Evening all, I'm writing a preview for the Manchester City v FC Twente UEFA Cup match and I was hoping I could gain some information off the people who know Twente the best - the fans! I know all about Steve McClaren from his days at Middlesbrough and England, but who are the main players of the team? I know Blaise Kufo is one of the league's most prolific strikers and has been for years, and there is that young Dutch striker who has scored four goals this season (can't remember his name) but what about in other positions? It would also be great if you could tell me what you think of McClaren's time in charge so far, do you expect to progress to the next stage and also the formation/starting eleven that you use most regularly. Cheers guys, if anyone can help then it would be greatly appreciated. Alan D
Our main strength lies in defence. Wielaert is one of the most consistent central defenders in the Dutch league, he is vital to our build-up play. Our other central defender, teenage Brazilian monster Douglas, is coveted by many clubs in Europe. He's an excellent man-marker. Another youngster, Braafheid will probably man mark Robinho as he's our quickest defender. N"Kufo hasn't exactly been in form this season, and as a result we're having problems in the goal scoring department this season. We also have a young Austrian striker, who plays out of position currently on the right wing: Arnautovic. He's very talented but also a bit fickle (i.e. brilliant one minute, totally rubbish the next). Our in-form forward is Eljero Elia, a traditional Dutch school left winger (that's probably the Dutch youngster you're referring to). Similar to Arnautovic however he's also a bit fickle and that's one of our biggest problems. We've a lot of youngsters in key positions and they're of course never going to be consistent. I personally have been most impressed by our defensive midfielder Wout Brama, again a relatively young player from our own youth academy, who notably was the only Twente player to hold his own in both games v Arsenal. The other midfielders who'll probably play are Tioté and Perez - the latter could prove vital for us as he's got a lot of European experience, gained with AZ, Ajax and PSV. All of these strengths and weaknesses are relative of course. We're well aware that ManCity is ten times richer than us - we run a whole club on what you spend on Robinho annually. Twente should lose to ManCity 99 out of a 100 times. But, as the first half hour v Arsenal showed, if you get complacent as a premiership side then you'll have a difficult time even v Twente.
I wouldn't be so quick to rate Man City so highly. They looked pretty bad yesterday, losing to Bolton 0-2. I think Twente have a chance particularly if the defense holds up.
The sad reality of it all is that even a bad premiership side will be the favourite against any Dutch league club. I even worry that Elia and Douglas plays well against them what with the money they can throw at us come the winter transfer period.