After lamenting how people never seem to post in our reliable, longstanding threads, I noticed that Reds on International Duty had met an untimely demise. Sooooo . . . Milan started CR's match against Macedonia, subbed out after 17 minutes with an apparent hamstring injury. CR wins 2-0. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=153290&cc=5901 Xabi started for Spain, played 70 minutes. Xavi, not Xabi, bossed the midfield, though. Carragher comes on as a sub for Rio, haven't seen any match ratings for him yet. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=168977&cc=5901 Yesterday: Finnan went the full 90 for Ireland in a 1-0 win over Croatia. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=168951&cc=5901 Riise and Kewell battled to a 2-2 draw. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=168952&cc=5901
The last thing we needed was for Baros to get hurt. January can't come fast enough, unless Mellor comes good.
It's high time for Liverpool FC to give its apprentice a chance to break through the senior rank ala Michael Owen some years ago. Go for it!!!
Problem is, I just don't think he is good enough. I hope he is. But it is so weird - averages a goal a game for the reserves over his career but looks so p*** poor with the big boys. Against Millwall (the only time I saw him live this year) he looked so hopelessly slow and on a random wavelength that made him look awful against a terrible Millwall side.
Whilst Xavi did all the flashy stuff, I think Alonso held the midfield together superbly. If he plays like that against Arsenal, with Gerrard running the show a la Xavi, Vieira could be in for one hell of a ride. It's a pity we'd have no one up front.
I have yet to see Mellor play but then if it's not on FSWD I don't get to see anyone play. I do hear encouraging news but no real rave reviews. I guess I have to hold my thoughts until I see him in a real pressure situation and there again...who else do we have...?? And welcome here..
Cheers for the welcome. Yeah, Flo (whose technique I find divine ) does not really make a target man. Mellor did OK when he had a few first-team games last year but again didn't look great. He could not get into the West ham team on loan last year! Well, suddenly we have a glut of midfielders and no strikers. The Millwall game was interesting as got to see the youngsters - Warnock and Potter looked very decent.
Let us think of random formations. Remember the 2-6-2 the Dutch played against the Belgians a few years back. Won 3-1 as well. But we don't have two strikers. The famous 2-3-5 - nope, don't have the strikers - mind you, if we just shift the whole midfield up front, that will confuse the ********** out of McLaren.
Do you mean 9-0-1 or 9-1-0? Guess it depended whether we were playing home or away. Most of us Yanks will never forget the horror that was Steve Sampson's 3-6-1. Let's throw that one up and see if it sticks: ------------Kirkland--------------- -----Carra---Hyypia----Traore----- -------Hamann----Biscan---------- Finnan---------------------Riise--- -------Alonso----Kewell----------- ------------Mellor----------------- Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I needed that.