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England v The Swiss


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English football only looks good when its a full blooded affair like Manchester United versus Liverpool. Technically we're just not good enough.

Rooney would not make the the subs bench for Barcelona let alone Spain.

He certainly would.

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Forgot to mention Ashley Cole. Magnificent LB. But still, LB's dont win matches. And in Coles case, matches aren't lost there either. No one likes him but he still gets plenty of praise. Says something of how good he is..

I'll tell you something Alpha that might change your mind on this. This is my opinion not as a fact.. A.Cole is lauded as 'the best leftback in the world' and the reason for this is he's the only attacking leftback around that is actually quite good.. Each team, Man Utd, Barca, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spain, Holland, Brazil, Bayern Munich, AC Milan etc.. all have something in common.. They all have 1 fullback that sits and protects, and another that bombs forward given the dominance of the team and acts as an extra winger.

Utd have Evra/Fabio/Rafael and then O'Shea. Or a variation.

Chelsea have A.Cole (attacking) and Ivanovic to sit.

Barca have Dani Alves and Abidal.

Real have Arboloa and Sergio Ramos.. If Marcelo switches to leftback Ramos won't venture forward.

Spain have Capdevilla and Sergio Ramos.. With Ramos attacking.

Bayern and Germany have Lahm pushing forward and one sitting.

Out of all the best teams in the world I can think of, A.Cole is the only LB that goes forward. Each other team uses the other fullback (RB).. England have Glen Johnson who's really poor so we rely on A.Cole to go forward.. The only exceptions I can possibly find is if Man Utd use Evra LB and O'Shea at RB, or Arsenal but Sagna is definately more attacking than Clichy IMO.

A.Cole recieves his praise, but in reality you have to compare him to attacking fullbacks rather than other leftbacks.. No way is he as good as Dani Alves or Philip Lahm going forward. A.Cole can't use his right foot for starters.. And on the other hand no way is he as good defensively as other LBs.. Abidal for starters is the perfect LB for Barca as he's a rock in defence and generally good on the ball. Ashley Cole wouldn't get in Barcas team and more for this reason as he's not the best 'defensive minded fullback around'..

A perfect combination would be Maldini at LB and Cafu at RB.. Now that is a dream fullback pairing.

Feel free to disagree though, this is only my opinion..

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English football only looks good when its a full blooded affair like Manchester United versus Liverpool. Technically we're just not good enough.

Rooney would not make the the subs bench for Barcelona let alone Spain.

He'd be starting foe both Barcelona and Spain

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Ha! thats a bit rich from a bloke who spent all weekend trolling to get his 20,000...:rolleyes:

Trolling? I'll have you know every single one of my 20,000 posts have been of a high standard and absolutely correct. If we had more members like me it would be a much better forum.

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Trolling? I'll have you know every single one of my 20,000 posts have been of a high standard and absolutely correct. If we had more members like me it would be a much better forum.

QUOTE- Do you like my new trainers-UNQUOTE

You are as innocent of trolling as Sepp sausageter is of corruption...:p

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I'll tell you something Alpha that might change your mind on this. This is my opinion not as a fact.. A.Cole is lauded as 'the best leftback in the world' and the reason for this is he's the only attacking leftback around that is actually quite good.. Each team, Man Utd, Barca, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spain, Holland, Brazil, Bayern Munich, AC Milan etc.. all have something in common.. They all have 1 fullback that sits and protects, and another that bombs forward given the dominance of the team and acts as an extra winger.

Utd have Evra/Fabio/Rafael and then O'Shea. Or a variation.

Chelsea have A.Cole (attacking) and Ivanovic to sit.

Barca have Dani Alves and Abidal.

Real have Arboloa and Sergio Ramos.. If Marcelo switches to leftback Ramos won't venture forward.

Spain have Capdevilla and Sergio Ramos.. With Ramos attacking.

Bayern and Germany have Lahm pushing forward and one sitting.

Out of all the best teams in the world I can think of, A.Cole is the only LB that goes forward. Each other team uses the other fullback (RB).. England have Glen Johnson who's really poor so we rely on A.Cole to go forward.. The only exceptions I can possibly find is if Man Utd use Evra LB and O'Shea at RB, or Arsenal but Sagna is definately more attacking than Clichy IMO.

A.Cole recieves his praise, but in reality you have to compare him to attacking fullbacks rather than other leftbacks.. No way is he as good as Dani Alves or Philip Lahm going forward. A.Cole can't use his right foot for starters.. And on the other hand no way is he as good defensively as other LBs.. Abidal for starters is the perfect LB for Barca as he's a rock in defence and generally good on the ball. Ashley Cole wouldn't get in Barcas team and more for this reason as he's not the best 'defensive minded fullback around'..

A perfect combination would be Maldini at LB and Cafu at RB.. Now that is a dream fullback pairing.

Feel free to disagree though, this is only my opinion..

Good observation mate. Certainly something to think on!

Another exception was perhaps Cafu and Carlos for Brazil. But every theory has exceptions. But there are more than enough cases to show that the best balance is...... well a non-symetrical one.

In that case..... well, Cole is Englands best fullback imo. So as other teams tend to have a RB attacking and LB sticking, England should get rid of the horrific Johnson and look for.....dare i say, a Gary Neville? Would you agree that if the balance of the team requires an attacking LB that it's simply between Cole and Evra? If Barca were to sell Alves, Abidal was to play CB and say Pique was to be used as a RB..... surely it'd be Cole that would restore that balance and wide outlet best? Not that it'd happen..... just i think it's impossible to deny Cole is a top fullback if he's required to attack first and defend second. Better than Abidal in that situation.

It's just strange that there are so few attacking LB's in comparison to RBs. Of which Brazil have the choice of two! Maicon and Alves!!!

Good point!

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