Mails: Divock Origi is unripened avocado…

Sarah Winterburn

If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 

What is Divock Origi?
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a bunch of avocados of varying ripeness. I figured that the rawer ones would eventually ripen at the right time. One of those avocados is still hard as a rock, two weeks later. I’m not convinced that this particular avocado will ever come good, and that it will stay raw beyond its utility.

Divock Origi is that avocado.

People might argue ‘but Divock Origi can be a dangerous weapon in the right situation’ – to which I would counter, so could that avocado.
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva, Switzerland

 

The kids were alright though…
I’m totally willing to put aside how boring that Plymouth vs Liverpool tie was (all 180 minutes of it). Mainly because Lucas scored. That’s one of the rarest sights in world football, and it was an excellent near post run and header! You’d actually think he was some kind of regular scorer if that was the first game of his you’d ever seen.

You could really tell the kids who played last night cared a lot more than the first-team players. Every single one of them was at least good; Woodburn, Ojo and Wilson were the stand-out attacking talents in my opinion. I actually wish Klopp had used Ojo more at the start of the season for short appearances. He’s the most similar player we have to Mane and maybe we could’ve played him on the right side of a front three during the AFCON.

My only complaint about Klopp is that he consistently makes subs quite late on in games. Today seemed like a perfect opportunity to have made two subs by the 65th minute but instead he only made the second change around 75. Ojo could’ve had more time to influence the game and our first-teamers could’ve had a longer rest.
Minty, LFC

 

The FA Cup is just Fairly Alternative
Every year the FA Cup rolls around there’s a fair bit of handwringing that it ain’t what it used to be, and proposals are made to make it a more glorious affair. In these days when Premier League matches are Sky-hyped beyond reason, it’s hard for anything to compete, but I think the answer is actually to embrace the FA Cup as it is: a Fairly Alternative Cup.

This is a glimpse into a parallel universe, not dissimilar to our own, not dramatically different, but just intriguingly so. In the FA Cup we see players we never see, playing for our clubs (I don’t follow the reserves), against other players we never see, playing for other clubs (I don’t watch the other leagues). There’s nothing astonishing but it’s still an alternative reality, in which Sutton beat a slightly better-known team, Lucas Leiva scores a goal, Arsenal win trophies (hey, I’m not dissing it, it’s still a trophy!), and Crystal Palace win a match. These are sights to behold.

Trying to make the FA Cup something it isn’t is missing the point. There aren’t giant-killings, it’s not David against Goliath, it’s the Philistines against the Egyptians (two opponents who never met), and the Egyptians putting out an under-strength side. So what? It’s surprising, intriguing and it’s still football.

We’re not going to bring back the magic of the FA Cup. They’re not going to bring back flat caps, wooden rattles and standing areas either, but let’s just embrace what it is today.

And let’s try and win the thing.
Paul in Brussels

 

Oh Colin…
So the game wasn’t great, however the post-match analysis was made slightly better by Neil Warnock showing the world what a lovely person he really is.

Well done to Gerrard for not decking him.


Paul M (From my windowless house) LFC

 

Advice for a man going to Stoke for the first time?
It seems the mailbox has been a little negative recently. I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing as social awareness involves getting involved in conversations which aren’t about the nicest of things, and you will never find a subject upon which everyone agrees. Although the response to Graham Taylor’s passing was an apt reminder that football isn’t always blinkered by being partisan.

Football shows it’s best side when it remembers itself as a community, and I was hoping to in a very small way tap that through the mailbox.

I have been lucky enough to get to quite a few of my club’s home games through my football-supporting life. And have travelled (for various reasons) to a few other Football League away games, including Bristol Rovers away at Rochdale coming up in a couple of weeks time.

However this Saturday I have managed to secure an away ticket for my own club, at Stoke, and as this is my first top-flight away game I thought I would ask if the mailbox had any advice from fans who have travelled to Stoke, or attend regularly. I will take the good natured (I hope) ribbing I get on the back of this in good humour, but also it would be nice to get some genuine input of what to expect / how to make the most of it!

I am happy to report back on Monday, mailbox willing!
Ciaran B

 

Kompany man
In response to CulturedPeg, which player should move position?

Vincent Kompany is a magnificent defender, a superb leader and captain, and stats show that City lose significantly fewer games with him on the pitch than without him.

No doubt in my mind he possesses the requisite skill set to play the ball out from the back, as per the Pep brief, and Im pretty sure he couldn’t save less shots on goal than Claudio, so…

Get your gloves on Vinny, you’re in goal
Steve, MCFC, South of France

 

MVB and goal-hanging
I see Marco Van Basten has reappeared as a technical director with FIFA. As a young boy growing up watching Gazzetta Football Italia (ah memories) and an avid AC Milan at the time (my Italian team y’know) Van Basten was God.

Then he got injured, for ages. Then his career ended as I recall, perhaps not fully accurately but there you go, I was nine.
And there he had lain for 25-odd years preserved in perfect memory, until yesterday.

Oh no I thought, don’t ruin it man, shut up, don’t say whatever it is you’re going to say. But like all heroes he spoke (see Pele, Platini as most famous examples).

And said. Let’s abolish the offside rule. Well there’s no way that wouldn’t work Marco I thought. Do you honestly think the greatest tactical minds of our generation won’t be able to figure out the solution to this brilliant plan?

We knew it back in the day when I watched you play and ran out the back garden to emulate your moves. We called them goal hangers, small sneaky kids who didn’t follow the game. Mean eyed and overfed. They said in the opposition’s box for the entire game waiting for the long ball from team mates to score the classic of the time, the Ian Rush tap-in.

They were terrible, Oh Marco I thought why did you open your mouth, why do they always have an opinion.

But then I thought of the warm fuzzy feelings I had remembering my long gone childhood, games that finished 20-19 every time after two hours only to be played again immediately and even the goal hangers in all their sneakiness and I realise Marco was just giving me one final thrill, I remembered that game like it was played last night.

Thanks Marco. And who knows maybe goal hangers are what modern football needs (it really doesn’t).
Dave, LFC

 

Does bias matter? Well it can spoil a game…
Interesting article on bias in commentary (you guys are producing so much content at the moment that I’m struggling to keep up. Some of us have jobs and kids you know!) and I can certainly see where the writer is coming from. The commentary has no effect on the end result, so bias doesn’t matter.

That’s true but to watch football these days, you have to pay quite a lot of money. Even on the BBC you have to pay the TV license. So you can understand why a fan of a team would be upset if they have to sit through 90 minutes of a commentator actively wanting their team to lose after paying so much money for that pleasure.

Although sometimes it can provide pleasure in itself. When Giroud scored Arsenal’s very undeserved equaliser against Man Utd recently, Martin Tyler sounded like he was commentating on his puppy being put down (certainly no Aguerooo moment there), which was almost as enjoyable as the goal itself.

I also understand the point that an excited commentator is better than a stale unbiased one, but surely you can have emotion and excitement without bias? If not, then maybe in this day and age of technological options the answer is to have two commentaries that the fans could pick from?

At the end of the day, it’s not the biggest problem in football but it is incredible how many times I will switch a game over to a Russian or Spanish stream even when I have the English channel it’s being broadcast on.

Overall though, the article was worth it for the image of Martin Tyler ‘singing Glory Glory Man United and kissing his prized autographed selfie with Quinton Fortune’.
Adonis Stevenson, AFC

 

Defending Tyler
I agree with everyone who was cheesed off with Martin Tyler during the United-Liverpool game, and was glad it was picked up on in 16 Conclusions. However, as with the Last Defender, you can understand why he was trying to do it. More to the point, Tyler should have recognised that in Rooney’s current form he’d probably need Karius, Sakho, Vegard Heggem and Jan Kromkamp playing in the Liverpool defence to score, so shouldn’t have bothered. Overall, I really like Tyler, and enjoy listening to him commentate.

Interestingly, one of the commenters BTL put forward some evidence for the prosecution about Tyler’s commentary in the game last season (?) and how different the reaction was to Benteke’s goal vs that of Martial. To me, that’s why I like Tyler so much. As an Everton fan, I don’t like either United or Liverpool, so will spend most games hoping for a draw (unless that would be a good result for either team), lots of goals and lots of fighting (Red Monday was bad; all the Suarez stuff and kicking off was fun). For Benteke’s goal; it just game out of nowhere, and Tyler sounded genuinely shocked that it had just happened, almost bewildered. Fair enough, that was the same for most of us watching. For Martial’s goal; it was this teenager racing towards the home end, with the commentator crescendoing in line with the crowd as the player got closer to the magic maiden goal (similar to Rob Hawthorne on Sunday commentating on Tom Davies’).

To put forward similar examples in the case for the defence of Tyler as biased.

1) Agueroooo – celebrating a City title win over United.

2) I’ve listened to plenty of Tyler vocal hysterics when Gerrard has scored against Everton, because Gerrard scored loads of goals against us on televised games on Sky (as did Torres, Suarez…), it doesn’t mean Tyler is a kopite.

So let’s but the tin foil hats away and carry on enjoying the venerable commentator.
Matt, EFC, London (Clive Tyldesley is a definite Manc though)

 

The big question
Right…come on…is his last name really Chicken?
Andy Bratsanos

(It really is)
A Nutters XI
In response to Joe, the plastic pool fan from Cambs, here is my all time Premier League nutter 11.

I decided to opt for a mainly hard man nutjob approach, so as to put the fear of God into any team unlucky enough to have to pair off against these bitey kicky punchy pig bladder thumpers. You will note however that they also possess a fair, if not vast (in my humble opinion), amount of skill that I think could give most teams a run for their money even if muzzled and gloved up for 90 minutes.

Also, to keep them with the times, I’m going for a 3-4-3 formation but with no fancy positional nonsense, not for these PFMs.

GK – Jens Lehman (Crazy, but also stupid and funny, the comic relief)
CB – Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock (For breaking both of Andy Cole’s legs)
CB – Nemanja Vidic (Who doesn’t want a scything Serbian in your back three?)
CB – Martin Keown (Simply for his shouty spitty tirade against Rudd)
CM – Roy Keane…
CM – Vinnie Jones ( Poor wee Gazza’s grapes)
LM – Paulo Di Canio (What you say ref?)
RM – Craig Bellamy (Anyone for a round of golf?)
ST – Luis Suarez (Some salt with this rare side of shoulder por favor)
ST – Duncan Ferguson (Mr Chokes)
ST – Eric Cantona (Kung-fu fighting…those kicks were fast as lightening!)

So there it is, so many didn’t make it, but I reckon these boyos good give some licking, I mean kicking, argh, would take some beating. Ahem.
Maurice, Irlanda pero en Espana, LFC

 

What I’d like to see on Football365…
Regarding the recent comments from Andrew, Amsterdam and Matt, AFC on their suggestions for the site.

Why didn’t you say sooner that if we told you what topics we wanted to go up on the site you’d put them up!

What’s that you say? It’s called the mailbox?

So you mean to tell me that Messrs Amsterdam and AFC could have maybe spread some joy to other FA Cup lovers or Lincoln City history buffs by writing a little about their thoughts and seeing if other like-minded individuals replied and started debates? Cracking idea!

To give both men credit they did say they were only trying to help or that you do write SOME good stuff, Andrew’s ultimatum to go elsewhere is a pretty bold move though I must say.

It reminds me of the letter I wrote to HBO last summer along the lines of: Game of Thrones is great and all but three dragons is just not enough, I demand six dragons or I will be watching EastEnders instead.

I’ve never thought of F365 as a ‘service’, you’re under no pressure to give anybody the type of article they want, when they want. The whole point is that you put out what you think is fun and hope it resonates with someone.

Oh, and that hopefully a few of us click those links for ‘This game cures boredom once and for all’ or ‘Can your face reveal a disease to a doctor?’.
Chris, Sutton

 

Some people think we do okay…
I too run my own business. An online business. And online business which requires content regularly to be regularly produced.

I don’t carry advertising on my site because I know the amount of traffic you need to make money through advertising content. Some fool in the comments thinks the more ads you have, the more money you make. But it only works if people click – and even then the revenue earned per click (or even per impression) is so miniscule – remember the ad networks take their cut too.

Then consider who many people have to view pages to earn money to pay people, maintain servers. There is a reason why sites like TheLadBible and Daily Mail do what they do – and they sacrifice all ethical and quality to get there, giving a shit about numbers and numbers alone. The guys at F365 (I imagine) do this because they love doing it, rather than the money they make.

Then you need production of content. Some people seem to think writing content is a piece of piss. It’s not. To produce the amount F365 does requires serious dedication, commitment and patience. It also requires research. These are original opinion pieces, they are based on a combination of live events (which require you to be always on) as well as predictable events.

The sheer effort that these guys put into this site is commendable.

It really f***s me off when i see people criticising a site like this because it’s unique in a sea of shit. Not all of the content is perfect, not all of it is right, i don’t read all of it. But what I appreciate every single piece of content that is produced and the dedication of a small team to keep it going.

I’d happily contribute if I thought my writing was up to the standard, but I tried to do a football blog and failed. So, kudos to all the team – and if you ever decided to do a subscription model, I’d happily pay. Especially if it meant the content wasn’t sullied with sponsored shit from the express or some other gutter shite.

Keep it up guys, you’re brilliant.
Rob, London

 

…Andrew in Amsterdam, you made me upset, angry and incredulous with your mail – something which I haven’t felt since watching Fisher FC’s winger at the weekend against Whitstable (he was honestly the worst player I’ve ever seen at any level and played a full 90 minutes).

Yes, F365 may not cover every game in depth absolutely everywhere but what do you expect from a free site? I’m not slagging off The Times at all here by saying this, but you have to pay to access only a few column inches of opinion each day. For eight years or so now I’ve visited F365 every day when possible (it feels even better when you do it at work and get paid to read it), and read at least 4-5 in-depth, opinionated articles which have made me think about the beautiful game differently – be it for good or bad reasons, on a national or international level, on and off the pitch.

I too love non-league football (you don’t go and see Fisher FC on your 23rd birthday otherwise) and the stories behind it – but there are more endless resources such as the Twitter search bar if you need to find granular detail of any match at any level. But I am not going to be annoyed at F365 for not having anything on their site for it! In all my years of reading the site, I always wonder where new features and procrastination resources are going to come from and then you get Dembele of the week appearing in front of your very eyes (Matt Stead you outdid even yourself this week).

So leave them alone Andrew, and take yourself for a cycle along the Amsterdam canal to calm down. Or visit a coffee shop.

I’d also like to profess something else at this point. My friend and I went in 2012 (I think) to go and see John Nicholson give a talk on his book the Meat Fix in London. We drove down, not because we were interested in becoming vegetarian or anything, but because we wanted to see the man who loves Boro…and we wore the colours of F365 to do so. Yes, we really did. Shaking his hand ranks second in my list of life achievements. You don’t want to know number one.

So thank you F365 and don’t listen to the haters, I like to think I speak for the majority when I say you’re doing a better job than you’re given credit for (apart from you Storey (kudos on the award)).
Barney, London (knew my creative writing degree would come in handy one day)