Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:23 pm  

Mark wrote:

Jose lost against charlton in league cup as well I think.

Yeah, I remembered that last night.

But, as Jose did point out, we only lost on pens, so the actual match was a draw. I'm not sure but I do think it was one of those games we were winning, and looked like we were through, but they snatched a late goal to equalise.

Just checked the details and we scored in the 41st and they scored in the 45th. That was in Jose's second season. So we were on our way to the league title, reached the semi's of the CL, so the League Cup was clearly 4th priority. But this season it should have been a great chance for Benitez to get his 2nd piece of English silverware. But no, just like the World Club Cup, Benitez ****ed it up.

One of the main reasons I disliked Benitez was because of the 5hite he came out with when Mourinho was manager that Chelsea's success was inevitable because of the money we'd spent. But when he's in charge of an expensive side, he couldn't beat Cornthians, he looks like he won't even win a cup that has only Swansea, Villa, Bradford and us left in it.

I know Benitez will claim we were out of the league before he came, but when Benitez was appointed we were 3 points behind united. We're 14 points behind now.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:47 pm  

John_D wrote:

The difference Ba made after coming on was alarming. With even ten more minutes on the pitch, I feel fairly sure Chelsea would have had something out of the game. Had he started, I really can't see how they'd have lost it, Ivanovic's gifts or not. It would beggar belief if Ba doesn't start every game he's available for from now. There is no case to be made for the continuing selection of Torres.
And no, he shouldn't have been booked, and neither was it a penalty.

There was no case for the selection of Torres over Sturridge, but it kept happening, and we ended up shipping Sturridge out to Liverpool.

I did think that it wasn't all Torres' fault because we created chance for Ba and never really did for Torres. But the problem with that is because we can't create chances for Torres when he's hiding from them. Even if he was in the middle, which he rarely is, he still wouldn't have won the two headers that Ba did.

I think it was Linekar when he was playing who said that missing chances wasn't the big problem of a striker. If you're missing chances, you're still getting into the right positions and doing that right. Torres is the perfect example of a striker who hides and no longer misses many chances.

The talk is that Torres is picked on the instructions of Abramovich. That will be ridiculous, but it makes a lot more sense than managers picking Torres because they think he works better than Sturridge or Ba.

The 50 million quid we spent on Torres has clearly been a horrible waste of money, but I even think he's had a negative effect on the club anyway. We got rid of Anelka and Sturridge partly to accommodate him and we undermined Drogba last season. There have been a few decent moments and small paybacks (the goal away to Barca was a magical moment and he did win the corner which Drogba scored from in the CL final) but overall he has been a dismal failure. It was posted on the CFC forum that pretty much ANY other forward in the PL would have offered more than Torres. And apart from Franco Di Santo, I pretty much agree with that.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:29 pm  

It seems Liverpool are making the same mistakes again. It's like Groundhog day. It's just been on the radio that they are going to offer Kenny Dalgleish a key role at the club. If it's a Director of Football or it's like, Rodgers should walk. Dalgleish showed how utterly useless he is and how drastically out of touch with football he is when he returned as manager. Why bring him back again? Even if it's just some fluffy Ambassador role, it still allows him back in and the problems previous managers faced with him having more influence than they did will return.

It was also mentioned they have bid £13m for Moussa Sow. I remember him being semi-useful on Football Manager about 5 years ago, not sure what standard he's up to now. Seems strange to bid for another striker, unless it's to let the Suaz leave. With Suarez a cert to start and Sturridge going there to play centrally, it would seem an unnecessary move.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:26 pm  

Don't believe everything you read especially when it comes from a lousy Turkish newspaper.

I believe our only targets now are; Tom Ince, Kevin Gamiero and Nicolas Isimat Mirin.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:14 pm  

Leyther_till_death wrote:

I think Rodgers sees Shelvey as a no. 10 type player and to be honest, he's better further up the pitch. The amount of times he lost the ball in the middle of the pitch on Sunday was embarrassing but in that final third he put two cracking balls through to Sturridge.

I think we have to play Sturridge up front, with Suarez just behind him. No idea who this number 10 type player is going to be and where he'll fit him in the team to be honest, both Sturridge and Suarez will be wasted out wide.

Would

Lucas Gerrard
Sterling Suarez Suso
Sturridge

Work?

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:15 pm  

Mark wrote:

Would

Lucas Gerrard
Sterling Suarez Suso
Sturridge

Work?

I think that we need to forget the idea of players having strict positions through a game, particularly Suarez. We seen for Ajax that he's fantastic when playing out wide, he regularly gives full backs nightmares when he moves out wide at the moment, so it wouldn't be a problem if he was expected to play there a little more. We've seen Rodgers play Sterling centrally and we know Sturridge can play centrally and he can cause problems playing out wide.

IMO, the 'problem' player(s) for us are Gerrard and, to a point, Shelvey. Neither work too well in a two man midfield so they generally need to play in a three, but neither offer us stupendous amounts playing as the most advanced of a three. For me, Allen must play most games, Lucas we can afford to drop for some games but he can be pivotal to how we play at times. We don't get as much from Gerrard any more so we need to gradually reduce his playing time. Shelvey and Henderson should be the players that replace him. I like Shelvey a bit, he's got quality and he's strong. I said when he first came here, he has ability, he can pass the ball really well, he just lets himself down by doing basic things wrong. I'm not that big a fan of Henderson, he's just a jack of all trades player who doesn't have anything special to his game.

If Sahin is to go then I'd like to see a more athletic midfielder come in, somebody who can cover ground at speed and keep us in games when we sometimes get overwhelmed.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:02 am  

Mark wrote:

Would

Lucas Gerrard
Sterling Suarez Suso
Sturridge

Work?

I'd like to see something like that given a go on Sunday and have a do at going at United. I think Roddy points out though we do seem to struggle with that two in centre midfield but it seems that's what Rodgers tends to go for. We need a Ramires type leggy midfielder who will get about the pitch when we don't have the ball.

I'm really struggling to understand Blackburn's appointment of Michael Appleton, Gary Bowyer has won 3 from 3 and Rovers have improved tenfold, the players have obviously responded to him. Now they're bringing in someone who at Blackpool has only won 2 from 12 since arriving. Baffling. They're on SKY tonight, be interesting to see how they do in Bowyers last game in charge.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:22 pm  

Whenever someone wants to buy a football club, the FA should sit them down and make them watch a recent history of Blackburn as an example of how not to run it.

Stumbling from one disaster to another. I give Appleton til the end of the season before he gets found out again, and Venkys not much longer before their position as owners becomes untenable - if it isn't already.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:37 pm  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20977131 LOL

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20977131 LOL

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:49 pm  

Fresh Prince of Chesh-air wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20977131 LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C7VjKIpf08

Fresh Prince of Chesh-air wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20977131 LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C7VjKIpf08