goodrobotusses

Totally. Domenech is McLaren-esque in his guffness.

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I thought Pavluchenko was terrible in both games - bad decision making, awful finishing.

Tuncay is a good, clever little player, but he's cack in front of goal.

Said in another thread that if we replaced the likes of Crouch, Kewell, Pennant, Riise and Alonso, with Villa, Degen, Dossena, Milner and Barry, then I'd consider it good summer business. Though not all of the names are BiG NAmeZ exciting, it'd be worth it for Villa.

At this stage, I think I'd accept a cut-price Milner ahead of the mythical World Class Winger we should be signing, if it meant we had the funds to get Villa. Dossena, Degen, Barry, Milner and Villa coming in to replace the likes of Riise, Kewell, Pennant, Crouch, and Alonso (cry), would be a decent summer's business.

I can't see how Spain can accomodate Fabregas without dropping one of Xavi, Torres and Villa. Just don't think he'd be effective in either a left or right sided free role like Silva and Iniesta are playing, nor is he suited to playing behind the forward (where Aragones has tried to accomodate him before now, and he has apparently been poor). He needs to be in the centre of midfield, dictating the tempo, which is Xavi's role in the team. There might be an argument for dropping Senna, putting Xavi as the holding player, with Fabregas in Xavi's role, but then you lose Senna's defensive contribution (not Xavi's strength), and you still have the issue of having two playings in CM who want to be the focal point in building attacks, and picking the ball up from the back and distributing - they'd get in each other's way. At this stage, I think Spain should stick with what they have, while maintaining the options of Fabregas, Alonso, and Cazorla to freshen things up if needs be. Silva and Iniesta are definitely their best options for the wide attacking mid roles (whatever you think of them as players, and they were poor yesterday I agree), Senna is doing a decent disciplined job as a holder, and I'd say that even if you think Xavi is only marginally more or less talented than Fabregas (personally I think he is the better player), he's definitely got the edge on him in terms of experience and nous. Spain's biggest worry is still their defence though, especially if Puyol doesn't make it back for the QF. Whatever you might think of Marchena, I think that yesterday Raul Albiol made a pretty good case for Marchena's inclusion as Puyol's partner - he was bloody awful. Spain were lucky that Sweden showed no desire to attack them in the second half. That said, if they had, I imagine Spain would have scored earlier than the 92nd minute.

Agree with this too. Couldn't believe when the BBC hired him - he was bloody awful on C5 ("Ready steady Teddy!") - but since he's calmed down he's become a decent commentator. Certainly a lot more preferable to Motson.

Motson's decline isn't even a recent thing. He's been awful for 10 years. For example, take this pearler from Japorea 2002 Italy vs. Croatia... "On the ball is Zanetti, not to be confused with the Argentine Javier, and he passes the ball to Vieira." Useless d****ead. Bring back Barry Davies, I say. I don't need the match to be made more exciting by some guy yelling incoherently - I just want the facts.

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You forgot Mark Bright! Horrible. Mick McCarthy at Euro 2004 was hilariously horrible, both for his terrible mispronounciation of player names ("Vin-che-teh!" for Vicente), and his incredible meandering rambles about nothing at all. My friend always creases up when recalling McCarthy going on and on about Claude Makelele and watch batteries.

Hmm... I'm gonna have to hope I get a good nurse working the night shift. The evening of the game I'm going to be in the midst of a clinical drug trial. It's always lights out at midnight, with everyone confined to wards... Hopefully they'll let me in the common room for the match.

Is this going to be on tv at all? Should be fantastic.

No doubt Scolari will give the chavs the chance to bust out yet another oh-so original song based on Volare.

And the keeper who wore that wig for USA 94. Stephen Ireland eat your heart out.

Hey man, I can relate. If I had a choice between watching England or Spain/Argentina for entertainment's sake, I'd go for the latter every time. Interesting you mention about players and how they influenced your liking of certain nations over the years. I had a similar thing watching World Cups and Euros growing up. The first WC I watched was Italia 90 when I was 7 years old, and perversely (as I was supporting England), I loved the German team of Mattheus, Klinsmann, Voller and Brehme. In 94 I loved the Bulgaria team of Stoichkov and Letchkov, and the Romanians with Hagi. Then in 96 and 98 I liked the Suker/Boban/Prosinecki/Jarni Croatia team. Heh.

I think - Catenaccio and gamesmanship aside - maybe the thing that irks me so much about the Italians is the combination of macho posturing among some players (the Materazzis of this world), with girly, whining gesturing among others when things don't go their way. Italian players have a fantastic talent for pulling eminently slappable faces when they feel aggrieved. Observe...

Just to get back onto the tournament - it's a shame there can't be a Spain v. Netherlands final. From a pure football perspective, it would make for a fantastic game. That said, Spain/Netherlands v. Portugal would be a good watch too... unless the Dutch and Portuguese just decide to kick crap out of each other again like they did two years back. Though that was pretty entertaining in itself as car crash entertainment.

Okay, you half answered me in the post above above (it wasn't there when I wrote my post).

Kaizer, can I ask - sincerely now, not just to prod at you (though that's fun too) - what is with the Italy thing? I have noticed from posts in the past that you seem to have a soft spot for Juventus also - are they like your Italian team? Are you just a big fan of the Italian game in general? From a personal perspective, just as a fan of football, though I will happily watch Italian football, I find it hard to be particularly fond of it at times. Of course, there are great players, great teams, and a fantastic history there too, but I dunno... you seem very pro-Italy, so I was just interested in your thoughts.

£18million was it? Cracking player. God, I hope the Dutch throw the match against Romania. Get rid of France and Italy - bloated, uninspiring teams populated by pensioners. Plus I got Netherlands in the sweepstake at work, and losing the French and Italians improves my long-term chances of winning £40.

Interesting appointment, given all the press talk about Abramovich wanting a coach who would act with a bit of dignity and not muddy the waters around the club after The Mourinho Show. Do they even know about Scolari's reputation?

Van Der Sar Bosingwa/Lahm Pepe Carvalho Van Bronckhorst Frings Moutinho Iniesta Deco Sneijder Villa

I don't mean it in a negative way as such. More kooky-weird, like the characters in Napoleon Dynamite or something. Quite fun. I should probably illustrate that my experiences only really extend to time spent in Alpine villages - Afritz-am-See, and somewhere a little outside of Hermagor.