Atticus Finch

The issue is the insurance. With a serious injury (eg snapped leg, cruciate) the insurers will want to be very sure of full recovery before agreeing to insure the player - and no club would take someone on without insurance (think van kneestillsore's first attempt to sign for united). With minor injuries the same basic rule applies but you can be sure of recovery, therefore can get insurance - hence you can sign injured players.

This is one of the reasons I can't bring myself to support England. If you were actually building a team to get the best out of Gerrard and Rooney (by far the best two players) you could go 3-5-2 as the original poster suggested, but you can also do it with a 4-4-2 or possibly a "Chelsea style" ( ) 4-3-3 (although this would limit Rooney). Basically it needs Sven to grow some balls and drop Lampard/Cole and Beckham - depending on the formation you are playing. For example on current form and fitness:- 442 Neville - Carragher - Terry - Cole Lennon - Carrick - Gerrard - Cole Crouch - Rooney 433 Neville - Carragher - Terry - Cole Hargreaves Gerrard - Lampard Lennon Rooney Crouch 352 Neville - Terry - Carragher Hargreaves Carrick Cole Gerrard Lampard Crouch - Rooney Yes some of those players may not have star quality, or the biggest names, but any of those teams is far better balanced than a Sven effort.

This content is not viewable to guests.

I'm sure a number of our players are c****. The law of averages suggests they must be and I have heard some stories to suggest there are still some here (Rafa having removed some). However the particular players you listed are odious c****. If hell were to freeze over and they joined Liverpool I would continue to support the team but not those players, unless and until they change the particular things that make them odious c****. If they joined Liverpool there would be 9/10 decent players and a couple of c****. With England the ratio is the other way around. I give you Raul - there is no way to argue otherwise! However the rest of that Spain team is not cast in stone in the same way that the England team is. Additionally the likelihood is that Spain will play attractive attacking football - and not be content to defend a 1-0 win against quite a poor opposition with 87 minutes of the match to go. Lawrenson with his monotone is very easy to ignore (and believe me, I do). Wright with his over excitable punchable face is much much harder to ignore.

I think we scared the poor guy away. As for lack of support for the national team previous posters have given very good examples to suggest it is not just England where this occurs - eg southern Italy, basque Spain etc. It used to be the case with Scotland too - they were viewed as being supported by Rangers fans and so Celtic supporters didn't follow them. One thing I am curious about is how prevelant the anti-England thing is. Living in the south most people round here are very pro-England - what about the Midlands, North East etc? Anyone any experience of what it is like elsewhere?

Nothing would stop me supporting liverpool but I think I can safely say none of those c**** you listed will join us any time soon

Why I hate England by ajr aged 29 and a quarter 1. The fawning media coverage 2. The inherent bias towards the southern based players 3. The inherent bias towards players at CL teams 4. Liverpool players being played out of position (or not at all) to accomodate less talented players 5. I cannot bring myself to cheer for players who I would like to see have career ending injuries eg Neville, Lampard, J Cole etc - a few years back when we played Scotland in the qualifiers for something and Scholes scored twice I was the only person in the pub who wasn't celebrateing when he scored as I just couldn't bring myself to cheer the manc t*** (and of all their players at the time he was the one that I could nearly have respect for as he seems a decent family man who keeps a low profile - but was still a manc t***) 6. The xenophobia of "we have to have an english manager" - not if they are all s*** 7. Ian Wright 8. £4m+ a year being paid to a truly incompetent manager - plan B what's that? a balanced midfield what's that? 9. Players picked on reputation not form or to create a team 10. Beckham being the first player to reach the goalscorer (or the last so he can jump on top of the pile) to ensure he gets his face in the papers 11. Once every two year or four year fans, who knowing I like football, will try to spark up a conversation based on some third hand bit of info they have heard which you just know they do not understand 12. The complete lack of objectivity - eg Shearer claiming that England have 8 or 9 world class players in the team. You what? By the criteria of would they get into any other team anywhere, the only players that meet that criteria are Gerrard and Rooney. To be honest the racist knuckle dragging fans are just the icing on the cake and all countries will have those. However as I support the team for its players rather than fans it is Spain for me too this year. Edit to include One more - the booing of the opposition national anthem.

Amen brother!

This content is not viewable to guests.

Would he have been visiting anyone out there? Any French internationals or ex-Auxerre? Can't think of any off the top of my head apart from Guily from the French team. Swap for Ronaldinho

I think you are right - the better the league position the bigger split of the CL TV money you get - I still remember the fact that as defending champions we were going to get a smaller % than Everton(!) as they graded it on league position.

I really don't care for England, but the best solution for the midfield is to play a Chelsea style 433 - although Owen as the lone striker does not fill me with confidence in that formation. Most likely he'll go 442 with Crouch leading the line

As has been said the defence was poor today. Gave up plenty of chances and the offside didn't work as well as usual. I would put it down to changing both full backs - they clearly aren't as well drilled a unit as the first choice defence. No doubt becasue Jk is still fairly new to Rafa's methods and DT lacks the concentration to do it.

Game has gone quiet and is petering out. Villa having slightly the better of it

As has been said, Fowler has been quiet. The chance came from a rampaging Momo who laid in Gerrard on the right. Low ball across to Fowler who jinks past two defenders and scuffs it past the far post with his right foot. Villa aren't as dangerous since the third, but they are trying still and are better than they were first half. I think Angel's movement has helped with this - he is playing much better than Baros did. Momo has improved us since coming on, by doing what he does best and freeing up Gerrard.

It was a great hit. Move from the left bqck slot, laid across to alonso. He slid it to Gerrard 35 yards out, in line with the right side of the D on the edge of the penalty area. Shot across and above the keeper into the top left half of the net (ie a foot or so below the top left corner). Unstoppable.

We picked up the tempo after conceding. Alonso corner to the near post, Gerrard unmarked made a darting run to the near post to meet it and flick it in with the outside of his left boot. We need to keep this going for the rest of the match - no more taking the foot off the pedal.

Villa much better this half. Not entirely sure how the cross managed to evade everyone as it went along the 6 yard box leaving a really easy tap in to an open goal for Barry. Probably deserved for the way we came back into it Might be what we need to kick us into gear

Done JV - received your email but no idea how to reply to you - and I can't find an email address in your profile!

Where are the images with arrows?

Not a great game, goal aside. Villa look clueless on the whole and our pleyers are going through the motions. There is not a great deal of subtlety about our play, although we are knocking it around in front of Villa quite well - just not really going anywhere with it.

Those wanting the link - just follow the instructions on page 2 you lazy sods! I'll let Logic do the running commentary - he seems to be a couple of minutes ahead of me. I'll do the expert anaysis...

Was a great move by Milner down the right, bad miss by Barry at the back stick free header down and bouncing over

Traore is poor. Moves keep breaking down when the ball is passed out to him What link?

Villa really poor so far. Passes going out for throwas and goal kicks. Liverpool fairly workmanlike as you'd expect from the line-up - not that much flair on show