Roiling football blather

[IdleRich]

"Nothing went wrong, as such, Spain are just a lot better than England. It's about technique, fundamentally - Wright-Phillips, Agbonlahor, Downing can't receive the ball under pressure, cos they'll lose it. The Spanish midfield puts you under a lot of pressure."

So just a chastening reminder that although they may have come some distance under Capello there is still a long way to go? Thing is, however good the manager is the team is just the tip of the iceberg and the bit under the water just isn't bringing enough really good people through.
Spain were the best side in the Euros for definite.

"In the post match analysis, Allardyce was saying that for all the above, the two goals came from easily avoidable mistakes. Sure, but that's what happens when you're put under pressure for 90 minutes. I bet if you look at Man U's goals in all those 1-0 wins, you could say the marking was bad, or the defence stood off or whatever. But they are in control for so much of the game that the mistakes are inevitable."

Good points. I mean, in general, I didn't see the game yesterday.

 

[mos dan]

Nothing went wrong, as such, Spain are just a lot better than England. It's about technique, fundamentally - Wright-Phillips, Agbonlahor, Downing can't receive the ball under pressure, cos they'll lose it. The Spanish midfield puts you under a lot of pressure.

exactly right. the technique just isn't good enough. downing isn't good enough. how am i supposed to take seriously an england midfield that prizes downing the mediocre over ashley young?

yep afc coasted to an easy 2-0 win against hayes &yeading on tuesday, i made the four hour round trip from dalston lol. we're six points clear now, and our talisman jon main has 27 league goals *already*. the next most prolific striker in the division has 14 lol.

we just have to hold on and avoid another wobble. i think with our new signings we're definitely too good for this division, it'll be our own fault if we don't go up: the question is, how much of a gulf there is between us and the blue square prem.. hopefully will get to find out before too long

(yes i know i'm totally tempting fate)

 

[scottdisco]

The People's Club versus the Vile

He's still chuntering, Carew.

ITV Sport's Jon Champion at Goodison earlier today.

brilliant.

classy armband touch from Cahill, also.

 

[mos dan]

another three points for AFC then, nice one Dan!

sorry missed this! yes another three, and then another three! 3-2 on saturday against bath city keeps us 6pts clear. bath gave us a scare in the last ten minutes on saturday, when it went from 2-0 to 3-2 and then almost 3-3 with breathtaking speed.

their manager looked like alan rickman. and we got one of their subs angry enough to start waving his fist and swearing at us, that was good. they were cheating bastards though seriously. altogether now,

ARE YOU BRAINTREE IN DISGUISE?

 

[scottdisco]

from an Alty pov

3 thou odd, AFC get some nice gates i must say.

the standard jump between N/S and Blue Sq. proper is a fairly decent one, i'm not sure i'd say it is Championship to Prem but there is definitely a fairly large skills gap. TBH the gap between the Conference and League 2 is not much at all, but then again you have to be truly shite to get relegated from the League.

are AFC full time? most Conference teams are these days of course (not Alty it must be said, and a few others).

sometimes - not all the time, but definitely sometimes - when a team like Alty are playing a pro outfit (the indefatigable Stevenage, for example) you'll start to note on around 70 or so, you can just tell, which are the lads that spend their week mixing cement/delivering post/arresting people, and which are the lads that train all the time etc.

Burton have taken about a decade to come up from the regional divisions to the point where they are now a real force, and fair play to them, but generally you look at the lower end of the Conference most seasons and it tends to be the teams in the mix that have come up, either recently or in the last round of promotions. (Barrow are doing OK this year, i must say, and Eastbourne are doing well.)

 

[hucks]

Title race over?

Man U now seven clear. Doesn't look like anyone else actually wants to win it this year. Someone (Crackerjack?) said upthread that the Big 4 were all playing badly this season. I think that's still true, but Man U's "not good" level is better than most teams' "good". That, plus you get teams like Fulham last week not even bothering to give them a game.

 

[crackerjack]

Man U now seven clear. Doesn't look like anyone else actually wants to win it this year. Someone (Crackerjack?) said upthread that the Big 4 were all playing badly this season. I think that's still true, but Man U's "not good" level is better than most teams' "good". That, plus you get teams like Fulham last week not even bothering to give them a game.

Yep - Paul Wilson said in the Observer today that teams like Fulham reckon on a good day they can beat Arse and maybe chelsea and get a draw out of Liverpool, but haven't got a hope against Man U. Blackburn gave it a shot yesterday, but forgot to factor in rubbish reffing.

A more balanced and united Cheslea squad are good enough to win the Prem, but Liverpool just have too many shit players (fucking Lucas wouldn't even make the bench in league cup games for Utd). And Rafa's not a good man manager - how does babel go from last season's erratic-but-promising to today's total flounderer? Or dossena from Italy's best left back to the hopeless bloke who hasn't even had a good 5 minutes for Liverpool. And he desperately needs Agger - the only ball-playing centre back he has - to stay. But he wasn't in the squad today. It's game over.

 

[tom lea]

Blackburn gave it a shot yesterday, but forgot to factor in rubbish reffing.

you'd think paul robinson would've learned to factor in the idea of positioning himself for free kicks by now. he's still shocking at them.

And Rafa's not a good man manager - how does babel go from last season's erratic-but-promising to today's total flounderer? Or dossena from Italy's best left back to the hopeless bloke who hasn't even had a good 5 minutes for Liverpool. And he desperately needs Agger - the only ball-playing centre back he has - to stay. But he wasn't in the squad today. It's game over.

or likewise, lucas from south american young player of the year to, like you say, someone who wouldn't even make united's bench. isn't agger supposed to have thrown a massive wobbly - didn't see the game, but that would explain why he wasn't even on the bench.

that line upthread about man u not playing well is a bit ridiculous; you don't win 13 on the spin conceding 1 or whatever it is without playing very, very well. still, apparently if they'd have gone 88 mins against blackburn without conceding they'd have broken a european record too, so at least that's gone.

 

[vimothy]

We've got problems now, though. Carrick in defence against Inter?

 

[hucks]

that line upthread about man u not playing well is a bit ridiculous...

And admittedly almost contradicts my earlier comments about how they control games and force errors out of their opponents. But I think it is possible to win a lot of games without playing that well if the opposition doesn't even bother to take you on. Fulham were the most recent case in point, but Sunderland, Middlesborough, even Everton went to Old Trafford looking for a point (max). Obviously it's easier to keep a clean sheet if you don't have to bother defending, and one goal will be enough to win.

Blackburn had a go on Saturday, and should have got a point. The free kick was brilliant, but it did go straight through Robinson as you said and Ronaldo should have been sent off before then

Anyway, playing well or not, they are far and away the best squad in the league. I'm not saying they don't deserve to be top.

 

[crackerjack]

Sconding all that.


Of course united are playing well. But nothing like last year, where they were regularly taking teams apart. They've scored 46 from 26 this year compared to last season's 80 from 38. Brilliant defence (Vidic far and away player of the year, and can people please stop saying it should go to Giggs), underachieving attack.

 

[tom lea]

The free kick was brilliant, but it did go straight through Robinson as you said and Ronaldo should have been sent off before then

he should be retrospectively banned, especially after swp was (a more vicious kick, but it's all the same as goes the rulebook). but he won't be, cuz webb saw it and didn't do anything at the time.

saw it again this morning.. can't believe what an idiot robinson is. everyone knows if ronaldo gets a free-kick over the wall it'll dip at you rather than rise all the way, so stay on your line man. no point trying to narrow the angle when it's gonna dip over your head. what a tit. especially after drogba and someone else this year already made him look a fool from similar situations.

 

[IdleRich]

A load of big glamour ties this week then. Weird that the Guardian this morning seems to think that United are certain to beat Inter but I have to say I'm not nearly so confident. They've got no defenders and surely Ibrahimovic has to do something good some time right? Got a feeling it could be today.

 

[vimothy]

Damn, this is tense!

 

[hucks]

I'm quite surprised at how bad Inter are. I thought they would have improved since last year.

Still, early days

 

[vimothy]

No bloody goal though.

 

[don_quixote]

yeah 0-0 away from home in europe aint great, you really want an away goal. still better than losing 3-0 i guess

 

[IdleRich]

"surely Ibrahimovic has to do something good some time right? Got a feeling it could be today."

Wrong again. God he's got to be the shittest big name player in the world. Didn't he say he was disappointed not to be world player of the year last time or the time before? I've never seen any player with such a difference between their reputation and self-opinion on the one hand and how good they actually are on the other.

"I'm quite surprised at how bad Inter are. I thought they would have improved since last year."

Yes, me too. In the first half United's midfield was utterly dominant, Carrick and co looked as though could take it off Inter at will, every United player seemed to have an extra yard of pace compared to the "Italians". They've got to be pleased to escape with 0-0 after being so comprehensively played off the park for the first forty-five minutes. The tie could easily have been over by half time but Inter are still very much in it. It's in the balance and if they play well next time then this performance won't matter. On the other hand, on this evidence United are far superior in pretty much every department and if they play the same in the second leg then Inter will lose by more than Roma did.

 

[crackerjack]

From the few glimpses I got, Serie A must be in a shocking state for inter to be top.

 

[IdleRich]

"From the few glimpses I got, Serie A must be in a shocking state for inter to be top."

Well, anyone can have an off day and surely that must have been one. What they can take from last night is "we played shit and luckily didn't get punished by the champions, one team who aren't usually so generous, we're still in the tie and surely we'll do better next time".
Seriously what is it about Ibrahimovic though? Will anyone stand up for him? Someone on here once said that they had never seen Lampard do anything good ever which was presumably exaggerated for effect but with Ibrahimovic I think that that would actually be literally true.