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The 2011-2012 Football Thread

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Jaffa Cake said:
I saw the pictures this morning, terrible scenes.
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I should update my intial report by stating that the rival Al-Masry fans, not the Al Ahly fans, appear to have made the initial pitch invasion and attacked the Al Ahly players, subsequently chasing Al-Ahly fans toward the exits, which were blocked. It was here that the majority of casualties occured.

The police handling of the situation was nothing short of criminally negligent, and the larger political undercurrents around this event make it very difficult to understand why this incident happened and which parties are to blame. There is clearly an element of pure hooliganism involved, but there are also many reports that it goes well beyond that.
 
Sadly, Manchester United has given up on Ravel Morrison, shipping him off to West Ham.

I've watched enough academy / reserve matches to see that he is an obvious talent. I've also read enough tabloid reports and insider whisperings to realize he's a massive head case. He might be better off getting away from the distractions in Manchester that were sapping his focus, but is East London going to afford him any more space to concentrate on his football if he's not inclined to do it already?
 
Liverpool's upcoming schedule is going to be rough, with Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal in the league, with an FA Cup visit by Brighton & Hove Albion mixed in there. I think those three league matches will really define the run-in for us. If we take 6-9 points, we're still in it with a chance for 4th, especially if Chelsea continue to underperform.

Now that Suarez is back, and Carroll is showing something I might (somewhat recklessly) hazard to call "form", I can afford to be a little optimistic. Bellamy really stepped up when asked, and if Suarez can make a similar impact going forward our hopes of pushing for a Champions League spot begin to look merely optimistic rather than wildly optimistic. I'll still be completely satisifed with a 5th-6th place finish, given the strength of the squad.

And while Carroll is still on track to be a big disappointment this season, I can at least console myself by saying Torres has been no better - so, on balance, dumping him in favor of Suarez and Carroll has still proven to be a good move.

Silencio said:
is East London going to afford him any more space to concentrate on his football if he's not inclined to do it already?
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Fergie's ability to keep troubled players in line is a big factor in his success as a manager, so if he is giving up on Morrison the future looks bleak for the boy. He has two things going against him - a tendency to get into trouble and a lack of maturity to deal with it. Those two issue have wrecked much more promising careers than his, and he seems to be the only person unaware of that. One can only hope he grows up before his shenanigans truly catch up with him.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Liverpool's upcoming schedule is going to be rough, with Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal in the league, with an FA Cup visit by Brighton & Hove Albion mixed in there. I think those three league matches will really define the run-in for us. If we take 6-9 points, we're still in it with a chance for 4th, especially if Chelsea continue to underperform.

Now that Suarez is back, and Carroll is showing something I might (somewhat recklessly) hazard to call "form", I can afford to be a little optimistic. Bellamy really stepped up when asked, and if Suarez can make a similar impact going forward our hopes of pushing for a Champions League spot begin to look merely optimistic rather than wildly optimistic. I'll still be completely satisifed with a 5th-6th place finish, given the strength of the squad.

And while Carroll is still on track to be a big disappointment this season, I can at least console myself by saying Torres has been no better - so, on balance, dumping him in favor of Suarez and Carroll has still proven to be a good move.



Fergie's ability to keep troubled players in line is a big factor in his success as a manager, so if he is giving up on Morrison the future looks bleak for the boy. He has two things going against him - a tendency to get into trouble and a lack of maturity to deal with it. Those two issue have wrecked much more promising careers than his, and he seems to be the only person unaware of that. One can only hope he grows up before his shenanigans truly catch up with him.
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I am beginning to see that it is a fact that English teams, do play to many matches.

Normally this would not bother me, but with so many Dutch stars playing in England, and the European Championships in June, I'm a bit worried about tired players.:(
 
There seems to be a fair bit of popular support for Parker on Twitter and the like. But how about this – the England manager selects his squad, from that selects his team, and from that team picks a captain?

After all, we all know that whoever Capello picks is going to suffer a serious injury before the Euros kick off. ;)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
There seems to be a fair bit of popular support for Parker on Twitter and the like. But how about this – the England manager selects his squad, from that selects his team, and from that team picks a captain?

After all, we all know that whoever Capello picks is going to suffer a serious injury before the Euros kick off. ;)
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It's funny that so much is written about who the England captain be when in all truth compared to other sports like cricket and rugby the captain in football has little impact.
 
swiftaw said:
It's funny that so much is written about who the England captain be when in all truth compared to other sports like cricket and rugby the captain in football has little impact.
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And indeed to many other international football teams. Yes, most will have a preferred captain if he's available but I struggle to think of other nations who place such a huge onus on it.

After all, it's not like our captain's going to have the responsibility of receiving a trophy or anything. :D
 
I would have thought that England's captain be chosen by how beautiful his wife/girlfriend is.:D

After Barden Barden in 2006 and 'Walk of the WAGS' After all they make more head lines than their player husbands.:eek:
 
Jaffa Cake - there is a two page article/interview with Assem Allam in The Times 2 supplement today. He looks a good one; like the bit about his Rolls-Royce.

Ravel Morrison - covered by Silencio and Lord Blackadder; thanks re the FA Youth Cup, but sort the noggin.

England - eliminate the rogues, and the player who remains...

Cheers,
OW
 
Aren't Gerrard and Lampard vice-captains? [after more googling it looks like Gerrard is next in line] I would assume one of them gets the job by default, until Capello makes a permanent replacement.

The captaincy is pretty irrelevant for the most part, and the English definitely do seem to place an undue amount of importance in the position.

Capello made a mistake when he named Terry to the captaincy in the first place. On paper it makes sense to make an experienced central defender your captain, but Terry's personal antics should have made Capello look elsewhere. England aren't a squad of angels but Terry is the worst of them.
 
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EDIT: Premier League teams are being given a video on how to tackle. Can't wait to see it.

Jaffa Cake said:
I didn't buy the paper but one of the City fan sites posted up a transcript, he comes across well.
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I read it myself, on a Hull City fan site where users seem to favor pornographic avatars. Not that that has anything to do with anything. :D

Allam seems to be a great owner for Hull City, someone who is a shrewd businessman and has a genuine personal attachment to the city.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
EDIT: Premier League teams are being given a video on how to tackle. Can't wait to see it.



I read it myself, on a Hull City fan site where users seem to favor pornographic avatars. Not that that has anything to do with anything. :D

Allam seems to be a great owner for Hull City, someone who is a shrewd businessman and has a genuine personal attachment to the city.
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what was the fan site?
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The only people I've seen wearing latex gloves at the KC are the team physios, St John Ambulance peeps and – rather bizarrely – Tigers striker Aaron Mclean who likes to wear a pair under his woolly mittens.

Fryatt also lifted the lid on a bizarre celebration after Mclean ended his goal drought with City's second of the game.

"You can start to doubt yourself but Aaron is a confident guy and we've been talking about the celebration we'd do when he scored," he added.

"Aaron wears surgeons gloves – the ones that the physio wears – under his normal gloves to keep his hands warm.

"I've been saying that he looks like he's about to go to an operating theatre. So he said when he scored he'd do an operation on me in the corner. It might look daft but it's just a bit of banter!"

It's madcap banter, it really is. :D
 
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