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fabulousRedsReds

Listed below are comments made by fabulousRedsReds between Sunday, 11th October 2009 and Sunday, 15th November 2009.

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Mixed fortunes for England duo 1:01pm on 15 Nov 2009 Lots of posts saying England was 'OK' yesterday. Looks like they were expecting a 5-0 hammering from Brazil? If you go to SA and get a OK match against Brazil after the group stage, with the same results, you will be on the plane back home. There is no such thing as an OK loss.
The single (and obvious) thing about England, which has been true for all major championships save '90 WC and '96 Euros, is that England do not impose their game on opponents. You see England in action against other teams and wonder - are these the same players that I see week in week out? How easily can they be slowed down and then punished with a sudden up in tempo? England lets the opponents control the pace and rhythm of the game. The just follow whatever the other team decides. Maybe it is a mental thing. I don't know.
If you can not impose your game on your opponents, you do not win. Simple as that. Unless you are counting on some lucky counter or something. Why not build the team around Gerrard and give him a free role? At least he has the potential of making opponents sing to his tune..
Mixed fortunes for England duo 08:58am on 15 Nov 2009 Hi Phil,
Remember the "Rooney will win it for us" piece that you wrote a few weeks ago? Reality check! One man does not make a team, sorry.
The other point is that national sides do not play in leagues. You can not lose to the other top 3 and still win the league at international level. Lose one match after group stages and you are out. Much talk about Capello's record with England. For me he has played 3 and lost 3. Matches that matter are those against teams that have a relistic chance of winning the WC. So far he has lost to the usual suspects: Spain, France and Brazil. There are others that he might have lost as well. Prepare yourselves for the World Cup in football..
Can Blazevic work his magic for Bosnia? 6:34pm on 10 Nov 2009 If only Zlatan Ibrahimovic chose to represent the country of his parents, Bosnia would have a realistic chance of making it to their first WC finals..
Anfield's day of destiny 10:00am on 24 Oct 2009 Liverpool fans should accept thier club's level. No point making a match against ManU as the make or break match. United are the better side and will most likely win this one, and many others. It is not against ManU that Liverpool's season is defined, it is against Arsenal, Spurs and Villa. Forget about ManU and Chelsea, and Man Cite as well in the comming 2-3 years. Don't be cruel to yourselves.
Anfield's day of destiny 6:46pm on 23 Oct 2009 Liverpool fans just have to accept what Arsenal fans did last season - the club is not strong enough to win trophies. Both Liverpool and Arsenal are good teams, two of the best in the world, but far from challenging for the highest prices. Pool though, do not have the quality of players that arsenal has. Infact 6 or 7 of the pool players are average for any league, on average they are below thier opposite numbers in Villa colours on ability. The remaining two or three are truely world class though. The funny thing is that the pool fans are planning to vent their dissaffection on the two Americans. Look at how the American's money has been spent: Babel 10m? Keane 18m? Johnson 15m? Aqiullani 20m? Surely, you cannot waste the American's money like that and then blame them for the club's failure!
Capello's World Cup contenders 8:03pm on 15 Oct 2009 If Owen Hargreaves is fit and is picked then Lampard should be left out, or accept to be on the bench. Don't get me wrong, Lampard is a great player - one of the best in the world, but he has competition from a better player for the position he plays in. Capello has the choice of having two great player, and field a weaker team than if he got a good DM and allowed the better of the two to play in a more advanced central role, without the other.. England is different from Spain. There they can play iniesta, Fabregas and Xavi at the same time because they have technically better players who can keep the ball and allow others to take up great positions, and then make a perfectly wighted pass. England relies on quick movement and aggression, not possesion and creativity. You have to play to your strenghts and get the best from your team. I have nothing against Lampard.
Capello's World Cup contenders 6:54pm on 15 Oct 2009 The one player who should be played in position is Gerrard. When he plays in his central position with a licence to roam he is the best of all. Rooney for me is not a proper striker. Villa and Torres (both in the same team) are better than him. He is no proper attacking midfielder. Iniesta and Fabregas are better than him in that role. And that 'hole' that he plays in, Marcos Senna lives there. Senna, with some help from Alonso, could just keep Rooney trapped in the 'hole' for 90 mins. Let me put it his way, the one area England kan excel in is central midfield with Gerrard in it. But that won't happen, will it?
Also, I would rather give Agbonlahor an opportunity to gain experience that take Beckham to yet another WC. It would be unbelievable if Owen got picked instead of Carlton Cole, Bent, Defoe or Agbonlahor!
England cannot replace Rooney 8:42pm on 13 Oct 2009 fabulousRedsReds - I'm going to have a wild stab in the dark and guess that you are a Liverpool fan. As highly as I rate Gerrard, I can't help but feel that your club blinkers have got the better of you. Think of it this way: think of how many quality/World Class players has Capello coached during his career. Given the fact that Capello will know fine well that Rooney's and Gerrard's best roles are very similar, and the fact that he has seen more than enough of each, he ultimately built the team around Rooney, not Gerrard. I am going with Fabio's judgement on this one.
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There seems to be a media build up to 2010 already. The pundits have chosen their man based on 6 or 7 maches this season and that is Rooney. Hopefully they will repeat his name many enough times for everyone to believe that he is the best thing that has happened in recent years, and that he will bring the cup home. Well, I can't complain. At least it is not Beckham this time, although he (Becks) still has time to make that one massive 'delivery' from his right foot and we will all be made to forget about Rooney in a minute as the Beckham bandwagon gathers pace. Hope not.
Jokes aside, I am a Liverpool fan but I respect SAF for a difference. When Ronaldo was there you knew who the main man was, there was no doubt. So you know Rooney's level. In my opinion, Gerrard is a better player than Rooney, makes better decisions, moves and motivates his team, and is a natural winner. The team should be built aroud him. Gerrard can do what he did in Isanbul in '05 and countless times for Liverpool, Rooney can't. Rooney works hard but he can't move a team, and what we are seeing from Rooney, just as Gerrard, is the finished article. I don't think Rooney will improve much from here. On that basis, club loyalties aside, Gerrard should be playing a far bigger role for England than he is allowed to. He needs more freedom to do what he does naturally. Team mates should understand this.
England cannot replace Rooney 6:58pm on 13 Oct 2009 Rooney has the pace, power and goalscoring ability to spearhead England's World Cup bid. He has the intelligence to link all parts of the team - no-one else at Capello's disposal has these qualities.
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Steven Gerrard has those qualities and more. Gerard is England's best player and probably the best player in the world. Rooney does not even appear in the top 10 FIFA list.
England have to acknowledge that Gerrard is the best player and build the team around him. He is England's Maradona, Zidane, Platini, Ronaldo (the Brazillian) etc. The others have to understand that he is the most talented and most important player - like he is at Liverpool, or Ronaldo was at ManU. There has to be heirachy of resposibility and respect for a team to win a major championship. The outstanding player has to be given the freedom to influence games and perform to his best. He has to move the team.
The night before the WC '98, senior French players (and I am not talking about Henry) visited a relatively young Zidane in his room and told him of his responsibilty and that he had to have a big match - the biggest of his life! He was the best they had and they acknowledged it. He did not disappoint. England have to get the message through to the Lampards and Rooneys etc that they have to play for Gerrard and Englad. There should be no doubt who will make it happen for them and for England.. Otherwise the egos take over and it all fizzles out again.
Ferdinand must sharpen up 11:34am on 11 Oct 2009
First of all, I admire both of them - they are both dogged and resilient defensively; but conversely, at Chelsea, it is Carvalho that does the marking and dirty jobs in the defense, JT is only the last man! The same thing happens at OT, where Nemanja Vidic is the ruthless dog that hackles down the opponents terrorizing United defense, only for Rio to be the stopper, the sweeper. Thus, Rio is, just like JT at Chelsea, the master or the boss at the defense who commandeers Vidic, Evra, Brown or whoever plays with him at the defense.
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Absolutely 100% correct. For a long time I thought that I was the only one in the country who saw it that way. If England want to cut it in the WC we have to replace one of these. They are both great organisers and motivators, but neither does the dirty job. JT in particular gives himself a free role which allows him to make last ditch spectacular clearances which makes him look way better than he actually is. 1-on-1 he is almost always lacking and I am surpries why the the pundits have not noticed this. Rio is the better of the two and for me, he should be in SA next year, but he should attack the ball and tackle instead of running around lazily like he so often does. He probably thinks of himself as a great reader of the game but I doubt it. Like mentioned, there is no Cavalho or Vidick to 'do the dirty job'.

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