The English Football Thread

[Unionjack 7,531]

10 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Liverpool were disgraceful last night, Leicester weren't even that good, they just grafted hard and that's all you have to do against a very poor Liverpool side.

Klopp and that daft stupid grin after the game.....so many deficiencies and so much spending needed on that team.

Even tho they did start the season well and have to admit had some good spells over the year so far we did expect them to choke in the latter part of season.

We did think Spuds will to tho so we shall see. I hope they stay strong so theyve got no excuses at the end of year!

[manpe 10,855]

Liverpool are pathetic, empty philosophers like Arsenal. Compare how long Klopp has been there to Conte here and they can't even mount a semi-stiff title challenge, boring bunch. All talk no walk.

[Tomo 21,681]

On 2/25/2017 at 0:43 PM, DYC. said:

You don't get rid of the manager who 'won' the league with bloody Leicester. Leicester. Last season he could do no wrong and now those same methods aren't good enough for Leicester.

That terrible bunch of players didn't even fight for his stay. Leicester fighting against relegation or simply relegating is perfectly normal. What manager is going to come in and turn things around for them?

As they relegate, I hope Chels snatch up Vardy if Conte is looking for a back-up striker. English, HG, quick, mobile, hard-working. Questionable reputation. He would fit right in.

In my opinion no past success should guarantee a manager's stay, aside from Leicester our CL win was probably the most miraculous thing by a English club since the turn of the millennium (I know we spent a lot of money but we let the team get in an awful state) yet Di Matteo did bad next season and was deservedly sacked.

Is it perfectly normal now? Winning the league and spending £70m should have them in a better position than 17th, no one expected them to retain it but Ranieri had the easiest expectations of a manager defending his crown, don't fuck up too badly and he did.

A couple of post's here by a Leicester City fan on the 606 forum basically explains why Claudio's position became untenable, by the sound of it was almost as bad as the Jose freefall last season without the public lashing out.

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As someone who was really angry when he was sacked and vehemently blamed the players, I'm not pisssed off at all anymore. Even before the game I'd decided it was the correct decision. After learning about what's been going on behind the scenes there was no choice and it was absolutely 100% the correct decision. He dismantled our sports science team, which was the best in the country with the most advanced technology and got rid of the sports psychologist who helped the players keep calm and focus during the Great Escape and also keep our bottle to win the league. Two really very important areas which were integral to our success over the last few years and he gets rid of them. That was enough for me before I heard about everything else. Why do that? 

Ranieri got the tactics badly wrong this season, as Pearson did until our final nine games until he changed the tactics and we started to attack teams. Tactics can make a huge difference as it showed during the Great Escape. How we played last season was how we kept ourselves in the league. 

This season we have struggled to play like that because of losing Kante, the year before we had Cambiasso. We now have Ndidi so it means we can go back to how we used to play but we've had him for two months yet we've been messing around with stupid formations with players out of position and not knowing what they're doing, very questionable line ups, substitutions and tactics. 

He's tried to evolve our style but we're not good enough to play any other way. He's stopped us from pressing and we go out to contain teams rather than win and it's just been awful. We're dangerous when we play with high energy and intensity, defend from the front, put teams under pressure, force mistakes and get the ball forward earlier to Vardy. This style suits us and at the back end of last season teams had sussed us out but it didn't make any difference, we kept on winning regardless. Ok I don't expect us to win as many as we did last season but we'd still do alright playing our style. 

Opposition fans are more pisssed off than we are because we understand our club and well you don't.

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Did you see a lack of effort when you (Man.United) came to the KP? I didn't even though you smashed us again. 

We were in it until you scored and were even the beter team for what the first 20 mins maybe until you switched things around in midfield. Wr fell apart for 15 mins and it was all over but there was nothing wrong with the level of commitment, we tried but we just made really poor mistakes and the tactics were all wrong.

 

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No tactics mate simple as that. The players have been instructed not to press, you can see it in the players, some press some don't, some go to press and then change their mind and it's because they don't know what to do. It's like they feel like they should press but don't because they're trying to play to instruction. We didnt attack either, we just tried to contain teams and not concede but by not pressing we left too many gaps, our defence had been playing higher up the pitch, full backs pushing on getting caught out of position which all meant we've been badly exposed. 

Last night we were on the front foot from the start, putting them under pressure, forcing mistakes, defending from the front. The defence sat deeper and stayed in line and when the full backs went forward players dropped in to again make sure we kept our shape. 

None of this has anything to do with more effort or commitment, though some performances have definitely lacked both, it's not been the case all season. Even in Seville we played with commitment and effort but we were still crap because we weren't doing what we're good at.

 

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He changed everything and no the players didn't take to his new ideas because they're not good enough. We don't have a team of footballers, we know that but Ranieri seemed to lose sight of that and expected us to keep the ball and play like Champions. The problem is we became Champions doing what we're good at so if he wanted us to play like Champions then he should have let them get on with it.
 

His comment about the United game is a good point, also when we went to the KP they matched us in the first half, it was when Alonso scored again they mentally collapsed.

By the sounds of it Ranieri ripped apart the entire blueprint that made Leicester Champions and for that alone he deserved to go.

[BoyBlue96 990]

EA's CEO Peter Moore is now Liverpool's CEO.

Interesting to see how that's gonna work out. He's Scouse and a Pool fan.

[Darogba 112]

I sympathise with the Leicester players because we had the same thing with Mourinho. The same players who bled for him, went above and beyond to get him trophies didn't suddenly decide they didn't like him anymore. Mourinho was just at fault for our breakdown as the players but it was the players who got all the stick and now with a new manager they're back to their best. 

Obviously you can say they should be professional but theyre humans not robots. 

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

2 hours ago, Tomo said:

. Tactics can make a huge difference as it showed during the Great Escape

Think that Leicester fan got it wrong wasn't the tunnel to short and only Bronson his mate and James Coburn make it to safety 

[Fulham Broadway 16,396]

JT and Fatfrank on ITV at 9 00 pm

[Laylabelle 9,297]

1 hour ago, Fulham Broadway said:

JT and Fatfrank on ITV at 9 00 pm

Awwwwwww they were kinda cute 

[Fulham Broadway 16,396]

1 minute ago, Laylabelle said:

Awwwwwww they were kinda cute 

That staring competition between Lamps and JT was superb

[communicate 2,703]

19 hours ago, BoyBlue96 said:

EA's CEO Peter Moore is now Liverpool's CEO.

Interesting to see how that's gonna work out. He's Scouse and a Pool fan.

Alex hunter is going to be their next big signing 

[BoyBlue96 990]

Leeds might be back in the Prem next year....

Zola is doing a horrendous job at Birmingham City.

[Laylabelle 9,297]

14 hours ago, BoyBlue96 said:

Leeds might be back in the Prem next year....

Zola is doing a horrendous job at Birmingham City.

The sacking and his appointment never made sense...not all ex footballers are going to be great managers..seeing as they sacked the other guy as didn't want to be 7th..got their wish. Sad to see him do badly though 

[Unionjack 7,531]

14 hours ago, BoyBlue96 said:

Leeds might be back in the Prem next year....

Wonder if they still got the following they had?

Just noticed the Mounure game is oin Virgin 12:30 on 517 SkySptsMix

AND the Dippers v North Londoners @ 5pm so a couple of games.

Of course I want B'mouth to go bonkers just to shut Ibra up for a bit.

I know everyones knocking them and Klopp but I think the Dippers might pick themselves up again and squeeze their way to 2nd place.I cant say I'm fussed about the 3 other spots but Id have joy in my heart if 2 of Mounure and the 2 N. London teams dont make it

Would make for a good weekend if Everton and Sunderland pulled off wins eh!

Some on you mighty Black Cats!!

[Unionjack 7,531]

 MIGHT be what B'mouth needs to stop Mounure but been hard on them so far.

[Milan 17,835]

Sure, Ibrahimovic can do what he wants to do becuase he is fucking loved.

[kmk108 1,186]

WTF just happened? Did the guy who stomped on Zlatan's head get carded? How did Zlatan get nothing for taking an elbow shot at him in? Friend is pathetic 

[Leif 6,006]

 

If 2011 me had control over our transfers our backline would've included Jones, Stones & Shaw 

[Special Juan 27,103]

Zlatan booked for being a gobby piece of shit