Luke shaw off to Brazil

I don't get the media mentality of wanting experience for the World Cup squad. The experience of what? Losing, under-performing and generally being useless?

I could buy that argument if we were talking about taking a team of Luke Shaws but we aren't. Baines, Johnson, Cahill, Gerrard, Rooney, Hart, Carrick, Milner, Welbeck etc. have been playing for England for years and will all likely be on that plane. One teenager isn't going to kill us (although I have a suspicion the 'experience' rule wont apply to Raheem Sterling).

Makes me laugh how Sunderland can win at the bridge but Atletico cannot score at home against them.... Football is weird! Chelsea have made them look ordinary!

If Chelsea have made them look ordinary, what does that make Chelsea after a performance like that?

Wine and pizza actually. And while I take your point, if every game was like this football would not be the great game it is. This is no less anti-football than the long ball football of 20 years ago.

 

Which do you remember more fondly, steaua beating barce on pens, red star doing the same against marseille(playing for pens from the 5th minute) or Liverpool beating Milan in Istanbul? Win at all costs is very professional. And utterly dull.

And if every game was like Liverpool v Milan we wouldn't appreciate the ones that are.

Eh? I know Mourinho's record's just ended but Chelsea are still pretty formidable at home...

 

Mourinho away is one of the toughest fixtures in world football, no matter who he's managing

Not disagreeing, but 0-0 does not really make either team hot favourite... not a real fan of his style of football but its effective for sure.

I don't get the media mentality of wanting experience for the World Cup squad. The experience of what? Losing, under-performing and generally being useless?

 

I could buy that argument if we were talking about taking a team of Luke Shaws but we aren't. Baines, Johnson, Cahill, Gerrard, Rooney, Hart, Carrick, Milner, Welbeck etc. have been playing for England for years and will all likely be on that plane. One teenager isn't going to kill us (although I have a suspicion the 'experience' rule wont apply to Raheem Sterling).

Experience of losing is better than none at all and it's useful to have a cool head that you can call upon if needed. A match-fit Cole who'd been playing for Chelsea would always be valuable for his composure, reliability and dressing room know-how, but those qualities aren't worth taking a half-fit player for.

And if every game was like Liverpool v Milan we wouldn't appreciate the ones that are.

That's like saying if I spent my life ****ging only really fit birds I wouldn't appreciate it fully, so much better to mostly **** utter dogs to really appreciate the fit ones. What utter gibberish.

The neutral fan, ie the guy sat in front of the tv, is what pays the player wages these days.

And continue to pay their subscriptions and snuggle up in the sofa moaning about the crap analysis and commentary. The mongboards of the future will contain threads about how many grounds the armchair fan has seen on telly, not how May grounds they've visited themselves. Their memories won't be of trips to places like Barnsley and Wallsall you'd have no need to go to on Tuesday night, but of the strangest pubs they've watched a game where they missed two goals because stream fell out, it never happens these days. I just hope when that day comes I've hung up my keyboard and talk on chat rooms with other old boys about how mongboards aren't as good as they used to be.

Experience of losing is better than none at all and it's useful to have a cool head that you can call upon if needed. A match-fit Cole who'd been playing for Chelsea would always be valuable for his composure, reliability and dressing room know-how, but those qualities aren't worth taking a half-fit player for.

What? Like shooting other players?

That's like saying if I spent my life ****ging only really fit birds I wouldn't appreciate it fully, so much better to mostly **** utter dogs to really appreciate the fit ones. What utter gibberish.

No its not, if every game was brilliant and had you on the edge of your seat, if Every single game was a thriller you'd soon forget about one in 2005, what was so different about that game to the cup finals the 60 years before and 9 years since? You need the crap games to appreciate the good ones.

What? Like shooting other players?

There's no way I can talk about him 'taking a young player aside' without it sounding like a morbid joke now, can I?

No its not, if every game was brilliant and had you on the edge of your seat, if Every single game was a thriller you'd soon forget about one in 2005, what was so different about that game to the cup finals the 60 years before and 9 years since? You need the crap games to appreciate the good ones.

You keep telling yourself that Turkish, but you don't need the *****rs to appreciate the hotties.

I can only afford lower league football :-(

Don't worry, one day you might reach the Johnstone paint trophy final.

Experience of losing is better than none at all and it's useful to have a cool head that you can call upon if needed. A match-fit Cole who'd been playing for Chelsea would always be valuable for his composure, reliability and dressing room know-how, but those qualities aren't worth taking a half-fit player for.

Like taking a hopeless penalty against Italy in Kiev a couple of years ago?

Shaw is a Premier League footballer. He has played at Old Trafford and Anfield and come away with 4 points. I doubt he would sh*t himself if called upon against the likes of Uruguay and Italy.

Like taking a hopeless penalty against Italy in Kiev a couple of years ago?

 

Shaw is a Premier League footballer. He has played at Old Trafford and Anfield and come away with 4 points. I doubt he would sh*t himself if called upon against the likes of Uruguay and Italy.

More of a little green or paint and paper library bloke myself.

He's not suggesting Shaw would s**t himself though - just making the fair point that there is merit in having people who have experienced a major tournament with all the hassle that goes with it. I think Shaw will just edge it, but I could understand if Hodgson goes for Cole.

We will have experience, that's my point. We don't need everyone to be experienced, just look at Rooney in Euro 2004 or Owen at France 98.

We have Gerrard as captain, he's got enough experience. There's no need to waste 2 spaces on Cole and Lampard. However, It's stupid to suggest Cole shouldn't go just because he might have had a poor game tonight. I very much doubt Luke would be bombing it down the wing against a team like Atletico.

be good to see how shaw would look in this game at their place in that pressure....

Are you suggesting he'd buckle? Nothings fazed him so far.

We have Gerrard as captain, he's got enough experience. There's no need to waste 2 spaces on Cole and Lampard. However, It's stupid to suggest Cole shouldn't go just because he might have had a poor game tonight. I very much doubt Luke would be bombing it down the wing against a team like Atletico.

When it's your first (and potentially only) game in months it's worth some scrutiny, but as it happens he was very good. He wouldn't be playing any games like that at the World Cup though! Chelsea effectively played a back six without the ball, with the traditional four squeezed into the middle and Willian/Ramires playing wing-back.

I thought it was a very absorbing game, not at all boring. I have to say I find tic-tac possession games often very dull.

As an aside, has Cole converted to be a Moslem, with that new beard?

We will have experience, that's my point. We don't need everyone to be experienced, just look at Rooney in Euro 2004 or Owen at France 98.

Do you really think sending a teenage left back to the world cup is comparable to the selection of Rooney and Owen? Dear me, we know how to get carried away on here, don't we.

I thought it was a very absorbing game, not at all boring.

srsly? If most games was like that I wouldn't bother watching football anymore, I would switch to more exciting sport like golf or competitive needlepoint