Do our players like each other?

[bulivye]

i know they're professional footballers and ought to be able to just get on with things etc.  but, there definitely something to having "team chemistry" that makes it easier to pass the ball about, work hard to cover for your teammate who's slipped up, be unselfish etc.  i sometimes wonder if most/many of our lot aren't just covering their own arses when they play "together".

 

i know in the teams i've been in, even just 5-a-side pick-up games, there are lads who don't like each other, hold grudges, have too high of an opinion of themselves (or too low of their teammates) or are just plain show offs--and it makes for a much weaker side, that often fails to represent the level of individual talent present.

 

do we have team chemistry?  do we have a group of players who like each other?      what will it take?               

[Rich]

I would be all over this topic like white on rice, as it's a good one, if I wasn't feeling so rough.

 

I await some good replies though!

 

My short answer would simply be: you're never going to get a squad/staff that all like each other, although it's an absolutely key element of success to have good "team chemisty". Chemistry on the park and liking someone off it could be and should be two entirely different things, though. That's the essential aspect of it.

 

If you have a player who doesn't do what's best for the team because of a personal dislike of another/s, then he needs sorted out or, failing that, fucked off.

 

You can never make people like each other, but you can make people work well together. Like Bellamy/Shearer sort of thing. Al probably didn't have the time of day for the lad off the pitch, but I bet he fucking loved having him beside him up front. Professionals just get on with it, like those two did.

[Geordie Boot Boy]

It's a fair question.  It's quite an important thing to have good team spirit.  That's why managers often take players away to bond with each other.

[NG32]

We are all over to the place due to the sackings of SBR, GS, GR and SA.

 

We have bits and bobs left from various squads. 

 

Clean slate in the summer.

[Guest float one in]

Well a few of them play a canny bit of darts together don't they? Harper, Milner and somebody else was on Sky a while ago. That suggests they get along alright. Harper and Given seem to be good mates as well.

 

I often wonder about this, especially with the amount of foreigners we've got now. I can't imagine the team spirit is anything like we had in the mid-90s, with Bez, Lee, Barton, Ginola, Clarkie, Watson all being top mates by all accounts. It can make an absolutely massive difference though. There used to be all sorts of stories in the Robson and Souness days about groups and cliques sticking together and not getting on with eachother, but I can't see KK allowing anything like that to happen these days.

 

The top teams always have good team spirit - you can see it in the Arsenal/Man U/ Chelsea celebrations whenever they score.

[TRon]

The lads who have the best attitudes also tend to be the most ordinairy players. Butt, Milner, Geremi, Taylor Smith etc. The one's with ability like Emre, Zog and Viduka are the one's who are hit and miss. Not that they are fantastic players either it should be said.

 

 

[Skirge]

Its one of those things we will never really know the answer to I am afraid..

[bulivye]

Its one of those things we will never really know the answer to I am afraid..

 

i agree if you mean that in an absolute definitive sense, but i think a serious observer can get a reasonably accurate feel for the esprit de corps (sp?) by looking at the players' interaction on the bench, at the apparent mood in training sessions, if/when they're ever seen out in public together...etc.    i just wonder if they shouldn't just all go out for dinner & drinks bi-weekly or summat...  get the foreigners more acclimated

[PRL]

I thought a good example of this was Danny Sturridge against Sheffield Utd at the weekend. I realise when he scored it was a) against Sheffield Utd and b) Man City were still losing but none of his team went with him after he scored, he did a stupid dance and then only Vassell congratulated him on his way back. As it was his first senior goal I would have expected the majority of the team to congratulate him. I haven’t seen last night however, maybe the reaction was different, but I’m guessing he’s a bit of an arrogant prick

[Skirge]

We do not seem to have a mass gathering of players in a hudle when we score mind,  a few may run over but its not like a Chelski player orgy when they score. I suppose it puts a strain on them all when things are not going right, at least  we have not had any more Dyer v Bowyer type incidents..

[steve_69]

Language difficulties must be a massive factor as well. Enrique couldn't speak English when he first came here, how's he supposed to become mates with people when he can't converse with them.

 

Owen fucks off in his chopper straight after training and our new midfield maestro is on bail. That can't help matters either.

[bulivye]

Language difficulties must be a massive factor as well. Enrique couldn't speak English when he first came here, how's he supposed to become mates with people when he can't converse with them.

 

Owen fucks off in his chopper straight after training and our new midfield maestro is on bail. That can't help matters either.

 

this is why i asked what will it take.  b/c of these things you mention seem to indicate that the lads don't really like each other.

[steve_69]

What will it take?

Becoming a winning team again should help. It'll bring back the feel-good factor and enable everyone to relax a bit more.

 

 

 

[bulivye]

What will it take?

Becoming a winning team again should help. It'll bring back the feel-good factor and enable everyone to relax a bit more.

 

 

 

 

bit of a catch-22 that!  can we start winning if it's become every man for himself on the pitch. 

[steve_69]

1. stop signing wankers. Mentally unstable players like Barton, Bellamy etc. are going to cause problems. It's in their nature

 

2. stop making Hollywood signings and having a fucking carnival to welcome them ala Owen. Every player should be made to feel just as important as the next.

 

3. insist that every player who signs for the club lives within 20 miles of the club. No exceptions

 

4. have regular team meals and other extra-curricular get-togethers

 

6. Don't sign anyone who can't speak the language

 

7. Get the team more involved in the community so they can appreciate how much the football club means to its fans. Get them connecting with the city

 

 

As for now, god knows! We're stuck with what we've got until the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bulivye]

1. stop signing wankers. Mentally unstable players like Barton, Bellamy etc. are going to cause problems. It's in their nature

 

2. stop making Hollywood signings and having a fucking carnival to welcome them ala Owen. Every player should be made to feel just as important as the next.

 

3. insist that every player who signs for the club lives within 20 miles of the club. No exceptions

 

4. have regular team meals and other extra-curricular get-togethers

 

6. Don't sign anyone who can't speak the language

 

7. Get the team more involved in the community so they can appreciate how much the football club means to its fans. Get them connecting with the city

 

 

As for now, god knows! We're stuck with what we've got until the summer.

 

 

i like the cut of your jib, sir!    wholeheartedly agree with each of those--well, i'd modify #6 to: teach any player who can't to speak english, or summat.  wouldn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[Doug]

Money. That is what what motivates players from different backrounds with nothing in common. Money is what it is all about. They want to hug each other when one scores or does something good because they can see their win /performance bonus increasing.

Money is the overiding thing these people all have in common so they don.t need to like each other. It is naive to assume any other reason takes precedence. Only the fans have the unconditional love and bond with the club.

 

Doug.

[kevin doyle]

Tommy Smith at Liverpool called Emlyn Hughes "Thrush" as he was an irritating c**t.

[Shearergol]

1. stop signing wankers. Mentally unstable players like Barton, Bellamy etc. are going to cause problems. It's in their nature

 

2. stop making Hollywood signings and having a fucking carnival to welcome them ala Owen. Every player should be made to feel just as important as the next.

 

3. insist that every player who signs for the club lives within 20 miles of the club. No exceptions

 

4. have regular team meals and other extra-curricular get-togethers

 

6. Don't sign anyone who can't speak the language

 

7. Get the team more involved in the community so they can appreciate how much the football club means to its fans. Get them connecting with the city

 

 

As for now, god knows! We're stuck with what we've got until the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geordie nation, init.

[Doug]

Tommy Smith at Liverpool called Emlyn Hughes "Thrush" as he was an irritating c**t.

 

Jimmy Greaves said that Emlyn Hughes was living proof that you could fool all of the people all of the time which suggests that he thought he was a C**t aswell.

 

Doug.

[bulivye]

Money. That is what what motivates players from different backrounds with nothing in common. Money is what it is all about. They want to hug each other when one scores or does something good because they can see their win /performance bonus increasing.

Money is the overiding thing these people all have in common so they don.t need to like each other. It is naive to assume any other reason takes precedence. Only the fans have the unconditional love and bond with the club.

 

Doug.

 

whilst i agree with this, i still believe that football, even at the pro level needs to be fun/enjoyable for the athletes or else the money can play a harmful role--player A being jealous of player B's better contract etc.  naive?  well, maybe...

[Guest rebel_yell12]

3. insist that every player who signs for the club lives within 20 miles of the club. No exceptions

 

I'm assuming this is directed at Owen.  Fact is, he doesn't f*** off in his helicopter after training every day and he DOES live in the Northeast.  He just bought Scott Parker's old house in June, had been renting a place before that.  Given said Owen "goes straight home" after training, but that doesn't mean he's off to Wales -- just that he's off to his house, where his wife and kids are.  Yes, what a shock, a man who chooses to go straight home from work to spend time with his family.  He should be publicly hung for this outrage. 

 

That said, you can pick up on little groups within the club from interviews, even pictures of training.  It seems like Harper and Given are good mates, and Owen has admitted to golf games with both of them -- and Given mostly mentioned Harper, Owen and a few others in his teammates interview on Soccer AM last weekend.  Things like that can indicate some camaraderie.  Note, they are all the English-speaking experienced players.  I had previously had the impression that Parker and Owen got on well, but Parker was sold in the summer.  Been pictures of the lads sharing jokes and the like, and no accounts of training ground fights so I suspect they are all fairly professional and sociable when training/playing. 

 

As for being mates off the pitch...most of the players are widely disparate men.  Can't imagine, for instance, Michael Owen having much in common with Joey Barton off the pitch.  Doesn't mean they dislike each other, just can't picture them golfing together or whatever. 

 

Also, as a side note, I don't want to see people piling on Owen when he scores.  Might break him.  You have to be careful with the little ones.

[Parky]

A winning team is a happy team. [shitpost\]

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Check the 'players spotted in public' thread to see which of them hang out together.

 

Anyway, the players being friends isn't always the best thing. Look at Dyer, Jenas and Bramble and their twatish 'Bling Brigade'.

[The College Dropout]

Check the 'players spotted in public' thread to see which of them hang out together.

 

Anyway, the players being friends isn't always the best thing. Look at Dyer, Jenas and Bramble and their twatish 'Bling Brigade'.

 

Bramble and especially Jenas didn't seem to get in to much, if any trouble whilst they were here. They might not have been popular or good footballers but their friendship was probably a good thing.