capriccioso

Yes, and I took that back in the above post. Perhaps someone more familiar with the workings of game theory than me could come up with more accurate probability figures. Going more into the tangent this thread has become, I love discussing what if scenarios in sport. More fascinating than the real thing.

No they wouldn't dare give him HGH now, it would look far too suspicious if he suddenly put on an inch in height and a few kilo's of muscle. How can Messi improve on his virtually perfect ball control/finishing? All the room he has to improve is perhaps physically and mentally, and even that, I doubt- his tactical knowledge is already immense and he already possesses the stamina (read: EPO) to play 65 games for 5 seasons and only burn out for about one month near the end of the 5 year cycle. Also regarding Torres we can't know until we take a look at training data. I would still back Mikel over 5 metres as he has longer legs.

Nothing is 100% certain. I would give Brazil a 95% chance of success if they subbed Felipe Melo at half time.

Let's re examine his HGH treatment: He got it at Barcelona at age 12-13, when it was already apparent he had massive potential technically. He was already at the club when they gave it to him. He was a sportsman at that point, it should be illegal. It would be in other sports. It's not like they gave him HGH before he showed the potential to be the player of his generation. It's no different to what US Postal did with Lance Armstrong. Actually I take that back, its a world apart. Lance showed no potential whatsoever to be anything other than an average cyclist. Messi on the other hand had abnormal levels of technical ability at 13, it was clear that with careful coaching and a big increase in size he could go on to be a very good player. Though he has been unprecedentedly good.

It was a slight exaggeration, but the point is Torres can't get away from his opponents over 5-10 metre distances. He needs 20+, which is only effective in a Barcelona style counter attack where he's one on one. Also regarding peaks, no one can say that Drogba was a better player at ~25 than he was at 30. That was his peak, he plateau'd it out for 3-4 years. Messi appears to have plateau'd in the last year or so, he can't get much better. Unless they give him another round of HGH.

They were in complete control up until the o.g., at which point others also lost their heads, though not on the scale of Melo. The Dutch looked as likely to score as Quasimoto. If it had been one of our players that did that in a Chelsea match that attitude wouldn't be displayed by many.

Man United's shirt deal with Chevrolet makes no sense. Who the hell is going to buy a car based on sponsorship of their favourite club?

Torres isn't at his peak, either. He's on the decline. Now he may well find his finishing boots this season and make me look an idiot but there's no denying that physically he's not as far ahead of the pack as he was at Liverpool. He's like a big diesel train engine now, that explosive acceleration has left him, though he's still pretty quick when he gets up to top speed. Even players not all that quick, Mikel, for example, could conceivably give Torres a run for his money (pun intended) over a 10-20 metre sprint. We're too quick to group the trajectory of footballers, there are a lot of variables involved. Torres peaked at 24, Drogba peaked at 30. Messi peaked at 20. What is universal though is that decline sets in, at least speed wise, in the early 30s. And then there are some monsters like Seedorf and Giggs who got well into their thirties not losing too much pace. We have Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahil, Ramires, Mikel and Meireles who are at their peak/still have room to improve. That is a very thin squad to call upon, ideally you need about 10 players in that category and we only have 6.

It was the Dutch who were lucky in South Africa. Brazil would have been finalists had it not been for a meltdown from Felipe Melo, who scored an own goal (or at least, made a mistake allowing the goal to be scored- not sure if it counted as a Sneijder goal or a Melo o.g.) and got himself sent off in a spell of 10 minutes. Also tiki-taka under Aragones was a lot different to tiki-takanaccio under Del Bosque.

I've only been off for 9 hours, 4 of which were spent asleep.

I wouldn't count Essien as someone who's still at his peak, regardless of age. Those injuries have taken a lot out of him, impressive showings in pre season aside he hasn't given any indication that he's back on the straight and narrow in terms of the typical footballers career trajectory. There aren't nearly enough defensive players in the peak zone.

There are other big footballers around Europe. Why not Lacina Traore, a young Ivorian who plays for some smallish Russian team? At 208 cm (or nearly 7 feet tall), he would be the biggest player in England, by far.

A parasite is what appears to have taken residence in my stomach in the last couple of hours, not Florent Malouda.

Can we have more flags available? I wanted to select the flag of Sri Lanka (my semi-country of origin) but I couldn't find it

It was ahead of Kalou. Now the Great One is gone, there's no reason for Malouda to leave until the end of his contract. Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

I would like to change my nomination to We Hate Scouse, for creating the thread of the month. With apologies to .

Spike is just trying to buy himself a Member of the Month.

Confidence

I won in March, I want mine up there too! Oh, wait, I've been added. Apologies. really is awesome

Where is BlueLion these days?

Gourlay is still a wanker. Roman has played a larger part in negotiating the sponorships, particularly the one with Gazprom which was probably all his own work. Emenalo has signed the players. Big Ron sits on his arse figuring out ways to cheat the CPO out of a fair say. He deserves 0 credit for everything the club has achieved in recent years.

yes

Spuke Spiegel sorry fpr my typiyng.

Nice, Strike Succinct and easy to read, great work.

Mikel is younger than Tiote. He is already better than him. By the time Mikel's 30, Tiote won't even be mentioned in the same breath as him even by big fans of Tiote like yourself.