*Official* English Football Season 2009-2010

[Lillian Thomson]

Here's how not to take a penalty and where not to stand while it's being taken.

Ouch

 

[GIMH]

Breaking news:

In light of Paul Scharner's handball yesterday, Wigan Athletic have graciously offered to replay the fixture

 

[duffer]

Probably, just shading Henry, Vieira just behind Henry, and Pires not far behind. I think one of the very key reasons why Henry scored as many as he did and turned into such a great player was because he was given the chance to play alongside Bergkamp who provided him with absolutely fantastic service, they were ideal partners for one another really. Genuinely don't believe Henry would have turned out as well as he has if he didn't get that opportunity.

This in a lot of ways. Thing about Bergkamp was he was the most versatile forward I've seen play for Arsenal, no matter who we paired him with up front he was the perfect foil for them. Henry, Wiltord, Kanu all became better players playing with him as opposed to when paired with Thierry and Freddie should forever give half his salary to DB for making him look so much better than he was.

It's a shame assists weren't recorded as diligently back in the early part of his career, I'd wager he got just as many as he scored and the amount of times he could completely unpick a defence packed in front of us was breathtaking. Truly magnificent player and to say he doesn't belong with the greats does him a huge disservice.

 

[sledger]

The guy had such an eye for a pass, had a look through at a video of his assists on youtube earlier, you don't see that kind of quality in a lot of the very top playmaking midfielders. His footballing brain was absolutely second to none, sharp as a tack.

 

[The Sean]

I suspect that Cristiano Ronaldo could walk into any team and improve them more than Henry could, but in terms of their respective outputs in the teams that they did play, Henry was better.

How do you define "output" in that respect?

Those aren't the players I'd call the "best" though, in that they're not the players I'd most want in my team. Keane and Vieira would always be the first players I'd look to build a championship-winning side around.

Yep, Keano for me is probably the most influential player of the Premier League era - would be the first name on my all time Premier League XI teamsheet I'd reckon.

 

[Uppercut]

How do you define "output" in that respect?

How much he brought to his team. Played some part in a frightening amount of goals. Ronaldo's link-up play was never so good- but then, good link-up play was much more central to Henry's team than it was to Ronaldo's.

 

[aussie]

Oh yeah, forgot that in doing so they proved those things called "injuries" to be a total myth.

Never said that smart ass. By showing that Spain (Euro 08) & Italy (WC 06) took full strenght sides to those championships, shows clearly that teams regardless of the fact that injuries can pop up at any time - have been able to take their best players to big tournaments.

So to behave as if a major injury to key player between now & the WC is some sort of formality is foolish thinking.

 

[aussie]

Young's missed his chance IMO - Milner's ahead of him for one (and Joe Cole would be assuming he remains fit)

Indeed. But you got to admit Capello never gave Young much of a chance to get show his worth on the left though.

 

[sledger]

Never said that smart ass. By showing that Spain (Euro 08) & Italy (WC 06) took full strenght sides to those championships, shows clearly that teams regardless of the fact that injuries can pop up at any time - have been able to take their best players to big tournaments.

So to behave as if a major injury to key player between now & the WC is some sort of formality is foolish thinking.

I never said it was a formality, I just said it would be beyond stupid to ignore the possibility.

 

[Ikki]

Young's missed his chance IMO - Milner's ahead of him for one (and Joe Cole would be assuming he remains fit)

Oh yeah, I forgot Cole. He'll be in the mix. Not a natural winger but a great playmaker on the wings. The kind of "do-something-unexpected" player England lack at times.

 

[duffer]

Wenger blasted: "For f***'s sake the World Cup is in June. Is he on holiday until June 11?

"You cannot be serious. For me, the big season is with Arsenal, not at the World Cup.

"We do not pay players to go to the World Cup, we pay the players to do well for Arsenal.

"The first pride of a man is to do well for the guy who pays you in life, not to go to the World Cup."

"Listen, a guy who has a poor season has a poor World Cup. A guy who wins with his club goes to the World Cup and has a good chance to win.

"Because the players are not afraid of you if you do f*** all the whole season.

"You have no respect from the manager if you don't do anything at your club.

Heh. Heh. Heh. Indeed.

 

[Furball]

How do you define "output" in that respect?



Yep, Keano for me is probably the most influential player of the Premier League era - would be the first name on my all time Premier League XI teamsheet I'd reckon.

All time Premiership XI:

Cech

Stumped for a RB actually, can't think of anyone truly great.
Terry
Gallas
Cole

Vieira
Keane
Scholes

Ronaldo
Henry
Giggs

Subs: Schmeichel, Adams, Gerrard, Pires, Bergkamp, Shearer, Zola

Cech/Terry/Gallas at their peak under Mourinho is as good a defence as I've seen IMO, Cole in his Arsenal days probably the best left back. Midfield picks itself, easily the 3 best central midfielders in the history of the Premiership, and in terms of how I like teams to shape up and play, that's probably the best forward line I can come up with as well. I'd possibly consider Pires over Giggs, but in all honesty, any all time Premiership XI must have Giggs.

 

[Furball]

He scored 174 goals in 254 games for Arsenal, mate. If you can do that without "natural instinctive finishing", why would you want it?

The only player I can think of with a better club record than that is Alan Shearer at Blackburn. But it's almost inconceivable how good Shearer was in that period. The Premiership hasn't seen a better striker before or since.

I remember the Van Nistelrooy vs. Henry comparisons would always finish with a compromise stating that Van Nistelrooy was the better "goalscorer" while Henry was the better "all-round player". Conveniently ignoring the fact that Henry scored considerably more goals too. The guy was absolutely incredible at Arsenal.

Henry c.2002-2005 was miles better than Shearer at his peak.

 

[roseboy64]

Rubbish argument above. Lined with bias.

 

[biased indian]

Here's how not to take a penalty and where not to stand while it's being taken.

Ouch

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

 

[Ikki]

Yep, Keano for me is probably the most influential player of the Premier League era - would be the first name on my all time Premier League XI teamsheet I'd reckon.

Gerrard IMO. Did the Keane-role then did more. Superior as a player also. Only thing he lacks is premier league medals, and that's through no fault of his own.

Ginger...Cech over Schmeichel? Gallas? A few iffy choices there.

 

[duffer]

Yeah, how long till the 9 disc commemorative DVD comes out?

.

They actually did it....

 

[grecian]

Henry c.2002-2005 was miles better than Shearer at his peak.

Not sure how old you are Ginger Furball, but Shearer for Blackburn was a fairly incredible player, his cruciate injury killed off a lot of his pace and made him a slightly one-dimensional player. Yet when he almost single-handedly won Blackburn the title he was World-class IMHO. Henry better, just, but not by miles IMHO.

 

[NUFAN]

They actually did it....

Awesome Christmas present that.

 

[GIMH]

Not sure how old you are Ginger Furball, but Shearer for Blackburn was a fairly incredible player, his cruciate injury killed off a lot of his pace and made him a slightly one-dimensional player. Yet when he almost single-handedly won Blackburn the title he was World-class IMHO. Henry better, just, but not by miles IMHO.

Agree, though I personally thought Shearer was magic right until the end. I remember there was a bit of a clamour for him to come out of international retirement for Euro 04 after he scored a fair few that season.