Soldato
All of the Everton/Villa games this season have been fantastic. Even though it's 1-1-1 for the 3 games, it's great stuff for a neutral to watch. Simply insperable 
Football SPOILERS 11/12 April
- Thread starter DanH84
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Well he must have been here a lot this season then because we haven't done bad at all.
Anyway it's hardly worth coming here to discuss a loss as an everton fan because you would mostly be talking to yourself. The only time there's any real discussion and breaking down a performance is if your a Manu or Liverpool fan. A bit of Arsenal discussion sometimes as well.
I was happy with the draw, I would have taken the draw before the match. Cahill should get player of the year.
Soldato
It just annoys me when people only sing when they're winning. There's probably others that do it, just find certain people more noticeable than others.
I can't comment on today's performance, because I haven't seen any of it.
Same, Berbatov can go. he strolled around without a care in the world yesterday, less than a minute after being off his replacement scores.
I'd take Ramos and Higuain and a few million for Ronaldo myself. But if Cassillas would want to move, he'd be top of my list.
Saying that, Ronaldo came on and threw himself into several tackles covering for Neville at right-back which was great to see.
Thought Cahill was very quiet today, Osman and Pienaar ran the show for your lot, they were fantastic. Thought Everton deserved the win too, wasn't a penalty for me and you played the good football.
As a side note, how much does Ashley Young throw himself to the floor really? Is he just immune because he's English?
Soldato
I've also decided that Zamora is the worst footballer in history. He has no pace, can't control the ball, doesn't score..
Monkeys could do a better job than him.
Monkeys could do a better job than him.
Johnny Evans. Ferguson's fascination with playing terrible british players (*pokes Fletcher*) is getting rather irritating. It depresses me watching Johnny Evans play.
Soldato
He wasn't too bad earlier in the season. I can't really make any further comment on what you've said though, as I haven't seen a lot of United recently.
Maybe I should change that to worst striker then
Theres a huge difference between playing as 1/4 of a strong defensive unit and playing as one of four individuals.
Right now, for many reasons (not least injurys to the likes of Rio/Wes, a lack of midfield protection and general confidence) Johny Evans is having to do the latter.
And hes been found wanting.
But hes young and still learning. As the defense as a whole gets its form back, he will too.
Hopefully when he is older he will be good enough to stand out as part of a defensive mess but for now, he isn't.
Right now, for many reasons (not least injurys to the likes of Rio/Wes, a lack of midfield protection and general confidence) Johny Evans is having to do the latter.
And hes been found wanting.
But hes young and still learning. As the defense as a whole gets its form back, he will too.
Hopefully when he is older he will be good enough to stand out as part of a defensive mess but for now, he isn't.
Caporegime
You think Evans is the worst footballer in history :/
I'd like to see both Berbatov and Tevez go, both are pretty flawed players who aren't worth their asking price imo.
Caporegime
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TBH it seems any player the second they get an england call up get the "secret talk" from the other players and they come out a diving little scrote. I blame Sven, under his time at the helm the majority of the england players became cheating little rudewords. Young has started to do the same, though to be fair, and this goes for Ronaldo too, theres only so long you go getting hacked down and hurt before you end up avoiding the actual fouls and going down early to protect yourself. Young early this season was heavily heavily fouled, I forget the extact games but there was a 2-3 game period after his most prolific/influencial spell that every team just flat out tried to injure him, constantly in on his ankles from behind.
if you don't think you'd protect yourself by assuming someone was about to kick you in the ankle moving to stop yourself getting hurt, you're wrong, its fairly natural. But theres certainly an element of diving creeping into his game and its been this season, this year, and coincident or not, since his call up to the national squad? I remember Owen, Beckham, gerrard and the whole rest of our squad becoming diving girls when none of them really were before Sven's time in charge if you ask me.
But it was also a stone cold penalty, without question. People need to get the different reasoning for penalties straight. Stopping a direct chance on goal or last man back is a reason for a RED CARD WITH a penalty, not the penalty itself. a foul in the area is a penalty and its really that simple unless its a backpace and a few other very rare situations. It was indeed a foul in the box, it wasn't intentional or malicious hence no card, but it was a foul and thats why its a penalty.
Yes Zamora is crap, only slightly less crap than Onoura today who could have got in the way of at least 2 of the goals. One of them Dunne went across, Richards made a fantastic tackle and despite there being no one to Onoura's other side to mark he simply stopped and marked an area of the box that had no one in it, he could easily have moved over and covered the gap the shot went through, he just stopped.
Zamora's setup for the last goal aswell he only got that chance to pass and not screw it up because he was given so much time. if they'd pressured Zamora rather than back away I can guarentee his pass would have been terrible if not an easily won tackle.
City really could be very good but let down by 2-3 ridiculously poor players, Onoura who gets called great because he's english, Zabeleta, because when he's bad he may aswell wear the other sides shirt.
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Man of Honour
I would say also that diving as an act is a pre-emptive move in itself that players perform to help avoid injury*. If the softest "touch" is enough for a player to go down, then it has an effect on his protagonist.
*You also get tactical fouls and dives (e.g. outside the box and of course penalties) but not what I'm talking about here; it's a whole different can of worms.
*You also get tactical fouls and dives (e.g. outside the box and of course penalties) but not what I'm talking about here; it's a whole different can of worms.
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I agree with this, but I feel Berba should be given one more season. Tevez has had plenty of chances, I don't enjoy him and his "try his hardest but no progress" approach.
Soldato
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I dont want to take that chance with Berbatov, if he cant be bothered to put any effort in in his first season at the biggest club in the world, then his attitude clearly stinks and he should be booted.
Tevez on the other hand, may not be the greatest footballer in the world, but he scores as many as Berbatoss when he plays and at least defends from the front.
Caporegime
Berbatov's always struck me as a player that needs the ball to have an impact, without it he's just a £30 million passenger. Tevez might not be as skilful and creative on the ball but without it he offers the team so much more and doesn't have a negative impact on your attack.
Edit: Rafa's just made a good point on SSN. How many of the headed goals scored from corners and free kicks over the weekend were put down to man marking? Answer, none.
Edit: Rafa's just made a good point on SSN. How many of the headed goals scored from corners and free kicks over the weekend were put down to man marking? Answer, none.
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Caporegime
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Tevez circa 1600 minutes on the pitch, 3 goals, 2 assists, Berbatov around 2200 minutes on the pitch 8 goals, 9 assists. Can't be bothered to work it out exactly but Berbatov with what, about 50% more time on the pitch has almost 3 times as many goals and almost 5 times as many assists. Yup Tevez is a huge danger.
To complain about Berbatov being lazy when he's relatively speaking on terms to score the same amount Rooney, Tevez have ever scored a season with loads of assists is, frankly, ridiculous.
Berbatov is very good, he works off the ball off the camera but you don't see that. Tevez chases the ball like a stupid dog, he doesn't work for the team, he works against the team but seems very effective so people like him.
Berbatov is almost always free for a pass, he gets the ball he can hold it up, he's capable of a killer pass which Tevez isn't, can set up goals, is a classy finisher and makes runs into space, he just doesn't needlessly chase people down and foul them from behind.
for 50 years football has worked better with a striker who actually stays upfront, Rooney/Tevez drop soooo deep when it comes to counter attacks theres often no one to pass it forwards to then run up and support. If you also notice the more Tevez has been played recently, the worse you have been, while before that no one was complaining, you were plain sailing to the top of the league.
Managers have all gone nuts, Fergie had it sewn up, changed the team/formations around, started playing Rooney on the left, playing Tevez more and its gone to hell. O'Neill was plain sailling, playing 4-4-2, then he bought Heskey, decided 4-5-1 sounded great, and have lost a bunch on the trott. they've gotten something liek 11 points from 27 with 4-5-1, and 10 out of the last 12 points when they've played 4-4-2. Wenger we keep playing great footie under 4-4-2, winning easily, decimating small teams but he still keeps starting with 4-5-1 where we keep conceding first and playing crap football. Benitez, anytime its going good he has a go at other managers and smegs up the team.
Associate
That's not true. The period before Heskey was purchased was when Villa used the 4-5-1 and got all those wins away, with Agbon up front because Carew was injured. When Heskey was bought Villa reveted to their usual 4-4-2.
Soldato
I'd take Berbatov back at Spurs in a flash.... would £15m be ok?
Martin O'Neil has no one to blame but himself for Villa's slump. Any manager deserves what he gets paying for and then playing Heskey tbh, he really isn't very good at all.
Martin O'Neil has no one to blame but himself for Villa's slump. Any manager deserves what he gets paying for and then playing Heskey tbh, he really isn't very good at all.