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highthief · 11-22-2007, 07:29 PM

OK, aside from crap performances earlier in the tournament (I'm thinking the draw with Macedonia at home) last night simply exposed McLaren for being a complete clueless fucking idiot.

He plays 4-5-1 with Peter Crouch going solo up front.

Aside from the fact that Crouchie (a good player who gets a bad rap from people who have no concept about football) needs a partner to play with and to set up, he plays Joe Cole and Shawn Wright Phillips in wide positions.

Now, I can only imagine that McLaren never noticed two very critical things here:

1) Peter Crouch plays best off the crossed ball. He's 8 feet fucking tall. You cross balls into guys his size.

2) SWP and Cole cannot cross a ball to save their lives.

D'uh.

Additionally, starting Carson when James was available was utterly mad (and McClown, don't you wish you hadn't jerked Jamie Carragher around with Terry and Rio absent - he would've settled that defence down you would not have had to play the inept Bridge and/or Lescott yesterday).

Anyway, I hope they get Mourinho or failing that, Mark Hughes or Capello. Please do not mention Sam Allardyce or Harry Redknapp or any other "English" candidate - the only one vaguely appealing is Coppell but I don't think he could manage the egos on that team. England needs a manager whose personality is stronger than that of the players.

Beyond that, some serious thinking needs to be done to better develop talent - there are what, 5 english keepers playing regularly in the EPL? How many strikers - hell, they had to dip into the Champonship for guys like Nugent and even Walcott to some extent.

And now the much maligned Beckham (who set up Crouch for the tying goal) has almost certainly played his last competitive match and there's been so little effort to develop potential replacements for his dead ball ability - Bentley who can't be bothered to turn out for his country where as Beckham would've played with both legs cut off? I think Ashley Young is excellent but his development has been held back.

Anyway, the wife is half-German so we'll be pulling for Klose, Ballack, Lehman, et al next summer.

11-22-2007, 07:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
highthief Junkie Location: Ontario, Canada	OK, aside from crap performances earlier in the tournament (I'm thinking the draw with Macedonia at home) last night simply exposed McLaren for being a complete clueless fucking idiot. He plays 4-5-1 with Peter Crouch going solo up front. Aside from the fact that Crouchie (a good player who gets a bad rap from people who have no concept about football) needs a partner to play with and to set up, he plays Joe Cole and Shawn Wright Phillips in wide positions. Now, I can only imagine that McLaren never noticed two very critical things here: 1) Peter Crouch plays best off the crossed ball. He's 8 feet fucking tall. You cross balls into guys his size. 2) SWP and Cole cannot cross a ball to save their lives. D'uh. Additionally, starting Carson when James was available was utterly mad (and McClown, don't you wish you hadn't jerked Jamie Carragher around with Terry and Rio absent - he would've settled that defence down you would not have had to play the inept Bridge and/or Lescott yesterday). Anyway, I hope they get Mourinho or failing that, Mark Hughes or Capello. Please do not mention Sam Allardyce or Harry Redknapp or any other "English" candidate - the only one vaguely appealing is Coppell but I don't think he could manage the egos on that team. England needs a manager whose personality is stronger than that of the players. Beyond that, some serious thinking needs to be done to better develop talent - there are what, 5 english keepers playing regularly in the EPL? How many strikers - hell, they had to dip into the Champonship for guys like Nugent and even Walcott to some extent. And now the much maligned Beckham (who set up Crouch for the tying goal) has almost certainly played his last competitive match and there's been so little effort to develop potential replacements for his dead ball ability - Bentley who can't be bothered to turn out for his country where as Beckham would've played with both legs cut off? I think Ashley Young is excellent but his development has been held back. Anyway, the wife is half-German so we'll be pulling for Klose, Ballack, Lehman, et al next summer. __________________ Si vis pacem parabellum.