Football Thread 2018/19

[feltmonkey]

That's ridiculous. What are they thinking?

[SeanR]

"EXACTLY!"

[Fry Crayola]

Does that deal encompass everything from the away support - ticket sales, food, merchandise, etc?

[Plissken]

I think it is the iFollow subscription money only. Not sure how it works but I think if I buy access to watch my team at Plymouth that money goes to my team and not Plymouth.

 

Which makes sort of logical sense. But this breaks the blackout rule and directly affects home attendance. The whole point of TV money is to compensate the home club for less supporters through the turnstiles.

[neoELITE]

1 hour ago, Plissken said:

I think it is the iFollow subscription money only. Not sure how it works but I think if I buy access to watch my team at Plymouth that money goes to my team and not Plymouth.

 

Which makes sort of logical sense. But this breaks the blackout rule and directly affects home attendance. The whole point of TV money is to compensate the home club for less supporters through the turnstiles.

 

It's the revenue from travelling fans. It hasn't been confirmed anywhere that I can find other than the tweet.

[Loik V credern]

Well I missed it either way. Who finds a stream for an England game, really? I thought that it was always the way England competitive games had to be available to all, as events in the 'national interest'.

 

I love how other countries media reacts to the English teams whenever we beat a foreign side, whether that be in the Champions League or last night. So eloquent and dramatic. And sweet to read about players who this season and earlier have been criticised here.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/16/spanish-press-reaction-lord-harry-kane-spain-england-football

 

Quote

“We hadn’t cocked it up like this against England since the 16th century,” wrote Jorge Bustos in El Mundo. “And the Guadalquivir looked easier to navigate than the channel. The elements that made us run aground, leaving a shipwreck, have a name: Nacho Fernández, Marcos Alonso, Saúl, Sergio Ramos, etc. What use is it for Spain to have more talent than England man for man if England are faster and think quicker? Does this load of passes still fool anyone? This was a disaster just like it was with Lopetegui. They had left their courage on the bus with the phone charger and their shame.”

 

Quote

“Nihilist tiki-taka returned,”

 

Quote

“Sterling spent the first half flying round inside a rocket and finished in front of De Gea as if he was a striker collecting an award at the Fifa gala,” Marca said. AS called him and Rashford “hares”, so fast as to be unstoppable. Between them, Kane gave a “lesson” AS said, Joaquín Maroto saying he “ate” Ramos and Nacho. “He wore a bowler hat and a suit in an impeccable first half: a classic striker who is good at absolutely everything,” wrote Luis Nieto. In Marca they were equally impressed: “Time was the typical English striker made it feel like every high ball was a trip to the ironmongers. Not any more. Kane is a ‘Lord’, so intelligent, a man who knows football outside the area too.”

 

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In El País, Diego Torres was wondering why Kane isn’t more highly rated, saying that Real Madrid had not been interested in signing him in the summer. “Maybe it’s the eyes, the sad face, but here’s a silent genius,” he wrote. One who was in his element: “It rained on Sevilla the way it’s supposed to rain on Chingford. He doesn’t appear on the highlights reel, but did it all to bring Spain to their knees without anyone really understanding how.”

 

[Plissken]

Nihilist tiki-taka is a bloody great name for a thrash metal band.

[Fry Crayola]

Fuck you Lebowski, we pass the ball for NOTHING!

[Pants McSkill]

1 hour ago, Loik V credern said:

They had left their courage on the bus with the phone charger and their shame.

 

That's brilliant.

[Silent Runner]

Harry Arter just gave away an embarrassing free kick where he somehow slid over the ball and missed it completely and cleaned out the Welsh player. Needless to say Wales scored from the free.  

[neoELITE]

He won the ball 

 

 

[the_debaser]

15 minutes ago, Silent Runner said:

Harry Arter just gave away an embarrassing free kick where he somehow slid over the ball and missed it completely and cleaned out the Welsh player. Needless to say Wales scored from the free.  

 

Wouldn’t mind but the welsh fans are some of the most insufferable in world football these days. 

[Plissken]

Ramos.  Fuck him.

 

 

[Fry Crayola]

Utter rubbish.

[Silent Runner]

24 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

Utter rubbish.

 

Yep. A marginal improvement on Saturday. At least we created half chances tonight - Hendrick and McClean in the second half. But otherwise we were trash. 

[kensei]

Players are all Championship level though, and many are out of form. Gravity wins eventually. Can't see a new manager turning it around. Maybe we'd get a temporary boost, but the Euros look very far away. 

[Fry Crayola]

Wales had players of the same level, let's not continue to make excuses.

[Tourist]

How does Ramos get away with it? Why is nothing ever done?

 

Ireland are shite. Shame!

[the_debaser]

Back to back wins by Gibraltar. Fair play. 

[deerokus]

Dundee sacked that snivelling bitter wee fuckwit Neil McCann. Sadly that means he will be back on sky soon. 

[kensei]

10 hours ago, Fry Crayola said:

Wales had players of the same level, let's not continue to make excuses.

 

More Premiership players, more players only loaned to the Championship from Premiership, generally younger team, in better form and more confident. The under 21s don't look great either, though the teams below are doing okay. Ita not an excuse, it's a hard fact. 

 

People can point to Michael O'Neill managing NI, but their results have taken a fairly big dip lately too. There's only so long you can overachieve.

 

Just don't know what we do about it.

[Fry Crayola]

Ireland's squad had more players at Premiership clubs. Two of Wales's were goalkeepers. Ireland started twice as many current Premier League players - six to Wales' three. On the face of it this was two teams of a similar level so any argument that Ireland are a team of Championship players - which might fly when they play against players of the calibre of Christen Eriksen, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, all streets ahead of any Irish player - falls short when they're up against what they faced last night, a mix of talented youngsters and second tier pros that nonetheless posed little threat until Ireland needed to chase the game. And that's before entertaining the idea that players in the English second tier are only capable of kick and rush. It's only a year since Ireland were passed off the park by fucking Georgia.

 

I don't just point to O'Neill, though is tactics are negative and uninspiring and he's the among the first to continually mention how technically limited everyone is. He's part of the problem that runs through the Irish setup - champion the heart and desire of the players, channel some sort of inate Irish spirit, and see where it carries you while hoping that somewhere, somehow, another golden generation arrives.

[Gotters]

He’s still a shithouse of the highest order, but this alternative angle shows the ‘stamp’ in a different light.

 

 

I love how Eric Dier’s tackle on him will be the crowning moment of his career, he’ll never top it, even as an Arsenal fan I love it.

[The Fox]

Well that's the case closed ladies and gents, turns out Sergio Ramos is still a massive legend.

[kensei]

2 hours ago, Fry Crayola said:

Ireland's squad had more players at Premiership clubs. Two of Wales's were goalkeepers. Ireland started twice as many current Premier League players - six to Wales' three. On the face of it this was two teams of a similar level so any argument that Ireland are a team of Championship players - which might fly when they play against players of the calibre of Christen Eriksen, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey, all streets ahead of any Irish player - falls short when they're up against what they faced last night, a mix of talented youngsters and second tier pros that nonetheless posed little threat until Ireland needed to chase the game. And that's before entertaining the idea that players in the English second tier are only capable of kick and rush. It's only a year since Ireland were passed off the park by fucking Georgia.

 

I don't just point to O'Neill, though is tactics are negative and uninspiring and he's the among the first to continually mention how technically limited everyone is. He's part of the problem that runs through the Irish setup - champion the heart and desire of the players, channel some sort of inate Irish spirit, and see where it carries you while hoping that somewhere, somehow, another golden generation arrives.

 

Not saying Championship players aren't capable of passing football, merely most of the ones we have aren't. I'm. Still haunted by that time Steven Ward tried an ambitious cross field pass against Croatia in Euro 2012, which was intercepted and kicked off our hammering. Generally when we try to play too much football we find other teams are much better at it. 

 

But you can look at the Trappatoni era and the football was dire to watch, but we still had more of a goal scoring edge. And if you look at the team sheet, the players were better, younger or both. We've had flashes of decent football under O'Neill but the post Euro 2016 sense of a renewal has just been strangled. 

 

I'm totally depressed over it. Who do you reckon could do a better job that we could realistically get? 

[Pants McSkill]

2 hours ago, Gotters said:

He’s still a shithouse of the highest order, but this alternative angle shows the ‘stamp’ in a different light.

 

 

 

 

Er, both player's feet are off screen when he comes in. I've literally no idea if this is supposed to damn him or acquit him.

[Adrock]

Sterling would recoil as a natural reaction if Ramos had stamped on him. Sterling is already holding his shin before Ramos is near him.

[Fry Crayola]

51 minutes ago, kensei said:

 

Not saying Championship players aren't capable of passing football, merely most of the ones we have aren't. I'm. Still haunted by that time Steven Ward tried an ambitious cross field pass against Croatia in Euro 2012, which was intercepted and kicked off our hammering. Generally when we try to play too much football we find other teams are much better at it.

 

This strikes me as a self-fulfilling prophesy. We're no good at playing with the ball on the ground so there's no point in trying to get better at it. 

 

Quote

But you can look at the Trappatoni era and the football was dire to watch, but we still had more of a goal scoring edge. And if you look at the team sheet, the players were better, younger or both. We've had flashes of decent football under O'Neill but the post Euro 2016 sense of a renewal has just been strangled. 

 

I'm totally depressed over it. Who do you reckon could do a better job that we could realistically get? 

 

They definitely had better players in Trap's reign, and they were underused and on occasion outright ignored in favour of his defensive and rigid play. There was more of a scoring edge when you compare the Robbie Keane era to now, but the two managers have almost identical records in that respect.

 

I think the country needs to accept that long ball football isn't sustainable, it's detrimental to the technical development of the players. Who brings that in the role of the head coach isn't massively important though it won't be O'Neill or Keane, and change is needed elsewhere to improve the situation in the domestic league. I've said before I'd like to see Stephen Kenny given a chance after Dundalk's impressive European performances, they were far more entertaining to watch in games with greater disparity between opponents than recent Ireland displays.

 

If Ireland have a technically deficient side, a commitment to keeping the ball on the ground and playing smart might not qualify for tournaments, but the long ball game isn't either. I'd rather see fallow campaigns of transition than an approach which can only bring forth results if the next generation emerges spontaneously.

[feltmonkey]

I don't think it's correct to say that Ireland had similar level players to Wales the other night.  Ireland may have had more Premiership players, but they're terrible Premiership players.  There are a lot of cloggers in that team with no ability on the ball.  When Jeff Hendrick is your best technical player and great creative hope you're in trouble.  Wales have a decent crop of exciting upcoming young players, skillful footballers rather than guys who know how to foul a lot and get away with it.  Wales as a team also just have a better approach to the game - braver, more attacking, more geared towards passing the ball rather than hoofing it forward.  I'm sorry, Ireland fans, and I don't want to kick you when you're down, but I know which team I'd rather watch.

[Plissken]

One of the more knowledgeable members of another forum I'm on mentioned the involvement of Denis O'Brien.  Apparently he is the one funding the multi-millions given to O'Neill, Keane, Trappatoni et al.  The problem is that the money is attractive to an over-the-hill manager and O'Brien wants a big name for his cash, so that is how Ireland keep ending up with, frankly, yesterdays men.

 

The FAI are legendary in their incompetence, mind.  John Delaney getting paid more than the winners of the League of Ireland is a scandal.