Indeed, of course it helps to have the pool of players Brazil have to choose from as well! I was encouraged by the fluid play of the younger players in recent games, sadly it seems that the continued presence of Rooney, as good as he can be, will probably be to the detriment of the team's overall synergy.
How about a shout for Mexico??? Hope they do really well and meet England in the final to confound all bloody experts!!!! The Spanish WC squad should be interesting. Wonder how many players they will choose from Atletico, Athletic and Sevilla as they have all had excellent seasons or will it consist mainly of Barca and RM players? Possible omissions could include City's Spanish contingent, Mata and Cesc - all players who would get into the England set-up!!
Germany have revealed their preliminary squad. It's rather scary... http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=513279&no_cache=1
Odd how they have midfielders listed as defenders and forwards listed as midfielders. Makes their forward options look very limited indeed until you realise they've got Müller, Podolski, etc listed as midfielders!
Grosskreutz is listed as a midfielder on the Dortmund website, and Lahm plays exclusively in midfield for Bayern these days.
Grosskreutz has played rb for Germany and Dortmund this year. Lahm still plays lb for Germany they have enough midfielders already.
I've never associated Lahm as a midfielder. He's a full back but he's so bloody good he can play in midfield.
Clearly these players are capable of playing in many positions, and fitting them into these descriptions is subjective. Surely you can't disagree with my substantive point that they have listed all the players by the most defensive positions they could play.
You should tell Wenger he's been playing Podolski out of position. I look forward to seeing him lining up next to Flamini and Arteta in Arsenal's midfield from now on.
"Midfield" doesn't just cover the two holding players. Ozil, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Lallana, Mata, Hazard, Oscar are all classed as midfielders. And Podolski plays in an attacking midfield position, not as a striker. One of the most stupid comments I've ever seen.
You need to chill out pal. Now, be honest; if you weren't determined to get one over on me for some reason, would you ever have described Podolski as more of a midfielder than a forward? He's never made a tackle in his entire career!
That isn't the role of an attacking midfielder though is it? You seem to think that only the likes of Flamini, Wanyama, Cork, Schneiderlin etc should be classified as midfielders. And obviously Wenger and the Germany manager disagree with you because Wenger plays him as an attacking midfielder most of the time and so do Germany.
It's another lighthearted comment mate. Anyone else would probably have perceived that (and who knows, maybe allowed themselves a smile) but instead you have ascribed to me an opinion which is held by precisely nobody in order to maintain your shaky premise for arguing with me. Podolski is a striker who plays as a winger. You only have to watch him play to realise he's a striker (in fact he does less defensive work than most out-and-out strikers do these days). This conversation is over.
