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O Fenomeno

By O Fenomeno
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Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins

PARDON?  

Drift
Drift

Paolo*

Agony
Agony

Lol @ the Smalling hype. He should be our 4th choice CB next season.

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Carragher...

Our league needs top-class defenders

The game of the week in the Champions League came when Madrid’s finest sides went to war at the Vicente Calderon.

I have heard it said that the 0-0 draw was boring and the lack of goals made it dull but, in my view, nothing could have been further from the truth. It was an absorbing contest, as good a 0-0 as you could wish to see, and it showed why English clubs are struggling to make an impact in the competition.

There will be a clamour this summer for our top sides to buy more and more exciting, attacking players but the displays of Atletico pair Miranda and Diego Godin and Real’s Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane showed the kind of additions we should be making.

Ramos gets criticised in England for at times being rash but he is a top-class defender — Xabi Alonso emphasised that point on these pages when we spoke last November — and has been at the top for years, while Varane is a Rolls-Royce who could become the best in the world.

Miranda has attracted the attention of Chelsea and Manchester United and it is easy to see why, but my favourite is Godin, a player who would have no qualms about tackling his grandmother to keep a clean sheet. He plays with that pure South American grit and steel.

English clubs simply don’t have defenders who are willing to do that, perhaps with the exception of John Terry, and the statistics from our representatives in the Champions League this season prove that point emphatically.

Liverpool, for instance, never kept a clean sheet in six matches in the group stages. Yes, they were in the same group as Real Madrid but failing to shut out FC Ludogorets and Basel over four matches was the reason they fell at the first hurdle.In the last 16, meanwhile, the numbers were just as damning. Chelsea couldn’t contain Paris Saint-Germain over two matches, conceding at both the Parc des Princes and Stamford Bridge, while Manchester City were easily breached twice by Barcelona when tumbling out.

Arsenal did keep a clean sheet in Monaco but by then the damage had been done. How could they expect to progress after letting three in at the Emirates? The tie was effectively finished by their inability to keep the back door closed at home. When English clubs thrived in Europe between 2005-2009, it was because we were defensively solid. The Champions League is the best competition with the best players, so scoring goals shouldn’t be easy.

With the new television deal about to kick in, we are going to hear stories about Gareth Bale returning and bids lined up for Paul Pogba and Marco Reus. Of course, they would be welcome additions.

Nothing, though, would excite me more than the arrival of Varane or Godin.

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Lol why you crying I hadn't finished splitting topics but i feel to leave it like that now.

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Top 5 in the league?

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Pmsl these last two seasons has had a serious effect on these united fans mental well being, thats the kinda comment we would normally attribute to a liverpool fan

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Come off what? 

 

Terry, Cahill & Zouma are all better defenders than Smalling.

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