Does the ease of Man City’s cup runs take the shine off success?

Ian Watson

Watch some football on Saturday and send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

GOAT
My Dad, an ardent spurs fan, has always told me that George Best is the greatest footballer he’s ever seen, and am who I am to disagree with him.

Ronaldo and Messi are pretty good though.
Dan, Plastic LFC

 

…Pele is a complete fraud. I’m sure he was a decent player but nowhere near the best. He talks a very good game.

He’s a serial liar. He didn’t officially score 1,283 goals as he claims. That would mean if he played for 20 seasons, say aged 18-38 (which he didn’t) it would mean scoring an average of 64 goals EVERY SINGLE SEASON. Never happened.

Apparently 526 goals came in unofficial friendlies and tour games which he constantly fails to mention.

He needs a reality check regarding his World Cup achievements. Most world cup goals? Not him, R9. Most goals in a final? Not him, Geoff Hurst. Most goals in a single tournament? Not him, Just Fontaine. Most goals in one game? Not him, Oleg Salenko. Most games? Matthaus.

Pele played in 4 World Cup tournaments but was outperformed in every single one of them. For a man that boasts about his goal-scoring prowess, I find it amusing that he never mentions himself as a Silver Boot winner.

In ’58, Just Fontaine scored 13 while Pele scored 6. In ’62, 6 players were tied on 4 whilst Pele had just a single goal. In ’66 whilst Eusebio had 9, Pele had 1. In ’70, Gerd Muller had 10 whilst Pele had 4. He wasn’t even Brazil’s top scorer during the 1970 World Cup.

He claims he’s won 3 World Cups. No, he’s only won 2. Pele was a member of three World Cup winning teams, but he sat out the large majority of the 1962 World Cup. It was Garrincha who single handedly won the World Cup for Brazil, not Pele.

Never forget that Pele played with historic teammates who made him into the “living legend” he is.

They were that good that they didn’t even need Pele for the 1962 World Cup. He constantly down plays his team mates ability and importance in winning those World Cups.

Absolute fraud.
Jimmy (copy and paste) Spain

 

…I know its completely subjective, but I cant believe no one has mentioned Ronaldinho in the GOAT lists. Definitely in my top 5. The man had as much or maybe more skill than Maradona and played with a huge smile that could light up a room, as well as chew an apple through a gate. Legend.

Also, as a Liverpool fan – I hold no ill will towards Fulham. MJ is/was a legend to a lot of people, however mental it was to have a statue of a musician outside a football ground.

Finally, I’ve been meaning to write in about Spurs the last few months. Lately they’ve had some piss poor results, but this is one of the most hard-working, skillfull and efficient sides in world football. I really enjoy watching them play – particularly Vertonghen, a brilliant LB/CB. Good luck against City, wont be easy but I reckon the outcome will be close either way.
Happy Friday,
Ronan

 

Champions League balls
Shock horror. The four best teams in the quarter final avoid each other. Heated balls are a thing, you know.
Martin (at least the first CL game at New WHL won’t be a dead rubber second leg), THFC

 

Imagine having to (probably) beat Barcelona, Liverpool and Man City to win the Champions League. This is why football is both awesome and terrible at the same time.
Jonny, MUFC.

 

… From a City perspective, mixed feelings with drawing Tottenham. We won’t be complacent but we will know we can beat Tottenham with a good head to head record recently.

However similar problems to last season, when we played Liverpool 3 times in quick succession, we will be playing Spurs 3 times followed by United. Can’t help feeling we won’t win all four of these games, especially with the injuries we have in midfileld and defence.

Also Liverpool have the best possible draw as far as the quarter finals are concerned. Hopefully when they hit the semis against United or Barca, it will be a major distraction for them.

The possibility of a Manchester derby CL final is very tasty.
Nic

 

…Genuine question for City fans – does the fact that your team won’t have beaten a good, in-form team until at least the semi finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup take any of the shine off your multiple cup runs? Fair enough if you’re just enjoying the ride – I did the same with England in the World Cup, and they had a pretty easy run. The difference, though, is that nobody was expecting England to get that far and hadn’t witnessed them progress that far for decades, so the whole thing seemed like a great novelty.

In cup competitions City have so far beaten Oxford, Newport, Rotherham, a Schalke team battling relegation, Burton, Fulham and Burnley, having failed to beat Leicester and Chelsea over 120 minutes, and now face Swansea in the FA Cup and a knackered and fading Spurs in Europe. Are City fans keen to face an actual challenge, having witnessed a non-vintage United beat Chelsea, Arsenal and PSG all away from home and now take on Wolves, again away, and Barcelona? Does the novelty of winning trophies mean that you’re happy to just keep drawing mismatches all the way to the semis and final(s) and let the record books show that you won a double/treble/quadruple, without having actually achieved much on the way?

Cheers,
Dan, (thoroughly enjoying United’s season whatever happens next) Brighton

 

Some Fulham appreciation
There is only one English Premier League club that can boast that their stadium is a listed building.

Back in the old days, Arsenal could make that boast about Arsenal Stadium’s East Stand but since the move to Emirates only Fulham can say their stadium is listed.

It’s my favourite ground in the country – a lovely old building with a distinct character. Each to their own but in my view it is anything but sh*t and is so much better than the identikit stadia that the rest of the Premier League calls home.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

 

..Seeing as Liverpool’s title challenge is crumbling quicker than Michael Jackson’s nose, a certain fan is directing their anger elsewhere. Supported a known pedophile is an odd way of saying a chairman erected a statue with little input from fans but let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good vent.

Blaming Fulham for Hodgson being crap at Liverpool is quite a stretch and by this logic the past club of any player or manager is to blame for future poor performances. All in all it seems Liverpool fans are getting quite tetchy and worked up about the smallest things. Choosing to hope Fulham are relegated for such perceived slights reeks of someone picking a fight in a bar with smaller individual knowing that person won’t swing back. Yeah you might seem tough but everyone just thinks you’re a bit of a c*ck.
Ash, Fulham Supporter

 

…First perusal of the mailbox in a while and an instant reminder of quite how much of a plonker Gregory Whitehead is. Poor Gregory is apparently upset about some words and has therefore bizarrely decided that Fulham “supported a known paedophile”.

Leaving aside the genuinely libellous claims about the *alleged* heinous crimes made by our pal Gregory (who seems to think a documentary about a dead guy constitutes a legal process), this is a fan who supports a team whose manager thought it was acceptable to get his entire squad wearing T shirts to support a man who *at best* used a highly racially-insensitive term directly to another footballer, and who doubtless would have joined in the booing of Evra for nothing more than being a black man who upset Luis Suarez. Hardly the best place from which to mount this bizarre high horse, is it?

Do us all a favour, Gregory: try a long period of introspection to see if you can figure out how to be not quite as much of a giant bellend about stuff. There’s a good lad.
Alex G, THFC (and Liverpool fans wonder why no one can f*cking stand them)

 

Kill lists
Please make this the last list you ever publish. Here are a list of things that should be barred from the inbox.

Lists of the bestest players ever
Lists of the biggest Clubs ever
Lists about net spend
Lists of players your team should buy to definitely win ‘x’ competition. Like it’s feckin Camp Manager
Lists of players your team should sell to avoid ‘y’ impending disaster. Like it’s feckin Camp Manager
Definitive lists of subjective nonsense that have no real answer or value. (Just express your opinion and debate it like a normal person – please also apply this to any political debate).
Lists of Lists
David Moore (Thoughts with our Antipodean brothers).