I would definitely take Mourinho. He's a motivator and an expert in sports psychology. He will make the players believe in themselves which is part of our problem on an international stage, He's also a master tactician. I think Mourinho could even get Downing believing he's as good as....Lallana.
Barcelona's formation: please log in to view this image That is often referred to as a 4-3-3, but there is only one striker, accompanied by two attacking wingers. Messi commonly plays as one of those wingers. Real Madrid's formation: please log in to view this image Again, one striker, in front of three attacking midfielders and two holding midfielders. Ronaldo commonly plays as one of those attacking midfielders. Neither of these positions are comparable to Rooney's.
Ronaldo and Messi ARE NOT Midfielders IMO. They are WING FORWARDS. Ronaldo can play as an out and out striker as well. That chart of Barcelona's formation is completely wrong. They don't play 4-5-1...they play 4-3-3 with wing forwards and a striker. People can believe Real Madrid play 4-2-3-1 but they don't IMO. Ronaldo plays far too high and defends no where near enough to be classed as a LAM or RAM. These teams also don't play a real set positions formation, some of the game Ronaldo will play centre forward My opinion of course ignore the caps before someone gets offended by them. Messi is definitely not a midfield ever though and I can't see how anyone can form and sort of argument for Messi to be classed as anything but a forward I edited some of this not to cause an argument lol
That formation isn't wrong. It's famously been their formation for a long, long time. Obviously during play it is quite flexible; when they are attacking the wingers will push right up, which is why it is often called a 4-3-3, but when not in possession they will rejoin the 5-man midfield. We're getting sidetracked here anyway as it is never the case that Ronaldo or Messi play in the same role as Rooney.
Wigan Wolves Swansea Norwich QPR Bolton Blackburn Fulham West Brom Hardly teams with great defenders. Your ignorance of foreign football is astounding.
No it isn't, don't get cocky. I'm a regular La Liga viewer, and not just for the big teams, I watch Deportivo La Coruna on a regular basis. The lower standard of defending in Spain is obvious. England has, by far, the best defenses in the world. And just for the fun of it: Wigan - Caldwell, Figueroa Wolves - Berra, Bassong Swansea - Williams, Monk Norwich - Naughton QPR - Traore, Young, Taiwo, Ferdinand, Onuoha Bolton - Wheater, Steinsson Blackburn - Olsson, Givet, Dann Fulham - Hangeland, Riise, Senderos, Hughes West Brom - Ridgewell, Olsson, Shorey, Dawson, Tamas All good Premier League defenders. By all means, argue with me some more, but you should probably know that I have a working knowledge of Spanish football down to the third tier. Try me.
But what they were actually doing completely counteracted the boring style for me! I was well excited watching them plough through the tournament and upset everyone, including pundits and boring Eurotrash neutrals - love teams who upset thre apple cart, and momentarily disrupt the boring old hegemony. You get fans who always believe Brazil should win everything cos of the beauty of their style. I'm totally against that, though I like beautiful football as much as anyone. The one great thing about supporting Saints and England is after a few rounds of a tournament, you can sit back and enjoy the neutrality with no stress! I'm always for the minnow story. Coventry-Spurs. Luton-Arsenal. Wimbledon-Liverpool. Saints-Arsenal - oh no, sorry, that one didn't happen: we were dull as hell and we lost! Now Switzerland - that's a boring team.
Just like all the sad people who watch the English third tier? My Dad lived in Spain. Good enough reason?
He's had a poor couple of years, but has given plenty of evidence before that he is a great player. You must not have been paying attention. I assume it's this dismissive attitude that makes you the ignorant close-minded person you are.
Yeh, I chucked that in there, but I wasn't anti them winning it to be honest, and you make some interesting points. I generally enjoy the underdog too, but for some reason that year I just zoned out of the competition. I guess the reality is that people would be be delighted if England won anything, boring or not. They are already boring, so why not boring winners! If they were to win anything, I suspect it would be Greece style (well, method) as........well, there are many more technically gifted sides than England and toe to toe skill wise, we can't compete.
It has some similarities and some differences. One similarity is the size of most of the clubs in terms of support. Real Oviedo, for example, have a 30,000 seater stadium and get pretty decent turnouts. One major difference, which ties in with what I was saying before, is that the defending is appalling. It's just not considered quite the art form that it is in this country.
