*Official* English Football Season 2009-2010

[Uppercut]

Would people agree Rooney hasn't ever played better than he is at the moment? Just seems in unbelieveable form.

Definitely. I was a little bit of a Rooney-skeptic at the start of the season but he's a completely different player now, his positional sense has got to the stage where it's got to be the best in the world.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Would people agree Rooney hasn't ever played better than he is at the moment? Just seems in unbelieveable form.

Aye, fair to say he's blossomed in Chavnaldo's absence. As he's been around since God was a lad it's easy to forget he's only 24 still. Not close to his prime yet, in theory.

 

[Matteh]

Regarding surprising ages....Theo Walcott is barely 20, can't be too many people to have gone to 2 World Cups by that age. Pele can't have been too far off, aside from that i'm drawing blanks.

 

[Burgey]

Aye, fair to say he's blossomed in Chavnaldo's absence. As he's been around since God was a lad it's easy to forget he's only 24 still. Not close to his prime yet, in theory.

Regarding surprising ages....Theo Walcott is barely 20, can't be too many people to have gone to 2 World Cups by that age. Pele can't have been too far off, aside from that i'm drawing blanks.

Bloody hell, thought both were young, but not either were as young as they actually are.

 

[The Sean]

Regarding surprising ages....Theo Walcott is barely 20, can't be too many people to have gone to 2 World Cups by that age. Pele can't have been too far off, aside from that i'm drawing blanks.

True, though to be fair Walcott shouldn't have been at the last one and on form shouldn't be a certainty for this one either.

EDIT - did he actually play at all at the last one? If not then you could add Ronaldo to that list, who was a non-playing member of the Brazil squad in 1994 at 17. Norman Whiteside had been to two World Cups by the age of 21 too IIRC.

 

[Matteh]

Yeah, definitely shouldn't have been in Germany. As for this WC, that right wing position isn't nailed down yet. Lennon had it in the bag and then got injured, Wright-Phillips was alright when he came on against Egypt and Walcott still has that Croatia hattrick to fall back on. Have a feeling Walcott will end up going and will probably not play like last time.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Regarding surprising ages....Theo Walcott is barely 20, can't be too many people to have gone to 2 World Cups by that age. Pele can't have been too far off, aside from that i'm drawing blanks.

Pretty sure Roanldo (the fat Brazilian one rather than the greasy Portuguese one) was 17 in 94 when he went.

&, funnily enough, Rigobert Song (dire Cameroonian ex-Scouse defender) was the same age and was sent off in both 94 and 98.

 

[grecian]

Well, I was always a defender of Rooney. Was always my opinion he'd get more goals when he stopped doing all the donkey-work for Cristiano. Frustrating for an ABU ing-er-land supporter, because I don't like praising one of that lot.

 

[Pothas]

Ha ha yeah, really pleased with that performance and result but Milan amazingly toothless - I was genuinely expecting a lot more from them tonight. Park excellent yet again, and I'm starting to get a bit of a man-crush on Valencia, just a superb player. Great to see the reception for Becks too.

Cristiano hopefully regretting his decision right about now.

Yeah Valencia is class, he was not really welcomed by quite a few united fans in here at least but has surley proven himself now.

 

[irfan]

Hate Sky's "what a shock result", "amazing night for Lyon','who would of predicted this', Madrid have been dumped out at this stage 5 times previously FFS, do your research.

AWTA.

When will Real learn that money wont buy instantaneous success. Look how successful Barcelona have been by having a strong youth academy and developing players through the ranks. The core nucleus of the side (key players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique, Valdes etc.) have been playing together for yonks and that's why they have such great interplay and team chemistry. Real could do no worse than look at their backyard to find players rather than scouring the cream of world's footballing talent and paying through the roof (no doubt with some assistance from the Spanish govt) for these 'galacticos' only to discard a year later.

 

[duffer]

Cassilas, Guti, Granero and Raul(although Atletico will stake a claim) all came through their academy so it's not like they haven't done anything with it and they've generally bought well form other Spanish clubs with Ramos, Garay and Albiol. It's the whole "omg we didn't win every trophy let's sack the manager and buy a whole new squad" which is what sets them back.

Think Pellegrini is actually doing an excellent job and they're sitting top on goal difference setting a fiersome pace with Barca. Obviously there'll now be a circus and he'll probably be sacked but it is ridiculous that they're even asking for it.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

When will Real learn that money wont buy instantaneous success. Look how successful Barcelona have been by having a strong youth academy and developing players through the ranks.

Yet they lead Barca in La Liga and have multiple guys who came through the youth team who play regularly...

EDIT: Beaten by duffer.

 

[roseboy64]

Should do his research IMO.

 

[irfan]

Yea, my bad, I didn't realise Real was doing so well in La-Liga. My reaction was a bit knee-jerk after the CL defeat. However, you can't argue that guys like Guti & Granero are even in the same league as the Barca players I mentioned in terms of consistent performances.

 

[Craig]

Serie Argh will need all the moral victories they can get, coz they won't be getting any more real ones in the Champions League this year

People bag out the Italian league so much, but considering three Italians manage EPL clubs, an Italian manages your national football team, and countless players have come from and/or played in Italy also play in the EPL, as well as MU who poach a lot of Italian kids (not that I think they should be able to, but that is a different topic), suggests it all can't be that bad over in Italy.

The other thing is, if Inter is meant to be over rated, what is Real Madrid?

 

[Ikki]

What's ironic about the spending talk is IIRC Lyon themselves spent like 80 million on players last summer.

 

[Loony BoB]

What was their net spend? I know they probably made a fair mint Benzema.

 

[Ikki]

I'm sure that's true. But they certainly spent a lot of money, got many new players and have done well in CL.

 

[Uppercut]

What was their net spend? I know they probably made a fair mint Benzema.

Net spend of 32m euro according to wiki.

 

[Craig]

Ikki is right, Lyon spent €82.5m on players, but bought in €50m in player sales (obviously the biggest being Benzema). So that is €32.5m on transfers that they did not bring in any cash for.

Olympique Lyonnais season 2009–10#Transfers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT: Uppercut beat me to it, and no I did not see his post as I was in the middle of typing mine.