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Those are usually our famous last words Nine 🙂
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And Jose back to Chelsea at some point? 😉
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Brian, I think your generation has probably had the best of football. It struck me as a real community game back then, fans were connected to the local players and you had a good mix of different sides winning the league. And the atmosphere must have been something to behold. And little trouble too. And it was affordable. We may now boast all these global superstars but along with that comes egos, sulking and big money. Thanks, but no thanks. And are matches really more entertaining than they were?? Not sure about that. Wishing you a healthy and happy new year.
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Mak, it’s already starting to happen:
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I think you’re always going to struggle to remove the tribal element from football. It is by its nature, a tribal game – it’s “us vs them”. And add to that the passion of the game and it’s not surprising that it sometimes spills out into violence. As with most things, it all depends on how much you let it control you rather than the other way around. If you put some balance in your life and detach yourself from it all, only then can you see the wood for the trees and actually enjoy it. But to many, it’s a way of life and say to these people you’re going to miss a game and do something with the familiy and you’ll effectively be deemed blasphemous and “not a proper fan” and so this culture keeps feeding itself. It’s also not in a clubs interest to change these people. They’re worth too much money and the TV coverage also reflects this – they know many can’t live without it, hence all the increasing hours of live games, of pre match coverage, post match coverage, 24 hour sports news channels, etc. That said, official viewing figures are lower than they have been because everything is now pay per view and the lesser the availability of something, the fewer people will be drawn in. I’d therefore fully expect the TV companies to start offering lower priced streaming services to get more people in, in the not too distant future.
Again, all rooted in tempting us further in and making money out of people. And we all get caught up in it to some degree, as Brian said.
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Just a few thoughts on Salah. Look, I don’t doubt it looked a soft decision. But if that was your player, you know if they go down, they’ll probably win a penalty. There’s no point in trying to claim the moral high ground if everyone else is doing it and getting the decisions.
It can be incredibly difficult to judge whether contact was enough to bring someone down, particularly if they have momentum – like many things – knowing something and proving it are two completely different things. I do worry so much about VAR next season, I think it’s a pandora’s box rather than a silver bullet. Could an in game referee panel *prove* that Salah dived yesterday? If there’s anyone to blame yesterday, it’s the Newcastle player for trying to grab him. If Mo Salah is running in to your box with the ball, it’s already too late – your team has failed to defend properly – so any defending after that is always going to be last ditch and increasingly risky.
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Nine, no worries mate. I don’t doubt the injuries will have had an impact, just saying that Fergie showed where the bar is when judging management and in the context of resources.
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Nine, I never seem to recall Ferguson losing 3 out of 4 league games in a title challenging season and bemoaning injuries. Is Pep rotating enough? Also, if some of these players that are back aren’t quite ready yet why are they playing? I obviously don’t want to help City, but why isn’t he giving some of the youth players s chance?? What they might lack in quality they’d sure as hell make up for in passion and drive – something City could certainly do with at the moment.
Had City won their previous games I doubt many would have praised Pep for it and said “incredible results despite the injuries”. Yet he loses these games and the narrative is “oh but they have injuries to big players.” Sorry, that doesn’t wash with me.
There has been somewhat of a halo placed around the head of Pep in the media. He has all the resources he wants at City and is being paid a fortune to deal with tough situations. Regardless of whether City comeback over the next few games, he’s failed this recent test. And for the record, I could a arguably criticise Klopp for not using some more of the youth at times this season. If Liverpool suddenly lost some big players to injury part of me would ask, “why weren’t they rested more?” “Why wasn’t some of the youth promoted?” I think we all know the reason – managers just don’t want to take that risk in such a competitive environment. Yet, if they did, they’d soon see the wisdom in it, like Ferguson did. Indeed when Klopp was forced into fielding Origi a few weeks back, the response and impact was immediate. Yet, he’s no where to be seen again now because Klopp has reverted back to the “safety” of the established players. Also look at where developing players has got Pochettino.
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Nine, City today still featured Ederson, Aguero, Stones, Bernardo Silva, Sane, Sterling, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Delph and also featured Mahrez and David Silva. It was admittedly a bit makeshift at the back, but should that team not be doing better? And if not, should Pep not have adapted his game plan?
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Mav, they’ve still got some pretty handy players, particularly up top. It is perhaps a bit makeshift at the back…but they still shouldn’t be losing 3 out of 4 league games.
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There’s clearly something not right at City. To lose 3 in 4 league games would have been unheard of at the start of the season. By no means writing them off. But it would indicate that whatever problems they have probably wont be resolved as quickly as I thought.
Liverpool & Spurs continue to march forward. For now.
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Regarding injuries, does anyone think clubs can sometimes be to blame for players picking up injuries through over playing?? I do worry about Van Dijk at Liverpool, but he’s so important to us. Should teams carry out regular checks and scans on players perhaps? And adapt accordingly. It is a weakness to be so reliant on a few individuals – in which case you either protect them and/or find better alternatives. I don’t know what the individual situations are with those City players but if many of those who are injured because of over playing, could City really complain in such a situation??
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In many ways, those 2 recent defeats suffered by City are probably just what they needed to wake them up. But so long as questions keep being asked of them and pressure is maintained on them, it will expose their weaknesses and all teams have weaknesses.
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Mak, I think undoubtedly Van Dijk exudes more authority than Henderson and I suspect he has more presence and respect amongst the other players. He may seem quiet but he clearly exudes a figure that others naturally look up to. Fabinho also has been starting to exude a similar aura about him more recently. That’s really why a captain needs to also be a top quality player to have that influence and wow factor on to the other players.
To be fair to Henderson, whilst his actual quality and captaincy credentials can certainly be argued about (I have criticised him myself as you know) I actually think his professionalism and work rate are very important because as I say, passion is also an important component on the pitch and you also need that reliability to call upon. Same with Milner.
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There’s a lot of conveniental wisdom banging around in many outlets. Look, City are a undoubtedly a very strong, talented and effective side. But I’ve thought for sometime that there was a weakness there in terms of leaders and somebody to really drive them through passionately on the pitch. Many have to keep revising their opinion on both Liverpool and Spurs as each team continues to impress. They’re by no means perfect and both have areas they could do with improving on, but to win a title you need drive, passion and quality. All 3 teams have varying levels of each of those thing, and each of those qualities is equally as important as the other. When Man Utd were winning multiple titles, they weren’t littered with quality. But they were very effective and had incredible passion which drove them over the line time and time again.
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If Spurs beat Everton tomorrow, they’ll be just 2 points behind City which is a remarkable achievement considering the spends of the two clubs. And it would have to be said that the top 2 are in fact a top 3 as they would all be drifting away from 4th and 5th position.
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And as predictable as the rising of the sun, Man Utd suddenly start performing again with Jose now gone. The same players who weren’t delivering are suddenly heroes again. Imagine a job in any other walk of life where you didn’t perform because you didn’t like your manager. You’d be toast. But now the players call the shots. Whatever happened to professionalism?
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Paxton, I think we’re certainly a more rounded side than we were without having to be completely reliant on Salah. I think we play good football and we have quite a few other players capable of chipping in if required. However, if Salah was to get injured, I would worry a bit because he is still a match winner and he helps us to get the ball rolling because quite often he’s the person we look to, to get us a goal if we’re struggling. He’s also the best finisher at the club. This is why many of us would like to see another forward come in, in January.
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Another professional performance tonight. Very German I thought – not spectacular but bloody effective. Be good to hold on to the ball a bit better though.
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Banjo, in many of those instances, it could well be argued that it was equally the defences fault. For example, letting the attacker shoot and hit the bar. If you allow your own crossbar to be rattled, you have failed to defend properly.
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