Sports Thread

[Noah]

Reckon the wheels have finally come off for Liverpool with a dismal 1-1 at Middlesbrough!! Intense pressure for Benitez who may now get the boot! Could be looking at a mid-table finish for the Reds at the end of the season!!

[Noah]

6 - 0

"JOY TO THE WORLD"

[Ben1981]

Originally Posted by Noah

6 - 0

"JOY TO THE WORLD"

Just about sums up the Toons season really.

[The Lone Stranger]

Originally Posted by Noah

Reckon the wheels have finally come off for Liverpool with a dismal 1-1 at Middlesbrough!! Intense pressure for Benitez who may now get the boot! Could be looking at a mid-table finish for the Reds at the end of the season!!

Don`t think they will be quite that low! Even Arsenal lost to Boro.

[Noah]

Lol! sorry mate I got carried away there abit!

[mattty]

I'm slightly amused to see that Liverpool fans are showing discontent with the rule of Gillette & Hicks so soon. They weren't complaining when they bankrolled the purchase of Fernando Torres. Without him they would surely be out of the Champions League & have at least 6 less premier league points!

I do know where Liverpool fans are coming from, it seems that the yanks don't know too much about football. Rafa is an extremely tactically astute manager but is he living a little too much off the exploits of 2005?

After all in that cup run they were minutes away from going out at the group stage, they scored a highly dubious decider in the semi final & were completely outplayed for 105 minutes out of 120 in the final. (How Shevchenco didn't bury that chance i'll never know!). True Benitez showed nous in his substitions but was that just a fluke?

Where is his consitency over 30 games? In Europe Liverpool have shown they can peak for 6 or 7 key games, but to win the premiership takes so much more than that. At the moment they still seem as far away from that as they were 3 years ago.

[Innervision]

I think Reds fans have give Bert and Ernie the benefit of the doubt from the off, but it has become increasingly clear that they haven't a clue about Liverpool FC nor football in general.

Bankrolling the Torres deal was the least they could do. They came over here brimming with promises, yet they've been found out embarrassingly quickly. The Yanks over there may be suckers, but Scousers are a bit sharper than that.

They promised not to load the club with debt, then they broke that promise. Instead of being hands-on, they are rarely here in the UK. They promised the best domestic stadium in the world, then scrapped the plans in favour of a cheaper option. They promised support for the manager, then stabbed him in the back publically.

If they don't get their act together soon they will have a hell of a battle on their hands with the fanbase of the club. They are way out of their depth and have lost all credibility in the eyes of most people here.

Regarding the questions you asked about Rafa. It's all too easy to pick holes in people's achievements. Far too easy to say "if only this". "if only that".

Man U were embarrasingly outplayed for all but 2 minutes of their last European Cup win in 1999, and although us opposing fans can deride them for that, they still lifted the trophy. End of, really.

In our last European Cup Final in 2007 we were the better side for most of the game, but Milan won. That's the way it goes. We can pick holes, but what's the point?

Shevchenko didn't bury his chance simply because a member of our team stopped him, as was his job.

As for the league. To my mind Liverpool lost any chance of the league when they went to Portsmouth with a weakened side. To me, this shows that although Rafa may win more European Cups with us, he will probably never win us a league. The mentality needed to win the league is not present.

Liverpool, like every other side in the top league apart from mancs, Arsenal and Chelsea have lacked consistency for a long, long time.

I'm just glad we didn't get Klinsmann. I knew he had been lined up for the job well before last Christmas, but I don't think he will be better than Rafa. The sooner Bert and Ernie bugger off back to America the better for everyone at the club. Hopefully, the Dubai consortium will come back in and buy these clowns out before we become another Leeds Utd.

Footy fans are fickle, of course. The SKY generation of fans has vastly added to all that nonsense. I even heard calls for Bill Kenwrite to get out of Everton after a couple of bad results for the blue half recently. Look at Newcastle. They've had more managers than fans now. I had to laugh at Moyes being touted for the Newcastle job. I mean I'm no Everton fan. Not in a million years, but they are monumentally bigger than Newcastle will ever be. Moyes would have to be mad to have gone there. Moyes is the best manager the blue half have had in a long time ... but if they have a bad run in the league once they get knocked out of the UEFA Cup, no doubt blues will be calling for his head like they were in the local press not too long ago. It's a fickle game, alright.

[paulthequiet]

Originally Posted by Innervision

Footy fans are fickle, of course. The SKY generation of fans has vastly added to all that nonsense. I even heard calls for Bill Kenwrite to get out of Everton after a couple of bad results for the blue half recently. Look at Newcastle. They've had more managers than fans now. I had to laugh at Moyes being touted for the Newcastle job. I mean I'm no Everton fan. Not in a million years, but they are monumentally bigger than Newcastle will ever be. Moyes would have to be mad to have gone there. Moyes is the best manager the blue half have had in a long time ... but if they have a bad run in the league once they get knocked out of the UEFA Cup, no doubt blues will be calling for his head like they were in the local press not too long ago. It's a fickle game, alright.

Absolutely! Footy is too fickle and impatient these days and full of hasty knee jerk decisions. If things where like they are now in the eighties Alex Ferguson would have lost his job well before winning anything....actually shame it wasn't like that come to think of it

[Innervision]

Originally Posted by paulthequiet

Absolutely! Footy is too fickle and impatient these days and full of hasty knee jerk decisions. If things where like they are now in the eighties Alex Ferguson would have lost his job well before winning anything....actually shame it wasn't like that come to think of it

So true!

I remember Ferguson being a bad game or two away from the sack. He was that close. I also remember going to Old Trafford to support Liverpool and the whole away end was singing "Fergie must stay", simply because at the time, United were going nowhere with him. It took them 26 years to win a title, and Ferguson was there for six of those. If one or two results had gone against them at that time, it's a well documented fact that Ferguson was going to be sacked. Results went ok, he stayed and the rest is history. Until then, all United were was a cup team living on faded memories of the 60's and possessing the worst football hooligan fanbase in the UK. Only for Taggart getting time to build, United may never have rebuilt to the extent they have now. In the current climate, even very good managers do not get 6 years to turn things around.

[Admiral Fool]

Originally Posted by mattty

I'm slightly amused to see that Liverpool fans are showing discontent with the rule of Gillette & Hicks so soon. They weren't complaining when they bankrolled the purchase of Fernando Torres.

I don't know about that. Rafa's net spend on transfers during the summer was about twenty million. Probably not a great deal more, if at all, than he would have got under the previous owners.

[Admiral Fool]

Yeh, Keegan back at Newcastle.

* Struggles to suppress smirk*


Most Newcastle fans seem really happy about this but, maybe that just shows how bad things have got for them recently. I hope it works out for him actually but it's hard to see how.

[paulthequiet]

I think he's completely mad to go back, I really can't see it going well at all. That said I like the guy so it would be nice if I was wrong.

[Innervision]

I do like Keegan. I used to watch him partner John Toshack for Liverpool in the 70's. A great little player .... but oh my god, why on earth has he gone back to the farce that is Newcastle United.

Sometimes, when you have 'legend' status somewhere, it can be a disaster to go back and ruin it all. It's a bit like the Sex Pistols reforming. Just not pretty.

[The Lone Stranger]

I was suprised to hear that Keegans going back to newcastle , doesn`t usually work the second time but will be interesting to see what happens. I like him too as he used to play for Liverpool and i saw him play for southampton a few times in the early eighties. I remember his "I`ll love it" rant on tv and the two classic 4-3 games when newcastle lost to liverpool.

[Noah]

Good on 'im , hope he sorts out the Toons!!

[Ben1981]

Well one good thing for him is hes got all the right ingredients there for a traditional Keegan team. Potentially good strikeforce (Owen, Viduka, Smith and Martins) decent wingers (Milner and Duff) and useless defence (Cacapa, Rozenhal and Enrique)

[The Lone Stranger]

Keegan has been running a football circus for the last 3 years so should be good preparation for newcastle!

[Grah08]

heh apparently Michael Owen in his autobiography described playing under Keegan was his darkest times and he didn't like him as a manager. Thats going to be an interesting period for the pair.

[The Lone Stranger]

Originally Posted by Dakota

heh apparently Michael Owen in his autobiography described playing under Keegan was his darkest times and he didn't like him as a manager. Thats going to be an interesting period for the pair.

He must think how the hell did i end up at Newcastle after playing for liverpool and Real Madrid! I bet he was kicking himself when liverpool won the champions league the year after he left. I`d swap him for Voronin and Kuyt anyday.

[Grah08]

I bet he was kicking himself when liverpool won the champions league the year after he left

Ha yeah. Yeah he would definitely be better than Voronin/Kuyt just all depends on how long injury-free he would actually be...

[The Lone Stranger]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Ha yeah. Yeah he would definitely be better than Voronin/Kuyt just all depends on how long injury-free he would actually be...

Yeah thats the only problem with him and may put off any bigger clubs from trying to buy him.

[T]

Fans make Liverpool takeover move

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7217238.stm

Can't see this happening though

[The Lone Stranger]

Originally Posted by {T}meister

Fans make Liverpool takeover move

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7217238.stm

Can't see this happening though

Anything to get rid of those muppet yanks!

[Ben1981]

Rob Green culled from the England squad again. And at the expense of blunderboy Carson of all people. And why add Curtis Davies whos hardly played for Villa until the last month or so. Aside from those two issues not a bad first selection.

[Red Leader]

.

[The Lone Stranger]

Things may not be going too well at Newcastle at the moment but they will be able to have a great nativity play next december. They`ve got the Messiah (Keegan) and one of the Wise men (Dennis) , a Shepherd (Freddie) and they have eleven donkeys to choose from.

[T]

Originally Posted by GOD OF HELL FIRE

Things may not be going too well at Newcastle at the moment but they will be able to have a great nativity play next december. They`ve got the Messiah (Keegan) and one of the Wise men (Dennis) , a Shepherd (Freddie) and they have eleven donkeys to choose from.

[paulthequiet]

If the plan for an extra overseas game goes ahead then I think I'm giving up following football for good. Its a pathetic moneygrabbing idea. Its not the playing abroad part I dislike its the fact an extra fixture creates a uneven competition.

Unless its done fairly it mustn't happen and I'm not sure how its possible to be done fairly.

[gSteve]

Originally Posted by paulthequiet

If the plan for an extra overseas game goes ahead then I think I'm giving up following football for good. Its a pathetic moneygrabbing idea. Its not the playing abroad part I dislike its the fact an extra fixture creates a uneven competition.

Unless its done fairly it mustn't happen and I'm not sure how its possible to be done fairly.

I agree, 39 games isn't fair, I think instead they could scrap the league cup and have a cup competition for only premier league teams and play that abroad.

[Ben1981]

I dont believe when they say its to get more countries interested in football. Dont the clubs do enough tours abroad during pre season. Just another moneygrabbing idea as suggested.