Spanish_fan

And why most in here think that Crouch and Kuyt are competing fro just one spot? The two surely will play together in many games too, especially against defensive teams at Anfield. My believe is that Kuyt will play more games than the other two (he is the most complete forward by a margin) but I am not sure if it will be Bellamy or Crouch the second most used striker, maybe there won't be much difference in their playing time.

His name is even longer: Lazaros Hristodoulopoulos Supercalifrahi Hristodoulopoulos from here: http://www.paokfc.gr/player.jsp?PLCode=20040915125149906&SSCode=20050701095402421&depType=1

Agree.

Liverpool are lucky that they don't have to face Germany in penalty shoot-outs ;)

Just download them from the links. Sometimes there is not free slot available and you'll have to wait one minute until the counter at the bottom of the page gets to 0. Enjoy. 1980 england v argentina-friendly http://www.sendspace.com/file/1mwv3s 1980 england v scotland -home nations http://www.sendspace.com/file/05wfk7 1981 world cup qualifier hungary v england http://www.sendspace.com/file/b3f6k7 1982 world cup england v france http://www.sendspace.com/file/bl54w4 1986 world cup england v poland http://www.sendspace.com/file/0a6arp 1986 england v paraguay http://www.sendspace.com/file/2yr0t6 ENGLAND V WEST GERMANY 1975 FRIENDLY 86 MB XVID 9 MINUTES http://www.sendspace.com/file/miva6a 1977 World cup qualifier England v Italy 7 minutes 67mb xvid http://www.sendspace.com/file/v9gbj6 1975 home natiions England v Scotland( highlights) 8 minutes 76 mb xvid http://www.sendspace.com/file/dfyyoh

I've found highlights of a few England matches from the past that you may want to view again or maybe for the first time, mainly from the seventies and eighties. Before posting the links, I want to make sure that it is allowed on this forum and that anyone is interested. BTW, you had a lot of very good players in those years. I wonder why England didn't achieve much in those years.

Sometimes they come on from the bench against better sides when Barcelona need to score. But what Rijkaard never does is to play them as midfielders. I really don't like that from Benitez. Either you use them as attacking full backs (that's what they are) or you don;t use them at all, unless the wide midfielders are not available.

From the games I have seen him at Valencia I can tell you that the guy can play. IMO he is technically better than Roberto Carlos but doesn't have his strenght or pace, but he is not slow either. Benitez played him as full back or left midfilder. Technically he was one of the best players at Valencia along with Aimar and Vicente. He passes the ball very well, can get past people on the run and his crosses are very good. His shooting is powerful and accurate, and his delivery at set pieces is excellent, either from corners, lateral free kicks or direct free kicks, with a lot of pace and swerve. Defensively he is not that sound though. Attacking wise he is a massive improvement over Riise, but I am not sure he can match his defensive output. He is injury prone and inconsistent. On the other hand when he is on song he can make the difference, even from the full back position. During his best season 2002 - 2003 he scored 8 goals in 27 games, being first choice in 23 of them. But injuries have plagued him troughout his career. His stats here: http://www.el-mundo.es/elmundodeporte/envivos/fichas/1/112/368.html

Riquelme needs the team built around him and play at very slow pace (his). He also needs a couple of defensive midfielders that do the job in defense that he does not. I am not criticising Riquelme at all (Argentina are not doing badly with him) but that's not the way Beniterz sets out his teams to play where fast tempo is the key.

:D. And I love a coach that rotates players. And I will happily accept staying on the bench if other players are more suitable for a particular game. ;)

No way. In fact he built the team around...the team. His third season at Valencia was the best and Aimar barely played. When Benitez said that he wanted to build the team around Gerrard that was so UnBenitez (surely he was taking the piss like in many of his remarks to the media)

I haven't seen Zapater play, well in fact once, but I only look at the players of my team ;). I asked my friend if Zapater was the new Albelda and he said that his passing was more like Baraja. So I asumed that he played in Albelda's position but with better passing ability, but apparently he is much more than a pure holding midfielder. He can create from midfield too but his defensive side is good as well.

Discard that. He is a versatile midfielder rather than a pure holding midfielder. He passes the ball very well, and can help out in defense too. The comparison would be Baraja or Deco without the goals. One of the stars in the Spanish under 20 NT.

Holding midfielder (like Albelda) but with better passing ability (comparable with Baraja)

I think you are talking shite . But the future will tell who is talking shite.

After asking a trusted friend on football matters he described Zapater as an Albelda ( in terms of the role played in the team) but with much better passign ability (he compared him to Baraja).

On Zapater. He is a a ball winner. He is only 19 and according to Zaragoza fans good enough to get a call for the Spanish NT. He played 35 games last season in la liga, 27 as a starter, didn't score any goals and picked 7 yellows and no reds. http://www.albertozapater.tk/

Benitez wants versatile players behind the main striker, with great movement off the ball, not playmakers, nor wingers who can only dribble and cross. Aimar rarely featured at the beginning of Benitez's tenure cause he didn't work hard in defensive duties. In fact Valencia were at their best (not at the most atractive) when Aimar didn't play in Benitez's last season at Valencia.

A great player very underrated in England, and a winner. Liverpool needed a couple of agressive players who hate losing, and he is one of them.

He is lucky. ;)

I mean, outside Spain. He was loaned to Monaco and probably didn't enjoy it much out there. From what I heard Saviola is not willing to compromise either, and wants to get paid the full salary he was getting at Barcelona, and that was a lot of money. That's probably the reason why he hasn't found a club in Spain willing to sign him. So his order of preference I guess is Money - Argentina- Spain ...yet to be seen.

I donlt think Benitez rated Aimar that much. In fact, without him in the team Valencia got better results in spite of playing less creatively. I reckon the only playmaker he wants in the team is already playing for Liverpool (alonso), and upfront he prefers versatile players who can do a little bit of everything: score goals, assist, have good movement off the ball. And I don't think Aimar fits the bill, nor does Joaquin :D and Red Nick agrees with me :yes:

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20060619/NOTICIA222587043.html This is from a Barcelona based newspaper, el mundo deportivo, the most reliable of the two sport papers in Barcelona. They say that Barcelona are not interested in keeping Saviola and want to sell him. The problem is that Saviola wants to play in the Spanish League and there are no offers for him from Spain. They also say that clubs from abroad have made enquiries about the player. Could it be Liverpool one of them? Will Saviola change his mind and be willing to play abroad?

That's the system with the players upfront changing positions but generally Garcia behind the two strikers. Raul was the intended man for Luis Garcia's position but he is so crap at present that Aragones has to put him in the bench (before trying him many times) Alonso as anchor man with Senna doing the Sissoko role, not as good defensively but better passing the ball around. Xavi the advancing playmaker. He is not very fit ATM but is the best of the trio Iniesta, Cesc and himself at keeping the ball. Spain are going to have loads of possesion, the problem is what they are going to do with it. At least now we have a player who can shoot from distance, Pernia, and obviously he learned his trade not in Spain but in Argentina.

We played Croatia in a friendly and looked much better than Brasil, having the ball 80% of the time. Spain won 2-1 but our shooting is pathetic, even with the new ball. I don't see any team in thsi WC having more of the ball vs Spain, but also I can see almost any team we play beating us.