Comments on: National Cup has started…

By: finnster01

finnster01 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:31:14 +0000

@Goose: You forgot to add KNVB to the list.

@Bruce: I don’t view Jamie as a CB. He has started more games as a RB than anything else. I don’t question his heart though. He is as good a right back as they come in my book, and came up through the system. Love the guy.

All I was saying is that the old days of the hard nosed central defenders (like Oranje needs) seemed to have gone missing. Terry is the closest thing in the EPL now adays. Fredinand, maybe, but he isn’t nasty enough.

As Goose keeps saying we need the proverbial “bastard” at Oranje and we dont have him, and certainly not in central defense. That is about as manly as Sarah Palin running for VP here in the US. Maybe she could be the next Oranje Angel (if she buys a new set of titties)?

By: goose

goose — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:55:05 +0000

to be honest; always have had a soft spot for Rooney; i think he is pretty great!

f&^%&*^! shame on the Uefa, totally agree Caleb, its all about the money,

they are also changing the setup for the Uefa-Cup; given it a new name ‘Uefa Europa League’ (now guess what the next step will be!) starting with 48 teams and poules (no knock-outs at the start)

Uefa and Fifa (and the IOC) are all money-grabbing facist institutions

By: Caleb

Caleb — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:50:47 +0000

About Rooney: sure he’s good at tracking back and running all over the place, but as a striker he is completely overrated. He doesn’t score near enough goals and misses so many great chances. But he runs a lot, so people always say “look at him, that lad’s got some true British grit!”… overrated!

@MO – Yeah, I heard the same thing this morning. Greedy, money-worshiping, useless Platini and UEFA are set to increase the EC to 24 teams. What a load of crap! There goes the quality of the competition. All they think about is money… UEFA really pisses me off lately!

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:39:21 +0000

Being a ‘pool man, aren’t you forgetting a certain Jamie Carragher?!

By: finnster01

finnster01 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:31:16 +0000

@carlos: Being a ‘pool man, I hate everything Man U (except EVDS, Giggs and SAF) but Rooney has indeed developed. He doesn’t even get sent off every other week anymore However, their captain of the Portuguese diving team is back in action and I fully expect a season of nonsense as it will surely be his last before he joins Real and SAF retires.

I just wish Vinnie Jones was still playing. I don’t think Ronaldo’s antics would be on display in those days. Or Tommy Smith and Terry Butcher a couple of decades earlier. They would have taken care of business. Have you noticed possibly with the exception of John Terry, there are no “hard men” left at CB in the EPL? We need some at Oranje, but the EPL could do with a few too.

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:26:41 +0000

euro 2016 set to expand to 24 team

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:03:58 +0000

Thanks Bruce/Caleb for the links to Real /Gijon …yep they sure looked good – but Jan’s comments are sobering especially if he saw the whole game.
Big week in Singapore guys F1 is here – first evr night race and Yes last night I did see Kimmi, Massa and a few others. A sister of one of our suppliers is the Ferrari PR lady. I dont think I should tell her I am a McLaren Fan.
Given the choice however would prefer to watch a Dutch Classic like Ajax Feyenoord.
Talking about players tracking back,IMO Persie has improved 100% in this area, when he is shoved out on the wing. He is becoming the complete player. Not sure if you follow EPL, but have watched Rooney doing a hell of a lot of tracking back and playing out of position. He is doing qiuite well. Dont like ManU, Never liked Rooney (as a person) but have to respect talent! he is showing it. Both he n Persie have impressed me in their ways of tracking back and becoming the first line of defence.

By: Igor

Igor — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:01:31 +0000

@MO, well its clear that any team that relies on robben tracking back and covering on defense is doomed to fail…robben can only run in one direction and thats towards the opponent’s goal. that’s why its good to have a mix of “robbens” and “kuyts” in a team.

By: Igor

Igor — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:57:42 +0000

excellent and very interesting article on the dutch cup competition.

By: Michel-Olivier

Michel-Olivier — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:50:52 +0000

ramos and marcello can run up and down the flank without living holes, lets be honest here gio don’t have the legs to do that anymore and heitinga can’t run. when heitinga/gio go forward they leave a big hole in the flank so robben/vdv have to track back and cover. when ramos and marcello lost the ball they track back quickly, however gio and heitinga(his not a fullback) walk back down. until we have at least 3 good fullbacks(rb/lwb/rwb) we have no chance of winning a major tourney.

the dutch team is good but you can’t always rely on robben/vdv/hunter/wes… sometime you have to play/win ugly and the only way to that is to have a solid back four. ex russia euro 08, when ruud scored i thought the game was going to turn around but the dutch defense suck we concede 2 goals from the wings.
recap ned-rus look at the defenders espesialy gio and ooijer walking around.