Phil236849

i thought he calmed down came back and sat on the bench, and redeemed himself a bit

it always provokes an outcry but i'd love to see dan agger in CM. him with stevie g could be very sexy ya?

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

is that necessary?

well andre someone sees things like i do!

well i'm obviously on my own on this one, but i'm still unconvinced. looking at the premiership, our bread and butter, xabi i think is defensively weaker than other deep lying CMs inc Silva, Campo, and others. i think it's commonly accepted at least in the media that this is a slight weakness. secondly, i still think rafa values defensive solidity higher than, say, wenger or ferguson. thirdly, i still think that when didi left and was replaced by bolo coming infield, in terms of squad strength, we were a little light of physical power in CM, particularly given how rafa likes his team to boss that area.

fact is, rafa's now hinting we may need to reinforce in jan

dont p!ss on my chips, it's a nice pipe dream!

no, he's not bad, but defensively still limited for a deep lying CM in a top team. the comparison for that position is makelele.

well if we go back in time i plump for (assuming momo's still injured!) james carra smith hyppia burrows case souness mcmahon riise gerrard kuyt subs grob, nicol, hamann, whelan, dalglish

cobblers shmobblers. you can't put so much weight on a carling cup tie in jan. my point is, we have been strong under rafa when we play stevie g and another guy who can put a foot in in midfield. last year's fa cup tie against man yoo, the CL semi-final against chelsea etc are prime examples of this. we were bullying teams off the park with 3 out of xabi didi stevie and momo with two of those gone, we just dont have the same physical presence in midfield. however well bolo did against nafti et al.

well then the gamble of replacing him with bolo has backfired...

i'd love us to turn up with a "tasty xi" to intimidate the arsenal lightweights. wont happen but imagine pepe paletta hyppia agger warnock finnan carra alonso riise stevie g kuyt

when rafa let didi go, there was a lot of surprise and dissension in the ranks. i wasn't so upset at the time, as I think the game is speeding up, and didi is slowing even more. in hindsight, i'm not so sure. problem is this in my view. we do not have the attacking power of the other 3 of the big 4 - certainly not in terms of consistency. rafa's gameplan is built fairly heavily around clean sheets. our central defence is exposed if there's not someone physical alongside xabi (who has limited skills defensively) breaking play up. momo's fitness is such that he's like 2 men for us. rafa says he can recover from a game within 2 days and so doesnt need to be rested. so when he's out it's like losing 2 players. i think rafa in his planning for the season was planning on having 4 senior players he could play in CM - xabi, momo, stevie, bolo. knowing rafa and his penchant for roles and types, and given what we have seen this season, i think he had xabi and bolo earmarked for the deep-lying playmaker role, and stevie and momo as the marauding dominating characters. the trouble is, stevie likes to attack now, and rafa couldn't be sure he has the discipline. i think rafa winged it and hoped that momo would be generally available. now he's not, stevie simply has to do that role and perform as a proper midfielder. in hindsight, it would have been great to have didi to turn to now. granted, didi and xabi was a pedestrian midfield, but stevie would have had all the more licence to press forward, and we would have been defensively pretty secure really big moment for stevie now. he can either be the hero, or prove wrong all those c***s (there was one on sky the other night) who say rafa's mad not to play stevie in CM and the team should be built around stevie anyway them's my thoughts onn the point anyway

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

how about this for a team to get stuck into them Reina Finnan Carra Agger Warnock Gerrard Sissoko Alonso Riise Kuyt Crouch

didnt rafa say that after beating reading, he might start taking the competition more seriously?