You know what we're missing?

[coco]

I'll tell you what were missing, a slide rule passer, a Zola, a Gascoigne or a Bergkamp, just 3 EP examples of slide rule passers.

I cant think of any current player in the squad who is renowned for their slide rule passing ability. Sure the odd player gets it right now & again, & pulls off a nice pass or 2, but we have no consistent players in this department.

Someone with a little magic who can switch play quickly and make those defining match winning passes.

Weve got plenty of good shooters, but i think we are in need of some creative inspiration.

[german-blue]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

[boulderbollocks]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Now stop that!

Kaka maybe, but no way to the other two.

[Scott]

Don't be silly, Ballack is our playmaker.

[The Moos]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Kak?? Yes, good player.

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

Beckham? Perhaps. But only for his looks

[Guest]

i would play beckham on the right of our diamond in an instant.

i tell you, drogba would score TWICE as many.

even sheva might get some service then.

[Guest]

if where going for midfielders, nobody delivers a killer ball better then Kaka at this moment of time. but if where looking at attackers then Zlatan and Guddy come to mind as the best two at this moment of time in europe lee trundle wasnt bad in the past two seasons either 8)

[german-blue]

Kaka and Sheva would be good but we already have great midfielders so we should stop thinking about another one.

Apart from Beckham, he could solve our right back problems too. What an defender, he could be our new captain too, sack JT and sell him to Leeds !! :evil:

[Kev123]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Kak?? Yes, good player.

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

Beckham? Perhaps. But only for his looks

Ronaldinho isn't that weak at all. And he's had plenty of experience getting the rough treatment from overzealous defenders. (Remember when we played him, I lost count of how many times our players left a foot in when tackling him. Not that it's such a bad thing, you have to stop the f***er somehow)

[The Moos]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Kak?? Yes, good player.

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

Beckham? Perhaps. But only for his looks

Ronaldinho isn't that weak at all. And he's had plenty of experience getting the rough treatment from overzealous defenders. (Remember when we played him, I lost count of how many times our players left a foot in when tackling him. Not that it's such a bad thing, you have to stop the f***er somehow)

He has faced some strong defenders and he usually looses those battles. I think that he might have gotten a bit stronger but he's still a bit too lightweight.

I La Liga he can always throw himself to the ground if it gets too rough for him. If he does that in the EPL he won't be very popular.

Oh how I would love to have a vid with the best goodies from Ronnie vs Boulah - The Horse vs The Cannibal.

[g3.7]

the "ronaldinho too lightweight" thing is incredible nonsense.

it's as if every player in the premiership is made of iron- some people need a wake up call and realise which league it is that the likes of gamst pederson, benayoun, fabregas etc play in.

here's a clue, it begins with the letter "p" (and ends with "remiership").

and even then, if all the premiership players were made of iron, hands up who remembers JT bounce off him in the nou camp last season?

and stranger still, while dismissing a player who plays a lot of the time out wide (facing hardmen like gael clichy and steve "I swear I'm not gary neville" finnan) you can say yes to kaka, who plays more centrally for his club.

honestly, I'm not sure where some people even bother to apply logic...

[Kev123]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Kak?? Yes, good player.

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

Beckham? Perhaps. But only for his looks

Ronaldinho isn't that weak at all. And he's had plenty of experience getting the rough treatment from overzealous defenders. (Remember when we played him, I lost count of how many times our players left a foot in when tackling him. Not that it's such a bad thing, you have to stop the f***er somehow)

He has faced some strong defenders and he usually looses those battles.

There are plenty of strong defenders in spain, and europe who would disagree. Ayala for Valencia, Navarro for Athletico, and then we go on to Stam for AC Milan, there are many more who have met, and were given the run around by Ronnie. Not to mention our very own Boularouz on his second game. Personally I think Ronnie when playing at the top of his game is just about unstoppable using conventional (thus I mean legal) tactics

[The Moos]

the "ronaldinho too lightweight" thing is incredible nonsense.

it's as if every player in the premiership is made of iron- some people need a wake up call and realise which league it is that the likes of gamst pederson, benayoun, fabregas etc play in.

here's a clue, it begins with the letter "p" (and ends with "remiership").

and even then, if all the premiership players were made of iron, hands up who remembers JT bounce off him in the nou camp last season?

and stranger still, while dismissing a player who plays a lot of the time out wide (facing hardmen like gael clichy and steve "I swear I'm not gary neville" finnan) you can say yes to kaka, who plays more centrally for his club.

honestly, I'm not sure where some people even bother to apply logic...

Never seen such rubbish.

I've never said that every player is made of iron.

[g3.7]

good thread coco.

shevchenko is used to kaka and rui costa, not balls over the top from 40 yards.

[Guest]

good thread coco.

shevchenko is used to kaka and rui costa, not balls over the top from 40 yards.

uh ive seen sheva trap a ball down at the corner of the box lobbed from the other side of the pitch and in his own half...

he can take any ball, its not necessary to provide him a to foot pass, just a good pass..

we are not giving him a dogs scraps, let alone aything a striker would call decent service..

see when SWP was playing against villa the other day? ask yourself, how many time did we pass to him?

remember any?

no.

our midfield is weak now. weak weak weak.

[morris]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

lol - your joking of course. I hope so anyway.

[coco]

Lets sign Kaka and Ronaldinho then !! Or maybe Beckham ?

Ronaldinho? No. Okay player but too weak for the EPL.

lol - your joking of course. I hope so anyway.

They said Zola would be too weak for the prem.

[g3.7]

good thread coco.

shevchenko is used to kaka and rui costa, not balls over the top from 40 yards.

uh ive seen sheva trap a ball down at the corner of the box lobbed from the other side of the pitch and in his own half...

he can take any ball, its not necessary to provide him a to foot pass, just a good pass..

we are not giving him a dogs scraps, let alone aything a striker would call decent service..

see when SWP was playing against villa the other day? ask yourself, how many time did we pass to him?

remember any?

no.

our midfield is weak now. weak weak weak.

my point is, for the kind of striker sheva is (like crespo and owen), to get the most from them someone must be able to play them short passes to run onto- passes over long distances are naturally less incisive.

it doesn't mean the midfield is weak. we have 3 truly world class midfielders in ballack, lampard and makelele. ballack hasn't been at his best, he's been okay. we have essien, who will I'm sure prove himself a world class player for us for many years. lets say there are 4 then. none of them are exactly the type of player that provides the passes that a shevchenko wants more than anything else (though ballack is the closest). that type of player, is one that we do not have.

swp... i did not see the villa game, but from what i've seen, getting the ball to wide players is not a problem. ballack and lamps can do it in their sleep. it's not an inventive pass, just one that needs sound technique.

what needs to be done by the wide player is get into space to receive the ball. watching swp in his time here I've been amazed how often he doesn't actually get wide- it's simply making yourself available for the pass and he doesn't always do it. then there is the question of touch- to receive a diagonal pass you have to control the ball well- and swp hasn't done that often sadly.

[mad_mac]

I would take kaka and Ronnie in aheart beat. A lot of people think that the premierhsip os SOOO fast and SOOO strong, but a lot of it is people running aimlessly around and then lunging into tackles because they don't have the skill to do anything else.

I think Ronaldinho would take the p**s out of some of the teams in the premiership, adn he certainly brings some exctiement to teh game. However, we have Joe Cole...okay not for this season, but we wouldn't be able to play ronnie in the CL this season anyway, nor Kaka. But kaka would be great too.

Hypothetically, if you could either 1) keep Essien, Lamps and Diarra and bring in Kaka and Ronnie, would you

or 2) would you keep maka and ballack and hope that we come good?

Scott

[g3.7]

to me, a midfield with both essien and another defensive midfielder, is too defensive- generally speaking. of course there are times when we should protect a lead or in tough away games then great, I'm all for it.

in fact, I mean a midfield with lampard, and two defensive players in the midfield is too defensive. lamps comfortably does enough work not to need two defensive players, and also doesn't (can't) create enough to be viewed as a purely attacking player. most of his assists are set peices, I'm sure.

obviously essien and lamps will be here for a good few years yet- I think the next 4 at least. around those two I think if we are to continue with 3 (or more) central midfielders then at least one must be a purely attacking midfielder.

I don't doubt ballack will improve, and I would be horrified to see maka removed from the squad just yet... I thought we'd see ballack, lamps and one from maka and essien a lot more this season, rather than all four (so we could still have the wide players), but with all 4 what we have is a system built for a kind of player we don't have.

[TomP]

And the slide-rule passer / creative / something-out-of-nothing player we are missing in our midfield is not Ronaldinho or Kaka.

It is ............. Joe Cole.

People forget pretty quickly how much of an influential player he became last season.

[The Moos]

And the slide-rule passer / creative / something-out-of-nothing player we are missing in our midfield is not Ronaldinho or Kaka.

It is ............. Joe Cole.

People forget pretty quickly how much of an influential player he became last season.

Too bad he won't be that kind of player any more this season :cry:

[ethicalstrategy]

It is ............. Joe Cole.

People forget pretty quickly how much of an influential player he became last season.

He did, but not as a midfielder.

[BLUENUT]

I'll tell you what were missing, a slide rule passer, a Zola, a Gascoigne or a Bergkamp, just 3 EP examples of slide rule passers.

I cant think of any current player in the squad who is renowned for their slide rule passing ability. Sure the odd player gets it right now & again, & pulls off a nice pass or 2, but we have no consistent players in this department.

Someone with a little magic who can switch play quickly and make those defining match winning passes.

Weve got plenty of good shooters, but i think we are in need of some creative inspiration.

We sold Gudjohnson in the summer. He'd fit this role. Anyone who argue's (off the top of my head) see the pass for Bridge at Highbury, and the game at Charlton where we scored 4 goals and he had a hand in everone of 'em.

Still, I'm glad he was replaced with Ballack

[coco]

We sold Gudjohnson in the summer. He'd fit this role. Anyone who argue's (off the top of my head) see the pass for Bridge at Highbury, and the game at Charlton where we scored 4 goals and he had a hand in everone of 'em.

Still, I'm glad he was replaced with Ballack

Yeah Guddy was best at those short clynical passes, shame we didnt get a chance to see him play with Sheva. :cry: We could have played a forward diamond of Guddy Drogba & Sheva, with Guddy doing all the deep work.

If Jose stays i can see Deco filling this role for us next season, minus the theatrics of course. Possibly a straight swap for Sheva, both the same age, you read it here first.