Some Notes From A Few Other Games
A few random things:
Italy - Ghana. Ghana played really well, I thought. Italy is going to be tough - not just for the US, but throughout. I thought Ghana got a a bit unlucky - there should have been two penalties for Ghana I thought, which certainly would have changed things. Essien played well; however, his shot was NOT accurate. (It will be interesting to think about what will happen in Chelsea next year - their central midfield will have Ballack, Lampard, Essien, and Makalele - who plays? Makalele is VASTLY underrated, IMO - probably the best holding midfielder out there; he was MoM in France-SWI. So, move one of them to a L or R midfield? There you've got Joe Cole, Robben, Damien Duff, and SWP. At least they moved Gudjohnson to Barca.)
Australia - Japan. Saw the second half only. Another game where there should have been a penalty. Why is it that guys continue to be taken down in the box with no calls? Has there been some kind of directive from FIFA? Australia finished up the game well and I really think they have a nice team. But Croatia looked good.
Italy - Ghana. Ghana played really well, I thought. Italy is going to be tough - not just for the US, but throughout. I thought Ghana got a a bit unlucky - there should have been two penalties for Ghana I thought, which certainly would have changed things. Essien played well; however, his shot was NOT accurate. (It will be interesting to think about what will happen in Chelsea next year - their central midfield will have Ballack, Lampard, Essien, and Makalele - who plays? Makalele is VASTLY underrated, IMO - probably the best holding midfielder out there; he was MoM in France-SWI. So, move one of them to a L or R midfield? There you've got Joe Cole, Robben, Damien Duff, and SWP. At least they moved Gudjohnson to Barca.)
Australia - Japan. Saw the second half only. Another game where there should have been a penalty. Why is it that guys continue to be taken down in the box with no calls? Has there been some kind of directive from FIFA? Australia finished up the game well and I really think they have a nice team. But Croatia looked good.
posted by Al at 9:32 AM
3 Comments:
i don't know how the rest of the Chelsea lineup will go (i suspect that mourinho is going to go 4-5-1 with shevchenko up front, robben and cole marrauding, and then some combination of the rest) but i guarantee you that mourinho doesn't underrate makelele, the master of the 4-yard pass.
And not start Drogba and/or Crespo regularly? I didn't mind the Drogba/Crespo duo last year. I think you've got to play Drogba - the guy really is great. I could see starting Sheva and Drogba, and then bringing Crespo off the bench. But even that seems strange - Crespo is starting for Argentina fercrissakes!
Yeah, I don't think Morinho underrates Makalele either, but he's got to keep a lot of great players happy, and that's going to be a big job.
well, i'm oversimplifying: it could be drogba, but my point is that i suspect we'll see a lot of 4-5-1, not 4-4-2.
you know that mourinho's philosophy is to have 2 starters per position (i.e., lampard, makele, essien, ballack for 2 central midfield slots), so he's prepared to deal with the problem!
i know it goes against your notions of "fairness," but what i really admire about mourinho is that he's spending the money really smartly (unlike, let us say, real madrid)....
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