So, the window's closed then...

[Nicey]

In terms we have got rid of

finnan
riise
vrononin
crouch
Kewell
Carson

Fantastic Summer

Rafa certainly seems to have no problems shipping players out .. and usually getting good money for them as well

Very happy with the dealings good business all round ... shame Degn is not fit .. if is anyway like Andrea .. Jesus we will blow teams away ... with both of them flying down the flanks and the likes of Gerrard Masher and Alonso holding forth in the Middle

[rage]

Concerning our 1st team


We replaced Riise/Aurelio with Dossena.
We replaced Kewell/Babel with Reira.
We replaced Finnan/Arbeloa with Degen.
We replaced Crouch with Keane
We promoted El Zhar.



Keane is back up to our lone striker Torres.
Kuyt/Gerrard have done decent jobs at RW.



You completely dismissed all our new players(except Keane)plus Babel,Kuyt,Benayoun,Aurelio,Arbeloa and Lucas at the start of the season and say we only have 9 1st team players.


Jesus man,your the most pessimistic man I know.

i only think we have 9 first team players, the ones i dismissed we wouldn't miss. the likes of arbeloa kuyt and lucas won't help us compete for the title in a first 11 imo. of the 9 players i picked i can't see them all on the pitch at the same time unless we play 352 also.

try and pick me a 1st 11 playing in a formation where each player plays to his best.

[Fierce]

i only think we have 9 first team players, the ones i dismissed we wouldn't miss. the likes of arbeloa kuyt and lucas won't help us compete for the title in a first 11 imo. of the 9 players i picked i can't see them all on the pitch at the same time unless we play 352 also.

try and pick me a 1st 11 playing in a formation where each player plays to his best.

Mine -

--------------Reina-------------
Abreloa--Carra---Agger--Dosseena
------Masher------Xabi----------
--Gerrard------Keane-----Riera---
-------------Torres------------

Yours -

--------------Reina-------------
Alves---Carra---Agger---Lahm
------------Masher----------
------Gerrard-------Kaka----
---Ronaldo--Torres--Messi----

[Kenneth]

Mine -

--------------Reina-------------
Abreloa--Carra---Agger--Dosseena
------Masher------Xabi----------
--Gerrard------Keane-----Riera---
-------------Torres------------

Yours -

--------------Reina-------------
Alves---Carra---Agger---Lahm
------------Masher----------
------Gerrard-------Kaka----
---Ronaldo--Torres--Messi----

To be fair, Rage's team is better than yours.

[rage]

Mine -

--------------Reina-------------
Abreloa--Carra---Agger--Dosseena
------Masher------Xabi----------
--Gerrard------Keane-----Riera---
-------------Torres------------

Yours -

--------------Reina-------------
Alves---Carra---Agger---Lahm
------------Masher----------
------Gerrard-------Kaka----
---Ronaldo--Torres--Messi----

arbeloa is poor to average right back. when we talk about overlapping fullbacks he ain't gonna give us that.

dossena - well i reckon a fit aurelio will keep him out of the team but yes he has potential. as for riera i think he's turd and everyone else is clutching at straws.

my main problem with your lineup is why move gerrard, arguably the best attacking midfielder in the league onto the right and play keane a world class striker as an attacking midfielder?

should have bought a right sided attacker instead of keane off your line up imo. nice to see that degen doesn't appear in your team either

[dww]

I would say that right sided attacking midfielder is pretty much as good a position as any for Gerrard. the problem I see in him in the middle is that he tends to want to be too involved and comes too deep. This constricts our play and means we have a huge gap between our defense/midfield and attack at times.

I think that people get too hung up about where the name appears on a formation like that. Keane as link striker/attacking midfielder seems entirely a natural fit to me. By labelling it attacking midfield it makes it sound like he is out of position. I would tend to think of the attacking quartet as a unit and would lessen the importance of any distinction between the ideas of attacking midfield players and forwards.

For me the team setup Fierce put up with an amount of freedom given to the players would be very good.

On Arbeloa - I like him and think he is a solid all round player and he certainly brings the ball into midfield well. He does however need to learn to release it into more dangerous areas more quickly in the final third. A feature noted by someone in the pub at the Villa match was how long both fullbacks were holding onto the ball - allowing the Villa defense to get set. This was also a problem from other players but the fullbacks should be breaking forward and giving width and it is imperative for that to work that they do thinks at pace.

[Fierce]

arbeloa is poor to average right back. when we talk about overlapping fullbacks he ain't gonna give us that.

dossena - well i reckon a fit aurelio will keep him out of the team but yes he has potential. as for riera i think he's turd and everyone else is clutching at straws.

my main problem with your lineup is why move gerrard, arguably the best attacking midfielder in the league onto the right and play keane a world class striker as an attacking midfielder?

should have bought a right sided attacker instead of keane off your line up imo. nice to see that degen doesn't appear in your team either

I disagree on the Dosseena call, I dont think we'd have spent so much if he's to be second fiddle
Its unfair labelling Riera as turd based on his Citeh performances, unless you've seen the improvement in him at Espanyol?
And yeah, no Degen yet for me either!

As for the Gerrard/Keane issue, it was me that posted above, and DWW cleverly abused his mod status and changed my post to his

[rage]

I would say that right sided attacking midfielder is pretty much as good a position as any for Gerrard. the problem I see in him in the middle is that he tends to want to be too involved and comes too deep. This constricts our play and means we have a huge gap between our defense/midfield and attack at times.

I think that people get too hung up about where the name appears on a formation like that. Keane as link striker/attacking midfielder seems entirely a natural fit to me. By labelling it attacking midfield it makes it sound like he is out of position. I would tend to think of the attacking quartet as a unit and would lessen the importance of any distinction between the ideas of attacking midfield players and forwards.

your assesment of gerrard is 100% which is why playing him on the right will be a silly thing to do. sure it'll work against poor teams but against teams that play for a draw or good teams he'll go looking for the ball and ruin the shape. this isn't anything new and rafa surely knew this about gerrard before this transfer window.

i do however think that there is a world apart from an attacking midfielder and striker. in the 4231 formation i think keane played as an attacking midfielder will be expected to track back and do loads of donkey work. this will imo take away from where he can do most damage.

[rage]

I disagree on the Dosseena call, I dont think we'd have spent so much if he's to be second fiddle
Its unfair labelling Riera as turd based on his Citeh performances, unless you've seen the improvement in him at Espanyol?
And yeah, no Degen yet for me either!

As for the Gerrard/Keane issue, it was me that posted above, and DWW cleverly abused his mod status and changed my post to his

gonzales looks good back in spain, so does morientes and pongolle looks world class.

riera was turd at city, even rafa in a recent interview indirectly acknowledged that

[lfc1394]

gonzales looks good back in spain, so does morientes and pongolle looks world class.

riera was turd at city, even rafa in a recent interview indirectly acknowledged that

Got to give the fella a chance mate, If he plays in his position he will offer more than Lucas and Beni there.

[rage]

Got to give the fella a chance mate, If he plays in his position he will offer more than Lucas and Beni there.

oh i agree with u on that. left wing lucas, **** that was painful