DISQUS

I bought one of the replica Champions League balls a couple of years ago. Definitely well made and great for kickarounds but it eventually wore out after a couple seasons of abuse. The one I had
was the plain and simple old black and white star-paneled style.

I have to say I much prefer that to the coloration of this ball. The old black-and-white ones are almost a novelty now as you rarely see a ball that doesn't have some sort of bright color on it these days. Now I'm just sounding old...next thing you know I'll be suggesting they bring back the old leather balls that soaked up water like a sponge :)

Michael, I like your speculation on the matchups but I do have to question you on one point and please don't take this as a personal attack, I'm just raising a point for discussion.

You seem to have flip-flopped on Rafa Benitez. It was just last month that you said he should be fired from Liverpool? If he is the "most tactically sound manager in Europe", why would Liverpool want to fire him?

In a post last month (http://www.epltalk.com/gerrard-and-carragher-co...) you wrote: "I have criticized Rafa Benitez in the past and my position that he should be fired this summer (or resign) still stands."

What has changed your mind about Rafa since then?

From what I've read Opta has multiple spotters at each match that compile their statistics. Most sports stats services use a similar system where people are assigned to track specific things during the match and focus solely on those things.

You don't have a situation where one person is trying to track passes, tackles, shots etc for both sides in an entire match. That would be a near impossible task for one person.

Thank goodness they've downed down the yellow-highlighter shirts. The current ones awful!

I like the new Chelsea home shirt...the collar gives it a bit of retro flair to it.

Good post. I was a bit surprised this past summer when it looked like Arsenal might let Flamini go. I thought he was a useful defensive midfielder and they don't exactly have a surplus of those on hand. The fact that he has kept Gilberto on the bench, like dragonki2012 says, shows that he is worth hanging onto.

Arsenal were fully deserving of their win over Milan and the Flamini-Fabregas pairing certainly played a big part in that.

The other thing I noticed was that Sagna's pace was able to neutralize the wide play of Kaka and others from Milan who attempted to go down the attacking left-flank (defensive right side). I've probably become a broken record on this but Sagna was worth every penny Wenger and co. paid for him. One of the best "value" buys of the summer I'd say.

Gaffer,

Glad to hear you have internet and TV at this new hospital. It'll help the time pass as you say. I hope you get better soon.

I won't really be posting this week either as I have my father and wife to take care of this week. Both had surgery this week but I should be back next week.

Take care!

Well...the kits were bloody awful for sure ! :) Seriously though, the football on display did not look vastly inferior to what's played today. That Everton side of the mid-80s looked as complete and capable of either griding it out or playing "liquid football" as any team in the Prem today. I'll have to track down some DVDs or VHS tapes of matches at some point and do a full comparison.

Whoops...you're right. I had been looking at the 30-man roster. Swap out Davies for Lescott or Upson.

Gerrard makes sense for this friendly as he is likely to be one of the few veterans of the national team to get a start.

Over the long haul, I don't know if he'd be the best player to be captain. He has done a good job for Liverpool as captain so there'd be little risk for Capello in naming him captain.

For me, you want someone that is good with the media as well as a good on-field communicator. The player should also lead by example and certainly when he plays for Liverpool Gerrard tends to rise to the occasion in big games. He has not done that yet for England and though today's match is not a "big" game, it will be interesting to see how he reacts to being the captain.

The timing of this post is uncanny. It was just yesterday afternoon that I was thinking that I had not heard from the Gaffer nor seen a post in several days. At the time I thought: "I sure hope he has not had a reoccurance of his respiratory problem" but quickly brushed it away and decided that he was just busy with life.

I'm really sorry to hear that the Gaffer is in the hospital but I know he will get well soon and be back with some kick-ass interviews for the podcast.

I'm sending good thoughts out to the Gaffer and his family. Here's hoping for a quick and full recovery!

About the Independent: "The design of the site looks like it’s something from the pre-Internet"

Yes and thank goodness. It's the cleanest and most readable of the ones you list. They keep the article to the left and the adverts are less intrusive unlike some of the other sites that stuff ads right into the middle of the article as well as on all four sides.

If Redknapp leaves Pompey it won't be because of the challenge of the job or the glory in it. He'll be moving because his pay packet has gone up. From a career standpoint I can't see why he'd do it.

He's got a team on the rise and challenging for a European spot and has an owner that has been willing to invest in buying players. He'd be starting all over at Newcastle without really having finished the job at Portsmouth.

Try watching the tackle again. Neville certainly did not make a meal out of it.

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/1673324

I think if you looked at some of the other clubs they'll have similar 'depth' but they are not doing as good a job at getting them first-team expreience, even if it is in the so-called "lesser" games.

As for Barazite, I think he typically likes to play "in the hole" like Berkamp used to do...essentially a shadow striker.

They also have a couple of other prospects that didn't get a mention here. Håvard Nordtveit is a young Norwegian defender that they picked up in the summer. He was captain of Arsenal's reserve squad for part of this season...not sure if he still is or not . A couple of prospects are out on loan as well...Jay Simpson is at Millwall and Vincent van den Berg is on loan to Go Ahead Eagles of the Dutch Second Division.

In one sense it is quite sad the way some of these top teams hoard young talent. I don't think the reserve system is necessarily the best way for them to develop. I guess they look at it like stocks...even if they don't intend to keep the player, they hope they can turn a profit on reselling them later.

Ahh...OK. I better understand your rationale now.

I don't agree with your choice for worst manager.

I think it should go to someone like Lawrie Sanchez or Sammy Lee. Lee had Bolton dead last before Megson took over. Now with the same group of players, they are climbing their way back up the table. You could excuse Lee by saying he inherited a team and philosophy from Allardyce but Megson has gone back to what works with that group of players and that's good management. Getting the most out of what you have.

Sanchez inherited an average squad from Chris Coleman, was given money to improve it and has actually taken the club a step backwards it seems. Sanchez spent £26.5 million in the summer window on 12 players, but could not get them to gel as a team. He was given half a season and it'll be interesting to see if Hodgson can do any better.

I do think Allardyce deserves a bit of time before he's completely relegated to the scrap heap. It takes a while to overhaul a team. He has spent money over the summer but at least Newcastle are sitting 11th. January is going to be tough for them as they play ManUtd and Arsenal and will be without Abdoulaye Faye, Habib Beye, Geremi and Obafemi Martins.

I like the new look. Nice and clean. The images in the banner need to be more relevant. As cute as a dog sniffing around in a field is, I'd rather see something football related :)