Kant

i'm a martinez skeptic myself but matt i'm begining to see what you are saying. his acquisitions of talented youngsters is bar none. top notch scouting and gets the right players who play to his preferred style. i'm slowly coming around.

I've always maintained this is a 5 year plan. We've had the gung-ho first year, 2nd year trying to be more measured (which failed, bring with it it's own lessons), this season we've abolished the boring nonsense of last season and I imagine this season we'll continue to entertain and frustrate with results. With some of the talent we've accumulated, and if we can keep them, we're in for one hell of a season next year and future after that

I'd be willing to bet good money that our worst runs this season and last have coincided with McCarthy being out injured. Besic coming in has given us something of what we miss when McCarthy is not playing. Looking forward, I want to see Barry eased out and Besic and McCarthy run the centre of the pitch for us for years to come, with Barkley just in front.

I'll just stick to my guns...this team needs Besic.
 
Every single person in this forum had said openly that this team needs to be more aggressive. That we are 'too nice'. Everybody. No doubt it's been our downfall.
 
And here we have the answer. I wouldn't change a single thing about Besic other than give him more experience...but only game time and age will do that.
 
Ok, he'll fuck up occasionally...the chewing gum thing was just funnily daft and embarrassing . He'll probably get sent off at some point. But we need that sort of player. The floor thumping, the swearing...its the make up of a player we miss. A Dog of War.
 
Roy Keane was just an enforcer. I can't remember ever seeing Keane chase back and flick the ball over his and his opponents head? Great player to have in your team, Keane, no doubt. But talk about volatile.
 
This isn't about being right or wrong, or arguing for the sake of arguing...its just what makes sense.

Just comes across as you searching for a new way to criticise him after he nuked your view that we don't play well when he plays.
 
Let's take a look at a few things -
 
How many times has he been sent off for us? Zero isn't it?
 
He was on the end of a nasty challenge against City (it may have been Spurs but I'm not sure), and he just got up and shrugged it off.
 
He marked Lionel Messi out of a game.
 
He did the same to Yaya Toure and David Silva.
 
He has an excellent range of passing - he can play short and long with ease.
 
He chased Yaya Toure half the length of the pitch and then timed his challenge perfectly to win the ball back.
 
He's got bags of energy.
 
He's capable of driving runs.
 
Yes he makes mistakes, and will continue to do so for some time yet, but to label him as a hot head and a headless chicken is a huge exaggeration imo.

I prefer him at the moment at LB than CB because:
a) he has no place at CB with Jags, Stones and Mori battling for a starting berth
he looks weak if he had to battle physical strikers, and
c) mainly because he is doing great at LB.
 
I would say Baines has to earn his spot back, because Galloway is only going to improve and his pace and stamina are super valuable. Time to retry the experiment of Baines to CM against weak opposition?

Exactly.  
The nudge was one that any player who has played the game before should expect when defending a corner. It happens every time. Add to that Barkley is a pretty big guy, and I don't think there's an excuse for not getting the header.
 
Defense is not his strong point, obviously, but a physical player like Ross should handle that with no problem... IMO.

To Haf
 
Ha ha so Roms goals for Anderlecht don't count because of the standard of the opposition but his appearances against the same opposition do because it suits you ?
 
To the rest of the forum!
 
Im sincerely sorry I don't want to turn this into yet another Rom thread but just had to point out a classical Haf comment, I promise I will not reply to Hafs response and will never mention Rom in here ever gain

Does anyone not get nervous when any opposing team has a corner against us? I'm irritated at both Howard and Barkley, but surprised we didn't concede 1-2 more from corners. It's an ongoing problem, troubling we continue to play softly on opposing corners.

This lad used to be very good prior to (many) knee injuries.

This thread is closed for everyone til Sunday, because I cannot be fucking bothered reading this shite any longer.

Reminded me of kenwyn Jones.
 
Then I seen the back flip.

I missed this. Barkley tried but when nothing came off he sulked. Even second half he was trying to do too much and then sulking. Disappointing performance for him, but think it was a general fuck up tactics wise.
 
It is funny how he hasn't been criticised at all though....
 
Consistency will come with age. He's only 22, remember
 

It's funny isn't it that there hasn't been a single mention of Barkley's complete and utter laziness in the first half, but Rom is getting absolutely murdered for it. Barkley was just as bad.

Romalu is not a perfect striker, he will never have the ball control of a Ronaldo, or the work rate of Shearer, but what he shares with both of them is the fact he is a match winner. He come up with big goals and can change a match. Even if he is playing poorly he can, as he demonstrated last night produce moments of quality to turn matches around.
 
His first was a great header from a great cross by Geri. His assist for Kone was class, and with his last he showed anticipation, a predators instinct and calmness to hammer it home for the win. He also showed desire and passion in the second half.
 
When he is on it from the start he is almost unplayable, but he is not always on it, and that is something we have to accept. That said he is always a threat and he will score goals, and that is why we signed him.
 
A former coach said that his goals cover up his lack of other skills, and that's fine by me, match winners are rare and we have a wrecking ball of a match winner.
 
Accept him for what he is not what he isn't, play to his strengths and work on the other areas and we will have a quality striker that can make us a top 4 challenger.
 
What was really encouraging last night was that as the match wore on his and Geri's understanding improved, and when we started feeding Geri we looked alot more dangerous, which created space for Kone and Barkley. Geri must must start as it gives us another dimension. I cant wait to see this team develop!
 
COYB

Not sure I agree with this. Everyone is complaining about Barkley in the 10 and they have similar problems. Barkley can create magic, but he can't pick out a pass. Instead just puts his head down and runs at defenders. Deulofeu is maybe a little more creative than Barkley, but unless he improves significantly in his vision I can't see him creating many opportunities in that role.

This. If we put in the effort we did today then we should get a result from a struggling Spurs team or a struggling Chelsea.

Exactly, just a shame they're the wrong side of 30 and, in Pienaars case, constantly injured.

I really don't get the obsession with trying to sign wingers. We saw what happened last season when we tried to play with 2 real wingers and we were appalling. Not only because they constantly ran into a corner and lost a ball, but mostly because they handicapped Coleman and Baines.
 
We need quick feet, killer pass players to link up play, not 1 trick ponies who try to outrun their opposition.
 
McGeady can go and doesn't have to be replaced with another winger, but he does have to be replaced.

Get him out, get a couple of million, get Lennon in. Job done!

he turned in a transfer request. i would rather sell him than have him be pissed and not want to play for us.

Out of the 15 players we have either in midfield or class as a forward we have 5 wide players.... Mirallas, Pienaar, Oviedo, McGeady, Gerry
 
Of those 5 only 2 can realistically be considered first team starters - that is Mirallas and Gerry. leaving Oviedo, Pienaar and McGeady next options.....
 
 
In short we are desperately short of width - selling a back up player for £1m is stupid. Especially considering that if he does find form he is a talented player.

I totally agree with most of what it's been said here. Every time I see a footballer/professional sports player do a dumb statement, I just remember:
- How outspoken I was when I was 18-22
- How relieved I am nobody did not even care about what I had to say at that age
- How I was not a multimillion making walking machine
 
These kids have agents, move millions and do not have lots of what we call brain. Their advisors and trusted people fool them, steal from them and in most cases say what they want to hear or even tell the kid what (the agent wants) they have to do/say. Even most of them write advice for other young colleagues at theplayerstribune.com!
 
After many years of being a sports fan, you learn to let them do the talking on the pitch and forget about more or less everything they say outside of it.
 
Lukaku, or any other, can say how he loves the club and kiss the badge, but if after 6 months he's steering for a transfer, it was not so much love, isn't it? Or he can claim he wants to play the big competitions or be a golden boot, but then a transfer offers and he decides to stay after a chat with the manager. So much of big talk, huh?
 
To sum up: let him develop. And we talk about him and this because there's no footy and still a few weeks until Everton does another transfer or loan!

When I coached u14 to u18 teams, I made clear that the goal of the defender was to stop an attack through positioning. Their tendency was to jump right in with an attempted tackle which invariably helped the other team.

this argument reminds me of hockey. the europeans play a technical skll based game with little to no hitting because their is no need, their speed and finesse negate it. the americans and canadians play a more physical style with tons of checking/hitting and a slower more defensive pace. i admit the european game (hockey) is way more attractive and fun to watch.