O/T Spurs and ENGLAND

[mrpotatohead]

Looks like spurs will be getting joe cole, and as i was born in burnley i say this with a heavy heart, I think an ideal starting line up would feature 6 spurs players.

[scar]

Unless the Arse offer him and his agent mega bucks signing on fee!

But an England team based around a solig 5 or 6 players who all play for the same team would be a good start, at least they'd all know each others style of play.

[Plain Peter]

But an England team based around a solig 5 or 6 players who all play for the same team would be a good start, at least they'd all know each others style of play.

And go further, a lot further.

[Opinionated]

But an England team based around a solig 5 or 6 players who all play for the same team would be a good start, at least they'd all know each others style of play.

Works for Spain:

Casillas (Real Madrid)
Pique (Barcelona)
Puyol (Barcelona)
Capdevila (Villarreal)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Alonso (Real Madrid)
Busquets (Barcelona)
Villa (Barcelona)
Torres (Liverpool)

6 Barcelona and 3 Real Madrid players. Key areas of the pitch as well. 2 centre backs and 3 central midfielders from Barcelona. If only Terry and Upson had the same knowledge of each other that Pique and Puyol do.

Pedro and Fabregas (pending transfer) came on to make it 8 Barcelona players on the pitch for the last 15 mins!

Only one player (Torres) plays outside of Spain demolishing the theory our top players need to play abroad.

[Plain Peter]

We don't want foreign players - full stop!
They come over for two reasons.
Lots of dosh, and a long contract.

[scar]

Just thought, it could be 7 players should Cole join Spurs;

King
Dawson
Huddlestone
Lennon
*Cole
Defoe
Crouch

[Christies Child]

Just thought, it could be 7 players should Cole join Spurs;

King
Dawson
Huddlestone
Lennon
*Cole
Defoe
Crouch

Only Huddlestone and possibly Dawson would do for me...t'others have either had their chance or are too injury prone!

[Morecambe Player]

Just thought, it could be 7 players should Cole join Spurs;

King
Dawson
Huddlestone
Lennon
*Cole
Defoe
Crouch

How many of those players are genuinely world class? Answer, none. And there's the problem, whilst people are saying build the England side round a nucleus of one or two clubs, the reality is that it's fatally flawed.

A while back, England had about 7 Liverpool players in the side, I can't remember offhand who they were, but I think probably the likes of Clemence, Neal, Hughes, Thompson, Case, McDermott, Callaghan and Keegan might have been there...that didn't work either.

[mrpotatohead]

How many English players elswhere are world class, the point was about team strategy, we have just found out that the best individuals cannot cut the mustard

[Christies Child]

How many English players elswhere are world class, the point was about team strategy, we have just found out that the best individuals cannot cut the mustard

....and how many of our foreign imports have excelled in the World Cup?

[Morecambe Player]

How many English players elswhere are world class, the point was about team strategy, we have just found out that the best individuals cannot cut the mustard

....and how many of our foreign imports have excelled in the World Cup?

Carlos Tevez Argentina and Man City, did ok,
Robinho Brazil and Man City, did ok
Nigel de Jong Netherlands and Man City, still there doing fine
Jerome Boateng, Germany and Man City, still there doing fine
Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay and Man City...ok I take your point

[shrimper]

How many English players elswhere are world class, the point was about team strategy, we have just found out that the best individuals cannot cut the mustard

....and how many of our foreign imports have excelled in the World Cup?

Dirk Kuyt
KP Boateng
Van Persie
Maxi Rodriguez
Xavier Mascherano
Clint Dempsey
... all doing/did okay individually.

[wonder shrimp]

to flip the question round a little, how many of the players from the teams remaining are 'world class'?

not so many IMHO.

you don't need world class players to do well in a tournament, you need a world class team!

[The Marksman]

We don't want foreign players - full stop!
They come over for two reasons.
Lots of dosh, and a long contract.

Is that the royal "we"? Please don't think that you speak for everybody. English players also play in the Premier League for lots of dosh and long contracts. The difference between them and the foreign players at PL clubs is that the foreign players add the ball skills and intelligence that our players mainly lack.

[Opinionated]

to flip the question round a little, how many of the players from the teams remaining are 'world class'?

not so many IMHO.

you don't need world class players to do well in a tournament, you need a world class team!

Agreed

World class players in the following teams:
Uruguay - Forlan who failed miserably in the PL is the closest they come to world class
Holland - Robben
Spain - Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Torres - By far the best individual players in the tournament but will they win it?
Germany - None but they have the best 'team'

[shrimper]

I'd add Van Persie, Schneider and Schweinsteiger at least but the point still stands.

WE had more players who would have been described as 'world class' before the event than many who made the quarters but it got us nowhere.

Italy were very short of world class individuals when they won the last one as well.

They and Germany, played better as a team, had a better relationship with each other off-field and had the right mental attitude.

[Plain Peter]

Is that the royal "we"? Please don't think that you speak for everybody.

It was me and Doris .

English players also play in the Premier League for lots of dosh and long contracts.

There's a solution to that too. And the sooner the better.

The difference between them and the foreign players at PL clubs is that the foreign players add the ball skills and intelligence that our players mainly lack.

What you say might be right, but I see them more as an illusion, an unaffordable one.

[ezz]

Still think the revolution to German football which has every club making a profit, and teams only allowed to spend 50% of that profit. This would A) slow dow the ridiculous inflation on good players, and average english players. B) no more Portsmouth situations C) also give more english youths to compete.

Downsides english premiership wuold attract less world class foreign players...maybe do a little worse in european comps but apart from that it'd make football a whole lot better and stable.

[Plain Peter]

Still think the revolution to German football which has every club making a profit, and teams only allowed to spend 50% of that profit. This would A) slow dow the ridiculous inflation on good players, and average english players. B) no more Portsmouth situations C) also give more english youths to compete.

Exactly. But market forces have got to made a thing of the past.

Downsides english premiership wuold attract less world class foreign players...maybe do a little worse in european comps but apart from that it'd make football a whole lot better and stable.

Most of them aren't world class though. I read the other day that [can't think which team] have just signed a 17 year old African anagram on a 4 year contract!

[The Marksman]

Still think the revolution to German football which has every club making a profit, and teams only allowed to spend 50% of that profit. This would A) slow dow the ridiculous inflation on good players, and average english players. B) no more Portsmouth situations C) also give more english youths to compete.

Exactly. But market forces have got to made a thing of the past.

I wouldn't say that. What should be made a thing of the past is for badly run clubs (and this applies to any company) to be able to get away with not paying their debts. If they run out of money, they should go out of business.

[shrimper]

I wonder (and I've not researched it so I don't know) if it has anything to do with the German FA retaining more power than ours does.

Here the Premier League has the real power and clubs release players when they feel like it, club games being far more important to them.

The players therefore have officials at their clubs, including their managers, continually acting and speaking as if playing for England is a hindrance rather than an honour.

[Posh]

The simple answer to England's problem of course is to play socialists and treat the team as a socialist entity.

Dirk Kuyt, probably the hardest working player in the tournament who has only one aim victory for his team, is a socialist and donates a huge proportion of his salary to charity. Barcelona, where many of the hardest working collaborative players come from, is a socialist football club built on supporter ownership, solidarity and the belief that everything is second to Barcelona the club. And many great managers in England - Clough, Shankley, Paisley and Ferguson were all committed socialists.

And we've only ever won the World Cup under a Labour government.

The Premier League and our so-called 'world class' footballers are all about greed and putting themselves first. Until we learn to rid ourselves of the failings of wealth then we may finally put out an England side that wants to win for each other and the nation, and not to lift their price tag or put themselves in the shop window.

Viva la revolution!

[ockers]

The simple answer to England's problem of course is to play socialists and treat the team as a socialist entity.

Dirk Kuyt, probably the hardest working player in the tournament who has only one aim victory for his team, is a socialist and donates a huge proportion of his salary to charity. Barcelona, where many of the hardest working collaborative players come from, is a socialist football club built on supporter ownership, solidarity and the belief that everything is second to Barcelona the club. And many great managers in England - Clough, Shankley, Paisley and Ferguson were all committed socialists.

And we've only ever won the World Cup under a Labour government.

The Premier League and our so-called 'world class' footballers are all about greed and putting themselves first. Until we learn to rid ourselves of the failings of wealth then we may finally put out an England side that wants to win for each other and the nation, and not to lift their price tag or put themselves in the shop window.

Viva la revolution!

vive la revolution posh
perhaps our football team reflects the state of this nation right now too
i mean since when did anyone spend £10 on an ordinary bottle of wine just for supermarkets now to tell us we can offer you half price wine for a fiver??
soft nation.................
soft football...........
soft lad...............

[shrimper]

Answers on a postcard.