World Cup - Fans and fanatics thread.

[OPJ]

I don't want to hijack the thread but.............. I can't let that pass without comment and I guess that's exactly the response you're looking for :roll: so I'll rise to the bait.

As a NUFC supporter Olly, I find that sweeping statement to be not just inaccurate but more than a little OTT. But I guess you would be an expert on our club from your base in Somerset :?:
I don't wear the tinted glasses of many of our supporters and am fully aware of the clubs' shortcomings but the "loyal" players who play with their hearts and not just for the cash which many joined us for have shown their mettle last season.

The players mentioned with the exception of Stephen Carr were sold by our "cockney mafia" owner to either cash in (Given & Milner) or to rid the club of astronomical wages in the face of relegation. Some of course jumped ship having put us in that position, and your comment on Alan Smith does him an injustice. His career took a nosedive when he joined MUFC - he plays very well for us thank you. :shock:

All of the players you mention are talented - the reason for any of them now underperforming is down to themselves and the clubs they are now employed by.


I've no intention of escalating this into an argument Olly, football is as emotive as religion and politics and I'm surprised it's allowed on the forum - but in "footy speak" - you're talking out of your **** :lol: :lol:

Regards

Bob

Lons,

Thanks for your reply.

I wasn't looking to draw up an argument or insult anyone - you have me confused with a regular poster from WWUK! :-D I do apologise if you see my message in any other way. I agree with the sentiments in your final paragraph so, I'll try to keep this brief...

I did forget to mention Damien Duff (!) :roll: but, come on, you have to agree that something odd has been going on with your club for the last few years. If it's not the degradation of a player's ability then, you seem to suffer heavily by losing players regularly to long and short-term injury lay-offs... Congratulations on bouncing straight back up to the Premier League but, before I make my next comment, I would like to apologise for having not payed any serious attention to your club's past year within the Championship...

But, that year you went down was a prime example of how badly your team seems to suffer with injury problems (even if you ignore "Hamstring" Owen! ). I remember there were times when you were barely able to field a team of eleven recognised faces.

I don't bear a grudge with Newcastle United (not even for that 5-0 at St.James' Park, back in '97? :x) but, in that season, it came to the point where I wanted to see them relegated; in hope that they would offload all the extra weight, rebuild themselves in the Championship and bounce back (as West Ham did - they just didn't have the manager to take things onwards from there). Let's hope that Chris Hughton (?) can keep them afloat next season.

There's also a world of difference between buying high-quality players and seeing them decline (whenever), as opposed to the Houllier/Benitez method; selling your top stars and replacing them with absolute dog s***e!!

Sorry, that wasn't very brief, was it....

Back to the World Cup!!!

 

[OPJ]

This happens every single tournament! Why are people writing England off already! They drew, yes it wasn't the best performance but it wasn't all bad and they didn't lose.

I completely agree!

This is one the many reasons I stopped reading newspapers four-years ago (should've stopped much sooner ). Any talk of replacing Green with James for the next game is complete b******s - let's go back twelve-years... Would David "Calamity" James have been a contender for the England no.1 jersey then??? Green made up for his howler by by preventing Altedorf from putting the USA ahead - yet, the vultures only focus on the negative.

I do think we're still missing 'something' as the USA weren't bad but, they weren't that 'great', either. I'd be surprised if we come up against stiffer opposition in this group but we didn't come close enough to regaining our lead (particularly in the second half).

We're not going to win the Cup but we stand a great chance of getting through to the knock-out stages, like always. But, unfortunately, life isn't like the events that occur in Mike Basset: England Manager; anything less than victory in the final is seen as failure! It's wrong to assume that we're "due one soon"... Didn't Uruguay win the very first competition, as the hosts as well? I think they won it again a few years later, and once more within the next twenty years... Yet, as far as we can tell, they appear to have their feet on the ground today.

 

[Lons]

I wasn't looking to draw up an argument or insult anyone - you have me confused with a regular poster from WWUK! :-D I do apologise if you see my message in any other way.

Hi Olly

No way did you upset or offend me, I'm very thick skinned (have to be after supporting NUFC man and boy for 50 years )

Problem at Newcastle for as long as I can remember has been at the top. Motives have always been suspect and decisions very dodgy. just look at how many managers we've had.

Hughton is a good coach but not up to premiership management IMO and with no cash available to strengthen a weak squad we're gonna struggle again.
Ashley is interested only in selling the club but the sale board has been up and down so much nobody knows anymore.

Not a good situation for one of the best supported clubs in the UK (Just look at how the premiership attendances dropped and the championship grew last season).

As you say though back to the world cup. One thing likely - won't be penalties if we draw Germany though. :roll:

cheers

Bob

 

[Jenx]

Dont get too carried away with that german performance....
The Aussies were dire. -- fair point , the sending off was a bit on the harsh side, but comeon.. Craig Moore ? .. he was a dumplin' when he played for Rangers up here 10 years ago.

The german defence (Lahm aside ) is nothing special, and if they come up against top class opposition strikers, the cracks will show very quickly.
4-0 was a deserved result, but it flatters to deceive.... the opposition were very low grade.

Capello has created a monster with the way he handled the goalkeeping question, before England had ever kicked a ball.. and that'll bite him back. A problem / scenario created out of nothing, and for no constructive reason. Raises serious questions about his "management" style for me.

Green made an error, fair enough, but he's still a fine keeper.. and I think they need to stick by him for next friday. That could have happened to any of the 3 keepers England have with them there... a 'fluke' error, and little more than that.

It needs mentioning... the silly person commentator ( dont know which one it was ), seconds after Gerard's goal says "oh this could be fun".
What an arrogant idiotic comment.. aye, only 86 minutes to go.. why on earth would you ever contemplate the US scoring in such short a time-window. There's nothing like putting the kiss of death on it.. and he managed that, exactly true to form, as they always do.

If they ( England ) want to progress - they'll have to do better, and I actually do believe they're capable of doing so.. there are some good players there, but when your star-striker has to run 40 yards back towards his own net to retrieve the ball and try to move forward, then something's not clicking into place just quite right.
And that isn't said 'star-strikers' fault.. without the backup, he cant do it all.

The tournament, as it stands, is still very wide open.

8)

 

[OPJ]

It needs mentioning... the silly person commentator ( dont know which one it was ), seconds after Gerard's goal says "oh this could be fun".
What an arrogant idiotic comment.. aye, only 86 minutes to go.. why on earth would you ever contemplate the US scoring in such short a time-window. There's nothing like putting the kiss of death on it.. and he managed that, exactly true to form, as they always do.

I think that was Clive Tyldsley. Though, I don't think much of Andy Townsend either, who was sat next to him that night!!

ITV seem to have come in to a bit of money, in the last couple of years - yet, they can't bring in a half-decent commentator or punditry team! :x By bringing Adrian Chiles across from BBC and employing people like Keegan and Vieira to talk about the action afterwards, it's like they're deliberately trying to turn viewers away from their channels! Thank God Andy Townsend hasn't yet made it back to the studio from the commentary box in time. No sign or Robbie Earle or Teddy Sheringham yet but, I'm sure they're lying in wait somewhere... How long before Mark Lawrenson gets offered a job there?! :roll:

I'm sure Peter Brackley's still employed by them - he's not as incompetent as the others. Why he's so far down the pecking order behind Tyldsley and the other guy is anyone's guess!!

HD viewers missed England's opening goal and, when they first played Nike's new advert a few weeks ago (you know the one!), they cut the end off it so that everyone missed the large Nike logo! There was talk that Nike weren't going to pay them because of this monumental cock-up but, I'm guessing they got their money in the end...

It's like they have too many adverts to shove down our throats - as if it isn't bad enough already, with all the interruptions to the pre-match build up and analysis after the game.

Too many of the bigger games so far have been on ShiTV. Let's hope things are more balanced in the BBC's favour for the rest of the tournament.

I think I'll take Ironballs' advice on Friday - mute the TV and put the radio on!

 

[Mike.C]

What a shock the Swiss beating Spain :shock: It just go to show you with a disciplined team who go 1 up and then knuckle down and defend, you can win anything. Boy do I love the under dogs :lol: =D>

Cheers

Mike

 

[WoodAddict]

Now every single team has played have a look around the results. In the grand scheme of things I think England still have as a good a chance as anyone else if we're only looking at the first games performance! With the exception of Germany (as much as it pains me to say it!) everyone else just looked mediocre at best!

COME ON ENGLAND!

 

[OPJ]

Well, the overall standard of the opening games hasn't been great, has it? It's clear that the best is still yet to come from many other nations, besides our own. Germany were up against the very lacklustre Australian side, don't forget - whom started that match with a lone "makeshift" striker (Cahill) who was later red-carded.

Tonight, we saw the fifth red card of the tournament (already! :shock. I think there was a criticism in the last tournament (or was it Euro 2008) that the refs were being too strict, as part of FIFA's directive to cut out foul play... Not that you could argue with tonight's decision.

Diego Forlan for the Golden Boot, anyone?
(Why couldn't he regularly perform like this at Old Trafford... )

 

[head clansman]

hi

The arg & sko match what a lovely cheeky little goal right on half time , that will make for a brilliant second half now .hc 8)

 

[TrimTheKing]

hi

The arg & sko match what a lovely cheeky little goal right on half time , that will make for a brilliant second half now .hc 8)

Far and away the best match of the tourny so far

 

[TrimTheKing]

OOoooooohhhhhhhh, so close to the equaliser there, should have scored!!!

 

[TrimTheKing]

Game over!

 

[Doctor]

The posters on the indifferent thread are football mad, they might not like it but they seem to be watching it.

Come on over, it's nice here
:lol:

 

[Ironballs]

Arriverdeci froggie! :lol:

 

[barkwindjammer]

Chatting to a mate at work about a great little entrepreneurial idea that I'd had while watching a world cup match the evening before, I said to him "Jock, I was thinking of making a little money off the back of the World cup?", "I was thinking of importing some of those loud, annoying trumpet things", Jock burst my bubble by reminding me there were a nation of them living on the other side of 'the wall' from us

ach well !

 

[ByronBlack]

Chatting to a mate at work about a great little entrepreneurial idea that I'd had while watching a world cup match the evening before, I said to him "Jock, I was thinking of making a little money off the back of the World cup?", "I was thinking of importing some of those loud, annoying trumpet things", Jock burst my bubble by reminding me there were a nation of them living on the other side of 'the wall' from us

ach well !

Can you remind me which group Scotland are in?

 

[Jenx]

........... Told ye the Germans weren't "all that". :wink:

Argentina / Holland Final, i reckon. 8)

 

[chris_d]

I'm guessing that the complete lack of comment on last night's performance just about sums it up! I'm now officially bored of watching England and that is after I raced 125 miles home in rush hour traffic to view the match.

I'd forgive the lack of goals if they were inventive but we sat so deep that we just couldn't command a credible attacking flow in the Algeria half. Quite how "Fabio" (the irony) can justify his strategy is beyond me - he is either blind or utterly arrogant in refusing to make significant changes to the team posture after 30 minutes of dire play. Effective management is not just about making the right decisions all the time but also about realising that you have made mistakes. Fabio's re-affirmation of his initial strategy, ie the Sean Wright-Phillips substitution, re-enforces my opinion that he is stubborn and lacks the humility and vision to undertake remedial actions.

Swapping Lennon for SWR was a micro change - completely ignoring the macro problem that the team configuration/formation was fundamentally wrong given Algeria's style of play. We just don't have the free flowing passing and speed in midfield that a team worthy of winning the World Cup usually commands.

Just in my humble opinion,
Chris

 

[TrimTheKing]

I agree Chris, there were some fundamentals missing again.

Where the hell is Joe Cole? He is far and away our most skilful and creative player, and works like a trojan, he has everything you want in a footballer.

Carragher got booked with half an hour to go, guaranteed to miss the next match, so what do you do, leave him on there so that you have a new, untried partnership at the centre of defence, or drag him off immediately and get whoever is going to play in the next match on for half an hour of getting used to playing in that defence?

Heskey/Rooney isn't working when you play Rooney on the half way line. Time for Heskey out and Crouch in. There's nobody else like him in the tournament and it will take the opposition a while to work him out. It might only take 10 minutes but he could have made the difference in that time.

I have to be optimistic that we will get through, but there are some massive improvements needed and the players didn't look very happy even in the tunnel before the game.

 

[OPJ]

Chris, I think 'utterly arrogant' (and stubborn) sums up Capello pretty darn well. But, I guess that's one of the problems with bringing in a manager with a huge reputation (and ego!) from overseas. In his opinion, we "need" his help... Yet, just like Eriksson, he has no experience of managing in the Premier League and, therefore, he had no idea (prior to taking the job) of managing the English players (unless he's based all his opinions on managing Beckham, of course... :?).

I hated the way Andy Townsend kept mentioning the performances of the South American teams - why?! Even on a good day, our style of football is going to remain totally different. It's the same with most European nations.

I hate it when fans blame it all on the manager (or, one player...) but, in the events of last night alone, Capello 'did a Rob Green'!

With all this talk of a need to change the formation from 4-4-w, questions over the manager and England struggling in the group stage, this really is beginning to sound a lot like Mike Bassett: England Manager!!

For me, Heskey was our best player last night! :shock: He could've done better in front of goal, once or twice but, he was everywhere; tracking back to retrieve the ball long before Steve Gerrard could be bothered. He did a commendable job as a target man, I thought, as I much as I hate the long-ball game, and a few decisions early on went wrongly against him.

Why he was substituted then, I cannot understand! I agreed with the decision to bring Defoe on (though, it should've happened much earlier) but, it should've been at the expense of Rooney, who was hardly in the game at all.

...Just like Frank Lampard (ignoring that single chance in the first-half). I thought Gareth Barry was our second best performer on the night (he saved the blushes of Carragher and Terry more than once) yet, he was also taken off - it should've been Lampard. :?

Any respect I had for Capello went out the window when I read the team-sheet - David James in for Rob Green. :x I think he reads and believes in the British tabloids too much... Perhaps now, they'll tell him to drop Lampard and introduce a familiar left-winger (Joe Cole). It clearly doesn't work with Gerard out there, just to accommodate "the big three" in midfield (FFS! :x). Put Lampard on the bench, play Barry to provide defensive cover for Gerrard going forwards and have Joe Cole on the left - it's not difficult, is it, Fabio?! :roll:

Dawson's got to be a shoe-in now, at centre-back (another opportunity to show that Capello was wrong, in leaving Dawson out of the final twenty-three). Unless he'd rather drop Johnson in alongside Terry and bring Wright-Phillips in as a right-back, or something?! :?

I really don't fancy our chances in the next game (on paper, they always looked the most threatening of our group), even if we decide to change formation. The player's just weren't in it last night, for whatever reason, and I'm glad to see they were rightly booed at the end of the game.

Some credit where it's due to Algeria, though. They don't stand much of a chance of progressing any further than this but, as the birth nation of Zinedine Zidane, some of their players looked very comfortable on the ball, last night, and some of their possession and passing was excellent... Unlike England, who often gave them all the time in the world - we seem to be sliding back towards playing in a negative/defensive style reminiscent of the days when Eriksson reined un-supremely....