Be Careful What You Wish For Gooners

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Be Careful What You Wish For
This is a response to Luca James Sparks on whether it matters or not if Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League for a season.

I understand where you are coming from, I almost had the same ideas in mind when Rafa failed to get us into the Champions League THAT season. You can see how that turned out now.

Be careful what you wish for, from a Liverpool supporter.
Mohammed Ashoor


...I only managed a fleeting visit to the mailbox this afternoon and found Arsenal fans who are worried about a bloated wage bill and an excess of 'passengers' in the squad, and suggesting that dropping out of the top four might not be such a curse. Fair enough. For what it's worth I've not spoken to any Geordies who think that relegation was a bad thing for them, it seems to be generally regarded as a cleansing and cathartic process that has left them rather stronger. Maybe you should set your sites lower than the UEFA? Just saying...
Dan, Spurs.


Should There Be More Female Officials?
I can't remember what Prem game it was at the weekend, but Sian Massey was the lino and got an extremely close decision spot on (again).

Now I don't want to patronize, but it was a decision I was certain the lino had got wrong, the player was definitely onside was my first thoughts. Then as the replay showed, I was wrong and Sian was right. He was definitely offside. It was such a close decision, but not one player went to argue that it was onside.

And it's not the first time she has made the calls spot on. It seems to me that every game she runs the line she gets every decision right.

This led me to wonder, will the game be better off with female officials? Will the players show more respect to a female ref than a male? Could you imagine the players crowding out a female ref?

If anything, Sian Massey is fast proving she never makes a wrong decision. (No doubt someone will point out a mistake made by Massey)
T J (Man Tip - Defrost your nuts by microwaving your boxers)


Alternatives To Paying £62
While the subject of excessive ticket prices is topical, and with prices of £20+ being mentioned for League 2 games, why don't more folks go to watch the U-21 premier league? I don't recall any posts in the mailbox on this league.

I've been to Blackburn v Everton tonight (I'm a Liverpool fan but Blackburn play some of their games just up the road from me at Leigh). You get a good standard of football, certainly at least League 2 standard, and some first team squad players usually feature, plus potential stars of the future. Vellios, Gueye and Oviedo all played for Everton. Last season I saw Blackburn v Liverpool and Man Utd, and saw the likes of Sterling, Pogba and Fabio. And all this for just £4. Four. Pounds.

I used to go watching Rugby Town a few years ago when I lived in the Midlands, and that was £7 then for a team that was (then) 5 divisions below League 2. So £4 for the U-21 league is a bargain. Yet one that only about 125 people went for. Get on it.
Chris Mac (Everton won 3-0 by the way, deservedly), LFC/FCB


Worst Performances
I think the importance of the game could/should be taken into account when judging the awfulness of any players performance. The consequences and so on...

Yesterday afternoons' contributor whose name I don't know mentions Taibi at the bridge letting in 5 against Chelsea but United still won the league that year, I think by a record points difference too.

For me, the worst performance of anyone I've seen in a premier league game was David James playing for pool against Utd in the title decider of 96/97. Had Liverpool won that game they would have been odds on to take the league but Calamity had an absolute shocker (I think that's where his name came from actually). When Andy Cole scored the third headed goal (all from crosses that Jimbo had flapped at) Martin Tyler was even amazed enough to roar "Oh David James! Another Catastrophe!!!"

That's also the day the pool fans hung the banner "come back when you've won 18".

Ferguson is God - simple as.
Mark O'D


...While Michael Proctor's heroics for Charlton against Sunderland probably put him alongside Walters in the individual game stakes and we're going to get the usual Ali Dia/Taibi citations, I'd like to mention Reading's record signing (still!), Emerse Fae, for a remarkably persistent approach to sheer rubbishness.

In the 07/08 Premier League season, he played 8 times. In those games, we scored 8 goals but conceded 31 and accumulated no points. We were poor that year but sunk even lower when he was on the pitch.

He then refused to play in the reserves, threw a strop and left the club quietly that summer.
Rob Evans


Is Sterling Good Enough For Liverpool's First Team?
Dear Brendan Rodgers,

I know a lot of Liverpool fans insisted you play this apparently dazzling young kid called Raheem this season, or risk losing him to a 'bigger' club .. but I for one am at a loss to explain why he deserves his spot in the starting XI other than you are scared he'll run off to another suitor.

Last time I looked, Raheem Sterling was one of - if not THE - most dispossessed players in the Premier League. Despite a supposed ownership of a 'turbo' setting on his speed, I'm yet to see him go past his defender with any regularity (most often because he can't seem to actually keep the ball at his feet when he tries any sort of trickery). He lacks the strength to keep the ball away from the weakest PL defences, and his tendency to refuse to play the ball to anyone except whoever is playing in the full-back role behind him is, well .. kinda frustrating.

Yes, he's managed to score a couple of goals this season .. but I'm pretty sure he only has one more goal than a handful of your team's defenders tallies so far. Besides, both his strikes have been pretty identical - a simple beating of the offside trap high up the pitch during a counter-attack, and latching on to a quality pass from a certain Uruguayan who he could learn a lot from. Especially in regards to passing the ball with any accuracy or power.

I understand you're like the ugly guy at the school prom - in that your options for scoring are pretty limited - but surely giving a certain starter's role to a player who is, to date, flattering to deceive .. "harrumph" is all I have to say.
Glen (unimpressed) Stuart, sighing loudly


Mourinho? Yes Yes Yes
Sizwe in the mailbox asked the question of whether United fans would want Jose to succeed Sir Alex; personally, I would answer that with a categorical 'yes'!

The reason why is very simple; Jose has the biggest set of swingers in management. The problem facing United, when Sir eventually steps aside, is that his shadow will loom large over any successor, most likely crushing whomever is trying to fill his boots. Also, as fans, we aren't used to barracking a manager, booing or calling for their head after every poor result because, as the song goes, "every single one of us loves Alex Ferguson".

The man has been there for the best part of 30 years (I was 4 when he took the job!) and I think it will take the fans a while to adjust to anyone new. This is where Jose comes in; he's the only man that can deal with (and probably revel in) that kind of pressure. The media love him, his players always do and the fans probably will as well, as he'll no doubt make outlandish statements about City/Wenger/Liverpool.

It may only be a brief fling; 3 years of chaos, trophies and soundbites before he falls out with Gill and walks out to take the PSG job, but he'll keep us at the top tier of football in that time whilst putting the "Fergie question" to bed. That final point, to me, is why he has to have the job. With due respect to someone like David Moyes (whom I rate very highly), I just can't see them coping with it all like Jose. In short, he's the ideal short term appointment for the long term, if that makes sense!
Lewis, Busby Way (Ole to be manager. Not the next one, but after Jose?!)


...In reply to Sizwe, yes I absolutely do want Jose to take over from Sir Alex when the time comes. Why? Because those will be virtually impossible shoes to fill, and he is the one man you can trust to fill them.

Whoever follows will probably not be there for long, but we only need someone to bridge that gap, to take the pressure of the next longer term incumbent, and to maintain a decent level. And with Jose, you can be fairly sure that some degree of success will follow along with some decent and exciting signings.

If he decided to stay a bit longer, I'd be even more delighted. I think we could give him a good home for many years, but maybe he just prefers to be the littlest and best dressed hobo of the football world. Either way, he'd be just what we need to steady the ship.
Guy S (littlest hobo > lassie)


Let's All Do The Conga
This seems simple enough and maybe has already been suggested and I missed it, but why don't fans of the premier league football clubs at least start a petition/march thingy, or whatever we do nowadays, to persuade the clubs to pass on some of the huge increase in tv money to supplement ticket price drops. Even if they only drop the prices by £5 at least it shows that from their ivory towers they realise that working class fans are the reason the clubs are here now and will be going into the future. Without fans there is no game, no competition, no passion, no environment and no business for them either.

A favour for the little guy(s) isn't too much to ask, is it?
J Quigley, LFC, 19, Wigan


Weird & Creepy
There was not one mention in yesterday's mailbox of Patrice Evra licking the Man Utd badge on his shirt after Van Persie's goal against Liverpool on Sunday. Surely someone else must have spotted this bizarre act? And when I say lick I mean he gave it a long, lingering sexy lick, the kind you would give to your... Well use your imagination people!

It was weird and creepy.
Mark (The difference between Utd and City this season is simple... Van Persie!) LFC


Do Newcastle Need A Striker?
Do Newcastle need to spend money on a striker with Colo wanting to leave? We like to play with 1 up front and we have Cisse, Shola, Ranger and Campbell who can all play there. Surely the £8m we were going to spend on Remy could go towards buying a centre back? maybe Dawson? We need a centre back even if Colo didn't go!

I think it's a waste of money if we buy a striker and then put Cisse back onto the left wing. Our side looks so unbalanced when he's out there.
Drew Hope