By Andrew Go To PostHerrera turning down Barcelona :lolBest briefing I remember was Cameron Brannagan being linked with Real and Barça when he wasn't being promoted to the first team. Think he was last on loan at Wigan.
United are always briefing.
By Vivalapizza Go To Posthttps://twitter.com/eurosport_uk/status/869161445287743488
Eric pls
what the fuck lmao
By Punished Go To PostBest briefing I remember was Cameron Brannagan being linked with Real and Barça when he wasn't being promoted to the first team. Think he was last on loan at Wigan.Took a decent corner tbf
Really good interview with Tony Adams. Calls wenger a billy no-mates
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/29/tony-adams-arsenal-arsene-wenger-board
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/29/tony-adams-arsenal-arsene-wenger-board
By Vivalapizza Go To Posthttps://twitter.com/eurosport_uk/status/869161445287743488why footy
Eric pls
pls
By Hitch Go To PostReading are an utterly dull footballing entity. If Huddersfield come up, it'll at least be intriguing.Aren't you from Reading?
“When Arsène first got here he spoke about Lilian Thuram. He had him at Monaco and Thuram was making mistakes and costing him game after game. But Arsène worked with him and coached and trained him. Eventually they sold him for a lot of money, he became a French international and the rest is history. But Arsène said: ‘I’ll never do that at Arsenal. I can’t afford these players to cost me anymore.’
He's not stopped.
He's not stopped.
By n8 dogg Go To PostReally good interview with Tony Adams. Calls wenger a billy no-mates
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/may/29/tony-adams-arsenal-arsene-wenger-board
"at Arsenal, he’s got total dominance. The board do nothing. Arsène has a free rein. He’s earning them so much money he can do what he wants."
and gooners get angry when I say this :lol
the board want him to stay, period.
By Ciaran Go To Post
"at Arsenal, he’s got total dominance. The board do nothing. Arsène has a free rein. He’s earning them so much money he can do what he wants."
and gooners get angry when I say this :lol
the board want him to stay, period.
Do they? I'm almost certain everyone agrees.
Adams believes that, even if there was no role for him, Wenger might have brought in Patrick Vieira, another steely former captain, instead of quieter assistants like Pat Rice or Steve Bould. Vieira has apparently also said Wenger will always shy away from bringing in “big characters” who might challenge his methods..
The dean of Soft Lad University.
Tbf why the fuck would you want Vieira involved in your Prem club? Win percentage of 41% with one of the more 'stacked' clubs in all of MLS
I think Herrera is Barca quality. As lovable as an enema but one of the better central mids in the PL.
By Ciaran Go To Postwe literally all agree with this :lol
"at Arsenal, he’s got total dominance. The board do nothing. Arsène has a free rein. He’s earning them so much money he can do what he wants."
and gooners get angry when I say this :lol.
Kronke and the board love Wenger. He wont spend much, keeps them stable, and the past keeps fans from really lashing out at him.
A two year extension is fine with me, if they decide to get their shit in order and prep this club for a new coach. But i'm pretty sure they wont sign a DoF and Wenger will rule till he croaks.
That's something Fergie did well in his later years at the club, he realised that he couldnt have much control over training etc anymore so he left it to other coaches to do that and they still won leagues/CLs. It's something I wish Wenger would do.
By Oddinho Go To PostI think Herrera is Barca quality. As lovable as an enema but one of the better central mids in the PL.This is legitimately one of the first instances ive seen of someone who doesnt support United calling him good
By Grizzled Cola Go To PostThis is legitimately one of the first instances ive seen of someone who doesnt support United calling him good
By n8 dogg Go To PostDo they? I'm almost certain everyone agrees.They get agitated when you try to explain to them (for yearS mind you) why nothing will really change because the board is happy and that they should just roll over and accept it
Wenger OUT
NEW BOARD
Who gives a shit about trophies and what you ants want, he's making them millions.
Herrera is good, overrated by Man Utd fans imo, and a snide cunt in the bad way
@sohois, I'm from Maidenhead. Near Reading, but not so close that too many people around here consider them a local team.
@sohois, I'm from Maidenhead. Near Reading, but not so close that too many people around here consider them a local team.
I don't overrate Herrera in terms of his quality. We absolutely can improve on him. Love his attitude though; loves the club and fights for us every time he steps onto the field.
By Grizzled Cola Go To PostThis is legitimately one of the first instances ive seen of someone who doesnt support United calling him good
He's a good player. Can create and got WAY better at the aggressive stuff over the years. I don't really think he's a barca level player tbf, but they sign worse players all the time so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
By Ciaran Go To PostLike people haven't been saying that for ages now
"at Arsenal, he’s got total dominance. The board do nothing. Arsène has a free rein. He’s earning them so much money he can do what he wants."
and gooners get angry when I say this :lol
the board want him to stay, period.
I actually think Herrera is underrated by opposition fans mostly; a lot see him as just a wind-up merchant but he's intelligent, can pass, can defend... proper jack of all trades defender that all should have in the side. Doesn't necessarily have to start, but a great option.
By Ciaran Go To PostThey get agitated when you try to explain to them (for yearS mind you) why nothing will really change because the board is happy and that they should just roll over and accept it
Wenger OUT
NEW BOARD
Who gives a shit about trophies and what you ants want, he's making them millions.
Don't they get agitated because... they know that's true? Not because they don't believe it.
This is gonna be a long one, so if you don’t care for Totti or me, then skip. ;p
Part 1: How it all started
Unfortunately, I don’t remember my first Totti moment. I would have been a few months shy of six when he made his debut. I do remember being left flabbergasted by the Roma-Parma matches. Here was the lad from Roma tearing a new one to Buffon, Canna, and Thurham.
Serie A back in the 90s was a league like none other. The best of the best played there. The best keepers, the best defenders, the best midfielders, and the best forwards all played there or wanted to play there. You couldn’t be considered one of the elites without having played in Italy. It was tactical, it was technical, and it was physical. It wasn’t a case of elite few having the best players, it was half the league competing in Europe and boasting world class talent. It was the complete package.
For this lad Totti to be doing what he was doing was amazing, but at the end of the day this was a league with Baggio, Mancini, and Del Piero. Totti was seemed pretty ordinary compared to them. Then came the Brazilian God. They could dribble through half a team, cut inside and then finish it off. Totti was just another player in Serie A.
Baggio was my first love, then he broke my heart. Del Boy was my second love, then I found someone else.
Euro 2000 came around and Totti was under pressure. He was now one of the best in Serie A. He needed to back it up with his Azzurri performances. On route to the final, Totti provided a couple of goals, scored that cheeky penalty, and pretty much dominated our play. Still, nothing special, that was what was expected of him.
However, that final changed it all.
Totti changed my eyes on what football could be. Totti even in defeat was named man of the match. Here was the best time in the world, IMO of the best ten of all time, and Totti was destroying the Deschamps-Vieria-Zidane midfield. He saw the game in a completely different way to the likes of Baggio and Del Piero. He was a battler, he was a visionary, a maestro. The artisan of passing. The magician of calcio. He could see ten moves ahead, but with one wave of his two magic wands one move was all that was required. It was not a perfect game from Totti, they never are (I will get into that more later). His back heel was the assist of the assist for the goal. He completely took out the second best LB I have ever seen, Lizarazu (Yes, you all know who is ranked first; p). The rest of the second half saw pass after pass find forwards like nobody else could.
However, it wasn’t to be. Not for the first, or last time in his career, Totti was let down by the players around.
The impression of his performance has never left me. I didn’t cry that night for me, but for him.
Part 2: The Growing Magisterial.
The next season he won the league with the only truly great team he has played with. He was fantastic, his best season to date and it was il capitano that scored the goal to start of the celebrations against Parma on the final day of the season. He really was like no other player. He didn’t need speed or raw strength he would just use his pure football intellect to pick apart opposition defences at will.
Back to what I said about how Totti changed my view on football. Ronaldo was maybe my favourite player. The fiercest striker that was in the world, he could turn even Maldini inside out. The more I watched and the more I realised the limitations of a player like Ronaldo. He could bully, dribble past the best in the world, and score impossible goals, but he couldn’t do what Totti could do and the more his speed was taken from him the more he diminished.
Totti never needed speed. He just knew where to place himself and where his teammates would be. Back to goal, Cafu running down the wing, Totti knew a 50 yard diagonal ball to Cafu would do the job, and the ball would find Cafu at the exact moment he was galloping down the pitch so he didn’t need to slow down.
Totti could slot a pass down a whole tighter than a virgin snatch. It didn’t matter how many players were between Totti and a teammate, he would find a through ball, a flick, or a chip to get them a shot on goal.
Part 3: The Never Ending Love affair.
By 2006 Totti was for me the best attacking player in the world. Then came the Empoli match in Feb, Totti was badly hurt. Totti had a fracture and ligament damage that would rule him out of the world cup, a metal plate was put into his leg. Nob0ody who have said anything if he had taken his recovery slow and focused on the next season. However, Totti against all odds and at risk of ending his career early, fought back to play again that season and would be included in the squad for Germany. Half fit he would become a World Cup winner, contributing the most assists at the tournament, a winning penalty, and plenty of Totti passes.
Seeing him risk it all, the guy who supposedly didn’t care about the national team, leaving no doubt that he was like no other.
Part 4: The Total Footballer
As I said earlier, Totti never had the perfect game. Totti grew up in the hardest era of Seria A. He was always encouraged to make things happen. He wasn’t expected to be the tempo setter like Xavi, or the finisher like Ronaldo. He was the meant to be the player that could unlock any defence with one pace at any given moment. He would not care about completing 115 passes at 99%. He was all about completing one pass that would carry a 99% probability of failure, amongst the top 1% of passers ;p.
He does the things that you can’t coach, the things that you can’t read about, and the things you can’t learn. He does the things that you make up in a nano second in the middle of a moment.
Totti’s career stats are nothing special. Serie A’s second highest scorer, but that was mainly down to longevity. A personal best league campaign of 26, that was good enough for the golden boot.
People on here say bring up the fact that he only ever scored more than 20 twice in a league campaign. People take his lack of goals as a slight against him. What is it 9 for Italy? LMAO even Balotelli has that.
That is how far Totti moved the goalposts. People slag him off for not producing the Messi/Ronaldio numbers when on reality Totti is a Zidane.
I recently said Totti never had a team built around him. Of course he has always been the number one player for Roma. The player all coaches insert into the lineup first. The thing with Totti is that he is so good he can play anywhere in the front six and has had to in his career. Coaches came in and wanted to fit Totti around the rest of the squad as opposed to fit players around Totti.
He changed the modern game more than any other player. He had to fill a role he had never done before. He saw no personal glory. United and Barcelona saw CL titles. He showed the footballing elites what football could be seven years after he had shown me the way. #ShanksIsAlwaysRight
Part 5: The Critics
Totti is a player who can do no right. He is a cunt. He isn’t too bright. He is selfish. He is arrogant.
I feel people use these tiny things more than any other player to drag him through the mud.
He didn’t do much in 2006. Well he was risking it all at 50%.
He didn’t win much. Well neither did Maradona and Baggio.
Yeah, but Maradona made teams better. But he never had to play with Mancini and Wojo.
He isn’t a top player because he never played for a top team. Sorry for being loyal, wait a minute. Didn’t you criticise Player X for not being loyal?
People can find enough reasons to bring him down for things that are beyond his control. He took shitty Roma sides to play above what they should have been. Even last season he got them a CL position, only to see him not played and Roma beaten by Porto.
People call Messi the GOAT, which is fair enough he is the only player who has an attribute better that Totti, yet they forget he has also has consistently played his career with four or five of the other top ten players in the world. When he gets to a final with Argentine people criticise those around him, Totti has spent a career with players who have not been good enough.
That is the joy of Totti. He is the player who made Spurs break their transfer record to sign Lamela lol. He makes players better. Sadly, he is usually dealt a very shitty hand.
People say he never won a Balloon. Well just think, Ronaldinho, Owen, and Kaka have won one. Totti started his career years before them and is finishing it years after it, and not once did he ever drop off in form during 25 seasons.
If you were to give out career Balloons, then who do you give them to? Maldini, Buffon, Giggs, and Totti. That is the level Totti played at. Not just an amazing year, an exceptional few years, but two decades at the top of the game.
Part 6: Arriveriderci
If you are still with me, thank you Yurt and FF, maybe n8. Flabber stopped long ago because ofhow poorly written this is :p.
For me Totti sums up what is beautiful about football. A ridiculous flick, a geometrically impossible volley, a gravity defying touch, a rocket of a strike, a pass that defies the space time continuum.
I have always believed everything I have written about Totti, I hope this goes someway to explaining why(I just finished off my 8th beer writing this over three hours, so sorry if it doesn’t make sense :P)
If anyone is accidently reading this part, I am sorry if I have dismissed when you posted a comment or a video about what your favourite player just did. It is just that well I saw Totti do that consistently for 20 years. :P
For me a little bit of football died last night, but at the same time maybe another spark was lit when a 16-year-old born in 2001 scored his first career goal in Totti’s last game.
I leave you with this.
Thanks for the memories.
From the Buffon chip to the pass to SES.
You are my GOAT, my God, my one and only.
Part 1: How it all started
Unfortunately, I don’t remember my first Totti moment. I would have been a few months shy of six when he made his debut. I do remember being left flabbergasted by the Roma-Parma matches. Here was the lad from Roma tearing a new one to Buffon, Canna, and Thurham.
Serie A back in the 90s was a league like none other. The best of the best played there. The best keepers, the best defenders, the best midfielders, and the best forwards all played there or wanted to play there. You couldn’t be considered one of the elites without having played in Italy. It was tactical, it was technical, and it was physical. It wasn’t a case of elite few having the best players, it was half the league competing in Europe and boasting world class talent. It was the complete package.
For this lad Totti to be doing what he was doing was amazing, but at the end of the day this was a league with Baggio, Mancini, and Del Piero. Totti was seemed pretty ordinary compared to them. Then came the Brazilian God. They could dribble through half a team, cut inside and then finish it off. Totti was just another player in Serie A.
Baggio was my first love, then he broke my heart. Del Boy was my second love, then I found someone else.
Euro 2000 came around and Totti was under pressure. He was now one of the best in Serie A. He needed to back it up with his Azzurri performances. On route to the final, Totti provided a couple of goals, scored that cheeky penalty, and pretty much dominated our play. Still, nothing special, that was what was expected of him.
However, that final changed it all.
Totti changed my eyes on what football could be. Totti even in defeat was named man of the match. Here was the best time in the world, IMO of the best ten of all time, and Totti was destroying the Deschamps-Vieria-Zidane midfield. He saw the game in a completely different way to the likes of Baggio and Del Piero. He was a battler, he was a visionary, a maestro. The artisan of passing. The magician of calcio. He could see ten moves ahead, but with one wave of his two magic wands one move was all that was required. It was not a perfect game from Totti, they never are (I will get into that more later). His back heel was the assist of the assist for the goal. He completely took out the second best LB I have ever seen, Lizarazu (Yes, you all know who is ranked first; p). The rest of the second half saw pass after pass find forwards like nobody else could.
However, it wasn’t to be. Not for the first, or last time in his career, Totti was let down by the players around.
The impression of his performance has never left me. I didn’t cry that night for me, but for him.
Part 2: The Growing Magisterial.
The next season he won the league with the only truly great team he has played with. He was fantastic, his best season to date and it was il capitano that scored the goal to start of the celebrations against Parma on the final day of the season. He really was like no other player. He didn’t need speed or raw strength he would just use his pure football intellect to pick apart opposition defences at will.
Back to what I said about how Totti changed my view on football. Ronaldo was maybe my favourite player. The fiercest striker that was in the world, he could turn even Maldini inside out. The more I watched and the more I realised the limitations of a player like Ronaldo. He could bully, dribble past the best in the world, and score impossible goals, but he couldn’t do what Totti could do and the more his speed was taken from him the more he diminished.
Totti never needed speed. He just knew where to place himself and where his teammates would be. Back to goal, Cafu running down the wing, Totti knew a 50 yard diagonal ball to Cafu would do the job, and the ball would find Cafu at the exact moment he was galloping down the pitch so he didn’t need to slow down.
Totti could slot a pass down a whole tighter than a virgin snatch. It didn’t matter how many players were between Totti and a teammate, he would find a through ball, a flick, or a chip to get them a shot on goal.
Part 3: The Never Ending Love affair.
By 2006 Totti was for me the best attacking player in the world. Then came the Empoli match in Feb, Totti was badly hurt. Totti had a fracture and ligament damage that would rule him out of the world cup, a metal plate was put into his leg. Nob0ody who have said anything if he had taken his recovery slow and focused on the next season. However, Totti against all odds and at risk of ending his career early, fought back to play again that season and would be included in the squad for Germany. Half fit he would become a World Cup winner, contributing the most assists at the tournament, a winning penalty, and plenty of Totti passes.
Seeing him risk it all, the guy who supposedly didn’t care about the national team, leaving no doubt that he was like no other.
Part 4: The Total Footballer
As I said earlier, Totti never had the perfect game. Totti grew up in the hardest era of Seria A. He was always encouraged to make things happen. He wasn’t expected to be the tempo setter like Xavi, or the finisher like Ronaldo. He was the meant to be the player that could unlock any defence with one pace at any given moment. He would not care about completing 115 passes at 99%. He was all about completing one pass that would carry a 99% probability of failure, amongst the top 1% of passers ;p.
He does the things that you can’t coach, the things that you can’t read about, and the things you can’t learn. He does the things that you make up in a nano second in the middle of a moment.
Totti’s career stats are nothing special. Serie A’s second highest scorer, but that was mainly down to longevity. A personal best league campaign of 26, that was good enough for the golden boot.
People on here say bring up the fact that he only ever scored more than 20 twice in a league campaign. People take his lack of goals as a slight against him. What is it 9 for Italy? LMAO even Balotelli has that.
That is how far Totti moved the goalposts. People slag him off for not producing the Messi/Ronaldio numbers when on reality Totti is a Zidane.
I recently said Totti never had a team built around him. Of course he has always been the number one player for Roma. The player all coaches insert into the lineup first. The thing with Totti is that he is so good he can play anywhere in the front six and has had to in his career. Coaches came in and wanted to fit Totti around the rest of the squad as opposed to fit players around Totti.
He changed the modern game more than any other player. He had to fill a role he had never done before. He saw no personal glory. United and Barcelona saw CL titles. He showed the footballing elites what football could be seven years after he had shown me the way. #ShanksIsAlwaysRight
Part 5: The Critics
Totti is a player who can do no right. He is a cunt. He isn’t too bright. He is selfish. He is arrogant.
I feel people use these tiny things more than any other player to drag him through the mud.
He didn’t do much in 2006. Well he was risking it all at 50%.
He didn’t win much. Well neither did Maradona and Baggio.
Yeah, but Maradona made teams better. But he never had to play with Mancini and Wojo.
He isn’t a top player because he never played for a top team. Sorry for being loyal, wait a minute. Didn’t you criticise Player X for not being loyal?
People can find enough reasons to bring him down for things that are beyond his control. He took shitty Roma sides to play above what they should have been. Even last season he got them a CL position, only to see him not played and Roma beaten by Porto.
People call Messi the GOAT, which is fair enough he is the only player who has an attribute better that Totti, yet they forget he has also has consistently played his career with four or five of the other top ten players in the world. When he gets to a final with Argentine people criticise those around him, Totti has spent a career with players who have not been good enough.
That is the joy of Totti. He is the player who made Spurs break their transfer record to sign Lamela lol. He makes players better. Sadly, he is usually dealt a very shitty hand.
People say he never won a Balloon. Well just think, Ronaldinho, Owen, and Kaka have won one. Totti started his career years before them and is finishing it years after it, and not once did he ever drop off in form during 25 seasons.
If you were to give out career Balloons, then who do you give them to? Maldini, Buffon, Giggs, and Totti. That is the level Totti played at. Not just an amazing year, an exceptional few years, but two decades at the top of the game.
Part 6: Arriveriderci
If you are still with me, thank you Yurt and FF, maybe n8. Flabber stopped long ago because ofhow poorly written this is :p.
For me Totti sums up what is beautiful about football. A ridiculous flick, a geometrically impossible volley, a gravity defying touch, a rocket of a strike, a pass that defies the space time continuum.
I have always believed everything I have written about Totti, I hope this goes someway to explaining why(I just finished off my 8th beer writing this over three hours, so sorry if it doesn’t make sense :P)
If anyone is accidently reading this part, I am sorry if I have dismissed when you posted a comment or a video about what your favourite player just did. It is just that well I saw Totti do that consistently for 20 years. :P
For me a little bit of football died last night, but at the same time maybe another spark was lit when a 16-year-old born in 2001 scored his first career goal in Totti’s last game.
I leave you with this.
Thanks for the memories.
From the Buffon chip to the pass to SES.
You are my GOAT, my God, my one and only.
By n8 dogg Go To PostI don't overrate Herrera in terms of his quality. We absolutely can improve on him. Love his attitude though; loves the club and fights for us every time he steps onto the field.I dont think hes bad or anything, he does a job, but yeah in my ideal team he wouldnt play and would be used as a squad option, that being said I think its more likely he will lineup with Pogba and one other next season.
Is there a word for people thinking that their opinions are controversial, when they're actually the norm? It seems like an online/media phenomenon, I never really notice it in real life.
By Grizzled Cola Go To PostThis is legitimately one of the first instances ive seen of someone who doesnt support United calling him good
Can't be that rare. I think he's very good, he was the best player against us in both games this year.
By NinjaFridge Go To PostLike people haven't been saying that for ages nowYeah I've been saying it for ages, I know.
I hope they stop bitching and they accept their Roma status.
I honestly wouldn't give any player in either game more than a 6/10 for our games against Man Utd last season. Wouldn't even say either defense did well considering how fucking atrocious the attacking play was from both of us.
By n8 dogg Go To PostDon't they get agitated because… they know that's true? Not because they don't believe it.Not the ones who reply to me or the ones out there in the wilderness
Only joking, read the whole thing and am gonna watch the video now. Loved it. Love reading things like that. Love people telling me why they love football as much as I do. Cheers, Shanks.
By Oddinho Go To PostI think Herrera is Barca quality. As lovable as an enema but one of the better central mids in the PL.He's not.
Passing is too errant for a team like Barcelona.
That's a good writeup Shanks. I do think it's unfair to compare R9 to Totti though, they are just different types of players.
You could make a good argument for Makelele and others here. What about Pires reinventing wing roles?
He changed the modern game more than any other player
You could make a good argument for Makelele and others here. What about Pires reinventing wing roles?
By Hitch Go To PostIs there a word for people thinking that their opinions are controversial, when they're actually the norm? It seems like an online/media phenomenon, I never really notice it in real life.
By Esch Go To PostThat's a good writeup Shanks. I do think it's unfair to compare R9 to Totti though, they are just different types of players.
You could make a good argument for Makelele and others here. What about Pires reinventing wing roles?
Makelele actually got the position named after him :lol
years from now people will call goalkeeping the john o'shea role
By Vivalapizza Go To PostHe's not.
Passing is too errant for a team like Barcelona.
Herrera
Rakitic
Busquets
So he's between Rakitic and Busquets in terms of passing completion %. Not exactly what I would call errant, especially given he's playing in a Mourinho, not in a possession-based juggernaut.
By Vivalapizza Go To PostHe's not.Pep's Barca sure. He has other qualities that makes up for it.
Passing is too errant for a team like Barcelona.
I'm with Odd. Herrera is Barca quality, but that speaks more about how shoddy their midfield is this season than Herrera himself.
Nice write-up Shanks, will watch video later. Hard to have that kind of connection to a player in American sports, only one really for me is Dwyane Wade.
