Topics

1

Cricket Anyone / What a waste

« on: July 02, 2007, 08:24:28 AM »

With Lara now retired, over the last 10 West Indian innings Chanderpaul has been either not out or has had to give his wicket away because he was batting with the tail. Chanderpaul is in the form of his life and it is being wasted with him batting at 5 because he has no partners to bat with. He should move up the order.

2

Cricket Anyone / What a joke- but im not laughing

« on: June 27, 2007, 02:31:30 AM »

Chris Gayle's article attacking the WICB was actually approved by Findlay the team manager before it was published. Then after it was published Findlay and the WICB attacks Chris Gayle for his outburst. The WICB is a disgrace. Its a good thing Ramnarine is there to show them up bad. Ramnarine has taken them to arbitration court 5 times for the WIPA and the WIPA and Ramnarine have won 5 out of 5. I am telling you the WICB are immune to embarrasement.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/current/story/299742.html

3

Cricket Anyone / Hopefully one good thing will happen

« on: June 19, 2007, 10:51:01 AM »

After that shambles coach David Moores will hopefully have his contract terminated and we will get a coach that might recognise that spin plays an important part in todays game of cricket. Then maybe Mohammed and Jagernauth might get a look in.

4

Cricket Anyone / I am very dissapointed in Daren Ganga

« on: June 18, 2007, 10:56:20 AM »

After all the faith i have shown in Daren Ganga as a captain i feel very let down by him moving down to 3 and passing the buck onto Devon Smith to open. That is not what i expect from a leader especially in the middle of a test match. To be honest just because of what he has done today he would no longer be my choice of captain. I cannot accept the message he has sent out to the rest of our dressing room and the opposition by moving down to number 3 in the middle of a test match.

Although i feel it is in the best interests of the team for him to open i dont mind so much the fact that he was batting at 3 but the manner in which he ended up batting at 3. The captain started the match as an opener, got out first ball of the match, and then decided instead of toughing it out and being strong mentally and not showing any signs of weakness to the opposition by coming out to open second time round, he decided to drop down the order in the second innings and let Devon Smith open instead. That was sure to have given England a lift as they had our captain running scared. I didnt expect this from Daren Ganga and is something that i was unable to take into account when i wanted him as captain of West Indies. After seeing the events of today i am sorry to say Daren Ganga is no longer my choice as captain of the West Indies.

5

Cricket Anyone / See what i mean about Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel

« on: June 07, 2007, 02:13:22 PM »

A couple of weeks ago i said the only two umpires i have confidence in are Taufel and Dar. Dar has proved today why i said this. He is not fraid to give the traditional white mans countries (England) + big money countries (India) out when they play West Indies. The Strauss and Collingwood lbw shouts would not have been given out had Dar not been umpiring for them. Only Taufel may have given them out other than Dar. If Dar was not umpiring England would probably been 350/4 at the end of the day instead of 280/7. This is the difference that umpires favouritism makes.

This is why i cannot wait for the tv appeals system to come in, but i have a feeling the ICC will scrap it when they realise they will not be able to control the results of certain matches when certain teams are playing.

6

Cricket Anyone / SARWAN IS THE NEW CAPTAIN

« on: April 29, 2007, 03:46:34 PM »

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/current/story/292515.html

Sarwan has been placed on performance targets which means it should not be long before Ganga or Joseph get the captaincy.

With West Indies cricket in the state it is in at the moment, i think it is grossly unfair to put performance targets on the new captain, even though i feel Ganga is the best suited for the job. It is gonna take time to rebuild this team whoever is captain.

7

Cricket Anyone / Some great news if its true

« on: April 24, 2007, 05:33:05 AM »

"The West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] has accepted with regret the resignation of coach, Bennett King," said a WICB statement. "Mr King, in his resignation, offered to remain in office until May 31 to facilitate the establishment of the regional cricket academy. Mr King was responsible for establishing and managing the Australian academy and developed the basic plan for a WICB academy structure.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/current/story/291972.html

Finally an academy may get put in place. If this really happens then it will be one of the best things to ever happen to West Indian cricket. But i am sceptical- is this just too good to be true?

8

Cricket Anyone / The new permutation

« on: April 10, 2007, 04:16:27 PM »

If South Africa lose to both England and New Zealand, regardless of any other results West Indies will need to do roughly this to qualify-

1) Roughly bowl out or restrict Bangladesh for 200 and chase it in 20 overs

2) Roughly bowl out or restrict England for 220 and chase it in 30 overs

West Indies, England/Bangladesh and South Africa would all end up on 6 points so it would come down to net run rate and if WI complete the above 2 scenarios WI would be likely go through.

I know its a long shot but while we are still mathematically in the World Cup it dont make sense to f**k about in those games. They might as well play to go through. Play 4 specialist bowlers to bowl the sides out and play 7 batsman who you feel can score at those rates.

We need to bowl 2nd in both games to have any chance of doing this. It is likely that Bangladesh will want to bat 1st anyway. Im not sure what England would do if it came down to scenario 2 on the last day so it might be down to the toss of a coin.

Allyuh doh tink i is a mad man, i know is a long shot but WI might as well fire it.

9

Cricket Anyone / For the future players of our beloved game

« on: April 06, 2007, 09:37:17 AM »

In a previous topic i put out a few ideas and recieved a few back. Ive summarised what i feel are the essentials for a system for the future players of our game to come through.

Academy- Those players good enough to make it into West Indies U-15 and U-19 squads can go through the 'x's West Indies Academy' given the name x of whoever wants to fund it for example Stanford if he actually cares about improving West Indies cricket rather than getting publicity and pats on the back. Dont get me wrong his money is helping West Indian cricket but i fear it has not been used in the best way. The academy will be where young players get one to one tuition from experts (coaches, ex players, sports psychologists) on their techniques, professionalilsm, mental side of the game, media handling etc.

First Class System- Increase the length so it is not so short. More games need to be played so players have a better chance of showing their worth and getting into some form and rhythm. It needs to be played on good quality surfaces with pace and good bounce that give both batsmen and bowlers a fair chance.

Rewarding Good Performances- Players who perform the best in first class cricket for good consistent performances over a span of 2 years will be rewarded with an overseas contract. It will increase competition in first class cricket and also players will stop being picked after mediocre performances.

Overseas Experience- Best performers in first class cricket will get a contract with an English club for a season to improve their professionialsm, mental and tactical sides of their game in real game situations in a foreign land and foreign climate. Once they have been through this final test then they should be available for selection for West Indies.

Once these 4 criteria have been met i believe we will start to produce more players who are better prepared for the challenges of international cricket. Some stages can be implemented faster than others but i believe all 4 are critical if we want to produce players capable of getting us back to being a force in world cricket again.

10

Cricket Anyone / My plan to start turning West Indian cricket around

« on: April 03, 2007, 03:50:42 AM »

I know you guys will not like it but we have to stick with the same team and il explain why. If we drop any of the current team and bring in young replacements like Pollard, Simmons, Barath it will ruin those youngsters careers because they are just not ready for it. We have to stick with the current even if it means losing every game for the next 5 years, if in the 6th year we start winning. I will tell you how that may start happening.

Guys like Bravo, Samuels, Dwayne Smith and Ramdin were put into the international arena after showing a few glimpses of quality for one or two years in first class cricket. They made their test debuts at the age of 20, 19, 21 and 20. Although they were in the side on merit by throwing them all in before they had actually learnt how to make big 100s and consistent run scoring i beleive their careers have been damaged before they should have even started and i dont want this to happen to our next batch of promising youngsters. Lets face it we may have poors systems but out under 19s has consistently produced quality players at that age level. We do have something to work with. I would like to see youth systems and first class systems improve but that is another story for another day.

So this is why i want us to stick with the current players even if we keep losing. I know in the short term whatever we do and whoever we select we will still lose to the top teams thats why i am taking a long term view. Guys like Pollard, Simmons and Barath need to score big consistent runs for at least 2 years in our first class game, and then once they have done that, they need to be sent down to England to play a year of club cricket and if they do well there they may even get a county contract for a year to hone their skills mentaly, physically and tactically. Once they have been though this process only then should they be put into the West Indies team. So slowly but surely we will start to see the improvements even if we do not see any out on the pitch for the next 5 years. Guys we have been going around in circles for the last 5-10 years, if we keep dropping players and calling up youngsters before they are fully ready we will continue to go around in circles.

11

Cricket Anyone / Name youre 15 man world cup squad

« on: January 29, 2007, 02:57:16 PM »

The ICC deadline is soon approaching to name the world cup squads, lets help out the selectors

1. Gayle
2. Chanderpaul
3. Sarwan
4. Samuels
5. Lara
6. Bravo
7. Dwayne Smith
8. Baugh (wk)
9. Bradshaw
10. Taylor
11. Collymore
12. Ramdin (wk)- back up wicket keeper
13. Pollard- back up middle order batsman or possible first choice replacement for Dwayne Smith
14. Devon Smith- back up opener for the injury prone Chanderpaul
15. Powell- back up fast bowler

12

Cricket Anyone / 'It's about time we have a steady World Cup squad'

« on: December 18, 2006, 11:27:52 AM »

West Indies in Pakistan 2006-07

'It's about time we have a steady World Cup squad'

Chris Gayle

December 18, 2006


 
Gayle: Pakistan was disappointing for me. No excuses, it was a good experience © Getty Images
 
 


Well this is the grand finale. It has been a long time on the road and it comes to an end as all things must come to an end. It's been a long, hard fight on the road, three and a half months, but unfortunately the tour ended on a disappointing note.

We started well in Malaysia, then went on to India and finished here in Pakistan. First of all, to touch on the last couple of Pakistan games, it was disappointing in both forms but I think it was a good experience. India and Pakistan may be neighbours but it's a different environment.

You get English conditions here, it's a bit cooler and it's been a while since we've played in those conditions. In the last game we came up a bit short defending 238. I think we should have got more runs on the board, it was a flat pitch and Pakistan came out easy in the end with a lot of wickets in had.

I thought the team played well in the one-dayers. Marlon (Samuels) got a century and came back to his own and it is good to see him get an opportunity to prove himself at the top of the order. Shiv (Chanderpaul) came up in the end with another century. After missing the first two games he came back well and got a half-century and a century.

Once this continues and everyone contributes it will be good for the team. The bowlers did well in Pakistan -Jerome (Taylor), (Corey) Collymore, (Daren) Powell in his first game and (Dwayne) Smith played a good part as well.

If we continue to play the sort of cricket we have been playing, we will find ourselves struggling going into the World Cup. The chopping and changing is going to be difficult for us and put us on the back foot.

Personally, from my point of view, things can be handled right within the team with the selections on a whole. It's about time we have a steady World Cup squad ... there is no time to experiment now.

On a personal note, I started with a good one-day series in Malaysia and then continued on in India on a high and then came to Pakistan and it was a disappointing tour for me in both forms. No excuses, it was a good experience; I will use it to gain more experience. In the bowling department, I think I have been underused on most occasions. I am not a scapegoat bowler in this team to be used only when things are difficult.

Things can be handled a bit better in that scenario. I have to wish my fans and everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year when the new year arrives. I hope everyone keeps supporting the team, we have a lot of cricket to play next year and, hopefully, we will start the new year on a high note.

This Christmas is not going to be a party Christmas for me but you can find me in the club most of the times.

© Trinidad & Tobago Express

taken from www.cricinfo.com

13

Cricket Anyone / I found a way to get hi-lights of all our games in Pakistan

« on: November 11, 2006, 08:01:04 AM »

If you go to a web site called www.pakcricket.org, then register you will be able to view the hi-lights, because someone seems to be posting the hi-lights every match. They even have the hi-lights of our warm up game as well as hi-lights for the first days play.

It is the same process of registering as you did for this site. It is free, and all you have to give is an e-mail address so they can send the activation e-mail to you.

I assume the hi-lights will keep being posted for the whole tour. I hope so.

I dont like cricket, oh no, i love it yes.

14

Cricket Anyone / 1st Test- Pak V WI

« on: November 11, 2006, 05:16:58 AM »

WI won the toss and chose to bat.

WI 206 all out (Lara 61, Mohammed 35, Gul 5/65)

Pak 39/1 at stumps.

15

Cricket Anyone / Cheer up

« on: November 05, 2006, 11:10:55 AM »

Okay it was a dissapointing final, but the defeat will make us even more hungry for the World Cup.

We have a nice settled 12 players who should make up most of the final 11. (R.Hinds and Ramdin should be pushing for a place)

The bowlers (Bradshaw, Taylor, Collymore, Dwayne Smith, Samuels, Gayle, Bravo) have all shown good consistent control of line and length.

Our batting line up is starting to take shape. We are dominant on flat pitches. The only problem is we cant seem to bat on slow pitches, but we have a few months to get that right. If the groundstaff and adminstrators have any brains though, the pitches in the World Cup will be flat.

The fielding has been excellent on the whole by everyone.

Overall, if we learn from the few mistakes that we have made this time round, we should be good to go for the World Cup. 

16

Cricket Anyone / Make up of the side

« on: November 02, 2006, 02:44:55 PM »

I must admit that i was very sceptical of Chanderpaul opening the innings at first because i felt that with him opening, our middle lower order was too weak and i beleive it was so thats why Lara has dropped down the order. With Lara now dropping down to number 5/6 and filling in Chanders old role i now have no problems with Chanders opening. He and Gayle seem to be a fine combination.

With Sarwan, Bravo, Morton, Lara occupying 3,4,5,6 in whichever order it has given us a more depth in the middle order and three of the batsmen are fully comfortable against spin which is very good and all are comfortable against pace.

The only reservation i do have is that we are only playing 2 frontline pace bowlers- Taylor and Bradshaw. If we bowl first then we will be okay because we can chase down any reasonable target with our 9 batsman, however if we are defending a total i think we will eventually get found out. I really believe we need to bring in Collymore for Dwayne Smith. Collymore will save more runs with his bowling than Dwayne Smith will score with his batting.

I have nothing against Baugh but if we are going to put our best team on the park then Ramdin has to bat at 8. But im quite content to let Baugh have his chance because it will make Ramdin have to raise his game to get back in the team.

17

General Discussion / Johnnie Walker Black Label

« on: October 29, 2006, 04:45:05 PM »

I just been taking in some johnnie walker (black label) with some jerk chicken and someone asked me why trinis love johnnie walker so much. Apart from that its tastes wicked i cant actually answer the question. If it produced in Scotland how comes the drink is associated so much with Trinis?

18

Cricket Anyone / What the frig i reading boy?

« on: October 22, 2006, 10:17:10 AM »

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/iccct2006/content/story/264018.html

I was just browsing through Cricinfo.com which is my number one source for information. I click onto an article named- Gayle: Why not penalise instigator?. Then i look at the author and it says Chris Gayle! Further inspection shows that he has written the article for Trinidad and Tobago Express.

Although it was nice to actually read a West Indian players article, as in England it is a common occurence for English players to give regular articles, it was a big dissapointment to hear Gayle acting like a cry baby. I gave Gayle the majority of the credit for the win because of the way he mentally got to the Australian batsmen. However i have lost some respect for him now that he is moaning that Clarke should have got punished not him.

I stand by what i said about Gayle being the main reason why we won the match, but for him to come out with some of these comments i have to say that he lacks some brain cells. I wish he could of just admitted he was wrong to shoulder Clarke and stop looking for excuses for himself.

19

Cricket Anyone / The Hat-trick by Jerome Taylor

« on: October 21, 2006, 07:02:07 AM »

I believe we all deserve another look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONKEXBYuEI

20

Cricket Anyone / Flintoff sledging Bravo

« on: October 20, 2006, 07:37:07 AM »

Watch this clip of Flintoff sledging Bravo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1NFbVx0uN8

I want to see Bravo and the rest of the guys give Flintoff (England's captain) some real verbal abuse when we play England. We are the holders of the ICC Champions Trophy and we should let him know why.

Flintoff obviously was wrong about Bravo because Bravo is going to be around for a long time yet.

One thing that does have to be said however is that on that occasion it was a poor attempt at sledging by Bravo. Bravo gave a perfect example of how NOT to sledge- no eye contact, head down, no purpose, no aggresion. Hopefully he can take some lessons of Gayle and do some proper sledging next time Fintoff comes to the crease.

Watch the clip below for the perfect way to sledge by Kumar Sangakkara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlFF98dM8sA&NR

21

Cricket Anyone / Gayle played the most important part in the win

« on: October 19, 2006, 09:22:50 AM »

For too long opposition players have had to put up with likes of Clarke and co running their mouths off for Australia because they knew they had S.Waugh, Warne and McGrath to back them up. Now that these players are on the way out of the game the younger Australians have no one to hide behind and they will have to start performing under pressure themselves.

Gayle 'mentally disintegrated' Clarke and as as result this was the main factor that won us the game. At the time when Australia needed less than a run a ball with 6 wickets in hand something special had to happen for West Indies to win the game and it was Gayle that provided it. As soon as Gayle started sledging Clarke, Clarke decided all of a sudden to play defensively because he was scared of what it would look like if he got out to Gayle. Thus the run rate required reached over a run a ball for the first time in the innings and the rest as they say was history!

It was a great team effort, every batsman tried to get their front foot forward on the pitch and the bowlers stuck to their lines and lengths. There were also great individual perfomances- Morton showed character, Lara played a captains knock, Bravo bowled a great slower ball to get rid of Clarke, and Taylor finished it off with a hat-trick. However i really feel Gayle played the most important part as the game was Australia's to lose when he 'mentally disintegrated' them.

22

Cricket Anyone / West Indies V Sri Lanka

« on: October 13, 2006, 06:54:39 AM »

Whoever wins this match gets the 'easier' group. It will be a very good test for our progressing ODI side.

Is anyone concerned that our middle to lower order lacks a batsman that is comfortable against spin. In time Bravo may prove to be a good batsman against spin but in the current line up after our top four we do not really have anyone that can tick runs off easily against spinners. Sri Lanka will come with Murali and some others in the middle and later stages of the 50 overs. Im concerned, thats why i would bat Chanders at 5- but he has done a good job opening.

Apart from that our bowling looks potent, especially if Bradshaw, Taylor and Collymore all play together. I am really looking forward to seeing these 3 in action.

23

Cricket Anyone / Do our young players lack dedication, drive and determination?

« on: September 29, 2006, 02:15:29 PM »

We all have different views on which players should be in the West Indies squad but have any of these players actually earned their places in the side. Some people will argue Ganga should be in the side, some people will say Morton has scored a lot of runs, some will say Samuels has the makings of a class batsman. There is uproar that Ramdin has been left out for Baugh. Now please do not think i agree with the current selectors but have the players that you feel should be selected actually gone out and proven that they are head and shoulders above everyone else? Forget about Test and ODI matches for a moment. Look at the career first class batting and bowling averages from our current players in and around the squad.

Batting                                       Bowling

Lara 51.12                                  Taylor 23.13
Chanderpaul 51.41                       R.Kelly 25.09
Gayle 44.18                                 Bradshaw 25.56
Baugh 37.86                               Collymore 25.59
Sarwan 37.52                              Mohammed 25.79
R.Hinds 37.42                              Best 26.82
Devon Smith 36.62                      Collins 27.14
Ganga 36.10                               Bravo 30.17
Samuels 35.59                             Dwayne Smith 30.27
Morton 35.00                              Lawson 30.66
W.Hinds 34.26                             Lewis 33.02
Bravo 30.08                                Edwards 36.09
Dwayne Smith 27.61                    Banks 37.34
Ramdin 26.24

To me what this shows is that the young players, especially the batsmen, are either not good enough or lack dedication, drive and determination to be the best that they can possibly be. It is no surprise that the two batsmen from a different generation are averaging over 50.  But the best player from our most recent generation, Sarwan is averaging less than 40. This does not mean that he is not talented- he averages more in Test cricket. But maybe this is the reason Sarwan has not reached the next level in Test cricket. I personally am extremely dissapointed with Sarwan, because this is the first time i have checked his first class average. What does it say about his dedication, drive and determination that a man of his class is averaging 37.52 in West Indies first class cricket. At the end of Sarwan's career will we be saying that he was one of the greatest Test batsmen ever or will we be saying that he never reached his full potential?

There are a hell of a lot of mediocre averages there. The question is why these players are not performing when they go back home to play domestic cricket. Is it because of the money, the fame, the women? Do they feel that they will be in the next West Indies squad even if they do not perform in domestic cricket. Are they motivated enough to want to be the best or are they just satisfied with what they have achieved already?

I heard a Bennett King say a while back, in other words, that the standard of West Indies first class cricket was not up to scratch. In my opinion the standard of player in West Indies first class cricket is pretty good for a country that is ranked bottom of the major test playing countries. Our U-15 team won the U-15 World Cup and most of those players progressed though to the U-19 team that reached the final of the U-19 World Cup. These players are all playing first class cricket. Even if King was right and the standard was poor, then surely our Test players would be scoring plenty runs and taking plenty wickets?

In Australia and England, batsman of the likes of Hussey, Clarke, Bell, Pietersen all had to wait their turn to get into the Test team. They had to be scoring 100s consistently in domestic cricket to get their chance. They had to sweat blood and tears to make it and stay in the team. Both Clarke and Bell went through a bad patch and were recently dropped, but went back into domestic cricket, scored 100 after 100 and have forced themselves back into their respective sides. This is the perfect way to respond and our young players can learn a lot from the examples set by Clarke and Bell.

I met Ramdin as a 15 year old with the U-15 World Cup squad in England and after seeing him play i could tell he was going to make it big, but although he has played Test cricket he still has a major way to go to fulfill his potential. His first class average is very poor for a player of his calibre. We are all calling for him to be put back in the squad but does he deserve it. What has he done to deserve a recall? What does his batting average tell you?

Samuels is my biggest dissapointment. He was the player i always thought had class. I saw him make a 50 on debut in Australia, and even the Aussies rated him. He scored a sublime century in India. Then he started to go off the boil and was in and out of the squad. If Samuels really wanted it that badly he would be topping those averages. What has he done to deserve to be consistently in the West Indies squad?

Edwards is always in the team when fit. He took 5 wickets on debut against Sri Lanka but what has he done consistently since then? Look at his first class bowling average. Okay the man is a strike bowler, but that average is embarassing. Does he deserve to take the new ball every match?

I could go on all day about 90% of the players on the list but i will not. Any player with a batting average below 40 and a bowling average above 25 should take a good long hard look at themselves.

But just to take a few positives out of these statistics, Taylor is showing us what he is about. The cream will always rise to the top. Taylor has said that he wants to be the greatest fast bowler ever and is doing his utmost to reach the top. Topping the first class averages is a start. I regret that i have not seen Kelly bowl yet, but his consistent bowling performances show that he possibly merits a call up. It is also nice to see Mohammed go out there and prove that he can do it. But Kelly and Mohammed have been overlooked for the recent DLF tournament. What they need to do it go out there and push their bowling averages closer to 20 to make sure that they are not overlooked next time.

Overall, i really believe that even if Bennett King and the selectors select our best eleven we will be competitive in ODIs but in Tests we will still be far short of what is required. Yes a new coach and selectors would be nice, but most importantly our young players really need to step up their game! It is not too late to save West Indies cricket!

24

Fantasy League / UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football

« on: September 08, 2006, 08:25:45 AM »

Check it out

http://en.uclfantasy.uefa.com/M/home.mc

25

Football / Are there any good scouts out there?

« on: August 18, 2006, 03:15:16 AM »

Living in England and having not been back home for the last 2 years i have not seen any local T&T football. Against Japan we had a lot of players who i havent seen play before. Looking at this site for the last few months a lot of posters have been posting names of players who they think should be playing for T&T. I have listed some of those players below. Could those who have seen these players regularly give a brief outline of what their roles are in the team, what their strengths and weaknesses are and also whether you think they will make it to the top. If I have missed anyone of the list please feel free to add them on.

Marvin Phillips, Jan Michael Williams, Keyeno Thomas, Atiba Charles, Ian Gray, Glenton Wolfe, Andre Pacheco, Trent Noel, Stephan David, Clyde Leon, Gary Glasgow, Anthony Wolfe, Kendall Jagdeosingh

26

Football / What position should Yorke play?

« on: August 10, 2006, 03:35:17 AM »

If Yorke is to carry on i am very interested do know which position you all feel he should play to best equip T&T to do the business?

In another topic I made a passing comment (I probably should not have posted it there but I was provoked) that I felt that Yorke, although doing the job that he was given very well, was overall ineffective in the World Cup. I came back a week later to find that 100% of the posts thought that he was effective. I am going to clarify why I feel he was relatively ineffective in the World Cup and also why I think he should play further up the field regardless of who we are playing.

When Rooney played up front on his own against Ecuador and Portugal he was ineffective because playing with his back to goal. Being able to drop deep and find space is his natural game. He still played his heart out and gave the defences some trouble but overall he was ineffective. That does not mean he is not a great player.

In the same way Yorke is a great player, played his heart out and helped the defence he was non-existent in attack because he was so deep. If he was put deep to help us keep the ball then it did not work because we lost the ball the majority of the time it went into the oppositions half because there was no one with the technical ability to keep the ball. If you watch the tapes again you will see it was glaringly obvious we lost the ball any time we had a half chance to attack.

All the opposition teams were probably glad that our best player was not going to be in their final third to cause any problems, that is why Lampard and Gerrard were able to get forward all of the time because they had no one to pick up in their own half.

Anyways, I have talked enough, where would you people want Yorke to play in the future? Please do not skip the question. (Obviously i think he should play behind the forward/forwards)

27

Football / Agents could hinder T&Ts progress

« on: July 27, 2006, 03:37:20 AM »

Agents could hinder T&T chances of progressing to the next level. Look at what level these players could start next season

Sancho- English 3rd tier
Lawrence- English 4th tier
Edwards- English 2nd tier
Whitley- T&T 1st tier
Grey- T&T 1st tier
Glenn- USA 1st tier
Birchall- English 3rd tier

All of the players listed above, in my opinion, excelled and played over and above what was expected of them in the World Cup. Before the World Cup I would never have thought that players of the likes of Lawrence would have looked like such a rock at the heart of the defence.

After watching the English Premiership and Championship for a number of years I am pretty sure that based on their World Cup performances they would all be first team regulars in the Championship and could also cut it in Premiership squads.

Now that we have broken through onto the world stage we have to capitalise on the opportunities that come our way. However to get those opportunities some work needs to be done. The players have done their job on the football field now the agents have to do their job off it.

If the majority of our first eleven are in the Premiership or Championship it will increase the chances of promising youths in T&T being scouted by English clubs, thus taking T&T to the next level. When I say the next level I mean the next stage in our progression like the direction in which African teams seem to be moving. Promising young African footballers are getting contracts signed up left, right and centre. In this World Cup we saw Ghana come and knock out a few big teams. The Ivory Coast looked quite promising.

However, with only 2/3 weeks left before the English season gets underway it looks like we are not going to reap all the possible benefits of qualifying for the World Cup. I believe some of the blame must lie with the agents of these players.

What do you guys think?