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

Was Phil Jones not fully fit?

dunno, took a knock against ye but did he play midweek?

What about lfc yesterday? Only saw highlights, suarez looked like he could create and miss chances all day, great save at the death tho

We played some exciting, mouth-watering stuff in the first half, and the game should have been won. My main gripe, again, is that we failed to really control the game. Dalglish isn’t even setting the team up in such a way that will allow us to control the game, due to a severe lack of organised pressing, and a defensive line so deep that they may as well be sat in the stands. There’s no point in the midfield pressing if the defence isn’t going to back them up, otherwise you leave gaps all over the place – it’s a vicious cycle that affects the whole team. It happened yesterday – Norwich won the ball, exploited the space vacated by Gerrard and Adam, worked the ball wide, and scored. Gerrard and Adam leaving gaps could have been masked by us playing a DM in there (although the problems resulting from playing a deep defensive line would have still existed), or by our defence being more proactive, holding a higher line, compressing the play further up, and choosing the right team to drop deep.

Of course a lot of this could perhaps be remedied once and for all by rotating a certain CB. Yesterday was a fantastic opportunity to give Coates, Wilson, Kelly or even Wisdom a run out alongside Skrtel, who I thought was excellent again. Not saying it would have worked to perfection, but I’d rather experiment, see if we can defend higher and control games, and plan for the future at least once this season, rather than stubbornly persist with an ageing CB whose best days are behind him. Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, though.

So we can't keep a clean sheet. As a result, taking our chances and sealing the game in the first half is vital, because playing at such a high tempo for 90 minutes is practically impossible. In a way we shouldn’t even be surprised that we’re not controlling games against the likes of Wolves and Norwich, because before the game you could have predicted how things would pan out if we didn’t take our chances. Even when we were 3-0 up against Bolton and we had taken our chances, we still let them get back into the game. We're putting unncessary pressure on our forwards to convert their chances because they know we can't keep a clean sheet. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot by dropping deep, inviting pressure, and, eventually, conceding. It happened against Sunderland, Bolton, Brighton, Wolves, and Norwich.

And I miss Maxi.

Yes we beat Bolton, Brighton and Wolves, but the second half of Bolton was disappointing (bar the two goals, obviously), and Brighton and Wolves were far from convincing.

phew!

not sure you've got pace at cb to play a high line tbph

Let's kick racism out of football.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42612000/jpg/_42612395_diaby_pa416.jpg

Video footage is massively inconclusive, but the statement from Terry is just bizarre and so badly written.

I know everybody here will keep an open mind (especially James, with his cute but creepy Terry obsession - he doesn't seem quite as bothered about Cesc being labelled a racist strangely), but I do find it hard to believe any footballer would bellow 'black cunt' halfway across a football pitch without a single person around him reacting (Ashley Cole is standing next to him and doesn't even flinch).

If there's an official complaint from QPR, though, he's fucked.

As for the game, Chelsea massively underplayed how important it is for QPR given it's a nothing fixture for us, and the ref was a blind cunt but Luiz was almost as much a liability for us as Rio was for United, and Drogba was a fucking disgrace.

Second half performance was outstanding with nine men, and like the United defeat there are a lot of good things to come from it, but I'd rather have the three points, especially as everybody else will go to Loftus Road and absolutely batter them.

The Cesc thing is way worse if you ask me, what with him holding his hand over his mouth to stop the cameras seeing what he's saying, but John Terry is just a massive cunt, nothing cute or creepy about it.

Strangely, they both use the "some of my best friends" defence, too. Jus' a bit of banter from the Barking lad innit tho wot a legernd.

Cunt or otherwise, your obsession with him is a bit unusual.

pete otm. he could be saying black or blind, hard to tell unless youre a lip reading specialist (im sure a newspaper will be on that soon enough). Basically it appears hes saying what you hope he's saying depending on who you support.

i'll settle for that :)

it's the strange response by terry that makes it seem more he said black tbh.

of course if he says he called the ref a blind cunt he might get a ban for that. But im not sure he would be thinking like that.

still, though. terry calling somebody a cunt, eh?

pot calling kettle blind?

you know what they say, ken. "takes one to know one"

and we all agree here terry is a cunt :)

as clear as blind and white if you ask me

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/7852/1409138298066b4ccafa.jpg

lol

i'm saddened that anybody thinks John Terry might be racist

He hasn't got the hang of this yet, do as the politicians do: "I'm sorry if I have given the impression that I am a racist cunt."

Luiz: what's he all about? I've seen him be woeful more often now than I've seen him be good (not very often of either, admittedly).

Terry statement reads to me like an admission he used the words "black cunt" but only in shouting "I did not call you a black cunt" or words to that effect.

his mazy runs and cultured touch make him a natural...... centre half?

Terry statement reads to me like an admission he used the words "black cunt" but only in shouting "I did not call you a black cunt" or words to that effect.

He should use the same defence that Canadian professor did when he was accused of anti-Semitism, that he was merely 'providing examples of unacceptable and dangerous opinions'... on, uh, a football pitch

Luiz strikes me as a midfielder who was told at schoolboy level he was to play in defence due to his height.

Just think, some scottish twat with his coaching badges from largs could be coaching in brazil ruining them forever.

Could be worse could be some English twat without his coaching badges from largs

you heard it here first

http://i55.tinypic.com/t6wn48.jpg

Phelan got the job btw.

Luiz is struggling to adapt to physical side of game, but an absolutely diamond coming forward with the ball. reads the game well, but far too prone to daftness. he could be amazing, but lots of coaching still needed. he would be a complete disaster in midfield given his lack of discipline.

not gonna write a weeknd song about it but i can't help but be somewhat - what's the word? - saddened to find myself supporting such a load of clueless gobshite loadsamoney cunts. completely inept performance. was being west ham or brum really the desolate price of the prem? could we not have been idk, norwich?

oh well, think i'll still take the win over the nonsense noble 9 man high ground. but yeah we are going down big time.

You'd have to finish below either Wigan, Blackburn or Bolton.

can't believe the ref's sent off bowswingwa for that

of course if he says he called the ref a blind cunt he might get a ban for that. But im not sure he would be thinking like that.

Wonder if the FA is thinking of repeating the trick of banning Terry for 'violent conduct' instead of anything else? Like they did after he called Ledley King a 'mucky boy cunt' or whatever it was that sounds a bit like that.

xxp i know full well that lot are shit but i wouldnt back us to beat any of them either. thing is, they're all shit to their limits whereas we're just a shambles. a (very) vaguely talented shambles. so now over the course of a season how does that level out? badly i feel.

now look it's been proven that terry never said nuffink to ledley king, who, it must be remembered, is a highly volatile individual with a long history of enraged confrontation of non-racists for absolutely no reason.

Presumably 'not being allowed into nightclubs for being too shitfaced' counts as a reason in this book?

cmon, that's the best reason

Did King IRONICALLY actually get charged with racism towards a parking attendant or something?

Mate of mine is friends with a lawyer on the FA disciplinary panel and has asked about terry-king thing, he says that accusation was a complete load of bollocks but terry definitely should have suspended for longer in that incident for telling fibs (he claimed that the ref told him he was sending him off to 'teach him a lesson', which wasn't true). Racism though? Not a jot.

His excuse this time just sounds like bollocks, though, doesn't it Pete?

I do find it hard to believe any footballer would bellow 'black cunt' halfway across a football pitch without a single person around him reacting

this is a fair point tbh, and it leaves a bunch of questions about how black players respond to, ahem, "banter" in-game. it doesn't convince me Terry didn't use racial abuse, but it does paint a sad picture if in fact he did.

I wonder if Terry (or his representatives) had actually viewed the youtube footage before that 'explanation' was issued. Because if they had, you would have thought they'd have run with the Blind-cunt-ref theory, instead of the anton-you're-not-a-black-cunt line. It's almost as if he/they had just heard what he'd been accused of, thought 'yeah, I probably did that', and then tried to think of way of rationalizing how the alleged words could have come out of his mouth.

I'm sort of just about willing to believe that Terry isn't an out-and-out racist in his everyday life and is resorting to racist abuse as a way of unsettling the opposition. Doesn't make him any less of a cunt, mind.

Did we ever find out who the household name was that Rio Ferdinand was talking about all those years ago?

I haven't offered my further and considered thoughts on the game at Loftus Road yesterday, so here they are, in expanded form.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

pete,

You can call modric a cunt and claim he's a wifebeater, it's ok.

It's ok

not gonna write a weeknd song about it but i can't help but be somewhat - what's the word? - saddened to find myself supporting such a load of clueless gobshite loadsamoney cunts. completely inept performance. was being west ham or brum really the desolate price of the prem? could we not have been idk, norwich?

I don't think you've quite got the level of churning negative ineptitude that being Brum would require. West Ham definitely though, maybe even Newcastle 2009 if you're lucky.

I'm sort of just about willing to believe that Terry isn't an out-and-out racist in his everyday life and is resorting to racist abuse as a way of unsettling the opposition

You seriously think Terry acts in such a calculating and 'rational' way?

"Hmmm, I know just what would unsettle the opposition the most right now... racist abuse!"

all great leaders have a strategy

no i can see it being used as - maybe widely accepted as - sledging. if something like that ever did come to light it'd be instructive to see which of the "if you've never played professional football you know nothing" wankers came onside.

My favourite evidence of John Terry leading:

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/23/article-1277310819288-0A2A7CD6000005DC-706696_636x351.jpg

Guess it's worth doing when you're the only white feller between the ball and the goal.

I love the juxtaposition of "prepared to get my head knocked off" and "protecting my nuts"