Football
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1 hour ago, Michael* said:It's always fun though, despite having only presided over a handful of UAE Arabian Gulf League games since the mid 2000s, to see David O'Leary get a mention.
Seeing Gary Megson at 40/1 warms my heart. Netflix would be back at the SOL like a shot, were such a glorious eventuality to transpire.
3 hours ago, Frederick said:Seeing Gary Megson at 40/1 warms my heart. Netflix would be back at the SOL like a shot, were such a glorious eventuality to transpire.
I can bring to mind Sir Meggo being linked with us as far back as the Quinn-Phillips era, he always strikes me as one of those managers where you could stick a loudspeaker on the halfway line, play a sample of him shouting "hoof it to Big Chas" and results would be more or less the same. Thankfully never came to fruition, but who knows, law of averages and all that.
It looked a bold move for Lee Johnson to take charge so soon after his appointment, in hindsight he probably thought it was an opportunity for an easy three points. Well, he's getting to know the real Sunderland already after being soundly beaten at home against the league's whipping boys.
Bailey Wright completing his transformation into a lower division Wes Brown aside though, I thought the tempo and impetus was better. Hard to be worse but still improved.
4 hours ago, Michael* said:It looked a bold move for Lee Johnson to take charge so soon after his appointment, in hindsight he probably thought it was an opportunity for an easy three points. Well, he's getting to know the real Sunderland already after being soundly beaten at home against the league's whipping boys.
Bailey Wright completing his transformation into a lower division Wes Brown aside though, I thought the tempo and impetus was better. Hard to be worse but still improved.
Not only did Gary's son swoop in for his first game without so much as unpacking his Filofax, he changed the goalie, formation and brought my eternal rosebud Aiden McGeady in from the cold in a scene that I presume was as burly and intense as that one in the Fast & Furious franchise where The Rock brawled with Jason Statham/let him out of prison to help "the family" (even though Jason's character, er, murdered one of said family in the previous film). Will Arteta's replacement have the courage to do the same with Mesut O. for Arsenal's impending battle against relegation? I'll wait to see what Chunkz and the Saturday Social ladz think and get back to you!
24 minutes ago, Frederick said:Not only did Gary's son swoop in for his first game without so much as unpacking his Filofax, he changed the goalie, formation and brought my eternal rosebud Aiden McGeady in from the cold in a scene that I presume was as burly and intense as that one in the Fast & Furious franchise where The Rock brawled with Jason Statham/let him out of prison to help "the family" (even though Jason's character, er, murdered one of said family in the previous film). Will Arteta's replacement have the courage to do the same with Mesut O. for Arsenal's impending battle against relegation? I'll wait to see what Chunkz and the Saturday Social ladz think and get back to you!
I've been canvassing opinion amongst Arsenal fans, sounds like they want a young manager with experience, an up and coming hungry trier who has won leagues elsewhere and proved himself, who rules with an iron fist and encourages the players with an arm around them, and a progressive tactician who plays 4-4-2, a big'un and a little’un up front and none of this wing-back nonsense.
12 hours ago, Michael* said:
I've been canvassing opinion amongst Arsenal fans, sounds like they want a young manager with experience, an up and coming hungry trier who has won leagues elsewhere and proved himself, who rules with an iron fist and encourages the players with an arm around them, and a progressive tactician who plays 4-4-2, a big'un and a little’un up front and none of this wing-back nonsense.
Can Thomas Partey do it on a cold Tuesday night at Oakwell? Will P-E Aubemayang be able to handle the pressures of playing at Kenilworth Road? Will Granit Xhaka combust the first time Britt Assombalonga nutmegs him? Stay tuned for David Ornstein's 30,000 word tome on all this and much, much more!
No way are we going to do the sensible, obvious, essential thing and follow up a decent win today by blasting Burnley and West Brom, but today was a nice antidote to the nonsense defeat at West Ham. Either way, we're light years better than we were last season.
Goodnight, Lucien. Anything other than an absolute drubbing yesterday and I doubt this happens, but it did (oh, sweet unforgiving baby Jesus and the three wise men, how it ever did), and I'm not going to fight it one way or the other. A good man with some admirable traits, no doubt, but performances have by and large been hard to love for quite some time, with yesterday a simply pathetic denouement to his reign.
I thought I'd seen every worst-case scenario season imaginable, but Schalke's epic 28-game winless run is something else. That might be the point where even I'd start looking at alternative weird obsessions.
You always had that feeling that someone would sound the Big Sam alarm at some stage of the season, and having already tried Pulis and Pards in the last five years, one could never accuse West Brom of not knowing their place in the footballing world. Just seems like the right club at the right time.
Joey Barton lasted a lot longer than I thought he would at Fleetwood, and only committed assault once. That's progress, ask anyone.
As of today, Royal Antwerp's Didier Lamkel Ze is my new favourite player.
Royal Antwerp player, Didier Lamkel Zé, turned up to training today wearing their rivals shirt in order to try and force a move out to...
— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) January 6, 2021
We'll wait and see to find out if it worked although security didn't let him in 😬 pic.twitter.com/zAbSKaEqtq
On 1/5/2021 at 1:57 PM, Michael* said:Joey Barton lasted a lot longer than I thought he would at Fleetwood, and only committed assault once. That's progress, ask anyone.
I'd like to see our Joseph back in the hot seat sooner rather than later, not least because I fear he'll write a novel or burn down a fish & chip shop if he's got too much downtime.
On 12/17/2020 at 1:03 PM, Michael* said:You always had that feeling that someone would sound the Big Sam alarm at some stage of the season, and having already tried Pulis and Pards in the last five years, one could never accuse West Brom of not knowing their place in the footballing world. Just seems like the right club at the right time.
"Youri, is that you, fella? Yeah, it's Big Sam. Yeah, good, thanks. The thing is, lad, I'm getting the band back together for one last job. Yeah, I know, you're 52 years-old, but so is Fernando Hierro, and he's already sliced Charlie Austin's leg off in training. Come on, your C.V'll look empty 'til you've played alongside Jake Livermore. Hello? Hello? Bonjour? Little Sam, what's wrong with this line?!"
5 hours ago, Frederick said:I'd like to see our Joseph back in the hot seat sooner rather than later, not least because I fear he'll write a novel or burn down a fish & chip shop if he's got too much downtime.
Sheffield Wednesday fans perhaps nervously refreshing their BBC Sport feeds as we speak, as am I in case he's given a gig on Match of the Day.
One can only imagine what the lad Dreyfus, having presumably grown up watching the likes of Drogba, Valbuena and Ribery at Marseille, must have been thinking when Danny Graham came on for Big Chazza Wyke last night. Graham isn't far off being the shape of Neville Southall these days, with roughly about half the agility.
Judging by the career trajectory of Frank Lampard, I should think that if Young Master Wayne can have a single mediocre season as Derby manager, he'll more than likely be in line for one of the top jobs.
While the red card would have come as a bit of a surprise to most, in all fairness to Messi, "violent outburst at the end of a cup final against Bilbao" was the only thing missing from his Maradona tribute tryptich.
Arriverderci to his Franklyness. He furrowed his brow, mistakenly barked his commands in pitch perfect Latin instead of English and German, held mostly fruitless grudges and obsessed over Declan Rice to levels that would have had any average citizen sent to an asylum; but still, an enjoyable tenure overall. Chelsea definitely have shades of being the big bucks version of latter day Wenger era Arsenal, good for a monthly slap around of some lesser light team and a cup run or two, but softies at their core. Tuchel obviously infinitely more credentialed, but not exactly a day at the beach, so combined with the club's penchant for scummy antics, I predict the whispery media briefings against him begin in about a week or two.
On 25/01/2021 at 12:48 PM, Frederick said:Arriverderci to his Franklyness. He furrowed his brow, mistakenly barked his commands in pitch perfect Latin instead of English and German, held mostly fruitless grudges and obsessed over Declan Rice to levels that would have had any average citizen sent to an asylum; but still, an enjoyable tenure overall. Chelsea definitely have shades of being the big bucks version of latter day Wenger era Arsenal, good for a monthly slap around of some lesser light team and a cup run or two, but softies at their core. Tuchel obviously infinitely more credentialed, but not exactly a day at the beach, so combined with the club's penchant for scummy antics, I predict the whispery media briefings against him begin in about a week or two.
Classic "surprising but not really surprising" scenario. People saying Lampard was the embodiment of Chelsea (which is a bit harsh), although I suspect he only took the job because he believed that the transfer embargo would offer some cushioning, if not a completely free hit, in his first season at the club. This year, it was only to be expected that he'd be judged by Abramovich's usual standards and clearly, shuffling all those new players together proved too much for a man with few managerial achievements ("this one time in the Championship I beat Marcelo Bielsa" doesn't count) to his name.
As for Tuchel, while Newcastle fans will be incredulous that Roman has nabbed someone off their next manager wishlist, I should think that the British media will have a very understated, rational response to an overhyped Englishman being replaced by a successful German with a top class track record.
Good to see some Will Grigg drama on January deadline day again, get in the Netflix cameras before the price ends up pipping Neymar's!