WC XI Gk: Hislop D: Lahm D: Sancho D: Puyol D:Sorin M: Xavi M: Messi M: Y. Toure M: Riquelme F: Saviola F: Cresp Subs: GK: Boruc(sp)- Poland's keeper F: Jaziri (Tunisia) F: Carlos Tenorio M: M. Rodriguez M: L. Valencia D: Marquez
am astonished at the quality this guy adds to a midfield engine room. If we can offer 10mil for Carrick which of course got rejected by Spurs & decide to up our offer for him instead of offering 10mil for Zokora RIGHT NOW we are about to make a great mistake. Zokora is exactly what we need, gets all over the pitch, can pass, shoot, drive forward and tackle well. It is this type of player we need to begin controling games in the CM. The people who prefer Carrick like guys who just sit, Zokora is dynamic, similar to Keane in his old days (Of course not the same) but offers so much to the team. He would be a far better signing than someone like Carrick & I would go for someone like Cambiasso or Ya Ya Toure with him and make a huge signing up front with Torres unfortunately saying by by to Ruud who I won't forget a served us well. I don't think we can bring in a star signing in CM because I don't think anyone is available of that stature that will suit us for many reasons. Ballack is gone to Chelsea, De Rossi won't leave Roma, I cannot see Mascherano at OT. Yes there is Diarra but he is not a STAR signing just a good player at an inflated price that is what we would be getting.
---------------Cech --------Marquez---Terry Edwards-------------------Lahm -------Zokora--------Yaya -------------Riquelme Figo------------------------Messi -------------Saviola Obviously subject to change until rd 2 is finished, but those are the players who have impressed me the most. Robben was a quarter of the player against a good side in IC as he was against a poor one in S&M. That midfield trio have been exceptional in regards to passing, movement and positioning. Figo's intelligence has been stellar. The greats are always one step ahead! Interesting to note no Spaniards or Brazilians, yet!
player whose impressed me the most is Mascherano of Argentina, he's the reason they look so good just as Makelele is the reason Chelsea are so good. Every attack they build goes through him, he organises the midfield, his movement off the ball is fantastic, he plays simple but effective passes and his marking is out of this world.
So most of the players being thrown around in this thread are names that are familiar to all reasonably good football followers. Do we really need to say Essien is impressing at this World Cup? Lets look past the names that most common football households know.... who are the guys coming out of no where that are really making the most of their opportunity in this World Cup. That is a list I am very interested to see. My Choices ... . Lahm (Germany) - If you dont follow Bayern closely you probably dont know about him... Clint Dempsey (USA) - Dynamic midfielder, C. Ronaldo esque...flair that the US Team lacks badly... Muntari (Ghana) - Great performance vs. Czechs, expect to see this guy as a target of some big clubs... Luca Toni (Italy) - A known commodity but I list him because he will be the target of some top clubs post WC in my opinion.... Marcus Allback (Sweden) - The only impressive Sweden attacker besides Freddy L., Ibrahomivic has stunk it up and Larsson has struggled, Allback has filled nicely from the bench with some good displays... Brent Sancho (t&t) - Solid as a rock in the back for the Trinidad team Ivan Klasnic (Rangers) - Great performance vs Brazil....loved his relentless play More to come.....
Ofcourse, like you said it will change after these teams play their second game. Or else Im pretty sure Xavi and Kaka would be honourable mentions.
I say again Torres Torres Torres!!!!!, he would be a tremendous buy for ManUtd and would complement Rooney and Ronaldo, we would have one of the fastest attacks in the Prem. Offer 30million ManUtd
We would have a strike force that would waste the most chances between each other... Nah but seriously, if we had the money to get him and two midfielders, then sure.
Hey Bennissmalls the one thing Torres would bring to ManUtd is Pace, RVN treads water when he even attempts to sprint and defenders fly past him, I understand that some people hope the Glazers fall flat on there face, me I support the Team, I am quietly confident that there is 60 million to spend to get Torres and two Midfield players I understand that some of you almost hope the Glazers dont come up with the money for Transfers, I cant understand this. Imagine Rooney, Torres, and Ronaldo, with the option of playing Saha as well, what a annoying prospect this would be for Chelsea Liverpool and Arsenal, if we pulled this off. You can keep your 30 year old Ukrainian, Id take Torres any day, but lets hurry up Board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! buy someone!!!!!
I was very impressed with Christian Wilhelmsson today. I realise his age but I still think he could prove useful on the wings. His pace is not something to ignore, and plenty of times today in the England match he put in a few good crosses that produced corners. Another couple players who impressed me thus far were Schweinsteiger but he's not leaving Bayern any time soon, and Nikko Kranjcar. I though Kranjcar played very well against Japan for Croatia and he's still young to.
As I said before, Wilhelmsson is an irraticplayer and imho best used as he was today. Thrown on in the second half. He tends to dissapear from the game at times. But for a country like Sweden he's a great asset and a luxury that we usually don't have.
Part exchange for Ruud? Would be a dream...except not quite since I really don't want Ruud to be sold. IF there was the possibility of getting Schweinsteiger in exchange for Ruud, I wouldn't mind...but I don't think Bayern would entertain that idea.
The 2 that have impressed me the most are Klose and Joe Cole. Van Persie and El Nino deserve a special mention. But the best player overall so far has been Lahm IMO.