Football managers don’t always make the right decisions (see Graham Taylor subbing off Gary Lineker against Sweden in Euro 92) – but it has been known for bosses to fly in the face of popular, public and (to be honest) blatantly obvious opinion – and somehow come up smelling of roses. After all, who could forget Alf Ramsay’s decision to play hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst instead of Jimmy Greaves back in 66?

But such fond patriotic memories aside, it’s time to look to the modern day, Euro 2008 squads, and most notably the news that Big Phil Scolari has lived up to his rhetoric “You have to be positive and not be nervous about making changes or bringing through players” – by leaving out Portugal’s highest-scoring midfielder in the CPI… 30 year old midfielder Maniche.

And while one can understand that his absence is likely down to the fact he rarely plays a full 90 minutes – either domestically or for the Selecção das Quinas, we here at euro2008statistics.com, think that the exclusion of the dynamo midfielder is a very odd decision indeed. After all, although he may not be fully fit for 90 minutes at a time, such influential players are vital for tournaments like this, even coming off the bench – and one thing for sure is that the famous long-range belters of Maniche will NOT be missed by the opposition!

Petit (300 CPI points) will now partner Veloso behind the attacking midfielders, while 25-year-old Raúl Meireles of Porto, included at Maniche’s expense, provides cover.

In other news, Turkey coach Fatih Terim seems to have ended something of an era in Turkish football, by leaving veteran forward Hakan Şükür out of the Euro 2008 provisional squad, replacing him with the pacey Villarreal forward, Kahveci Nihat. Nihat, or ‘El Turko’ to his friend has 14 goals in 53 games, and amassed 938 CPI points with two, high-quality goals in the last two qualifiers.