Comments on: France vs. Spain and Italy vs. Portugal headline a week of intriguing International Football

By: Tuga

Tuga — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:39:36 +0000

You’re right Steve, Scolari never won against Italy and Portugal’s last win was 30 years ago.

By: Steve Amoia

Steve Amoia — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:22:34 +0000

Hugo:

The “peculiar style” that Mr. Scolari referenced may be that he has had problems beating the Azzurri during his Portuguese tenure.

I believe that we will see Giuseppe Rossi in the near future. His form as you noted has been superb despite missing a month. And he did very good things last year with Parma during their relegation fight. He has featured prominently for the Azzurri U-21 team.

By: Hugo Steckelmacher

Hugo Steckelmacher — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:20:47 +0000

Going forward, Evra is almost definitely the best left-back (although Bale’s injury has left him unchallenged ).

However, defensively, Clichy has been super-impressive; I have seen very few games in which Clichy has been outdone by the man he was marking, and his absence was one of the most marked (no pun intended) in Spurs’ 5-1 Carling Cup pillage.

I envy the variety of options available to Domenech. Imagine Clichy in defence and Evra as a midfielder…

By: Louis

Louis — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:12:31 +0000

I also believe that Patrice Evra has been the best left back in the premiership going forward. He has been skinned by Aaron Lennon twice this year so hopefully that is just a minor blip.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:32:09 +0000

Nice article. I share yuor sentiment regarding Cesc (not becuase I don’t like him or want to see him hurt, but because he is so damn good).

I disagree however about your Glichy statement. IMO, Patrice Evra – except for his performance on Saturday – is the best performing left-back so far this season. (and yes, I know its bias, but still…)