carrafan

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Babel is not and never will be a right midfielder. He plays left wing because it allows him to cut onto his right foot and move towards the box.

Atletico. Was in the stars..

Real, Juve and Zenit. Good god.

You'll never carry alone?

Thats okay. Kuyt will mark him out of the game.

Its not about Kuyt himself being a bad player. Kuyt and Benayoun as a pair narrow down our play as neither is a winger. The fullbacks should ideally provide the sufficient width in that case but we're lacking there as well. (discounting Dossena). Atleast 2 out of these 4 players (2 wingers, 2 fullbacks) should provide an attacking impetus but unfortunately only Babel and arguably Dossena has the ability to do that. To be fair to Rafa, he has tried to address that problem by buying Degen and Dossena. We'll just have to wait and see over the season if that has worked or not. But Kuyt and Benayoun should never be our wingers unless Degen or Dossena is playing OR we're playing one of the top 4 where ball retention is a must.

We shouldnt let Torres get isolated like that. He was knocked about by the Boro defenders, same today. He's bound to get injured sooner or later if the same continues. Nando has to get more support.

I think he'll only start when our regulars need a break or in the cups this season atleast. IMO, he works best against tired defenses and i hope Rafa uses him like he did with Ryan last year. Got some pace as well.

We should never call Chelsea or the Mancs jammy with the way we've won this season.

We said the same against Boro, as well.

Yep

Maybe El Zhar can provide some width.. or Dossena at left mid.

Its CarraFan.

True. Played for the reserves at the end of last season in order to get his place back as well.

I've seen quite a bit of Riera for Espanyol over the last 2 seasons. His crossing is a bit hit and miss, but he gets past players, is very quick, will provide width and not afraid to take a defender on from the outside of him, something that not many in our team do and is good on the counter (Him, Tamudo and Luis Garcia made Espanyol a good counter attacking side). Dont think he'll help out the fullback defensively and it would be interesting to see how Benitez handles him. 8 million Euros for him is a good deal as he was not going to sign a new contract in Barcelona and publicly stated that he wanted to leave at the end of last season (was booed by fans as well). Else, he would have cost a lot more...its almost an opportunistic buy.

Need to control the midfield more. We should get Lucas to play for them.

Where does this 'Riera or Downing second choice left midfielders' idea come from? Who was the first? We've never seem to have shown an obvious link to buy Silva or anyone else. Riera or Downing is what i'm hearing from since the beginning of the summer. So how are they 2nd choice?

Spurs..

Turnbull in goal for that lot.

Out to get you.

Not as insane as calling Porto one of Europe's elite just because you like Quaresma.

Kuyt, yes. But he's not going to be a starter in our current strongest forward lineup of Keane Gerrard Babel ---Torres To fit Quaresma in there someone else needs to be dropped. Babel needs the games to improve and Keane has just been signed for 20 million.

So if we buy him, who would you drop in our setup? And would you change our core players in Gerrard and Torres and base our game on him?

Neither would Eboue but both teams still managed to score a lot of goals in all competitions over the course of the season. The thing with Kuyt on the right is that he provides balance and the ability to fit with any kind of partner on the other wing. (same for Eboue) He maintains width when need be and also makes himself available in the opposition area, something which Pennant couldnt do well. I agree that Kuyt shouldn't be a starter but he not that bad a player. But he's always a good option to have in the team and will definitely get a heavy share of games this season. My problem with Quaresma is that if he was that good, he would have been gobbled up by a quality team by now, after he went to Porto. Secondly, he plays best when the whole setup is played round him as the core. We, now have Gerrard and Torres as ours and i'm not sure thats playing to Quaresma's strengths. Finally, i saw him in Euro 08 and he couldnt even get into a side ahead of Simao/Joao Moutinho and Nani. This, IMO though is the smallest of my problems with him as i dont believe too much in national setups. What he does provide is flair and another goal threat but who will you drop to play him in our 4231? Babel, who can be as good as or even better than Ricardo (who prefers the left wing over the right) if given the games? Or Keane?