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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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No Toon Players In Team Of Season? Good.
So I read through your team of the season and generally agreed or saw the logic in each of your choices. Fifth-placed surprise package, Newcastle, only managed to get one player on the bench. Rather than being outraged, I was delighted to see this. Ba has a deserved place on the bench, he has been a stand-out performer in both the team and the league. Cabaye and Tiote are not featured in the central roles and rightly so. Colocinni may have been in with a shout, particularly up until Christmas when our defence was particularly miserly. Same for Tim Krul, who has been rock solid but less spectacular and less surprising than the horrendously likeable Vorm.
So, to my point. My favourite thing about Newcastle at the moment is that they are a proper team, they are much, much great than the sum of all their parts. Players like Ryan Taylor and Danny Simpson have had their games raised significantly by the team ethos. Cabaye and Tiote are superb as a creator and a destroyer individually. When their powers combine, they are the most functional midfield unit in the league, covering more ground than any other players in the league. Ba has been the superstar and focal point, a genuine surprise and genuinely nice bloke. City are leading the league by a hairs-breadth but, with their squad and resources they should be walking it. Chelsea have dissent in the ranks from their under-performing former stars and a £50 million striker that either can't score or won't score. Liverpool have paid huge fees for average players, potential that is not being realised and a Uruguayan who is as likely to get a lifetime ban as he is to get a 30+ goal season. Arsenal thread a fine line between the ridiculous and the sublime. Newcastle may not win any cups this season, or their good form may taper off but they should be deserving winners of the 'Team' of the Season award.
Kevin (stuffed with pancakes)
Question For Arsenal Fans
Coming off the back of being punlished twice in one mailbox a couple of weeks ago (woop is I believe what the young people say nowadays), I thought I'd pose a question in response to the metric sex ton (one up from a f*ck ton) of Arsenal mails. Would you rather have three years of Europa League, finish fourth in the league and win the Champions League or continually qualify for said league and not win it in the same time frame?
Basically, lose a chunk of pride but win a trophy or continue at a steady pace and hope for the best...
Jonny, Newcastle (Pities the fool who needs a third paragraph)
Emery For Arsenal
This morning, Adonis posed the question; who could keep their team in the top four after selling their best player ever year?
Answer: Unai Emery
Valencia remain in the top four every year he is in charge, this after the club losing Villa (that mite have happened under Flores) Silva, Mata and probably soon Soldado. All whilst the club is building a new stadium (similarities) and at a club that is, to no fault of his own, in deep financial ruin.
The style of football Valencia play is 'on the deck' which would suit Arsenal fans down to the ground (pun intended) but with a more considered, less cavalier approach.
Also, the years Arsenal have come close to winning trophies, they have lost games to the likes of Stoke, Birmingham et al. This is usually said to be down to Arsenal lacking steel, balls or physicality.
Now, how would a side full of 'wimpy' foreigners cope with a cold night at the Britannia faced with big guys and balls into the box?
Answer: By beating them 1-0, keeping a clean sheet and generally kicking the s*** out of the Stoke players themselves. Glorious (and what a goal!).
So, all in all, Unai Emery for Arsenal, it makes sense.
Luke U (I still think Arsenal should stick with Wenger) MCFC, Manchester
One Of Many Mails On Arsenal's Wage Bill
Adonis Stevenson suggests Spurs' wage bill will be higher than Arsenal's this season.
He may be right but it would take a huge swing as the last published accounts revealed Arsenal's to be £124m and Spurs' £91m.
Even if we were paying all of Adebayor's wages the gap would be less than half closed.
One of the reasons Redknapp (and Jol before him) and Levy deserve praise is that the current period of relative success (top-six finishes after a spell of mid-table nothingness in the early years of the Premier League) is that it has been achieved without outspending Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal and now Man City.
I am sure there will be some discussion of transfer fees where Spurs' spending will be higher than that of many clubs but the difference there pales in comparison with the difference in wage bills over the period and anyway I'd argue that the measure of a player is what it costs to keep him, not what it costs to get a club to sell him and so expectations should be in line with wages paid.
Spurs are doing well and doing it on the cheap. At least compared with the other mind-bogglingly rich clubs at the top of this obscene pyramid of dosh.
Audrey S. Thackeray
Having A Pop At Mediawatch
'The Daily Mirror this morning gives us a handy panel with a 'timeline' of 'Where it has all gone wrong for Villas-Boas'.This is the Villas-Boas that we should probably remind you is in fifth place with Chelsea, only out of the Champions League places on goal difference.'
Slightly undermined by (deep breath):
Top story being on Wenger's woes for the third day in a row;
Three of the last six F365 opinion pieces being on Arsenal's woes;
A John Nicholson column on Arsene Wenger;
A poll on which manager is in the more precarious situation out of Wenger and Villas-Boas;
Arsenal pictures on each of the mailboxes published since losing to Sunderland;
Ref365's standard dig at Wenger (for the record, I think F365 has been pro-Arsenal throughout the years, but Ref365 by his own admission is very anti).
This on the manager that, I should probably remind you, is in fourth place in the league.
This is not a paranoid rant. I completely understand why Arsenal is the big story at the moment. But is it fair to dig at the Daily Mirror for its one story on where it's gone wrong for AVB when F365 is indulging in exactly the same thing on a bigger scale?
Jaimie (I have used up enough of my lunch hour on this) Kaffash, Arsenal, London
...Ah, the great English desire to build our players up, then knock em' down and keep on knocking...or, put another way, Mediawatch's leading section on Andy Carroll. The guy who was the great white hope 14 months ago, and is now the player the media love to try and denigrate.
Now I won't argue for a second he has been anywhere near good for Liverpool. But I do struggle with Mediawatch taking the mickey out of a guy whose performances have massively improved in the last month, for the crime of trying to accentuate the positive. After all "I think it has all come together" is hardly him shouting from the rooftops about his genius, and sounds a lot more like "god, it's been awful but at least things are looking up now".
So yes, Mediawatch, he has scored three in 20. Or put another way, two in four, plus a few assists. Let's give the lad a chance eh, or would you rather he joined the bandwagon and slagged himself off as much as everyone else seems to enjoy doing.
Nick Smith
Premier League Clearly Rules
To people who say the Champions League is the best and most important competition around...
...Chelsea and Arsenal (technically) are still in the Champions League, where as the Manchester duo crashed out with a huge chunk of embarrassment...
...but yet Chelsea and Arsenal are apparently in crisis and the Mancs cant do anything wrong, just because they are in the title race.
Premier League obviously rules all and always will.
Bit of random point to make, but I reckon it's just.
Banister9 (They also got further in the FA Cup, but nobody seems to notice that either)
The Trio Torres Needs
One thing about Torres at Liverpool was that, when in his pomp, there were three people which really made a difference to him...
1) Steven Gerrard. He was just on the same wavelength and both had pace to scare the living cr*p out of defenders (one coming from deep).
2) Xabi Alonso. He could play the perfect ball to his strengths. As could Gerrard.
3) Rafa Benitez. He built the team around Gerrard and Torres. He had total faith. The moment Rafa left, he was not the same person, let alone player.
It seems to me that the only reason he left Atletico was because he felt he would be idolised at the club. I was not happy to see him leave Liverpool, and I really want to guy to do well. He was adored and I think he underestimated the importance of that.
Chelsea will never build a team around him. Well, as long as they have Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba dictating things (rather than the manager).
Ah well.
Rob, London
He Did Win The World Cup But...
Fernando Torres may well have won the World Cup, but as I said at the time (and anyone who had been watching football should have noted) that considering his form before and during the tournament, Spain won it in spite of him rather than with him, and his form since then has been proof of that.
He may well always be a World Cup winner but anyone who saw the World Cup will know he certainly didn't play like a winner, and he should be very thankful to the rest of the Spain squad for carrying him to a medal.
Andy Wilson
Maybe A Change Of Position?
Torres should probably consider moving to left-back. As one mailboxer pointed out, it is THE brilliant madman's position. It is also the only position in the Spanish team without a guaranteed starter. He might even turn out to be the next Javier Zanetti, a solid right-footed leftback.
Greg Catalan
More Mental Left-Backs
In response to Andy B's email this morning about Kolorov and other crazy left-backs. I must say I also much prefer watching Man City when Kolorov plays.
My favourite left back must be former Liverpool and current Napoli star Andrea Dossena. He was (is) an awful defender, but any player that scores against Real Madrid and Man Utd at Old Trafford in consecutive games is a legend in my book.
Talking of Napoli, they have all the ingredients to really hurt Chelsea over two legs. They have three quick forwards, and are masters of the counter attack, everything that Cheslea will struggle with. On the other side, Napoli are fairly susceptible to crosses and set pieces, which could be Chelsea's main chance. Should be an interesting match/tie.
Kevin Lowden
...If Andy B's Kolarov love ever wanes, and he feels he needs a new favourite left back, he could do far worse than Norwich City's 'Mad' Marc Tierney (yep, the clue is in the name...).
Not only does he look like a nutter you'd want to avoid on a Friday night, he's also provided some Cliff-Richard-style entertainment when the floodlights went out and it was bucketing down at Carrow Road - namely performing some spectacularly camp cartwheels in the centre circle.
Sadly (or perhaps not) it isn't the first time he's done it. Take a look at this from 15 seconds in. Legend. Left-back. And certifiable... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLlFtMKXZsw
Rob Mair
...Benoit Assou-Ekotto, head down, hair up.
Glorious.
Mental.
Jon, Lincoln
...If its mentalist left-backs you're after, there is no better example than Julian Dicks. Cultured left foot, thunderbolt free-kicks and penalties, brilliant in the air, a taste for Big Macs, and a tendency to kick lumps out of players and get himself sent off. Watching Perry Groves beg George Graham to take him off as Dicks terrorised him on the left wing is one of my enduring footballing memories.
Phil, Norway
Why Liverpool 2005 > Chelsea 2012
It's true that Liverpool won the Champions League with a worse squad than the one currently plying its trade at Stamford Bridge. However while squads win leagues, it's first XIs which make the difference in cup competition. Everyone will remember the likes of Nunez, Mellor, Josemi, Biscan, Traore, Le Tallec and Diao and how they had no right to be anywhere near a Champions League winning team. But in truth, Traore aside, they weren't. Although most of those played in one or two of the group stage games (and as a result we made heavy work of what was a straightforward group), once we were into the knock-out stages we were able to play a first XI for pretty much every game.
We had no league distraction and reasonable luck with injuries, but the crucial difference was we had a system designed to get the best out of our good players (Gerrard, Alonso, Carragher, Hyypia) and hide the weaknesses of the more mediocre - Dudek and Garcia among others displayed career best form in our CL run - and a manager with the full support and commitment of his squad. Chelsea on the other hand look fractious and divided, stuck in a system they don't suit and don't appear to have confidence in with their key players struggling for form, and as a result are playing well below their level.
Add the fact that the current Real, Barca and Bayern sides are better than anything we faced in 2012 and can anyone really see Chelsea repeating our 2005 heroics?
Jon Gibson LFC
Rafa's Best Signings XI
Reina; Arbeloa, Skrtel, Agger, Aurelio: Mascherano, Alonso; Garcia, Benayoun, Kuyt; Torres.
Subs: Gulacsi, Crouch, Lucas, Bellamy, Johnson, Riera
Not as bad as you thought, eh? Though they would get tonked by Wenger's XI.
But that's why Wengers legacy > Rafa's.
Show me a Hodgson XI this good (seriously, do it)
Ved (First time, be gentle) Japan
One Of Many Fergie's Best Signings XI
Rob Thomas, AFC (not looking forward to the Worst Signing XI retort) here is my Sir Alex Ferguson best signing match day squad (not counting those who were signed as youth players; Giggs, Scholes etc)
GK Peter Schmeichel
LB Patrice Evra
CB Jaap Stam
CB Nemanja Vidic
RB Dennis Irwin
DM Roy Keane
AM Mark Hughes
RW Cristiano Ronaldo
LW Wayne Rooney
FW Eric Cantona
FW Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Subs: Edwin Van Der Saar, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Rio Ferdinand, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Teddy Sheringham, Andy Cole.
One thing that is very clear is that Ferguson doesn't have the best record in signing midfielders. The question to be asked is that because he produces great midfielders (Giggs, Scholes, Beckham etc) or that he has gotten lucky with those that have come through.
Irwin is remembered most as a left-back but he was signed as a right-back and taught himself to play left-footed with the emergence of Gary Neville.
The team has three players who would be classed as forwards playing in midfield although CR7 was signed as a right winger and Wayne Rooney has often played on the wing for United.
The bench is all defenders and strikers, although I think I am right in saying some of them played in midfield for United and could cover there.
I'd put that team up against Rob Thomas' Arsene's Signings XI and expect a win any time.
Jerry MUFC Ireland
Worst Wenger Buys XI
GK: Manuel Almunia (a shot-stopper who can't stop shots)
Special Mention: Richard Wright (Signed from the Tractor Boys, a Tractor in nets would have been more effective).
RB: Oleg Luzhny (Slow and rubbish, I reckon Dixon in his advancing years was still better than Old Oleg)
CB: Igors Stepanovs (17 appearances in three years, with good reason, an unnecessary amount of pluralisation for his name)
CB: Sebastian Squillaci (Had mild excitement when we acquired him, only through distorted Football Manager eyes, after all who's heard of Henri Saviet?)
LB: Mikael Silvestre (Easily one of the most baffling signings of his tenure, did he even watch him play for Utd?)
Special Mentions: Pascal Cygan (Looked like Kryten from Red Dwarf, moved like him too) and Phillipe Senderos (Scaring the sh*t out of fans at Fulham currently)
RM: Jermaine Pennant (Doing the business at Stoke, but didn't for AFC, so much promise but f*cked it up with a nefarious lifestyle outside of the club)
CM: Abou Diaby (Sorry Abou, but if you're referring to signings who have provided value, you are certainly not one of them. Plagued by injuries and on an astronomical amount in terms of wages. If this was an XI based on kicking John Terry in the face, he'd be first on the sheet)
CM: Denilson (A massive disappointment, tipped as a workhorse in the midfield with a sweet shot, turned out to be a carthorse who couldn't pass a ball, or shoot, or tackle)
LM: Theo Walcott (If you look up 'Inconsistent' in the dictionary, you'll probably find a picture of Theo)
Special Mentions: David Grondin (3 appearences, 3 fans - They were his mum, dad and sister), Tomas Rosicky (A big disappointment as he looked a fantastic signing initially then his 'one leg shorter than the other stuff kept him out' file under Diaby, Abou - except the face-kicking stuff)
FC: Jose Reyes ("I don't like the weather, or the rough tackling, or the food wah-wah-wah" - Was amused he was linked with Zenit St. Petersberg this year)
FC: Frannie Jeffers (A fox in the box when signed, turned out to be a fox on the bench...Bought for £8.5m sold for £2.5m - Great business)
Special Mentions: Nik Bendtner (better at damaging cars than finishing) Tomas Danilevicus (Big lad, small talent), Marouane Chamakh (More of an extra defender for the opposition team than a striker), Christopher Wreh (Being a cousin of a good footballer doesn't make you a good footballer)
This is a quick one knocked up during my lunch, I'm sure my Gooner bredrin can come up with others...
Stu Woodburn (UTA) Arsenal
Penalties And That
Okay, so the debate of penalties.
How about we create a new scoring system?
Three points for a goal outside the box, two points for a goal inside the box, one point for a penalty.
Hell, actually, how about that every time we score a goal outside the box, we get five points and then get a penalty as well for being so good.
Actually, scrap that, how about we allow players to pick the ball up...
William W. Ellis, Rugby
...Sizwe wants to hear what I think about having half goals for penalties so that his precious statistics all line up in a row and so that he can show how wonderful Messi is etc...
I'll keep this brief, a goal is when the ball goes in the net and that is the end of the matter! The very idea that you would want to mess around with this oh so simplest of systems so that you can make Ronaldo's goal tally less shows that you are really missing the woods among all the trees my friend.
Josh (MUFC)
