By Yurt Go To Postit's such an amazing place for PVP too!It's calendar based, but still…quite sad, isn't it?
Ah damn I just figured out the trick to it. Ez mode ^ ^
Squawka News @SquawkaNews 1m1 minute ago
OFFICIAL: Phil Neville has taken temporary charge of Valencia following the resignation of Nuno Espirito Santo.
lol
OFFICIAL: Phil Neville has taken temporary charge of Valencia following the resignation of Nuno Espirito Santo.
lol
By Pellerin Go To PostSquawka News @SquawkaNews 1m1 minute agois that a joke account?
OFFICIAL: Phil Neville has taken temporary charge of Valencia following the resignation of Nuno Espirito Santo.
lol
“Jap. Yo Jap. Walk on. Walk on. Oi, walk on. Yeah you, Jap. Walk on,”
I wonder if the guy Vardy was shouting this at was a Thai prostitute he'd have been fired? (I'm aware the insult Jap would then be null but roll with me on this)
I wonder if the guy Vardy was shouting this at was a Thai prostitute he'd have been fired? (I'm aware the insult Jap would then be null but roll with me on this)
By Elchele Go To Postis that a joke account?
No.
By Pellerin Go To PostSquawka News @SquawkaNews 1m1 minute ago
OFFICIAL: Phil Neville has taken temporary charge of Valencia following the resignation of Nuno Espirito Santo.
lol
Amazing.
By Laboured Go To Post“Jap. Yo Jap. Walk on. Walk on. Oi, walk on. Yeah you, Jap. Walk on,”Wut
I wonder if the guy Vardy was shouting this at was a Thai prostitute he'd have been fired?
By AshwinK Go To PostWut
Think some Leicester youth players were fired over some kind of racist orgy(!?)
By AshwinK Go To PostWut
In the pre-season 3 Leicester youth players were fired when video was found of them racially abusing Thai prostitutes during an orgy.
So the rhetorical question that should be begged is why was Vardy not fired for near identical racial abuse?
Is it because he wasn't in the middle of an orgy when he did it or is it because he's a first team player?
• Cristiano (48 goals, 52 apps)
• Messi (48 - 56)
• Neymar (45 - 59)
Ronaldo should win the balloon. He has the best goal to game ratio
• Messi (48 - 56)
• Neymar (45 - 59)
Ronaldo should win the balloon. He has the best goal to game ratio
Rooney has now had one shot on target and created two chances in his last four Premier League matches.
By way of comparison, left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has amassed seven chances created and four shots on target in the same time.
By way of comparison, left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has amassed seven chances created and four shots on target in the same time.
Decent article by Ken Early on ex-United players chatting shit about the current side. Will C&P the whole thing as it's behind a paywall.
Which was the greatest football team in history? The Brazilians of 1970? The Dutch AC Milan of the late 80s? The Barcelona of Guardiola and Messi? None of these. The greatest team ever to play the game was the Manchester United “of old”, when the legion of ex-players currently commenting on United in the media were still playing for the club.
In those days, United either won 5-0 or scored a last-minute goal to win 3-2 after going 2-0 down. You never knew which of those two Manchester Uniteds was going to turn up. They would smash their opponents to pieces, then smash the broken pieces into even smaller pieces. Words like “buccaneering” were hauled out of 18th-century obscurity and used to describe their play, because modern words were not romantic enough to capture their rollicking, free-spirited adventure. You score three, we’ll score seven – that was the United way.
At least that’s how the ex-United players seem to remember it, foremost among them the erstwhile ginger genius, Paul Scholes. Alex Ferguson described Scholes as “a man of excellent opinions”, and the now-prolific pundit has become the most influential critic of Louis van Gaal’s “boring” side.
Divorced from reality
The curious thing about Scholes’s excellent opinions is how often they seem to be totally divorced from reality. “I was lucky enough to play with players that you would give them the ball and they can beat five men and ram the ball in the top corner,” he recently told viewers on BT Sport.
In fact, when you think back over Scholes’s 19 years at United, only one goal of the type he describes comes to mind – Ryan Giggs’ winner against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final. Scholes’s commentary is quite typical of the reminiscences of the former United players. Maybe success has a tendency to scramble the brain, because those of us who watched from the outside remember it differently.
Take for instance the United team of 2008-9, whose attack featured Cristiano Ronaldo, a young and energetic Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and Dimitar Berbatov. They won the Premier League with 90 points, yet their tally of 68 league goals was only four more than United scored in the David Moyes season. The reason they were so successful was that they went four whole months without conceding a goal in the league. Fourteen of their 44 wins that season were by 1-0.
Ferguson always paid lip-service to the idea of attacking football, but the reality was that he often sent out defence-focused sides, knowing he could rely on his world-class forwards to make the difference. Once you’ve got a reputation for playing attacking football, you can defend with nine men all day.
Van Gaal’s situation at United has some echoes of Pep Guardiola’s at Bayern Munich. In his first season in Germany, Guardiola was often criticised by ex-Bayern players who complained that his possession-oriented style was boring.
The critics were at their loudest in April 2014, when Bayern went to Madrid for the Champions League semi-final, monopolised the ball and most of the opportunities, and lost 1-0 to a breakaway goal. Afterwards, Guardiola said: “I’m aware that I’m attempting something counter-cultural. Here they like the way Real Madrid played against us, the counter-attacking football of Borussia Dortmund. But Bayern hired me, my style of football.”
What Guardiola said about German cultural preferences could be applied to England. The game in both countries has been shaped by the tastes of the crowds. The crowds prefer high-tempo direct football that gets the ball into the box as often as possible, because that’s when a crowd knows it’s time to get excited.
Alex Ferguson’s United teams used the home crowd to their advantage. They would get it wide and sling it repeatedly into the box. Creating a lot of chances would get the crowd going, even if they weren’t good-quality chances, and Old Trafford in full cry put opponents under the sort of psychological pressure that few were equipped to handle.
Coaches like van Gaal and Guardiola see the game differently. The “boring, sideways passing” in midfield that Scholes complains about is, for them, an essential element of good attacking play. Passing in midfield is how you disrupt your opponents’ organisation. Guardiola told the journalist Marti Perarnau that “If there isn’t a sequence of 15 passes first, it’s impossible to carry out the transition between defence and attack. Impossible.”
Frustrating
The problem with implementing a 15-pass rule in English football is that the crowd doesn’t see the point of all this midfield manoeuvring and starts to chant “attack, attack, attack attack attack”, which is frustrating since that is exactly what you think you are doing.
Newspaper reports over the weekend suggested Guardiola might like to coach United whenever he decides to leave Bayern. If he comes to Old Trafford, the football will be like van Gaal’s, only more so. If United supporters don’t like what they’re seeing now, they should be hoping for Ryan Giggs rather than Guardiola to inherit van Gaal’s job. That’s the best way to find out whether the United way is more than just a trick of the memory.
Which was the greatest football team in history? The Brazilians of 1970? The Dutch AC Milan of the late 80s? The Barcelona of Guardiola and Messi? None of these. The greatest team ever to play the game was the Manchester United “of old”, when the legion of ex-players currently commenting on United in the media were still playing for the club.
In those days, United either won 5-0 or scored a last-minute goal to win 3-2 after going 2-0 down. You never knew which of those two Manchester Uniteds was going to turn up. They would smash their opponents to pieces, then smash the broken pieces into even smaller pieces. Words like “buccaneering” were hauled out of 18th-century obscurity and used to describe their play, because modern words were not romantic enough to capture their rollicking, free-spirited adventure. You score three, we’ll score seven – that was the United way.
At least that’s how the ex-United players seem to remember it, foremost among them the erstwhile ginger genius, Paul Scholes. Alex Ferguson described Scholes as “a man of excellent opinions”, and the now-prolific pundit has become the most influential critic of Louis van Gaal’s “boring” side.
Divorced from reality
The curious thing about Scholes’s excellent opinions is how often they seem to be totally divorced from reality. “I was lucky enough to play with players that you would give them the ball and they can beat five men and ram the ball in the top corner,” he recently told viewers on BT Sport.
In fact, when you think back over Scholes’s 19 years at United, only one goal of the type he describes comes to mind – Ryan Giggs’ winner against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final. Scholes’s commentary is quite typical of the reminiscences of the former United players. Maybe success has a tendency to scramble the brain, because those of us who watched from the outside remember it differently.
Take for instance the United team of 2008-9, whose attack featured Cristiano Ronaldo, a young and energetic Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and Dimitar Berbatov. They won the Premier League with 90 points, yet their tally of 68 league goals was only four more than United scored in the David Moyes season. The reason they were so successful was that they went four whole months without conceding a goal in the league. Fourteen of their 44 wins that season were by 1-0.
Ferguson always paid lip-service to the idea of attacking football, but the reality was that he often sent out defence-focused sides, knowing he could rely on his world-class forwards to make the difference. Once you’ve got a reputation for playing attacking football, you can defend with nine men all day.
Van Gaal’s situation at United has some echoes of Pep Guardiola’s at Bayern Munich. In his first season in Germany, Guardiola was often criticised by ex-Bayern players who complained that his possession-oriented style was boring.
The critics were at their loudest in April 2014, when Bayern went to Madrid for the Champions League semi-final, monopolised the ball and most of the opportunities, and lost 1-0 to a breakaway goal. Afterwards, Guardiola said: “I’m aware that I’m attempting something counter-cultural. Here they like the way Real Madrid played against us, the counter-attacking football of Borussia Dortmund. But Bayern hired me, my style of football.”
What Guardiola said about German cultural preferences could be applied to England. The game in both countries has been shaped by the tastes of the crowds. The crowds prefer high-tempo direct football that gets the ball into the box as often as possible, because that’s when a crowd knows it’s time to get excited.
Alex Ferguson’s United teams used the home crowd to their advantage. They would get it wide and sling it repeatedly into the box. Creating a lot of chances would get the crowd going, even if they weren’t good-quality chances, and Old Trafford in full cry put opponents under the sort of psychological pressure that few were equipped to handle.
Coaches like van Gaal and Guardiola see the game differently. The “boring, sideways passing” in midfield that Scholes complains about is, for them, an essential element of good attacking play. Passing in midfield is how you disrupt your opponents’ organisation. Guardiola told the journalist Marti Perarnau that “If there isn’t a sequence of 15 passes first, it’s impossible to carry out the transition between defence and attack. Impossible.”
Frustrating
The problem with implementing a 15-pass rule in English football is that the crowd doesn’t see the point of all this midfield manoeuvring and starts to chant “attack, attack, attack attack attack”, which is frustrating since that is exactly what you think you are doing.
Newspaper reports over the weekend suggested Guardiola might like to coach United whenever he decides to leave Bayern. If he comes to Old Trafford, the football will be like van Gaal’s, only more so. If United supporters don’t like what they’re seeing now, they should be hoping for Ryan Giggs rather than Guardiola to inherit van Gaal’s job. That’s the best way to find out whether the United way is more than just a trick of the memory.
Will be nice to have Flanagan back, even though Clyne means that we're sorted at RB, and I think Moreno is worth his spot
Also, clean sheet, and the return of Henderson & Sturridge. Played perhaps the 6 toughest away games of the season and come through reasonably unscathed. Haven't drawn 1-1 for a while. January transfer window opens soon. Jurgen Klopp is our manager.
It'll do.
Also, clean sheet, and the return of Henderson & Sturridge. Played perhaps the 6 toughest away games of the season and come through reasonably unscathed. Haven't drawn 1-1 for a while. January transfer window opens soon. Jurgen Klopp is our manager.
It'll do.
By Laboured Go To PostRooney has now had one shot on target and created two chances in his last four Premier League matches.These are stats I don't need to hear or read about. Watching is enough, a novice could spot out Rooneys total ineptness on the pitch.
By way of comparison, left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has amassed seven chances created and four shots on target in the same time.
I'm assuming one of his chances came against Leicester yesterday and as soon as I saw it not end in a goal, I knew that was all we were gonna get out of Rooney for the rest of the match.
By Laboured Go To PostIn the pre-season 3 Leicester youth players were fired when video was found of them racially abusing Thai prostitutes during an orgy.Wow..That is disgusting
So the rhetorical question that should be begged is why was Vardy not fired for near identical racial abuse?
Is it because he wasn't in the middle of an orgy when he did it or is it because he's a first team player?
By Slizz Go To PostThese are stats I don't need to hear or read about. Watching is enough, a novice could spot out Rooneys total ineptness on the pitch.He is been consistently mediocre/awful from 2012 onwards tbh
I'm assuming one of his chances came against Leicester yesterday and as soon as I saw it not end in a goal I knew that was all we were gonna get out of Rooney for the rest of the match.
By AshwinK Go To PostWow..That is disgusting
He is been consistently mediocre/awful from 2012 onwards tbh
He won games though 2-3 years ago, won a couple last year too.
Now hes really doing nothing and nobody on the opposing team is worried about a signature Rooney burst and a ball over the top, or a good touch. They never happen anymore
Think he's gone too far there tbh
I find Pep's sides dull at times, but they're always probing
Sometimes I feel like Man Utd are keeping the ball purely as a defensive method.
A Link Between Worlds is really good. About to go into the woods, feel that the House of Gales dragged on a bit tbh
I find Pep's sides dull at times, but they're always probing
Sometimes I feel like Man Utd are keeping the ball purely as a defensive method.
A Link Between Worlds is really good. About to go into the woods, feel that the House of Gales dragged on a bit tbh
is elite dangerous worth a 10 sheet? Are they going to stop updating the base game once their "AAA PRICE EXPANSION PACK" comes out?
Looks like a huge fucking scam.
Looks like a huge fucking scam.
By Hitch Go To PostWill be nice to have Flanagan back, even though Clyne means that we're sorted at RB, and I think Moreno is worth his spotI dont mind if Klopp raids Dortmund for Aubameyang..He fits your requirement of winger/forward and is not injury prone or weak in head like Sturridge.
Also, clean sheet, and the return of Henderson & Sturridge. Played perhaps the 6 toughest away games of the season and come through reasonably unscathed. Haven't drawn 1-1 for a while. January transfer window opens soon. Jurgen Klopp is our manager.
It'll do.
Edit : 2011-13 Barca was utter boring to watch ,first under Pep and then Vilanova..Messi was at his peak then though
Football is a simple game. You just need to get the ball in the back of the net.
What's the point of stringing 70 passes together when you can get it done in one.
Whenever I hear Xavi could see 14 passes ahead, I often think why wasn't he good enough to just get it done with one.
What's the point of stringing 70 passes together when you can get it done in one.
Whenever I hear Xavi could see 14 passes ahead, I often think why wasn't he good enough to just get it done with one.
By Hitch Go To PostThink he's gone too far there tbh
I find Pep's sides dull at times, but they're always probing
Sometimes I feel like Man Utd are keeping the ball purely as a defensive method.
Going to agree here, feels like United are trying to imitate the old Barca style without properly understanding it.
Any of you lot playing Battlefront? Gunna be getting stuck into it later, can't wait.
By Shanks D Zoro Go To PostFootball is a simple game. You just need to get the ball in the back of the net.asserting dominance. control the tempo. slow opponent momentum and morale.
What's the point of stringing 70 passes together when you can get it done in one.
Whenever I hear Xavi could see 14 passes ahead, I often think why wasn't he good enough to just get it done with one.
By AshwinK Go To PostI dont mind if Klopp raids Dortmund for Aubameyang..He fits your requirement of winger/forward and is not injury prone or weak in head like Sturridge.Read that he extended his contract til 2020 recently, so he'd probably cost like £60m
And we'd have to finish top 4. Can't see FSG spending that much on a striker having just spent £32m on Benteke.
Quite intrigued to see if Klopp will use the greater availability of funds to buy the team he wants, or if he'll try and make it like he did at Dortmund.
Not sure our fans have the patience or faith for the latter.
By Auto Go To Postasserting dominance. control the tempo. slow opponent momentum and morale.
Auto for the Wenger job.
By Hitch Go To PostWill be nice to have Flanagan back, even though Clyne means that we're sorted at RB, and I think Moreno is worth his spotWill be good to have Flanno back for depth because we don't have any back-ups at full back bar Randall who's played one game and Enrique. I imagine we won't see an awful lot of him until next season (if he's still at the club) as he's coming back from 30 months of injury. Still, his play style is quite similar to Clyne and he was previously very good at LB.
Also, clean sheet, and the return of Henderson & Sturridge. Played perhaps the 6 toughest away games of the season and come through reasonably unscathed. Haven't drawn 1-1 for a while. January transfer window opens soon. Jurgen Klopp is our manager.
It'll do.
By Shanks D Zoro Go To PostFootball is a simple game. You just need to get the ball in the back of the net.I agree Shanks. Like the best way to kill a tiger is to stab it.
What's the point of stringing 70 passes together when you can get it done in one.
Whenever I hear Xavi could see 14 passes ahead, I often think why wasn't he good enough to just get it done with one.
Why bother running away when one is attacking you when you can just stab it first with a sword.
Don't think Enrique has been injured for anywhere near that entire time
As far as I can tell, he's essentially Winston Bogarde-ing it
Really hope the days of Can at rightback and forwards awkwardly shoved into wingback roles are behind us.
How has that Copenhagen leftback been doing this season?
As far as I can tell, he's essentially Winston Bogarde-ing it
Really hope the days of Can at rightback and forwards awkwardly shoved into wingback roles are behind us.
How has that Copenhagen leftback been doing this season?
By Auto Go To Postasserting dominance. control the tempo. slow opponent momentum and morale.
football is about scoring more than your opponents.
That is how you assert dominance.
Zemen always had the right ideas for football, but he just could never work out the defensive end.
Flan is out for like almost 2 years right?
That's terrible.
If you add Wilshere's injuries periods i think he could legit be out for 3 years already.
And he's playing professionaly since like 5 years ago.
That's terrible.
If you add Wilshere's injuries periods i think he could legit be out for 3 years already.
And he's playing professionaly since like 5 years ago.
Aubameyang
My gosh how Milan must kick themselves
Never gave him a chance
Yet they gave Niang 34 chances to not score for them before he finally did.
My gosh how Milan must kick themselves
Never gave him a chance
Yet they gave Niang 34 chances to not score for them before he finally did.
By Mangoverboard Go To PostGoing to agree here, feels like United are trying to imitate the old Barca style without properly understanding it.Well not really mate, more like our offensive players are shit at applying the system on the attack. Too much self doubts until they don't shoot sometimes. We don't really have the problem in the defence or midfield, everything is almost smooth sailing there.
Any of you lot playing Battlefront? Gunna be getting stuck into it later, can't wait.
I'm confident it will come though.
I just hope I'll still be alive when I see it.
By Hitch Go To PostDon't think Enrique has been injured for anywhere near that entire timeFlanno has been out for since summer 2014, Enrique has been on twitter since then.
As far as I can tell, he's essentially Winston Bogarde-ing it
Really hope the days of Can at rightback and forwards awkwardly shoved into wingback roles are behind us.
How has that Copenhagen leftback been doing this season?
By Punished Go To PostFlanno has been out for since summer 2014, Enrique has been on twitter since then.Ah, thought it was Enrique you were talking about
By Hitch Go To PostAh, thought it was Enrique you were talking aboutProbably confused you since I'd forgotten what year we're in - Flanno's been out 18 months, not 30.
Tickets finally ordered. 7th to 29th february. I avoid having my birthday at home for another year. May the baklas be with me.
I thought you were going to do another semester out there?
At least we will only be without our eFukt Programme Guide for 3 weeks this time.
At least we will only be without our eFukt Programme Guide for 3 weeks this time.
Why do employers bother sending emails telling you that "you are not fit for this position"? What did this achieve besides making me feel bad
Just leave me alone if you don't want to hire me
Just leave me alone if you don't want to hire me
By hixx Go To PostI thought you were going to do another semester out there?
At least we will only be without our eFukt Programme Guide for 3 weeks this time.
This is my last semester, done in middle of January m8. Doing my final thesis right now, or I am supposed to.
By Dissonance Go To PostWhy do employers bother sending emails telling you that "you are not fit for this position"? What did this achieve besides making me feel bad
Just leave me alone if you don't want to hire me
I was once forced to try and apply for jobs, as I didn't want to start another education yet, by the evil socialist government. So I wrote out a bunch of idiotic ones, like applying for a bar saying "I want to work here because I like alcohol". They never replied for some reason, but it was great fun doing it.
By Dissonance Go To PostWhy do employers bother sending emails telling you that "you are not fit for this position"? What did this achieve besides making me feel badlol you sound like bla
Just leave me alone if you don't want to hire me
Clegg, I think that's pretty bang on. Some quibbles, but really I just don't think we have difference-makers to finish off pretty well structured attacking play. Said it Sat/Sun.
By n8 Go To PostI said Ozil would be POTS. Incredible
Let's hope you got the prem winner right as well
By Elchele Go To Postlol you sound like blaMaybe blablurn is me. maybe we're all blablurn