    RB: James/TAA
    CB: Stones/White
    CB: Tomori/Maguire
    LB: Chilwell/Shaw
    CM: Rice/Phillips
    CM: Bellingham/Ward-Prowse/Henderson
    RW: Saka/Bowen
    AM: Foden/Maddison/Mount
    LW: Grealish/Sterling/Rashford/Sancho
    CF: Kane/DCL/Abraham

    That is a quality first 11 + depth, and it's not some FUT bollocks with no balance. Right wing and GK are probably the biggest weaknesses but you'll always have the odd position that's not absolute top class in international football.

    You don't need to play "5 up front", but playing 8 defensive players when you've got the likes of Foden, Grealish, Sterling, Kana, Sancho, Saka, Rashford (if he remembers how to play football) as your forward options is a war crime.
    When did England even field 8 defensive players at the Euros? It was pretty much always a "front four" with Luke Shaw doing a load of BOMBING ON iirc.

    I didn't watch any of it but hasn't it just been a Liverpool 4-3-3 in the games this month?

  8. #708
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -james- View Post
    When did England even field 8 defensive players at the Euros? It was pretty much always a "front four" with Luke Shaw doing a load of BOMBING ON iirc.

    I didn't watch any of it but hasn't it just been a Liverpool 4-3-3 in the games this month?
    Against Italy and Germany (the only top teams we actually played in the tournament) it was 5 at the back with two holding midfielders (+ the keeper). Even against the weaker teams where we went four at the back, it was a fully defensive pivot of Rice and Phillips sitting in front of the defence which is incredibly pedestrian.

    I have also not watched the Nations League but it looks like we were phoning it in with the selections. My opinion of Southgate is not based of the Nations League.

  9. #709
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    Mason Mount as one of the 'attacking three players' is definitely a defensive option.

    I'm a bit with Spoons though, there is no mythical Rivaldo-Ronaldo-Ronaldinho forward line to be had here, but what would be nice is 4 defenders, 1 defensive midfielder [Rice] and then 5 more progressive players [even if one of them is a Henderson-type as an '8'] rather than 5 at the back with Rice and Phillips shielding them and Mason Mount as an 'attacker'. That's 8 defenders. Our centre-halves are just so bad though. Is there any prospect of just playing James as one in a four? Left-back is also a bit of a concern.

    I try to avoid watching City like the plague so don't know much about Foden but I've always been a bit underwhelmed by him in terms of actual end product.

    It doesn't help that Sancho, who was once a bit of a shining light, is seemingly well out of the frame now.

  10. #710
    Senior Member randomlegend's Avatar
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    Sancho is class and will be an England mainstay if/when United sort their shit out.

  11. #711
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    I'd go:

    GK: Pickford
    RB: James
    CB: Stones
    CB: Maguire
    LB: Chilwell
    CM: Rice
    CM: Henderson
    RW: Alexander-Arnold
    AM: Grealish
    LW: Sterling
    CF: Kane

  12. #712
    Administrator Kikó's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
    Being high off the fumes of EPL hype distorts things. CM and CB are tragic for Brexitball so 3 at the back makes great sense and the only player with any reliable attacking output is Kane. Being near losers is as good as it'll get for you boys so Kiko is right.
    What the fuck has just happened.

  13. #713
    Senior Member Waffdon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -james- View Post
    When did England even field 8 defensive players at the Euros? It was pretty much always a "front four" with Luke Shaw doing a load of BOMBING ON iirc.

    I didn't watch any of it but hasn't it just been a Liverpool 4-3-3 in the games this month?
    I’m pretty sure the only game it was a front 4 was against Ukraine. Mount in a front 3 with Rice/Phillips behind him is definitely very defensively orientated.

  14. #714
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    On our defensive woes I'd completely forgotten about the existence of Ben White. Is he injured or something at the moment?

    I'm sure I've said it before, but in lieu of Potter replacing Gareth Southgate Badger they could at least go with some Brighton, or ex-Brighton defenders. Dunk and Webster are just flat out better than modern day Harry Maguire.

  15. #715
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Is this the June football thread? Fixtures are out:



    https://www.premierleague.com/news/2646764
    I'm a twit

  16. #716
    I used to be funny.
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    16 fixtures before the World Cup. Amazing what you can do when you bin off the international breaks. Pray for the legitimacy of the League Cup, though. And any Championship/League One/Two sides that have key players at the tournament.

  17. #717
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shindig View Post
    16 fixtures before the World Cup. Amazing what you can do when you bin off the international breaks. Pray for the legitimacy of the League Cup, though. And any Championship/League One/Two sides that have key players at the tournament.
    The Championships having a break isn’t it?
    I'm a twit

  18. #718
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    Apparently so. Their fixtures arrive next week.

  19. #719
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    Nottm Forest should not have an apostrophe. If they keep that up it's going to annoy me big time. Using 'Spurs' instead of 'Tottenham' is bad enough.

  20. #720
    Administrator SvN's Avatar
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    It's a shame they didn't use Notts Forest and really cause a shitstorm.

  21. #721
    Senior Member Spoonsky's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd View Post
    Nottm Forest should not have an apostrophe. If they keep that up it's going to annoy me big time. Using 'Spurs' instead of 'Tottenham' is bad enough.
    Tot’n’m.

  22. #722
    I used to be funny.
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    Forest probably have my favourite club nickname. Tricky Trees makes them sound so mischievous.

  23. #723
    Senior Member Manc's Avatar
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    Southampton 7/2 for relegation. Pile on.

  24. #724
    ram it up your shitpipe Giggles's Avatar
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    The Spanish league are really taking this Mbappe thing hard.

  25. #725
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    Whilst it's quite fun lolling at Tebas and co, they probably do have a point, particularly in the case of PSG, who appear to operate outwith any sort of financial constraint. At least City go to a lot of effort to make it look like they're on the level.

  26. #726
    Webly Ian's Avatar
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    They may have a point but it's entirely undercut by a) the fact that they're being enormous crybabies about it and b) they only care because they're not the ones with the money.

  27. #727
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    The sense I've got on all my trips to Spain over the years is that Real Madrid and Barcelona are, culturally, far bigger than any English club or possibly any other club in Europe in relation to their wider city/country. Real Madrid and Spain itself - partly thanks to the Generalisimo but also just in general - are far more intertwined on every level than, say, Manchester United and Britain. When you go to Barcelona it almost feels like the city is a theme park, themed around the football club. As such (and with the money and power that results) they have both always been able to sign more or less any player they liked, when they liked, and I think this new era of not being able to do so is really deeply distressing for them in a way that it wouldn't be for an English club. They have to sign the most famous players or they don't understand why they exist anymore.

    I never had a clue why Eden Hazard left Chelsea for Real Madrid - he was playing well, seemed happy, and could have got the same or better money - but I think I know now. They're like a whirlpool that sucks everything in. You can't resist them - until, with an aircraft carrier full of money, you can.

  28. #728
    I used to be funny.
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    Fair play to him. He honed it down to an art over many years.

  29. #729
    Senior Member Manc's Avatar
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    England's U19 Euro Championship kicking off on the iplayer.

  30. #730
    Senior Member Manc's Avatar
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    Chukwuemeka looks a player. Born in Austria to Nigerian parents. Top poaching.

  31. #731
    Custom User Title phonics's Avatar
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    I saw the tweet ‘Breaking: Ryan Giggs resigns as Wales manager’ and got very confused.

  32. #732
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    Might as well go out on a high.

  33. #733
    Bookie Sir Andy Mahowry's Avatar
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    He's done so well recently with the team.

  34. #734
    Senior Member CJay's Avatar
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    Is he the biggest ex-footballer to have really messed up his post-playing career? He'll likely never work in football again.

  35. #735
    DEATH TO THE WEIRD Raoul Duke's Avatar
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    Le Tissier has gone full retard

  36. #736
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    Aye, but he'd already had his post-football career [and done surprisingly well out of it] and whilst he's a bit of a moron he hasn't actually managed to do anything crimous.

    There must be others who have got into some bad shit though. Main one that springs to mind is [ex-England cricketer] Chris Lewis and his drug dealing.

  37. #737
    Senior Member Boydy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raoul Duke View Post
    Le Tissier has gone full retard
    What's he done now?

  38. #738
    Senior Member Waffdon's Avatar
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    I seen he was on a podcast the other day explaining how he was match fixing back in the day.

  39. #739
    Senior Member Jimmy Floyd's Avatar
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    I remember him years ago saying they used to have bets on time of the first throw in, is it that again or something else?

  40. #740
    Senior Member niko_cee's Avatar
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    Yeah, there always used to be some comedy kick offs back when that was a thing. Oops, overhit that one a bit.

  41. #741
    DEATH TO THE WEIRD Raoul Duke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boydy View Post
    What's he done now?
    https://twitter.com/FootballCliches/...OYNu_MqDEq0lVA

  42. #742
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd View Post
    I remember him years ago saying they used to have bets on time of the first throw in, is it that again or something else?
    He retold the story on a podcast not long back. IIRC he said he tried it (the famous one), fucked it and never did it again. Though I am not sure I believe him entirely.

  43. #743
    Isn't he banned? Baz's Avatar
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    Neil Shipperly ruined it for him, he said, but managed to kick it out just in time to break even.
    I'm a twit

  44. #744
    Senior Member Manc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Manc View Post
    Chukwuemeka looks a player. Born in Austria to Nigerian parents. Top poaching.
    This fella is going to be special.

  45. #745
    Won the Old Board Lewis's Avatar
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    Wayne Rooney IN.

  46. #746
    Senior Member Spikey M's Avatar
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    Has there ever been a more obvious alcoholic than Wayne Rooney? (Apart from Fergie).

  47. #747
    I used to be funny.
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    Paul Gascoigne?

  48. #748
    Administrator Kikó's Avatar
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    Jack Grealish.

  49. #749
    ram it up your shitpipe Giggles's Avatar
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    Shane Magowan.

  50. #750
    The Artist Formerly Known as Taz
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    My boy Nedum Onuoha's done an episode on Football Weekly about his new book. He is such a fucking don, highly recommended.

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