Football journalism

pands could you see sterling at bayern in 2016? he'd have a year left on his contract and ribery would be 33, robben 32 so there's space for at least one versatile attacking mid/winger opening up before too long

Most of his very best games/performances have been in a slightly anarchic up and down fast break kind of games, like I dunno Nash era Phoenix Suns. Not sure he has the nuance to be suited to a ball dominate team. Robben/Ribery can do transition yes but they can also beat players off the dribble in v tight spots against compressed defensive lines which I haven't seen as yet from Sterling. Would more easily see him at Madrid or Dortmund stylistically. Not to say he couldn't develop.

I'm also assuming Pep hasn't the intention of being at Bayern for more than another season and a half so Sterling to Bayern could happen under a different manager as I'm not sure he (pep)is super concerned with having semi-trad wingers at all and is more likely to replace Robbery with a different *type*.

Also having a hard time imagining Sterling wanting to leave England. City seems a more likely prospect to me, dynamic, young, English, suited to a more haphazard style of play.

So I don't see it no, but tbf he has proved to be more tactically versatile than I had thought likely. His movement in the CF position has been p intelligent in the main.

don't think guardiola intends to stay, he used to say he would only spend three years in one place before he decided to stay for a fourth at barcelona, which he probably regrets or at least sees as superfluous

the main reason i can't imagine sterling at bayern is just language and to a lesser extent 'culture' but i would like to see the best english player learn to play a more advanced sort of football than just reprise the twp/gerrard force of nature crap

Would like to see at least a few times what a Pep BM would look like with everyone fit and available. ie how would he construct a line up with Robben, Ribery, Badstuber, Martinez, Thiago etc Would Lahm be in MF? I'm not sure what his platonic ideal looks like.

xp For all Greg Dyke's wire fence to keep foreigners out blueprint feel like English football would be as likely to improve through exporting large numbers of players. Of course it won't happen cos richest league in the world.

the thing that most strikes me about bayern's squad is how many of the players can play different positions to similarly high levels

even a more conservative coach would appreciate that, though hopefully neuer gets to play deep lying playmaker at least once before guardiola goes on sabbatical to a sufist monastery in yemen

do you think he'll manage the Spanish national team some time in the next 10 years?

I have no idea if he's interested

i'd imagine the idea of having a constantly shifting potential squad of 50 or 60 technically gifted players appeals to him, but i can't remember how strong his catalan identity or whatever is

https://twitter.com/wwfcofficial/status/580488732391903232

Sky: "How important is that win going into the international break?"
Ainsworth: "We're in League 2; we're at Dagenham on Saturday!"

http://www.theguardian.com/football/picture/2015/apr/07/david-squires-on-mike-ashleys-reign-at-newcastle

ahhahahaha

https://twitter.com/ianprior/status/588298570790502400

https://twitter.com/gethill/status/588332393116868608

that is magical

can't wait for david squires to draw it

13.08
Someone that speaks German has actually done some proper translating! Praise the lord. Right I'm going to pass this off as my own and hope no one notices.

Klopp: "Europe will not have peace until the Jewish question has been disposed of.

"The world has sufficient capacity for settlement, but we must finally break away from the notion that a certain percentage of the Jewish people are intended, by our dear God, to be the parasitic beneficiary of the body, and of the productive work, of other peoples.

13.08
Someone that speaks German has actually done some proper translating! Praise the lord. Right I'm going to pass this off as my own and hope no one notices.

Klopp: "These are the strategic dialectics of anti-imperialist struggle: through the defensive reactions of the system, the escalation of counterrevolution, the transformation of the political martial law into military martial law, the enemy betrays himself, becomes visible."

Enjoyed Marcotti on Müller http://www.espnfc.co.uk/uefa-champions-league/2/blog/post/2412554/thomas-muller-success-at-bayern-munich-is-extraordinary and this therein

"Pour liquid into a container with a hole, however tiny, and it will always find a way through," said one veteran director of football I spoke to on Wednesday. "He always finds the hole. There's always a way through for him. He's always useful."

Michael Cox ‏@Zonal_Marking 14m14 minutes ago

Which Premier League footballer would be best at footgolf? I think Charlie Adam would be hard to beat

https://twitter.com/BestJournoTweet/status/592440688152817664

What Pirlo has done in the last two decades has transmogrified the way Italian football treats deep-lying playmakers. Previously, perhaps fuelled by famed journalist Gianni Brera’s beliefs that Italians were naturally a physically weak race and should thus focus on defending, Italian coaches have found fitting grace into their systems a struggle and, as such, have found limited value in playmakers. Traditionally the idea that the playmaker could sit in front of the defence, a la Pirlo, was thought of as inherently risky, for his type were considered foppish when what was needed in this area was brute strength and unflinching tenacity.

One example of this perspective in action came when Fabio Capello took over at Real Madrid and considered Fernando Redondo to be too elegant a player to play in front of the defence. Capello had always preferred a strongman in the position; he used Marcel Desailly at the base of midfield while at Milan, and felt Redondo’s skill set was better suited to a role further up the pitch.

Capello left Madrid a convert with a much better understanding of Redondo as a player and his usefulness as a deep-lying playmaker. This perception seems to have permanently changed in modern Italian football, for there is now plenty of room for the likes of David Pizarro and Mirko Valdifiori. Enforcement remains a valued commodity when it comes to sitting in front of Serie A defences, but those who prefer having the ball to chasing it have found opportunity too, and Pirlo continues to lead the way in that struggle at the age of 35....

The regista rages against the dying of the light, fighting to prove that there remains a place for pause, poise and unhurried, rhythmic passing in the modern game. In this fight they are given solace by some coaches who see the benefits in having them. Guardiola knows these benefits more than most because he was once one of them. Now more than ever, with the advanced playmaker becoming crowded out by double pivots and defensive midfielders, there is a strong case to be made for their retreat.

For some the case is not strong enough, however. Gerrard is an example of a player who was moved back out of necessity but failed to totally adapt to the new role. This is an indication that the regista isn’t some utopian fantasy concocted by the believers to add aesthetic beauty in a sport increasingly conquered by the tall and forceful, but is in fact a role with its own genuine subset of specific skills. It isn’t a mere excuse to include ageing greats; if they lack the required attributes, they will fail in the role. Consequently, although the best registi in the world are, generally speaking, in their thirties, advanced age is not a prerequisite but a coincidence.....

We remain in what Arrigo Sacchi saw to be an era of specialism in the sense that the regista must still be helped out by those around them. Sure, playmakers are sitting deeper now, but they must still be balanced out by more destructive players. The only difference is that while advanced playmakers required a destroyer in behind them, registi require those players in front of them.........

Naturally in such circumstances, the regista becomes more important. Their calmness on the ball and ability to play out of tight situations is more of a necessity when attackers are more willing to pressurise and harangue and more organised in doing so. The evolution of the game therefore calls for specialists in the regista role, not simply the adaptation of other midfielders to it. While the role is still seen as a retirement home for ageing icons, the trend seems to indicate that; in future, players like Carrick won’t have to wait until they are in their thirties to enjoy the adulation their unique talents deserve.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2015/apr/24/age-position-football-michael-carrick-andrea-pirlo-xabi-alonso

MARTIN SAMUEL: Gerrard back to Liverpool as boss? For him to return, they must build a home fit for heroes

hard to think of a current Prem darling less likely to be capable of big league management than Stevie G

Graham Hunter's latest ESPN column even more unhinged and pompous than his Revista appearences http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/barcelona/83/blog/post/2455130/barcelona-la-liga-title-is-more-than-just-lionel-messi

His record may fall but Sir Bobby Charlton will remain greatest British sportsman

Martin Samuel dropping Wiley 'Bow E3' in his debate column today.

lol

The increasing influence of analysts, young men who have no experience of scouting or recruiting players, has meant the end of the road for good football men such as Mel Johnson. He was the scout who recommended Liverpool sign talented young winger Jordon Ibe from Wycombe but was sacked, shamefully, in November 2014. Former academy director Frank McParland has also left.

Instead a new breed sits in air-conditioned offices, cutting up videos from matches all over the world and burying their heads in the stats.

*By Neil Ashton for the Daily Mail

society is in the editing suite

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/managers/jurgen-klopp/12076010/Soft-German-Jurgen-Klopp-v-Old-School-Brit-Sam-Allardyce-maintains-a-proud-Liverpool-tradition.html

maybe enough for pands to recognise a new leaf being turned in the bascombe oeuvre

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWIEmOvXAAAqHDB.jpg

ugh, who?

Jamie Jackson?

bingo

fairly sure we clowned an excerpt from that book that appeared on the guardian a few months ago concerning man united's tour to australia(?) under moyes but I can't find the thread

ah, found it

thread of terrible football journalism

rob smyth headlines/bylines most depressing thing on internet

simon barnes is just appalling

https://twitter.com/FraserNelson/status/692605119368667136

http://i.imgur.com/RKEbMrn.png

Innocence. Meaning. Belief. Trust. Faith.

Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis.

Dave Dee. Dozy. Beaky. Mick. Tich.

Henry Winter ‏@henrywinter 2h2 hours ago
Captain, Leader, Legend, Leaving.

Henry Winter is the John Terry of football journalism.

Like he literally commentates live on games saying "shot, Ramires, wide" as if the dead in the water "live updates" of his peers simply can't be trusted, like he's sending news by post from another continent in 1931.