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The 2011-2012 Football Thread

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After trolling several Liverpool forums I'm seeing a lot of criticism directed at FSG for firing Dalglish; many seem to say "he was sure to turn it around if they gave him more time". I was using a similar argument for Hodgson but was pooh-poohed. The comparison is not a direct one but I'm seeing a lot of blind emotion here, and it's just too easy to blame American owners.

Kenny had to go. Now lets move forward and hire someone who is willing and able to take Liverpool back into the Champions League and League Championship contention.

takao said:
and what good is a fast striker if the only central defensive midfielder with any reputation in the squad is the, slow as molasses, Barry... i seriously doubt that Barry has become faster since the last tournament where he has been a glaring weakness
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The Guardian newspaper described Hodgson's squad list as "deflating". But what they fail to argue convincingly is that there are better alternatives. There are no world-class players lurking around in England that the England managers are failing to discover - they simply aren't there. If the squad is deflating, it's because the available talent pool is deflating. And maybe deflation is just what needs to happen to English expectations?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Carroll vs Crouch debate is largely an irrelevance. There is no Drogba or Ibrahimovic-level player in England that is being forgotten here. I mean, Grant Holt? No offense to the man, but if he's truly being thought of seriously it ought to be an indication of where the squad is in the grand scheme of things.
 
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My disjointed thoughts on Kenny Dalglish;

I think Kenny was simply out of his depth with modern football.

- Players are more about status/image than real dedication to a club and the game. Therefore you really need to know how to man-manage egos in order to steer focus towards whats important- the game itself. (O'Neil, Pardew & SAF are maestros). Otherwise you end up with players thinking about which colour to pick for their Ferrari instead of how to play against Stoke on a cold winter night.

- Plus he got it wrong with the players he bought. You need world class players to compete at the top level, and there are very few world class players that are English in the country and those few are already playing for the Top 5 clubs. The rest are mid-tier at best which is why you need foreign talent to compensate. Suarez was Kenny's only decent purchase IMHO. Its also telling that most of the club's 'good' players are Benitez or Hodgson purchases and maybe 1 or 2 of those are English.

- Then there's the Suarez PR disaster. Maybe he should take notes from Mancini/Tevez/Balotelli.

- Another thing that annoyed me about him was his icy, tightly wound demeanour towards all things media which just made his post match interviews a chore to watch. He should take a page out of McCarthy, Martinez, Mourinho etc books. Sometimes the media just want to hear your general thoughts Kenny. Relax.

Overall i don't think he was that cut out for 'big club' management but thats just me. I'm guessing FSG cut his transfer kitty since they didn't trust his purchasing instincts thus leaving his position untenable. Since he couldn't buy nor could he sell what he had without huge loss because everyone has seen the price/performance ratio of each player he bought over the course of the season.

I wonder who can take over and get more out of those players.
 
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Rio's hardly been this season's stalwart at Man U though has he? Infact if he had, I think things may well have turned out for the better for Fergie's men.

I also think that the decision was partially down to Terry being in the squad, and we can always rely on Captain England :rolleyes:

Also in international news, Carrick has joined my international hate squad
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12016/7761545/Roy-Carrick-ruled-himself-out
 
well i guess the english team is now better off without him... seriously Carrick needs to take a lesson from some better professional sportsmen

i would have understood if he had a personal beef with the coach or something but demanding a starter spot ? he is hardly the kind of player who is in the position to do that


back on the general squad list: i think the problem in england currently is the lack of any general "game plan"... yet another tournament where its first about calling up the big names and then a week before they are cobbled together into system and it will be expected to work
what England really needs is a trainer who scouts through the players and chooses those who fit the system which he thinks works best and then manages to explain the system to the squad

in Spain and Germany (and others) this go so far that in the last years those system are adopted into youth training and U21,U19 national squads and thus young players know the system even before joining the national squad

why not play a 4-2-3-1 with Rooney alone up front, Gerrard as a space creating free role in the center behind him(similar to Özil), _2_ defensive midfielders with Barry +Parker + 2 wingers and rather take 2 defensive wing backs (for christ sake leave glen johnson on the bench)

sounds a lot better than playing Gerrard as left winger together with Lampard in central midfield covering for him ;)
 
Wigan have granted permission for Liverpool to speak to Martinez.

In other news, welcome Garath McCleary to Reading!

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(They could've at least taken off the tags from the shirt, probably taken straight from the club shop, but then again I suppose that would mean you can't take it back afterwards...)
 
I hate uncertainty. So I hate this managerial change (Which isn't to say I was satisfied with Dalglish).

In the short term it's going to get worse before it gets better, as media and fan speculation reaches a fever pitch. FSG needs to move rapidly - but speed is less important than developing a very informed opinion before making a choice.

Martinez might be a good choice. But he is young and we would have to be prepared to endure his learning process - United did this with Fergie and Chelsea got cold feet with AVB. I suspect Liverpool fans, like Roman Abramovich, will be very impatient for success. I'm not sure this lack of patience is the best approach.
 
I have a theory that there is an inverse relationship between the volume level of any supporter and the value of his/her opinion. I shall say no more.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I have a theory that there is an inverse relationship between the volume level of any supporter and the value of his/her opinion. I shall say no more.
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There was a Liverpool supporter on the telly earlier discussing Dalglish's departure. He shouldn't have come back, the fan lamented, it's never the same when they come back. His pick for the new manager? Rafa Benitez. :eek:
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I rest my case. :D

Everybody wants a Ferguson, and nobody is willing to invest the time necessary to create one.
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and sometimes they are just stupid: like when Jupp Heynkes got sacked after winning the champions league with Real Madrid (reached only 4th place in the league)

and currently in Austria , Moniz from Red Bull Salzburg is under pressure from management because of "not playing good enough" while having secured the championship and reaching the final in the austrian cup (yet to play) which gives them a chance for a historic first double :rolleyes:
 
Think my internet connection is in the know; went down on Sunday and came back today in time for a bit of silver - Manchester City Elite Development Squad 0 v Manchester United Reserves (Joyce's Giants :eek:) 2

If you are going to dish it out, be prepared to take it. :( During the season, both teams have shown the capacity for winning it late and throwing it away. In the end, the Media's 'Worst United Squad In Living Memory' finished 19 points ahead of Arsenal and 8 goals behind the New Messiah. Manchester United lost it against Everton - Ferguson's inaction - and City - his team selection. Manchester City won it against United and, after trying to throw it away, QPR. There's a lot of media masturbation over City's squad, I'll be convinced when they go a long period without 5 or 6 main players and still win the EPL by 7 or more points. At the moment, without Kompany and Yaya...

Arsenal to sign Fulop and loan him to Spurs? Holy cow!

England; when I said I was glad Hodgson was appointed over Redknapp... It's not giving 3 or 4 players at unfashionable clubs a look that disappoints; Ruddy doesn't count as a decision. Milner and Downing? Gerrard and Jones are out of form. Terry's form? And so on. :confused: Still, Defoe deserves a shot.

Carrick; good for him - what a nerve to turn down wasting his time on the bench watching the dregs of the Golden Shower putting in another piss poor performance :rolleyes:.

Edit - Solskjaer - try to win it again at Molde.

Cheers,
OW
 
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I would have preferred redknapp honestly. The choices stink and i have to agree that its a cobbled together list of names.

Holt will score carrol will whine when it isnt fed right to him @ 6 ft.

Backfield. Eh. Mid.... Blah.

Its not awful.... I just don't see us going far.
 
h00ligan,

It seems Hodgson has chosen rest over training and looking at new players. It'll be interesting to see what he can get out of those who got steamrollered by Germany in 2010. The best hope is getting teamwork.

Cheers,
OW
 
Guardiola is supposedly at the top of the list to replace Dalglish at Liverpool. I heartily applaud FSG's ambition but to me it seems damned unlikely, given that Pep left Barca due to mental burnout and wanted a year off. And, as ludicrous as it sounds to question his credentials, Pep has only managed at one club before - a wealthier Spanish club he played for and knew top to bottom. Liverpool is an entirely different animal, with a laundry list of significant issues to be dealt with immediately. Liverpool is no Barca.

Capello is also on the list, one wonders if he's at all inclined to deal with the English media again. Apparently he's trying to get the Chelsea job.

Both are good managers, and both have experience winning trophies at the highest level. But again, it's all still talk.
 
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Happybunny said:
Marntinez it would be fantastic to see what he could do with a top flight club.:D
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You mean only managing 1 win in 12 and rooting a team to the bottom of the league. The same team that then win 7 out of 9 of their last games and again drag themselves out the relegation zone. Is that really the sign of a good manager these days?

h00ligan said:
I just don't see us going far.
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I think that's true regardless of manager :p
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Guardiola is supposedly at the top of the list to replace Dalglish at Liverpool.
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There is also a lot of **** being spoken in the media and the general circus that is LFC internet circles (cf. twitter feeds from several prominent bloggers) so I wouldn't believe anything at present. I live in the city, I am a season ticket holder and I work in the same building as LFC's corporate HQ. My car is parked 6 down from Ian Ayre's and TRUST me, the building guest entry log-book was full of journalists' names yesterday. Imagine being the LFC correspondent for one of the national rags. This is the time to be filing copy. Plenty of it. Ultimately your employer pays you through the year for periods such as these. YOU ARE GOING TO BE COMPELLED TO WRITE STUFF. They make things up!

It's suspicious (IMHO) that the Guardiola name was thrown out there after the twitteraties questioned LFC's ambition, approaching someone like Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers...So it's probably a smoke screen. It will not happen.

What we know is that FSG (the owners of the Boston Red sox and LFC) want a young head coach with impeccable track record in character, method of play, coaching, improving players and setting teams up tactically, also of some experience of winning (their national league).

And they are hell bent on bringing in a GM (baseball term) above said head coach. In Football terms, they call the position director of football. The name that keeps cropping up is Txiki Begiristain (ex-Barca). Who apparently is already advising FSG but has not been announced publicly yet. Perhaps that's why Guardiola has been linked also. Lazy journalism.

If that system is what the owners want (I am not convinced but I don't have £500m to buy the club off them), then we have to play under those conditions. Thus my vote would be for Rafael Benitez as DoF with perhaps a younger ambitious manager coming under him. From the names mentioned, the one that excites me the most (but only under the stewardship of Rafael Benitez) would be AVB or even Samy Hyypia. But by the sounds of it, Rafa is too fractious to be considered for the job, so he's seemingly out of it.

In which case, I would want Klopp (but there are NO signs that he would give up the Dortmund project to come to Liverpool without champions league football).

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Lord Blackadder said:
Kenny had to go.
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I disagree
 
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