Wake up you footy fans!!!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:16 am

Cletus sold to the Galaxy for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. That kinda sucks.

So long, Clint!

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:23 am

More interesting: they made the trade and then left him unprotected in the expansion draft. I'm hoping he'll be Rimando'd back.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:29 am

mood swung wrote:More interesting: they made the trade and then left him unprotected in the expansion draft. I'm hoping he'll be Rimando'd back.

I'm a little peeved about the fact that they left Doe and Vide unprotected for the expansion draft. Why not leave Reyna unprotected? Nobody's going to touch him at that salary with a ten-foot pole. Or maybe there is some designated player exception that I'm not understanding (though Dallas left Denilson unprotected).

I really hope Reyna retires or gets bought out by Red Bull. There's nothing more depressing than watch him make back passes for 45 minutes before limping off with another injury.

They are saying the stadium will be opening in 2009 now, and that construction will be beginning before X-mas. New stadium plans are supposed to be unveiled some time this week or next - a fully-enclosed football-only facility. No concert stage - hurrah! Of course I'll believe it when I see it, because this is the league's most incompetent club we're talking about.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:44 am

DPs don't have to be protected unless they have a no-trade clause. Denilson's contract was for this season only and subject to renewal depending on how it all worked out. It didn't work out.

Of course I'll believe it when I see it, because this is the league's most incompetent club we're talking about.

I'd put RSL one step ahead in the incompetence scale. Just one, though. The only thing that really impresses me about Doe is the size of his neck. I like Vide, he's not all that skilled but he is consistent!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:56 am

Doe has good pace and is willing to run at defenders. His first touch is not great and he's not great at sharing the ball, but he was a nice late-season addition that worked out fairly well IMO.

RSL are going great guns on their stadium, at least. And they have actually made a couple of shrewd deals recently - getting Findley from the Galaxy, for example.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:04 pm

Byebye, Vide.

one of my favorite Average Joe moments.

he made $12,500 per year as a developmental player this year. at least with the trade, he will make senior roster big bucks. which are nothing like beckham big bucks.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:36 pm

Yeah I liked Joe. Always brought a lot of energy and was a very tenacious tackler. Not a great passer, but he was getting better. I'd rather have him than Reyna at any price.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:06 pm

Goodnight England. Goodbye McClaren.

What a match though!

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:12 pm

England out.
I'm shocked.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:40 pm

Poor performance from average players coached by a hapless manager.

I really have lost interest in England. They ultimately always let us down.

Fishfinger king · Post by **Fishfinger king** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:58 pm

Abject, completely abject.
They are not average players - if they were then there would be an excuse. Scotland and Northern Ireland have average players and make the most of them. Ours are so much less than the sum of the parts.
The manager is beyond hapless and should be gone by the morning.
And as for Wayne Bridge.......come back Cashley all is forgiven.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:47 am

Ok. Name me the last really 'great' performance from any England player that would mark them out as above average.

We had Crouch up front on his own. Crouch for Fucks's sake

Greaves, Charlton, Hurst, Bell, Woodcock, Lineker, Shearer, Owen....Crouch. Sort of rolls off the tongue doesn't it. He can't even get in the Liverpool side. And he was our best player! He may have only been in because of injuries, but doesn't that demonstrate a complete lack of depth? After Owen and Rooney we have very, very average players in attack. A few years back we had the likes of Fowler, Sheringham and Wright to fall back on when Shearer was injured. There are so many parallels with the Taylor era - for Steve Bull, read David Nugent...for Keith Curle read Joleon Lescott....etc

England have become second rate over the past 2-3 years. Many of our players spend the weekend warming the bench (Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole, Bent, Brown, Hargreaves and Defoe) and many of the ones that don't are plying their trade in the second tier of Premiership clubs like Villa, Spurs, Portsmouth or Middlesborough.

Our supposed world class players (and I dispute that title in all but the case of Gerard and a fit Owen

) are anononymous time after time. Rooney has done little since 2004, Ferdinand lacks the concentration (and possibly passion) for international football and Lampard reverts to his old nickname of 'Lampost' when he puts an England shirt on - I only heard his name mentioned once before the penalty.

I had hope for Micah Richards, but he was woeful last night and I found myself wishing Neville was fit.....that's how low it's got.

No, we'll have to disagree. Average at best IMHO and results speak for themselves. McClaren was never the right man, but the players need to shoulder the vast majority of the blame.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:04 am

*sigh*

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:32 am

Dreadful wasn't it?

Where do you begin?

Wayne Bridge looked desperately out of sorts; Scott Carson will be having nightmares for a long time; Gerrard...

...I can't be bothered as I'll be here all day.

And wasn't it a surprise when MacLaren said he wouldn't resign? Of course not, as you've two years salary on a lucrative contract to lose if you do.

There's no honour anymore.

At least I won't have to beg for passes to go to the pub for the England games next summer.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:52 am

I dunno. When I watch England I get the sense that I am watching 11 individuals playing for man of the match honors. There is a lot of talent there, though I would agree with Jackson that they are desperately lacking up front (Owen should hardly be considered an option, since he can't set foot on the pitch without injuring himself). For all the talk about how Lampard and Gerrard can't play in the same midfield, it's the lack of a consistent striker and poor goalkeeping that have let you down most. Midfield is England's strength.

Get a manager in who is willing to crack a few heads and make a few enemies - and who is a bit more creative tactically - and then you might have something. Like Mourinho, but it will never happen. He's not enough of a yes man.

Oh, and you might want to naturalize Brad Friedel's baby or something, because your goalkeepers are awful.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:05 am

MaClaren had no right to gamble with a rookie goalkeeper on such an important game - if he didnt want to play Robinson he should have played James who is performing well at the moment. The man is either an idiot or getting a bung to scupper the team!

I don't think I saw Gerrard make a single good pass, and as for his free kicks - I could have done better! Thank god for David Beckham who should have been on from the start in the first place!

We now face a dismal few years until the next world cup, by which time we may have managed to get a half decent team and manager!

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:59 am

Well at least Steve McQueen's reign is over.

You read it here first - I am ruling myself out of the England manager's job. I wanted to apply to be player manager but the FA (who know FA

) won't take my calls.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:50 pm

Didn't see it as I was out a fab gig/show (report to follow). I blame the media/fans for insisting that they wanted an English manager after Sven. I don't think that McClaren is that bad a manager, but was let down by key players. Some of our players are pretty good and the sum of our parts should certainly be getting more points than Russia and Israel, both of whom do have very average players.

manoutoftime · Post by **manoutoftime** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:01 pm

Craig Johnston is bang on with what is wrong with English football.The best football playing side in the League has one English player in it's squad and he is a 18 year old.If Wenger who has a great eye for young players can't find anything in the country he works in then there is a massive grassroots problem.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... 1321283933

Former Liverpool midfielder Craig Johnston has launched a scathing attack on the FA, insisting they are "conning" the English public.

Australian Johnston, who is heavily involved in coaching young players at grass-roots level, is furious that the FA are conducting their own inquiry into the national game after their failures at the 2006 World Cup and in Euro 2008 qualifying.

Johnston insists an independent body should conduct the inquiry and claims officials and players are taking too much money out of the game.

In a passionate interview on Sky Sports News, he said: "Why am I the only angry person? Everybody's talking, but nobody is putting in a process in place with checks and balances.

"The FA say they want a root and branch inquiry, but they are conducting it. Are you kidding? I haven't forgiven those guys for what they did in Germany with the 'golden generation'.

"They conned us then. They conned us the other night. And now they are going to inquire about themselves? Who is kidding who here?

"In what other industry in the world can you under-achieve so much, but still get paid so much? They are paying off Steve McClaren with a Â£2.5million bonus for not getting us there and then they will pay themselves for doing an inquiry. We are all being conned.

"I am really angry and somebody independent needs to tell these guys what they are doing. I'm not looking for a job and I don't need a job, but I will do it for nothing.

"Would any of the players ever play for nothing?"

Grass-roots problems

Johnston insists there are major problems at the top of the sport, but it is even worse at grass-roots level where English youngsters are not working hard enough and are being outnumbered in academies by foreign talent.

He added: "It's been going wrong for 30-40 years. When Kevin Keegan was the England manager he made an amazing statement, saying English kids are lazy.

"And the reason the clubs are buying so many foreigners is because they are technically proficient. Just like the Croats the other night. They played better football and that's why they are in the European Championships and England are not.

"They can change the pace of the play because they can hold onto the ball, but English kids give the ball away.

"There is a problem at national level and that is very clear for all to see in terms of touch and feel, but more importantly there is a heart issue.

"We know English teams are best when they come from behind. Look at the rugby players, look at the cricketers when they won the Ashes. But that fighting spirit wasn't there the other night - it was only there for 10 minutes just after David Beckham came on. That was disgraceful.

"I don't know why I'm upset by this because I'm not even English, but I've lived here for 25 years and the country has given me a marvellous living.

"I'm angry, so why aren't English people more angry about what is happening at the national level and at grass roots?

Suicide

"At grass roots there is a much, much bigger problem because the foreign kids are outnumbering the English kids in the academies. That is suicide. You may as well jump off a cliff now because that is wrong.

"Managers aren't stupid. They are bringing foreign players he because they are better than their English counterparts. The kids aren't good enough and that shows you how badly things have been mismanaged by the FA for many, many years.

"The solution is hard work. It's what the Italian kids do, what the Brazilian kids do and what the Argentinean kids do. These kids have no money, no toys and no future. They spend hours and hours with a football until the sun goes down and after.

"Do the English kids do that? No they don't. It hasn't happened since the days of Stanley Matthews. Bobby Charlton will tell kids to draw a cross on a brick wall and hit it with their left foot and with their right foot and keep going until their feet start to bleed."

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:47 pm

I was on a train to Bratislava, but quite happy to have missed it. Simply couldn't believe the selection of Scott Carson. Relief to see McClaren go. We all knew he was the wrong choice, and he repaid us in spades.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:42 pm

moody, there's an excellent article on your boy Clint Dempsey in today's Guardian...

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Sto ... 52,00.html

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:01 am

but no photos.

I can't imagine anybody from Texas talking 100 words a minute. When he was named Honda POTY, Honda gave him a truck which he gave to his parents. He's a good boy.

I can't imagine making those kinds of sacrifices. My kids would burst into jealous envious sibling rivalryed flames.

p.s. I appreciate Sam bringing this to my attention, because I have avoided UK press since That Thing That Happened. I find parts of this a bit maudlin, and I suspect a judicious amount of editing.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:25 am

Bolton

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:46 pm

That's a rather feeble effort at rubbing it in.

I followed a rip-roaring week on FF with a damp squib. The mighty Cristiano was my saviour one week and my undoing the next. And no Vidic either. Double whammy in both arenas. No way would he have made a blunder such as Pique made.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:18 am

Oh dear Otis. Surely the mighty 'Utd' with a squad worth multi trillions are not claiming injuries as an excuse????