MUFC - No Fire Power

Manchester United are now out of the title race after losing Robin Van Persie to an ankle injury against Swansea City last Saturday. I agree with the premise that Man Utd are out of the running but in my opinion they were never really in it to begin with...let me explain.

Radamel Falcao is unproven in this league, needs others to play well to put it on a plate for him. Imagine Dirk Kuyt but with a bigger bank balance. The Colombian has only 4 goals so far this season and isn’t the first name on Van Gaal’s team sheet.

Next Wayne Rooney. For me he is one of England’s best players, if we had eleven Rooney’s we could win the world cup...but we have one which makes things very awkward for managers. You have to play him but it’s a waste sticking him up front. If you’re not going to play him up front then why play him at all? but you have to play him...but its a waste sticking him up front...if you’re not gonna stick him up front then why...etc.

Also for me he only seems to score when Man Utd win 2-0, 3-0, 3-1. His goals don’t win games or he scores more than one goal which is why he’s averaged around 15 goals a season for Manchester United. Constant threat but not a consistent goalscorer.

Lastly the big Dutch cherry on top. Robin Van Persie. For me one of the most overrated strikers in the world today. Don’t understand the rave over this lad. For me the best goalscorers in the world must be averaging 20 goals a season...minimum. RVP is 31 now, only scored over 20 goals twice in eleven seasons in the Premier League (only done it twice in his entire career even).

For me he is another player who has a lot of skill but shouldn’t be looked upon for goals. The only player I know who can find himself at a 0° angle and go for goal, for me that is just sheer stupidity and selfishness. But he’s got that wet gel look going on so at least he looks good whilst he’s being a tw*t.

So what is Van Gaal to do? Throw tens of millions at random foreign clubs trying to find the next Ronaldo/Messi/Stevie May? Should he give the youth players a chance and pray they come good? What it seems to me is he’s going to test the water with what he’s got now.

When he spoke about his strikers goal scoring record he said “it doesn’t tell us anything about next year...they could be having an unlucky year”. If he took two seconds to look at the stats...he’ll know it will continue. Best he can hope for is playing three up front and getting around 15 goals from each of them.

Not exactly sure why midfielders don’t get brought into the equation or Van Gaal’s bloody tactics. He plays 3-5-2 which is a formation which simply does not work in this league; if he’s so dead set on using it he should simply p*ss off back to international football or try his hand in Serie A. I imagine it’d work there.

Earlier on in the season he said that Ashley Young was a natural wingback or something like that...a wingback needs a decent engine on him and needs to be able to defend just as well as he can attack? Yeah...that really describes Ashley Young to a T…*cough* not *cough* but I digress.

~ Side note: I think Young’s a decent player but defending is not his strongest point. He’s an out-and-out winger. Wonderful delivery ~

I’m still hoping for Will Keane to come good for Sheffield Wednesday. We have a late surge for the playoffs, he gets us promoted, takes Man Utd to the top of the league, wins England The World Cup and Wednesday get all the credit for creating the greatest striker known to man...a man can dream.

Despite me typing out all this I still have to admit I don’t give a crap about Manchester United. If they’d kept David Moyes I’d hope that they had a little more success. But now they’ve brought in some manager who thinks he knows it all and made a failed attempt to buy the league I really don’t care whether they get back to the Fergie years or drop to a mid table team…

Seems quite a pointless post now...oh well I hope you enjoyed it at least.

Cheers for reading.

Bigger Things for Danny Ings

Heard a few of my Liverpool supporting mates (you know the ones, those lads who grew up in a small town in Yorkshire with no connection to Liverpool in the slightest) and they seem to be grunting over the fact that they seem to be set to sign Danny Ings in the Summer after his contract runs out.

For me this is just typical of lads who have only ever known what’s it like being a big club. The lowest they’ve seen Liverpool is maybe 7th in Premier League...try 15th in League One with Clinton Morrison up front, tell me how bad of a signing Danny Ings is then…

~ Side note: to be fair we had Neil Mellor up front that season and he was knocking them in for us. We weren’t exactly without a paddle ~

They’re expecting some unproven foreign player to come in for big money, revolutionise their attack and then...what? Do a Suarez? Do a Torres? I like to think Danny Ings has got a little more commitment that that...even though he has decided not to sign a new contract with Burnley...Burnley seem to come up with some reyt good strikers...imagine if they kept them. What a strike force...but I digress.

I personally think that he’ll be a top quality striker with Liverpool. His good opening season in the Premier League could be the key factor in Burnley’s survival this season. A long with what seems to me a very hard working bunch of lads. Shocking that Burnley were tipped for relegation to League One last year haha but again I’m digressing.

Ings looks to me to have similar qualities to Luis Suarez (let me finish). He’s good on the ball, has good pace, good strength, he battles for the ball...all he needs to do now is bite someone, make a racial slur and dive and I’d be sold. I’m not saying he’s gonna be as good as Suarez but he’s got a similar style of play as he’s both creative and a goal threat himself.

According to the articles I read Burnley would be getting 6 million if he were to sign out of contract with Liverpool. Something to do with him being under 24, Liverpool are classed as poaching him. This for me would be beneficial to both clubs in my eyes. I remember when Burnley sold Charlie Austin and the way in which they worked with that money is amazing. For me it’s one of the reasons they're in the Prem now.

~ Rumours are that QPR paid £4 million for him. That money was put into building Burnley’s squad and look at them now. A good example for other clubs in my opinion ~

I wouldn’t mind seeing a nice swap deal. Possibly Rickie Lambert plus 2-3 million? it doesn’t sound like much but Lambert’s go the experience to bag goals and the money may be used to bring a bit more quality into the club. If Burnley were to stay up this season I’d love to see them sign Harry Maguire from Hull City. Young, good centre half who’s wasting away at Hull and, from what I hear, he’s a Wednesday fan. What could be better?

~I’m gonna assume that Burnley fan’s would want more but it’s big business is football and Liverpool will look to take advantage. You’ll probably be hoping for an Andy Carroll £35 million situation ~

No offense to Burnley but this type of move will also help Ings get into the England set up. I put a post earlier about Mark Noble not getting into the England squad and for me it’s simply because people like Noble, Ings, Austin, Crouch, don’t get in the because they don’t play for top four clubs. How can Peter Crouch have such a good strike rate for England and not have had a cap since 2010? He should be getting call ups on how he’s performing on the pitch, not because he’s got a place on City’s bench. I can guarantee that Ings will get a call up next season even though he will have played less games and scored less goals for Liverpool...if he goes to them that is.

Out of all the teams I would like to stay up this season, Burnley are top of the list. Like I stated earlier they have a hard working bunch of lads who can take a game by the scruff of the neck. A young manager who has the voice of a male Deirdre Barlow but is currently doing an excellent job and a solid fan base which will play its part in being the 12th man. This season will just add to their amazing club history and I hope it continues until Wednesday are next up there.

~ I typed this, left it, came back to it and thought “God I sound like a kiss-arse” ~

Last thing I want to say is I’m not saying all Liverpool fans think Danny Ings is a bad signing, most of them probably would welcome him. Just that the stupid few who think that spending 50 million guarantees success definitely haven’t learnt from the past. *cough* Torres *cough*

I’d like everyone reading this to do me a favour and ask a Liverpool fan, friend or family, and ask them whether they want Danny Ings. If they say no Tweet them this or share it on FaceBook and wait for the “f*ck off” message to come flying back haha.

~ Gentle push for people to like and share this post...I think I got away with it ~

But anyways cheers for reading.

Noble Hammers at Hodgson's Door

Just read that Mark Noble has been offered a new five and a half year contract extension meaning he will stay at the club until he is 33 years old. When reading that I couldn’t help but think “this lad has never had an England call up...”

A young lad, 27, at the peak of his ability, captain of a top Premier League club and he has been overlooked at recent times by players such as Fabian Delph and...Jack Colback? This is a stunning piece of evidence that surely must be mentioned all the time but alas he is left to just plod through putting in solid performances against some of the best teams in England.

Now I may not be the best person to do a review of the lad (not seeing him consistently and all) but I’m gonna give it my best shot. I’ll start by making a little comparison that I thought of a few years ago before West Ham got relegated...Scotty Parker. This lad for me is just like Scott Parker with the tackles he puts in, the work rate he puts in the fact that they both have terrible hair (we all remember Scott Parker’s “comb over” faze during and Noble’s got a hairline like Alan Shearer).

One difference for me between Parker and Noble is that Noble has a better outball than Parker. This outball definitely serves him well especially with big lads like Carroll, Sakho or The Big Dog Carlton Cole up front. Also has the ability to play a ball over the top for lads like Downing to pace onto. He gets freedom to ping these passes about when he’s in the middle with Song so why wouldn’t he be able to do it with Henderson for England? Statistically he play’s 1.5 key passes every game...not bad in my book.

I’ve mentioned earlier about his tackling which is I’m guessing one of the reasons Big Sam likes using him so much. Tough tackler knows when to tackle, when to foul, when to hold off. Good brain on him as well as good feet. The lads got great aggression and strength considering he’s only about 4 foot.

Sadly because he is quite short he is sometimes lost a little when challenging in the air. But the opposing player needs to know that as soon as that ball hits the ground he’s gonna have a midget cockney challenging for the second ball. Again top workrate.

~ Side note: I’m 6ft5. Anyone under 6ft1 to me is a short arse ~

To be fair that is the only criticism I could find. I’m sure people who watch him week-in-week-out can come up with more than he’s a big short and is receding.

My last point is that England have never lost a penalty shootout. Mark Noble is West Hams answer to Matt Le Tissier (might be an exaggeration). This lad has a skill of delivering a good ball in at a set piece, can place a penalty in any corner of the goal and I heard once took a throw in...Beckham eat your heart out.

A lot of this may have sounded sarcastic but I genuinely do like Mark Noble, think he deserves a call up for everything he’s done for West Ham this season. Normally players get called up for doing well for a few weeks in a row, why not bring in the players who do it every week?

I actually would like to see Carroll back in the England set up. He might not have the best scoring record for them but he’d cause havoc for defenses and take some attention off of lads like Sturridge or Rooney….or dare I say Kane (West Ham fans won’t like that one)

Anyways I’ve had my say. Would you guys have him in your squad? If not then who?

Hope you enjoyed this.

Cheers for reading.

Arsenal Take II - A New Hope

Last night Arsenal lost 3-1 to Monaco due to what Arsene Wenger described as ‘suicidal defensively.’ Sadly this seems to be a recurring theme every season for the Gunners and I can’t help but think why?

They have some absolute quality in all areas of the pitch. Last night they had a lethal attack of Sanchez, Ozil, Giroud, Welbeck and the very much in form Santi Cazorla. At the back they had two experienced heads at the centre with Koscielny and World Cup winner Per Mertesacker. A solid keeper between the sticks in Ospina and Coquelin mopping up in midfield. What’s the issue?

The sad issue in my opinion is lack of leadership. I think their current captain is Mikel Arteta which for me speaks volumes. Back in the days of the Arsenal Invincibles they had a leader in every department. Lehmann in goal, Campbell in defense, Veira in midfield, Henry up front, all legends for the swagger and consistency they carried on the pitch.

Sadly the players that are meant to fill those boots aren’t exactly in the same breed:

Welbeck for Henry - I like Welbeck but this lad can’t do the things that Henry could and probably still can do. Henry for me could still do a job now if his fitness was up to scratch.

Mertesacker for Campbell - For me Per isn’t vocal enough to lead in the way Sol did. I also think he lacks the agility to compete with some of the quicker players. By this I don’t mean pace wise, I just mean I think Mertesacker gets caught flat-footed a lot more than he should do.

Ospina for Lehmann - German goalkeepers are a cut above. I love a keeper that isn’t afraid to bollock their defense for mistakes. I think the jury is still out on Ospina, I like him as a shot stopper but I’m unsure whether he’s strong enough vocally.

Coquelin for Veira - This one sadly is the main let down for me. Coquelin is a good player...but he isn’t Veira. Coquelin seems to go quietly through the game doing his job with little fuss. Veira would do his job, as well as other players jobs, whilst dominating the midfield and leading his team. One of the best allround players the Premier League has ever seen.

~Side note: With Henry I never understood how defenders didn’t know what he was going to do...he’ll get played through on the left wing, run inside and bury it across goal into the far corner. Surely someone must have thought “lets show him out wide…” but I’m getting off topic ~

Admittedly if Arsene was to recreate that kind of talent he’d have been hailed the next Jesus and some kind of footballing wizard because there is no way you can predict that a player would turn out like that. Their potential might make you think they’re going to the top level but you can’t know they’ll be one of the best in world.

I think the time for Wenger to create a player has gone. I don’t think he has the time to buy a good player and turn him into a great player. I’m not saying he will be sacked just that he’ll sign be half way through molding a great player then the player will just get gobbled up by Man City or Chelsea or some other club which is just gonna chew the lad up and spit him out with a bigger bank account and stories for his grandkids on how he used to be on the bench for a big club.

There’s no heart in football anymore. That’s why for me Arsenal need to try bringing more British youth into their squad. The foreign players are the ones who jump ship first site of a bit of money. I mean look at Wilshere and Ramsey, they’ll be at Arsenal for years because they want to earn their success, not just buy it.

~Side note: I really don’t rate Wilshere. I think he’s overhyped and isn’t half as good as Ross Barkley but when he was younger I was fully expecting Man United or City to be snooping round him. Surprised Arsenal managed to keep hold of this lad ~

I read somewhere that Aaron Ramsey will be out until March with his hamstring injury which is a huge blow for Arsenal in my opinion. He’s not the cure to their defensive frailties but I think he has wonderful link up play with Ozil. When Ramsey play’s Ozil play’s. With both of them on fire I could imagine Sanchez, Cazorla, Giroud, Welbeck and whoever else will perform to the best of their abilities.

I’ve seen a few fans saying that they want Arsene Wenger out. Last night I couldn’t scroll two posts down my Twitter feed without someone saying “Wenger’s crap” or “LOL @ Arsenal” or “What’s the score? @PeirsMorgan.” I actually can’t believe that fans can turn so disloyal over one of your most loyal servants.

Football may be a results business but Arsene has been guaranteeing you Champions League football every season...do you know what its like being a Sheffield Wednesday fan? I’m happy Stuart Gray has achieved mid-table so far this season...finishing fourth in the Premiership...I’d probably sh*t my pants in excitement.

I personally think Arsene Wenger is a better manager than Sir Alex Ferguson. There is a reason behind that for any Man Utd fans reading and I’ll explain it when I come to that post. Then again it’s just a small minority that want him gone, the kind of minority that think “I’m shouting loudest therefore I am right!” quite pathetic really.

Anyway’s better luck in the second leg. I personally think Arsenal will do them in at their place, they’re a young side who probably think the tie is done. It’s only three you need, Arsenal can score that in there sleep haha. Fingers crossed I haven’t jinx it.

Arsenal 4 - 0 Monaco (Giroud 2, Cazorla, Chambers) - put your mortgage on it.

Cheers for reading.

Suarez - New Team, Same Player

After last nights showdown between two of the best teams currently in the world, I couldn’t help but look at Luis Suarez and think ‘that lad hasn’t changed.’ I read an article the other day referring to Suarez as a more creative player for Barcelona than he was for Liverpool. Is this really the case?

According to WhoScored.com, Suarez had 12 assists in his last (and best) season at Liverpool. He has currently matched that at Barcelona and we are currently half way through the season...it would seem he has got more creative yes. The same article said that his goalscoring form has dried up. In his in the same season as before he scored 31 goals….this season he has scored 6…these facts aren’t helping.

Although it seems Suarez has turned goal provider since his move to Barca, I’m thinking that he simply has a bit more to work with in an attacking sense. Last season he was relied upon for goals, their main threat in Liverpools push for the title. He was the spark that made nearly every chance Liverpool had and was a b*stard to play against I’m imagining.

I personally thought that the SAS partnership wasn’t all that cracking. Yeah they scored a lot but how many times did you see Sturridge play a wonder-ball through to Suarez? Maybe twice? How many times was it the otherway round? every time more or less. Suarez could’ve ran that show with Neil Mellor at the side of him or even an injured Michael Owen. I’d bet he could’ve had a prolific partnership with Ian Rush and he’s in his 50’s!

Suarez was an amazing talent and to have him in the Premier League just made the whole competition that little bit greater. I used to tell my mates (who didn’t agree but still) that Luis Suarez is up there with Ronaldo and Messi for me. But sadly because he played for Liverpool, who weren’t in the Champions League and didn’t have World Cup winners in their squad, would never get seen as the best.

~Side note: No offense to Liverpool fans or the club. One of the richest histories in British football, if not the richest. Finally back where they belong in the European elite ~

Now he is up there will the best the world has to offer its quite sad that Suarez has had the attention taken from him. Obviously opposing players are going to focus in on Messi, Neymar is known for having skill and trickery about his game so where does this leave Little Luis…? It leaves him quietly getting on with his job, with little pressure and little attention from the opposing team and the press.

Yes the press are always desperate to paint a pretty picture of Suarez as some kind of diving, racist cannibal but truth be told since his move he’s been about as dirty as Gary Lineker. He’s had 3 bookings in his first 22 games (Ok not exactly Lineker but in comparison it’s pretty good) and has had no controversial moments to name.

~ Side note: I saw an article earlier about Suarez apparently biting Martin Demichelis’ hand in last nights game. The VT (stands for video tape) clearly shows Demichelis’ hand go to Suarez’s throat so he flinches. Nowhere near a bite and I think this is a pathetic attempt at a news story from the Telegraph. Also the headline was crap, could’ve at least said “ Luis Suarez makes it chew - 1.” But I digress ~

I must say as well he took those goals well. the first one sat up waiting to be smacked and I would’ve expected any striker to leather it into the roof of the net but he smacks it into the bottom corner really well and the second was terrible defending first of all but a lovely sliding finish from the Uruguayan. Like the Suarez of old that one.

I personally think this lad has what it takes to be Barca’s leading man if Messi was to leave. It’d be nice to see how he handles the pressure of being the main focus against every opponent. In all honesty though I can’t see it happening as they’d sooner sack their manager than sell Messi any time soon. Players have too much power these days. Oh well.

Good save by Joe Hart from that penalty. Might’ve kept City’s chances alive. Doubt it though. Maybe? But no. I don’t care…

Cheers for reading.

My Mike Bassett Moment

This post is gonna be a little different from the norm. I like to chat absolute nonsense about what’s going on in the football world currently but in this one I’m gonna talk about my greatest achievement playing Football Manager. FM12 to be precise.

I had started as Sheffield Wednesday. My favourite club. At this point we were in League One, favourites to get promoted along with Sheffield United (then managed by Danny Wilson) and Huddersfield (then managed by Lee Clarke).

I got off to a very promising start with Gary Madine banging them in for fun as well as Ben Marshall (before his loan deal ended) and Michail Antonio grabbing a few themselves. I was sitting pretty at the top of the league. Liam Palmer had been putting in some stellar performances, despite not scoring many goals everything just seemed to run through him. Tidy…

~ Side note: don’t really rate Madine in real life but he’s a cracking little poacher on FM12. Especially in League One ~

I ended up going on a nice cup run in the Johnstone Paint Trophy and won 4-1 against Crawley in the final, Gary Madine and Chris O’Grady with two apiece. Whilst I was doing all this Sheffield United had flopped to 12th in the league (Danny Wilson was soon replaced with Aidy Boothroyd)...this season was turning into a reyt belter. You’d think I’d have called it a successful season after that but the Johnstone Paint was just a side act. I wanted the league title.

After the cup triumph we went on a bit of a wobble. I’d dropped to 2nd behind Huddersfield and couldn’t seem to catch a break over them. When I won they won, when they lost I lost. Neither of us seemed to draw and eventually I found myself 2nd, 2 points behind Huddersfield with just a single game to be played.

I had a look at the fixtures for the final week. I had Yeovil who had already had relegation confirmed. Huddersfield had Bournemouth who also had already been relegated...God sake.

Looking at the table I thought to myself “the best I can hope for is for Huddersfield to draw.” Even with a draw Huddersfield would win on goal difference. I needed to win 4-0 against Yeovil and pray to God that Huddersfield drew at best.

I’d been playing a direct 4-4-2 all season but decided I needed to go all out in this game. Went 4-2-4, looking to overload the opposition box with all my 6 foot players. All I needed was 4 and with my current goal scoring record I was gonna be lucky to get that. My team looked like this;

~~~~~~~~~~~~Weaver~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~Buxton~~Jones~~Batth~~Helan~~~

~~~~~~~~Palmer~~Semedo~~~~~~~~

Antonio~Madine~O’Grady~Assombalonga

~Side note: That was incredibly annoying to type out~

I gave them a calming team talk (a nice reaction) and sent them on there way…

They were all f*cking over me! there were about twenty highlights all for Yeovil. I couldn’t believe how much they were dominating me. I could understand why they had been relegated though because they didn’t finish a single chance. Some sound saves from Weaver but mainly poor finishing from their strikers.

I made it to half time at 0-0, I asserted that I wanted more from them all! They took it well again. I brought on Clinton Morrison for Madine (I needed a little more experience and strength in that final third). I didn’t want to look at Huddersfield score so I just continued on.

Second half was a little better I had a few chances but it was still pretty even. Either team could win this! around the 60 minute I noticed Liam Palmer was having a bad game by his standards, He’d had a great season but today he was struggling. I brought him off and stuck on the legend that was David Prutton.

The match continued. 88th minute. 89th minute. 90th minute…+4. I had four minutes added time to win...the 4-0 is gone now this is all about pride. Suddenly in the 92nd minute a highlight starts.

Jose Semedo is tackled in the centre circle, the ball is played through to a Yeovil striker who is 1-on-1 with Nicky Weaver. B*llocks. Suddenly Rob Jones comes in with an inch perfect tackle out of nowhere to save me from embarrassment. The ball bounces to Buxton.

Buxton into midfield. Midfield back to Buxton. Buxton to Jones. Helan. Batth. Prutton. Batth. Jones. Buxton. Antonio. Semedo. Helan. Assombalonga...Semedo...Helan...Batth...Helan….

This was going on forever. Just get it forward!!!

Buxton had the ball and he knocked it 30 yards forward to Prutton who was in Yeovil’s half. Chris O’Grady came short. Prutton played to pass to O’Grady and just made a straight run through the middle of The Glovers defense. Chris then turned and played a chipped pass straight through to Prutton. Bounced. One touch…

PRUTTOOOOOOOONNNN!!!!!

I looked at the clock. 93:58 Prutton had made it 1-0 with 2 seconds left!

I cheered my tits off haha. My brother turned and said “Shut the f*ck up. It’s only a game.” I thought ‘nah he’s just guaranteed himself a new contract the gypsy lookalike b*stard. I may not have won the league but what a way to end it.”

Anyway won 1-0 clicked continue...turns out Huddersfield had lost 1-0 to Bournemouth. I checked my inbox ‘congratulations on winning the NPower League One'…oh my God…

PRUTTOOOOOOOONNNN!!!!! thought he was an absolute legend ever since! haha

David Prutton won me the league in the last two seconds of the season. For me that was better than Aguero for City.

Sadly some of you reading might be wondering why there is no picture with this post. Well in my second season I somehow managed to loan and buy Danny Batth. He was a free agent but he was contracted to us? every time I went to look at his profile a few seconds later Football Manager would crash and it’d say “there was an error” or something.

Good thing that happened in all honesty because I signed some reyt crap in my second season and we ended up like second bottom after about ten games…but hey ho onwards and upwards.

Just wanted to share that with everyone and I hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers for reading.

Soft Hard Men - Matic and Co.

Last Saturday Nemanja Matic lost his rag and shoved Ashley Barnes to the ground in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Burnley. Since then he has received a three match ban, which was appealed and now dropped to a two match ban. Two questions.

How?! and why?!

Chelsea’s board/Mourinho/everyone to do with Chelsea was apparently expecting the ban to drop to one game so Matic could still play in the League Cup Final against Tottenham. But, in my opinion, rightly the ban stood.

“He has been unjustly punished…”...apparently. It’s done my head in that he is a role model to young fans, on thousands of pounds a week, meant to be a professional footballer and he blows his top because he got studded on the shin pad? the soft turd!

You see worse tackles than that on a Sunday down at your local park. Yeah it looked ugly but the way people talk about it is a complete over reaction. They’re making out that Barnes flew into the tackle planning to break a leg, with so much aggression even Duncan Ferguson would think “settle down lad”...

But no what in my eyes happened was Barnes was trying to play a pass backwards, Matic has made a perfect stretching interception and Barnes’ passing leg followed on a caught Matic on the shin...no malice, no aggression even with the way he walked away after he didn’t realise he’d done anything wrong.

I’ve made a bad tackle accidentally and when I did it I knew I’d done it.

Another comment that came was that it should have been his second yellow card as Barnes had kneed Branislav Ivanovic in the back earlier in the game. Another thing that annoyed me…

He’s a 6ft1 Serbian hard man, gets a knee into his arse, lands on his arse again, rolls around on the ground holding his knee...before getting up and telling the referee to keep and eye on him…man up Branislav you soft sod.

That is Chelsea’s team to a T though. Hard men and seasoned professionals until the tables turn and they don’t get their own way, this includes Mourinho. Don’t get me wrong Chelsea have got some of the greatest players currently in the Premier League but I’d love to see if that whinging would continue if Big Sam was in charge.

He’d be the first to say after the game “well Branislav and Nemanja were a right pair of mourngy gits tonight wasn’t they?”. The only one I notice that doesn’t moan or cry is John Terry (no pun intended) for me he’s got the intelligence and the experience to just get on with it.

This type of situation seems to happen a lot with larger clubs. Always having bans successfully appealed. Matic shoves a professional footballer to the ground and receives a two match ban, a League Two player could get a red for the referee misreading a dive and the player will still receive a three match ban. Why is Chelsea’s season more important than the season of Bury or Wimbledon?

~ Side note: it’s always annoyed me that the lower leagues take a back seat to the Prem. It’s awful if you haven’t got Sky or Virgin and can’t record The Football League Show. Imagining what it’s like having to stay up until 1 o’clock in the morning to watch 15 seconds of a 1-1 draw against Walsall ~

I do like that the FA have said that Matic’s “violent reaction” can not be condoned. Makes me think that they’re not as corrupt as what people are making out...Then again the 2022 World Cup is still being done in Qatar. I’ll say no more on that subject…

Last note from me is that despite Matic’s reaction I also thought Barnes really played on that little shove. He went flying. Matic is a “hard man” but he’s not hard enough to prod someone to the ground like that. Reaction deserved a sending off but it didn’t help with his going down like that.

Anyway’s I’m missing Barca vs Man City.

Cheers for reading.

Flight of the Owls

Its come to my attention that some people aren’t too happy with the progression made at Sheffield Wednesday this season. Apparently they have had enough of the ‘mediocrity’ for far too long. For me these people are so clueless even Chris Kamara would be scratching his noggin.

The team in which I have chosen to focus on is my favourite club Sheffield Wednesday who this season have exceeded expectations as most bookmakers had written us off before the season started. After a string of wins at the start of the season and some solid defensive performances we are currently 12th with 40 points, 9 points from relegation and 16 points from the playoffs. I’d be a little cautious if we didn’t have the second best defense in the league.

What’s annoying me is the fact that some of the more naive fans think it’s either all or nothing. We’re either scrapping for survival or vying for an automatic place. They want some excitement every season, they don’t want to plod around in the middle of the table just happy to be there…

Truth be told this is the best I’ve ever seen The Owls do. The highest I have ever seen us finish is 12 in the Championship under Brian Laws and that was with a much weaker side and absolutely no possible financial backing to strengthen in the Summer. Now we have some new Thai owners who, from what I have gathered, supply American and Western Europe with all their fishy desires.

I mean some people right now might be tucking into a nice fish and chip supper (It’s Tuesday evening why shouldn’t you spoil yourself) and that cod could have been caught by The Thai Union Frozen Group. That taste good? Course it does its quality millionaire stock why wouldn’t it be. Guwon get some Chansiri down tha’s throat..

~ But I digress ~

It seems to me that fans have forgotten what it was like last season. Under Dave Jones we couldn’t score and couldn’t keep clean sheets. Would we even want to go back to that? No of course not. It actually really saddens me to hear that some fans want rid of Stuart Gray…

Stuart Gray is the reason we’re in the Championship this season. He’s now got us such a strong defense that I can’t see us having to worry about the drop for a long while. This is progression. You can’t expect him to fix the defense one week, midfield the next then by the end of the month have a title winning team can you?

He clearly has a plan. Why else would he sign a young player like Stevie May with so much raw talent? In my opinion he has a solid 4 year plan;
Year 1 - Safety (you can tick that one off)

Year 2 - solidify the back four (although it’s slipped a little recently you can tick it)

Year 3 - build a creative yet hard working midfield (McGugan is a must in my eyes)

Year 4 - Stevie May will be 24, coming of age and knocking them in for fun at this level given the chances.

~ Side note: I know May’s been missing chances but too be fair to the lad he gets about 1, maybe 2 chances per game. Who was the last striker we had who scored every chance he had? Derek Dooley? ~

People calling for Gray’s head are just the kind of people who should just sit down, watch and f*cking learn. Rome wasn’t built in a day and Wednesday wasn’t built in a season.

Of course this is all speculative and I could be chatting out my crack. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if we sacked Gray, brought in Nigel Pearson signed a load of established talent and got promoted. We’d get relegated the next season but it’d be a reyt little journey while it lasted.

One last thing point before I finish. Give Chansiri a chance before you all start shooting your mouths off about how he’s tight fisted and whatever. Let him test the water, he’s stated that he wants Wednesday back in the Prem but I don’t think he wants to blow everything on one big burst to get us there first time. I’m imagining he’ll spread it out bringing in a combination of youth, quality and experienced heads. We don’t want to rush this or else we’ll end up as one season wonders in the Premier League like them lot over t’road.

PS - for any Nuhiu haters out there please refer to my Target Man post I put up about a week ago. I doubt it’ll sway your view but it might make you a little more forgiving towards him.

Cheers for reading.

Barton's Red See's QPR Dead

First I would like to say I think my post titles are getting better. Now that’s out the way I’ll talk about Joey Barton and the red card he received yesterday against Hull City.

Personally I think Joey Barton isn’t too bad of a player. A player with Premier League class but a Sunday League attitude. I mean just looking at the red card yesterday; got a little shove and went to knacker shot Tom Huddlestone...and he’s meant to be the captain of Queens Park Rangers?

Like I said he has got Premier League class, in my opinion the only reason he spent a year in the Championship last season was because no one dare take a punt on him...Sunday League attitude. I think I heard Roberto Martinez was interested but didn't think his passing skill wasn’t good enough...then signed Gareth Barry. Barton could have been the defensive midfielder Everton relied on last season if he wasn’t so...Barton...

~ Side note: what I mean by Sunday League attitude is that the things he does, he would probably get away with if he played for some Sunday League pub team. I remember seeing one lad literally boot an opposing team player...got a talking to from the ref and that was it? Baffled ~

He reminds me of Robbie Savage (not the greatest compliment but its the best I could come up with.) He’ll probably go the same way after his career ends too; sat on Match of the day explaining what West Brom needed to do to beat Man City, making out like if he was manager he could win the title with anyone because football is just that simple…

~ Side note: is it just me who skips the talking bits in MOTD because I can’t deal with Alan Shearer, Alan Hanson and Gary Lineker show 10 minutes of football highlights then spend 15 minutes talking about the speed of which a linesman raises his flag ~

I’m starting to think I may be sounding harsh. I genuinely do like Barton, I think he’s a skilled footballer, breaks up play well, plays it simple but has the ability to play a ball though but his biggest attribute is his aggression and his workrate to win the ball. According to the incredibly accurate website Wikipedia, Joey Barton amounted 39 bookings and 3 red cards whilst playing for Manchester City which gained a lot of criticism from then manager Kevin Keegan saying it was “excessive”.

With experience he seems to have learnt when a foul is needed. Now if you see him get a booking in a footballing sense it’s normally some kind tactical foul. Sadly he still has an excessive level of immaturity (see what I did there hehe) to his game which causes him to do stupid stuff…

Then again I did enjoy him call Fernando Torres a c*ck smoker and tell Ibrahimovic he has a big nose.

Anyways that’s it for Joey Barton. You read it here first, he’ll be on Match of the Day with Jimmy Bullard and new host Michelle Keegan discussing the finer points of Stokes Tikka-Takka style of play, Man City coping with administration and Sheffield Wednesday finishing 18 points clear at the top of the table...a man can dream...

Cheers for reading.