yellow jumper

all of which makes perfect sense. perhaps gerrard could have said that in his interview with sky before the game with chelsea.

not deluded enough to be a top footballer.

tis a fair point. and i know most people have pretty strong reservations about 3 at the back for that reason, whoever the personnel.

i wouldn't want him to play as a wing-back neccessarily, although obviously he'd have to against better opposition. he could be used centrally too. with the option of finnan, pennant or garcia on the right depending on who we're playing. i definitely like that 3 in the centre, whatever the combination, because i think it gives us a lot of solidity defensively, as well as allowing that extra between the lines player; garcia, gerrard, zenden, kewell even. put agger in the middle of the 3 centre-backs, thinking more about his ability to bring it out than his left sidedness.

what about a 3-4-1-2? carra-agger-hyppia gerrard-sissoko-alonso-aurelio garcia kuyt-bellamy perhaps not against chelsea, but for the future. with the option of bringing in our genuine wingers at home and moving gerrard central.

maybe it's because i don't follow italian football as closely as other european leagues. but let's face it serie a titles with ac milan and juve are the management equivalent of candy from a baby. he's regularily touted as one of, if not the best coaches in europe. i just don't see it. his teams have been more than underwhelming in europe for years. i'd put him in a similar category as sven, who i actually think gets a pretty rough deal in england. neither's a great manager, tactically unimaginative, but can get results in club football if they're given the resources. whatever i think about the football (not much), mourinho's teams thus far look far hard to beat, than the s**** capello's been turning out for the last few years.

is fabio capello the most overrated coach in european football?

more about balance than personnel for me. finding that extra attacking threat without comprimising the defensive solidity. i think alonso-sissoko should be the starting point. he'll obviously re-jig it in the easier home fixtures, but i think theres enough attacking talent around those two for goals not to be a problem if we can find the right balance between attack and defence. think it's a tactical issue.

he's the best athlete in any midfield in europe. actually think he's under-rated with the ball at his feet, although his long-passing, reading of the game and decision making need plenty of work. alonso's the best long-passer in europe. he's just a little out of touch right now. don't think the zenden as a sitting midfielder experiment is working particularily. he's certainly no hamman. bit unfair on him too. there were times yesterday when both sissoko and zenden got caught in a kind of no man's land and we were left with kone, farfan et al with twenty yards of space and bearing down on our defence. don't really care about barcelona. but would say that in terms of running power they're a distant second to our lot. there were occasions in the champions league last season, notably in the final, before lehmann's sending off, when arsenal showed that barca's midfield can be both out-passed and out-fought.

zenden-alonso-gerrard-pennant's my shout.

we've never seen gerrard-sissoko in the middle. be surprised if it happens tonight.

i was referring more to bellamy in that instance, but i agree with you to a certain extent about the wingers. i think garcia/gerrard left and right was by no means a dubious selection on rafa's part. it might look that with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, although even that's a little harsh. anyway, who would you have dropped for pennant? gerrard, alonso or sissoko?

think you're being harsh on garcia. he's done enough in the past to justify selection for any game. alwats works hard. he's done it before in tough arenas. bolton/arsenal away last season? aurelio looks shaky defensively, but what were the other options? a half-fit riise or a half-fit warnock. there's enough people questioning carra's selection when he clearly wasn't 'right' as it is. it's clear sami doesn't have confidence in the brazilian, but i thought his own game went too pieces as a result. he's better than that. or he should be. i think fowler's an easy target, personally. he doesn't have pace, i'll grant you. once they got the first goal they basically played on the break, their defence couldn't of got any deeper. there was no space behind for pace. perhaps pennant or gonzalez could have started, but there's no guarantees that we'd have been any better off for it. particularily defensively, and that after all is where our major problems were.

the only issue of contention i can see would be the strikers and perhaps aurelio (hands were kind of tied on that one though). you can hardly quibble at crouch's selection given his recent record. so i presume it's fowler. thought he played okay first half, movement and ball retention were good. he tired second. kuyt looks good on the evidence of two cameos. bellamy has worked hard, but hardly pulled up any trees as yet. thought we dominated in general, and were by far the dominant side before the first goal. mistakes cost us. but that side on the evidence of last season was more than good enough to win the game.

they'd instantly be a better club for replacing mourinho with hiddink. whether they'd be a better team, i'm not so sure.

understand the criticism. does seem to lack a bit of bottle. he's still a very accomplished footballer though, in a similar mould to alonso in terms of his intelligence and passing range. great to watch at his best. he, and the coach pellegrini, were the major forces behind getting a small club like villareal to the champions' league semi-final in the first place.

one of the first decent cross i've ever seen from him yesterday. kind of negated by the fact that the andorran left-back would struggle to make my local pub side. if he can find a more consistent final ball, and perhaps the odd goal, he'll obviously be top class. quite a big 'if' though.

it proves plenty. it proves he offers the team more than the 'lamppost' stereotype. it's surprising. it surprised me, and i'm sure it surprised those who seem intent on belittling anything he achieves. he does enough to warrant a place without the goals much of the time, now he's scoring freely this argument becomes even more ludicrous.

according to steve mcclaren.

he'll get better with age too.

steven gerrard?

don't think it's kromkamp's ability that's neccessarily the problem, i think it's his personality. he probably does have more talent than neill.

a villareal fan i know compares lobos to riquelme.

no henry. laughable.

marcotti's a prick.