Football Focus

[Parkdrive]

Couple of decent goals from Jack, but the central defending was woeful and is a big worry. Against better opposition England would get torn a proverbial new one if that sort of performance is repeated.

[Jah Lush]

Phil Jones. Why? Answers on a postcard please.

[Parkdrive]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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> Phil Jones. Why? Answers on a postcard please.

Many would level the accusation at the current and previous England managers that they select players from the "big" clubs at the expense of the smaller clubs. Certainly couldn't select him on ability or form

[Jah Lush]

I find it hard to believe he gets in the Man Utd side let alone England. Truly puzzling. I reckon a team like Barnsley is about his level.

[red devil]

Jones' problem is he hasn't held down a position at club or international level. Like Smalling (who has improved in past 6 months) he still needs an experienced CB alongside him at the moment. Same with Cahill, take away Terry and he looks very average. Utd can go out and buy an experienced CB this summer, England can't, we're stuck with a group of average CBs. Barring a meltdown, England have qualified, so Hodgson should stop experimenting with the back four and play his preferred back line, give them as much time before Euro'16 to get used to playing with each other and develop an understanding. A well organised back four of average players a la Stoke has got to be better than all this chopping and changing...

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

First Game away to Arse nice 3 points in the bag for Irons

[Otta]

United Vs Spurs looks to be the pick on opening day.

Liverpool have Stoke, which could be a tricky start.

[Jah Lush]

Looking forward to the England Under-21 game tonight. Shame Berahino has had to pull out through injury as he's been our top scorer in getting us into the finals of the competition.

[Otta]

Sooo, I watched "Gascoigne" last night. Think this sums it up well

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/04/gascoigne-review-heartening-but-cursory-documentary-of-troubled-footballer

I enjoyed it, and it was great to marvel at what he could do, but a true documentary should have talked about the darker times. It basically stopped at Euro 96. There was nothing about being dropped by Hoddle (fool) in '98, or any of the bad stuff. But it was worth a watch.

[red devil]

The summer transfer business/gossip has been a bit underwhelming so far. Which player(s) do you think your team needs?

For Utd it's at least 4 or 5...

GK (if De Gea leaves)...Lloris

RB...Clyne would've been good but think he wants to go to Liverpool. Anyone but Phil Jones.

CB...Hummels

DM...Schwiensteiger

CF...Benzema

[Otta]

Liverpool need at least one top drawer CB and at least one proven striker.

We need to sell Sterling to City for as close to ?50m as we can get, then use that money wisely.

Unfortunately Rogers will be using it, so we'll probably end up with the shite we spent the Suarez money on.

[Jah Lush]

Otta Wrote:

>

> Unfortunately Rogers will be using it, so we'll

> probably end up with the shite we spent the Suarez

> money on.

Not so, Otta. I believe that's been taken out of his hands now because of the shite he bought with the Saurez money.

Whereas at Spurs where the directors wasted the Bale money, Pochettino along with his assistant Paul Thingamejig (forgotten his surname, his colleague that he worked with at Southampton) are now being trusted with the transfer money and quietly getting a few deals done. So far a centre back and a right back have arrived plus Delli Ali who we bought from Milton Keynes Dons last season will be joining us and I think he could turn out to be really good. I'd like to see a top class defensive midfielder and creative one too with a bit of flair plus another top quality forward with a bit of experience that Harry Kane can learn from and take a bit of pressure of him too.

Players who can go - Kaboul, Chiriches, Adebayor, Capoue, Lennon, Townsend, Stambouli, Holtby and Soldado.

[red devil]

Looks like West Ham have met their match in the Europa League qualifying round...FC Lusitans of Andorra

[Jah Lush]

Arf!

[Jah Lush]

Another ?29 million spent at Liverpool. They're certainly splashing the cash again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33250535

[Otta]

Cool,can't say as I know anything about him, but him and Coutinho already playing together at international level can only be a good thing.

Think Liverpool have accepted Sterling will go for ?50m, so why not use it on a couple of real quality signings rather than several mediocre ones.

[red devil]

That's a lorra, lorra money for someone no one really knows much about. There was some paper talk a couple of weeks ago about him signing for Utd for ?13.1m. Quite a jump up to ?29m, that's only ?3m shy of what Chelsea paid for Costa...

[Parkdrive]

On the other hand last season clubs paid a lot of money in wages and transfer fees for players who we all knew a lot about but nonetheless failed miserably

[Mick Mac]

red devil Wrote:

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> That's a lorra, lorra money for someone no one

> really knows much about. There was some paper talk

> a couple of weeks ago about him signing for Utd

> for ?13.1m. Quite a jump up to ?29m, that's only

> ?3m shy of what Chelsea paid for Costa...

whats his goal scoring ratio like in the Bundesliga? BBC quote goals for Brazil, but thats not really a benchmark for a top league.

[Jah Lush]

"Firmino, who has scored 47 goals in 151 games for Hoffenheim, becomes the Reds' second most expensive player."

[red devil]

Parkdrive Wrote:

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> On the other hand last season clubs paid a lot of

> money in wages and transfer fees for players who

> we all knew a lot about but nonetheless failed

> miserably

True, Firmino only has to score 2 PL goals and he'll be better value goals per transfer fee than Super Mario.

Looks like the transfer fee benchmark has been raised considerably, what with talk of Kane for ?40m and Sterling ?50m...

[Otta]

Speaking of flops, why on earth is the usually savvy Mourinho looking like signing Falcao?

Or will he get the best out of him? Seems an odd move.

[red devil]

They share the same agent, Jorges Mendes, I think they are best buddies too. Maybe he thinks the Chelsea system will get more out of Falcao. The football fan in me wants to see him get back to the exciting striker he was before he got injured, prefer it not to be at Chelsea though...

[Mick Mac]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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> "Firmino, who has scored 47 goals in 151 games for

> Hoffenheim, becomes the Reds' second most

> expensive player."

oh yes - that looks pretty good?

[Parkdrive]

Otta Wrote:

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> Speaking of flops, why on earth is the usually

> savvy Mourinho looking like signing Falcao?

>

> Or will he get the best out of him? Seems an odd

> move.

Let's hope he turns out to be another Andriy Shevchenko, Torres, Shawn Wright Phillips, or Veron.