Football 2013-2014

[DomDom1984]

Pfft. They've got United. Easy three points.

[thetime]

Pfft. They've got United. Easy three points.

[The Nal]

Yeah united will be getting ready for the champions league final then....hohoho.

[Wooderson]

LFC won the CL with a far worse first XI and gash squad than Utd.

[eFestivals]

LFC won the CL with a far worse first XI and gash squad than Utd.

yep, tho they did have excellent players in the part of the pitch where it matters most.

Utd differ because they're the complete opposite of that - very shit players in the part of the pitch that matters most.

[thetime]

very shit players in the part of the pitch that matters most.

[Wooderson]

*Deleted*

Edited March 27, 2014 by Wooderson

[ThomThomDrum]

LFC won the CL with a far worse first XI and gash squad than Utd.

[ThomThomDrum]

*Deleted*

Edited March 27, 2014 by ThomThomDrum

[ThomThomDrum]

Shit the bed! Sky Sports just tweeted he is gone...........(Moyes)

Whats going on?

Edit - Seems a load of fake accounts are tweeting about Moyes being sacked. Sky Sport New. Telegraph etc

Edited March 27, 2014 by ThomThomDrum

[pink_triangle]

LFC won the CL with a far worse first XI and gash squad than Utd.

Edited March 27, 2014 by pink_triangle

[The Nal]

LFC won the CL with a far worse first XI and gash squad than Utd.

Edited March 27, 2014 by The Nal

[thetime]

Shit the bed! Sky Sports just tweeted he is gone...........(Moyes)

Whats going on?

Edit - Seems a load of fake accounts are tweeting about Moyes being sacked. Sky Sport New. Telegraph etc

[ThomThomDrum]

Good old twitter rumours.

[thetime]

Fake Sky Sports A/C just tweeted BREAKING: David Moyes has signed a 2 year contract extension with Man Utd. Reaction to follow.

[eFestivals]

Fake Sky Sports A/C just tweeted BREAKING: David

Moyes has signed a 2 year contract extension with Man Utd. Reaction to follow.

PMSL

That'd be some reaction.

But from me? #MoyesIn.

Edited March 27, 2014 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

loving United fans turning against Moyes already

already? I hate to say it, but they've kept faith with him in an admirable way.

Actually, in an utterly stupid sheep-like way.

The fans of just about any other club would have turned on a manager that bad ages ago.

[kaosmark2]

It seems a long time ago that I was shot down for saying Moyes' results were only proportional to the resources he had at Everton, not exceptional.

[kaosmark2]

I am thinking Moyes should be given more time.... and if he fucks them up further all the better

[pink_triangle]

Yep. But at the risk of harping on about it, Liverpool had a couple of leaders in the team. Apart from Rooney Utd don't have anyone in the team who could come out with the performance Gerrard and Carra did in that 2nd half. Grab the game by the balls. Arsenal don't have that for example. Have I mentioned that recently?

When the chips are down you need a Keane vs Juve, Keane vs Holland, a Gerrard vs Olympiakos, Beckham vs Greece,

Barry Horne vs Wimbledon etc etc.

No they haven't. People need to stop believing everything they read on Twitter. Very David St Hubbins.

[Wooderson]

Nal hates "weak" stuff. Coffee, booze, bands, women. It's his Kryptonite.

[eFestivals]

Nal hates "weak" stuff. Coffee, booze, bands, women. It's his Kryptonite.

so when's he changing the team he supports then...?

[The Nal]

Carragher was no more a leader than his centre back partner hyppia. You don't need to be local and shout a lot to be a leader. Also Beckham scoring a free kick against Greece was a sign of someone being good at free kicks and not leadership, he would have scored the free kick captain or not.

The likes of beletti and robben have scored winning goals in champions league finals and I wouldn't call either leaders, just good footballers who happen to be at the right place at the right time. When I hear people talk about leaders it is often in a very "british" way, often local, shirt kissing, shouty types. Many quieter players like iniesta lead by producing when needed.

In some respect I agree with Neil, for all the talk about leaders. If you have the best 11 players you will normally win, even if theres not a shout, last gasp tackle or fist punch between them.

[pink_triangle]

If I can romanticise for a moment, the great moments in football don't happen without strength, balls and leadership. Maradona 86, Zidane 98, the great AC Milan team, current Barca team, Utd 99, Liverpool Istanbul, Arsenal invincibles etc.

I think you do need an element of local players involved for the truly great moments to happen.

Also above, the Beckham vs Greece thing was more about Becks performance in that game rather then the free kick. 11 great players om the pitch doesn't really mean as much to me.

I'm actually struggling to think of any "top top" teams without local players leading the team? Liverpool 70s/80s, Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea 90s/00s, current Barca team, current Bayern team.

Maybe thats Arsenals problem. They need a Tony Adams.

[TheGayTent]

As you said before pt, leadership comes in many forms. Beckham led by example. Other leaders are great because of their motivational skills, some due to their organisational skills, some instil great confidence in others, some are just characters that you'd gladly jump into the trenches with.

Bobby Moore, Martin Johnson, Mike Brearley all great English leaders for completely different reasons.

The winners of the tournaments aren't always the best team technically - the winners are often the team that are good technically, but are better than the sum of their parts because they have the right mix of technique as well as confidence, leadership, organisation, etc.

Going back to arsenal for a moment, I remember a game back at Highbury they played against Middlesbrough (if CBC was still active I'm sure he'd remember). Anyway arsenal went 3-0 or 3-1 down, I forget exactly. They came back to win 5-3 or something with not long left in the game to do so.

The point was, it didn't surprise anyone - everyone expected them to. As soon as they conceded the last goal you could see the players before the restart kick off. All had their heads up, all we're looking around at each other, willing their team mates on, confident they would get back into the game. All wanted the ball, all knew their jobs. That stemmed from not just having a good captain, but having more than one leader in the side. They trusted each other, trust that stemmed from leadership.

Today's Arsenal side do lack leadership. When the chips are down, there's none of the above. Players heads go down, players hide, players don't show for the ball, they don't believe. Despite being better technically than many of the teams they fail to get results against.

For me, that lack of leaders has to be a Wenger fault. I don't think he's bought players with leadership in mind, let alone captaincy since Vieira left in 2005.

It doesn't surprise me they've not won anything for nearly a decade without good leadership. I remember saying to an ex colleague of mine, an arsenal season ticket holder back in approx 2010 or 2011 that I thought Arsenal were a leader, a centre half, and a goalkeeper away from the league. That's still pretty close to the truth now IMO.

Edited March 28, 2014 by TheGayTent