Football journalism

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.

bascombe at it again with another spiteful little club pr job masquerading as an 'article' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/12138423/Daniel-Sturridge-is-exhausting-Liverpools-patience-and-his-absence-is-killing-the-team.html

especially enjoyed how he brings up the idea that sturridge decides whether to play or not depending on what God tells him, then dismisses this as far fetched, then suggests it's probably true anyway

Again, there is no suggestion Sturridge believes he has a direct line to the Almighty determining whether he should put his body on the line, but it must be tough to change a player’s mind on his fitness 24 hours before a game if he thinks his creator is sending him a message his destiny is to watch from the executive box.

also thinks the player should feel guilty for being injured and costing rodgers his job.

the latest example of Jurgen Klopp heading into a gunfight against one of the quickest draws in the west armed with only a pocket knife.

Liverpool’s attackers play like they’re being guided by a faulty sat-nav

It’s rather like waiting for Superman to come to the rescue, only to realise he is incapable of getting out of the phone box.

discussing the prolonged absenteeism of the England striker often feels like ballet dancing on eggshells.

as if a room of Harvard professors have convened to ensure each full-stop is in the right place for fear of misinterpretation or litigation.

ikr?

just risible

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03189/chris-bascombe_3189184j.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbVcAsdUEAA5KnM.jpg

Now we're talking. Back when an opening para was an opening para.

an attempt at trolling so transparent and moronic that they couldn't even find a journalist to put their name to it http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/zlatan-ibrahimovic/12162472/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-would-flop-at-Man-Utd-heres-why.html

Distance covered per game - Premier League 2015/16

Interesting table. Seems to demonstrate that running around a lot makes no difference to your league position.

Hugh Mcilvanney retires. His writing on football and boxing is among the greatest sports journalism I've ever read (he also wrote on horse racing but I think it's vile and stupid so I haven't read much of it).

Can't fucking wait till "Gary Neville's Valencia" becomes "Valencia" again.

there's a crowdfunder for a Scottish equivalent of the blizzard that has just about reached it's 10,000 pound target : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1406994286/nutmeg-the-scottish-football-periodical
some decent names on there. but also bill leckie.
and the sample articles are not that promising.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3519872/Marcos-Rojo-pays-visit-Post-Office-defender-deliver-Manchester-United-Argentina-smoking-storm.html

really liked sid lowe's interview with Monchi https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/17/sevilla-monchi-liverpool-europa-league-final

"Negotiations come next, where you have to know the market, have an alternative, and be realistic. “The guy selling a Seat Leon will claim it’s a better model,” Monchi says. “Kanouté wasn’t the first option; we were going after Fred, the Brazilian. We wanted [Kevin-Prince] Boateng before Keita. And if a player says: ‘Chelsea want me,’ I say: ‘What are you talking to me for, then?’ But if Swansea or Spurs want you, let’s talk. I sell the city, the club: a serious club that pays as promised, which sounds trivial but isn’t.”"

lol

:)

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNewsHQ/status/732665863497650176

What Ancelotti lacks in fire, he more than covers with deep, deep sanity.

https://next.ft.com/content/720cae92-1c32-11e6-a7bc-ee846770ec15?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Flife-arts_lunch-with-the-ft%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3628180/Roy-Hodgson-football-man-course-England-thankful-manager-that.html