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

Something to add to this discussion:

They say the Premiership game is so much *faster* than other leagues. Would the English midfielders, pick say Jenas or Murphy be lauded abroad because they would have a quicker reaction, being used to a higher tempo, or would they still be midtable cloggers?

she always call out "neville" rather than "gary", and i end up thinking about my dad ;_;

sorry serious discussions

Jenas's main problem is his decision-making, so yeah he might do better in Italy or somewhere.

murphy clearly not yr typical eng mf anyway

Jenas would be lauded as athletic and energetic before they could digest his passing stats and howl with derision before packing him off to the changing rooms to athletically and energetically sweep the floor

I mean he's rubbish at a high-tempo when he had to play a quick pass, more time on the ball would probably help him.

he panics when given time too, though!

He's best without thinking at alll, but it's too easy to knock him out of the mental space necessary to flow like that

I haven't seen him punditing yet but this sort of thing is promising

He's been pretty good as a pundit so far

"Rebooting Liverpool as spice boys 2.0" cos of Bellamy and Carroll...there's a toilet iPhone post if ever I saw one.

Also pandemic otm, liverpool under rafa were synonymous with the big spirited comeback (on loads of occasions) and the last minute goal. It created about three memes here. They've lacked width and pace and creativity, seldom spirit.

i don't know that getting late goals (or, tbh, needing to) is the same thing as spirit. Penchant for drama, yes.

idk, i'd say the desire to keep pushing to the final whistle even in games that look destined to end in a draw / loss was one of the key factors in the season Spurs finished 4th and one of the biggest reasons they failed to last time. There's a definite mental factor involved.

Likewise Newcastle just giving up when faced with relegation - easily enough good players, no spirit whatsover. But I dunno, you can be spirited and still lose - thinking of West Brom and Wolves teams of the past.

Obviously luck comes into it - maybe what I'm reaching for is camaraderie rather than team spirit. Liverpool under Rafa always struck me as a club with cliques - English and Spanish-speaking blocs most obviously. Maybe not as pronounced as at Chelsea, but it rarely seemed to be the happiest of clubs.

see, last year we gained more points from behind than any tean in epl history, yet we still conceded stupid goals and lost bad points against lower half of the table opposition and i dunno, i think that 'spirit' that only kicks in on 85 mins or after you've already let in a goal is handy but not the all-positive aspect it's painted as. I'd rather my team had the spirit not to concede with every cross tbfh

That's just ineptitude though.

it's tied to motivation/team spirit etc imo, centre halves are the first and maybe most important manifestation of the mental toughness of a team i think

Likewise Newcastle just giving up when faced with relegation - easily enough good players, no spirit whatsover. But I dunno, you can be spirited and still lose - thinking of West Brom and Wolves teams of the past.

The Villa match? That was surreal.

I'd love to've seen that - I was abroad at the time where they showed Man Utd youngsters in a dead rubber instead, with no reference to the other games whatsoever. You had to work it out from crowd oohs & ahhs.

Don't think Chelsea particularly have language blocks, though the French-speakers have a habit of sticking together. The problem is more the older players who have been together for ages - terry, cech, lampard, cole, drogba, essien, malouda - having built up very strong relationships with each other that new players have to try and deal with. Like any office situation, that must be difficult for outsiders.

There used to be massive language (Italian/French/English) problems in 90s, early 2000s until Mourinho (I think) insisted on English being the only language spoken in training. Also the club moved training grounds - Cobham has one huge dressing room but the old one had three or four tiny drooms so players would gang up in groups of four and five and that got very cliquey (there used to be a black dressing room and a white one as far as I can tell).

This thread is first time I ever heard of language blocks at lfc.

the old new liverpool

that's cause the french dudes called them cleeks

It's good when you join a new club and everything cliques into place.

http://olympia.fortunecity.com/norman/384/kliq.jpg

l-r luiz, anelka, franky, drogba, ebjt

they're definitely in Fortune City - 6 figures per week each

'arry said: "It's an 'ooge blow. 'e's a good lad an' 'e was in good form fer us."

rip big van

fantasy teams up and down the land chagrined

JackWilshere Jack Wilshere
I can confirm I will be out for around 2-3 months! I am working hard in the gym to stay fit and I am gutted but I will be back stronger!

will be tough on arsenal, having the 3rd best player in the world out for that long

only found out about the Meireles transfer in the pub tonight, been out of contact with the media for the last week.

lol Dalglish you're shit

So you haven't heard about Doyle?

lol

Wb nv. Trap's trying to break doyle's head. Trap out

shit, le Fondre ended up at Reading?

jumped le sharque

the one thing i did manage to keep in touch with whilst sleeping in a field outside Harlech was that Wolves had done fuck all btw

i caught 90 mins of ward there on fri night, is he one of your'n?

I'm not one to draw hasty conclusions but cunt wants drownin imo

lol sounds like our Wardy

assumed cos Doyler didn't start you was just playing a friendly or something

still now Shane Long's broken you've got no choice come tuesday

doyle played, but trap publicly let slip that he didn't think his head was right. Doyle was shite, wasn't tryin, no fight or spirit. Trap says he might start with cox on tues, maybe give doyle a chance to show he's up for it in the final twenty mins or whatever.

Seriously, trap out. When you think kevin doyle's attitude is to be publicly questioned in the buildup to a pair of crucial matches, you're the problem. He's turnin from a cranky negative contrarian to an actual cunt

Here, what's the story with Leon Best?

trades descriptions act will see for that cunt

That VDV injury might be a blessing in disguise.

if it lets him rest up and come back ready, yeah.

Also I'm not sure we've ever recovered from reworking our entire team and formation to fit him in - a spell of 4-4-2 with Adebayor and Defoe upfront might work nicely. Also VDVs best game for us this year has been when he was playing nominally on the right rather than behind the striker.

when was that? Have always thought him poor on the right myself.

Changing to 451 with crouch was the issue- formation was in part vdv but also to let lennon and bale loose while still getting modric, vdv and one sitter into the line-up

VDV has been 'lol injury plagued stopping him having any form and being too important to a team because he made 3 great appearances once' since basically the start of his career. Ever wonder why he was so cheap? Every second that passes it'll look like a mistake not cashing on his great season imo.

This is such obvious fake foresight, weren't you saying Man United should sign him a couple of years ago?

lol u rep for rvp in fairness