Comments on: Our Starting XI, Round 3

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:35:28 +0000

I misunderstood the game too. My team is my best XI in group play (that would somewhat function as a team), not just game 3.

Note: Tuncay is also the backup keeper! My team is it’s own substitutes. If there is an injury to my team I assume Hitzlsperger is somewhat like a starfish and can split into two players named Hitzl and Sperger who are both 3′3″ tall and very good all-around players except for balls in the air. If Hitzlsperger himself is injured, we play with 10 men. No team is perfect.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:42:31 +0000

Yeah, Adam, that’s essentially what we did. Maybe the more accurate title for this post would be “The Eleven Best Players This Round”. But we think shorter is better, and that the letter X is the coolest of all the letters, and so we went with “Starting XI”.

Like I said, this formation is nutty and we’re well aware of it. In particular, I would love to hear if anyone has a suggestion for a center back that stuck out. I have to say that I think the third round of group games was rather weak in terms of center back performances. All the best defenders I saw were on the flanks.

PS – Adam, here’s the one for round 2 – http://euro2008.worldcupblog.org/news/our-starting-xi-round-2.html

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:09:44 +0000

Bahahhaa nothing do I love more than the editor’s cheeky creplies to people’s rude comments; they make my day. lol.

I was looking for the Round 2 one but couldnt find it. I shall go check again.

But yes, to all the people who keep saying the same thing over again, this is HARDLY a genuine lineup. I think what the writers are doing is not actually picking the best TEAM of the round by picking players but rather picking players that simply did great and thinking “What the hell? Let’s put their names on this field diagram so it looks cool.”

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:48:51 +0000

A bit strong, justin. Based on this week’s performance, that was our call. If you have your own eleven to go along with your death threat, we’d like to see it. Cheers.

By: justin

justin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:28:49 +0000

Boruc over Buffon!!! you should be shot

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:19:59 +0000

spot on

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:16:16 +0000

Just one clarification – this is based only on round 3 matches. So Buffon’s pen save doesn’t count for it. And as for how fragile the lineup is, I think I explained above about that. We would never field a 3-defender lineup. Never. Just a way to get who we thought were the best players of the round.

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:52:02 +0000

——–Podolski—-Olic———-
—Tuncay—Engelaar—Sneijder—
———–Hitzlsperger———–
Lahm—Chiellini—Puyol—Corluka
————–Buffon————–

By: alessio

alessio — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:40:11 +0000

Boruc under more pressure? How about 2nd game, 82nd minute, knowing if you don’t save this penalty (which Buffon typically doesn’t) you’re going home? I can’t think of more pressure than that.

By: KFA

KFA — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:33:11 +0000

Ok two flaws with your lineup. If you go to an exhibition friendly with this team against any attack-minded team, like the Ivory Coast, they will demolish this. John Heitenga’s like 5′ 10″!!!!! He can’t jump over Carlos Tevez for that matter. And Van Persie in the middle is causing chaos. A Centre Forward in the toughest position in the game, Centre Midfield? And Zhirkov will probably be next to the forwards throughout the game…..

Switch Arshavin with Van Persie, take out John Heitenga for Bouma on your bench.

And sub in Buffon right before a penalty kick, he might stop it with his head then stomach.