Show 18 :: 18 Games for the 18th show…

3 Comments

1. Jason — December 18, 2009 #

   great show again this week.

   i agree with sir alex about the timekeeping thing. i dont know if i’ve mentioned my idea here, but this is it: the 4th official is linked with the referee (via the mikes they have) and the referee telling the 4th official everytime the clock should/would be stopped, and then at the end of each half, the 4th official tallies up those amounts, tells the figure to the referee, and then the referee either OKs it or changes it, and then the stoppage time put up on the board. Sounds complicated, but it really isn’t in practice, and it allows the referee to concentrate more on the game instead of looking at his watch and pressing stop/start or trying to add in his head the amount of minutes lost (instead, just verbally tells 4th official).

   you guys are right about how ridiculous it is for the EPL to question mccarthy’s wolves side on tuesday. wolves have 3 games in a week, squads are there for this exact purpose. wolves are trying to stay up, grabbing whatever points they can and mccarthy has the right to choose what basket to put his eggs in.

   cech can be forgiven because of his head injury, but it is getting quite ridiculous. he needs to take off the skullcap and play. it is messing with his head. it was about 3 years ago now and if he can only play now as a vampire (‘afraid of crosses’, i know, its an old joke now…) then he needs to change clubs.

   fabregas’ injury will be devastating to arsenal, especially since RVP is out. will arsenal sue burnley for being the team arsenal was playing when fabregas was injured? turf moor’s pitch? it is a JOKE that arsenal is suing the dutch fa. footballers play football. they will be injured. arsenal is not due any recourse because RVP was authorized to play in that match (fifa window). it will be a slippery slope if arsenal wins the suit. and a sad day for football. i take your point chris, that the game was ‘meaningless’, but just because a game isn’t a qualifier doesnt mean its meaningless. fifa sanctions international friendly windows in order for national teams to get practice in. it is up to the national coach whether he wants to field his first team or not and what he wants to tinker with.

   on a further note, with personal bias/opinion: i hope fabregas plays in that catalonia-argentina match, that fabregas gets injured, that arsenal sues the pants off both the catalonian fa and the argentinian fa, and that both those FAs have to shell out millions, bankrupting the catalonian fa.

   gerrard has always been a diver, and though he probably deserved a pen this past weekend, it is just karma that he was denied one. rooneys dive against villa was bad too. players are trying to make the most out of challenges now and not trying to avoiding them at all. if you look at ivanovic last night when chelsea got the penalty against portsmouth, you can see on the replay that the tackle from wilson comes in, and ivanovic pushes the ball forward and then starts to go down, and THEN there is contact. the players nowadays are not trying to avoid contact, are making the most out of tackles. but it is not the foreign players who are doing it only. rooney and gerrard are guilty of it as well.

   that chinese takeover bid you were talking about mark, i thought it was for united and not liverpool. maybe i heard wrong.

   hope powell as the next epl manager? i should hope not. seeing the abuse the players get, i wouldnt imagine a female coach getting treated too well, not even by her own team…

   i agree with you chris, i think the door must be only slightly open a crack for owen hargreaves. true, he would be a great addition to the england side and was one of the best players in 06, but he hasnt even played a game yet this season for united (bar reserves games). i think capello is just wishfully thinking by talking about hargreaves.

   (i only heard your advice by the end of the podcast after this was pretty much written, but we were on the same wavelength as i typed this up using a famous/popular word processor software)

2. PeterInCali — December 20, 2009 #

   Can’t help but feel sorry for Mark Hughes – the point has been made that he may be the best-placed manager (6th in the Prem, doing alright in the Carling Cup) to get sacked. But when he saw what they did to Sven, he must have known the odds going in.

   P.S. Roy Hodgson beats Man U 3-0 and … did anyone see him smile? He walked around stone-faced at the end of the match.

3. agoth — December 21, 2009 #

   It’s all about expectation isn’t it? 8 draws in 17 games is below expectation and I don’t think Hughes has really ever instilled the sort of confidence that he could improve the situation.

   What will be interesting will be to see if Mancini can do any better.