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Still Not Worthy Of A Thread

joeyt

by joeyt
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TBG

TBG

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Posted

 

Tis I and nope, mine's still under me bed. Wonder what they'll offer to make it a pair????

 

It's in the window with some other other boots (to buy)on display, don't think there was a price tag though. I'll have a look on my way to work tomorrow.

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loki679

loki679

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I think Pardew should issue a public apology to Man City and football fans everywhere.  Poor little impressionable Joe is obviously just following the lead of one of his role models like a 10 year old trying to spit or dive in a saturday morning U11s game.

 

Pardew's ban should be increased in order to protect the kids and international goalkeepers from his baleful, violent behaviour.  Ban this sick filth.

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joeyt

joeyt

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Twice in two nights, there it was again: that little nagging voice, that guilty feeling, that sense of shame, the thought you wish you could switch off, the confession you will not even make to yourself because it makes you feel somehow dirty, somehow unworthy.

 

It is the sensation you get when you go into an art gallery. You want to enjoy it. You know it is good for you. You know that glimpsing the very summit of human achievement can only expand your mind; it can only make you a better person.

 

You can appreciate the skill, the craft, the beauty. It’s just that, well, it’s just that 20 minutes is enough.

 

It is the sensation you get when you watch, or read, Shakespeare. Obviously it’s good. It was probably very entertaining in the 17th century. They’d have been rolling in the aisles, or overcome with emotion.

 

It’s just that, well, it’s quite hard work, and it lasts for ages, and quite often you don’t have a clue what they’re saying. It’s just that, well, it’s just that 20 minutes is enough.

 

You cannot tell anyone. You cannot say it aloud, even though you know full well that everyone else in that room or that theatre is thinking exactly the same thing, because saying it aloud would be an admission that you, and you alone, don’t see it, don’t understand it.

 

It would be to say that you are less cultured, less sophisticated, just less. But it is there. It is always there. That awareness, unspoken, unsolicited, that you’re just a little bit bored.

 

Twice in two Champions League nights last week, that sensation surfaced. First, as Bayern Munich faced Arsenal and then as Barcelona knocked out Manchester City.

 

Yes, obviously, both teams are utterly brilliant, two of the three best on the planet. Yes, obviously, Bayern play football to a previously untouched pitch of perfection, just as Barcelona did three years ago. Yes, this is art. Every game is a masterpiece. Yes, this is Shakespeare. Every move is a sonnet. They are football’s high culture.

 

But there are those times, as the passes horseshoe around the box, that it becomes a little soporific. You know how clever these players are. You know how good they are.

 

But you kind of just want them to shoot, or cross, or try an over-elaborate through ball that doesn’t come off. You just want them to do something, even if it means giving the ball away, because then the other team might have a turn.

 

You want something to happen. You want an end to the waiting. This endless, infinite waiting. What if they never shoot? What if they never give the ball away? What if it is just this, this hypnotic passing around the edge of the box, until all human life is dead?

 

There are those who have said as much. Massimo Moratti, owner of Internazionale and not a man blessed with saintly patience, confessed to finding Barcelona “boring.”

 

“I prefer a quicker, more direct style,” he said. “A counter-attack, three touches, then a shot on goal.” Fabio Capello, too, admitted “it’s the same thing, over and over again.”

 

Most recently, Franz Beckenbauer, Der Kaiser, expressed his fear that Bayern -- where he is honorary president -- were going the same way, that they were starting to adopt the "passenaccio" of the Catalans and the Spanish national side.

 

“If that is the philosophy, then we will have a lot of fun in the future,” he said. “They will become like Barcelona, who are unwatchable because they pass the ball backward when on the goal line.”

 

All three, you suspect, felt dirty for saying it, for voicing the unmentionable, for allowing others to see their secret shame (indeed, Beckenbauer later clarified his comments).

 

It is the same for the regular observers of the game. There are countless confessional blogs and articles about it too. The titles are telling. “Is it just me, or are Barcelona boring?” “Are Barcelona dull, or am I wrong?”

 

They are phrased as questions, just in case it is just them, and they are wrong. They know they are breaking a taboo. They are writing in hope and in confusion and in shame, too, the same sort of tone you would use when confessing that you find your partner’s sibling attractive. You know you’re not doing anything wrong, but you’re aware others might not see it like that.

 

So, are they? Are Barcelona boring? Are Bayern? Yes. And no. And also: It doesn’t matter at all.

 

Let’s deal with those in order. “Boring” is a value judgment. It depends on what you find boring. Some people, presumably, genuinely enjoy wandering for hours through art galleries. Some people, at the other end of the cultural spectrum, enjoy the films of Michael Bay.

 

They might not be your cup of tea, but that does not mean you are right or they are wrong. It’s taste. Some people will enjoy watching Barcelona and Bayern. Others won’t. Nobody’s right, and anyone who tells you that they’re right and you’re wrong doesn’t get it.

 

Whether how you feel about these teams matters, though, is a larger question. It is one that strikes at the heart of a much more complex issue: What is football?

 

Is it an art form, designed to entertain you? Or are you an incidental observer to two teams engaged in a search for victory? Is this fun, or is it business?

 

It is one of those trite little clichés that is trotted out whenever a referee produces a red card early in a game. “He’s ruined the match as a spectacle,” someone will say. Another will suggest that the official ought to have deployed common sense, to have considered the ramifications of his decision.

 

This is nonsense. Even if we take away the fact that entertainment is relative -- we are constantly told we don’t want to see sendings-off and squabbles and managers head-butting players, when it’s a fair bet that a lot of people probably do want to see that -- it is also a complete misunderstanding of why the referee is there.

 

The referee is present, pure and simple, to enforce the laws of the game. He has no responsibility whatsoever over whether you are entertained or not. He is not a compere, or an MC, or the host of a wine-and-cheese evening. He is a policeman. A policeman is there to make sure nobody commits a crime. It’s not his job to make sure you’re stocked up on nibbles.

 

Most people within football -- players, managers, executives -- take a similar stance on their own roles in the drama. This is business; this is their job. They are there to try to win, to be successful, to beat the other team.

 

Players like to play good football, to be part of an exciting team that allows them to showcase their skills, but given the choice, most of them would rather win medals first and worry about how they got there second.

 

Good football, as the saying goes, is winning football; it’s not the short pass or the long pass, it’s the right pass. Barcelona and Bayern always play the right pass.

 

The problem with that logic is its ultimate conclusion. Charles Hughes and the Winning Formula; the worst excesses of catenaccio; the brutality of Argentinos Juniors: That is what happens when winning is all that matters, when the journey is of no concern, and everything hinges on the destination. The fun goes, and pretty soon, so does the business: People do not want to watch, attendances suffer and so do finances.

 

By those standards, we should be grateful for Barcelona and Bayern, for the rise of passenaccio. They, too, have happened upon a brand of winning football, first and foremost, one in which depriving their opponents of the ball all but guarantees them victory every single time, but at least it is more appealing than the alternatives.

 

There should be no shame in admitting that it would be nice if they’d play a little more incisively, if they’d take a chance every now and again, if they’d just please have a shot.

 

But if this excellence, this artistry, this commitment to beauty above all things is as boring as it gets, then thank goodness for small mercies.

 

You’re going to be dragged around the art gallery, but at least the paintings are good. Some of the best ever, in fact.

 

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/13079?cc=5739

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Flip

Flip

Posted
Posted

Apparently Zlatan negotiated PSGs players CL win bonus. He managed to guarantee the player €1m each if they win the whole Champions League. But since his monthly salary is more than that he negotiated a larger and better bonus for himself :lol: (this according to swedish evening newspaper that usually spout shit though)

 

It would be the biggest bonus given to a CL side if they do win it.

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BrettNUFC

BrettNUFC

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Santoon and Dave still don't think he spit? Not that the FA are to be trusted, but I'm 100% he spat.

 

:spit:

 

This made me laugh when it came about he was being banned for spitting. I've yet to see the incident myself but remember ST and Dave making a mockery of any spitting allegations on here :lol:

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BrettNUFC

BrettNUFC

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Santoon and Dave still don't think he spit? Not that the FA are to be trusted, but I'm 100% he spat.

 

:spit:

 

This made me laugh when it came about he was being banned for spitting. I've yet to see the incident myself but remember ST and Dave making a mockery of any spitting allegations on here :lol:

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-citys-joe-hart-defuses-3247579

 

;)

 

If he wasn't involved in a headbutt, i doubt he would be so 'adamant' there wasn't a spit. Just trying to play down the situation as it still looks bad on his part  :pow:

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Dave

Dave

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Like i say though, i've yet to see incident myself. Just found it funny when it came up he was being banned by FA for spitting and i remember you two on here  :lol:

 

I still don't think he deliberately spat at Hart.

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newsted

newsted

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Posted

Like i say though, i've yet to see incident myself. Just found it funny when it came up he was being banned by FA for spitting and i remember you two on here  :lol:

 

I still don't think he deliberately spat at Hart.

 

:lol: Of course he didn't. Trial by media again, Big Club v little club, FA weak, I think we've been here before. Still pisses me off, though. A 3 match ban for objecting to someone nutting you and spitting at you? Mental.

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