i feel birchie got limited minutes b/c of this game in the azteca. we will need his energy to combat pardo and torrado (although they didnt look too hot in san salvador last nite).
yea man das a real smart move, bench your best players and give up 3 points at home for the 0.00001% chance of stealing a point in de Azteca
ras me ent know, maybe birchie wasn't match fit, maybe he ent fit into the tactics latas wanted to employ. either way, the squad have to be rejigged for wednesday. mexico coming out gunning, blanco came off the bench last night, i expect him to start this game.
No, I don't know if you all are blinded or biased, but Birchall hits too many misplaced and errant passes in midfield. A good example of this was when he came on, and late in the game Carlos threw in to him, and he had to simply hit it back to Carlos-an easy pass, but his return pass was soft and poor, so a Costa Rica player swept in and took the ball. We simply had midfield players who can pass the ball much better than him and not lose possession as frequently, so there wasn't any room for him.(trent noel, silvio spann)
Now that I've cleared up that very annoying issue of people talking like Birchall is Paul Scholes- I still believe Birchall should be on the team- acknowledging his shortcomings and the problems they bring though, UNLIKE everyone else on here. His tackling and energy in midfield is really needed on this team. Birchall can make long crosses, but it's the on the floor passes,the interplay passes and creating space that he stuggles with. He helps protect our shaky defense, but we just have to find a way to minimize his shortcomings.
I fully understand why Latapy left him out- is the importance of his tackling and protecting the defense, enough to offset the pressure his losing the ball puts on the defense anyway? Fc Barcelona shows that if you can keep the ball and build up play well, your defense automatically has less pressure on it and their weaknesses isn't exposed as much.
The ideal scenario would be to have one midfielder with tackling and passing and linking up, ala Steven Gerrard, but of course we don't have that, so they have to compensate for each other, and work even more together in tandem as a unit. I think what can work is having birchall lying deep, and anytime he has to ball the other midfielder hurry up to support him, because if he gets crowded out, unlike other players he can't create space, so he loses the ball.
All this being said, imho we need Birchall's tackling in midfield, but with players like trent noel and silvio spann building up play like they are, it's hard to find a spot on the field for him. I believe that Latas will find our best team, that can win matches, whether that means that Birchall is on the field or off it.
BTW...-
