Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

If Wigan could get 4 past Newcastle, I don't see why City couldn't get one.

― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Monday, 30 April 2012 20:59 (1 year ago) Permalink

― like Joe Pasquale and Gandhi (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

really engrossing second half

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

yeah was much better fare in the second

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

there was a moment about an hour in when city lost composure and balance of possession

i thought the subs of tevez and then silva were made too soon but twp et al were pretty useless

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

NV and Louis OTM

― HO WBEAUTIFUL IS THE GENTLYFALLINGBLOOD? (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

wait what louis is back?

― Silky Slim (dan m), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:12 (1 year ago) Permalink

i'm predicting city to throw away title needing draw against qpr.

― kid steel (cajunsunday), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

@DanM: Louis Armstrong and NV iirc

― HO WBEAUTIFUL IS THE GENTLYFALLINGBLOOD? (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

haha mancini is the worst at mind games. "their games r easy nanananana"

― kid steel (cajunsunday), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:18 (1 year ago) Permalink

My (completely neutral) pal was all 'hopefully Utd can win & stop City buying the title' beforehand. Get it right up ye, if you're reading.

― Ismael Klata, Monday, 30 April 2012 21:21 (1 year ago) Permalink

United had to make do with demonstrating good order while the ball spent much of the occasion at City feet in those first 45 minutes. There was a theory that the burden here was greater on City. They were attempting after all to imperil a regime of League title mastery established by Ferguson.

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 21:24 (1 year ago) Permalink

Hansen says 'I've backed the two of them, I'll get one of them right'

curious how pundits can be so wrong and get away with it and never be called to account

― the pinefox, Monday, 30 April 2012 22:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

The two of what?

― Let's Talk About Socks (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 30 April 2012 22:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

the english defence league and hizb ut tahir

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 22:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

utterly gutless selection. Jones, Giggs and Park. Nightmare stuff

― Number None, Monday, 30 April 2012 22:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

what xi would you have selected?

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 22:55 (1 year ago) Permalink

Hansen says 'I've backed the two of them, I'll get one of them right'

curious how pundits can be so wrong and get away with it and never be called to account

― the pinefox

even football writers who seem to actually know a little about tactics and don't just chat shite all the time invariably get predictions wrong a lot of the time. how would you like them to be called to account? community service order?

― zverotic discourse (jim in glasgow), Monday, 30 April 2012 22:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

has football punditry always had that Match of the Day thing where you can't have modest conclusions to your discussion, we always need the bold and decisive predictions?

― danny houellebecq (Merdeyeux), Monday, 30 April 2012 23:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

I would've gone for it nakh. Yes, we contained them for most of the game but it's utterly useless when you barely muster a shot of any kind. Utd have gotten results this season through their wingers. Park had a decent 15 minutes but that's all he's good for these days. Valencia, Nani and Welbeck from the start might have given Rooney something to feed off

― Number None, Monday, 30 April 2012 23:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

park, giggs and jones weren't great but really they are make up the numbers players

twp, nani and carrick are probably their most important players this season and they did very little, valencia added nothing when he came on

i think maybe the lesson for ferguson, and for everyone else, was that they gained little possession with a 4-3-3 over a 4-4-2, and lost a lot in counterattacking threat

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 23:23 (1 year ago) Permalink

yeah not really like the floodgates opened once welbeck came on, if anything he helped the ball stick in the city half

why smalling for evans as well? would also have been a sounder bet than jones if he was that worried about rafael

jones is learning so little he might as well be at spurs

― r|t|c, Monday, 30 April 2012 23:27 (1 year ago) Permalink

Performance as subs is irrelevant. Bottom line is Park and Jones shouldn't have been anywhere near that team. Giggs i can understand cos he does still have the ability to pick a pass despite being horrible for most of the game but in general it was a cowardly selection and performance. This is not Barcelona. I feel like we could have matched them if we played to our strengths

― Number None, Monday, 30 April 2012 23:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

i might have played jones as a sort of gattusoish runner in midfield, he doesn't have a lot of nous but he has power and aggression where park was just overrun, he can even do a plausible imitation of touré charging forwards a winning free kicks 20 yards upfield to give the dm/cbs respite

id have started valencia cuz he has some of the same attributes

they still probably would have lost of course

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 23:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

nope, this season had been a "learning experience" for Jones. He shouldn't have even been in contention

― Number None, Monday, 30 April 2012 23:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

in an ideal world yeah, but who else would you play there? you can't plays giggs and scholes in cm together, park is 31 years old and about nine stone vs yaya gd touré

which is the best case for playing a narrow 442 with valencia and giggs tucked in during defensive phases

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Monday, 30 April 2012 23:52 (1 year ago) Permalink

First i would've played Rafael at right back. I don't care how reckless he is, at least he would have offered something going forward. Then i would have gone for a midfield two of Carrick and Scholes with Valencia and Nani on the wings. Rooney and Welbeck up front with the TWP dropping deep to support the midfield. Like i said, we feared them too much tonight and completely negated our own strengths

― Number None, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

anyway i'm drunk and depressed. C'mon Newcastle! or something

― Number None, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

City won through one defensive lapse at at a set piece. Yeah they dominated possession but they didn't put De Gea under a massive amount of pressure. That's why I feel like Utd played into their hands

― Number None, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

rafael at rb def

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 00:21 (1 year ago) Permalink

unfergielike selection and performance, or just an unfergielike result?

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 07:04 (1 year ago) Permalink

twp, nani and carrick are probably their most important players this season and they did very little

I thought Carrick was good, actually.

i think maybe the lesson for ferguson, and for everyone else, was that they gained little possession with a 4-3-3 over a 4-4-2, and lost a lot in counterattacking threat

That was 4-5-1, not 4-3-3, for a good hour: ten men behind the ball and Rooney isolated up front.

why smalling for evans as well?

Apparently Evans was injured, so that change was unforced, the rest was Ferguson's making though. Over the last week I read lots of (internet) United discussion saying if he starts any two out of Park, Giggs and Jones then we've lost. He chose to start all three of them.

Anyway - looks like we've got some much needed rain today. Nice weather for ducks.

― Let's Talk About Socks (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 07:05 (1 year ago) Permalink

why is Rooney called TWP?

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

United boss Ferguson said: “I think he’s a typical British player, but there have been British players over the last few years, maybe for the last decades who have similar great qualities that makes them great players, whether it’s a Gascoigne, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law.

“The similarities are that the boy has great courage, he wants to play all the time, he has incredible stamina.

“These are added extras to the talent he has. If you look at Pele for instance, he was a very aggressive attacker also who could look after himself, so can Rooney.

“They have similarities that way — strength, speed, determination, but he’s white, completely white.”

― like Joe Pasquale and Gandhi (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

^ That was Ferguson responding to the song, rather than creating the expression. I think Everton might have started the song when he still played for them.

― Let's Talk About Socks (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

At Goodison, TWP was Colin Harvey.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:56 (1 year ago) Permalink

Evertonian friend of mine used to call him Roonaldo back in the day.

― like Joe Pasquale and Gandhi (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

referencing Fat Ronaldo not Cron iirc

― like Joe Pasquale and Gandhi (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 08:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

I called him the Golden Child. Or just Remember The Name. Now he's just some thug from Crocky.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:00 (1 year ago) Permalink

TFC would only get him confused with terry tho

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:25 (1 year ago) Permalink

Remember The Roon! Name Wayney!

that was his catchphrase.

Was Harvey considered a White Pele or was there another reason for his claiming those initials?

When I was about 8 or 10 years old I read a book on PLAY BETTER SOCCER (football was called soccer in those days) and it kept showing tactical drawings of a player called Pele, who I thouht must be pronounced 'Peel'.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:39 (1 year ago) Permalink

ag imirt peile

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:42 (1 year ago) Permalink

all in colour

― we are not bemused (onimo), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

ah so tahts what it means

― kid steel (cajunsunday), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:27 (1 year ago) Permalink

Just terrace hyperbole; there was a banner in the Park End proclaiming Harvey as such. He was an immensely gifted player, going by what I've read, but obviously NOT remotely comparable to Pele in any department other than a local "best we've ever seen".

Terry Darracott was The Balding Beckenbauer, and Ronnie Goodlass was The One-Handed Coen Moulijn. Mick Lyons was just Mick Lyons.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

andy hinchcliffe?

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:41 (1 year ago) Permalink

I can't invent anything as good as this:
Like his Everton team-mate, Duncan Ferguson, Hinchcliffe has inspired a composition by the Finnish composer Osmo Tapio Räihälä, who wrote an orchestral work titled Hinchcliffe Thumper - Tha' Bloody Intermezzo in 1993.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

(He played for England! I don't remember that. Truly, his Wiki is full of delights. Well, just those two.)

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

He received his first football shirt on his 6th Birthday. It was a Nigeria shirt with Tolu and the number 4 on the back.

hmmn

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

the intermezzo bit is true tho

http://www.operatoday.com/content/2010/04/osmo_tapio_raih.php

― Ms Tum-Bla-Wi-Tee (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 11:48 (1 year ago) Permalink