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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The Football Thread 2013
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
Beckham may be overpaid, but he is apparently giving it all to charity.
Bloody amazing! What a selfless thing to do.
Not really. He'll still make more money from advertising and commercial opportunities than he would ever have made from the club. Him and Posh aren't going to be on beans on toast just yet.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
How about Marmite on toast? I really enjoy that - it is a guilty pleasure once or twice a week given our new Atkins diet. This low-carb deal had Z losing 4 pounds (not £) last week! Dunno how well I am doing until I see the doctor tomorrow for an industrial injury: sliced up my left hand doing a stupid stunt imitation of Friedel at work. I ran across a vinyl floor and stopped myself having a concussion with my left (writing) hand. Good job I am ambidextrous, but I have to pay cash for everything for a while because my signature is not true when written with the right! My rentacar (thanks to a side-swiping incident with a landscaping truck after early Mass Thursday) has an auto-box. At least the 1.4 L engine is turbocharged and keeps up with traffic well!
Q\Whither Spurs? Is anyone still taking odds that we could finish in third?
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Extra style points for the new thread title, Ariston. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
Sometimes, even I have to face the truth.
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
And while we're on the subject of football-related hate.
Liverpool!!!! Hahahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaahahahaha!
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
Who they got in the Cup? Oh, nobody.... ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
So, the new (English) season kicks off this weekend. Anyone have any predictions - serious or flippant?
Premiership
Champs League: Man Utd, Chelsea, Tottenham
Relegated: Swansea, Wigan, Southampton
So, you think QPR shall not be relegated? Methinks differently!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Why? They're seven points behind safety and still rampantly inconsistent. 'Arry's not working his magic so far.
And in Europe: Is there any way that United can halt the white tide they'll encounter tonight? (For the record, I really really hope they get completely battered.)
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
The Scum's best hope is for someone not so gifted, like Chris Smalling, to clatter Cristiano Ronaldo so he has to go of; that would be worth a red card as they have a better chance playing c 75 minutes a man short than 11 v 11, including Ronaldo.
That gives them a chance of a 0-0. Otherwise I expect them to lose, but not as heavily as they wish them to.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
As it turns out, they relied on De Gea playing a blinder. Some absolutely quality saves that kept United in it time and time again.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
As it turns out, they relied on De Gea playing a blinder. Some absolutely quality saves that kept United in it time and time again.
They were helped by Ronaldo not being as deadly as usual. RVP wasn't special either, but IIRC he fell away a bit in the second half of last season too.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Our claim to fame: my Spurs also got a draw with Man U. God willing, we also did well today: I have not watched the match yet but I have recorded it in DVR...
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
As it turns out, they relied on De Gea playing a blinder. Some absolutely quality saves that kept United in it time and time again.
He was almost as good as Foster was for West Brom against Liverpool on Monday
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Another round of Champions' League games today and tomorrow. Do Arsenal have any chance whatsoever against Bayern?
(No.)
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
My heart says "no" to Arsenal.
But, but...
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
My heart says "no" to Arsenal.
But, but...
But looking at the bookies odds - which are better predictors of results than expert opinions (and there fore much better than my non-expert ones) you can get 3:1 from some bookies for Arsenal to win. At home. That's the same as they are offering for Peterborough away to Millwall (where I will be in a couple of hours DV ![[Biased]](wink.gif) )
Not very encouraging for Arsenal at all!
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Sorry, but while my head says "no", my heart says "hahahahahahaaaaahahahaha"!
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
My heart says "no" to Arsenal.
But, but...
But looking at the bookies odds - which are better predictors of results than expert opinions (and there fore much better than my non-expert ones) you can get 3:1 from some bookies for Arsenal to win. At home. That's the same as they are offering for Peterborough away to Millwall (where I will be in a couple of hours DV )
Not very encouraging for Arsenal at all!
Posh may, as a rule, be rubbish, but they have managed a few shock results (OK, any kind of result for them is a shock) but on occasions, as you have said, Millwall's useless, ugly twin takes the field and Kenny Jackett (Millwall's manager) does a passable imitation of Chris Coleman; the mood and bitterness anyway.
3/1 is about right for both fixtures. I wouldn't take a Millwall + Bayern double though.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
The Arseholes lost, did they not? I expect my Spurs to finish in third place, God willing!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Monkeyboy did alright for you tonight, Sir K.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Mark Betts
Ship's Navigation Light
# 17074
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Posted
Priceless - the expression on David Moyes' face after Holt (Norwich) shot in a second (winning) goal twenty seconds after extra time should have finished - in what will be known as "Delia time!"
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"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Posts: 2080 | From: Leicester | Registered: Apr 2012
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Mark Betts
Ship's Navigation Light
# 17074
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
So, the new (English) season kicks off this weekend. Anyone have any predictions - serious or flippant?
Here's my (belated) prediction - yes, I know it's a bit late in the season now.
Premiership
Champs League: Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City
Relegated: QPR, Reading, Aston Villa
It has been interesting to see if QPR could turn it around under Harry Redknapp, but I think it's a bit late in the season for this year, now.
Championship
Promotion:
Cardiff and Hull
Playoffs:
I predict (as I would have at the beginning of the season) that Leicester will make the playoffs this year, but won't win promotion. I predict that Crystal Palace will win the playoffs and be the third team which goes up.
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"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Posts: 2080 | From: Leicester | Registered: Apr 2012
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
No no no! This is Delia Time!!
And as for your predictions, I'd take issue with Chelsea in second. The 'manager' has completely lost the dressing room, he's demonstrating just how terrible he is at his job, the players have no passion, and we've got awful fixture congestion brought on by cup replays and the Europa. We're on for fifth place, I fear.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Og: Thread Killer
Ship's token CN Mennonite
# 3200
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Posted
In other news, the best player to ever play on our local team, Torsten Frings, retired today due to a hip injury. He made one scintillating pass last year against LA in front of 50K that I will always remember him for.
And our season starts this weekend without a recognized striker or winger.
For those wondering why MLS does not play at the same time as the rest of the world, I would refer you to the 20 cm of snow falling tonight here in Toronto. At least 5 franchises would have significant issues playing matches from late November until late March.
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I wish I was seeking justice loving mercy and walking humbly but... "Cease to lament for that thou canst not help, And study help for that which thou lament'st."
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
And they trade that for 95 degrees plus humidity in DC in the summer. I know which I'd rather.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
And as for your predictions, I'd take issue with Chelsea in second. The 'manager' has completely lost the dressing room, he's demonstrating just how terrible he is at his job, the players have no passion, and we've got awful fixture congestion brought on by cup replays and the Europa. We're on for fifth place, I fear.
Yep. My guess is we'll know who joins the two Manc sides at the top after the Arsenal/Spurs match. Both of them likely to finish higher than Chelsea, and just possibly catch City. ManUre too far ahead for any likely rival.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Betts:
Championship
Promotion:
Cardiff and Hull
Playoffs:
I predict (as I would have at the beginning of the season) that Leicester will make the playoffs this year, but won't win promotion. I predict that Crystal Palace will win the playoffs and be the third team which goes up.
![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif) Cardiff, clearly. But Hull are no better than Watford, and Leicester better than either. I'm not sure Palace have the oomph they need to get back to the top two. If I had to bet on second place I think I'd go for Leicester at the moment, and then maybe Watford.
As for playoffs, there are still loads of teams who might be there. Its wide open.
There are only 10 points between 6th place and 16th. If any of the 3rd-6th placed teams hits a bad patch they will drop out - maybe not Hull who are ten points up, but the other three easily. And Boro & Forest & Leeds (6 points outside but a game in hand) only need to win one extra game to replace them.. A good run of three wins in a row could put Bolton or Blackburn or Millwall (8 points behind Brighton but also a game in hand) in the frame as well. And Derby, Burnley, and Charlton have an outside chance.
Sames true of the bottom of that league as well. Barnsley and Ipswich are nowhere near safe yet, and Wednesday, Huddersfield (look at their goal difference!) and even Blackpool or Birmingham could easily drop back into danger.
And Charlton, Millwall, Burnley, and Derby are still capable of going into either the relegation OR the promotion zones. Which is weird at this stage in a season. .
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
ken is (quite reasonably) motivated by his dislike of Crystal Palace. As for the state of the Championship it always seems to be like this and the scramble of the 3rd-6th places is always frantic.
At the moment the Soth Wales Police are on their knees praying that Cardiff don't get promoted. They might be lucky, Cardiff have thrown away a few chances before.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
I'm of the "the ghost goal should never have stood and who knows what would have happened if it didn't" school of thought.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Rosa Winkel:
I didn't think that people really believed that.
Oh come on, the ball was quite clearly not across the line. That's obvious! I'm not saying Chelsea would have gone on to win that game, and I'm certainly not saying they'd've won the competition. I'm just saying you don't know what would have happened.
As for who is to blame, well, that's complicated. My feelings towards Roman are nuanced - obviously we wouldn't have achieved as much success without his money. Hell, we could even have been in administration if Bates had been left to run his destructive course. But his brand of management does leave something to be desired and the fact of the matter is that he treats the club like his personal Subbuteo set. But the board need to take a long, hard look at themselves too. Gourlay's "global brand" is alienating the local support (although some worldwide presence is inevitable for financial reasons), Emenalo couldn't find his arse with both hands (putting it politely), and it's never been clear to me what Buck actually does. As for the players, yes they are professionals and they should be expected to perform every time they cross the white line. But at the same time it's unrealistic to expect the team's psychology to be right in the current environment. I find it hard to blame them too much.
In the short term, the 'manager' is the easiest problem to solve. Getting rid of him and employing someone who'll let the team get on with it for the rest of the season would almost certainly guarantee a top four finish. That has to be the main aim. In the longer term though, the hiring of the 'manager' is a symptom of atrociously bad senior management at the club. Gourlay and Emenalo must go. Hiddink should be installed as a sporting director because Roman respects him and he wouldn't be a yes man. Someone who knows both football and business should replace Gourlay. We should find the right manager for the medium term and give that person at least two years. Yes, two years counts as medium term for Chelsea these days. I'm not really sure who that person should be because I'm not sufficiently aware of leagues outside of the UK, but there have to be several decent candidates.
The thing that I find most galling is that Chelsea now have a fantastically talented young squad and the financial clout to hold onto those players for years to come and yet it's the senior management that holds them back. A few changes in the board room, and some downers for Roman could allow us to be a fantastic team for a good few years.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
As for the players, yes they are professionals and they should be expected to perform every time they cross the white line. But at the same time it's unrealistic to expect the team's psychology to be right in the current environment. I find it hard to blame them too much.
It's hard to see how they can develop any kind of system without a manager who lasts more than a few months. (I mean it took Liverpool a while to adjust to Benítez's zonal marking and Rodgers' passing game.) But without a manager to impose a system, presumably they'll tend to default to whatever they're used to and you end up with a squad of 11 individuals.
(Which makes Benítez a supremely unsuitable manager for Chelsea - even though as a Liverpool fan I rate him very highly - because Benítez is a 'systems' manager. Each player is a piece in a machine that should in principle be replaceable. Each player's function within the machine has to be carefully and painstakingly rehearsed. At best he can get mediocre teams to punch above their weight - e.g. winning the Champions League with Milan Baroš as the only recognised striker - but I get the impression his motivational skills are fairly crap and I can't see him having much time for the galáctico mentality.)
[ 28. February 2013, 14:47: Message edited by: Ricardus ]
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Our individuals (with the obvious exception of the number nine) are bloody good, so I'm pretty confident that wouldn't be a bad option, short term.
As for the management skills of our 'manager', I have to disagree. He slowly dismantled a decent Liverpool team, single-handedly destroyed Inter, and is now eating Chelsea from the inside out. He should never work again.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
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Posted
Let's leave Garcia's goal out of discussion. I find it bizarre to even discuss it.
Thanks for the analysis. Yes, the management is not the best at Chelsea. I cannot say much about the influence of Terry or Lampard, as I don't believe 99% of analysis that I hear about football. You certainly have some class players. The view among Reds is generally that your players are well pissed off with Di Matteo getting the sack and are acting up, only doing the minimum that they need to do. Don't know, myself.
Regarding Rafa, apart from his first (I'll take the runners-up prize of a European Cup) and last season he always had us in the top four. He bought some immensely good players and for a few years we had a very good team, beating the best in Europe again and again. He made some mistakes (not playing Crouch or Bellamy in Athens, selling Alonso) but overall he brought us back to being one of the greats in Europe.
The thing is, you mention the management of Chelsea and the effect that had on the players. Hicks and Gillett made Abramovitch look like John Smith. Rafa had a hell of a lot of bother and wasn't always able to concentrate on the football. You have to admit that if Abramovitch among other effect Chelsea players, Hicks and Gillett had a much bigger effect.
The weird season was Rafa's last. From the 86 point, thrashing the mancs at theirs, beating Madrid 4-0, losing only twice of the year before, we went relatively shite. Torres got injured and started his sulky act. Gerrard was also injured and lost form. The usual solid defense lost it, possibly due to Hyypia being sold due to his age. The selling of Alonso made an influence, but alongside injury problems and the atrocious management it was a difficult season.
I seem to recall that Rafa also had problems with injuries to players at Inter. The southern media didn't like him (hence, I believe, the strange lack of respect given to him by many football fans), but at Liverpool we know that Rafa was one of the best managers to be in English football of the past twenty years.
The thing with Liverpool is that we go from one extreme to another. With Rafa we had the manager who was focussed on controlling the game. We didn't often thrash teams with him for that reason, but by and large his technique worked, especially with his tactics. It was when he tried to get us to play more attacking when the balance got upset.
Now we have someone who is all about attack, and not about controlling the game. He has one tactic. I'd happily take a mix of Rafa's tactics and eye for players, Kenny's man management and Rogers' support of young players
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The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
When Brendan Rogers was at Swansea back in the second tier, they were one of the teams you didn't mind losing against so much, because the games were always fun and usually fairly played. If they beat you you felt they deserved to win because they were better. There were other teams that gave you that feeling, notably Blackpool of course, and to some extent Reading.
And some teams give you the opposite feeling entirely. Leeds or Birmingham for example. Nasty buggers.
And Leicester seem to have flipped from one to the other. Fun with Pearson, boring with Sven, fun again with Pearson.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Og: Thread Killer
Ship's token CN Mennonite
# 3200
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
And they trade that for 95 degrees plus humidity in DC in the summer. I know which I'd rather.
Toilets where the pipes don't burst underneath you.....I'll take a safe potty trip in the heat every time.
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I wish I was seeking justice loving mercy and walking humbly but... "Cease to lament for that thou canst not help, And study help for that which thou lament'st."
Posts: 5025 | From: Toronto | Registered: Aug 2002
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Rosa Winkel
Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424
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Posted
I've just been reading this article from 2007 about the end of Mourinho at Chelsea. It portrays a situation where a class manager like Mourinho or Rafa would find it difficult to flourish in.
Quite why Rafa, who had had a lot of bother with owners at Liverpool would work for Abramovitch is another matter.
In any case, the emergence of Brendan Rogers at the end of the story would confirm the view held by many Liverpool fans that he is a yes-men brought into by a dodgy management.
It seems that Liverpool and Chelsea have more in common than expected.
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The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project
Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
SPURS BEAT ARSENAL!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
Is that sayin' much? Everybody beats Arsenal these days.
*grumble, grumble*
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Mark Betts
Ship's Navigation Light
# 17074
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Posted
Sat Mar 2:
Southampton 1-2 QPR
Redknapp and his lads have done it again. I'm in two minds whether he can save them from relegation. It could end up being too little too late, but with Harry's reputation you just never know. If they can pull it off, then it's a job well done. QPR are 5 points away from being out of the bottom three at present.
Looking at the teams they will be up against in the next four weeks (Sunderland at home this Saturday) I think they have a chance. Interesting times ahead!
I'm wondering whether to put a wager on it.... ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Posts: 2080 | From: Leicester | Registered: Apr 2012
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
I'm struggling with the concept that there might be three teams worse than QPR in the whole of English football, let alone in the Premier League.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Mark Betts
Ship's Navigation Light
# 17074
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Imaginary Friend:
I'm struggling with the concept that there might be three teams worse than QPR in the whole of English football, let alone in the Premier League.
But QPR don't need to be "better" than the three clubs beneath them - they just need to beat them on points. If you don't believe me, I'll give you Mauricio Pochettino's number so you can phone him up and chat about it with him! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
NB. I don't support QPR, I'm just interested in their progress under Harry Redknapp.
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"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."
Posts: 2080 | From: Leicester | Registered: Apr 2012
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Well, tonight United payed back the first installment of the debt that they owe to beneficent refereeing. Can't say I can muster the slightest scrap of sympathy for them.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
I reckon the ref. was narked at Nani lying there as if he was the injured party, and that turned the card from a yellow to a red.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
It was one of those ones that looked bad from some angles and innocuous from others. Seeing it in real time, I would've given a yellow and was surprised when the ref showed red. Seeing the view in your link, I think the red is defensible.
And European refs don't like high feet. Everyone knows that.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Betts:
But QPR don't need to be "better" than the three clubs beneath them - they just need to beat them on points.
What they really need is for the teams immediately above them to always lose to the teams immediately above *them* IYSWIM
If QPR - or anyone else - are to rise above the shitzone then someone else has to fall in. At the moment Reading, Villa, and Wigan are all effectively in the same place. So QPR need all of them to lose lots. After that, Southampton is well within the danger zone. Beyond them its hard to see where relief is coming from. Newcastle & Sunderland might give up their place in the sun to Villa or Wigan but its hard to see QPR catching them - if they get as little as a win and two draws each, QPR would have to win six out of ten to catch them.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
One thing that's pretty striking looking at the table is the size of the gap between West Brom in ninth (40 points) and Fulham in tenth (33 points). A distinct table of two halves (plus the Manc clubs well clear at the top).
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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