takes off tin foil hat
Anyone who thinks these draws aren’t rigged is a mentalist. puts on tin foil hat
What happens when sven quits:
Sven to chelsea - tinkerman out.
Tinkerman to middlesbrough (ambitious chairman - big cheque book)
McLaren to Ingerland. Ingerland lose to the faroe islands
The keys to where every one ends up are the Liverpool, Newcastle and (to a lesser extent) spurs jobs.
If Houlier survives then McLeish and O’neil will probably stay in scotland until the old trafford job or St James Park job comes up. If one comes to spurs etc then they will leave a big scottish job available for the likes of Ranieri (and maybe Pleat - who knows?).
I can’t see Sir Bobby putting up with the next few months publicity. That could be the start of the musical chairs
Still we should duff up leicester at the weekend.
.
**L_C]/b], the odds of any two of Spain, Holland and Turkey meeting each other was still only 1 in 3. Thus, on average, two of the three top-ranked teams in the playoffs would meet each other once every three competitions:
2002 Germany, Turkey, Czech Rep. didn’t meet
2000 England, Denmark, Turkey didn’t meet
1998 Italy and Russia (good then!) met.
Last I read, England weren’t guaranteed seeds (yet) – something to do goal difference maybe . … find it difficult to believe we won’t be seeds . . anyone know ?
Btw, has anyone got the vaguest idea of what the Turkish tactics were on Saturday – a more inept tactician I haven’t seen since King Kev was on the throne at Wembley?
I don’t know where to start; acres behind the two pushing up fullbacks, leaving two speed-challenged central defenders guarding the channels – Rooney really should have filled his boots.
What about the always exposed A.Cole – he gets almost no cover when Gerrard is playing left-side of the diamond, their fullback is supposed to be pushing up and still the Turks don’t get behind him . .
Where was the Turkish midfield that – if I recall correctly – was all over the show in the World Cup; no bite, no ambition and no where near the box ?
I only watched the game once and in a pub so my impressions could be faulty, but I really think the Turkish manager blew it completely. And Sven, for once, seemed to get it absolutely right from the kick off (rather than at half time), or was it just the super-charged team spirit over-powering all obstacles
I read yesterday that we would have been top seeds if Beckham hadn’t skied that penalty - it’s based on points per game, we would have been top of the list (apart from Portugal and France, hosts and holders). The other two top seeds are now Sweden and the Czech Republic, we’re in Pot 2.
I thought it was a good performance, but Ashley Cole just isn’t doing it for me. Play him as a winger, for God’s sake, but not as a full-back. Wayne Bridge may not be very interesting, but when it comes to defenders I’d rather take someone with Gary Neville’s approach than someone with Jorge Campos’ approach (yes I know he’s not a defender).
To me Ashley Cole is a symptom of what is wrong with Sven’s thinking. He would rather play an (at best) average player from a “big” club than a better player from a small club.
Wayne Bridge is a better left back (I know he’s moved, but he is still a saints player in effect as he hasn’t played for CFC for long).
See also his reliance on G Neville over Danny Mills.
**London Calling ** Less of the inept King Kev if you don’t mind.
This fine gentleman has taken the magnificent Manchester City into Europe for the first time in yonks.
As an aside I also go watching Oldham on occasion, used to live in Rochdale but I wouldn’t watch them for a gold clock
spogga - sure, the man’s a tactical genius
Re the left back position, it is not a question of “who is the better”, that’s village idiot simplicity. Rather, in a diamond shaped midfield, the question of who is at left back depends on a number of factors, not least who is covering the left back from the left side of that diamond. For obvious reasons, G.Neville and Beckham have it totally organised (on the right-side), they’re almost telepathic at times.
But on the left-side, on of the primary issues is how the combination of players works together and how disciplined is the midfielder – for example, a lot of people say Gerrard had a very good game, but I doubt if A.Cole would agree given the number of times he went totally missing from his defensive/covering position and left Cole looking like a lemon (which isn’t hard).
I don’t even blame Gerrard that much; it’s not his position, it’s not his foot. However, he should be more disciplined if he’s going to play there.
So I seriously doubt people would be raving about Gerrard’s performance if the Turks had scored through that flank - anyone remember the cross coming in that both defenders missed. Dead centre of the space Gerrard should have been covering. Plenty of examples like that from Saturday. Plenty of other considerations as well.
Not always as simple as to blame an over-stretched fullback, even if I’d like to do just that.
Having said that, I have no idea if Bridge combines better with Gerrard, and I doubt if Sven knows a whole lot more.
And I really am not entirely convinced of A.Cole’s George Michael facial hair, either.
"Brazilian striker Rivaldo has revealed he is keen for Tottenham to resurrect their interest in signing him when the transfer window reopens in January. "
He wants to come to Spurs on a free ? Just pay the wages ?
Hmmmm . . . he’s 31, can’t get in the AC Milan team (at the moment) . . . oh, what the hell – I suppose we could make room for one more.
He’ll pay his wages in shirt sales alone. Fuckit, I want one!
We need Rivaldo like we need a hole in the head. Not withstanding the whole will he-wont he farce last year, he is 31, unable to get a start in Italy and is an unknown quantity with reagard to playing in the premiership.
We could do better for the money - ie a defensive midfielder.
In other news Radio Five are saying that Mark McGee has left Millwall “by mutual consent” and R5 aer saying he’s bound for the lane. Surely not? He’d be a nother Gerry Francis. I am taking this witha sackful of salt.
As far as I can see, he won’t cost anything (shirt sales, sponsorship, more teevee money, more ticket sales, higher worldwide profile, etc, etc,)
I just remember the Bergkamp scenario (when we should have signed him). Once the Grovellers had him, other quality players followed - you need one to start the ball rolling.
Would he really be the player to get that started? I’m not convinced. I just see him as an expensive foreign mercenary.
Incidentally THFC shirt sales are at an all time low. This is beacause they are awful Kappa crap. If they want to increase shirt sales they could sack Kappa.
If you remember the whole farce about us signing him last time (and the mockery that “nearly signing” him got us from everyone else), it means to me that he doesn’t really want to come - hence the mercenary bit - now that there aren’t better offers around he deigns to come to Spurs?
Not the sort of player I want, and not the sort of player you can build around - as if his form picks up he wil be off to a bigger club like a shot. I am aware that this could be said of all players - english or otherwise. In all honesty I don’t think he’s that big a name anymore either - but again this is a personal response.
Even “free” players cost quite a bit. We’d have to pay his agent and pay a signing on fee - that’s a couple of million I would guess. We would get some return in commercial terms to offset against this. I am not sure how much this would be.
I don’t really like signing players for “commercial reasons” eg Toda, but that again is an emotional thing.
However I think that money is quite tight and that we have a rather more pressing need in a defensive midfielder. In an ideal world we could have both, however I am not sure we can afford both.
We should spend the money on Gareth Barry. He will help us win games which wil get us into Europe etc and that’s how we will attract the bigger names.
Hmmm, well “emotion” got us Glenn Hoddle as manager.
And we obviously have the money as we were prepared to spend approx. £10 mill on Diago a couple of months ago - and the reason we have that money in the first place is because of some hard-headed “commercial reasons” e.g decisions taken by Sugar and since.
I have no idea what sort of money we have sloshing around - although I asume we have a reasonable amount (based on talking to blokes in pubs - always the best source).
However surely our shopping list HAS to start with a defensive ball-winning midfielder.
If we have money left over he wouldn’t be a bad move. Although we would have to make a decsion about a manager before we start bringing in the likes of Rivaldo on high wages, who may not be in any future managers plans (unlikley i realise - but stranger things have happened - the goonersaurus and Ginola for instance)
We have spent a bit though - postigia was about £7m, Kanoute £3m Zamora £1.5m. However we have been good about getting high paid dross (eg thatcher) off the books.
