405 replies to this topic

[Ser Hippie]

It's somewhat amazing to compare how bad Arshavin is now to what he was like back in Euro 2008. Completely awful defending on the second United goal and terrible play all around.

Edited by Ser Hippie, 22 January 2012 - 01:27 PM.

[Black Wizard]

Arsenal are such a depressing team at the moment. Their fans are in perpetual despair and their players are crap. It's a great shame what Arsene Wenger has done to the club in the last five years.

[Fenryng]

Calibandar, on 22 January 2012 - 11:51 AM, said:

Oh Defoe, if only you'd be a more clinical striker. There were two options, either Bale wasn't going to get past his man and thus had to pass back, or he did go past him and then the ball would come where it now ended up. Defoe didn't read that well.

Having only started watching this sport full time this season, I admit to maybe missing something.  But why is this Defoe's fault?  I didn't understand why Bale didn't pass the ball back.  To me, it looked like the fact that he didn't pass back was why he had no choice but to rocket the ball across the net in such a way that Defoe couldn't get to it in time.  If you want to argue that Defoe could have been further forward, fine; but isn't it the guy with the ball who is responsible for setting things up right, or being on target (ideally)?

[Kid Charlemagne]

I agree with you, Fenryng. I think the ball was a bad one.

Arsenal - Man U was incredibly uninspiring and drab to watch. None of the teams seemed to really be going for it, and subbing out the one person who had caused the ManU defence some actual trouble for Arshavin was ridiculous.

[polishgenius]

Fenryng, on 22 January 2012 - 01:55 PM, said:

Having only started watching this sport full time this season, I admit to maybe missing something.  But why is this Defoe's fault?  I didn't understand why Bale didn't pass the ball back.  To me, it looked like the fact that he didn't pass back was why he had no choice but to rocket the ball across the net in such a way that Defoe couldn't get to it in time.  If you want to argue that Defoe could have been further forward, fine; but isn't it the guy with the ball who is responsible for setting things up right, or being on target (ideally)?

A cross fired like that is always preferable because it's much, much more difficult to defend and much easier to attack. Cutting back takes time, and then a first-time shot is much harder, leading to probably more time for the striker to set himself. Whereas a cross like that can just be knocked in and defenders will be wary because any touch they make could easily go in as well.

I think it's slightly harsh on Defoe to blame him, and maybe Bale could have got an inch more curve on it, but he could maybe have stretched a little bit more.

[So1ar]

Calibandar, on 22 January 2012 - 01:24 PM, said:

Arsenal were a shambled and still could have won. The crowd was booing Wenger when he substituted Arshavin for Oxlade Chamberlain. Even van Persie seemed to say something about the substitution on the pitch.

That was a stupid decision. RVP gave a darth vader "NOOOOOOOO" when Chamberlain was subbed off.

[Calibandar]

Quote

It's a great shame what Arsene Wenger has done to the club in the last five years.

Well, maybe 5 years goes too far, but certainly these last two or three seasons Wenger has become a disappointment, and the ongoing fidelity of the Arsenal board to Wenger annoys me just as much as the Man United board's fidelity towards Ferguson. As i've said before, I think both clubs would be very well served with some fresh new management, and that is not at all to diminish what these two have done for thir clubs.

One thing that continues to irritate me equally with both of them is their outright refusal to just buy two or three players where needed, where the fans and are imploring them to do so, and the results and the play on the pitch bear out that they are required. I know Ferguson still has a lot of fans, so many won't agree that he needs to go. Right now it looks like if he says he'll stay on for 3 more years, then that it what will happen. As for Wenger, people have thought the axe would come down on him before, yet it never does.

Fenrying

It is an interplay between two players. Once Bale made his way past his man, Defoe knew that the ball would come as a cross. He just didn't get there in time, and I feel that he misread that. You can lay the blame with Bale if you like.

[polishgenius]

Calibandar, on 22 January 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

Well, maybe 5 years goes too far, but certainly these last two or three seasons Wenger has become a disappointment, and the ongoing fidelity of the Arsenal board to Wenger annoys me just as much as the Man United board's fidelity towards Ferguson. As i've said before, I think both clubs would be very well served with some fresh new management, and that is not at all to diminish what these two have done for thir clubs.

One thing that continues to irritate me equally with both of them is their outright refusal to just buy two or three players where needed, where the fans and are imploring them to do so, and the results and the play on the pitch bear out that they are required. I know Ferguson still has a lot of fans, so many won't agree that he needs to go. Right now it looks like if he says he'll stay on for 3 more years, then that it what will happen. As for Wenger, people have thought the axe would come down on him before, yet it never does.

I cannot believe that you're seriously comparing Wenger and Ferguson's situations. Yes, Fergie has sometimes been slow to fix what seems to be an obvious fault but at the end of the day he's still winning titles. I mean we're the current champions ffs and fighting strongly for another against a team who strongly outmatches us on a final level, how can you possibly say he's failing?

If Cleverley comes back and plays as well as he was before the injury, suddenly the concern about CM looks a lot less critical. And Fergie has long been very patient with a player's meh form - and he's often been proven right, see Fletcher and Nani. So being patient with Carrick, while frustrating, is perfectly understandable and seems to be paying off at the current moment.

[lanky316]

Calibandar, on 22 January 2012 - 04:00 PM, said:

It is an interplay between two players. Once Bale made his way past his man, Defoe knew that the ball would come as a cross. He just didn't get there in time, and I feel that he misread that. You can lay the blame with Bale if you like.

Personally I felt Bale played it a little too late and just a bit too far for Defoe to get to, however perhaps Defoe held his sprint finish a little too long, given that Spurs've been fucked over with perfectly good goals disallowed practically every week that probably played on his mind.

[Calibandar]

Polish

Let's just say that I am not even remotely convinced that another good manager couldn't do as well or better with the squad Man U has. Man U's season has been pretty catastrophic sofar, and I think it's time for change. I said so last year already, and we even won the title then, so it's not a spur of the moment thing for me.

[Kid Charlemagne]

So winning the PL and losing the CL final to what is widely acknowledged as one of the best teams in history makes you think it's time for a change? Someone has slightly unrealistic expectations...

[mormont]

Kid Charlemagne, on 23 January 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

So winning the PL and losing the CL final to what is widely acknowledged as one of the best teams in history makes you think it's time for a change? Someone has slightly unrealistic expectations...

No, he's clearly talking about this catastrophe of a season, with only 16 wins out of 22 in the league. I mean, they're a whole three points behind first place - disaster!

Seriously, yes, everyone can see that Man U needed to buy a midfielder in the summer. I tend to agree that there are other issues with the squad that need to be addressed, too. But I have a sneaking suspicion that life as a top-level manager is not as straightforward as going out and buying players X, Y and Z, like shopping for a new wardrobe. In any case, I think it's hard to argue against the notion that Fergie is getting as good a set of results out of the current squad as can be expected - domestically, at least. His European record is worse, of course, but still not a catastrophe.

[So1ar]

ljkeane, on 22 January 2012 - 11:18 AM, said:

Of course there is, he's just tripped over and is trying to regain his balance. You might argue it's something of a coincidence that he's ended up stamping on Parker while he's done it but I wouldn't say that I haven't seen people fall over in similar fashion fairly often before.

Did you see that he was falling forward? Why on earth would you move your leg back if your body was falling forward? Go outside and start jogging. Then lean forward and feel like you're about to lose your balance and fall face down. Now tell me you naturally want to stick our leg out backwards instead of fowards to catch yourself. I was walking my dog yesterday and tripped over him. I didn't stick my leg out backwards to kick him in the face.

[Eurytus]

Calibandar, on 23 January 2012 - 09:46 AM, said:

Polish

Let's just say that I am not even remotely convinced that another good manager couldn't do as well or better with the squad Man U has. Man U's season has been pretty catastrophic sofar, and I think it's time for change. I said so last year already, and we even won the title then, so it's not a spur of the moment thing for me.

Their average points per game is champion class. How is that catastrophic?
If that is catastrophic I'd hate to think what good is.

[So1ar]

Eurytus, on 23 January 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

Their average points per game is champion class. How is that catastrophic?
If that is catastrophic I'd hate to think what good is.

agreed. if you think man united's season is bad trying being a liverpool, chelsea, or arsenal supporter. i would trade league positions with united in a heart beat. is it because united fans are so used to winning ever damn thing that they're in, and now that they're 3 points off 1st and out of the champions league its a catastrophe?

Edited by So1ar, 23 January 2012 - 12:38 PM.

[polishgenius]

So1ar, on 23 January 2012 - 12:35 PM, said:

agreed. if you think man united's season is bad trying being a liverpool, chelsea, or arsenal supporter.

Try being a Darlington supporter...

I've got to agree, I see no conceivable way by which you could term our season 'catastrophic'. Yeah, we went out of the CL, but we've done that before and that proved the impetus for Fergie to knuckle down and in the five seasons since then we've been to the final three times.

As for the league campaign, we've got a higher points total at this stage than most seasons when we've won the league, even though it's on paper a weaker side than at pretty any stage in the last 17 years.  And although we're playing averagely now, we started off the season in amazing form so it's not as if it's a lost cause. We're lacking in midfield, but even though I get frustrated at the lack of good creatives there I see the idea- if we're going to spend, it needs to be on the right player, because (1) we're not City, we can't just throw unlimited money at the problem if first choice doesn't work out and (2) Tom Cleverley was doing brilliant, no sense in impeding his place with a player who's not proven top class standard.

The only other reason I can see to criticise him is an apparent difficulty in managing Rooney and consistently getting the best out of him, a problem I can see no reason to believe any other manager would be able to do better with.

[So1ar]

polishgenius, on 23 January 2012 - 03:28 PM, said:

Try being a Darlington supporter...

haha i know what you mean. i only mentioned those "larger" clubs because they're supposed to be challenging united and look how bad of a season they're having.

[MercenaryChef]

balotelli faces a four match ban.

what a piece of shit. he has just loads of talent and potential, but he is just a fucking prick.

[Eloisa]

The plus: ESPN are showing all football matches free to Freeview on the weekend of 4th/5th February, including City-Fulham at the Etihad.

The minus: I'll be on the piste at the Slough Open at the time, unless I'm knocked out as early as is possible.

Football: ranking points.  Football: ranking points...

[polishgenius]

Eloisa, on 23 January 2012 - 05:57 PM, said:

The plus: ESPN are showing all football matches free to Freeview on the weekend of 4th/5th February, including City-Fulham at the Etihad.

The minus: I'll be on the piste at the Slough Open at the time, unless I'm knocked out as early as is possible.

Football: ranking points.  Football: ranking points...

What other football do ESPN have other than that game? That article makes no mention of it.