Eggy McMuffin

Yeah, I think that's the way we have to do it. Actually lets look at the second XI, the direct replacements for each position. Turnbull Hutchinson Ivanovic Bruma Ferreira Mikel Matic Kakuta Kalou-----------------------Zhirkov Anelka Now obviously not world beaters, but they don't have to be, they are, after all back ups. Ivan can cover right back too if Hutch isn't ready, or good enough for the opposition. Zhirkov can play left back too, we could have Benayoun covering the centre if Kakuta can't cut it, needs a rest, or simply isn't ready. We've even got Studge, Borini, Bertrand, Mancienne, Van Aanholt, Di Santo, and Jack Cork who could step up. Not to mention that Carvalho hasn't actually left yet, and is by no means certain to, so we could have a bit more strength at the back. If we sign more than one more player, I think that only one of them will be a big name, anyone else will be a Benayoun style squad player signing, possibly at left back as Ferreira may well be off. Mikstaw - I personally think that Ivan could well lose his place in the first team to Bosingwa at the start of the season, but I could of course be wrong. He had a fantastic season, but I think Ancelotti prefers him to Ivan.

I'm sure he could keep Benayoun out of the starting line up (becoming more of an inside right, than a winger), but that's assuming we buy both him and Schweinsteiger. I only think we'll make one more signing after Benayoun. That's based on nothing more than a hunch, mind you, but it's just what I'm starting to think.

I don't think it was him shying away. I've had a feeling all along that against a good holding midfield player like Mascherano, he'd come up short. When Germany tried to break, a few times it went to Oezil and he just lost the ball trying a trick to get past someone when it just wasn't necessary. He may well learn that in time, as it is very much a maturity thing, however I just don't think he's as good as people are making him out to be. In fact, I don't think he's the sort of player we need right now, either. Benayoun/Kakuta can play at the tip of the diamond if we go that way, or even on the right if we go 4-3-3. A more direct replacement in the centre of midfield where Ballack/Belletti used to play, such as Schweinsteiger, might be a better option. We might have to change the shape slightly though. Cech Bosingwa Alex Terry Cole Essien Schweinsteiger Lampard Benayoun---------------------------------Malouda Drogba Would be quite effective in my eyes. Bring Kalou in for Malouda for something different, or Kakuta or Zhirkov too. Plenty of options with that side, Mikel can come on, Matic can come on, Benayoun could play in the centre if Lampard gets injured, or Kakuta could. Ok, that's not going to happen, but still... :P

I didn't think Oezil was particularly good... he didn't really do all that much until after Argentina had already started to fall apart. I think it was Schweinsteiger and Khedira's silencing of Messi which really impressed me... they didn't just silence him, they attacked on the back of it as well. Essien and Schweinsteiger might be an even better combination than that though...

He already has a pro contract, Billy is a full back I think.

Messi and Mascherano are different players these days. :P I said Schweinsteiger tracking Messi, Masch tracking Oezil, and possibly Khedira unless there's a change of formation. Edit - I just read it through again, I didn't really make it too explicit, did I? The first two paragraphs are about Oezil, the man of the topic.

I know you're all excited by how he played against England, but we haven't seen him play against a dedicated holding midfielder yet... well, not a good one anyway. Coming up against Mascherano is going to be a big test for him and one, I'm afraid I don't expect him to shine in. He could well prove me wrong, mind, however I don't expect him to have anywhere near the space he had against England and I don't think he has the upper body strength to deal with a type of player he'd have to play against regularly in the Premiership. His pace is useful, but in a tight midfield, where there's no space to use it, it doesn't provide an advantage. He has some tricks which may get him out of trouble, but against a good defender they may not be as effective... it'll be an interesting test for him... although Argentina may just leave Mascherano on his own to deal with Khedira and Oezil, which would give him enough space to exploit. Another interesting match up in that game will be Messi and Schweinsteiger... Messi will probably get a hat-trick. :P

PigScaffolding - To play deep and add some pace and dynamism to our midfield, even when Essien is out. Aguero - To play in the inside right position, in our 4-3-3. Give us an extra spark, and possibly even more goals than we're getting from Kalou/Anelka in that position. The rest to be filled by youngsters coming through.

I'm fairly sure that Baines was awful, and I mean truly out of his depth whenever he's played for England. I don't think that he's really going to get much of a chance to change that either with Cole still ahead of him until probably the Euros. Adam Johnson I left out because I think Young and Milner are better wingers, although that may well change, and I don't rate Agbonlahor really. Wilshere I think will be brilliant, and I don't think it could be described as having to rely on him. He's got fantastic technique and vision, which is something England lack at the moment. That side would probably keep the ball a fair bit better than the current one... even now.

I've been trying to look for an idea of the side in 2014. The best I can think of... feel free to improve it. Hart Johnson Rodwell Shawcross Bertrand Cattermole Huddlestone Milner----- Wilshere ----- Young Rooney Or something like that is the best I can come up with. Mancienne possibly as well, god knows, really. It doesn't seem all that inspiring to me. Unless some more youngsters show lots of promise, I don't think there's a world cup winning side there... not even a quarter finals side, either.

Isn't Drew his last name? His wife's last name being Honey, and the kid being Tyger Honey-Drew?

Ben Dover's son is the eldest in Outnumbered. Trufax.

My boss works out of Bill Kenwright's London office, and he let it slip that, we're signing Phil Neville for Bosingwa and £19m.

I agree with almost all of that. If we go with the 4-3-3, we would need either Aguero, or Silva to play on the right (ok, we could have anyone who could play there, but they're my preferences :blush: ). If we go with the diamond, I think we'd need a player for the tip of the diamond (Silva) AND a player up front (Aguero? :blush: ). Heavy amount of bias there, but I don't care. :D

Mata has taken over on the left wing, with Silva moved inside to a position behind Villa. He's more of an attacking midfield playmaker type, these days, and has played on the right on occasion too.

I like Mata, but he always strikes me as more of a finisher than a provider, and I think it's the provider we need most of all, considering we have Anelka, Drogba and Lampard scoring goals, with only really Malouda and possibly Essien and the fullbacks as a primarily creative force... I know Lampard Drogba and Anelka do create a decent amount, but their main attribute and role is scoring. Navas would be a good signing, but his homesickness would make it unworkable. Silva would be the best of the three, and I'd love to see him in a Chelsea shirt, both him and Aguero would make the disappointing Benayoun signing (assuming it happens as it's just paper talk right now), perfectly acceptable (again assuming Deco makes way to make room for a youngster to really shine and play a good number of games, or a few to play a couple of games. I have no idea where I was going with this, lots on my mind, and watching the Greece vs Nigeria game.

The North Korean Striker could do with a move to a European side, not quite Chelsea level, mind, but a side like Fulham or Everton he could do very well at.

I think that's what they tried, but it didn't have the live game. Edit - I must admit, I wouldn't put it past him to miss an obvious link though.

Open Source is basically a geek thing. Us geeks want to change everything we can, and feel in control of our computers and everything they do, the same goes for phones. Open source means we have the means to do that. Apple and Microsoft won't.

The TV at work couldn't pick up BBC1 to watch the Spain game, so I got my HTC Tattoo (bottom of the range of HTC Android phones), and went on the BBC game and streamed it perfectly. My mate with his Iphone couldn't as it can't do Flash, and my other mate with his Blackberry couldn't stream it as it wasn't quick enough. Go HTC, go Android, go open source. It means you can edit the apps any way you want to. Porn apps are the way forward :D The new iphone does look a good phone, but the way apple reacted to the leak, was despicable, midnight raids on the guy's house and that was AFTER he gave it back to them.

I'm 21, but I'm cool enough to not need a thing like this. I'm quite happy with my HTC Tattoo (Android open source OS), PC (running Ubuntu [an open source linux flavour]) and my PS3 (not open source, but I can put I may put linux on there soon). I like open source, I dislike companies who take open source stuff and sell it... apple for example, OS X is based on the same basic Unix kernel as FreeBSD, with a different interface lumped on... most people could do that themselves, in fact, some people have and I believe you can now get the KDE (a pretty accurate copy of OS X) on your DesktopBSD system if you really wanted to. The reason macs are more reliable than Windows PCs is just because they stuck more closely to the Unix kernel... by which I mean, changing next to nothing, and they use their own hardware, so there will never be any driver conflicts. Fantastic... except you can't upgrade it... well, you can, you just have to use their overpriced hardware. It's that closed, which simply isn't good. I would much rather spend my £500/£700 on a high spec PC, and use my old one as a server... probably doing it all on open source software... unless I get football manager, but that's worth it. :P

When Serbia actually started to press forward, after the sending off, they did look as good as I was expecting them to be, but for some reason they couldn't do it with 11 men on the pitch. Hopefully they beat Germany and still get through, I want to see them do well this year. I think a 4-5-1 would have suited them more though, they just seemed to lack presence in midfield, and their strikers lacked movement. I'm not all that excited by the way they played, I want to see them improve. Can't be arsed watching Germany vs Australia, which means it'll be a good game, but I'm gonna go kill some virtual people to deal with my anger issues.

By joining it? :P

Hell yes.* *My enthusiasm may be entirely based upon Football Manager exploits.