Russ I think though I've not bothered to look back for actual postings.
Gerrard for me all the way. Villa keep getting mentioned as what happens when you change manager so makes perfect sense.
Be fucking hilarious..
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There's a sort of idiot know nothing logic to it. After all the Villa squad is comparable to ours, apparently, and Gerrard got them in the right sort of shape that the next manager could challenge for the title with them.
Jobissurelyagoodun.
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I very much did not. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me but I'd very much like it if people disagreed with what I actually said, and not what they think or wish I said. I presume you are referring to this post:
You will note that I am very clear on what Steve Cooper can do, because I've seen him do it. I do not know what Steve Cooper can't do, just because he hasn't done something yet doesn't mean he can't do it at all.
Please also note that I didn't say anything about motivation and I find the whole conversation around pashun and desire in professional sports to be at best nebulous and at worst crass. Mark Cuban said it far better than I ever could (he's talking about basketball in this clip, but he really isn't - he's talking about shitty hyperbolic "analysis" by the media and fans):
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Can't watch that because it's got too much arsehole in it. Does he say that there has to be a change because it's a results business and 'numbers', without any objective assesment of specific factors and variables? Or is he actually less know nothing than a large portion of our fanbase?
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He specifically takes apart Skip Bayless, and by extension everyone, for talking in generalities such as "such and such team wanted it more" and "so and so player didn't try hard enough". You should watch it, it takes less than 7 minutes and it's excellent. Skip Bayless is indeed an arsehole but he's very much made to look it.
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I have a strong preference against clicking on anything with a shitty clickbait title like that video, but I am pleased I made an exception there.
I vaguely remember a football punditry moment where some of the usual suspects were blathering on about passion or wotnot, but pre-past-it MON was in the studio and calmly and succinctly explained what was actually going on.. proving precisely why he had been a very successful football manager and the mugs sharing a studio with him had not.
I rate myself very low on the ‘understanding what is happening scale’ when watching football. And that is fair. I often don’t see what is working or not working, and very rarely have any idea why. I enjoy the momentum and emotion and the skills, I can’t enjoy the tactical contest because I don’t understand it. Maybe if 95% of the people paid to tell us about the game weren’t as dumb about it as me, I’d have a clue. It’s very frustrating.
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@Russ I think it was this bit I was remembering from the Spurs thread
We've got high profile, much lauded signings who can't get on the pitch because the manager can't figure out how to use them effectively,
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You say that.. put Sangarre aside, and do we really?
It’s not like the other new signings are glamourous types that had to be prized away from their clubs or other suitors. Yes, there is pedigree there with the likes of Montiel and Domingez, but we saw with our own eyes that the former, at least, looked way off the pace.
Was Origi lauded because of who he is now, or who people thought he could be many years ago? Is Montiel lauded because of his quality or because he may have been the best available in his position for Argentina when they won the World Cup? Nobody lauded Murillo and he’s fucking ace.
I am increasingly persuaded that our net summer transfer business wasn’t nearly the upgrade I blindly accepted it was at the time.
And that is not, at all, meant to give SSC a free pass. Even if the resources aren’t as good as we reckoned, he’s still not using them very well.
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The logical extension of this is why you are down on players like Yates who are at their peak when they are in a fostered or, even better, fostering a siege mentality. It's ok not to be a purist and enjoy yourself.
Good video though, but I'd be intrigued to hear him analyse The Battle of Highfield Road.
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The only bad thing about that video is that Cuban didn't get the opportunity to lay the smack down on Stephen A, although that was probably because he was smart enough to stay out of it and keep his mouth shut. Bayless, on the other hand, is a buffoon.
There are some pretty big differences between teams who get to the finals in the NBA and Forest. NBA seasons are much longer, which means that individual games are less important and teams have more time to gel. Roster sizes are smaller. So while NBA teams have a decent amount of churn, the Heat, Thunder and Mavs teams that were being spoken about were all pretty settled, with consistency in terms of player background, preferred language and so on. The Forest squad has players coming in from all over the world, speaking different languages, and are dealing with an injury to Taiwo who is irreplaceable within the limitations of the current squad. How would that Heat team have done without LeBron, DWade or Bosh? The Mavs without Nowitzki? The Thunder without Westbrook or Durant?
Taiwo's last game was the 3-2 against West Ham, just after the 2-0 win over Villa. I remember being pretty positive about things then.
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That is not a logical extension at all. Yates attitude is part of why he is an effective player and it’s fine to recognise that, but unless it’s recognised in the context of what he actually does to influence (or not) games. Firing up the crowd and other players… getting all up in opponents business… all valid parts of a coherent plan to win games.
TBH it’s more likely that the PASSION narrative more often comes from people who devalue the likes of Ryan Yates.. as if his attitude is all that he has.
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Which is all fine, but this isn't a linear thing. SSC doesn't go "Right, Villa, 6/10 PASSION from you today should do it please Ryan". I get that the implication is that as these guys are professionals they should be above animal instincts and outside influences, but they ain't.
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Second best. He was sub for the final and, I think, most of the tournament.
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On Cuban's point about analysis vs generalities, one of the things that people liked when both Neville and Hansen started out was that they actually broke down what was happening and why, which helped them become popular. But I guess it's hard work and once you've made your reputation, it's tempting to fall back on the same stuff that everyone does. Similarly, everyone loved it when Gary O'Neill went on Sky and spoke in detail about how he'd set Wolves up to beat Man City (I have mixed feeling about the wisdom of that - it means you probably can't do the same thing next time but everyone else's analysts would probably have figured it out anyway and it built his reputation.)
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I’m not sure why you would think that is implied.
The manager should know what all the players can bring, and instruct them to do what he thinks they need to do to get the result. He shouldn’t be telling anyone what level of passion to bring, but he might tell Yates to get all up in some faces, whilst telling MGW to drift wide and look for space. If they both do what they or told but the result doesn’t go well, a lazy pundit will tell us that MGW not showing the level of passion of Yates was part of the problem.
Every player should do their best, and most of the time they do, it’s just that doing so looks different for different players and different match plans, and the passion narrative is unhelpful.
IIRC it was Yates calm and simple look and pass that set up Boly for our best chance against Spuds. He can do that. Elanga or MGW might have tried something fancier, but worse, in that situation. That’s what I mean about the passion narrative devaluing players. If all Yates did was run around disrupting people for the sake of it, he wouldn’t be a professional footballer. He’s smart about what he does, and he does more than that.
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Seems like it's going to be Nuno guy ex Wolves and Spurs fairly soon so Europe here we come!
