9 hours ago, Vilesinner said:

Maybe Brentford play with a defence. Raya was very lucky guy though, he was at fault for the goal that was incorrectly ruled out. 

Raya also let in a header from outside the area in their defeat to Birmingham on day 1. The mistake wasn’t getting rid of Raya, it was getting rid without having a suitable replacement lined up

On the way back now. I thought the obvious weak link during an excellent first half hour was Bell so was quite excited about the future safe in the knowledge Cunningham will probably take his place. For the second week in a row though, Mowbray’s subs gave us less chance of getting anything out of the game. Why move Dack deeper when he is the one most likely to score? 

Just now, Neal said:

I don't see a centre half coming to be honest. Tosin, Mulgrew, Williams and Lennihan will be his 4 centre halves. 

 

 

Yeah, that’s part of the reason he may want a left back so that Williams only ever has to play centre back.

The way we finished was strange. Definitely seemed a 4-3-3 with Dack in the middle of a front 3, Graham on the left of it and Gallagher on the right of it. 

Whenever anyone who featured for Rovers in the Noughties is on ths show they always put Tugay in their eleven, no matter how many good players they’ve played with. The presenters used to get quite shocked at some of the players omitted so that Tugay could be in the team. 

7 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Not quite sure what games you have been watching but we have been gifting teams good chances all season. Got away with it to an extent at the start, derby springs to mind but teams aren’t always going to be that charitable and it’s showing now 

Derby and Wigan are the games where we gifted the most chances to the opposition in my mind and really did defend terribly throughout. A big part of defending is obviously being switched on for the whole game and we have been punished because we haven’t been but we haven’t been conceding chances every time the opposition attack like I can remember under Kean, Coyle and at times Hodgson. I notice Lenihan for example make a lot of good defensive interventions during games before he inevitably switches off and costs us points.

I’ve been thinking more about how the team has defended this season. Mowbray is right when he says they didn’t loook like conceding until they did today. The worst I can remember our defence was under Coyle and back then we conceded so many clear cut chances throughout games. We would only win or draw games if the opposition missed loads of those chances. Despite agreeing that a new centre back and left back should be a priority, we have actually defended quite well as a team at times this season. However, mistakes are being more punished than our previous seasons in the Championship and we lack on pitch leaders to stop another mistake quickly following. 

I think our main problem is that a lot of our players aren’t anything above bottom six of the Championship in terms of quality. I was very surprised at how we competed against the likes of WBA, Stoke, Villa, etc earlier on in the season with much worse players. Despite obvious failings, Mowbray has done well to make us run our hearts out and be competitive in most games. The Preston and Wigan games - especially Wigan - are the only really concerning ones in terms of effort and competitiveness. 

Who in our team would a top half Championship club want? Dack, Reed, maybe Mulgrew or Graham if they were as good but younger? As others have mentioned, we may lose both Dack and Reed in January and/or August and Mulgrew and Graham will deteriorate with age. 

Despite all getting relegated two years ago, I believe that the likes of Evans, Bennett, Smallwood, Nyambe and Raya are good enough to play regularly for a team that stays up in the Championship but not a lot more. I would have put Williams in this bracket until recent performances which don’t look Championship standard. Bell has also never looked Championship standard. Lenihan and Armstrong occasionally look Championship standard but not regularly enough. 

I think I have named our most regular starters above. The others probably haven’t played enough in the Championship this season to properly judge. 

Some of the players above may improve with experience but we probably need seven or eight of them to improve or be replaced if we are ever going to finish top 6.  The current squad is good enough to stay up if not woefully managed by someone like Coyle. 

In January I would buy a left back because I think neither of our two will ever be at top half Championship level. I would also get a Craig Short type (don’t really know who that is) on loan as well as some competition for Graham. 

In episode 2 two scouts go and watch Bell play for Fleetwood against Scunthorpe. Make a comment about him wearing gloves when it’s not cold and then agree “there’s better out there than him.”

What happened to Anna Louise Adams? Does she still go to games? 

Raya looks decent but we already have too many young goalkeepers in the squad

It seemed obvious to me from Steve Mclaren's press conference that Bentley will start on the right with Lennon on the left. He appeared to name both his defence and midfield from right to left. He was also very complimentary about Bentley

From LET article:

Posted by: Vinjay on 10:27am today

How long until he gets injured again? Excellent decision as usual from Hughes and Williams. Up to 2 million is worth it because he's a local boy after all. Could sign me on that basis. Does Williams seriously think this is the best solution to the attendance problems? I have an idea that might improve crowds...stop selling our best players. If Dunn wasn't from the local area they wouldn't have signed him. It's obvious he's more concerned about living in the North West and that's why only North West clubs are after him. Look strange that clubs from other regions haven't shown interest dosen't it? He wouldn't go anywhere else. He cares more about his favourite nightclubs than he does about playing football. That's the factor in his decision not the club. I know it isn't fully confirmed but I would be shocked if it falls through. Hope it does but probably won't.

How long until he gets injured again? Excellent decision as usual from Hughes and Williams.

Up to 2 million is worth it because he's a local boy after all. Could sign me on that basis.

Does Williams seriously think this is the best solution to the attendance problems? I have an idea that might improve crowds...stop selling our best players.

If Dunn wasn't from the local area they wouldn't have signed him. It's obvious he's more concerned about living in the North West and that's why only North West clubs are after him. Look strange that clubs from other regions haven't shown interest dosen't it?

He wouldn't go anywhere else. He cares more about his favourite nightclubs than he does about playing football. That's the factor in his decision not the club.

I know it isn't fully confirmed but I would be shocked if it falls through. Hope it does but probably won't.

I'd have to say that I agree with Joey. When playing Tugay in the centre we need a ball winner and, right now, the Axe is the only one available.

The problem is though that Mokoena never wins the ball. Throughout the last few games I have often thought that we may as well be playing with ten men. It's easy to say with hindsight but Douglas shouldn't have been sold until another centre midfielder was bought. He's definitely better in a 4-42 than Mokoena.

because ryanair conned an extra 40quid out of me

because of you quick bookers on the lpool to krakow flight buggers

however feyenood was just 41bobs with easyjet

£2.05 to Feyenoord? How do they do it?

linky

http://www.eurosport.com/football/worldcup...mtc131154.shtml

the eurosport commentary clearly calls it his thrid card, and mentions that poll forgot to wave the red for card #2.

3 cards, minutes 62, 90 and 90+3

That live text is awful. Is it done by a fourteen year old?

Preston never give the number 12 to any players and have it in their official squad list as "the fans." We may give Pedersen the 11 and do the same. Hence, the season ticket confirmation packs.

Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "I'm sorry for him. But we have many players who can take that second striker role."

Owen's not a second striker!

Domonech appears to be facing the same problems that SGE has, how to play all his star players in the same team.

It doesn't help that Giuly, one of his biggest stars, isn't even in the squad.

Official site

Is the second leg really on a monday four days after the first leg?

Are there any Rovers fans that will popping over to Germany for the latter stages of the tournament e.g. if we make semi's. To watch the match in the city which the game would be played with all the other England fans. I'm only asking because i just got myself a part-time job before university and i am tempted to do so should we get that far. Buying some cheap flights but no hotel, so i was wondering if it is possible to stay out in the pubs and clubs of Germant all night and board the plane home the following morning...providing sober enough

I've seen flights from East Midlands airport on RyanAir for £39.99 there and £39.99 back so it could be a fairly cheap trip.

Me and my mate are in Berlin for the last week of the tournament (3rd July-10th July). We may head over to Munich for (hopefully) England's semi final match even though we don't have tickets but will probably save our money and stay in Berlin - there should be plenty of English there and I believe some pubs and clubs are open 24 hours.

The day is almost upon us. After all the press about Sven’s adventurous squad, Rooney’s metatarsal and the holding midfield player dilemma, the English now have World Cup football matches to talk about. This Saturday sees a Rooney-less England face Paraguay in the opening match of the World Cup.

How did both teams qualify?

For some bizarre reason English journalists give their team very harsh treatment. If you’d picked up a newspaper at various times during the qualifying period you would have read about David James being a donkey, Sven’s dreadful judgement in trying a formation which works so effectively for Barcelona and Chelsea, and England suffering their most embarrassing defeat for decades. Lets not forget though, England qualified from their group with a game to spare and ended up group winners. How many other major European nations qualified so comfortably?

Paraguay finished fourth in the South American qualifying region behind Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador but ahead of some fairly well established South American nations such as Uruguay, Chile and Colombia. Their very own Jose Cardozo finished in joint second place in the scoring charts for the South American World Cup qualifying zone with seven goals.

With Sven now deciding he is a tinker man, what sort of team can we expect him to put out?

After Crouch’s hat-trick in the 6-0 demolition of Jamaica Eriksson declared that he would start this match. Many people are therefore expecting the same team that started against Jamaica but with the fit again Neville in for Carragher at right back. However, Gerrard has a back injury and only has a 50% chance of playing on Saturday. If Gerrard doesn’t play, I would expect Lampard to partner a holding midfielder in central midfield. Who that holding player is though is anyone’s guess. Sven doesn’t seem to know who he prefers in that role out of Carragher, Hargreaves and Carrick.

Is everyone underestimating Paraguay?

Perhaps. They have got many players plying their trade in Europe - Dos Santos and Santa Cruz at Bayern Munich, Valdez at Werder Bremen, Paredes at Reggina, Toledo at Real Zaragoza and Acuna at Deportivo La Coruna. They have also reached the second round in both of the previous two World Cups, why can’t they do it again? Furthermore, fans of Football Manager will be looking forward to seeing Edgar Barreto be the star of the tournament…

Betting odds (from PaddyPower)

England 4-7

Paraguay 5-1

Draw 5-2

My prediction

England 2-0 Paraguay

Sorry about the short length. I'll do a better one in the knockout stages once my exams are over.

Even without Rooney we should make the quarter finals without a problem but we may struggle to go further. I've gone for fourth as I expect Rooney to be fit and playing well by the quarter final match. We have a squad to give Brazil or any other a very good game and we could win it but I think a semi final finish is more likely (I've gone for 3rd).

SO what have you gone for?

In the match between England and JAMAICA? Well, England

duff & dunn were almost on their way out. dunny def asked for a transfer and i heard duff did (whilst not getting a look-in under parkes! ).

jansen always had a lot of talent, but was very much a head-down merchant- who'd never pass (and was often sub - until christmas 2000).

souey and his staff deserve credit for moulding jansen into the player he became.

Yet again Pleasure, your "sources" are wrong. Duff regularly played under Parkes and in fact won our Player of the Season award in our first season in Division one (1999-2000).