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I think this idea that a centre half has to be, for want of a better way of describing it, a " big lump" is part of the endemic problem with the English game. Unfortunately our "style" of football in this country always seems to require that we play with a big lump of a target man up front and two big lumps at the back. It begs the question whether the likes of Canavarro (Italy) or Puyol (Spain) would ever have cut it in League 2!

CP Gull wrote:I think this idea that a centre half has to be, for want of a better way of describing it, a " big lump" is part of the endemic problem with the English game. Unfortunately our "style" of football in this country always seems to require that we play with a big lump of a target man up front and two big lumps at the back. It begs the question whether the likes of Canavarro (Italy) or Puyol (Spain) would ever have cut it in League 2!

Granted - but we have a big lump in Downes who can take the usual big lump striker of the opposition. Do we need another big CB as how many teams will have two big strikers? Maybe a tidy player with good distribution who also reads the game well (second ball is all important remember) is the way to go?

No, I don't think we do.

As others have suggested, most teams play with one target man and a nippy striker type combination, so why do we need a 6 footer so long as Downesy takes care of the other.

The only area that would concern me is at set pieces, corners etc as it is certainly useful to have height to defend these but hopefully with the likes of Harding and maybe one or two other additions to the squad we can cover Cooper's lack of height.

also i think we have a good up and coming centre half in young mackenzie. and the only way he can gain experience is to play.

CP Gull wrote:I think this idea that a centre half has to be, for want of a better way of describing it, a " big lump" is part of the endemic problem with the English game. Unfortunately our "style" of football in this country always seems to require that we play with a big lump of a target man up front and two big lumps at the back. It begs the question whether the likes of Canavarro (Italy) or Puyol (Spain) would ever have cut it in League 2!

Well said CP. Just one of the reasons why I do not follow England as maybe an Englishman should ! If we produced quality players with technique rather than a bunch of athletic bruisers maybe England might actually get close to winning a tournament. It's only 47 years since England won their only honour. The lessons are never learned !!

England invented the bloody game but cant now play it !!


Surprisingly as Dutchgull I follow Holland !! I know that they have never won a World cup (Just one Euro Championship !) but they have reached the final three times and have produced such quality players as Cruyff, Neeskens Gullitt,Bergkamp Van Persie and from such a small country of 16 million people they must be doing something right to produce such talent.

Why can't England do likewise ??

Is it that the young players at our clubs especially at Premiership level get paid such ridiculous sums of money that they think that they have "made it" and don't work at their game as they should ?

Whatever the reasons we are not producing the quality that is needed. Please don't say its too many foreigners in our game as just look at the number of non Germans in the Bundesliga and Germany still produce great players !! And Bayern Munich did win the Champions league this year but with the aid of a Dutchman (Robben)scoring the winner !!

:~D :~D

England's problem has been scouting. Speaking to a friend of mine who used to play for Staines and then joined Palace as a kid before a double leg break ended things, he says that the scouts would always pick the tallest and or fastest players regardless of skill or ability.

Which is why players like Agbonlahor are in the Prem when they have bags of pace but limited footballing ability.. Our system needs a whole revamp.

There's a total difference though about the 'English mentality' in terms of selecting an England side to compete against Spain than picking a centre half to play in Division 4 at Accrington.

Anyone that's read any of my posts will know how I feel about the setup over here, how much i hate the Premiership and everything it stands for, how much I hate the players in it etc

Just because Cooper isn't 6ft 5 wouldn't put me off him, what would put me off him is if we've got a limited budget and we need a proper centre back, not a bits and pieces player. This is not a position where we can have a fill in for 46 games. You have to have specialists with someone like Cooper as your back up for 5-10 games.

I am actually slightly concerned about the lack of 2 massive players in our starting XI with options at a premium now. I can sense a couple of panic signings coming, Cooper probs being one of them.

I see that according to livescore, city's goalkeeper has scored a goal againt Salisbury city in the 6th minute in tonight's game. It was not a goal in the last seconds of the game which makes it kind of strange. Any ideas?