MemberlistThe Library Index  FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
The Importance of Sport (NEW CONCEPTS)
Reply to topic Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 58, 59, 60 ... 258, 259, 260  Next
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Mick Harper wrote:
So you're a third of the way into the season, you've got three wins on the spin, you're playing at home to a team equal on points. What are your odds on winning? Is it 4/7, is it even money, is it 11/8 (to take account of the draw). If you're Sean Dyche against Arsenal on Sunday it's 6-1!



The premiership is now made up of rich Continental cavaliers and roundheads.

Burnley are positively Cromwellian.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Look out for George Boateng. All the intellectuality of Gary Neville without the managerial failures.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

With Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford up the left plus nine other odds-and-sods we should win the World Cup with something to spare.
Send private message
Grant



View user's profile
Reply with quote

It's going to tough after the 0-0 draw with Tunisia. I'm looking forward to the pointless hope followed by the terrible disappointment
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

This is a saloon bar assumption that is held by fifty million Englishmen but not by me. Every world cup campaign is entire unto itself. Every nation has a world cup record that roughly equates to its overall standing, sometimes it does a bit better, sometimes it does a bit worse.

Our own record is that of a high-medium soccer nation i.e.
1. we normally get through the group stages (though occasionally not)
2. we go out at the knock-out stage (sometimes last sixteen, sometimes last eight, sometimes last four)
3. we very occasionally win the lot.

I now return you to the saloon bar where you will discover all your mates agree with you. I'm afraid I won't be there because the saloon bar does not tolerate the boring truth.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Real Madrid are no longer interested in Harry Kane. They want Llorente.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Man City HR Dept

1. What's all this about Raheem Sterling being some kind of revelatory genius? I grant that he is perfectly adequate at the sharp end of the best team in the world (o.n.o) but you wait till Russia 2018 when he will prove totally ineffectual at the sharp end of a merely good team. If you want to see what a revelatory genius actually looks like in a merely good team, watch Liverpool’s Salah.

2. A pundit (Graham Souness?) said in my hearing that Kyle Walker is the best full back on the planet and nobody was heard to disagree. Why have I never noticed this on the 187 occasions I have watched him?

3. On the subject of full backs, City had two word class full backs last season plus (presumably) two high-priced ones in the squad. They bought two more in the summer for astronomical prices. So who do they actually play week in, week out? Fabian Delf, a midfielder bought from Villa for eight million on deadline day two years ago.

 
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

My sources at Channel Five tells me they had to film the semi-final draw for the Carabao Cup three times before Man City got Bristol City. 'Carabao' ... Arab name.
Send private message
aurelius



View user's profile
Reply with quote

Mick Harper wrote:
I love it when they turn down fifty million and a month later he's on the bench.

Or shell out ninety million in the case of Lukaku.


It emerges that Lukaku is the second highest paid Premiership footballer on a handsome basic £250,000 per week (behind Paul Pogba), according to this list:

http://www.claretandhugh.info/two-hammers-earn-more-than-harry-kane/

Only last March Lukaku had become the highest earning player in Everton's history at £140,000 basic when he signed a new contract. Last year Rooney was the second best remunerated with £250,000 but his star is wayning, putting him out of the current top 20. It's not just the transfer fees which leapfrog in leaps and bounds but the wages also, as lists from a year ago look incredibly out of date already.

I haven't found out where the Hammers fan gets his list and there are clearly some anomalies. Does Salah need to get Van Dijk's agent?

What's all this about Raheem Sterling being some kind of revelatory genius? I grant that he is perfectly adequate at the sharp end of the best team in the world (o.n.o) but you wait till Russia 2018 when he will prove totally ineffectual at the sharp end of a merely good team.


Agree, but Pep doesn't see it -

MANCHESTER CITY are ready to smash the £300,000-a-week barrier to make Raheem Sterling the Premier League’s top-paid player.

Pep Guardiola’s leaders want to reward the England ace after his amazing form this season.


https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5052724/raheem-sterling-contract-300k-manchester-city-premier-league/#comments

Kompany, Aguero, De Bruyne and Silva should renegotiate their contracts if it comes to pass.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Top clubs also have to watch where they're from because of the new 'only seventeen foreigners in your squad' rule. Spurs are hamstrung by Davies and Dier being foreigners (Welsh and Portuguese respectively) despite both being born and bred in the Seven Sisters Road. A new twist on those Tykes dragging their heavily pregnant wives through Pennine snowdrifts so the child can be born in Yorkshire.

That's why Sterling is at such a premium. To be English and in the first team is a rare combination.
Send private message
aurelius



View user's profile
Reply with quote

When two of the top six Premiership clubs are due to play each other it is likely to be a decent game to watch. When two clubs from the bottom half of the table (OK, maybe excluding Stoke and WBA), likewise.

When a club from the bottom half has to play a top six team though, ten minutes of highlights should be sufficient.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

Poor old Aurelius. Harry Kane snatching the Golden Slipper off Alan Shearer has quite addled his brain. The only ‘decent game to watch’ is your team thraping another team. In both our cases that means a top six team playing a club in the bottom half of the table. Two teams from the bottom half playing each other is worthy of watching the Match of the Day segment at double speed.

So ... Top Six Matches. Go on, name one that lingers in the memory. It’s either Mourinho parking the bus or Argentinians being over-cute or Arsenal getting hammered. I’d rather watch the cricket. Two top six teams there. Anyone can play well when the whole world's watching but only the English can be at the top of their game when nobody gives a monkeys.
Send private message
aurelius



View user's profile
Reply with quote

Top Six Matches


The 2-2 draw between Arsenal and Chelsea stood out for me.
Send private message
Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
View user's profile
Reply with quote

You mean, the last one. Ach so.
Send private message
aurelius



View user's profile
Reply with quote

My theory being this:

One's own team straping inferior opposition notwithstanding, if one is an armchair viewer and a neutral, unaware of the match result, one hopes to watch a flowing game, end to end stuff, blood and guts etc.

When a team in the lower half of the division, perhaps one flirting with relegation, comes up against a top club in a league game, they do not expect to win. Therefore many of them are now (perhaps they always did) looking for a way to avoid defeat, especially an embarrassing defeat and severe damage to their goal difference. This means the manager is likely to opt for parking the bus. So in these circumstances the game becomes a siege, with the less talented side hoping (but not expecting) the chance to break out and score a goal against the run of play. You may like a good siege, but the first half of the recent Spurs v West Ham was dire viewing for a colleague, who switched his TV off at half time.

In the other scenario of top teams playing each other, or lower half of the table teams playing each other (and it is increasingly obvious that fewer points separate the majority of teams than they to the front-runners), both sides have ambition and confidence they can win. So they don't park the bus, they push the boat out. This should, in theory, lead to a more open game for the neutral spectator.

Cup competitions are a different kettle of fish, though as long as both teams are interested in a good cup run (which can detract from their league performance of course), the lower league side knows it is in with a chance.

Mourinho - you are right - is an oddball.
Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 58, 59, 60 ... 258, 259, 260  Next

Jump to:  
Page 59 of 260

MemberlistThe Library Index  FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group