Topic: "Green and Gold, it's O5e from Molde!" - Cornering like a reliant robin..

[rob1966]

Pogba on the shortlist for Fifpro Men's World11.  Jesus wept.

On the plus side it will further pump up his overinflated ego.

The other Man U player on the shortlist is contract staller De Gea.  Should add another £50k/week to his negotiations.

How the fuck did either one get on it? De Gea managed to double his goals conceded tally last season from the season before for fucks sake...

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

When Moyes was appointed, I remember people here (POP?) were already laughing ("run dem laps" etc) rather than predicting more longterm success for them.

Certainly there were astute and  farsighted people here.

I would neither call my self astutre nor farsighted, but i was in stiches when he was appointed. It was so obvious that it would be a disaster.

[Hazell]

Pogba on the shortlist for Fifpro Men's World11.  Jesus wept.

On the plus side it will further pump up his overinflated ego.

The other Man U player on the shortlist is contract staller De Gea.  Should add another £50k/week to his negotiations.

How the fuck did either one get on it? De Gea managed to double his goals conceded tally last season from the season before for fucks sake...

I scanned that list today expecting Fabinho to be on it but instead saw numerous inferior players, Pogba obviously the most egregious, on it. I get the feeling it's the just a damn popularity contest with these kids.

[rob1966]

I scanned that list today expecting Fabinho to be on it but instead saw numerous inferior players, Pogba obviously the most egregious, on it. I get the feeling it's the just a damn popularity contest with these kids.

I noticed that too, very odd

[thaddeus]

I scanned that list today expecting Fabinho to be on it but instead saw numerous inferior players, Pogba obviously the most egregious, on it. I get the feeling it's the just a damn popularity contest with these kids.

Completely.  We'll enjoy having seven players shortlisted but it's a farce.

I wonder what Marco Reus is thinking right now; Bundesliga player of the year but not deemed among the best 55 players in the world.

[Crosby Nick]

I scanned that list today expecting Fabinho to be on it but instead saw numerous inferior players, Pogba obviously the most egregious, on it. I get the feeling it's the just a damn popularity contest with these kids.

Learnt a new word have we?

[Son of Spion]

I would neither call my self astutre nor farsighted, but i was in stiches when he was appointed. It was so obvious that it would be a disaster.

Same here. I thought it was nailed on.

To follow Ferguson they really did need a massively respected manager with a very strong personality and quality track record. Moyes wasn't, and still isn't, either of those things.

If Ferguson was the long-established, no-nonsense teacher at school who would destroy you if you messed about, Moyes was the supply teacher drafted in who no one respected, and as a result, discipline and performance was always going to drop.

With Ferguson, they had a highly disciplined and professional outfit. Since he went they have become more and more undisciplined and unprofessional as time has progressed.

[Lee1-6Liv]

Neville as ever making a total c*nt out of himself in this interview he’s doing with Keane.

He spent about 2 minutes trying to interrupt the interviewer, who keeps saying ‘I’ll ask this question then you ask you’re.’ And the fucking gimp keeps saying his question is better, then acts as if the interviewer is somehow doing him a disservice by telling him to wait, before finally putting in and saying ‘I guarantee my question is better than yours.’

Absolute fucking pleb with fuck all of value to say.

I watched the video, what an annoying c*nt Neville is. The way he said that, most people would say it light heartedly but you could tell he was being a snide c*nt. And his face when Keane was slating Ferguson was a picture.

[Son of Spion]

Learnt a new word have we?

 

I spotted that too, and had to look it up. 

[Hazell]

Learnt a new word have we?

I've been watching League of Gentlemen repeats all day.

[Jm55]

I watched the video, what an annoying c*nt Neville is. The way he said that, most people would say it light heartedly but you could tell he was being a snide c*nt. And his face when Keane was slating Ferguson was a picture.

I’ve never had an issue with Neville the person before. Granted he was a prick as a player but I can’t say I’d be any different towards the Mancs if I played for Liverpool.

But that interview just seemed to be a view into what he’s like when the cameras are off, he’d never in a million years do that on Sky but he obviously forgets how many people will see that and tries to act the big man in the interview.

[Motty]

Wait, he sure didn't really say that, did he?

Fucking hope he did [emoji23]

[Macphisto80]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz4AiigHMxk

For anyone missed it (not sure a link has been posted in here) that's the interview. Get's a bit spicy around the 8 minute mark, and then Rat Boy comes into the fray and makes a c*nt of himself as usual.

Gotta say, I'm looking forward to when Keane gets an invite to one of their games as pundit with Neville sitting beside him this season. That's always good for laughs. That's if they let him.

[mattD]

Keane’s an interesting guy, but goodness, he really is a miserable soul!

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Which Neville?

Rat face

[Brian Blessed]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-how-to-fix-blueprint-solskjaer-ed-woodward-epl-transfer-man-city-a9091531.html

This is a bizarre article. It starts off savaging Manchester Untied, then sucking off ADFC, before going back to savaging Manchester Untied.

And the Virgil stuff is particularly weird, considering the time line.

[newterp]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-how-to-fix-blueprint-solskjaer-ed-woodward-epl-transfer-man-city-a9091531.html

This is a bizarre article. It starts off savaging Manchester Untied, then sucking off ADFC, before going back to savaging Manchester Untied.

And the Virgil stuff is particularly weird, considering the time line.

It’s surprisingly poorly written. The ironic part is that the author says united have no plan or coherency. He could be talking about his article.

[dimwit]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-how-to-fix-blueprint-solskjaer-ed-woodward-epl-transfer-man-city-a9091531.html

This is a bizarre article. It starts off savaging Manchester Untied, then sucking off ADFC, before going back to savaging Manchester Untied.

And the Virgil stuff is particularly weird, considering the time line.

Can't read if you don't like disabling your adblockers.

Edit:

Took the plunge and read it without adblock anyway, wish I hadn't.
Well not the whole article, but got as far as this:

On the pitch, Pep Guardiola has so insightfully integrated all of the actual sport’s latest evolutions - most pointedly, Jurgen Klopp’s counter-pressing - into his possession-pressing approach to ensure it remains the dominant tactical ideology.

In the boardroom, director of football Txiki Begiristain commands the greatest network of contacts and expertise in the game, which essentially provides the database for a level of strategising that trumps anyone else.

Beyond all that, chief executive Ferran Soriano has implemented the most ambitious and original idea in sport administration, with the creation of the City Football Group.

All of these sit in with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak for the club’s major transfer meetings, to decide which players they should bring in over the next 18 months.

Vomited a bit in my mouth and died a little.

[Souness1]

Can't read if you don't like disabling your adblockers.

Edit:

Took the plunge and read it without adblock anyway, wish I hadn't.
Well not the whole article, but got as far as this:

Vomited a bit in my mouth and died a little.

I don't understand how the journo (I havent bothered to see who it is) has come to the conclusion that AD directors have the best strategy. Pretty much they're whole starting XI cost between 35-60 million (with the majority between 45-60), whilst we have TAA, Matip, Milner who cost nothing, Robbo who was 8 mill and Hendo who was 16. Now that is is a strategy that 'trumps all else,' identifying players that will complement each other and not just anyone who is 35 mill or over.

Having spent a lot lot less and having had a lot more ground to make on on the rest of the Premier League I would say ours is quite comfortably better. Bizarre piece of writing.

[lamonti]

Keane’s an interesting guy, but goodness, he really is a miserable soul!

"Interesting" here is a euphemism for miserable c*nt and professional bully. Don't think he's some big man because he'll take pot shots at Ferguson, he's a low-life who uses a public stage to take the piss out of someone being upset at a bereavement in their family. He's also a coward who walked out on his team at a World Cup because the training was a bit disorganised, routinely pulled out of international games with injuries to make sure he could play for Man Utd and then didn't like it when people told him about it, and threw being born in England as some kind of slur at the offspring of Irish immigrants, as if they weren't Irish enough for him.

He was a great football player, but he's a massive fucking arsehole.

[lamonti]

I don't understand how the journo (I havent bothered to see who it is) has come to the conclusion that AD directors have the best strategy. Pretty much they're whole starting XI cost between 35-60 million (with the majority between 45-60), whilst we have TAA, Matip, Milner who cost nothing, Robbo who was 8 mill and Hendo who was 16. Now that is is a strategy that 'trumps all else,' identifying players that will complement each other and not just anyone who is 35 mill or over.

Having spent a lot lot less and having had a lot more ground to make on on the rest of the Premier League I would say ours is quite comfortably better. Bizarre piece of writing.

The journalist in question is Miguel Delaney who is the chief sportswriter for the Independent, and who has regularly been very critical of City and the City football empire/sportswashing project, but uses them as a paragon of excellence in this article. It's a bit sneaky, but it must be admitted that City are very well organised at ground-level, if you close your eyes and plug your ears about what goes on above it. The article disregards that because those facts don't really help the point he's making.

It's not that City are the only way of doing things, it's that they have a coherent vision. United don't, and that United's mouthpieces keep talking about end products (fast attacking football, bringing through the youth, the United way, blah blah blah) which are ends rather than processes.

It's not a terrible article, but it could be half as long and still make the same point.

[19th Nervous Title]

"Interesting" here is a euphemism for miserable c*nt and professional bully. Don't think he's some big man because he'll take pot shots at Ferguson, he's a low-life who uses a public stage to take the piss out of someone being upset at a bereavement in their family. He's also a coward who walked out on his team at a World Cup because the training was a bit disorganised, routinely pulled out of international games with injuries to make sure he could play for Man Utd and then didn't like it when people told him about it, and threw being born in England as some kind of slur at the offspring of Irish immigrants, as if they weren't Irish enough for him.

He was a great football player, but he's a massive fucking arsehole.

Alf-Inge Haland agrees with this.

[Souness1]

The journalist in question is Miguel Delaney who is the chief sportswriter for the Independent, and who has regularly been very critical of City and the City football empire/sportswashing project, but uses them as a paragon of excellence in this article. It's a bit sneaky, but it must be admitted that City are very well organised at ground-level, if you close your eyes and plug your ears about what goes on above it. The article disregards that because those facts don't really help the point he's making.

It's not that City are the only way of doing things, it's that they have a coherent vision. United don't, and that United's mouthpieces keep talking about end products (fast attacking football, bringing through the youth, the United way, blah blah blah) which are ends rather than processes.

It's not a terrible article, but it could be half as long and still make the same point.

I'm not doubting that City aren't ran well because they clearly are, however it is a lot easier to get it right when you are funded by a state. He may use City as a comparison with United because of the financial superiority of both clubs in relation to ourselves.

However, the point that I cannot accept is that City's strategy trumps all others. It's such a lazy argument and one that has been placed in no context whatsoever.

[CraigDS]

I find it hard how anyone could make an argument that they are ran well if I’m honest.

They are state funded, throw money around to get players and hide a lot of income/payments to cheat.

I’d say it’s near impossible to say they are well run because it’s all hidden behind a ridiculous anointing of spending.

[Souness1]

I find it hard how anyone could make an argument that they are ran well if I’m honest.

They are state funded, throw money around to get players and hide a lot of income/payments to cheat.

I’d say it’s near impossible to say they are well run because it’s all hidden behind a ridiculous anointing of spending.

Completely understand what you're getting at, but they have distributed the money wisely. It's subjective as to whether one see's that as an achievement or not.

Personally I do think they were well run to an extent (certainly in comparison to those on the same financial pedestal), however they are far from being the benchmark for all clubs to follow.. How can they be?

[CraigDS]

Completely understand what you're getting at, but they have distributed the money wisely. It's subjective as to whether one see's that as an achievement or not.

Personally I do think they were well run to an extent (certainly in comparison to those on the same financial pedestal), however they are far from being the benchmark for all clubs to follow.. How can they be?

Distributed it wisely? It’s been a bottomless pot to be honest.

They’ve spent what, upwards of £1bn on their squad (that’s not including hidden agent payments or signing on fees to players) yet have achieved fuck all in the CL and are left short after an injury to one CB.

[rob1966]

I find it hard how anyone could make an argument that they are ran well if I’m honest.

They are state funded, throw money around to get players and hide a lot of income/payments to cheat.

I’d say it’s near impossible to say they are well run because it’s all hidden behind a ridiculous anointing of spending.

Agreed. They obviously get the football side of thing right, the academy and training complex for the 1st team is first class, but it is achieved, like you say, by lashing money about.

I judge a well run club this way, if the owners walked away tomorrow and took their money, would the club continue the same? We all know if FSG just said we are finished and didn't sell the club, just walked away without taking any staff with them, then nothing changes. The City owners walk away, so do Etihad and all of the other Abu Dhabi companies that are used to mask the money flow. All of a sudden, the money isn't coming in, City cannot pay the wages and before you know it, they are back to a mid table/relegation club.

[rob1966]

Alf-Inge Haland agrees with this.

Have that you c*nt

[GreatEx]

Distributed it wisely? It’s been a bottomless pot to be honest.

They’ve spent what, upwards of £1bn on their squad (that’s not including hidden agent payments or signing on fees to players) yet have achieved fuck all in the CL and are left short after an injury to one CB.

Yep, looking at their record transfers, they get most of the big ones right, but where they have a huge advantage is being able to throw down 30-40mil on players like Mendy, Mangala, Danilo etc. who don't work out for whatever reason, and they're able to just write them off with no harm done and buy someone else, whereas most clubs would be ruined if investments like that bomb out, and are forced to persist with their expensive duds. City are playing with house money, and it's the fucking of House of Abu Dhabi.

[12C]

Same here. I thought it was nailed on.

To follow Ferguson they really did need a massively respected manager with a very strong personality and quality track record. Moyes wasn't, and still isn't, either of those things.

If Ferguson was the long-established, no-nonsense teacher at school who would destroy you if you messed about, Moyes was the supply teacher drafted in who no one respected, and as a result, discipline and performance was always going to drop.

With Ferguson, they had a highly disciplined and professional outfit. Since he went they have become more and more undisciplined and unprofessional as time has progressed.

Your school analogy is spot on.
At junior school in the 60’s. (all boys!) we were all in awe of our headteacher. He was no nonsense and was not averse to using the cane (but surprisingly never really used it that often). We had to actually salute a teacher before speaking to them. (I kid you not). He had taught the older brothers, uncles and fathers of our generation. Our parish was one of the most deprived in Liverpool and a tough place to grow up.He was a committed christian/socialist and one of the most important things he used to drum into us was that the NHS was worth defending at all cost.
Above all, we just knew he cared about us, even the real villains (and there were some right criminal prodigies in that school)
He retired just as we entered top year.
His replacement, I recall, was a smiling man. He came in with lots of good ideas and a desire to change the school as he saw for the better. His solution for a kid who swore in class was to get him to pray with him for forgiveness. He wasn’t strict, he didn’t use the cane, and used to smile benignly at wrongdoers, before using the power of prayer to put wrongdoers on the right path.
He took about one week to lose the respect of the kids. As older kids we could also sense he wasn’t in charge of the staffroom. There were lots of things in that school that needed change, I now know there were better ways to learn than the ones we had. But a nice man wasn’t the answer.
We went from a leader to a caretaker manager. Even aged 10, we knew he wasn’t right.

[harleydanger]

On the pitch, Pep Guardiola has so insightfully integrated all of the actual sport’s latest evolutions - most pointedly, Jurgen Klopp’s counter-pressing - into his possession-pressing approach to ensure it remains the dominant tactical ideology.

In the boardroom, director of football Txiki Begiristain commands the greatest network of contacts and expertise in the game, which essentially provides the database for a level of strategising that trumps anyone else.

Beyond all that, chief executive Ferran Soriano has implemented the most ambitious and original idea in sport administration, with the creation of the City Football Group.

All of these sit in with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak for the club’s major transfer meetings, to decide which players they should bring in over the next 18 months.

And if all that fails, spend a billion dollars on players.

[Yiannis]

Neville as ever making a total c*nt out of himself in this interview he’s doing with Keane.

He spent about 2 minutes trying to interrupt the interviewer, who keeps saying ‘I’ll ask this question then you ask you’re.’ And the fucking gimp keeps saying his question is better, then acts as if the interviewer is somehow doing him a disservice by telling him to wait, before finally putting in and saying ‘I guarantee my question is better than yours.’

Absolute fucking pleb with fuck all of value to say.

Watched the whole video and despite Keane being the star (know he talks shit but his rants about Ferguson, Walters and co are a great watch) that moment sticks out like a sore thumb.

https://youtu.be/Oz4AiigHMxk?t=1380

 

I remember that Preston thing very well.

Also, "very lucky". Hahahaha.

[Lee1-6Liv]

I liked when Neville was trying to stick up for Ferguson by saying Keane stayed off site from the rest of the team in Portugal only for Keane to point out that Phil Neville did the same.

[Dim Glas]

Completely.  We'll enjoy having seven players shortlisted but it's a farce.

I wonder what Marco Reus is thinking right now; Bundesliga player of the year but not deemed among the best 55 players in the world.

It is a popularity contest for sure, its farcical for Reus not to be there, yet Neymar and Kane, two players who missed a shit ton of football so far this year, are both in.   Not sure if there is an age limit on there and U21 players don't get in, but Havertz should be in there in place of that show pony Pogba too.

[slaphead]

Seen the whole video of Keane and Neville last night. Before saying anything else, Roy Keane may be good to listen to at times but he is a disgrace of a man to say the things he did about Jon Walters. He can say what he likes about the football side of things that's fair game, but to bring the mans family thing in, when Walters did his best to keep that as private as possible is not on. It shows him as the very thing he seems to hate - a coward. Funny no one had the balls to say that to him.
The people sitting there too, to not pull him up on it, and the audience to laugh and snigger. Yeah very funny.
Tony Cascarino called it exactly right after the Ireland thing, Keane is a professional bully and a hypocrite with no respect from those he craves it from most. No wonder him and Ferguson didn't get on they are too similar.

[MancEunuchian]

Keane’s an interesting guy, but goodness, he really is a miserable soul!

Great player, shitty human being

[kennedy81]

Neville as always coming across a massive massive thunerc3nt in that video.

Really arrogant c*nt, the way he cuts the host off like that.

'My question's better than yours'.

What a twat.

[Hazell]

Rat face

Oh right. Thought it was his brother given his comments this week.

[Son of Spion]

Your school analogy is spot on.
At junior school in the 60’s. (all boys!) we were all in awe of our headteacher. He was no nonsense and was not averse to using the cane (but surprisingly never really used it that often). We had to actually salute a teacher before speaking to them. (I kid you not). He had taught the older brothers, uncles and fathers of our generation. Our parish was one of the most deprived in Liverpool and a tough place to grow up.He was a committed christian/socialist and one of the most important things he used to drum into us was that the NHS was worth defending at all cost.
Above all, we just knew he cared about us, even the real villains (and there were some right criminal prodigies in that school)
He retired just as we entered top year.
His replacement, I recall, was a smiling man. He came in with lots of good ideas and a desire to change the school as he saw for the better. His solution for a kid who swore in class was to get him to pray with him for forgiveness. He wasn’t strict, he didn’t use the cane, and used to smile benignly at wrongdoers, before using the power of prayer to put wrongdoers on the right path.
He took about one week to lose the respect of the kids. As older kids we could also sense he wasn’t in charge of the staffroom. There were lots of things in that school that needed change, I now know there were better ways to learn than the ones we had. But a nice man wasn’t the answer.
We went from a leader to a caretaker manager. Even aged 10, we knew he wasn’t right.

Thanks for that. You nailed exactly what I was trying to say. And it really does sum up the Ferguson-Moyes transition perfectly.

[Hazell]

Great player, shitty human being

Admittedly I'm terribly biased and know nothing about his departure from Man Utd but having watched that interview, he came across as fine and Neville came across as a bit of a prick (the latter being no surprise). I understand Keane has his schtick and sometimes he's a parody of himself but he was surprisingly engaging and displayed some humour in that clip.