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It is interesting isn’t it that the likes of Mourinho & Benitez are just not sought after by the big clubs anymore. The nature of their football & man management in the era of expansive football & big egos just don’t really go together.
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Reminded me of this I saw the other day Lucky 😁
Fantastic rollout – 76% of adults over the age of 40 have now been offered the Tottenham Hotspur managers job.
— Olaf Falafel (@OFalafel) June 24, 2021
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Yeh, I’d be looking more at Pep than KDB as to why City have underperformed in the CL.
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Yes, City are undoubtedly reacting to another disappointment in the CL. Money doesn’t buy real togetherness & focus though, which is what you really need to win the CL.
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The problem I think lies in the two leg nature of the tie – it inevitably leads to a mentality of ensuring you stay safer in the first leg so that you stay in the tie and then wait to go for it more in the second leg when the clock ticking down inevitably wakes players up and there is then pressure to do something because as with many things in life, people don’t react until they have to. The away goal rule is an attempt to change this and liven up the first leg. Does that make the overall tie a bit unfairer? Maybe. But it’s ultimately what you want to prioritise. Given that football is ultimately about entertainment, as I say it seems a step in the other direction. This has probably come about because we’re now in the age of VAR and wanting to try and make things as fair as possible. So fairness to the nth degree is now taking priority over entertainment. If that’s what the people want, then that’s what they want. I’d be curious to see the polling on all of this though. For me, it’s as though the lawyers have started getting involved with the game.
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Apparently, Liverpool have been ‘put on alert’ that Mbappe could be leaving PSG. And there the story ends 😁
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I’m actually more with Sean on this. Yes, it does seem very unfair on the surface that if you have a two legged game with the results 1-1 & then 2-2, the team with more away goals goes through. But it’s now well established in the game – and it creates an incentive for the away team to be bold to try and counter balance the home advantage so it’s trying to make the match fairer in that sense. Also, matches tend to become more alive when it matters more and if you concede an away goal, there is then more urgency needed to respond. It helps keeps the players focussed and on their toes and so it helps make the first leg more entertaining. Now, the first leg is probably going to be a more dull affair and we’ll have to wait for the second leg before the tie becomes alive and teams start taking more risks and going for it because time pressure is the only thing left.
Were they really great calls to scrap this? Given the game has been moving towards greater entertainment this seems a step in the other direction.
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I think a problem for us is that Gareth doesn’t yet know who his best players are and in some ways the previous games have felt like friendlies with him experimenting different options. So you would again expect several substitutions in the game as he looks to keep tweaking things in order to find the best chemistry between the players, particularly up top. Not ideal when you’re already in a tournament. It’s as though we needed a pre tournament to work all these things out rather than building the airplane whilst it’s already flying.
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It was close to him, but his hands were unnaturally up in the air.
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Yeh I think it was clumsy Banjo.
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The France penalty – I think in real time it looked like a deliberate block by the Portuguese defender. I don’t think it was deliberate but Mbappe was running at pace and caught Portugal off guard who were inevitably clumsy in dealing with it. So I’m more 50-50 with it.
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Didn’t see much of the first half, but Saka had a good game it seems. Amazing the difference and lift just one player with more drive can make.
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To be momentarily more positive about England, being good defensively is actually not a bad thing, particularly in tournaments because being more defensive can make the team more resolute and firmly concentrated on the job in hand – this is important in cup/tournament games where every game is important and so you’re can’t afford to make many mistakes. If you look at many of our exits over the years, they’re usually very narrowly beaten exits and indeed many have been lost on penalties. So if we could just get even marginally better up top, it would make such a huge difference. That’s where a big focus needs to be in coming years – getting better and more fluid up top. Hard to see that under someone like Southgate – but at the same time you obviously don’t want to sacrifice our more solid defence under him. It would almost be tempting to bring in an assistant ‘attacking’ coach but I think that would just cause more confusion.
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Brian, it’s not so much I meant that the hierarchy went over Pep’s head without consulting him, more that it was them that were pushing for it and from Pep’s point of view, he’ll obviously want good players to come to the club. Like you, I personally would consider a younger alternative and I’d play the longer game and be more patient. Also, with the City player names mentioned for potential makeway transfers to help the deal, that’s not ideal for team harmony. But as with many things, it’s all about the now.
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Perhaps so Ed, but I can’t help but think this is more of a reaction from City after another disappointment in the CL. And reactions don’t always tend to be well thought through. People may point to Van Persie joining Utd & being very successful but it fizzled out pretty quickly and it obviously wasn’t a sustainable signing in terms of the development of the team in the longer term. I think sometimes teams just need to be allowed time to transition after periods of success rather than constantly throwing the kitchen sink at it. Yes it doesn’t really matter as much when you’ve got deeper pockets, but I still think patience is better and more fruitful.
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Given what Pep said about not being able to sign a striker, I do wonder if this decision has come above his head from the chairman who recently said,
“Having won the league, it is not the time to sit back and be content. That would be your biggest mistake.
“This is the time to send a strong message, that there’s no contentment, that you’re not satisfied with just winning the league.
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Indeed Ed, I can’t see any other club coming in for him. Given his age, he’s in the luxury section and he’s one that only they can afford.
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Wales & Scotland have no illusions about their capabilities. And so there is more togetherness in the team. Whereas we live up so much up our own backside it’s embarrassing.
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That’s it notnice. Southgate made changes most of the pundits called for. And it made no difference because the problems are much deeper. Players affected by their own hype along with a manager with no real philosophy. But hey, perhaps another “root and branch” enquiry will help after the tournament.
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I think we just love the individualistic celebrity culture in this country. We love putting players on pedestals. We probably talk about Euro 96 more than the Germans do, when though they won it because we love talking about Gazza and the celebrations.
Watching France, Spain, Italy so far, they all *look* like actual teams who know exactly each part they have to play. We don’t. Interestingly, both France & Spain went a long time without winning a tournament. Then they invested in coaching. But I just don’t know if there’s a desire to really change things what with the premier league which is where the real focus is.
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