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

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

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

3-3 draw against Arsenal.

good performance, granted, but an aberration in that position. He was prob at his best dropping back into cm in the early european games i think

He wasn't really on the right in that game either to be fair. Agree he's probably best in midfield proper.

agree with DC that dvd, I mean vdv, absence could help

agree that he disrupted the team when he arrived

was at Arsenal game and do recall, now, that he was good that night

don't understand 'cashing in on great season' -- he's not Bale or Modric, no one wanted to sign him.

that's true also- we weren't beating away offers all summer for him (nor bale for that matter)

no nobody wants Bale any more !!! funny

If Levy had capitulated on Modric early then the Bale offers would have come. Think a lot of the interest in Bale was either manufactured by the press or, more likely, clubs have been sitting around to see how he does for another season rather than buy in the peak of a hubristic bubble. I presume Man City just weren't that interested.

Bale may be excellent at what he does but what he does is quite limited imo

I dunno, if you can do one thing very very well and get back and tackle reasonably then you don't need to be particularly versatile.

wing play, either way? Crossing early or late, beating his man either way, comfortable cutting into the box and shooting or playing the pass and running to collect?

Yeah, you're wrong tbh nv. Crouch crouch crouch. Can't say it enough.

may have been influenced by watching him be not very good in the centre for Wales the other night

Discussions like this remind me of those dreadful attempts made to convert David Beckham into a central midfielder when everyone in the world knew exactly what he was good at and what he was in the team for. Possibly Beckham himself encouraged them.

the prestige attached to the central role would confuse anyone compelled to watch the republic this past while.