The FA CUP Third Round ** Spoilers ** [5th - 8th January 2018] + Replays

XeNoN89 said:
I seriously doubt Firmino said anything racist.

Aren't Brazilians known for being extremely unracist as the majority of them are various mixes of lots of races?

I suspect he either said something in Portuguese that Holgate misinterpreted or he's claiming racism to get him into trouble
Click to expand...

I never know why people think saying something racist has to be done by someone who is racist. Ultimately people in general when they want to wind someone up pick the most obvious thing to wind them up with. The ginger kid in school didn't get called racist words for black people.... the fat kid gets mocked for being fat because that is what people think will hurt him the most... the black kid gets called a racist word because it's the most obvious feature that they think will get the biggest reaction.

I'm also not sure why the big effort to try to read his lips, there is not an immediate reaction to the word puta, then 1-2 seconds goes by where Firmino is blocked from the camera at the same time the ref looks away, after this Holgate reacts very strongly. Watching video I think anyone would have to assume if he said anything it would have happened in that 1-2 seconds you simply can't see in the time right before he actually reacts, so the words before mean nothing.

Also you don't have to say something out loud to be 'heard' by someone else. It's pretty classic behaviour, two people fighting, parent breaks them up, when parent isn't looking you say mouth "**** head" to your brother or whoever it is to wind them up.

IF he did or Holgate misheard/misread what he was communicating or if he was just trying to con the ref, no clue, there are usually plenty of cctv cameras that pick up things players do that don't get broadcast so maybe the FA will find a better camera angle, maybe they won't.


robfosters said:
Quite right. He'd lost the players, the fans and finally, the board. A lot of sackings are too hasty, but not this one.

Who's next at Stoke from the merry go round then? I'm gonna have a stab at Ronald Koeman.

I haven't got a lot of time for Stoke fans though as when I was up there to watch Arsenal, they were seriously abusive, much more than I would consider acceptable. I'm sure one even kicked the back of my car as I moved off.
Click to expand...

I'm not as sure he lost the players as the team just got really stale. I say it when talking about Mourinho and managers in general, most managers can't create a defence, offence, are brilliant coaches and brilliant at dealings in the transfer market, they are usually 1 or 2, maybe even 3 of these things. You bring in Hughes to make the offence of a Pulis team better, but after a few years the defence was way worse, buying wasn't going well and in general the team just isn't very good. Most managers only stay for 2-3 years for a reason, they improve one or two aspects at the club but worsen another 1 or 2 aspects maybe being neutral on another. So a (more than Pulis) offensive manager comes in and builds on the defence and Stoke immediately improved, but after a couple years the defensive and squad regression becomes a bigger problem than the other improvements Hughes made.

THe thing is I think 49/50 managers are these types, they aren't complete and can't improve everyone and everything at the club, most managers are gone before a 3 year contract is up for a reason. If you buy a 'defensive' manager when the offence needs fixing it will fall apart even quicker, if you buy a offensive manager when the defence is the problem, that will go to crap quickly.

Martinez at Everton, massive improvement but overall regression after a few years. The thing is most clubs get this, with Stoke there was no indication and no reason at all to keep Hughes after 3 years. He'd done well but they were getting stale, he had nothing else to give, bring in another manager to improve what needs improving most (I think squad at that stage). I think that 49/50 managers can look potentially great for 1-2 years, average after 2-3 years but most will look terrible after 4-5 years.

The stand out managers are the likes of Poch, who really improved every aspect of Spurs since joining, defence, offence, coaching, ... buying better is debatable I guess but at least he makes up for maybe not the best buys with the best coaching so even not awe inspiring buys are becoming decent enough players.

LIke I said though, it was clear as day that Stoke's progression was staled completely during his third year, they could only go backwards from there, mental not to replace a manager at that point.
 
Hey at least you were knocked out by a team that are full time this run and didn't spend the night before down the pub. I did have to check if Newport were in the football league though. The Risdale years must seem so long ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom