*** Official 2011 / 2012 Football Season Thread ***

[Indestructible]

Top 2 allready in place?

[Grumbledook]

maybe but the wrong order ;]

[Grumbledook]

The Netherlands have replaced Spain at the top of Fifa's world rankings, with England climbing two places to fourth.

[eye n eye]

Surely it's only a matter of time before England are crowned number one.

[Grumbledook]

I think its more a case of other teams performing badly, we are skewed as I suspect most of us only pay attention to what the England team are doing. Though from what I've heard brazil and argentina haven't been doing well and the other south american nations have been improving.

[eye n eye]

Well whatever system they are using to determine these rankings must have been dreamed by some hippy who had imbibed one too many magic mushrooms, England are nowhere near being the fourth best team in the world, at times they don't even look like they are the fourth best team in the British isles.

[miaowfish]

Joke ratings, overvalues friendlies. The Elo ratings make slightly more sense: World/European champions still top, England 6th, Scotland better than Belgium unlikely though.

I'll be betting heavily on Germany for a while; any time they have actual players + Germanyness they're like some unstoppable master race.

[Checkov]

[miaowfish]

They've conceded three goals in seven qualifying games! Apart from Lahm it's a very young defence. I think only Scotland needs 40 year old centre backs.

[Checkov]

Scotland could contend for 2nd in that group.

[darrensprengers]

Wenger P45. sounds like a 007 pistol
_________________
The next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing.

-- Nick "The Greek" Dandalos

[Grumbledook]

so lets compare the scottish top tier with the championship and the eufa cup qualifiers

rangers: out
celtic: out
hearts: out

birmingham: in

for good measure, fulham, stoke and spurs all still in too!

[Indestructible]

That's a bit harsh Celtic were up against Sion.

"Singer Chris de Burgh is a celebrity fan of the club, having worn an FC Sion shirt during a concert in their stadium in 1989. He owns a season ticket, but has not attended a game since 2008"

[Checkov]

Still need a right winger, Kenny won't be afraid to play Gerrard there though. Henderson needs to develop, he's the technical skills but is just a bit behind the other players.

[tjm8]

The performance again of Lucas tonight should be a reminder to fans of all clubs that young players do need time to develop, especially coming from foreign shores and having to settle into a new culture.

Before LFC signed him he was voted the best young player in the Brazillian league (so obviously had great promise), but for a couple of years he became a figure of fun in the football world with even ex LFC players joining a fair proportion of LFC fans and opposing fans (+ everyone in the media) in thinking he was the worst midfielder the PL has ever seen.

He is now 24 years old and has to be considered one the best centre midfielders in the PL. The strength of character he has shown is immense and he deserves a lot of credit.

I hope every LFC learns a lesson from Lucas when it comes to Henderson, he's 21 and will no doubt have his bad games, but he looks a proper footballer (decent technique and a great engine on him). It's not his fault he cost 16 million, but he sounds level headed and I think Kenny is the perfect manager for him.


BTW. I thought he was crap too in his first year or two, which is why I only get as far as watching the game and not picking the team