Angry Fans
This week we reflect on that improved Ireland performance . . . and some of the press reporting; share some frustrations about Liverpool ahead of their crunch with Manchester United; sound warning bells for Glenn Roeder; make a Christmas book choice and debate Stephen Hunt’s tackle.
Letter of the week goes to Mike from Cork for his succinct summary of where Ireland’s football priorities lie. Send us in the address Mike and the prize is in the post toot sweet.
STAN doesn’t need a consultant. Irish football isn’t rocket science. We can’t play so we have to stop the opposition from playing. It’s what we do best. You could say the same about Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and even England who where one of the poorest sides at the World Cup when in possession of the ball. Liam Brady is right. Long term we need to move away from the British style of play. It doesn’t mean we have to lose our battling qualities, we just have to add to them.
Mike from Cork, by email
DID we see the future last week when the Irish sporting press descending to the values espoused by the tabloids from across the sea.
If so let me make a confident prediction for the end of the season — you’ll be selling fewer newspapers. Sporting hysteria among Brit papers has not turned their plunging circulations around and I seem to remember it also lost them a potentially good international manager.
Claire Riley, Cork, by email
THAT’S more like it Ireland. We don’t expect to be all conquering (that’s what GAA and rugby is for) but it’s grand to see a big effort and young players making their mark. Let’s have more chances for the likes of Paul McShane and Jonathan Douglas. Well done Staunton, also, for finally making the right decision and bringing back Lee Carsley.
Tony O’Donovan, Tralee, by email
OUR SHOUT: Ironic that the injuries which Staunton rightly cursed as bad luck should turn out to give him his biggest break in terms of opening the door to the the two players who vied for man of the match against the Czech Republic — McShane and Carsley. The question now is whether he does the right thing willingly or only when his back is to the wall.
Meantime, Mike gets the Letter of the Week prize for reminding us of the big picture.
RAFA has to stop moaning about international breaks and grind out the results. That’s what Chelsea, Arsenal and United are doing, and they’re beginning to get away from us again. If we can’t win at Old Trafford on Sunday the gap with United will be 11 points. And that’s too much to make up.
Limerick Red, by email
AT the start of the season I was worried about Liverpool’s central defence, and I’ve seen nothing to make me change my mind. Carragher, like, Gerrard, has got a World Cup hangover. Without Sissoko in the side the team looks toothless.
Darryl MacMahon, Tipperary, by email
OUR SHOUT: Another good reason for Rafa not to moan about international duty was the committed performance of Blackburn’s Lucas Neill on Saturday, despite his long haul back from a midweek game for Australia against Bahrain in Sydney. So another little hop from Blackburn to Liverpool, perhaps of the permanent kind, shouldn’t be a problem WHAT odds both Newcastle and Charlton going down? In the case of Newcastle a dose of relegation and having to rediscover the basics of football might do them good. As far as Charlton are concerned, I think we’re beginning to see just how many points a season Alan Curbishley was worth to them. Curbishley to Newcastle?
Peter Baker, Dublin, by email
OUR SHOUT: A moment’s silence please — the traditional response of this column to any mention of Newcastle United. Thank you. Whistle blows, on with the game . . .
JUST finished reading one of the best football books for years — The Damned Utd by David Pearce. It’s the story of Brian Clough’s 44 days at Leeds written as a novel. No wonder we all hate Leeds. Get it in your Christmas stocking.
Trent Ender, Wexford, by email
OUR SHOUT: What, better even than Ashley Cole’s epic?
SO, what if Red Rom gets divorced, his wife gets half the money and buys Tottenham. That should spice up the Premiership a bit!
Phil Colgan, Cork, by email
OUR SHOUT: But who’d get custody of the kids!?!
EL Hadji Diouf . . . simple tap-in, routine header, extravagant celebrations. Is there a bigger wind-up merchant operating in football today?
Sean McManus, Dublin, by email
OUR SHOUT: Considering the man’s hate-hate relationship with most opposition fans, I think the word you’re looking for is schadenfreude.
FERGIE, not for the first time, is right. We ARE living in the “era of over-reaction.” 24 hour news, non-stop radio, an internet where opinion comes cheap. The more information and commentary we get the cheaper it becomes.
Dermot O’Sullivan, Donegal, by email
OUR SHOUT: Thanks for that Dermot. Have sent my response by pigeon post. Look forward to hearing from you again in a couple of months.
BENNI McCarthy has been trying for at least two seasons to get to the Premiership. Shrewd transfer dealing by Mark Hughes. £2.5m and six goals in ten matches. Bargain.
Dennis Greene, London, by email
OUR SHOUT: Fast too. Benni has the jets, anyone? (Awards red card to self).
IF Stephen Hunt is innocent then I’m Jack the Ripper. Could he explain to everyone “how the ball was there to be won” when it was already safely in Cech’s hands when he was two strides away, and how he thought he could win it by bending his knee into the keeper’s head.
The ball is usually won with the foot isn’t it?
Cork Blue, by email
NOT a Chelsea supporter, but what astonished me most of all watching the match on Saturday night was that Riley, the referee, forced a man with a fractured skull to crawl over the dead ball line to receive treatment. Not content with that he failed to whistle immediately when it was clear that Cudicini was stone cold out in the second half. Shocking.
Many fans don’t rate Riley as a referee and while the injuries to the goalkeepers were very serious their cause is open to conjecture in a contact sport. What’s not open to debate is that the referee failed in his duty twice, and if anyone should be disciplined, it should be him.
Liam Hegarty, Dublin, by email
THAT knee on Cech’s head was the worst piece of intimidation in sport since Umaga and Mealamu spear tackled Brian O’Driscoll.
Darren Gleeson, West Cork, by email
I SEE that old Irish legend Tony Cascarino has been harking back to the days when he liked “to let a few know he was there.” Didn’t this sort of thing go out of the game with Nat Lofthouse? I suppose dinosaurs are always yearning for the “good old days!”
Luke Kelly, Waterford, by email
OUR SHOUT: Like beauty, ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I didn’t see any vicious intent in Hunt’s challenge — just an off-balance, sliding lunge which is always potentially dangerous when a keeper goes to ground to gather the ball. How Jose Mourinho can be so certain it was something more sinister is beyond me. Ben Thatcher revisited, it was not. Anything else? Oh yeah, red card to Cork Blue for going in studs up. And, sure, even if he hadn’t, we’d have given him the card just for being Cork Blue.
ALL the noise about Wayne Rooney’s gestures at an England supporter is another example of football fans wanting to dish it out in the most offensive way, but not being able to take it back. Fans pay their money and they’re entitled to show displeasure. But when the abuse becomes over-the-top can’t get all sensitive if players give it back occasionally.
Mick Trenter, Mallow, by email
OUR SHOUT: Fair enough but I think even the boy Roo would prefer if his response was to bury one in the back of the net. (I mean, a ball not a supporter, of course).
