hagi_complex

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I had hoped he'd be out for 18 months, make a full physical recovery eventually, but forget how to play football.

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Nice, but find another striker to wet yourself over - he's not coming to Liverpool.

Talented player, but not for us at the moment. I hope that we've bigger fish to fry come the summer. Tevez's best work is done outside the box - like pretty much every striker in the squad bar Fowler. We need the option of a fit, prime Horseface type character. IMO.

Carra's no slouch, but I agree that on the turn he's far from lightening. Paul McGrath is the best centre half I've ever seen* and he couldn't even train properly the year he won player of the year. Pace is a nice attribute to have, but as a defender, I'd rather footballing intelligence and Carra has it in spades. *Irish bias

Nice interview. Seems like a humble lad. I hope this turns out to be one of the great under-the-radar signings. He's still a kid and his performances in the World Cup give me great optimism. We're getting there, slowly but surely.

The ref wasn't a homer, he was just incompetent.

....and they cropped a 4:3 picture to fit their widescreen/HD agenda.

The ref was consistent in his terrible decisions.

Sky are a joke. And that clown asking the questions should be shot with balls of his own s****. A five-year-old would ask more pertinent questions.

On talent/playing skills, Bergkamp by a fair distance. Cantona obviously had a major influence on the dominant Man Utd side of the 90s, but so many of Elbows' goals were works of art. That one against Argentina in the World Cup, for example - a stage that Cantona never got to perform on, cos he was too much of a c*nt. The only foreign striker that comes near Bergkamp is Zola for me. Cantona is a distant third.

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Yup, Phil Neville at left full and Lampard as an inside left was tactical experimentation par excellence from McLaren. Up there with his ahead-of-the-game selection against Croatia. The man is a clown and long may he reign. England have managed to employ another spineless get as manager. If the FA had employed somebody with a pair of b******s, there's a chance that they might do something in big competition. Under McLaren, they'll be lucky to qualify out of a group that they should have strolled out of. The man is a laughing stock. And I'm not just talking about his haircut. Completely out of his depth.

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Can't believe we lost that game today. A couple of bad errors cost us and the conditions were gash. Chin up, lad.

He does my head in. My answer to the Riise problem is to sign a top class left full. Keep JAR in the squad, but have someone much better than him ahead of him at LB. He can then fill in at LM or LB as required - he'd probably still get 20/25 games a season. Don't ask me who to get in ahead of him, though - that's Rafa's job.

Kuyt has done grand so far, f***ing hell I can't believe he's getting stick here. None of the strikers bar Fowler are true box players, and as much as I love him, Robbie is finished at this stage. We have to look to future. I expect we'll be shopping for a box player in the summer. There's enough graft in the team to support one. That's no reason to be slagging off Kuyt for not being a one-man goal machine, though. He's done very well and his attitude is spot-on. And Bellamy and Crouch are both good enough to be in the squad too. We need a clinical finisher - for all their qualities, none of the current strikers have it. It doesn't mean that we have cut our losses on the strikers currently at the club.

Respect to him for that. I wouldn't be able to tie my own shoelaces if my brother was taken from me.

Very interesting article. This bit is something I've felt strongly about for a long time: too much focus on competition too young, not enough time spent on skills and many, many more - but can be condensed into one central tenet: our young players are not playing nearly enough of the right type of football. I see it even now with my two nephews (11 and 8) and I remember it from my own playing days. The emphasis, even at these young ages, is on winning. Competitive Dad type a******s on the sidelines and the teams run by their mates. 11 year olds playing on full size pitches with full size balls. The biggest lads getting picked and the game reverting to brute force. Now, I'm generalising and talking specifically about what I've been exposed to (I haven't a clue what goes on in the academies), but certainly in Dublin, I've seen very little change in the twenty years plus from when I was playing at that age, to what I'm watching now. If the same thing is applying (albeit at a higher level) in the academies, well then they're doomed. I know this is not happening in Holland, for starters.

I have no idea about his business acumen and yes, we could have exploited the LFC brand better for more money in recent times (whether that's a bad thing or not is debatable), but I have nothing but respect and fondness for Moores. A chairman, and a man, head and shoulders above most of the soundbite friendly, goldfish buying clowns that we've seen and heard too much of since the creation of the Premier League. Thanks, Mr Moores; you've done a great job and your heart is certainly in the right place.

I'd forgotten about that. A truly bizarre incident. And possibly his finest hour as Ireland gyaffer.