The FA CUP Third Round ** Spoilers ** [6th - 9th January 2017]

I can't agree with McManaman saying Plymouth should have attacked more though, this is close to perfect for any lower league team IMO.
 
Very well defended by Plymouth but the lack of ability and composure on the ball when Coutinho isn't in the Liverpool team is shocking. Park the bus, get a point or more against Liverpool.
 
Well that was boring. You can really see the difference between kids and senior players in games like that. These youngsters have the ability but lack the game intelligence at times - our decision making today was as bad as I've ever seen.
 
BaZ87 said:
You can really see the difference between kids and senior players in games like that. These youngsters have the ability but lack the game intelligence at times - our decision making today was as bad as I've ever seen.
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Chelsea game was the same.
Loftus-Cheek, Aina, Chalobah & Batshuayi are all very talented but miles behind the first team regulars. People constantly bemoan the lack of opportunities youngsters get at major clubs but it's just too much of a gamble playing them in bigger games.
Of course that then creates the Catch 22...
 
omnomnom said:
Why does Rooney not get any respect mainly from United fans? All i ever hear is moaning when the lad has won everything domestically, is your leading goal scorer and is Englands. He isnt the player he was but what he has acheived should be recognised.

"Second rate sides" Behave.
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There are several reasons for this

1. The Commercial nature of football now means there is very little patience when players do not perform to their ability or the fans expectations especially at clubs like Manchester United with the ambition to win all four competitions (League / FA Cup / League Cup / Champions League).

Looking at this stats he hasnt scored 20 goals in all competitions for 5 years. Something a team where he is 'leading the line' and wants to win competitions he needs to return.

2. He upset many fans 4 or 5 seasons ago when he claimed the club lacked ambition and made noises that he wanted to leave. He received an improved deal making him one of the highest paid players in the league just when his performance levels started dropping.

3. He's been playing first team football for 15 years with around 40 appearances per season (and many of those will be 90 minutes). I would say 15 years is a good career in football and it was because he started so young that we now see what would happen to a player of 35 years happen to a player of 30 years.

I don't have a problem with him playing for Manchester United for the next 5 years but he should not be crow barred into the team and he should be there on merit not because of his history. His salary should also reflect that although i suspect that is wishful thinking
 
JohnnyG said:
Chelsea game was the same.
Loftus-Cheek, Aina, Chalobah & Batshuayi are all very talented but miles behind the first team regulars. People constantly bemoan the lack of opportunities youngsters get at major clubs but it's just too much of a gamble playing them in bigger games.
Of course that then creates the Catch 22...
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Exactly why I always thought prem teams should be able to field a U23/U21 side in the Championship for example with the idea of developing English talent
on the previso that they cant be promoted

(can see the downsides to this also)

The way the system is at the moment its virtually impossible to bring young players through
 
Cold Fusion said:
There are several reasons for this

1. The Commercial nature of football now means there is very little patience when players do not perform to their ability or the fans expectations especially at clubs like Manchester United with the ambition to win all four competitions (League / FA Cup / League Cup / Champions League).

Looking at this stats he hasnt scored 20 goals in all competitions for 5 years. Something a team where he is 'leading the line' and wants to win competitions he needs to return.

2. He upset many fans 4 or 5 seasons ago when he claimed the club lacked ambition and made noises that he wanted to leave. He received an improved deal making him one of the highest paid players in the league just when his performance levels started dropping.

3. He's been playing first team football for 15 years with around 40 appearances per season (and many of those will be 90 minutes). I would say 15 years is a good career in football and it was because he started so young that we now see what would happen to a player of 35 years happen to a player of 30 years.

I don't have a problem with him playing for Manchester United for the next 5 years but he should not be crow barred into the team and he should be there on merit not because of his history. His salary should also reflect that although i suspect that is wishful thinking
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Commercial nature has no connection to fans expectations of a player. How much money there is in football doesn't change the basic situation which is fans like players who are top notch and dislike those who aren't.

In terms of things like scoring most for Utd and England, this is a longevity thing, not based purely on talent, hard work or anything else. If the best player ever plays for 3 years, it's still likely a meh player who starts every game for 15 years will trash his scoring record. 'Endurance' records are meaningless. Most doesn't equal best or even particularly good.

Rooney has a completely unspectacular scoring record for Utd. Out of 12 years or whatever, only something like 3 were above 15 in the league. This is a striker playing for Utd. There are more and better chances being created, any striker scores more for a top 4 team than a bottom 4 team. If Rooney had played his entire career at Everton he'd probably have 30-50% less goals. Almost any other genuinely top striker would have been banging in 20+ goals in the league consistently for Utd.

IMO he looked to have huge potential as a kid, got a lot of media attention, Utd decided to bet big on him, England did, the FA/Utd put a lot of marketing money into him but he never ever made that step up from potential to genuinely world class striker. He was an average striker at a top club which enabled him to score more than if he were at a midtable club. If he wasn't English and the FA/UTd hadn't put so much into marketing him, Utd would have sold him by 25 and moved on to someone else.

As for age, the age and 'he played from young' thing is such horse crap.

If you're first team you train less in/around game days, if you don't start you train more. It doesn't matter if you literally never start a game till you're 35 or if you start every game, more physical work by a large margin is done away from the pitch than on it. Rooney hasn't somehow worked massively harder than every other player in the world, and many players started playing first team around the same age he did.

He's not playing like a normal 35 year old professional footballer at all. A 35yr old doesn't lose as much pace and stamina as I've seen from him, in fact I've seen a handful of 35 year old players drop off as dramatically as Rooney has. Rooney is just playing like a 30year old slightly out of shape player who never took care of himself at all. He carried a fair amount more weight than he should have throughout his entire career. It was 4 or even 5 years ago now that he ended up being sent to a fat camp to get fit in America after the season started... again that had nothing to do with his age or his body being tired, just his attitude towards fitness.
 
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FrankJH said:
Exactly why I always thought prem teams should be able to field a U23/U21 side in the Championship for example with the idea of developing English talent
on the previso that they cant be promoted

(can see the downsides to this also)

The way the system is at the moment its virtually impossible to bring young players through
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No chance other teams in the English league are going to make way for that, why would they? You can bring players through, you send them on loan to Bristol City, Leeds, Rochdale..whatever team until they are good enough. It's tough luck that the teams in the prem can't have it all there way..
 
drunkenmaster said:
He's not playing like a normal 35 year old professional footballer at all. A 35yr old doesn't lose as much pace and stamina as I've seen from him, in fact I've seen a handful of 35 year old players drop off as dramatically as Rooney has. Rooney is just playing like a 30year old slightly out of shape player who never took care of himself at all. He carried a fair amount more weight than he should have throughout his entire career. It was 4 or even 5 years ago now that he ended up being sent to a fat camp to get fit in America after the season started... again that had nothing to do with his age or his body being tired, just his attitude towards fitness.
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It's funny how people don't have the same bitter view about George Best as they do about Rooney though
 
Trusty said:
No chance other teams in the English league are going to make way for that, why would they? You can bring players through, you send them on loan to Bristol City, Leeds, Rochdale..whatever team until they are good enough. It's tough luck that the teams in the prem can't have it all there way..
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The problem is a lot of these times you send players to bad teams where they're going to get football, but that's not always good when you're playing for a crap team, and at the good clubs that are vying for promotion etc they don't get played.

Middlesbrough were very guilty of using loan players as backup when they needed game time.
 
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