Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

sickening

I was having a go at your argument, is all. No prob at all, thanks.

Will Ye Take a Drink on it folks

he says, with the phone in his hand under the counter, ready to call the gardai.

Eh hand on the bottle, in hope and with a dry mouth and an itch behind the eyes

Anyway rodgers is doing ok except for the press thing, which is not only killing goodwill but is eroding faith in his common sense imo

Is this press thing really all over the place, or just an ILF hobbyhorse? I can't say I'd noticed 'til it was brought up here.

It is a thing

my lfc fanatic mate hates rodgers at this stage, wants him gone, cringes any time he gets near a mic. I find myself arguing the case

ilf hobbyhorse.

i had no idea people found rodgers obnoxious until i read this thread tbh

My world is falling in here

I had no idea either.

I like him, while remaining unconvinced he can set up a team to play the way he wants while still defending well enough to beat the top teams. Regularly running over the struggling teams is definitely progress of a sort, and they usually look competitive vs the Big Howevermany without quite getting the wins.

re: 'is just an ilf hobbyhorse?', this was in The Fiver last week:

It is not true that before becoming a popular football manager Brendan Rodgers was a tantalising stand-up comedian, whose best joke went thus: "A man with a slightly disconcerting habit of patting interlocutors on the cheeks while staring them in the eye with a blend of friendly earnestness and deranged confidence walks into a bar and says: 'Hello, I would like an orange juice please and something to take home for my pet'. The barman asks: 'What type of pet do you have?' The man replies to this question."

It's not a very good joke, is it? When all is said and done, it is badly let down by the lack of a punchline. The buildup was fine, you might even go so far as to call it promising, but ultimately you have to conclude that it was a non-gag. A flop. Downright irritating, if you want to be frank. Feel familiar, Liverpool fans?

Liverpool's season and style of play seems sadly bereft of certain crucial components, such as reliability in front of goal, reliability at the back, basic toughness and positive results, all of which means the club are currently three points and two places worse off now than they were at this stage last season and, of course, out of the Cup after being bullied by mighty Oldham Athletic.

Still, the campaign has also had some highs, of course: indeed, at one stage Liverpool were threatening to play so well that Rodgers predicted they could storm up the table and finish in second place – that was right before they lost at home to Aston Villa; and several weeks later they looked so close to getting their act together that Rodgers predicted they could storm up the table and finish fourth – that was just before they lost at home to West Bromwich Albion. Rodgers wisely refrained from declaring Liverpool imminent Euro Vase champions before last night's first leg in St Petersburg but he unwisely opened his mouth afterwards to baffle listeners with talk of "a near-on perfect away performance" after Liverpool were deservedly beaten 2-0 by Zenit.

There is no shame in losing to a team as talented and expensively-assembled as Zenit … unless you then try to convince people who actually saw the match that the loss was some kind of unjust anomaly and that, if we overlook trifles such as appalling finishing, patchy interplay and feeble defending, the losers were moral victors. There is, of course, something even more basic than defending and attacking effectively and even easier to get right: talking.

And yet previous Liverpool managers have failed even on that front: Roy Hodgson alienated the few Anfield regulars who were prepared to cut him some slack when he started babbling about sides such as Wolves and Birmingham being fearsome opponents and Kenny Dalglish lost his messiah status when he began guffing about conspiracies everywhere and trumpeting advertising deals as major honours. After those two flops Liverpool fans have been prepared to give Rodgers time to repair years of neglect and ineptitude, and some even maintain that Rodgers's recruits such as Fabio Borini and Joe Allen will yet prove inspired hires, but it is hard for anyone to be convinced that Rodgers knows what he is doing when he persistently spouts blatant bull.

It is not true that before becoming a popular football manager Brendan Rodgers was a tantalising stand-up comedian, whose best joke went thus: "A man with a slightly disconcerting habit of patting interlocutors on the cheeks while staring them in the eye with a blend of friendly earnestness and deranged confidence walks into a bar and says: 'Hello, I would like an orange juice please and something to take home for my pet'. The barman asks: 'What type of pet do you have?' The man replies to this question."

It's not a very good joke, is it? When all is said and done, it is badly let down by the lack of a punchline. The buildup was fine, you might even go so far as to call it promising, but ultimately you have to conclude that it was a non-gag. A flop. Downright irritating, if you want to be frank. Feel familiar, Liverpool fans?

what thundering dipshit wrote the above?

great opening par, really gets you into the piece.

That rant at Phil Dowd isn't any worse than you get from any butthurt Premiership manager, I'm not even sure what's being illustrated here.

great opening par, really gets you into the piece

I had to re-read it, thinking I must have missed something

It's one of those epics that just won't let your brain take it in.

Eh if you put a liverpool jersey on that piece you'd tear into a harsh review of it imo lg

But it is a terrible opener

a WBA 3-0 Liverpool of an opener

Liverpool's season and style of play seems sadly bereft of certain crucial components, such as reliability in front of goal, reliability at the back, basic toughness and positive results, all of which means the club are currently three points and two places worse off now than they were at this stage last season and, of course, out of the Cup after being bullied by mighty Oldham Athletic.

did arsene wenger write this article?

Eh if you put a liverpool jersey on that piece you'd tear into a harsh review of it imo lg

you say this like you think you're free of madness

Comfortable with it, tbh. I certainly dont feel like i kneejerk against ilf tropes nor fair -or otherwise- criticism of spurs in quite as blatantly partisan a manner but i mean im not bothered overmuch either way it keeps things lively etc

woy is my jol. you must grant a man his jol.

plus nobody defends jol

too harsh on woy by far, that

Too harsh on jol

No, woy

Fellaini claims his hair made him head butt Shawcross:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/20/marouane-fellaini-i-pick-so-many-yellow-cards-because-of-my-afro-hairdo-3505447/

Samba said: "Bobby Zamora showed us what the Premier League is about when he came on.

"I think more of the players should have his attitude: urgency that reflects we have 12 games left and must play every one like a cup final."

2 for 1 value there

Carpark lunch offer

friends don't let friends make harlem shake vids

that being said, the man city one was passable

i swear it's only a matter of time before north korea releases a harlem shake video

i know i should really smh at meme-ification but the deadpan kolarov gag does make me laugh every time

laudrup to madrid could v much have legs imo

am i going to not put money on it and curse later? yes sir

I've had a Laudrup to Man Utd hunch for most of this season; but I've pussied out of saying so after some nomark journo got flamed for putting it out there first (and because it's ridiculous).

http://c.morrissey-solo.com/gallery/files/1/robbie_keane_and_morrissey.jpg

has this been posted yet?

It was a joyous head-storm to attend LA Galaxy -v- Club Tijuana last night and to see captain Robbie Keane score in the fourth minute. Why, exactly?
Well, family tree aficionados will be aware that Robbie and I share the same Irish blood; his late grandfather (Thomas Nolan) being my own father’s cousin. In filial terms the Irish blood, English heart genetic between Robbie and I is evident – his chin is my chin, my chin is his. Robbie was raised on Captains Road (as was my mother) in Crumlin (Dublin), before he was shipped out to Tallaght. He is a gentleman of the highest caliber (or, if you must, calibre), and to watch him on the pitch – pacing like a lion, as weightless as an astronaut, is pure therapy. Robbie, the pleasure, the privilege is mine.

was about to footcelsior you for that but it's real

pacing like a lion, as weightless as an astronaut,

think he got this mixed up, based on my experiences of watching robbie.

Thats kinda sweet, tho neither cunt is my cup of tea

c'mon the smiths were great

+1fp

was it worth it, was it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21554484

how do they lack imagination to such an extent? it drives me bananas.

the bbc or leighton baines

I wonder if there's ever been a high-profile footballer who's privately been into Albert Ayler or the Nurse With Wound List or something. I'm struggling to think of even a fun hypothetical candidate.

ekotto