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*Official* English Football Season 2014-15

cpr

cpr

International Coach
De Gea got questioned for nicking a doughnut from Tesco's in Baguely. Possibly the only person in the shop not trying to stuck a frozen chicken up their top knowing the area....
 
MW1304

MW1304

Cricketer Of The Year
Palace can piss off with their last minute goals this season, seriously.

Oh we've been drawn with City anyway, **** it.
 
Cevno

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
I'd disagree with that but they need a good run staying fit and playing CB first which hardly seems the case for any of them except Blackett who was a odd promotion to begin with in itself. Hopefully Rojo can settle and be good at his best position as that might be crucial now.
 
Uppercut

Uppercut

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Cevno said:
I'd disagree with that but they need a good run staying fit and playing CB first which hardly seems the case for any of them except Blackett who was a odd promotion to begin with in itself. Hopefully Rojo can settle and be good at his best position as that might be crucial now.
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They're all varying degrees of ****e really. Hard to say whether they'd be any good if they got a run of games together, that might not even matter. These guys have been picking up injuries for years, I see no reason to expect that to change. Fergie said in his book the ability to play every week was the first thing he looked for in a defender, shame he forgot about that not long before leaving.
 
Cevno

Cevno

Hall of Fame Member
Uppercut said:
They're all varying degrees of ****e really. Hard to say whether they'd be any good if they got a run of games together, that might not even matter. These guys have been picking up injuries for years, I see no reason to expect that to change. Fergie said in his book the ability to play every week was the first thing he looked for in a defender, shame he forgot about that not long before leaving.
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Tbf these guys were only backups or utility players by the time SAF left and he had 5 CB's on the books with Rio and Vidic also having their issues with injury and load management. Jones put up some big performances in his last season in different roles while Evans had a relatively injury free spell for almost a year where he was very good when Vidic was out partnering a faultering Rio in the first half of the season. And in the summer there was a rumored deal for Garay lined up already before he left.

Evans since then has barely put up a run of games more than 7 together,i think for last 1 and a half years now and his performances have gotten patchy really as he takes time to recover form after injury as well. While Smalling seems to have stalled completely again with Injuries and being played at RB a lot when he has played. Especially in terms of his on the ball ability though you could say defensively like Shakthar away and few other games when played at CB he can have the odd absolute commanding performance too and still has some potential if he gets a regular run going at CB which he evidently ends up not doing.

Jones i'll cut some slack as he's probably the least injury prone out of the 3, been played all over the place and still put up some good performances in specific tasks in big games. Only 22 as well and i actually thought amidst the shambles last season he still showed some growth at a individual level. Actually started the season excellently in a new system too before getting injured on International duty.

Given their injury records though and having lost Rio, Vidic and even Evra should have bought a CB this summer and a solid experienced one at that which is a oversight on Van Gaal's part tbh given the money he spent on other areas. If someone top class wasn't possible then someone experienced and not injury prone from a level below could have done too but instead he just seemingly targeted left footed defenders almost specifically. And another freaking Injury prone one to begin with in Vermaelen and then ended up with Rojo who still remains to be tested and isn't that experienced himself.
 
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Ikki

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Interesting comment from Ronay in the Guardian recently. He's said that Ronaldo has overtaken Messi in the last year for the claim as the world's best player. I can kind of agree, but much is down to how Messi is being asked to reinvent himself and how he's had a few injuries.

The statistics are a bit ludicrous now: Ronaldo has played 254 games for Real, and has scored 264 times.
 
Tangles

Tangles

International Vice-Captain
On the United defenders. I think Evans is the most solid when fit but takes a while to get into form and needs a run in the team for that. Really needs to be combined with an organizer because he isn't one. Jones I'm not convinced by at CB, fullback or midfield. Might be another O'Shea. Smalling is just dire, all he ever gets right is the odd header and row z hoof. Jones and Smalling also have appalling distribution skills which should see LVG punt them once he has options.
 
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OverratedSanity

OverratedSanity

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Ikki said:
Interesting comment from Ronay in the Guardian recently. He's said that Ronaldo has overtaken Messi in the last year for the claim as the world's best player. I can kind of agree, but much is down to how Messi is being asked to reinvent himself and how he's had a few injuries.

The statistics are a bit ludicrous now: Ronaldo has played 254 games for Real, and has scored 264 times.
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Has he overtaken Messi as the best player in the world currently, yes. Overall though, Messi has had the better career imo. This year was the first one where you could say with confidence that Ronaldo was better. Messi's new role (which he's doing magnificently btw) could hide how good he is right now, because they might not necessarily translate into tangible stats.
 
Magrat Garlick

Magrat Garlick

Rather Mad Witch
I thought we had slightly more advanced discourse than 'he scores goals therefore good'.

That said, there's a thread for the Messi v Ronaldo argument. Gtfo there already.
 
GIMH

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Samuel_Vimes said:
I thought we had slightly more advanced discourse than 'he scores goals therefore good'.

.
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Come on though, goal a game over 250 games is seriously impressive, and goals in general are the one stat that actually mean something in football (unless from the penalty spot :ph34r:)
 
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