Football 2011-2012

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Panorama last night was shocking - like looking at the Eighties if things had carried on here in some sort of parallel universe.

[Kowalski]

I think Euro 2012 could be a disaster off the field. The scenes in Ukraine were shocking but as mentioned above they are not the only country with racism problems. I wonder if Spain had got the Euro championships, we'd have witnessed a similar documentary as they have some serious problems too.

During the documentary last night, they were in a bar which openly displayed right wing banners etc... but the bar also had England flags and scarves, but strangely there was no mention made of this!

[luckysalt]

Pete Colley - Sky Sports News Midlands reporter says on twitter Villa will announce their new manager before end of the week

Then Rodney Marsh said on twitter I can't believe Martinez has chosen Villa over Liverpool.

So... Martinez? A year on? Gotta say if it is, im happy, plays good football, will get the best out of NZog, and is a real class act and bright young manager.

Plus Whelan will get his huge compo as he's just signed a new 3 yr deal.

[kaosmark2]

I suspect he realises the talent:expectation level at Liverpool is imbalanced. He'll have more he can do at Villa than at Wigan, without the expectation of things above entertaining football and not flirting too closely with relegation.

[eFestivals]

Pete Colley - Sky Sports News Midlands reporter says on twitter Villa will announce their new manager before end of the week

Then Rodney Marsh said on twitter I can't believe Martinez has chosen Villa over Liverpool.

So... Martinez? A year on? Gotta say if it is, im happy, plays good football, will get the best out of NZog, and is a real class act and bright young manager.

Plus Whelan will get his huge compo as he's just signed a new 3 yr deal.

hmmm .... not so sure he's as great as you're thinking, tho another job somewhere will make that one clear.

After all, if he was really that good he'd have surely got similar performances out of Wigan for the whole season and not just the last nine games.

[Benj]

Really hoping that LFC get Rodgers, he seems like he'll be far easier to hate than Martinez

Also if Martinez has turned them down for Villa, I'll still be chortling away at the start of the season.

[kaosmark2]

Fat Frank heard about the pasty tax and has pulled out.

England look shitter and shitter every day. And they looked pretty shit a few weeks ago.

[eFestivals]

Really hoping that LFC get Rodgers, he seems like he'll be far easier to hate than Martinez

Also if Martinez has turned them down for Villa, I'll still be chortling away at the start of the season.

BBC are reporting that Rodgers is being offered the job, but not much is clear about whether Martinez has been or not. As things stand it's just as possible that he's bottled it before being offered the job as it is he's turned down a firm offer.

Either way, I can't see how they're thinking either one of those are particularly likely to do a better job than Kenny was doing and might have done (better, perhaps) next season. Neither one of them has an unblemished history, and for both this is a huge step-up.

Mind you, Rodgers is perhaps the better of the two. He managed to do with Swansea what Martinez didn't - and perhaps that became clear to Fenway when they spoke to Martinez.

Fat Frank heard about the pasty tax and has pulled out.

England look shitter and shitter every day. And they looked pretty shit a few weeks ago.

Is he defo out now then? I'd just read that he's got a groin strain and they have Henderson ready to draft in if need be.

[kaosmark2]

BBC are reporting that Rodgers is being offered the job, but not much is clear about whether Martinez has been or not. As things stand it's just as possible that he's bottled it before being offered the job as it is he's turned down a firm offer.

Either way, I can't see how they're thinking either one of those are particularly likely to do a better job than Kenny was doing and might have done (better, perhaps) next season. Neither one of them has an unblemished history, and for both this is a huge step-up.

Mind you, Rodgers is perhaps the better of the two. He managed to do with Swansea what Martinez didn't - and perhaps that became clear to Fenway when they spoke to Martinez.

Is he defo out now then? I'd just read that he's got a groin strain and they have Henderson ready to draft in if need be.

[eFestivals]

I think that whatever happens at Liverpool, the target for next season just has to be top 7. Thinking they can challenge for top 4 without spending stupid amounts on wages of new players would be a mistake. Whoever the new manager is has to be given at least 3 years unless they look like getting relegated.

I agree wholeheartedly with your realism, but if the owners had the same sort of realism they'd have stuck with Dalglish.

A couple of reports have said it's definite. Most are saying he's got a scan tomorrow but it looks bad.

I wonder what Benc will make of Lumpard's replacement then? Not good enough (in his eyes) to replace the limited Barry but good enough to replace the better Fat Frank.

Edited May 30, 2012 by eFestivals

[The Nal]

Rodgers is signed. Done deal. Good appointment. Van Gaal to come in on Friday apparently.

[kaosmark2]

I agree wholeheartedly with your realism, but if the owners had the same sort of realism they'd have stuck with Dalglish.

[eFestivals]

Rodgers is signed. Done deal. Good appointment.

is it? How do you know?

His record is far from fantastic, and while Swansea have had (for Swansea) a great season, that's mostly been achieved by being a team that's hard to beat at home rather than anything about going out to beat the opposition.

I wish him success, but I'll be very far from surprised if he's sacked before xmas (exactly as happened with his time at Reading [a club he should have slotted into much easier than Liverpool]).

[The Nal]

is it? How do you know?

His record is far from fantastic, and while Swansea have had (for Swansea) a great season, that's mostly been achieved by being a team that's hard to beat at home rather than anything about going out to beat the opposition.

I wish him success, but I'll be very far from surprised if he's sacked before xmas (exactly as happened with his time at Reading [a club he should have slotted into much easier than Liverpool]).

[eFestivals]

Dalglish was never their man though. Initially temporary, and then appointed permanently because everyone knew after how well he's done in those 5 months the Liverpool fans wouldn't accept anyone else.

Oh, I know - but the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

As I keep pointing out, on average Liverpool's results under Dalglish were hugely worse than the performances, and it's unlikely that the poor luck with those results would be repeated across a second season.

Rodgers might come good of course, but he'll have to be fantastic to convince me that the switch was worth making. I've little doubt that Dalglish would have at least matched this season if he'd got another year, while I'm far less confident of Rodgers matching it.

[eFestivals]

Anyone is a risk of course but who else is there?

Now, not many choices.

But there was one of the most successful managers in English footie history in place, who was doing better than the results were crediting him as doing - and it's unlikely that they'd have had such poor luck for a second season in a row.

I think Rodgers is prolly a better choice than Martinez tho, but only just. Rodgers does at least have a record of getting consistency from Swansea.

[eFestivals]

PS: despite saying that, my support for Dalglish is nothing to do with his record at Liverpool first time round BTW (aside from it showing that he can successfully work at that level).

I just think that if you put the results aside and look at what actually happened in games that the poor results were more to do with a run of bad luck than failure on his part - someone has to get the shit luck, and this season it was Liverpool's turn. I think it's unlikely they'd have had such poor luck for 2 season in a row, and I doubt the performances would have dropped to the level of the results.

(when I'm talking about the performances, I'm talking the whole season. I know they went to shit at the end).

[The Nal]

Utd about to sign this Shinji Kagawa kid. Just announced as the Bundesliga Player of the Year. Looks really good.

[thetime]

Utd about to sign this Shinji Kagawa kid. Just announced as the Bundesliga Player of the Year. Looks really good.

[eFestivals]

Shopping in the bargain basement.

there was an article along those lines in today's Guardian, that Utd don't have the money for marquee signings any more. Looks like the next few years at Utd will be about trying to manage things carefully and not have a decline.

Perhaps Whelan was right when he said that Fergie's done at the end of next season.

[kaosmark2]

Oh, I know - but the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

As I keep pointing out, on average Liverpool's results under Dalglish were hugely worse than the performances, and it's unlikely that the poor luck with those results would be repeated across a second season.

Rodgers might come good of course, but he'll have to be fantastic to convince me that the switch was worth making. I've little doubt that Dalglish would have at least matched this season if he'd got another year, while I'm far less confident of Rodgers matching it.

[thetime]

there was an article along those lines in today's Guardian, that Utd don't have the money for marquee signings any more. Looks like the next few years at Utd will be about trying to manage things carefully and not have a decline.

Perhaps Whelan was right when he said that Fergie's done at the end of next season.

[kaosmark2]

Titus Bramble's defense against his latest sexual assault charges, following previously masterful excuses like "my brother was the one who raped her, I just watched" with....

"She was very touchy feely and flirty"

[thetime]

I do agree with you. I'm just saying that I don't think their sacking of Dalglish is necessarily a sign that they'll be trigger-happy with Rodgers. He wasn't their man to begin with, and they wanted a younger manager. He might be given the time and patience a Liverpool manager needs.

[kaosmark2]

Never been a fan of daglish even going back to the mid eighties, but in my opinion you have to give a manager so much longer. The hiring and firing does not do anyone any good, you only have to look at your club who have gone through a fair few managers. How can a manager get his ideas, training methods, rid of the dead wood, get there own coaches and players in and then get sacked 12 months later.

Liverpool need to give rodgers a fair crack of the whip and a good 3 years at least, as lets be honest there needs to be an overhaul at liverpool with gerrard coming to the end at the top level(although people been saying that about giggs for nearly 10 years).