Football 2011-2012

[The Nal]

I don't see Pep quitting Barca to go elsewhere. I just don't. If he quits, I doubt he'll manage anyone for at least one season if not two or three.

Edited April 26, 2012 by The Nal

[pink_triangle]

I wonder if Barca will challenge the FA for the services of Arry!

[strummer77]

LFC - 6 part fly on the wall documentary made by Fox Sports.

Should be interesting viewing but a bad idea in my opinion.

[pink_triangle]

I have to say I am pretty apathetic about handshake. They didn't have them in previous eras where the players were far more sporting. However if it is an agreed thing, why can't the chelsea v qpr handshake continue and jt and af just sit it out.

[eFestivals]

Barca have Messi.

Real have skippy.

Utd had Busby, Best, and Charlton, and have Fergie.

City have (snigger) Tevez

Liverpool had Shankley, Paisley, Keegan & Dalglish, and now they have Dalglish again.

Aldershot Town have a real god.

Edited April 27, 2012 by eFestivals

[The Nal]

Barca have Messi.

Real have skippy.

Utd had Busby, Best, and Charlton, and have Fergie.

City have (snigger) Tevez

Liverpool had Shankley, Paisley, Keegan & Dalglish, and now they have Dalglish again.

Aldershot Town have a real god.

[eFestivals]

Brilliant. You going?

nah, I very much doubt it. Aldershot's a hundred miles away from me, and I don't get there very often (tho I'll be there at the end of June this year for a family do).

[strummer77]

I have to say I am pretty apathetic about handshake. They didn't have them in previous eras where the players were far more sporting. However if it is an agreed thing, why can't the chelsea v qpr handshake continue and jt and af just sit it out.

[pink_triangle]

The whole handshake thing is rubbish isn't it? If we were trying to demonstrate 'respect' the handshake should be at full time after everything has gone on, like Rugby. Beforehand it's just a showpiece thing for the cameras.

[Steve P]

Taken from The Guardian

"Back to Scotland, where the two men convicted of a parcel bomb plot against Celtic manager Neil Lennon, among other public figures who support Celtic, have been jailed for five years each.

Trevor Muirhead, 44, of Kilwinning, and Neil McKenzie, 42, of Saltcoats, both Ayrshire, plotted to assault Lennon, former MSP Trish Godman and the late QC Paul McBride, as well as people at the republican organisation Cairde Na hEireann, by sending devices they believed were capable of exploding and causing severe injury.

They were sentenced to five years each for the charge at the High Court in Glasgow. Both were originally accused of a more serious charge of conspiring to murder their targets but it was thrown out a day before the trial concluded due to insufficient evidence.

McKenzie was also sentenced to 18 months, which will run concurrently with his five-year sentence, after being found guilty of a separate charge of posting a hoax bomb to Lennon at Celtic Park to make him believe it was likely to explode. Muirhead was cleared of the charge with a not proven verdict.

Sentencing them today, trial judge Lord Turnbull said their actions were "incomprehensible". Muirhead and McKenzie were convicted last month following a five-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The jury heard that McKenzie told police he learned how to make a hoax bomb after seeing it on the 1980s TV show The A-Team."

Shouldn't laugh but the last bit is brilliant

Edited April 27, 2012 by Steve P

[The Nal]

The jury heard that McKenzie told police he learned how to make a hoax bomb after seeing it on the 1980s TV show The A-Team."

Shouldn't laugh but the last bit is brilliant

Edited April 27, 2012 by The Nal

[kaosmark2]

Be very interesting to see who replaces him. Bielsa's reportedly been made bookies' favourite, but I wouldn't be surprised if Luis Enrique gets it.

[kaosmark2]

Internal! Surprising but impressive.

[The Nal]

So Francesc Vilanova (who?) is taking over. Hes taken the same route as Pep, Barca B etc, so he knows the culture.

[Steve P]

Internal! Surprising but impressive.

[kaosmark2]

I've seen a few films with that sort of ending

[pink_triangle]

I think Pep deserves great credit for the job at Barcelona. People say he had the right players, but it takes a lot of faith to go against what most clubs do and play a side full of relatively small and skinny players and achieve the success that Barcelona have done. I think that football overall is in a better place because of peps barcelona and can see him managing one day in the premiership which will be great to see.

Going back to the away goal subject Jonathan Wilson who I think is possibly the most knowledgable football journalist talked about why he disagreed with it on the guardian podcast, he came at it from a different viewpoint to me and reinforced to me what a poor rule it is. Found a summary here if anybody is interested.

http://www.espnstar.com/editorial/news/detail/item792435/Wilson:-Bayern,-Real-and-away-goals/

Considering the amount the media go on about changing rules on goaline technology which affects such a minute proportion of games and the 2 most high profiles cases in recent years in the uk (england v germany, chelsea v spurs) just benefited the team who was far better and would have won anyway. I think abolishing the away goal rule should be much higher up on FIFA priority list.

2 other interesting tidbits from the excellent podcast

1. Since Terry Connor took over at Wolves he has only 1 point less than Arry. Considering spurs much higher wage bill maybe he should be a contender for the england job.

2. Something I had never heard of previously, Lippi once said about Gerrard "Some players have all the footballing skills but dont know how to play football". Its an interesting quote from someone who defintely does understand the game. Its not a quote I agree with as Gerrard clearly does know how to play football. Now if Lippi had said "Some players have all the footballing skills, but dont understand football" I think he would have more of a point, maybe lost in translation who knows.

[kaosmark2]

He got rid of a lot of older, big name players and brought in youth instead. It's not just about the players, because he took over from Rijkaard who'd been very successful, particularly with big name players. To take over from that and force out the names who had made them so impressive in favour of younger home-grown players and achieve what he did is remarkable.

The biggest thing I think he's brought in is the pressing game. No team that didn't keep possession so perfectly could donate so much energy when off the ball. My main worry is that the way Chelsea played against them, or Mourinho's Inter, will return to being a major football style in response to the teams that go out and play possession football.

[strummer77]

Considering the amount the media go on about changing rules on goaline technology which affects such a minute proportion of games and the 2 most high profiles cases in recent years in the uk (england v germany, chelsea v spurs) just benefited the team who was far better and would have won anyway. I think abolishing the away goal rule should be much higher up on FIFA priority list.

knows.

Edited April 27, 2012 by strummer77

[kaosmark2]

Someone who doesn't want technology and dislikes the away goals rule thinks scrapping the away goals rule should be a higher priority than introducing technology. Funny that

[strummer77]

Someone who doesn't want technology and dislikes the away goals rule thinks scrapping the away goals rule should be a higher priority than introducing technology. Funny that

Edited April 27, 2012 by strummer77

[Ed209]

It's perfectly possible to implement goaline technology without breaking the flow of the game. The arguments against seem to amount to not much more than - its exciting when the wrong person wins. Which is really dumb.

Saying that, Liverpool might never have lifted the champions league trophy if it had been in place

[pink_triangle]

There's quite a clear reason for that though. Everyone agrees goals that go over the line should count so there's not a lot of debate about that. Some people like the away goal rule, some people hate it, some people just accept it. It's there and it serves a purpose and it might go in future seasons, but its not something obvious or something that many people feel overly passionate about.

One is an obvious injustice whilst the other is a matter of opinion. They aren't going to be treated similarly and rightly so.

Not sure. I think Gerrard is cleverer than given credit for. Sometimes he looks stupid because his ability outweighs his 'intelligence'. He maybe appears to lack discipline but he does some very intelligent stuff at times. His role he is often given is just one that doesn't require him to be so disciplined. His performance at right back in CL ET in 2005 showed when needed he has (or had) the ability to put a more intelligent shift in.

I actually think Lippis comments probably apply more to Ronaldo at times, not that it has hurt him much!

[pink_triangle]

It's perfectly possible to implement goaline technology without breaking the flow of the game. The arguments against seem to amount to not much more than - its exciting when the wrong person wins. Which is really dumb.

Saying that, Liverpool might never have lifted the champions league trophy if it had been in place

Edited April 28, 2012 by pink_triangle

[strummer77]

It's perfectly possible to implement goaline technology without breaking the flow of the game. The arguments against seem to amount to not much more than - its exciting when the wrong person wins. Which is really dumb.