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United never ran under Jose
Occasional reader of the mailbox, 1st time writing in. Which raises the question, why am I writing my 1st mail on Christmas Eve? Well its mostly because I am sick. Not tragically sick at Christmas time, just not well enough to go out for the Christmas Eve pints, which I suppose is a tragedy in its own right, and so I need something else to do while I recover in my bed, hopefully in time for St. Stephen’s day pints.
Now I am a Manchester United fan and a lot has obviously been written about the club recently but this mail is not really about Manchester United, it relates to them and they come up a bit but it really is about Match of the Day, more specifically one Alan Shearer. Criticism of MotD and Alan Shearer is nothing new but please indulge me.
It’s Saturday the 22nd of December and I am watching MotD on TV. That is unusual for me. In my shared accommodation we series link MotD2 and watch it later, that way we see all the weekend goals and can skip the interviews and analysis. However, that day after the Cardiff City game I am listening to the post-game analysis. Gary Lineker pulls a stat about distance covered in the Cardiff City game versus every other Man Utd game this season, seems the team ran more against Cardiff than they did against any other team this season. That’s interesting isn’t it? What are Wrighty and Al going to do with this? Lots of expert insights and cutting edge analysis are sure to follow.
So Shearer often gets criticised for being bland, pulling punches and the like. At least what he is about to say is controversial. He says with a scowl, “Well that tells me they’d stopped running for the manager”. Now it is at least critical of the players, he’s calling their professionalism into question and he’s not just said “Well they’ll be disappointed with that”. Yet what he is saying is just wrong. It’s bad analysis. Lazy even. Where do you go from that point Alan? Are you going to develop it? Nope he just kind of says it again and Gary seems disappointed and it all just trails off to the next segment.
Here’s my view. Manchester United players did not run a lot under Mourinho ever. It is not a question of motivation, it’s tactical. Mourinho, according to an article that is certainly not a Daily Mirror Exclusive, didn’t even track it. Though I cannot find great stats on distance covered by teams, any table I find on the Google machine has Manchester United among the teams with the fewest Kms covered throughout Jose’s reign, in fact here’s one where we are joint-last from last season, when we came (a distant) 2nd in the league. Surely the team was at least a little motivated then?
There’s probably lots of good stuff Alan could have looked at about how useful the distance covered stat even is and tactical differences between gaffers but nope they’ve stopped running. Here’s the problem Alan with that view; Mourinho’s teams are not designed to run a lot. They hold their shape, they don’t counter-press and when attacking there are very few supporting runs forward from midfielders and full backs. It’s as awful to watch as it sounds.
Then Ole comes in starts talking about outworking the opposition, winning the ball back quickly, forward passes for the forward runs (after LVG and Jose I’d forgotten that is how it’s supposed to work) and suddenly the team is running more. Ole and Jose have different views about how the game should be played, that is what you are seeing. It’s not players suddenly deciding to try.
I’m just frustrated with Shearer and punditry generally, hence why I tend to skip it. Couldn’t he have done a nice before and after clip, a compare and contrast on Man Utd under Ole versus Jose? Nah, they’ve stopped running Gary, next question please.
I think there have been perhaps 2 hints as to my nationality so far, it’s Irish if you hadn’t guessed yet. As I’m Irish I don’t care how much the British public pay for the pleasure of his presence on the TV and you know maybe that means I have no right to complain about him in the 1st place but if you don’t mind taking time out from dealing with Brexit and the Old Racism could you do something about him? It would really help Anglo-Irish relations.
Have a Holly-Jolly Christmas
Ciarán (Claonadh, Co.Kildare)
Should players always remain loyal to a manager?
The current discussion about player power at Man Utd is very interesting (even without grumpy Roy Keane’s opinions). I believe there are two sides to this and I wonder if fellow fans (all fans, not only Man Utd fans. Come on, it’s Christmas, we all love the same game) agree with me. Yes, players stopped trying for Mourinho. But, should they still be faithful to the manager if he’s not faithful to them? Should they be faithful to the boss in the short term or to the club in the long term? I know it’s not up to the players to make or break their boss’s employment but should players persist with destructive tactics in the name of loyalty or should they play the long game (no pun intended!)? Not sure what the right answer is but, notwithstanding players’ ego and personal ambitions, is it that bad that players stand their ground and demand a better vision for how they want to play football? In the end, is it okay for managers to have more power, irrespective of their own ego, or for players’ to express their disapproval? After all, and even if I hate equating an office workplace to a football club, would you tolerate and persist with a bitter and negative boss (Be frank, Mailbox Ed, Winterburn won’t be reading this.) or report him/her to the powers that be? Interested to hear your thoughts.
Monty (and be nice! Merry Christmas!), MUFC
Poch to United
So many people asking why Pochetinno would leave this Tottenham side for Manchester United. Really? I don’t like either side, but this is a ridiculous statement to make. I’m guessing these are the same people that think Tottenham can actually challenge for the title with Eric Dier a regular in the side.
The thing that sets the top teams apart is an ability to ask and answer the tough questions about the state of your team. Both individual player performances and the financial state of the club. And that is a culture that is ingrained and infused only through winning. It’s the only way. The fact that Tottenham have only won a league cup in 2008 and an FA Cup in 1991 is staggering. It is clear that there is not a culture of achievement at the club. The single greatest problem Tottenham have is not the impending struggle to pay off stadium debt, but breaking out of a generation’s worth of a loser’s mentality.
I’m not trying to be harsh here; simply realistic. I think deep down Poch knows this Spurs side do not have what it takes to do so. Based off the teams that have won the Premier Leauge title since the turn of the millennium, the only way it happens is thus:
1. Have a ton of money and buy any player you want (City, Chelsea, Man Utd)
2. Have a little bit of cash to splash on certain world class players and ingrain a winning mentality on the youngsters (Arsenal)
3. The amazing one-offs. (Leicester) Have a wonderfully balanced team/squad that fits perfectly within the style and ethos the manager wants.
Can you see Tottenham in any of the above? I sure can’t. Poch is off and this will be the highest Spurs will get for a generation. With stadium debt coming and Poch leaving – I can only see pain and frustration for Spurs. And the fact that some think it won’t be too bad if Poch leaves because Eddie Howe can replace him is testament to that budget mentality.
Tom
…Sorry to hear all the Spurs fans getting upset that their manager is linked to United but it’s not really a surprise is it? Fergie’s been tapping him up for years. It’s quite possible that he’s taken Spurs as far as he can and wants to take the next step in his career and move to United or Madrid. It’s also possible that he actually wants to stay at Spurs and achieving 2nd/3rd place finishes whilst throwing all the domestic cup competitions away. Unfortunately there’s no way for you to know what he’s thinking until United and Real sort themselves out with their next permanent managers. You’ll just have to deal with it. It’s essentially part of being a supporter of a club which isn’t Real Madrid.
And if you do end up crying into your craft beer whenever you move into your new stadium, spare a thought for the locals of the area who are currently going to Ben forced to foot the bill for cleaning up after you your club refuses to pay for it whilst insisting that further money is spent on making the place look nicer so as not to put people off coming to the new gaff. That one of the most deprived areas in the country should foot the bill for this is pretty disgusting.
Merry Christmas though x
Ashley (20LEGEND) Metcalfe
Is it asking too much?
Sorry, another spurs one…
I’ll try and keep this brief. The Poch to Man U saga is becoming mighty tiresome and I don’t wish to add fuel to the flames.
However, whenever someone makes a fairly valid point in the argument for Poch going to United, they always seem to undo it by being being an arrogant, condescending ‘expert’ in the matter. You tar all spurs fans with the same brush, call them ‘cute’ for thinking Poch might stay and there’s always an underlying sense that because you support a so-called bigger team, you know what they’re talking about and have authority in this conversation.
A lot of spurs fans are fairly level headed and very much enjoying how we’re progressing as a club and so, understandably, don’t want the ride to stop. But we know how it is and money talks a lot louder than unity sadly. So can we not talk about this without spitting bile at each other, it’s totally pointless and stops what should be an interesting conversation in its tracks.
I was out drinking with a West Ham fan and an Arsenal fan recently and I was complimenting both their teams on their progression this season and that they’ve actually become interesting to watch. The Arsenal fan said ‘we’re better than you though and we’ll finish above you’ I said that could happen but felt the spurs squad is better balanced and I wasn’t sure if he was right. He said ‘you won’t win anything. You never do’ and the conversation completely stagnated as it’s just a worthless comment purely said to antagonise. What’s the point of that? This is why people think football is for morons. Fans are totally willing to sound like idiots over rivalry. Casual joking about your rivals is totally reasonable but why do we let it stop us from having balanced debates?
Sorry, long and rambling. Merry Christmas!
Rickety Cricket
Double-hard Arsenal
Sod Dyche and other managers who can’t cope with Arsenal’s ‘up yours’ approach to underhanded tactics against them. Remember their approach in the good old days ?
Arsenal once again can score goals for fun but just need to build on their defence. Although….we don’t have one at all the moment (or a midfield for that matter at the moment).
However, it’s great to see nobody can blow in our ear and knock us to the floor and when they try to and we snort back they start crying their eyes out.
Merry Christmas.
Me xx
Defending Keano
‘Roy Keane, with a career in British football behind him, embodies its worst conservatism.’ – Is that phrase actually endorsed by the editorial line!?! Keane embodies footballs worst conservatism!? Racism, homophobia, sexism, nationalism, misogony, ableism…you’re hyperbolae in branding Roy as the ultimate boogey man has jumped the shark. In fact let me indulge in some of your own perspective, you being an English man have somehow managed to turn an Irish man into the ‘embodiment of the worst conservatism’ in English football for having an opinion, so easy to turn on a minority to castigate as the ultimate evil when you want to isn’t it. How about the homophobia that runs rampant in English football? How about the overt racism present in every aspect of football, the violence towards officials, the sexism inherent in the game? None of Roy’s opinions (that you are quoting) have ever touched upon any of the above ‘isms’ that actually plague the modern game. Oh wait one second, he is Irish so he must be a bogey man or the worst at something, let’s straw man Roy Keane into the devil we all know he is…let me guess, you will protest that he only happens to be Irish, like someone only happened to be of any minority.. Perhaps the most destructive issue with English football is how individual players and managers are picked and pulled apart by journalists within the media with no reflection upon how their own power to influence upon people is acknowledged. I am a long time F365 reader and will continue to read the excellent content but this article, while holding a sliver of merit, is wildly misplaced in its editorial oversight. Boo Urns for Roy Keane saying modern footballers do not like criticism, the scourge of modern football. But dirt bag journalists with sweeping generalisations who have mass influence upon the general public and write articles with free abandon are the really scourge and cause of ‘the WORST English Conservatism’ and everyone knows this…even if you appear to have published articles further reinforcing old racist stereotypes. Let’s pull apart another individual footballer and blame them for societies ills. See you next Tuesday John.
Happy Christmas
Alan Ashley
Contradictory on conservatism
I find it hilarious that Johnny Nic criticizes conservatism (as he puts it, the act of not accepting change, not the politics) but pretty much shows much conservatism himself in a number of his positions he historically has taken.
The first obvious one is his insistence on hating VAR for the reasons he did. Yes it’s an imperfect system and the debates of the merits and demerits of the system in practice can be debated but looking back at his articles right before the World Cup and the way he harps about how it’s a threat to the “spirit” of the game, it just reeks of conservatism and not much different than how other old timers react to new things being introduced.
There’s also the way he talks about players salaries and money in the game, and how he like to talks about the “good old days” before big money was splashed in the game. Nevermind that the world and globalism has changed a lot in the last few decades and so many other people (such as myself) now get to enjoy English football.
To use his own quote against him “You can’t go back, no matter how bright the golden glow you have painted the past in.” I’m pretty sure he’s guilty of doing this a lot himself in many of his articles where he writes about the good old days of English football. It may not be the exact same things that some of the managers/players in the article wanted but it still has the same conservatism theme.
Now these positions may not be inherent wrong in themselves depending on your point of view but it’s hypocritical for Johnny to criticize “conservatism” theme in general for particular subjects he does support change while convenient ignoring it for the ones where he wants something being preserved.
There are many good and bad things in football and while we all disagree on what is what, we can all agree that SOME things should be preserved while SOME things should be changed as opposed to a full change and preservation of everything. Many of these topics involved a lot of nuance and subjectivity about why they should be preserved or changed (outside of the very obvious racism, sexism, homophobia, etc).
This is why I find Johnny’s article on criticizing conservatism theme again as its hypocritical to some of his positions. If he wants to support change in some topics and preservation in some topics, fair enough. However he shouldn’t write an article swiping the conservatism theme as a whole while he practices some of it.
Yaru, Malaysia
…I don’t think John Nicholson understands conservatism. He says, ” And by conservatism I mean the unwillingness to change with the times. The firm belief that how things were is how they should always be, or that how things are is how they will remain. That change is something to be cynical, suspicious and defensive about. That the best days lie behind us and malign modern influences are to be resisted.”
That is certainly not what I understand conservatism to believe. That is a mischaracterization used to make your point. Conservatism believes in a set of values/principles that no matter how the times change still hold up. It’s pretty clear that we’re clutching at straws when equating the styles of play and attitude of Roy Keane and Sam Allardyce to conservatism then using that as a stick with which to beat conservatism with.
I have no idea how any of the points your making hav anything to do with conservatism, cultural or political. I started listing each paragraph, but then realized I’m listing everyone. The tenth paragraph is just simply ridiculous and quite laughable. Are you trying to say conservatives are afraid of people outside their borders?
Maybe you’re misunderstanding that for protecting a nation’s sovereignty? Maybe Brexit was because the people of the UK we’re tired of having their sovereignty stolen by officials in Brussels they did not elect. Officials who continue to pass their failing welfare state at the cost of the people in countries like Germany, UK, France. Officials who impose crushing regulations on businesses throughout the bloc. John, maybe it has nothing to do with the way people look and act at all? Maybe it is about the people of the UK wanting to decide what is best for themselves.
I understand conservatism to be;
The right to individual liberty and freedom.
Economic freedom
Religious freedom.
Equal treatment under the law.
etc.
I”m not sure how any of those ideals can be considered out of date.Now, are there conservatives who do not believe women should be in the military, gays can marry, etc.? Sure, but that does not make conservative ideals wrong. It is simply a disagreement about how these values should be interpreted, nothing more.
These type of arguments are common all throughout mainstream society, simplifying conservatism to bigotry in order to make a point, and its damaging.
Brian, DC
An obvious drawback
I’ve just read Chris Hardy’s brilliant plan for teams to get – 1 point for a draw. What a really, really great plan!
If it were implemented I can see it now. You’re a centre-half playing end of season in a relegation threatened team, against one of the big boys. It’s 2 – 2, and you’ve played heroically, but the clock is running down. You can’t ship another point.
And then you see it in the imploring eyes of their forwards, as you pass it round at the back. You can hear it from the crowd. You can sense it from the Gaffer.
Just then you notice your keeper, and good mate, just off his line. You turn and fire a 60 mph ‘back pass’ straight into the corner of the net. What else, in all good conscience, could you do?
As I said what a great plan!
Merry Christmas and have a terrific New Year!
Joe, LUFC
A song for Palace
Not a Palace fan, but during the long drive down to the in-laws on Christmas Eve I was thinking about football when the song Shotgun by George Ezra came on the radio.
I realised that Aaron Wan Bissaka’s name fit the first line of the chorus pretty well, so I’ve some up with more lines to finish it off:
Aaron Wan Bissaka
He is our right backa
He’s better than Kaka
Admittedly “backa” isn’t strictly speaking a word, and the Kaka reference is perhaps slightly dated (and the wrong position) but otherwise it sort of works!
Over to you, Ed Quoththeraven & others…
Merry Christmas!
Alex M
Football364
Do you guys keep track of how often people click on football365.com for updates while you guys are off? Pretty sure I logged on atleast 10 times.
Rahul (Merry Christmas)