I am one of those that doesn’t buy players seem to excel against us. Pope was getting praised when we played Newcastle I thought we had a handful of shots straight at him never really opened them up and would of been disappointed if Sanchez had conceded any of those chances. We simply didn’t play well against Villa again didn’t open them up and made life easy for Mings.
I watched that game in full again recently. If it was played tomorrow, it would be six a side by halftime - Proper football
Too many of the England 'defenders' don't seem to want to defend first, attack second. Stones is the prime example. He can't head the ball well under challenge and is often elsewhere when there's a shot to be blocked. That's fine playing for Citeh as they have the ball all the time, or when England are playing Andorra or San Marino, but I wouldn't trust him against a side like Croatia or Holland. Given that Southgate is never going to pick Dunk no matter what, I'd rather have Tarkowski and even Ben Mee - proper defenders.Yep, me. *raises hand*
In my very limited playing "career" I was a centre back and really enjoyed it. Most other kids wanted to beat people, score goals, take all the throw ins and free kicks. I just wanted to tackle, block, head and pass it to someone who could play.
Today I have been known to remark to my son during a game about the quality of a beautifully straight offside line, last minute tackle, the absolute shithousery of Veltman and even when we (but never the opposition) commit a "take one for the team" foul to stop a quick break at the risk of a yellow card. It does have to be us doing it though.
It's one of the reasons I struggle with the current England team, as much as I'm an England fan. We have several high quality right backs when they're all fit and that's it. There have been some wonderful centre backs in international football in the past including England ones (Adams, Campbell, old clips of Bobby Moore).
Nests was great, but not as good as Maldini or Baresi for me. Gentile was good as well.
I said a while back certain aspects of Lewis Dunk crop up in that montage, but Costacurta had such pace, and two feet and (along with the others you mention) made defending an art form all of its own ... that kind of artistry on a pitch, it’s a joy to behold.
We are cut from the same cloth. One of my teams won a cup final on penalties after keeping out the opposition for 120 minutes. In the two league games against them we had lost 10-0 and 8-1 so nobody expected us to even make a game of it. I was at centre back and hardly got to the half way line in the whole game but we stood firm and frustrated them. I was absolutely knackered by the end of the game but so proud of our achievement.
All world class, classy defenders.
I'm reading this as "I really enjoyed kicking people and pushing them over".
Shit yeah, bro.I'm reading this as "I really enjoyed kicking people and pushing them over".
Which I'm totally down with, since that's how I always played football.
Up the centre halfs
In my head I was Mark Lawrenson, in reality I was more Guy Butters.I'm reading this as "I really enjoyed kicking people and pushing them over".
Which I'm totally down with, since that's how I always played football.
Up the centre halfs
