Mails: Which two players would you combine?

Matt Stead

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

 

Oh, Mkhi
One line in Daniel Storey’s Mkhitaryan article stuck to me.

“Whatever Mourinho’s reasoning for Mkhitaryan’s extended omission, it would be bold to sell it as some man management masterstroke”
I disagree. Mourinho’s dealing took the whole media hype and initial expectations off Mkhitaryan’s shoulders.
I read an article at the start of the season (can’t remember where) about Mkhitaryan’s struggle to adapt to a new club (or the time it took) throughout his career .I was worried that he might never get near enough patience from the media and fans which could affect his career at the very wost. He duly had some under par performances plus the injury.
I’m not saying for sure that he would have performed poorly if he was reinstated earlier, I’m just happy the way things have turned out.
It might not be a ‘masterstroke’ but is a very good piece of man management. See, no one had enough evidence to call out Mkhitaryan for his initial p**s poor performances.
Posova Andrew (Man Utd won and I had a great night)

 

United thoughts
Good performance on an drastic pitch against very limited opposition but a win is a win at the moment and not conceding a late goal is most welcome.

After a lull in the early optimism following the City game the joy of watching a player like Mkhitaryan motoring through the gears has put a spring back into my step and really looking forward to seeing him again on Sunday (Jose!!).

He really is a joy to watch. Direct, skilful, unselfish and full of danger and invention.

I think the Rooney renaissance of the past 3 or 4 games may have peaked. Looked back to the Rooney we know and errm….. love?
Plato – MUFC

 

That fella Fellaini
I’m writing this as I watch yet another well placed header sail over the bar, but just imagine if Fellaini could actually head the ball, it’s a terrifying prospect! All of a sudden, you’d have a 30 goal-a-season Premier League poster boy with kids demanding a gin-fro and parents shelling out money on stick on mono-brows. It’s certainly a world I don’t want to live in.
Harry, Saint, Devon

 

Moments later…
I really do love your site. Sorry for being arsey.
Harry, Saint, Devon

 

Puel out?
Well F*ck.

I’m not a Liverpool or United fan and don’t tend to get annoyed at football so these rants don’t come naturally to me. But that was absolutely shocking and Puel has got to be seriously close to the door.

The first half of the league season (and chance of a decent top half finish) have been sacrificed through massive chopping and changing, regardless of form, to try and compete in Europe. While the home win against Milan and generally being in Europe will end up being the highlights of the season. Overall it has to go down as an abject failure, all the while playing awfully week in week out in the league.
A while back someone wrote in saying Saints are bottom of the league in both converting shots and saving shots on target. So a poor defence, poor attack and poor tactics means the buck has to stop with the manager.

I’m slightly bias as I was sceptical of Puel to start and to be fair he’s not been ‘totally’ awful, but he’s shown no glimmer of potential that things are going to get better. The brave move is to admit he was a poor selection, bring in someone new and give them free reign for the rest of the season to get to know the squad. Add in a summer transfer window with some funds and next season we can have a decent go at a European finish again.
Otherwise we’ll be here this time next year having achieved nothing and coming to the exact same conclusion. The only difference is a few more players will have left.
Tom Saints (Bloody depressing that the season feels over on the 8th December).   

 

Spurs’ choice
Daniel Storey writes in the latest W&L that Tottenham should embrace the Europa League as it “may be their best hope of Champions League qualification”, referring to Matt Stead’s article built on this premise. I’m sorry Daniel and Matt, but as I’m sure you’re well aware, it quite clearly isn’t. The bookies tell us Spurs are at worst 5/4 to finish top 4 this season, compared to a best price 10/1 to win the Europa League. Even considering the potential for a playoff if they finish 4th, it’s pretty indisputable that at the current moment, they have a much greater chance of qualifying through the premier league.

I completely agree they should try to win the Europa League, and qualifying via a European trophy is infinitely better than by finishing 2nd/3rd/4th in the league, but let’s hold on horses on claiming this is their best chance for now. Man Utd on the other hand are 5/1 to win the Europa League, and 3/1 to finish top 4 (with the possibility of a playoff); arguing their best chance of Champions League qualification is via the Europa League is much more reasonable.

Of course bookies don’t always get it right, Leicester 5,000/1 yada yada yada, but they are dispassionate professionals who are broadly right most of the time and in this instance seems to have common sense on their side.
Colm, London

 

John Stones: Wrong club, wrong time?
Watching some games of Man City and John Stones, an inevitable question came to my mind.

Did John Stones choose the wrong club at the wrong time? I genuinely believed that had Chelsea signed Stones last summer, we might have seen a different story (no, he wouldnt have been a savior for god’s sake!) in his development as a footballer. Man City is a big club, they’ve got supremely talented individuals and potentially one of the top 5 coaches in the world. Yet I cant help but think whether Stones made a mistake.

When Chelsea were in for Stones, Gary Neville made an important point – “John Terry now becomes the most important player, because the 400 training sessions Stones is likely to have with JT will be crucial”. Add to it the manager was then Jose (or JoMo). We’re talking about Stones properly learn the art of defending (after playing under Martinez!!!!) under Jose (which is his bread and butter) and perhaps crucially learning from the immense experience of JT, arguably one of the best defenders in PL history. Fast forward a year, Stones having signed up for Man City under the regime of Pep is another story. I thought ok, there’s Vincent Kompany another center back I admire who can help Stones, but either Vincent is carrying the Arsenal spirit by spending time in the hospital while Pep, a manager never known for his love of defending/clean sheets is struggling to get to grips with the league. In the whole process, stones does not have a manager to guide him about defending, nor does he have a commanding senior defender to learn from.

It is no surprise that Stones is yet to reach his potential (not that I expected it within such a short time), but importantly, there’s no evidence to show that he is in the right direction either. Should Stones (and England team) be worried at this situation? Well, in 5 years time myself (and the editor should he publish this email) may look like fools should Stones develop into a Gerard Pique like defender, but for now, my question bares some thought. Has he signed for City at the wrong juncture?
Aravind, Chelsea Fan.

 

Big weekend‘s little brother
Leicester City – Manchester City. A big game for Jamie Vardy, who’ll never get a better opponent for counterattacking purposes, if a side without Danny Drinkwater can get him the ball. Unless Claudio Ranieri has a trick up his sleeve and goes with five in midfield, Shinji Okazaki looks like the logical partner in a game like this. Kasper Schmeichel can’t return soon enough, since Ron-Robert Zieler ranks last among shot-stoppers when quality of chances is taken into account. With everyone available, Pep would probably stick with a three-man back line to resist Leicester’s counterattack. But Nicolas Otamendi is suspended, so all bets are off. Fernando will likely replace Fernandinho, but we all know he’s not as good, and again a counter might find the Citizens vulnerable. But unless the Foxes park the bus, it’s hard to see their slowish back four holding off the blue moon attack. Kelechi Iheanacho looked good against Celtic in midweek, and should fit the system perfectly.

Stats: Leicester City and Manchester City are second and third, respectively, in most times dribbled past by opposing players.

Watford — Everton. The Hornets have lost three of their last four, and may be finding their level. But last week’s performance against West Brom wasn’t bad, and they’ll fancy their chances against an Everton reeling from the injury to Yannick Bolasie. With Miguel Britos back from suspension, Watford should return to their usual three-man back line. Up front, Stefano Okaka was poor in his first start, so expect Odion Ighalo to return to help out Troy Deeney, whom you’d back for a decent day against an ordinary Toffees centre-half pair. Against Watford’s 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, a like-for-like with Gerard Deulofeu replacing Bolasie makes sense. But I’d like to see the side concentrate on getting runners close to Romelu Lukaku, who is very good at short passing combinations on the edge of the area. If Kevin Mirallas and maybe Ross Barkley can get in the vicinity, they might be able to work around Sebastian Prödl and Valon Behrami.

Stats: Miguel Britos has won 73% of his aerial duels, second only to Virgil van Dijk among defenders who have played at least half the season’s minutes. Of Everton’s 16 goals, only two have been scored with the right foot.

Chelsea – West Bromwich Albion. OK, no one really expects the Baggies to get a result here. But it’s likely to be an intriguing tactical battle as long as they can stay close. Diego Costa tends to drift to the left, where he’ll come up against evergreen Gareth McAuley. I’m on record saying Craig Dawson is underrated, but he’ll be severely tested as Eden Hazard comes inside and Marcos Alonso moves forward. Supporters are happy with Allan Nyom’s work on the other flank, but I’m not convinced yet. If Nemanja Matic is still out, it’ll be interesting to see how far forward Cesc Fabregas plays against a tight defence. Albion will send long balls to Salomón Rondón, and their most potent weapon from open play should be Matt Phillips on the counter, probably up the right to go at Gary Cahill. But Chelsea have allowed only one goal on corner kicks and free kicks combined, so it’s your move, Tony.

Stats: West Brom are converting 12.9% of their shots, better than in any of their Premier League seasons since these stats were kept, and also better than any of Stoke’s Premier League seasons under Pulis. Chelsea have yet to score or concede a headed goal (!)
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (In the first version of this e-mail I wrote Nemanja Vidic instread of Nemanja Matic!)

 

A hat tip to Dundalk
Maccabi Tel Aviv 2 – 1 Dundalk

And so Dundalk’s Europa League adventure comes to an end. Indeed, it might even be the end of this team in its current iteration as rumours abound about moves to England for Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle. Preston is the likely destination for both, in case you were wondering.

So while it was sad to see the team lose their last match in Israel, despondency would be rather unnecessary here. Particularly so when AZ’s victory over Zenit rendered the result of Dundalk’s match academic; the Dutch and the Russians progressing on the night. No, instead of being forlorn we should celebrate their incredible achievements this year:

– Becoming the first Irish team to ever accrue points in the group stages of European competition (four of the buggers too)
– Scoring away from home in every game in the group stages (only failing to score once)
– Having two players called up to the Republic of Ireland squad (the aforementioned Horgan and Boyle)
– Manager Stephen Kenny being named Irish Manager Of The Year (across all sports, that is)

And that is not including the intangibles… The glorious surprise of Benson’s wonder strike against Legia Warsaw in the Champions League play-off… The excitement of seeing Daryl Horgan’s runs against petrified defenders… The unbelievable heart and determination shown by each and every player to put on the lily white jersey… The unshakable belief that no matter who they were playing they could score, no matter how the odds were stacked they could (and would) play some damn fine football… If only the end of their domestic campaign with two games left in the group stage hadn’t brought with it an inevitable rustiness and weariness… If only that rustiness hadn’t caused the concession of at least two goals in their final two games against AZ and Maccabi.

But that is not to make excuses or to patronise. Dundalk did themselves so proud in this campaign. So many memories to cherish. So many reasons to be excited for the future. Who knows, maybe this time next year we could be talking about their first ever points in the Champions League group stages?

Unlikely? Perhaps, but if 2016 has thought us anything it is that unlikely is certainly not the same as impossible.
John (Not to forget spanking BATE Borisov 3-0 in the Champions League qualifiers either… I could go on… I won’t), Ennis

 

Which two players would you combine?
Charlie Austin has just gone off for Shane Long in an important match for the Saints, and that got me thinking – imagine if you combined their two sets of abilities, you’d have a great player. The pace and work rate of Shane plus the finishing and general dickishness of Charlie equals a cracking striker (or Diego Costa). Who would the fine patrons of the mailbox combine in their team own to create something they are currently lacking?
Harry, TeamFonte, Devon

 

The shocking facts behind Peter G
I suppose it would be better to remain an international man of mystery, but in response to Matt, AFC’s queries, I’ll reveal my remarkably prosaic life.

I’m 61 years old, born and raised in the USA, but very much a Britophile. I follow UK news and culture as well as football. I’ve traveled but never lived abroad. I teach literature and creative writing at a small college in Pennsylvania, where I’m in my 26th year. (Before, I was a lawyer. You don’t want to know.)

I fell in love with football 50 years ago, and my attachment to the game has increased with the years. For a long time my main interest was the international game, and back in the 00’s, I wrote lots of articles for an independent website that covered World Cups and other international football. I started following English club football in earnest in the 2006/7 season.

A few years ago, through a contract with NBC Sports, every Premier League game became easily watchable in the USA either live or via replay. Since then, prompted by my always reliable obsessive-compulsiveness, I’ve gone full immersion. On weekends I watch all ten games, some live, most on replay, making sure I don’t find out the results before kickoff. On evenings during the week, I rewatch a few of the games to get tactical fine points.

Working as a college professor means you have your own office, and can to some degree manage your own time. While in my office, I usually have podcasts or managerial press conferences on in the background, and each day I make a quick run through the local and national English newspapers covering Premier League teams. It’s no secret I love stats, and spend some time each day looking through the latest stat-related articles and Twitter feeds. Super-fast Internet makes this all happen in much less time than you’d imagine. F365, of course, is my main port of call every day.

All of this seems very ordinary from my angle. The one truly remarkable thing? I have a wonderful wife of 22 years, an American who spent nearly 20 years of her adult life in England, who indulges and encourages my habit. We live in an old farmhouse with seven cats. Life is good.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

 

Now for Ed
Oooh a new game!! Thanks to Matt AFC.

I have often built up mental avatars of frequent Mailboxers. Allow me to introduce EdQuothTheRaven.

Tall but not lanky with facial hair that isn’t quite a beard but certainly more than stubble with patches of greysih white. Mid length dark brown hair, doesn’t bother to style it.

Often found browsing the travel section of dusty old book shops. Has never left Dulwich.

Fond of a nice elbow patch on a well aged cardigan.

Likes craft beers but nothing made by anyone under the age of 60, no stupid named beers either. Best enjoyed with the Guardian crossword.

Has a notepad that he writes in frequently, no one knows the contents but onlookers will notice a wry smile as his pencil imparts wisdom on the already full pages.

Has a hole on the sole of his left shoe, always forgets about it until it rains, has accepted it as part of the shoe’s charm.

Well known in the local area although he would say that no one knows him well.

Once dated Naomi Campbell. Hated it.

If I’m wrong about any of the above points I don’t want to know about it.
TGM