Angry Fans
LIAM, AS A Man Utd fan I am becoming increasingly concerned about how the season
is shaping up. We have not played to our standards and look a shadow of last season’s
team. I know certain players are injured, but results against the top five have
been poor. At this stage last season Utd took 10 points from 12 against these
teams. This season it is 2 from 12! Sir Alex claims United always get going in
the second half of the season. I however do not share his optimism this time round.
I felt that despite the great success of last season that Utd required three players
going into the new season. A striker and two midfielders. We have a big squad
in quantity but not in quality. Whilst Berbatov is a good player, he is not prolific
and is in my opinion too similar to both Rooney and Tevez. Sir Alex should have
bought Torres when he had the opportunity. I recall Sir Alex, smiling, stating
in a TV. interview last year when asked why he did not sign Torres that he "lost
interest" in the player!! David Villa or Huntelaar would have been a more
suitable signing. The midfield presently is the main area of concern. Ryan Giggs
has been a great servant to Utd but when did he become a central midfielder? It
is baffling that Fergie has decided to play Giggs there when he is not suited
to the position and his best days are well behind him. Utd need a player of the
pedigree of Deco, Xavi or Frank Ribery in that midfield. Players like Nani and
Ji-Sung Park are simply not good enough and offer nothing to the team in terms
of quality. With Owen Hargreaves out for the season, Fergie needs to buy in January
or I believe it will be an unsuccessful season. Fergie claimed last week that
Villa could displace one of the top four this season. Luckily for him Arsenal
are presently struggling otherwise it may be Utd’s place that Villa take
this season.
Thought
myself that Berbatov would be the missing piece of the jigsaw, a la Cantona, and
still wouldn't rule out him coming spectacularly good for United (if not, hopefully,
for Bulgaria). With so much attacking talent in the OT ranks, I wouldn't be as
pessimistic as you, Derek, but for offering strong criticism without resorting
to a 'Fergie-must-go' rant, have our Letter of the Week prize.
CHRIS
Morgan's full on elbow to Iain Hume's head in the Sheffield Utd-Barnsley match
a couple of weeks back is as despicable a piece of football footage as I have
seen this season. Chris Morgan has caused injury before and decisive action is
required now. He has amassed 12 red cards and 62 yellows during his career not
to mention an assault on Robin Van Persie in Jan 07. At the very least Chris Morgan
should have some kind of extended ban from football, 12 matches similar to Barton's
ban for assaulting Dabo, at the absolute minimum. Although I expect the F.A. will
cop out. Hume has a fractured skull and was in intensive care for a period. He
is out for at least six months. Morgan showed no remorse in the immediate aftermath,
he just stood over him like he gunned someone down in World War 2. If this was
accidental he would have at the very least checked if the guy was ok. Sport by
its nature can be abrasive and aggressive but putting a fellow sportsman in intensive
care with a fractured skull using a deliberate elbow should not allow anyone immunity
from liability, criminal or otherwise. Where do you draw the line?
There's a fine line between the accidental
and the intentional in football and it's a bit of a jump to imagine that even
the most reckless use of the elbow is designed to produce the worst kind of result.
Whatever about previous form.
LIAM, I went over to Berlin for the England
game on Wednesday -- confirming again that the Germans do football properly.
Free transport in Berlin if you had a match ticket
Loads of beer stalls outside
the stadium
Loads of police outside the ground but stood back and let everyone
have a laugh
No stewards in the seating areas trying to make people sit down
Out of the ground and back in the city centre in 15 minutes (away supporters not
held in)
They've renovated the Olympic stadium brilliantly -- kept the original
bits -- and not too corporate. It shows what a cock-up Wembley has been. They
could have kept the twin towers and built around it
We got the fast train
from Hambug to Berlin, second class tickets which have better seats than first
class in the UK. The train travelled at 230kph.
And a John Terry winner. What
more can you want?
A 5-0 win
for Germany, obviously. Silly boy.
JUST been looking at the reports of
those UEFA trials using five match officials as an alternative to the introduction
of video technology. Just where do they think they’re going to get those
extra linesmen from. They don’t grow on trees you know.
NO, but some of them have very similar
powers of observation.
LIAM, what position did Arsène Wenger play
as when he was a footballer? Because I would put money on it that it wasn’t
centre-half, a position about which he has repeatedly had a blind spot. Since
Tony Adams, we’ve had Sol Campbell (ok, good player until he went missing
at half-time against West Ham). Then there was the hapless Philip Senderos. He
seemed to be relying on Kolo Toure but appears to have fallen out with him, and
the idea that Mikael Silvestre could be a dominant central defender had long been
abandoned by Manchester United. William Gallas may play centre half for a French
team which hasn’t looked like winning anything under Domenech but he played
full back in the Chelsea team which lifted two consecutive Premierships and he
plainly isn’t a captain, and making him one was a gamble that has backfired
badly. United, Liverpool, Chelsea and now Aston Villa have all got very strong
central defenders and things won’t improve for Arsenal until Wenger makes
the same basic investment in his side.
For the record, Wenger played midfield. Big surprise, eh.
STEPHEN Ireland -- what is going on? He is flying in the Premiership, goals,
assists, crosses, nice touches, good range of passes, and even a few crunching
tackles. It’s simple . . . get him back in a green shirt NOW. He will guarantee
us a place in South Africa. I think he would link up excellently with Robbie &
Doyler. It’s exactly what the national team need, an attacking central midfielder.
Trap should link up with the FAI on this one and give the lad what he wants. Trap
needs to get on his knees if needs be. It’s wasted talent.
Er, only one problem (well,
apart from the most obvious one): Trapattoni wants two defensive-minded "workmen"
in the middle. So where exactly would he play Ireland?
WHEN did Newcastle
give up playing football? Can they blame that on the “Cockney Mafia”
as well?
At least
they'e stopped giving up goals too. By the way, on Tyneside, Joe Kinnear is known
as JFK. Can anyone guess why?
GOOD FAI Cup Final between Bohs and Derry
Liam which showed the league off well. But I was pleased most by the fact that
more than 10,000 turned out to watch it. With the credit crunch affecting us all
what chance d’ya think that there will be an increased interest in Irish
football?
Great game, sure, but given we had the champions against one of the best supported
teams on the island, 10,000 was the least we might have expected, grim weather
and all.
