Post: #326

The PL would benefit from profit sharing similar to what the NFL does, the disparity between the top teams and the bottom teams is too wide.

Post: #327

The thing with Gerrard for England was that him and Lampard couldn't play in 4-4-2 together. Neither were disciplined enough during their peaks to run forward and track back so Gerrard's attacking game was sort of sacrificed as he was a more rounded player to Lampard and could hold the midfield. Lampard was very much an attacking midfielder.

If Eriksson, McClaren and Capello had any sense, they would've played a combination of 3 in midfield with Scholes, Carrick, Gerrard and Lampard all rotating. As such, it was "these are the best players so throw them in". I can't help but feel England have missed a massive opportunity with those 4.

In the 2010/11 and 2011/12 season, a lot of us Liverpool fans were pissed off with Gerrard. He's been hell bent on getting those 100 caps for England and has missed games and gotten injuries putting in more effort for England than Liverpool. He'd been absolute shite the past couple of seasons and wasn't looking particularly impressive for the first couple of months this season, but he always puts himself out there for England. He's been their best player since the 2010 World Cup and at times as seemed to care more about his country than his club, which is an alien concept for scousers as many don't care about England. As Gerrard is "one of us", a lot of people subscribe to the thought that he should be the same and stop caring so much about England and retire to focus on prolonging his career with the club and people that made him who he is.

Post: #328

Haha Beckham!

Post: #329

What a day -

Arsenal vs Newcastle 1 - 0 Thank God
Tottenham vs Sunderland 1 - 0
Chelsea vs Everton 2 - 1
Man U vs West brom 5 - 5 Farewell Fergie

Bale reminds us, that he is a beast.



Will he stay or will he go?

Post: #330

Wooo, Gareth Bale didn't get 4th place!

Post: #331

Another dire performance after a dire season. Can only get better.

I'm on the fence with Pards. My team needs a striker. And Tiote and Cabaye need a kick up the arse. Cheikh used to be such a beast... glad this season is over. Watching this drab gets old quickly.

There's always august and next season.

Post: #332

Reading lost 4-2 to West Ham today, but one of our national team starters Garath McCleary managed to get a goal with Reading's other Jamaican winger Jobi McAnuff getting the assist. He's found a decent run of form late in the season and gotten a couple of scores now, so I'm hoping this will translate well into our next run of qualifiers.

We're playing Tottenham Hotspur in a friendly in the Bahamas on May 23rd.

Post: #333

(05-19-2013 12:15 PM)Travelsick Wrote:  Another dire performance after a dire season. Can only get better.

I'm on the fence with Pards. My team needs a striker. And Tiote and Cabaye need a kick up the arse. Cheikh used to be such a beast... glad this season is over. Watching this drab gets old quickly.

There's always august and next season.

Why does Ben Arfa hold onto the ball so much?

Post: #334

Bye bye

1.Michael Owen
2.Jamie Carragher
3.Paul Scholes
4.Alex Ferguson
5.David Beckham

End of

1.Macini era Man City
2.Ferguson era Man U
3.Moyles era Everton
4.Rafa era Chelsea (ok not really an era but at least he won a trophy)

All change !

Post: #335

Anyone here feel the Mancini sacking was harsh?

Then again - to not win the FA Cup was a bit careless.

Post: #336

That's back to back years in which the losing fa cup finalist sacked their manager

Post: #337

(05-19-2013 01:22 PM)cardguy Wrote:  Anyone here feel the Mancini sacking was harsh?

Then again - to not win the FA Cup was a bit careless.

I commented on it a couple of pages back. It was too harsh. This new trend of revolving-door leadership is not good for football imo. I didn't like McDermott's firing earlier this year, I disliked Di Matteo's dismissal and I don't like Mancini's either.

Good managers who deliver the goods should be rewarded with some loyalty from their owners. Mancini had brought home the FA Cup just two years ago and an EPL title last season. These things should have bought him at least 2 extra seasons of leeway (that is to say two seasons during which, like this one, he could fail to win a title/cup and still hope to keep his job so long as he came very close the way he did this year). This should not have been a make or break season for him.

You can't win a title every single year no matter how many managers you go through.

Post: #338

Mancini had to go, he is overly conservative and his team selection is questionable. Somehow Nasri and Dzeko among others became ineffective players within the season. Also, coaches with the abilities of Manuel Pellegrini or Mourinho are not in the market every year.

With the season ending I am anxious to see what happens to Lukaku, the 20 year old on loan at West Brom. He scored more than twice as many goals as Fernando Torres this year with a hat-trick vs Manchester United to end the season.



.

Post: #339

(05-19-2013 03:58 PM)jmoney29 Wrote:  Mancini had to go, he is overly conservative and his team selection is questionable. Somehow Nasri and Dzeko among others became ineffective players within the season. Also, coaches with the abilities of Manuel Pellegrini or Mourinho are not in the market every year.

With the season ending I am anxious to see what happens to Lukaku, the 20 year old on loan at West Brom. He scored more than twice as many goals as Fernando Torres this year with a hat-trick vs Manchester United to end the season.



.

Same, Chelsea would be dumb to sell this guy. He has Drogba's potential.

Post: #340

MOTD in a sec. Buzzing.

Post: #341

Post: #342

Mancini lost the locker room and the players were celebrating his departure. He apparently told Tevez in a heated argument "to go back to Argentina", other players had to interject to stop Tevez from killing him.

Pellegrini is not the answer, I am surprised Mourinho did not jump all over that position.

Post: #343

Reina is off.

Hopefully we don't fuck his replacement up.

Post: #344

watching the Copa Del Rey final on Friday just reminded why I absolutely hate Mourinho's teams. He makes all their players into whining little cunts, when Alonso and Arbeloa played for Liverpool they were never twats like they are now. Alonso has picked up so many yellow cards and committed so many fouls at Madrid, at least twice as many since his time at Liverpool.

In 5 seasons at Liverpool he got 25 yellows and 1 red
at Real Madrid under Mourinho in 3 seasons he has 58 yellow cards and 1 red.

at Liverpool in 3 seasons he got 20 yellows.
at Real Madrid under Mourinho, 3 seasons again he has 45 yellow cards and 5 reds.

I'm pretty sure you'd find the same for a lot of players..except Sergio Ramos.

Post: #345

That Copa Del Rey final was poorly officiated to say the least. The official clearly lost control of the match and made a habit of compounding bad calls. Madrid actually dominated the match, but did not take most of their chances well(including some chip shots) and that was the difference. The game should not have even been close to be honest.

Post: #346

Delete

Post: #347

I used to hear stories about how a lot of European footballers liked to come to North America because they could go unrecognized. Supposedly this was part of the reason why Ronaldo chose an American woman to be the surrogate for his kid. This prank video kind of backs that up-the guy is pretending to be Leo Messi and I don't think any of the girls know who he is.

When you also consider the fact that footballers don't stand out physically (often below average height, not overly muscular, etc), you could see how easily they could blend in here.

Post: #348

Post: #349

Post: #350

(05-22-2013 04:01 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote: