Football Focus

[south_tyne]

1 minute ago, caradoc said:

We will never see such times again.....

 

 

Keep the faith, you never know. It's only a few years ago I saw Luton play at Gateshead (and we actually once battered them 5-1!) but look where they are now. A return to the top-flight for them would not be a surprise at all given recent progress. Obviously saw Oxford Utd at the GIS too, in both league and FA Cup; you never know the good times may return to your club one day. 

 

[Torper]

1 hour ago, south_tyne said:

 

I agree with that. Those rare, fleeting moments of joy make all the hardship worthwhile.

 

 

It's a bit like being a Scotland supporter although I've a job remembering many fleeting moments of joy there.  The new manager is to be announced next week - according to the press, Steve Clarke has been offered the role. 

 

DT

[south_tyne]

45 minutes ago, Torper said:

 

It's a bit like being a Scotland supporter although I've a job remembering many fleeting moments of joy there.  The new manager is to be announced next week - according to the press, Steve Clarke has been offered the role. 

 

DT

 

I would be surprised if he took it as he is doing a good job at Kilmarnock and would it really be a step up and is it the time to step back from day to say management? I think he could get a job south of the border in the near future. He has also been an outspoken critic of sectarianism and I wonder whether that will influence his decision?

 

The inevitable has been confirmed and Berwick have been relegated after 68 years in the senior Scottish league system. Sad times. The future could be worrying. 

 

 

[BoD]

F.A. Cup Final and half the debenture seats, directly opposite the TC cameras, are empty.

How embarrassing for all concerned.

 

Edit. TC??  It was meant to be TV but you knew that.

Edited May 18, 2019 by BoD

[Hobby]

6-0, 6-0, 6-0!!!

 

Watford you have your best and I salute you!

 

But City. What a team....

 

Yeeeessss!!!

[Dave47549]

.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[south_tyne]

That was brutal....

[cary hill]

Well that Final was a bit like watching Christians being fed to the Lions once the first goal went in, so not particularly entertaining for the neutral as there was zero jeopardy.

 

Full credit to the Watford fans for waving their club colour flags until the bitter end, in their position I think I would be wanting to stick my flag where the sun don't shine at about 4-0 but I'm probably a bad loser..........

[BoD]

Credit to Watford fans, singing and flag waving to the very end.

[Hobby]

2 hours ago, Dave47549 said:

 That's if I've correctly understood the qualifying rules.

 

 

I am sure you have and I know other Wolves fans who will agree with you...

 

1 hour ago, south_tyne said:

That was brutal....

 

I was looking at their average age and saying to the Derby fan I was watching it with that the longer it went the worse it woukd be if Watford were behind at half time... It was so nearly 7...

 

Now the pundits will be debating whether they are the greatest.... Who knows... Next season?

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, cary hill said:

as there was zero jeopardy 

 

You are obviously not a City fan, I didn't relax until it was 4-0 and de Bruyne was on!!!

[south_tyne]

3 hours ago, Hobby said:

Now the pundits will be debating whether they are the greatest.... Who knows... Next season?

 

A treble is historic, no doubt about it, a first and so impressive. It's a cliche but I suppose you need a Champions League win to elevate this team to true greatness and I am sure Pep and co will place even more emphasis on that next season. 

 

Greatest of all time? Ultimately it's impossible to compare teams from different eras as the game has changed so much. Domestically, how do compare Chapman's Arsenal of the '30s, or Spurs under Nicholson, Shankley and Paisley's respective Liverpool teams or Fergie's Man Utd?  You cannot really. Then is the achievement more significant than the wind of more minor teams - think Ipswich's title win in 1961 and Forest and their two European Cup triumphs as just two examples? 

 

At the end of the team we should not worry about it and just enjoy the football and the fact that we have Guardiola managing in this country and that we have and hopefully will continue to see Man City, Liverpool and even Tottenham, playing fantastic football and pushing each other so hard to improve and develop, led by three of the best managers to work in Europe over the last decade. As a neutral, I feel I can just sit back and admire them!

[ba14eagle]

14 hours ago, south_tyne said:

That was brutal....

But couldn't have happened to a greater bunch of whingers and cheats

[br2975]

There we go then.........all the prizes money can buy.

 

[Hobby]

Money doesn't buy success, it helps, but without leadership, motivation and commitment the money isn't worth the paper it's printed on... Ask Man United, they've spent as big as Liverpool and City but flopped (by their standards)...

[kevinlms]

15 hours ago, Hobby said:

6-0, 6-0, 6-0!!!

 

Watford you have your best and I salute you!

 

But City. What a team....

 

Yeeeessss!!!

Six lucky goals!

[lightengine]

What a shame that City felt the need to continue smashing the minnows into the dust. I understand that you can't afford to give them too much of a chance in case they come back too strongly. They could easily have stepped off the gas a little. At one point yesterday mid match, Kompany seemed to mouth an embarrassing apology to Deeney (or A N Other).

 

Pre season Everton inflicted a 22-0 defeat on ATV Irdning of Austria.  Where is the pride in that?  The Head of a school I worked at often had to pull his year 7 team aside and tell them that from that point on it was 2 touch football for them.  Or he would blow the whistle and award the other team a free kick for some minor infringement. I did year 4 football and in my 1st match we had got to 10-0, I  substituted my 2 strikers and goalkeeper, told the team to play 2 touch and we still won 15-0.  It is embarrassing at times.

 

The last couple of seasons the FA Cup seems to have concentrated on Salford FC for the early round matches, as though Salford were the only team around.  I sincerely hope Salford get tonked frequently in League 2.  There are other teams in the country not just a few.

 

A young lad I had the pleasure of in my year 4 team at school was one of the most promising if not the most, in his year group.  Sadly, just into his mid teens he was robbed of a possible footballing career by a road traffic accident.  With his compensation money he bought his local team and has made improvements to the ground, the club, the team and has recently started a womens team.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by lightengine

[Hobby]

What a strange post! Watford are "minnows" eh...

 

Did Bury ease off when playing Derby back in 1903, does any team worth their salt ease off when there's a chance of a record being set?

[south_tyne]

3 hours ago, Hobby said:

What a strange post! Watford are "minnows" eh...

 

Did Bury ease off when playing Derby back in 1903, does any team worth their salt ease off when there's a chance of a record being set?

 

I suppose that is one of the things about this Man City team, they are ruthless. Many teams, even great ones, would have wound it down after going 3-0 up, but Pep wants them to go for the jugular. It's admirable that they are so committed but it is worrying for the spectacle of the FA Cup final. Watford didn't play well but they were destroyed by Man City, as almost every team in the planet would have been.

 

Great way for Kompany to bow out, especially when added to his worldy against Leicester. It's pleasing that he is returning to Anderlecht, although from the sounds of it he will have a big job on this hands. It'll be interesting to see how much playing he does, or whether he management role will be too demanding for anything other than cameo appearance. He is such an eloquent, intelligent, considered guy, so I have no doubt he will be a superb communicator and will be a good manager in time. Steep learning curve no doubt but he really had been able to learn from the best and no doubt he will continue to tap into that knowledge. I can see him being absolutely inspiring to the young Belgian players at the club and hopefully it will raise the profile of the Belgian league a little. He is one of the good guys in football and I wish him luck. 

[Hobby]

Sorry but I dont agree. As I said any top team would chase a record. Liverpool would have done the same. 

[Torper]

2 hours ago, south_tyne said:

 

I suppose that is one of the things about this Man City team, they are ruthless. Many teams, even great ones, would have wound it down after going 3-0 up, but Pep wants them to go for the jugular.

 

 While I feel a bit sorry for Watford, I think they would have rightly regarded it as something of an insult had Manchester City eased off even if it had limited the scoreline.

 

Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, to see that of the 22 players who started the game at Wembley, only 5 were English.

 

DT

Edited May 19, 2019 by Torper

[62613]

4 hours ago, Torper said:

 

 While I feel a bit sorry for Watford, I think they would have rightly regarded it as something of an insult had Manchester City eased off even if it had limited the scoreline.

 

Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, to see that of the 22 players who started the game at Wembley, only 5 were English.

 

DT

How many all-English teams have there ever been? Even in the "old days", English clubs imported players from Scotland, Wales and both Irelands; indeed, the first professional players, in the 19th century were Scottish.

[south_tyne]

3 hours ago, 62613 said:

How many all-English teams have there ever been? Even in the "old days", English clubs imported players from Scotland, Wales and both Irelands; indeed, the first professional players, in the 19th century were Scottish.

 

Very true. The great Liverpool teams of the '70s and '80s were stacked full of Scots and Irish talent and Leeds under Revie had plenty of Scottish players.

 

The best English sides of the 19th Century were built on Scots talent. The 'Scottish passing game' of this period was far superior to the 'kick and rush' style employed in England, to the extent that when playing Scottish teams, English players felt they were cheating and playing a different kind of game! Just shows that tactical innovation has always existed. Indeed the great Sunderland side at the end of the 19th Century - the 'team of all the talents' - was often exclusively comprises of Scots. 

 

8 hours ago, Torper said:

 

 While I feel a bit sorry for Watford, I think they would have rightly regarded it as something of an insult had Manchester City eased off even if it had limited the scoreline.

 

Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, to see that of the 22 players who started the game at Wembley, only 5 were English.

 

DT

 

I am of the opinion that it is the quality not quantity of the home-grown players that is important. Taking Man City as the example, the British players are of the highest quality and can only gain by playing and training every day with players such as David Silva, Bernado, Aguero etc. Indeed, players such as Sterling, Stones and Foden have all improved and developed as a result of exposure to these world class players, as well as the individual and collective coaching of Guardiola et al. Even a relative journeyman such as Fabian Delph has come on leaps and bounds during Pep's tenure. A young player like Foden is in the best place to learn and develop. 

 

Whilst I am not an England fan, this can only increase the quality of the players available, as the best will always rise to the top. I honestly think it is better to have 30 or 40 quality players to choose from than 300, the majority of which would be labelled (to use that phrase again) as journeyman professionals.

 

I know I am in the minority but I don't see a need to get hung up on percentages and quotas. I also think it is great that young British players are moving abroad. It's been long overdue and the cultural and life experiences that will be available to young players dig as Sancho, as well as the diverse football education, can only help to develop more rounded, educated and worldy-wise young men. Coming full circle, the export or players and particularly managers is something that was far more prevalent in the 19th Century and early 20th Century, but is something that I only see as positive. Whilst then it was about spreading the game from Britain, with the Scots in particular being fantastic footbal educators all over the world, now it is about learning from others in order to improve the British game in an attempt to catch up with more innovative tactics and methods used elsewhere. Diversity and mixing cultures can only be a good thing (both in football and life in general!). 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by south_tyne
Clarification

[Hobby]

I agree South Tyne, the best thing that's happened to English football and the development of homegrown players is the likes of Klopp, Poch and Pep, and thank goodness we have a young England manager that is willing to take on board what he is seeing...

[luckymucklebackit]

The danger for the Premier League is that Manchester City dominates the game along the lines that Celtic has done in Scotland, so much so that at the start of the season we start talking about second place as the only achievable target for everyone else, eventually it becomes boring, I hope we see another Leicester style fairytale win, it definitely brightens thins up.

 

Jim