The College Dropout

Pires crocked his knee too.

Always liked Ancelotti. Felipao's spoken utter shit about him before. But this Madrid side doesn't suit him at all and they were terrible today. Honestly might as well stick Bale at leftback. Look very disjointed. They won in midweek against Juve but they were fortunate with the penalty and red card.

Would love him to score a winner aginast Sunderland. They would cry a million a times.

I don't get this, they are out of the relegation spots (just), and they have had a couple of decent results against top teams. So far he is doing everything asked of him, and thats keep Cardiff up. The guy will have huge amount of respect as he was the one who got them up when other managers have tried and failed. I don't see how he can currently be under enough pressure to give him the sack. They have a nutcase owner who has undermined him ridiculously. He could quit and sue them for constructive whatsitcalled and win easily imo.

Agree with Pardew being forced to be pragmatic.

It indicates even poorer leadership from the manager then. I'm not privy to what goes on in the dressing room but Pardew sure is. Alex Ferguson used to show players with poor commitment the door, not hand them the captain's armband. True. But Alex Ferguson had full control of the team. Pardew doesn't. Ferguson could sell Stam for 16m and eventually sign his replacement for 30m. If Pardew sold Colo, he doesn't know who if anyone will come in.

Would be nice if our captain watched our matches at the stadium when injured. I doubt Vincent Kompany spends a month in Belgium when injured if it isn't needed. You can't even get John Terry to not wear a kit when he's not even be picked to play. It does indicate poor leadership.

Jol & Hughton are fighting for their roles. Mackay is a sitting duck.

That's not what happened. In fact it's the opposite. Brought too many in (without a significant jump in quality) and destroyed the team spirit as a result.

It's both. You would take 11 Tevez's at Newcastle. There isn't the jump in quality to compensate for the loss of team spirit for Palace.

Silva wasn't better than Vieira. Silva was a more defensive player than Vieira and especially Toure. Petit/Silva is a better comparison and yeah I would say Silva was better.

He's pretty much admitted that he's made some big mistakes since he got Palace promoted. He's very unfortunate in that 2 of his very best players that helped get them promoted, the ones which had the best chance of making the step-up got sold/permacrocked. So he bought too many players (of questionable quality) to take their place. Thus not really strengthening enough in other areas. This also destroyed the group strength/attitude that brought them up. However, I#m not sure Pulis is the right man for the job. Crystal Palace are known for developing decent youngsters. Mostly attacking players: Wright, Moses, Zaha, Routledge, Clyne, Bolassie. They continually bring them through. Can't see Pulis developing the next batch.

I do agree, it's better for managers NOT to get promoted. Although Rodgers is a notable standout.

Holloway didn't get sacked btw. He tried to resign after the defeat. Was rejected and then they let him go today.

Ferguson says he was not “an elite international footballer” and that would be true. Same could be said of every Golden Generation midfielder however.

Gerrard and Lampard have never been world-class Gerrard won the CL on his own. He didn't like but it's nice to say. He's a match-winner no doubt and his last mniute goal against Olympiakos was a great moment. Benitez bringing on Hamann was the difference in the final. AC thought the game was won and that was the game changer.

Lampard couldn't do what Gerrard has done for Liverpool. But Gerrard couldn't do what has done for Chelsea. Think Gerrard has had a slightly better England performances.

I thought Jol was a goner but he's picked up 6 good points.

Allardyce too

As much as I like him it's a racwe between Mackay and Hughton. Hughton can turn it around or at least severely delay the unevitable. but Mackay, his position is untenable.

Tiote was behind him because he was labouring forward after going down with a knock in our box and thus being behind. It's no surprise it came as a bit of shock given the ball had long gone from that area. Tiote cleared the ball and is meant to be in-front of MYM. Suarez and the player on the ball (Gerrard?) knew where Tiote was.

He wasn't aware Tiote was so deep. That was a mistake in itself. It's not like Debuchy or someone was playing Suarez onside. Tiote was behind MYM. But anyway.. his reading of the game isn't very poor. It's just not a significant strength. The pace to recover from any small mistake in reading however is. And it's not a bad thing, it wasn't until their late 20's and early 30's that Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand learned to become excellent readers of the game.

NO he doesn't man. He often has to use pace to cover for his mistakes. I've also never sen a CB run away from defending. do you rate anyone that plays for us? MYM reads the game fine I've said it before. I rate most of the key players in our spine and if they play well for most of the season we will finish in the top half. Krul, Colo, Cabaye, Remy & HBA are excellent players. Gouffran is an excellent member of the team. I like Debuchy when he concentrates on defending etc. You notice MYM is very fast over 20 metres a lot. He uses his pace to nick the ball. His reading of the game isn't very poor or anything but it's not a noticeable strength like people keep saying. His pace, agility and athleticism is a great strength at the back. He doesn't read the game like Colo or something.

Gerrard and Lampard are some of the most effective players ever. Also brilliant in clutch moments. However, they would not generally outplay other players of that elite calibre. They wouldn't need too if they scored the winning goal or provided the key assist. However, for England the fact they can't outplay other players of that level becomes a much bigger issue.

NO he doesn't man. He often has to use pace to cover for his mistakes. I've also never sen a CB run away from defending.