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Does SOS Stand For 'Shame Of Shankly'?
There's embarrassment from Liverpool fans after Spirit Of Shankly's talk of 'chaos' at Anfield. Plus; big-ups for Roberto Martinez, perfect penalties and lots more...
It's Time For Liverpool Fans To Trust FSG
FSG seem to have adopted a scattergun approach to appointing a new manager, but one chap says it's time to trust them. Plus, Spurs fans looking up and saving money...
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Loving A Mental Left-Back
To distract from the usual Wenger out, AVB out, Dalglish out but oh wait he could win two cups but finish seventh is that okay or is it only okay if Carroll scores a header from a Downing cross after a wonderful cross-field ball by Henderson mails, there was a nice mailbox idea of what positions you love so I'll put forward my favourite:
I love a mental left-back, it has to be left-back though as right-backs tend to be solid but dull (see Hibbert, Tony) but left-backs have a wonderful penchant for madness and brilliance all at the same time. I think it may have something to do with the idea of a cultured left foot but with the added idea that as it has to defend most often it stores up its madness and gets far too excited when it's in the opposition half.
Case in point, my favourite player in the Premier League at the moment is Kolarov. I'm not a Man City fan (Liverpool if you must know, feel free to stop reading at this point) but it's got to the stage that if Man City are on and he is not playing I consider turning it off as some form of protest. My love from him comes from his insistence on belting the ball as hard as he can regardless of the position he is in and more importantly his teammates are in. Kolarov shoots when he wants, and he wants to shoot all the time. He can't defend to a level expected by a title-chasing team but that's not the point of Kolarov, he just wants to have as much fun as possible. Also every time he looks at a teammate in a better position he does this kind of devilish smirk that I love.
Carlos was obviously the master before and Maldini was probably the ultimate left-back but if you think across the history of this position there are more left-backs you can consider as mental than the few you'd put down as world-class defenders. It's the position for the defender who can't defend and has the artistic tendencies that come from having a cultured left foot. A perfect maelstrom of madness.
Andy B
Torres Has Just Found True Level
Fernando Torres has been rubbish for Chelsea for over a year now. He was also pretty rubbish during the last few months of his time at Liverpool. That, coupled with his sulky, better-than-you attitude he was beginning to display towards his teammates, probably made it easy for Liverpool to decide to cash in on him.
Everyone has been going on and on about how all he needs are a couple of goals to kick-start a scoring spree. However, all evidence suggests that nothing of that sort is ever going to happen. He was, at best, pretty decent while at Atletico (which is why no-one else took a gamble on him). He had two great seasons at Liverpool (33 goals in 46 games and 22 goals in 32 games), sandwiched between one good season (17 goals in 38 games). His final season saw 9 goals in 26 games, an almost 1 goal in 3 games strike rate mirrored by his last two seasons at Atletico (13 goals in 40 games and 15 goals in 40 games respectively).
The question of the day is - When does a blip become the norm, and when does the so-called norm become a blip instead? It seems his ratio went from being one goal in three games while at Atletico to being one goal in 1.6 games for three seasons at Liverpool, and then went back to being one goal in three games again. At his present rate of five goals in 47 games for Chelsea, he has regressed to a ratio of one in nine. This is not even taking into consideration his woeful form for Spain. Surely it's about time Vicente Del Bosque dumped him out of the squad already. Roberto Soldado, Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Negredo must be kicking themselves wondering what else they need to do to get ahead of Torres in the pecking order, especially with David Villa most likely to miss the Euros due to injury.
After his time at Newcastle, nobody in their right mind thought Michael Owen was going to get back to being the Michael Owen of old (except perhaps Michael Owen himself!). The same principle should apply here too. Basically, instead of thinking of Fernando Torres as a wonderful striker suffering a dip in form, it's time we thought of him as a decent striker who had a couple of great seasons, then promptly went back to being an irrelevance. Kind of like a Spanish Marcus Stewart.
Sanjit (the same theory could apply to Arsene Wenger too) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur
Where Can Torres Go?
Ryan Giggs, a left wide midfielder, seemingly lost it and moved to centre midfield.
Torres, a centre-forward, has seemingly lost it. Where does he move now ?
Bala (Is that why he moves away to the wide areas?) MUFC
One Thing In HIs Favour
Lawless PNE is apparently forgetting that Torres has won the one trophy coveted by all footballers: a World Cup. Giggs will never have anything close to that, not to forget European Championship success.
David C, Toronto
Who Should Have Stayed Longer?
Reading your fine site the other day there was mention of Yossi Benayoun and I thought about his career for a bit. He was great at the Hammers and made the move to my beloved Pool. Now comes the bit where he decides he's chasing trophies as opposed to playing time. Worked out well for you, eh Yossi. Here's the thing - he was a bit-part player at Chelsea and I'd forgotten about him as he sees bugger all playing time whilst on loan at Arsenal. At what point should this level of player realise they have reached their potential/best club. I know it's the old question of trophies v match time/money v match time and surely he cannot be content now. Given Downing and Kuyt/Henderson as our wingers, I reckon he would be seeing more match time and receiving more adulation had he stayed with Pool.
Anyone care to chip in with a player from their club who should have stayed a few seasons longer? And Wayne Bridge doesn't count.
Michael Bickers
Embarrassed To Be An Arsenal Fan
It's times like these that it's embarrassing to be an Arsenal fan. Not because of the team's performance but because of the fans.
For starters, Arsenal aren't actually doing that bad. We are fourth in the league, ahead of Liverpool that spent 100 million in the summer and Chelsea that spent a similar amount when you take into account the money spent in January. We might be out of the Champions league but we got further than Cash-Rich City and Moneybags United. We are out of the cup but then so are those two. And sure, Spurs are doing better than us, but it's not like they haven't been spending, and their wage bill will probably be bigger than ours this season - Adebayor alone earns what half the Arsenal team do. Spurs may not be paying it all, but they have a player that earns 220k a week as their main striker when our highest earner is on something like 75k a week. Our team made a profit this summer. A big one. The only way to do that is by selling top players. For all of that to happen and still be fourth is a minor miracle. Find me another manager that can keep a team in the top four whilst having to sell all his best players every season. Of course there are problems at Arsenal, mainly to do with average players earning too much, but I'm not saying he's perfect.
The reply to all that from the disconsolate Arsenal fans tends to be that it's Wenger's choice not to spend money. Is it really? What proof do they have of that? Wenger himself said that he has to make £20 million a year for interest payments. The only people that know how much he has to spend are him and the board. The fact that a newspaper reports we have a £50 MILLION WAR CHEST doesn't mean it's true. Have none of these fans read Mediawatch? Newspapers make stuff up. That's how they work.
The thing that upsets me even more is when the fans who get on the back of players like Ramsey. He's rubbish! He's finished! Get rid of him! This is the guy's first season back after having his leg snapped in half and he's only 21 years old. Despite that, he has created more goalscoring chances than any other Arsenal player this year. If you can't see the potential there, then you need to give up watching football. To be honest, I fear for Jack Wilshere. If he comes back after almost a whole season out and has a bad couple of games, the Arsenal fans will demand we get rid of him for being rubbish.
To put it all into perspective, I sit next to a Pompey fan at work and he is upset that he might never get to watch his team play again. Ever. That's something to get despondent about - not losing a couple of matches.
So yes, of course I'm upset at our recent (and inevitable) slump, but I'm more upset at our fans. What exactly do they hope to achieve? Do they really think that the team will do better without the support of their fans?
Adonis (Not looking forward to the Spurs match but will be supporting my team) Stevenson, AFC
Where's The Leader?
Whilst I in no way agree with Chris Baxter's assertion that it is RVP who is to blame for Arsenal's woes, I seriously question the lack of leadership in this Arsenal side.
Going back to when Vieira got the captaincy, it was a tradition at Arsenal for the captain, after a European away game, to go on the tanoy of the plane back and congratulate or apologise on behalf of the team. This tradition continued into the Henry and Fabregas era. Last week, I have it on very good authority that there was silence. No apology, no explanation, just silence.
Has there ever been a more obvious occasion of A) a lack of leadership at a club and B) that the captain is leaving the club at the end of the season?
David (nor do I blame him for leaving, he deserves success) Mendez
Wenger's Best Signings XI
With all the current Wenger-bashing going on at the moment, how's about a little reminder of some of the quality he's brought to Arsenal and to the rest of you Premier League watching neutrals out there...go on, admit it, you've been spoilt rotten watching these players tear your team a new one over the years!
Here my Wenger's Best Signings XI
GK: Jens Lehmann
RB: Lauren
CD: Sol Campbell
CD: Kolo Toure
LB: Gio Van Bronkhurst
LW: Marc Overmars
AM: Cesc Fabregas
DM: Patrick Vieira
RW: Robert Pires
ST: Robin Van Persie
ST: Thierry Henry
Subs: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Silvinho, Ljungberg, Petit, Anelka, Kanu.
No surprise to see the defence is the weakest department but I'd actually fancy this team to give the current Barcelona set-up a real run for their money. I'd be interested to see how other current Premier League managers best signings XI fair against this...
Rob Thomas, AFC (not looking forward to the Worst Signing XI retort).
A Mailbox Fun Fact
As a break from all the Arsenal/Chelsea stuff, I'd like to share an interesting fact I recently discovered!
The most recent team to win their first top-flight title in English football was Nottingham Forest, in 1978. Further research suggests this is a European record. In other words, every other UEFA league has had a team win their first title since 1978. For example, Wolfsburg (Germany) in 2009, Deportivo (Spain) in 2000, Lyon (France) in 2002, Sampdoria (Italy) in 1991. Even the Scottish title has been won more recently by a new club, where Dundee United won their first and only title in 1983. In addition, ten UEFA leagues were won by a new team in 2011 (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Norway and Romania).
This could suggest a lack of competition in England, where new champions are prevented from occurring. However, it might have more to do with the age of the English league, especially in comparison to the former Soviet and Yugoslav countries. Still, interesting, huh?
Roy Bryan
Penalty Talk
Someone mentioned scrapping penalties and although I don't agree with that entirely...I think the issue of penalties needs to be looked at in greater depth, what about a penalty being worth half a goal? How about giving fouls in the area an automatic red card? Maybe the two of them in conjunction.
What brought this about is the goals tally for La Liga's top marksman, Ronaldo has 28 goals, ten of which are penalties. Messi has 27 goals with just two penalties. For me this is unfair, how can you compare Messi with Ronaldo given that more than a third of C Ronaldo's goals are from the spot? But then on the flip side I have seen Messi miss a couple of penalties and can't recall CR missing any...so he is obviously better at taking penalties but does that give him the right to be compared with Messi? Should it matter? Without the penalties Messi would have 25 league goals to C.R 18...what does that say?
I'd love to hear people's opinions on this.
Sizwe (Moroka Swallows still with a chance of winning the league - last year they laughed at me) JHB, RSA
I Am That Sort Of Player
I have been deliberating a lot this week and I have come to the conclusion that 'I am that sort of player'. I played rugby until I did my knee in a year ago and now play five-a-side once a week. I'm currently a student and play with the modern languages department, so there are a fair few countries represented (As an aside, I have found they live up to the stereotypes; the Brazilian has flair, the Italian an attitude problem and the Geordie insists on removing his top ten minutes into every game. I digress.) who all seem to play a 'European' style of football and seem to have that extra yard of pace on me; being an ex-rugby player (PROP), I am not exactly the most agile of folk.
For the first half hour of each hour game, I hold my own. Sort of as a box-to-box player - basically a bit of headless chicken. I spread the ball around a bit, am measured with my tackles and try to replicate as many tricks off FIFA Street as possible in as nonchalant a fashion as possible. However, once it hits that half-hour mark, my energy saps. I am completely drained. All I can do is stick out a leg to try and stop the ball going past me. Due to my tiredness, the ball mostly passes me but I leave the leg hanging as I cannot muster the energy to bring it back. This often leads to a player tripping over it. It is also the same with tackling; I regularly take the man towards the end of the game instead of the ball, often a split second after they have released the ball.
I hate being that sort of player, I really do. However, I am not that sort of player because of any malice at all. I am just a bit reckless when tiredness kicks in. I try to stop all of this, but if I don't try to tackle someone with the ball when they are running at me, what is the point in me playing? I may as well sack it off after half an hour. I know that an improved level of fitness would undoubtedly help, so I'm not justifying the players about whom it is regularly said they are not that sort of player. I just think that for some people who lack that extra yard like myself, it is more a case of genuinely trying to overcome tiredness to stay in the game which leads to the 'dirty' play.
No particular incident has made me bring this up, I just feel like it's something I need to get off my chest. Please don't judge me mailbox.
Bamble, NUFC
