Thank god the internationals are over

Posted on November 25th, 2007 in Defending, Idiots, Managers, Money, Premiership by stopsatgreen

A few thoughts from watching MotD tonight:

I’d forgotten John Carew played in England now. What’s his problem? A goal per game at Rosenborg, 1 in 4 at Valencia, 1 in 3 at Roma, 1 in 2 at Besiktas, 1 in 3 at Lyon and he can’t get 90 minutes at Villa?

I’d forgotten about Jonathan Woodgate, too. 27 years old and his best years are behind him. The only way he can get a game now is to play for Boro. From Champions League to relegation battle; not the best career arc at his age.

Performances to forget: The linesman who flagged Kenny Miller offside when he scored against Chelsea; Sunderland defender Paul McShane, who looked today what his name suggests: a cross between Paul Shane and Ian McShane. Ha ha.

Was the ‘expert summary’ after the Arsenal - Wigan game the shortest (and most pointless) in MotD history?

Ray Stubbs: Arsenal move three points clear. A good result, Alan?
Alan Shearer: Yes, a very good result.

I paraphrase, but you get the idea.

An open letter to the interviewer who suggested Steve Coppell would be a good choice for England manager, or Ray Stubbs when speaking about Harry Redknapp, or anyone who thinks Paul Jewell or Alan Shearer would be a good idea:

Dear idiot,

Are you smoking crack?

Yours,

Peter (and the rest of the country)

Speaking of people smoking crack, what’s in Rafa Benitez‘ pipe? He’s complaining about tight purse strings at Liverpool, despite having spent £123 million on transfer fees in his four years in charge. That’s second only to Chelsea’s £168m over the same period, and doubtless one of the top ten highest worldwide. To put that in perspective, Manchester United have spent £73m in the last four years, and Arsenal, £40m.

Younes Kaboul

Posted on October 23rd, 2007 in Defending, Premiership by Left back

Possibly the worst centre-half I’ve seen since Titus Bramble. In his short time in the Premier League I’ve seen him turn his back on the ball more than any other player.

Defensively Spurs are a shambles and a lot of it is down to him.

Spurs defence

Posted on October 2nd, 2007 in Defending, Premiership by Left back

It really is terrible, isn’t it? They’ve conceded 10 goals at home in 4 games, and a further 6 away. That’s an average of 2 goals per game.

Perhaps the £16.5m spent on Darren Bent, who hardly even plays, might have been better spent on a couple of decent defenders and a defensive coach whose philosophy seems to hark back to Ardiles’ style of just scoring more than you let in.

Give Us A Toon

Posted on March 16th, 2007 in Defending, Football by The Mac

Newcastle have now gone 38 years without a trophy and that shows no sign of ending in the near future. Last night’s piss-poor performance saw to that; Roeder has blamed his defenders, saying that they need better players in front of Shay Given - well spotted Glenn, anyone with mild cataracts could have told you that two years ago.

When Titus Bramble was at Ipswich he was touted as one of the brightest young defenders for years; put him in black and white stripes and he does goldfish impressions during games. I have heard several commentators cite his lack of concentration as a problem, you’d have thought the sight of several attackers bearing down on your end of the pitch as a reason to wake the fuck up, right? Maybe, just maybe, he’s shit. I’m not even going to go into what Souness was thinking when he bought Boumsong, by the way. Woodgate was class when he was there, but the money came in from Real and put the bollocks to that.

On paper, it’s a good team - Martins is decent and Given is excellent; Milner, Solano, Dyer (when fit), Butt and Parker are all good players capable of appearing in most teams in the Prem but the likes of Emre, Luque and the aforementioned Titus would have most managers shaking their heads. Newcastle have spent an absolute fortune on players in the last ten years and won feck all. The supporters have been there through thick and thin but many have to start wondering when the spending will start to pay dividends - Keegan looked like he might, just might do something until he lost his rag. Dalglish flattered to deceive by getting them to cup finals, Gullitt was a waste of time and space, and as for Souness…. Sir Bobby, although as mad as a bicycle seemed to have it all, but circumstances put paid to that.

So what is Newcastle’s problem? It has to lie at the feet of the manager in my opinion. He picks the team, includes Bramble in it, and buys the players. Roeder has put in a few of the younger, home-grown players like Taylor and has said he’s trying to build a team - but as Arsenal and Man United have shown it will take time. I suppose after 38 trophyless years time is something that Newcastle have had plenty of.

Spurs can’t defend

Posted on March 11th, 2007 in Defending, FA Cup by Left back

Chelsea’s first goal - Lampard left all alone in the middle of the box.

Chelsea’s second goal - Lampard left all alone in the middle of the box with multiple Spurs players standing looking.

Chelsea’s third goal - Kalou left all alone in the middle of the box with Dawson completely ignoring him until the last second.

They’re just lucky Chelsea’s defence was a shambles as well today.

And just how fat is Mido?