Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 11:17 am  

Fresh Prince of Chesh-air wrote:

Forgive me for breaking up the Rafa love-in but.....Chelsea were third when he took over, 4 points behind leaders City, 3 behind Utd, 5 ahead of Arsenal and 7 ahead of Spurs....6 months later he finishes 14 pts beind United (-11 pts), 3 points behind City (+1 point), 2 ahead of Arsenal (-3 pts) and 3 ahead of Spurs (-4 pts).

He also wins the Europa cup with a Champions League team/ squad......yet "all is forgiven Rafa!" Bizarre.

Do I blame him for us not winning the Capital One Cup? Yes. Do I blame him for us not winning the World Club Cup? Yes. Do I blame him for some utterly ridiculous results, like the home defeat to QPR and the squandering of 2 goal leads to Southampton and Reading? Yes.

But blaming him for the defeats also means he deserves the credit when things go right.

The last couple of months have been a ridiculous slog. We could have easily ended up outside the top 4 and potless. But in April and May we've had a fantastic record and ended up finishing 3rd with a trophy.

I don't think he was the right man for the job. I think our board need an almighty good kicking for screwing up this season by sacking Di Matteo and appointing him. I don't like him. I definitely do not want him to stay or ever come back, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be thankful that we have finished in the top 4 and won another European trophy.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 11:56 am  

Think the Beckham criticism is going OTT in the same way as the gushing praise, personally. No, he wasn't a great individual, but for a good part of his career he was great at his role and what he brought to his teams. His 'problems' were the ridiculous hype brought about by his off-field image (partly his fault), and when he seemingly started to buy into it and see himself as a potential central playmaker. Whilst his all-round game improved at Real Madrid, it was still never enough for that, but when sticking to what he was good at, hugging the right touchline and knocking crosses perfectly onto strikers' heads combined with a phenomenal work ethic, there were few better.

Definitely a contender for England's all-time XI in my opinion, but by no means one of our best players, and there is a difference.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 11:57 am  

Roddy B wrote:

For once I agree. Liverpool have a lot to do this summer. Strong possibility of a new goalkeeper, IMO we could do with a new defender in every position, but that isn't realistic. We need improvements in almost every position on the field if we want to bridge the gap with the top 4, but I can't see it happening. If I were to focus on signing specific positions, I'd prioritise centre back, centre mid and either flank. We could do with Allen picking up the form from the start of the season, he looked ideal when he first started but when Lucas went off with injury, it completely changed his game and he never reached form again.

Do we make the jump this summer and build around Coutinho in midfield? Do we get rid of both Agger and Skrtel, as well as Carra retiring? Do we keep a player like Henderson and hope he'll find a proper role, rather than the jack of all trades he currently is? Has Downing really done enough to justify the salary and fee?

Lots of questions over our team this summer. Clearly, we're way off where we want to be, but does Brendan have the balls to make the decisions needed?

Surely not, Jonjo Shelvey reckons you have the best fullback pairing in England.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 12:00 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

I don't think anyone would say Beckham was one of the world's greatest players. You could say say he was consistently excellent at his craft. I did have to chuckle at Chris Waddle saying he wasn't at the very top as he did have great pace. Is that a pre-requisite for greatness; being able to run fast. Aaron Lennon has pace, I'd rather a winger deliver quality crosses then leg it to the bye line and pu it over the bar.

I raise you a Theo Walcott. If we're talking overrated England wingers he's in a class of his own IMO.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 12:56 pm  

flipper wrote:

Heard rumours as to why Kompany wasn't involved, not specifically who he'd had a go at, is there a clue in your statement or are they unrelated?

I can't imagine Kompany having a go at Nastasic, who was distraught after the FA Cup Final. Some other players perhaps.

All very strange. Might just be a case of poor communication by City, who claimed that the pair where left out of the Reading game due to "tiredness". Centre backs don't normally suffer excessively from tiredness and, even if true, you would have thought one of them would have been capable of warming the bench. Very unusual for City to not have a specialist centre back among the subs. Then, when they didn't appear again yesterday, the language had changed to minor injuries. Not surprising the rumour mill started.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 1:04 pm  

carl_spackler wrote:

I raise you a Theo Walcott. If we're talking overrated England wingers he's in a class of his own IMO.

I'm still disgusted that Sven Goran Erikson picked him for the World Cup squad on the advice of Wenger even though Wenger didn't deem him suitable to be playing for Arsenal.

Still, at least the experience has worked wonders for him, Arsenal and England, hasn't it?

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 1:55 pm  

Waddle can be bracketed with (and rhymed with) Hoddle for me, technically very good, probably most appreciated when they played abroad.

Neither of them (not to mention wasters like Lennon and Walcott) achieved a fraction of what Beckham did football wise.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 2:01 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

I'm still disgusted that Sven Goran Erikson picked him for the World Cup squad on the advice of Wenger even though Wenger didn't deem him suitable to be playing for Arsenal.

Still, at least the experience has worked wonders for him, Arsenal and England, hasn't it?

When you also add the context that he was supposedly a striker at that point and picked as one of 4, with Rooney and Owen both having broken feet, it's quite possibly the worst decision I've ever known in football. It's not even one of those that just looks bad in hindsight, it was abysmal as soon as it was announced.

[John_D]

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 4:11 pm  

Unsurprising news corner:

Mourinho's gone

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Mon May 20, 2013 4:16 pm  

John_D wrote:

Unsurprising news corner:

Mourinho's gone

I'm slightly surprised, thought RM were trying to squeeze some money out of Chelsea for him.