Caporegime
Why has Riise got a Badger on his head? 
Edit: And why is Penfold managing him?
Edit: And why is Penfold managing him?
Last edited:
Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [29th March - 2nd April 2014]
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
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Soldato
'We'll see next week', how did that work out?
Well we saw, didn't we?
In all fairness I didn't think we would get anything out of the game, maybe a draw if lucky, but with that performance I have nothing to say.
I'm not really going to praise pool either. We were so poor, Hereford Utd could have beaten us.
Good luck with the whole title thing you have going.
Soldato
What's funny? He did, didn't he?
Yeah, that's why I can just see Spain coming calling even though neither side really needs him. He's just too good for them too pass up. Keeping him will have won you the league and Arsenal not coughing up lost them it.
There's only Messi and Ronaldo that would shade him right now for me.
Caporegime
Why can't we have a vote as to whether Lawrenson should be executed on live TV or not? 
He makes AIDS seem bearable to live with.
He makes AIDS seem bearable to live with.
Soldato
We're just an embarrassment now. Not going to bother with them for rest of season. We have no pride and our team spirit is non existent.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 33,188
Yes and no, you have to remember that firstly he built most of his form off new in form players and struggled(at every club he's managed) trying to get form out of players longer term when he isn't spending. Likely he got fired more for his attitude than performance, the England job, he was clearly willing to chuck the Spurs job in at the drop of a hat and likely told Levy that he was just waiting for the phone call.
I also think he likely had no long term plan to crack top 4, IE did his plan consist of selling 5 and buying 10 players every year?
I'm all for fans wanting to talk up their players but are you having a laugh. Dawson sets up a back pass, Suarez already on the move. You find that 8/10 times the defender struggles to get around to the ball when they start off chasing the player. Kaboul is also rubbish and two defenders closing... is that supposed to include Dawson because if so.... LOLOLOLOL. Yeah, if he ran in the box and took a 5 minute nap Dawson may have caught up.
He got a ball in behind, ran on to it and slotted it in, that is as complex as it was. it was well taken but pretty simple and we see strikers score such goals all the time.
In terms of Spurs/Sherwood situation...
Kaboul was always for some reason highly rated by Spurs fans, never saw it. Huge and powerful, constantly injured and mistake prone. Same as I never saw anything at all in Dawson despite them loving him too(at times). King was at least better than those two, but still massively over hyped. For every brilliant game he had meh ones.
Spurs need one quality central midfielder, for me Sandro nor Paulinho are it, not even close to it. They need 4 fullbacks, 2 CB's, a DM or just a CM who is strong defensively and another striker. Soldado has shown a nice touch but he's someone who very much needs the right midfield behind him, the right delivery and the right kind of interplay.
I think people are getting WAY too in to judging managers. Sherwood is ultimately a care taker, he didn't have 3 transfer windows, nor 100+ million, he has had no choice in players and is very much trying to take care of someone else's team. The poor choice in transfers(I don't think all the players were poor buys, just wrong in combination and for this particular team at this time) isn't his fault. The season was and is over, AVB isn't the right guy, nothing in anything he did in England said to me he was remotely capable. As such this season is, regardless of what other people may want to be true, over, and has been for 4+ months.
Blooding Bentaleb who is young and put in some great performances, could end up being important in terms of him becoming a potentially great player in the next couple of years. They've got little to lose doing it. Defensively injuries/lack of talent preclude them doing well. Not sure exactly what people were expecting. Part of the reason AVB was fired was the team he put together wasn't good enough, so why is Sherwood being judged in the same way when he's still got that squad that isn't good enough?
He certainly hasn't made them worse, he's won 9 in 16 compared to AVB's 8 in 16. But as above AVB built that team, not Sherwood. Also compare who they've beaten.
AVB wins
Palace, Swansea, Norwich, Cardiff, Villa, Hull, Fulham, Sunderland.
Sherwood wins
Southampton, Stoke, Utd, Palace, Swansea, Everton, Newcastle, Cardiff, Southampton again.
AVB's record against the top half was disgraceful, nothing short of it. His wins were purely bottom half and mostly the very worst. Sherwood has managed 6 wins against the top half. I don't know if he's a good manager or not, but mentality wise he's certainly got them beating significantly higher quality opposition.
Nonsense. Once he's challenged Kaboul he's facing the sideline. To win the ball from Kaboul, drag it from behind him, turn and run on goal from a near stationary position, while Dawson's chasing him from a running start was something I can't see another player doing. His combination of body strength, agility and technical ability is something unrivaled in the Premier League.
Any other player in that position either knocks the ball across Dawson and runs towards the corner or gets chased down.
Soldato
i agree with this mostly. sandro is decent at what he does. he'll chase down and play simple distribution. point is, we needed this in today's game and he should've started instead of sig.
back 4 yep ship them all out. dawson is past it, kaboul out of contract, vert wants out; cash in. naughton and rose are thick. chiriches is to return and we could recall BAE.
we need a leader. i would build a front attack around eriksen as he has real promise. if we could get a deep lying midfielder who can lead, keep the cogs turning and play a killer pass, we're onto something.
keeping lloris is a must. we've shipped a lot of goals but would ship a lot more without him. i'm up for giving soldado another shot next season if we can get the right service to him but i'd rather we were faster upfront. manu is decent but he hasn't got blinding pace.
i'm also hopeful of llamela showing just why we paid so a high fee for him. with the right manager, leadership and organisation we can be competitive but we need a lot of work.
Why, at what figure where we selling to Arsenal 0.o?
Soldato
Didn't John Henry say he wasn't selling to Arsenal at any price last summer? Arsenal never had a chance of getting especially with the silly £40million + 1 pound offers.
Well we had no obligation to, so I don't see any situation we strengthen a team we are looking to replace.
From what I understand about the situation, there was a genuine 40 million release clause in the contract - if Liverpool had honored the contract terms then Saurez should have been allowed to go. However Henry decided to make a stand (and fair play to him) - he believed that since players rarely honored their contract and tried to force the situation, he was willing to take a stand and risk legal dispute. It was a bold move, I imagine if the full details of the contract had been known or if there was enough desire from the player to join Arsenal then the situation could have been forced through - I image it was the latter that was lacking.
Going from memory wasn't it said if they increased the offer in excess of 50m?
"If Arsenal want the player then they have to produce the value for the player," Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.
“There was an offer a few weeks ago of £35million and two weeks later it is now £40m and £1. I don’t think it is anywhere near the value of what he is worth.
“It is two-fold really. A player may want to go, but then somebody has to pay the value or worth of that player.”
That to me says if they had gone up a decent amount they could have got him.
One of the problems that we have absolutely not coped with this season is integrating a whole set of new signings. Setting up for next season with a new back 4 will be a repeat performance.
Dawson, Kaboul and Vertonghen look absolutely awful at the moment; they look just like they did under 'Arry. They looked immeasurably better when AVB gave them some protection and outlet passes last season (the higher line this season was stupid).
One of the few positives from AVB's reign was his formation with two deep midfielders protecting our two CBs and providing an easy pass for them. Vert, Dawson and Kaboul were looking solid and getting praise for their performances then.
Sherwood's system relies on Bebtaleb providing cover and being available for an easy pass from defence. Too often, however, Bebtaleb is circumnavigated and opposition attack gets a free run at our defence (every defence in the country looks pants when that happens).
I am adamant that the players are not inherently bad. They may not be world class but they are good enough for 4th, if they play at 80-100% of their full potential. That needs a manager who is tactically astute, understands his players and focuses on getting them moving a LOT more off the ball. No more flying wingers crossing hopefully to Soldado and no more "the only forward pass available is over 20 yards away".
Soldato
Been saying this for donkey months. If we offered around 50 he would be ours
Well the pfa looked at the contract and decided there was no release clause at all so I don't see how there is one.
Still don't think he goes for that danny, said the moment the rumour came out it wasn't happening, Henry seemed to make that clear after when discussing it and losing Torres, he could've been lying mind.