Football Focus

[????]

maxxi Wrote:

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> Good result today - rough losing Payet, Sakho,

> Moses but team hung on, no collapse and even some

> 0-0s were entertaining, now players coming back -

> Payet off bench today - and Antonio developing

> into another good buy.

Yup. Looking forward to Mick, Declan and RD eating their words too. Really missing that fat dinosaur aren't we lads? as you kept warning us....careful what we wish for.

[red devil]

When WH fans were calling for BFS to be sacked this time 3 years ago, I said BFS was the type the manager any club would want if they were in a relegation scrap. I said WH should keep him and then keep him for another season just to get a bit of stability at the club and established in the league, i.e. take a pragmatic approach for a couple of years as you'd just been promoted. If they then wanted to sack him and get a new, more attack minded manager, fine, go for it, the new manager will have 2 years to bed a new team in, before the move to the OS.

WH fans at the time were saying that they would rather the club were relegated playing attractive football, and I said that there are plenty of clubs who have been relegated from the PL and have never been promoted back, which was a big risk with the move to the OS in mind. That's when I said ''careful what you wish for''. So, as we don't live in a parallel universe where BFS was sacked and WH relegated, we'll never know what might have happened. But what we do know is that keeping BFS at the time wasn't a mistake, so no words being eaten here...

[Alan Medic]

West Ham: Played 20 Points 32

Same as last season after 20 games. What were you saying Quid's?

[Jah Lush]

Didn't see much difference in the way West Ham played under BFS yesterday especially with that big poncey haired poof up front. I'm well aware that you've missed Payet and you've had to adapt your game a bit recently because of that but it didn't look anything like the flowing football you've been crying out for since Fatso left.

Liverpool dominated possession yesterday but it doesn't always win you games. As for Benteke, OK he's scored a couple of winners lately but he's not much different to Mario Balotelli or the big poncey haired poof up front now at West Ham. Square peg, round hole. Liverpool need someone either to play off him or change the way they play to get the best out of him.

Slightly disappointed with Spurs result today but that's only because our expectations are so high at the moment. Nevertheless still a very good away point. Wait until you see Dele Alli's goal on MOTD tonight. What a fantastic player he is. That boy has got some career ahead of him.

[Otta]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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> Liverpool dominated possession yesterday but it

> doesn't always win you games. As for Benteke, OK

> he's scored a couple of winners lately but he's

> not much different to Mario Balotelli or the big

> poncey haired poof up front now at West Ham.

> Square peg, round hole. Liverpool need someone

> either to play off him or change the way they play

> to get the best out of him.

I agree, but fans blaming it all on him is a nonsense. The club bought him (and Maio for that matter), you need to adjust a system to a player's strengths or get different players (which is what they should have done).

Just frustrated with Liverpool, they always take two steps forward, 1.95 steps back.

[????]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> West Ham: Played 20 Points 32

>

> Same as last season after 20 games. What were you

> saying Quid's?

I'll offer you 3/1 if we get less points this season than last if you want to put your money on it. We were doing OK this time last year because of injury enforced changes once we got Nolan and Carol back BFS reverted to type and we hadn't beaten any decent teams away in his reign (no Spurs don't count)

Jah...

lightly disappointed with Spurs result today but that's only because our expectations are so high at the moment. Nevertheless still a very good away point. Wait until you see Dele Alli's goal on MOTD tonight. What a fantastic player he is. That boy has got some career ahead of him. .......Yup deja vue with Lennon (tho good goal by him), Did you see our game Jah or are you going on MOTD if you think our football is the same as under BFS..he'd have played Andy C upfront on his todd against Liverpool.

West Ham fans (and newcastle before) moaned about Sam for very sound reasons with his negative %age football and we've been proved exactly right by a manager with more ambition. It's a breath of fresh air. You liking LVG RD/Dr? He's got you there or there abouts after all......

[Jah Lush]

Watched it live on BT Sport Quids. Earlier on this season when Payet was fit and Diafra Sakho was up front then I agree the Hammers were a much more attractive proposition to watch than under BFS but whenever 'big poncey-haired poof' plays you have to adapt your game somewhat and hence the comparison.

[red devil]

The best 45mins I've seen on the box this season was Liverpool's first half at City, completely ripped apart by an interchangeable front 3 of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana. Milner was also very good and I believe he's been injured lately. When Benteke is in the team they can't play like that, he's not mobile enough, which probably frustrates a lot of Liverpool fans.

Dele Alli's goal was excellent, he reminds me of a young Gerrard, good news for England as well as Spurs fans...

[Jah Lush]

You think LVG has it hard. Benitez sacked at Real Madrid for slipping to third.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/rafa-benitez-sacked-real-madrid-7115351

[Otta]

That's not a surprise, it's felt like a matter of time pretty much since the day he got the job.

[????]

Otta Wrote:

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> That's not a surprise, it's felt like a matter of

> time pretty much since the day he got the job.

he was '3 hours' away from being West Ham manager, too late now :)

[Otta]

Rafa to United!!! ;-)

[Alan Medic]

I do wonder if a manager at RM has to live up to CR's expectations. He does seem a bit self important old Ronnie.

Great match between Everton & Spurs yesterday and a lot of good young English talent on display. Stones made me laugh when he had to gesture to the crowd to calm down after appearing to be in a mess in a dangerous place in the area and extracted himself with ease. Both teams are easy on the eye to watch.

In won't take up your 3/1 offer Quids as I'd expect WH to exceed last years points total. If any club had a plan for a few years it's certainly them. Get promoted. Stay there. Consolidate. Move on and up. Move grounds. SA had a big part to play in all that and there are plenty of other Championship clubs with bigger histories than West Ham who would have liked to have gone that route.

[red devil]

Never.Ever...

Have seen your question Quids, will reply soon, busy with tax return...Boo!

[Otta]

AM I suspect you're right about Ronaldo. From what I've read about his new film, he does seem to believe that he is special. I mean it's obvious he's a special talent at kicking a ball, but in the grand scheme of things, who cares?

But I can imagine a lot of players don't warm to Rafa.

[Rolo Tomasi]

Hate to say it but Spurs are looking fantastic.

[????]

Rolo Tomasi Wrote:

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> Hate to say it but Spurs are looking fantastic.

Had a couple of quid on them at 16s to sweeten that bitter pill should it happen

[Jah Lush]

We may well be looking 'fantastic' but we're still six points behind the Arse.

COYS!

[red devil]

???? Wrote:

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> You liking LVG RD/Dr? He's got you there or

> there abouts after all......

No, I'm not liking it Quids. Paul Scholes is right. I'm fooking bored watching my team.

Like most fans I?ve put up with the dross and taken a pragmatic view. The club needed a strong character to steady the ship after Moyes was eaten alive. Fans put up with last season's snoozefest believing that having got back into the CL, things would change playing wise this season, but they haven't, hence the recent unrest. I'm willing to give him until the end of the season to turn things round, but I wouldn't shed a tear if he went tomorrow.

The bigger issue for me is more to do with LVG's appointment in the first place, and how the club as a whole lacks direction and a clear strategy. LVG was only ever going to be a stop gap appointment. It was a short term view, get us back into the CL at any cost. But the squad also needed rebuilding, and that can?t be done in such a short space of time. At some point in the next 18 months we?ll have a new manager and the process will start all over again. Once you get into that cycle it?s very hard to get out of it. We shouldn?t be appointing a manager with a philosophy that?s at odds with the club?s DNA of how we play football. If we?re now in an age of short term managerial reigns, fine, then at least appoint a manager who?s philosophy is in keeping with the club?s own philosophy/DNA. That way you at least get some coherence, a smoother succession between managers.

There also seems to be a disparity between the business side of the club run by the Glazers and Woodward, and the playing side run by the manager, with no overall plan on what players to buy. So we get a scattergun approach, with the suits obsessed with making a big name signing whether we need the player or not, e.g. Di Maria. There?s no way LVG wanted him, he?s just not his type of player. He was bought more as a statement of financial muscle by the suits. What the suits need to realise fast, is that the commercial success the club has recently enjoyed is down to the success we had on the pitch, not the other way round. Neglect the playing side and the success soon dries up, and eventually the commercial deals will too...

[Otta]

As a Liverpool fan, I have more or less written this season off. Luck doesn't seem to be on our side injury wise. I am hoping for a push for top 4 (though not holding my breath), then hoping Klopp can attract some real quality in the summer and show us what he can really do as a manager next season.

I am still desperate for United to sack LVG and appoint Rafa until the end of the season!!!

[red devil]

Glazers and Woodward know diddly squat about football, but even they realise they would have a riot on their hands if that ever happened. Quite happy to take Klopp off your hands though...

[Alan Medic]

I read Yaya is complaining he hasn't been voted African player of the year for about the 17th year in a row. Between that and not getting a birthday cake he strikes me as the sensitive type. Seems his agent has been having a dig at Pep too. Maybe last season at City?

Scholes on United must sum up how most United fans think. The journos this morning were wondering if his mate Giggs is keeping his distance from LVG so he isn't tarred with the same brush. Same guys were commenting on an article in one of the paper's today that United will go after the Spurs boss in the summer and that he wouldn't turn it down. Can't see LVG lasting past the Summer either way.

[Jah Lush]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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Same guys were commenting on an article in one of the

> paper's today that United will go after the Spurs

> boss in the summer and that he wouldn't turn it

> down. Can't see LVG lasting past the Summer either

> way.

In your dreams pal.

[red devil]

If he carries on doing well, he'll end up back in Spain at one of the big 2, and no one, not even Levy, will stop him going...

[Jah Lush]

You're just jealous. ;-)