Mundane Football Thread
Spurs lose to United! Hmmm...
RVP scores another amazing goal. Amazing player.
Chelsea sack 'best young manager in europe'!
Fulham currently London's 3rd best PL team? Yes.
Villa draw!
Wolves rubbish.
Balotelli drinking and goal.
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Oxford beat Swindon 2-0 despite (unfairly) being down to 10 men after only 10 minutes. Such an intense game!
fuck that noise
we have hardly lost since we last played you. :(
Is it just me or was that Spuds / United match as dull as dishwater?
Anyway, far more importantly QPR end a match with 11 men! And don't lose a game of football!! Exciting times...
Yeah, the SpuRs/Utd match wasn't a classic...
mainly attritional, with the odd bit of utd's 'winning mentality' coupled with some abject defensive work from us.
Before the game I would have eaten your arm for a draw
But we should've won. If we go down that Buzz miss (2 yards out, open goal, hits the post) will haunt me for the rest of my life.
What does Adel have to do to get a goal? He's hit the woodwork something like 10 times this season.
How Felliani stayed on the pitch I do not know. He committed about 5 or 6 yellow cards tackles. Yet Derry got booked for a late trip in injury time having done nothing (in every sense of the word) for the whole game.
I love Bobby Zamora. Despite being isolated up front on his own, he worked his nuts off, and is twice the leader that Barton is, going round geeing the players up, always putting an arm around Adel, who was the best player on the pitch.
Was quite amused by Moyes' subs on 60 minutes. Basically a public admission 'I'm playing for a draw'
Still, results mostly went our way, and the team for the first time in months have giving me a glimmer that hey, maybe we can stay up, especially with Cisse back next week. SUPER SATURDAY against Bolton awaits. Massive game
I'm still more optimistic than you about survival
I made a bet with a mate a couple of months ago that it will be Wigan, Bolton and Wolves that go down and I'm sticking with that.
*2nd best
Apparently Mourinho is favourite for the Chelsea job
How much did they spend on Villa-Boas before sacking him? Mental. I hope they finish fifth so that no-one good wants to manage them.
er...just the small game played up in the north east too.
zzzzzzzzz
:)
ooops sorry tito
i watched most of that as well!
Nice angry affair, surprised there was only one red, and a pretty harsh one at that.
there were two
god bless cattermole
hehe, i missed that.
Good lad.
I was up in Newcastle this weekend
The pubs opened at 7.30am :/
The Monday `Tony Fernandes, sitting with the fans` thread.
Don't see why this has been gone over so much by the press
He announced on twitter he was going to spend a day with the fans instead of having them in the exec box (when he comes to games he has a twitter competition and takes about 9 fans into the director's box with him). He went to the Adelaide before the game, then sat in the lower loft (the family stand).
After our previous owners, having someone in charge who vaguely gives a shit about the fans is pretty nice.
speaking of which, watched the QPR programme on the Beeb last night
pretty much as expected really, although I thought Amit Bhatia came across quite well
the thing it left me wondering is just how out of the ordinary all this meddling is, or is it more common than most people would expect?
I'd like to think it's not common at all, surely there's not another club
in existence who have been through such a farcical period with so many idiots calling the shots? Good documentary though even if I did spend the entire time shaking my head in disbelief. We had all heard the rumours but to witness it from such a candid, fly on the wall perspective had me wondering whether I should laugh out loud or cry my eyes out.
I thought that it was a nice thing to do as well.
I was more poking fun at Sky's coverage of it yesterday.
SQUIRREL ON THE PITCH
http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/images/3730.jpg
Best moment of the season
The cat during Liverpool v Spurs was better
Having seen us win twice at home all season
Was talking from a personal perspective
2-0 probably the best i could've hoped for
given who we were up against and what our starting line up was.
This weekend's game at Fortress 'Bok against QPR is going to be *massive*
slightly unfair on liverpool that we won,
what a fucking goal, but i reckon reina should have done a bit better. terrible miss from kelly too.
who do you reckon is going to buy van persie this summer?
i think there's a good chance he'll stay
particularly if we get fourth.
i am more and more of this opinion
really?
i dont think this will happen.
I don't know either way
Can't wait for the daily news articles about nothing all summer though. Can't wait.
Luckily we'll have nothing about ranting about England in the papers
for much of the summer anyway
oh fuck i've just remembered the euros.
lets hope he doesnt score 14 goals or something.
Holland don't really play the right way for him (or something)
He was just hanging around for most of the World Cup.
no holland just arent as good as arsenal...
and remember robben is the least pass-y player in the world.
Yeah, I think their World Cup gameplan was
de Jong and van Bommel kick everyone, then wait for Robben to run and blast it in the goal. Almost worked for them to be fair.
Wasn';t he also just back from injury before the world cup?
I remember him not being fully fit
i think he is committed to the club
and enjoys being the top man, and he likes London, too.
there's talk of Arsenal actually paying him to sign the contract too, so essentially just buying him again, which would make sense given that we would otherwise have to fork out for someone less good.
Definitely a lot riding on CL football next season, and ultimately i am totally prepared for him to leave. Just hope its abroad and not to City.
it's imperative they keep hold of him really
not just because he's a really, really great player but because you can't see them replacing him with (i.e. paying for) a player anywhere near as good as him
keeping him in the team is also probably about as key for attracting decent players in as being in the Champions League is in some ways too
I suspect Wenger would want him to go abroad if he does go and he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd agitate to leave a club to join the team that they're in direct competition* with
I might be wrong of course though. Modric pretty much did the same last year and I wouldn't have expected it from him either.
*admittedly it's not that direct a competition at the moment due to Arsenal's struggles but hopefully you know what I mean.
careful now.
hulkyhogan might have a hissyfit.
Arsenal do the big 'signing bonus' thing quite often, as I'd imagine other clubs do
It's spread over the length of the deal, so effectively it's just a way to pay a player an extra £20k per week, without disrupting the wage structure.
As for RvP, having been convinced he'd be off I'm now starting to think he actually will stay if we finish in the top 4. Doubtless this will backfire massively on me.
will he stay if you dont get CL action though?
I wouldnt bet on it.
I hear he's no fan of Madrid & Barca's meddling ways too
and the more I see / hear the guy, the more I optimistic I get, especially when you see him deliver interviews like Saturday's. Obviously, we should know better than to garner too much from it but he's really grown into the captain's role and, with his twilight years ahead of him (sad when you think of the amount of half-seasons he's had!), I get the impression he knows his best move may be to stay loyal. After all, Henry, Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Hleb, etc. hardly set the world alight after moving on.
He's certainly matured beyond belief from the guy I remember cursing and suggesting was too much trouble after that sending off at Southampton.
Weston-super-Mare 0 - 4 Dorchester
Missing a couple of our top players too so a bit of a surprising result. Up to 8th now but well off the pace regarding a play-off place though which is a bit of a pisser.
pace play place piss
Typical anti-northern bias
Darlington 0 Stockport 1
Meaning that after 1,106 days and 153 games we've finally won back to back games. Darlo were piss poor which is hardly surprising given everything they've been going through - we deserved the win, nailed on penalty.
Alfreton away tomorrow and a real chance of getting three wins on the spin. Up to 16th and looking so much better since Gannon came back.
don't know if this was linked to over the weekend
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/audio/2012/mar/02/music-weekly-joey-barton-smith
United have to be huge favourites for the title now.
10 points from Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool is a respectable return by anyone's standards, even if all four of those sides just happened to be suffering various crisis' at the time of those fixtures, as you sort of expect.
Given the two prospective run-ins, i think City needed a lead of five points or so by the end of this weekend. We couldn't have done any more, really. Credit to United, keeping up with a great side in effect makes them great themselves. We'll have a wobble or three along the rest of the way (Swansea away, Newcastle away, Stoke away, Norwich away, etc) they shouldn't drop another point anywhere bar the Derby.
Very disappointed with Spineless Spurs, i thought they were meant to be title contenders? I mean, we said beforehand that they seem to enjoy giving United points, but going into vital games in a "we're just happy to be here" way sort of sums up the mentality of that club and their supporters, really. I think they'll finish 5th, or even 6th now unless they have the balls to ease Redknapp from his position ASAP, his mind's obviously on bigger things.
City v Generic Club was standard fayre. At least they had a shot. Balotelli should've had a double hat-trick. David Pizarro's like a decent Paul Scholes.
Pogrebnyak's going to kill someone before the season's over.
Newcastle's supporters are stupid cunts. Must've appealed for 115 penalties. Thought Mike Dean was excellent.
More class from Gylfi Sigurdsson. Could play for anyone, that lad.
Chelsea are a tediously spineless football club.
Quite enjoyed Laurent Koscielny's latest OG, and Liverpool failing to win AGAIN after having about 300% possession.
^ tl;dr, rag conspiracy, etc, etc.
huge favourites. HUGE....
He's right
I've just checked with the bookies. Best prices I got were Man Utd 5-2 on, Man City 10-1.
Sounds about right.
Though 4/6 and 4/1 would be a bit more realistic.
:D
Mike Dean was excellent.
Home fans appeal for contentious penalties in big derby SHOCK.
there's appealing for a couple of pens...
and screaming like dicks every time one of your players gets within the opposition's penalty area.
sadly that shot we had was a 25-yard Pratley screamer...
on to his own bar
Well that was a funny old weekend of football
The Chelsea thing is a bit ridiculous. Everyone comes out of it looking shit - the players for being mutinous odious aging dicks, AVB for his incessant whining and inability to adapt tactically game to game and the management for not sticking to their guns and flushing £12 million down the toilet.
Quite amusing watching Arsenal and Southampton getting thoroughly undeserved results against two of my very favourite sides ever.
And it was one of those weekends that essentially feels like a massive lost opportunity for the bottom 5. None of them got much out of their games, but the teams above all eeked out a little gap. It's between those guys now I guess.
Southend won and Crawley lost, so that was great too. They do still have games in hand.
My FF Team ended up only able to field 9 players thanks to Mancini. At least RVP was my captain I guess...
you're playing crawley tonight, aren't you?
big game
Fucking hell
We are as well, how did I miss that?!
We only finished playing our last game about 30 hours ago...
JCL fan ;)
REALLY surprised we've got a total of 18 points from the last six games
particularly considering injuries.
relatively easy run from now. wolves away being the only game that looks dodgy until the derby on paper, but things don't happen on paper. 22/24 from the next eight games is a must really. if, and its a BIG if, we can maintain fitness in the squad i think we have a very good chance for the title.
where will it rank in fergie's titles if you win it this year?
I think highly. That's all.
probably below his knighthood
careful.
i got slaughtered for this.
truth is, it'll rank below his treble but above any of the other titles.
* Arsenal fans will try to tell you otherwise. They're insecure lambs, bless em.
not sure it'd rank above his first, either
first uns the toughest, innit.
fair point.
not sure, though, given the opposition.
Aside from 98/99, United generally trounced us the years they won the league
Don't know why Arsenal fans would care how Fergie's titles are ranked. But then I don't know why anyone would care about such an arbitrary exercise anyway.
The one we got whilst Mourinho was still at Chelsea might be my favourite (Treble and 19th aside)
It genuinely seemed at the time that Chelsea would just run away with it for the next decade, it was a massive, massive title to win. If we were to win this year it would be a similar one but for the fact that City haven't won it yet.
Not sure, really.
City will improve next year and the players who make the difference between United winning important games sometimes will be another year closer to 40.
I genuinely believe that good teams have to lose a title before they win one.
Whoever wins the the title this season, City will rightly start next season as favourites.
Good teams have to lose a title before they win one?
Often, but not always. Arsenal in 1998? Chelsea in 2005?
Fair enough.
I did mean to put 'most'.
In a weird way, i'd fancy City more for the title next season if they didn't win it this time round.
There's at least logic in this argument (City will add a couple more players, the experience of almost doing it will hold them in good stead, some of United's already old key players will be even older, etc), whereas there doesn't seem any logic whatsoever in the sort of "If City don't win it this year they'll never win it" schtick that the Paul Merson's of this world seem to enjoy trotting out.
That said, someone could possibly argue that the also-rans might all be stronger next year.
Still think it's a lot closer than the picture you're painting.
Whoever wins it will have to do so with 90 points or above imo. I think any more than one loss and a draw for them and 2 losses for City will make the difference. Difficult ask for both sides despite eveyrone else being terrible.
I absolutely agree with you
Just for the sake of arbitrarily deciding which titles are favourites though I think the fact that your lot haven't actually started your inevitable dominance yet means if we win it this year it'll rank slightly behind the Chelsea under Mourinho one.
City were the favourites this season weren't they? Or 'one of' at least
You'll be the favourites every season for as long as you're bankrolled by Sheikh Thingy.
Wolves away, dodgy?
Have you SEEN our home form????
Didn't realise Cattermole got sent off until I got home
Four mackems sent off in four derbies, which is double the amount of points they've managed to accumulate in the same games. Good going.
Yesterday was like a ridiculous pantomime with 22 villains. Got a good view of Shola stumbling the ball over the line, Demba tiddling his penalty and the Williamson foul for their pen. I think I was the only person in the Gallowgate who agreed with the ref. Probably why everyone and his dog were screaming for decisions in the second half. Midday kick offs are bad news, I was nearly asleep by three. The Man U Spurs game didn't help, either.
Bradford 1 Nottingham Forest 1
Good result for Forest, and after getting terrified that we would slip down into League 1, I'm beginning to hope that this rollercoaster season will end okay. We are now 4 points clear from relegation zone, with a game in hand.
Next game is Donny and Millwall at home. 4 points from them is achievable and would put us in an even better position before we face our game in hand against arch-rivals Derby!
Balls. Why do i always get Bradford and Barnsley mixed up!?
:D
I always remember Barnsley because I can't remember us getting a result against them in ages (relative to how shit they always are).
We're bloody lucky we're playing better than we were when we were originally scheduled to play Derby, they'd have ruined us. I don't think I'll be able to take another loss to them after the absolute fiasco earlier in the season.
The worst thing of it is that I've been to both Bradford and Barnsley
You're completely right on Derby, I'm glad the game has been moved to this point in the season. I don't necessarily think we'll win, but at least I don't think we'll embarrass ourselves now, especially as they seem to be on the descent...
I think Forest will be ok now.
7 points from 9 now isn't it? Should have a bit more confidence after that.
Aye, I do have a bit more confidence
BUT I'm so used to this club messing things up, that I don't want to get too hopeful!
I give up.
I can't even muster the energy to be vehemently against Benitez coming in. Gonna spend the rest of the season in my seat staring dead-eyed into space.
Benitez clearly isn't coming in.
He'll replace Mourinho at Madrid.
Mourinho will return to Chelsea (though i didn't think this 'til recently).
Villas-Boas will take over at Barcelona when Pep quits at the end of the current season.
Pep to Arsenal.
Moyesy for Spurs.
managerial merry go-round
the red tops will have a field day
.
Would Mourinho want to come to Chelsea though? He didn't exactly get on famously with Abramovich did he?
A popular revision of history.
They got along famously for the vast majority of his time at Chelsea.
Not that I see him coming back now, mind ...
I want this to be correct.
For our sake and for AVBs.
Mourinho's already agreed terms with us
Can't be long now DK until you return to the 18,000 attendances
and advertising half price tickets in the standard surely? ;-)
;)
Pretty sure QPR have that market cornered ...
:D
only one man for the job
http://tinyurl.com/7ndalf9
I almost feel sorry for you today DK
*Almost*...
I wouldn't bother.
Chelsea are definitely fucked this season, maybe for a little longer, but a full-blown demise seems pretty far off to me- only last Friday did the club publish a report which essentially says a move is going to happen and that's hardly long-term crisis talk. I'd rather by embarassed by the club's behaviour than be in the shoes of plenty other supporters up and down the country.
SPL at the weekend:
- Motherwell continue their assualt on 2nd place with a win at Dunfermline
- Celtic stretch their lead at the top to 21 points despite not winning for the first time since October
- Rangers expected to announce redundancies in the next few hours of up to 11 first team players, following their defeat at Ibrox to Hearts (which incidentally won me £70, with Hearts priced at 7/2)
Think you're being a bit generous by calling the Wolves performance 'rubbish'
It was one of the most one-sided games of football I've seen - We didn't have a shot on target til the 93rd minute. Fulham could've got double figures if they wanted, I'm sure.
Wouldn't have minded (as much) if we'd been pissed all over by City, but not Fulham ffs.
Still numb from yesterday.
Partly due to the cold, partly from the utter abortion of a football team that showed up.
It was absolutely shocking.
I honestly don't think I've seen any team play worse than that.
My dad even transcended his usual apoplectic state into a numbness about it.
Just read through the weekend football thread re: AVB...
...and the dominant sentiment appears to be one of ."Ah, he'll be a brilliant manager one day so, he'll be ok...".
What evidence are people basing that on? I haven't seen anything in his term at Chelsea that suggests he'll be a brilliant manager one day. Not saying that he is a bad one, far from it, but what's the basis behind the hype apart from one good season at Porto (which, lets face it, someone like Benitez could have easily achieved)
The fact he had an impossible task at Chelsea?
Yeah I agree with that.
He got done over. Done over by the idiots in charge and the idiots in the dressing room. So unfair.
What I meant was, what EVIDENCE is there that AVB will be a great manager one day? Regardless of whether or not he got shafted at Chelsea, the evidence wasn't there during his tenure (and he has a certain % of the can to carry for that, I'll admit). Just intrigued as to why everyone's so confident about his glorious future...
I think the massively impressive season with Porto
(and reasonably impressive season with that other team) suggest he has a lot of the qualities a good manager needs. You could argue that a more experienced manager would have been better at handling the dressing room and the transition (although more experienced and successful managers than AVB have been screwed by JT and Lamps). He's only twelve years old (roughly) so he's got plenty of years ahead of him of taking over teams, managing the big ego's and mastering the balance between utilising the assets you've inherited whilst pushing the team to play your style. If he manages to improve that side of his job whilst keeping whatever tactical nous he had at Porto then yeah, could easily be a great manager.
Sounds like a fair assessment that.
Cheers! Was just making sure I wasn't missing something...
(I'd have him at Liverpool over Dalglish for sure. AVB is just what we need right now)
yes, indeed
his remit was to come in, dismantle an ageing squad and build a team for the future.
kid tried to do this (too quickly for my money tho) and was undermined by the senior players.
there were some silly moments (dropping A Cole against Napoli for eg)) but bottom line, he was never given the time or support to build for the future. this doesnt take a few months, this shit takes YEARS
Chelsea spin off Q - what would happen in RA decided he aint interested in football and pulled all his money out? Would Chelsea do a Parma?
dunno
Yes, again, I agree with that.
Not answering my question though...
4 trophies in one season, man
whatever level/league, this is impressive, no?
YEAH
It is very impressive!
Just wondering if that was the only evidence of the seeming sentiment that he'll be an awesome manager FOR DEFINITE one day or not...
In fairness
it wasn't just a good season, it was a really great season. 4 trophies and winning the league unbeaten in your 1st season as the manager is pretty special
Aye, that's true.
A lot about him on paper sounds great, I have to say. Just haven't seen it yet. Shame because I like the guy. There's a lack of genuinely charismatic managers in football...
Charismatic isn't a word I'd use for AVB
The thing I found most weird about his tenure
Was his relationship with the media. It was like when you ask the office junior if they cocked up and they blame everyone else, say it's not me, start crying then come out with some random statement that makes everyone think, 'Yeah, you're a bit of a dick...'
For me, it's the tenacity with which he handled his situation.
He showed far greater fight, spirit and balls in dealing with the club and players than any manager since Mourinho. And for a long enough spell this season, Chelsea played pretty well (not for months now, obviously).
Yeah I liked that about him too.
It's clear he was taking the 'no player is bigger than the club' stance and putting his foot down etc. Problem is, there's about half a dozen players at Chelsea who ARE bigger than the club (in the eyes of the owner anyway) so... shafted.
And Lampard is a fucking moron - he's played much better this season owing to AVB's use of him than if he'd played every match I think. If ever there was evidence about the cancerous spread of modern football ego/money it's this debacle.
I'm gonna do my usual thing
and steer well clear of that line of argument. No one here knows what went on behind closed doors, and many of the quotes attributed to certain people are partial or out-right fabrications. There is certainly a lot wrong at the club though.
Yup.
To be honest, i don't think AVB was necessarily the wrong man for the job.
Looks like Roman wanted a strong man to get his primmadonnas in order, but then soiled his panties halfway through the job.
If i was a Chelsea fan, i'd want Terry, Lampard, Drogba and all those half-hearted, overrated dickheads out of the club. It doesn't matter that they were quite good five years ago.
droggy looking old
but JT and Lampard both have quite a bit of top level football in them.
Lampard might, if he was willing to demonstrate it
he fairly obviously has to be played sparingly these days though and I agree with GOML that AVB's use of him was pretty much spot on. Frank was just a fucking prick about it.
Terry is obviously past it. He could hang on in a Ledley King sort of role, if that wasn't entirely beneath him.
I have absolutely no ill-will towards either Lampard or Drogba
but do feel it's time for them to move on. Drogba almost certainly will be off, given that his contract is up in a few months. And I'd have loved Lampard to end his career at Chelsea but I'm not sure he's good enough to, not if we have big aspirations.
It seems pretty clear that it will be all-change in the summer. From my perspective, I just hope some of the players who have served Chelsea so well but look like they're on the way out manage to not sully themselves too much between now and then.
re this
don't really know much of the politics, but Lampard doesnt seem the sort of player to cause trouble. kid wants to play football, that's it. seems like an OK person, not a cunt.
maybe someone else is in a better position to discuss the troublemakers at CFC.
wild guess - Droggy and JT
Lad wants to play football - sure.
But he plays for a TEAM and he isn't owed a place in the side. No matter how good he is. I despise that attitude - although if I was a manager I'd want players to be upset if they're not playing. That's where the passion is.
RE: Lampard and allegations that he's complained about not playing.
There have been 27 PL games featuring Chelsea played this season.
Lampard has started 20 of them.
He has come on as a sub in a further 3.
For 2 of the 4 games he was not involved in, he was ruled out through injury.
The average number of PL appearances made by Chelsea's outfield players this season is 14.
Either Lampard is incredibly stupid beyond the expectations of even his fiercest critics (who by and large haven't attacked him for his brains) or the idea that he kicked up a fuss about not playing is a nonsense.
If he fell out with AVB, I'd wager it was about something else.
Interesting statistics...
...but how often has Lampard been 'rotated' even for as many as 3/4 games during his Chelsea career? I'd guess not at all.
The stats don't disprove it for my money, but I see why we shouldn't believe what we read all the same based on them...
TBF he's done a fair share of pissing and moaning about this in post game interviews.
Albeit wrapped up in "we all want to play etc".
All he's done is dodge leading questions with meaningless platitudes
which is what 99% of footballers and managers do in post-match interviews. It's been years since I heard anyone say anything close to interesting in a post-match interview, but hey, sometimes people hear something more exciting than what was said.
Well, I only heard a small segment so need to hear the rest of it.
But usually Ray can be relied upon to give a pretty balanced and fair opinion though.
I thought his comments after the Bolton game were a bit unhelpful.
Particularly 'cos you'd won for the first time in aeons.
Did Ray say this?
RAY! :'(
He didn't (assuming that's to me)
Thread's broken.
I have a feeling the thread may be broken.
The above comment was about Frank Lampard, not Ray Wilkins.
Ahh, I see.
What did Frank say then? It was his 150th goal I think..
It wasn't anything all that terrible.
All he really said was that his relationship with AVB 'wasn't ideal' and that there had been problems 'cos he wanted to play more.
But he could just as easily have said nothing or dodged the question and he seemed to be out to have a subtle dig...
He was a bit pissed off with being left on the bench for the start
of the Napoli game, no doubt.
He definitely should have kept his trap shut, agreed.
Nah that's fair enough...
...but I think there's enough evidence, which comes through most people when they're interviewed and talking about Chelsea it seems, that player power is a bit too skewed at Stamford Bridge. How much of that is a factor in his sacking, it's probably best not to speculate...
Lampard's still a prick though.
.
One good season is a bit of an understatement to be fair.
Were'nt they 17 points clear or something?
Just heard a segment of an interview with Ray Wilkins on Talksport.
He's backing the decision to get rid of AVB, and completely disagree's with the Senior player power theory - saying that 'No manager in the premiership has the full backing of his squad'.
I'm a bit surprised that he spoke about this, given that he's been pro AVB for pretty much the whole season. Not that he was negative about AVB as such, more that he was being defensive of the squad - but it's been well documented how much he was backing AVB.
I'm not sure which show it was on, I'm guessing that it was the breakfast show - but I'm going to listen to it later on. Quite interested in hearing the whole thing.
I heard an interview with Wilkins (I think) a couple of months back...
...saying that there's been divisions in the Chelsea dressing room since the Ranieri days and that what AVB was experiencing was standard fare in the Chelsea world. Seems to be a view backed by Scolari too...
Thread has gone haywire??
I'm not sure why he's given 2 completely different opinions - maybe the segment was taken out of context. I'll have to see if I can find the whole thing later on.
if Rafa does return to the Premier League...
it would instantly become about 40% more boring.
fucking tedious manager.
Nah I enjoyed watching Liverpool for the most part under Rafa.
There was an elegance about the way he set up teams to strangle the opposition and then smash it up to Torres. Much better to watch than a Mourinho team. But then again I do get a bit of a lob-on about brilliant defending/defensive tactics...
When we were bad under Rafa, when it wasn't working, we were terrible to watch. Although don't you remember the kamikaze craziness of the end of the '09/'10 season?? Best team in the land to watch by MILES (for 2 months anyway).
don't you mean 08/09?
e.g the year Liverpool fans like to tell people they almost won the title despite the fact that they were never top of the table at any point?
Sorry... Monday hangover forgetfulness.
And yeah it was 08/09.
And I thought we were top most of November/December pal. We were top when Rafa got his bit of paper out and started screwing about Ferguson. Pretty sure anyway (might be wrong - I'm braindead today).
And we were also top (for about a day)
In April of that season fella.
so close......so, close
:)
My point was merely to point out that KiK is incorrect. A rarity, but it's nice when it happens...
I think if a club employed Rafa on the strict condition he was not allowed anywhere near any transfer business and someone else would decide which players to buy and sell...
it could be a decent appointment.
I thought we agreed last year that Rafa's dealings in the transfer market...
...actually netted out to a positive conclusion. In spite of the fact he DID spend a lot of money on a lot of shit players...
Was I involved in that? I can't remember.
I always thought it was his achilles heel. He undoubtedly brought in some quality players and even some of the more dubious ones at the time have proven their worth in retrospect but I certainly don't think, when you compare the amount he spent with how much the team progressed, there's any real value for money.
And didn't he unsettle Alonso by deciding to cash in on him, which really was an error if so, or is that a bit of a myth?
Nah the Alonso stuff was a disaster.
Benitez screwed up there terribly, although there was already bad blood there anyway (again - Rafa's fault).
His man-management skills are a lot worse than his transfer dealings, if you ask me.
That's probably fair.
He's not especially likeable, but I think Rafa's a good coach
Can put together a good team and set them up well, albeit slightly negatively. Really good tacticly.
Where he lacks is his man management and developing players which, unfortunately for him, is pretty much exactly the qualities Chelsea need right now.
Hope he gets it.
the pursuit of Gareth Barry with the consequent intention
of ditching Xabi Alonso was definitely the bewildering catalyst for Benitez's downfall. Type of guy players respect rather than like. Very good coach, especially in Europe or big away games. Ironically the major fault of his era is precisely what Liverpool are suffering from now. Lack of genuine creativity and ability to turn in comfortable home victories.
more likely...
the failure to convince Barry to join despite offering him the same wages City did and Villa £6m extra.
post match interviews would contain 400%
more baffling metaphors
this is nice
http://news.arseblog.com/2012/03/arteta-thanks-fans-after-henderson-assault/
Liverpool in positive PR shock
Even had the decency to miss their cheaty penalty - after this weekend I think I'm warming to them again.
will have to see the incident again.
looked accidental at the time.
always has to be blame, though, nowadays.
accidental in the sense that he didn't intend to knock him out, yes.
otherwise, don't be silly.
ridiculous levels of touchiness lately.
has yer mam stopped yer pocket money or sutin?
Actually having just rewatched it via the link I'm not so sure.
Initially I'd thought he'd instinctively stuck his arms up to protect himself when he realised him and Arteta were going to clash. Looking at it again, he does seem to raise them in advance and move toward him.
Still think the second point is valid a lot of the time though - not so much in this case but it's fucking annoying how fans tend to assume any player involved in a challenge that causes an injury had intent.
i think he was just
trying to shoulder barge him out of the play. completely didn't mean to injure him badly. very cynical foul all the same. there hasn't been a lot of talk about it really, hulkyhogan's just on the wind-up
Haven't seen it since the game
Instinct at the time though was that he deliberately blocked Arteta's run, but not with any intention of clattering him.
At worst he should maybe get a retrospective yellow (can they do that?) for the deliberate block, but not sure that's a precedent anybody wants to set.
No, they can't
FIX
*rag conspiracy
http://yfrog.com/obwwlrmj
Not for those of a sensitive disposition
this guy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/05/footballer-sues-church-manchester-united
blimey.
they've just got no fucking class, have they?
did anyone link to the story about the United fan who hit his wife in the face with a remote control when Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand?
they need to start keeping their lot in order, really.
I told my beloved dog to fuck off when Liverpool beat us 4-1
Fergie would have resigned there and then if he had any class
used to play for a third division side in his native Portugal
Clearly Manchester United would never sign a player from that level.
*pauses, waiting for knowing laughter*
*silence*
*opens Notepad, types 'BEBE, YEAH? FUCKING BEBE', highlights text for imminent cut'n'pasting*
Most midfielders are either defensive or attacking but I was both. I had something new.
The concept of the box to box midfielder clearly never made it to Portugal.
Arquimedes Nganga
He scores when he wants
Feel sorry for these Rangers players.
Even though they're on thousands a week, som of the players have offered to take a 75% wage cut.
QPR players definitely are very bad at twitter.
Tony Fernandes should set the president by cancelling his account.