Re: The Football Chat Thread : Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:53 pm  

Mare meva!
Wayne Rooney is world class.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:44 am  

Compare and contrast the following from Kenny Dalglish... May 2011 “Sometimes I worry that the ones who shout the loudest get more ­beneficial decisions – and that is totally ­unfair. “This week the theme has been about referees and I’ve got to say that when I came back in as manager I was made fully aware of the respect campaign with regard to officials. I think we have adhered to the campaign in every respect. We have never come out and criticised match officials in an of our games." Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Li ... z1XiZHfBkX Sign up for MirrorFootball's Morning Spy newsletter Register here ...with... September 2011 'If we keep playing like that, we'll be OK, but if we keep getting battered by things outside our control and jurisdiction that's different,' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... fs-us.html He's going to 'speak to the owners' before commenting further. Presumably they'll tell him that:- - It's sport, you win some, you lose some - There is no consipracy against Liverpool Football Club - Most managers whinge about referees. If he does, he will be fined and may get a touchline ban but it won't affect your chances of winning anything. What does affect your chances is spunking £35million on a substitute when it could be better spent on replacing your crocked captain. Final word to Tony Pulis (of all people!) who nailed it:- Pulis added: 'Kenny will be as biased [towards Liverpool] as I am towards Stoke City. I respect his opinion and will have a look at the incidents later.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z1XiaTBYWF

Compare and contrast the following from Kenny Dalglish... May 2011 “Sometimes I worry that the ones who shout the loudest get more ­beneficial decisions – and that is totally ­unfair. “This week the theme has been about referees and I’ve got to say that when I came back in as manager I was made fully aware of the respect campaign with regard to officials. I think we have adhered to the campaign in every respect. We have never come out and criticised match officials in an of our games." Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Li ... z1XiZHfBkX Sign up for MirrorFootball's Morning Spy newsletter Register here ...with... September 2011 'If we keep playing like that, we'll be OK, but if we keep getting battered by things outside our control and jurisdiction that's different,' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... fs-us.html He's going to 'speak to the owners' before commenting further. Presumably they'll tell him that:- - It's sport, you win some, you lose some - There is no consipracy against Liverpool Football Club - Most managers whinge about referees. If he does, he will be fined and may get a touchline ban but it won't affect your chances of winning anything. What does affect your chances is spunking £35million on a substitute when it could be better spent on replacing your crocked captain. Final word to Tony Pulis (of all people!) who nailed it:- Pulis added: 'Kenny will be as biased [towards Liverpool] as I am towards Stoke City. I respect his opinion and will have a look at the incidents later.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z1XiaTBYWF

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:11 am  

Nikaed wrote:

Rooney better than all of them.

Rooney is playing extremely well. but it will be interesting to see whether it will be him or Silva who will be picking up the awards at the end of the season. Wouldnt like to put money on either of them at the moment.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:02 am  

United win 5-0 and their fans want to discuss, amongst other things......Liverpool. How strange.

I watched the Liverpool game in the pub on Saturday. Firstly, the Carragher incident was a penalty. Doesn't matter how easily Walters went down, Carragher clearly had his arm around him and any striker worth their salt goes down in that situation. The last 2 goals conceded now have directly come from Carraghers failings. His legs have completely gone and it's time he was benched. It's a good job for him that the decision was contensious to deflect the attention away from him. We battered Stoke in the 2nd half and we should have had a penalty, no question. Decisions like that even themselves out over a season so I'm not overly concerned. The thing that worries me most of all, and it's not a huge worry 4 games in to the season, is that we didn't seem clinical enough. 20 shots to 4 overall and multiple corners with a huge weight of possession quite clearly demostrated how much we dominated. You have days like that though and we need to put it right next Sunday now.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:08 am  

Ian 77 Redux wrote: Compare and contrast the following from Kenny Dalglish... May 2011 Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Li ... z1XiZHfBkX Sign up for MirrorFootball's Morning Spy newsletter Register here ...with... September 2011 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... fs-us.html He's going to 'speak to the owners' before commenting further. Presumably they'll tell him that:- - It's sport, you win some, you lose some - There is no consipracy against Liverpool Football Club - Most managers whinge about referees. If he does, he will be fined and may get a touchline ban but it won't affect your chances of winning anything. What does affect your chances is spunking £35million on a substitute when it could be better spent on replacing your crocked captain. Final word to Tony Pulis (of all people!) who nailed it:- Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z1XiaTBYWF I look forward to your appraisal when SAF and every other manager in the league contradicts themselves this season when a decision goes against them.

Ian 77 Redux wrote: Compare and contrast the following from Kenny Dalglish... May 2011 Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Li ... z1XiZHfBkX Sign up for MirrorFootball's Morning Spy newsletter Register here ...with... September 2011 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... fs-us.html He's going to 'speak to the owners' before commenting further. Presumably they'll tell him that:- - It's sport, you win some, you lose some - There is no consipracy against Liverpool Football Club - Most managers whinge about referees. If he does, he will be fined and may get a touchline ban but it won't affect your chances of winning anything. What does affect your chances is spunking £35million on a substitute when it could be better spent on replacing your crocked captain. Final word to Tony Pulis (of all people!) who nailed it:- Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z1XiaTBYWF I look forward to your appraisal when SAF and every other manager in the league contradicts themselves this season when a decision goes against them.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:50 am  

Sthelens RLFC wrote:

I look forward to your appraisal when SAF and every other manager in the league contradicts themselves this season when a decision goes against them.

There you go again mentioning United

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:51 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Rooney is a great player, but is he truly top class in a Pele/Zidane/Maradona kind of way??

Anybody who claims Rooney is even close to a crowd of players like that is crazy. Of all the top strikers over the past 10 years, where would you rank Rooney against players like Shevchenko, Henry, Villa, Forlan, Crespo, Henry, RvN, Raul, R9, Del Piero, Eto'o, Drogba, Inzaghi, etc.?

He's a good player, but I'd take the majority of those above in their pomp over what Rooney's been so far in his career. Whilst I've probably missed off a fair amount of other players.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:01 am  

Roddy B wrote:

Anybody who claims Rooney is even close to a crowd of players like that is crazy. Of all the top strikers over the past 10 years, where would you rank Rooney against players like Shevchenko, Henry, Villa, Forlan, Crespo, Henry, RvN, Raul, R9, Del Piero, Eto'o, Drogba, Inzaghi, etc.?

He's a good player, but I'd take the majority of those above in their pomp over what Rooney's been so far in his career. Whilst I've probably missed off a fair amount of other players.

It's very difficult to make a list out of them. I'd say only Henry, Messi and Ronaldo (both) were clearly better than Rooney. Rooney certainly deserves to be mentioned in the same bracket as all the players above for me. He isn't similar to all of the above players and if I was doing a like for like comparison out of them players it would be Del Piero. I'd pick Rooney over Del Piero with both in their pomp.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:20 pm  

Roddy B wrote:

Anybody who claims Rooney is even close to a crowd of players like that is crazy. Of all the top strikers over the past 10 years, where would you rank Rooney against players like Shevchenko, Henry, Villa, Forlan, Crespo, Henry, RvN, Raul, R9, Del Piero, Eto'o, Drogba, Inzaghi, etc.?

He's a good player, but I'd take the majority of those above in their pomp over what Rooney's been so far in his career. Whilst I've probably missed off a fair amount of other players.

I think Rooney has to have a big international tournament, with England winning or reaching a final/semi final, or move to Barca/Real Madrid and be successful, for him to ever be lauded as a true great.

At United, because of their dominance in the English league, his 'greatness' will always be questioned, similar to how Lampard has built a big reputation at a successful Chelsea, whilst being painfully obvious that at the highest level, he often gets found out.

Re: The Football Chat Thread : Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:10 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I think Rooney has to have a big international tournament, with England winning or reaching a final/semi final, or move to Barca/Real Madrid and be successful, for him to ever be lauded as a true great.

At United, because of their dominance in the English league, his 'greatness' will always be questioned, similar to how Lampard has built a big reputation at a successful Chelsea, whilst being painfully obvious that at the highest level, he often gets found out.

International football isn't what it once was. The game has become more and more about fitness and peaking physically. These days, the international tournaments are played at the end of long, drawn out seasons where players are often fatigued or half injured. Furthermore, all of the best managers in the world manage at club level, and the highest level of football is by far and out the champions league. World cup finals and semi finals will always be great occasions, but the tournaments on the whole are generally declining, as international football's decline seems to be showing more in the players' approach to it more than anything else.

For me, if a player can do it over a few seasons in the Champions League, then he's proven far more than he could prove by doing it for his national side. Messi's stupendous form in Europe over the past years have put him at a level I feel no other player that's played the game could reach. Maybe that's OTT, but the game of football only gets better, and he's easily the greatest modern player.

As for Rooney, I've made no secrets of my lack or appreciation for his talents. He's a good player, but I believe he's massively overhyped. He's a good player who works hard and isn't this type of individual who has to be carried, but, in terms of his sheer ability and his influence on a football game/ability to score goals, I don't believe he's in the upper echelons some like to think he is. I'm sure my good mate Mark will put it down to bitterness, but I've never rated him, not even when he was the Boy Wonder at Everton.