Blanc out....

maybe phil will be recalled and silvestre will play CH.

this is great opportunity for JOS to lead the defence.. or Brown, if he keeps his CH spot.

and for those of you Blanc slaggers, we'll see how our defence without Blanc holds up against a team that put 3 past poo shit just 2 weeks ago.
 
im slightly worried by this. The inexperience of Brown/OShea showed against Newcastle when Blanc went off. Particularly against the experienced Shearer who won every ball.

theyre both quality defenders no doubt, but the lack of experience as a unit & as individuals could be a factor that Basle could find a weakness in.

The problem is, when Blancs not there, the next person with the most experience is Gary Neville.
 
Oh, well, what a pity :D

But maybe some of our most experienced players are missing as well. Our defence tower Murat Yakin might be missing and surely "Magic Ergic" will so too (he's the one who scored against Valencia).
 
Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>

i thought you were one? :confused: </strong><hr></blockquote>

That was devlish I think - easy to confuse the two admittedly.
 
From what I've seen of Basel they don't have strength in the air, which is probably good as O'Shea and Brown should be a good match on the ground.
 
Well I think we will miss Blanc not because he is able to give us that extra something to the team but because we seriously lack of experience.

That is why I had always been in favour of bringing an EXPERIENCED World Class defender with the PACE needed.

My fears had been confirmed, we will now have to play with two very promising youngsters at the back
 
I'm not worried about our centre backs, more worried about Barthez and Phil! <img src="graemlins/nervous.gif" border="0" alt="[Nervous]" />
 
Originally posted by devilish:
<strong>My fears had been confirmed, we will now have to play with two very promising youngsters at the back</strong><hr></blockquote>

And if we'd done as you wish and brought an experienced pacy centerhalf instead of Blanc, and he was injured along with Rio, we'd still be with Wes and O'Shea...
 
Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>
ahhhhh my mistake.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Not really, his mention of Blanc is hardly full of praise:

"...the sale of Stam and his replacement Laurent Blanc and Veron not being able to adapt to the English game. All because of Sir Alex Ferguson's failed vision of today's game."

Unless you think saying SAF lacks vision because he plays Blanc is not slagging Blanc, that is.
 
Originally posted by golden_blunder:
<strong>im slightly worried by this. The inexperience of Brown/OShea showed against Newcastle when Blanc went off.</strong><hr></blockquote>

An experienced Blanc was replaced by youngster Roche. I share your concern but this is as good a game as any other to have O'Shea and Brown. In fact, probably the best one to do that as Basle rely on pace.

I would not try out Micky as CB, we lose an attacking weapon and he is no more solid than Brown/O'Shea as CB.

I'm more worried about the midfield to be honest, they have some real battlers there and a skillful "roamer".

Good to hear Ergic will be missing, he is 20-25% of their potential.
 
Originally posted by antohan:
<strong>

I'm more worried about the midfield to be honest, they have some real battlers there and a skillful "roamer".

</strong><hr></blockquote>

I agree. If we win the battle in midfield and can give our back four a decent level of protection, I think Wes and JOS will be fine.
 
well done to Mickey Silvestre, we were starting to lose that little battle till he was moved across to the middle. Another good game from the frenchman. Hurry up and get him signed up!
 
Originally posted by golden_blunder:
<strong>well done to Mickey Silvestre, we were starting to lose that little battle till he was moved across to the middle. Another good game from the frenchman. Hurry up and get him signed up!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah, Mickey's been outstanding in the last two matches. I thought that turned out to be a really good tactical move on Fergie's part in switching JOS and Mickey. Mickey's pace saved us a couple of times in that second half.

Hopefully, they'll sort out his contract soon.