fifepride wrote:

QUOTE:
I just heard Stevie G (presumably called that because he can't spell his own fucking name) say 'drawed' instead of drawn

And this guy earns how much a week? You'd think some of that money could have went to expanding his vocabulary so it doesn't rival that of a five year old.

I think we should forget about developing grassroots football and work on educating those at the top levels. At least then I won't feel sick listening to post match interviews, I should know better than that anyway.

"could have went"?

There's something reassuringly familiar about Liverpool being top on ceefax, isn't there?

Quick summary. What sets aside the top four from the rest is the presence of more top class match winners who can be anonymous for 89 minutes but have the residual quality to pull something out of the bag that can make a tangible difference.

what sets liverpool apart from the other teams in the big four is that they have players who are regularly anonymous for 90 minutes before pulling something out of the bag. Liverpool don't need any more players who are regularly anonymous, they need players who play well more often so liverpool aren't reliant on a hail mary shot.

Under houllier and benitez, liverpool have developed this bizarre counter productive philosophy, that they will defend deep and in numbers, keeping the other team at a distance and working on keeping clean sheets, while hoping that one of their 'matchwinners' pops up and scores them a goal that wins the game.

Liverpool are a club with supposedly one of the best managers in Europe, with a large playing budget, and a number of very highly rated and famous footballers. Unfortunately in a lot of games they play it is often very difficult to tell who is the untouchable team in the untouchable top four, because the standard of the football they play can be very bad like against middlesbrough or sunderland.

The quickest way for liverpool to improve their likely final league position is not to sign more players who will briefly elevate the team out of the shite and grab three points, but to sign players who will get the team to play better football so they're not so dependent on injury time screamers to win games.

Good to see my prediction is still largely on track, though.

I thought it was only Wigan fans taking pictures of ceefax with Latics at the top. Glad to see Liverpool fans feel compelled to do so too...

that game tonight was a good example of what I was talking about. Man utd were missing ronaldo, giggs, nani, hargreaves, carrick, saha, etc, so Man utd just kept the ball for long periods of time. The goal came at the end of a twelve pass movement (a pompey player managed to get a touch in the middle) but the ball went forwards backwards and from side to side, dragging the portsmouth defence over and back until the opportunity presented itself, then tevez slid it through to evra and fletcher got to the edge of the box and god only knows what happened next.

No matchwinners making something happen out of nothing, just patient possession, and then a nice simple ball inside the wide defender for an overlapping fullback/winger, to cross to a very ordinary player indeed.

this is the sort of goal that you don't see liverpool score, and instead of looking to sign another match winner, where liverpool can really improve is in possession of the ball. If that had been liverpool tonight you just know that gerrard would have picked up the ball three passes into the move, burst forward and wellied it into the crowd from 35 yards, or tried to pick out torres surrounded by four defenders.

Matchwinners are not just players who fire home shots from 20 yards. Matchwinners, the players who make the difference are players who can just as easily be the ones who edge in a killer pass that sets someone else up for a goal.

Traditionally Fabregas is not a great goalscorer - first half of last season aside - he is however a great matchwinning player

Darren Fletcher is a much better player than you're giving him credit for, AIATL.

He'd walk into the vast majority of starting elevens in the Premiership, or indeed in the European leagues. I'd take him before Michael Carrick any day of the week.

Aye, Fletcher is all right. He seems to be a big game player as well, or at least is reliable enough to not fuck up in the big games. Fergiue trusts him and tends to play him against Chelsea and Arsenal more often than not.

HoH is still wrong about Carrick, mind. Wonderful player.

QUOTE:
Spearmint Rhino wrote:
"could have went"?

Yes yes I know I made a hideous grammatical error there, but I was very annoyed about the whole thing. Furthermore this does not vindicate Gerrard. It just makes me look like a hypocrite.

Carrick is the limpest of limp dicks. He is routinely overwhelmed whenever the opposition midfield decide that they would prefer to get stuck in rather than watch United weave pretty patterns.

I've never seen him have the kind of game that Fletcher had against Milan in 2007, or those two FA Cup ties against Arsenal.

When things are already going really, really well, Carrick will make them that little bit better. When things are going badly, Carrick might as well be sitting in the directors' box picking his nose.

it amazes me that no matter what happens AIATL tries to make it sound like more evidence is piling up in favour of his grand unifying theories.

sol campbell shins in an own goal to settle a nothing game between two piss average sides, therefore man united are grooving in harmony with the rhythms of the universe while liverpool are thrashing around like a spa in a bag.

what a surprise that AIATL arrived at that point of view after watching these matches.

in the tv interview beforehand redknapp talked about how portsmouth always work very hard against man united "here at upton park".

Sky says Man U were very impressive tonight, but can I trust them?

I assume No is the answer.

I bloody well hope it is.

fifepride wrote:

QUOTE:

QUOTE:
Spearmint Rhino wrote:
"could have went"?

Yes yes I know I made a hideous grammatical error there, but I was very annoyed about the whole thing. Furthermore this does not vindicate Gerrard. It just makes me look like a hypocrite.

Yes, how dare a man who's just come straight off a football pitch after 90 minutes of physical exertion use an incorrect past participle? That sort of mistake is only excusable from, say, a man who's sitting down at a computer keyboard bitching on an internet forum.

Well it's hardly something you have to think about. I'd have serious concerns for his health if he was unable to speak coherently after a game of football.

Also there is a difference, between speaking...and typing at 1am straight after work...and if you have children and they had said drawed instead of drawn you would have corrected them. So why should a grown man be any different?