FC Showster

Alyson Rudd on the Times podcast claimed Webb made reasonable decisions and had an ok game in the Chelsea match. Laughable the lengths some go to so they don't criticise refs

It's hit the point where video tech is a must. Too many game changing decisions being missed and with so much money at stake, either through prize money/sponsorship or betting, the governing bodies should try to be as transparent as possible. There isn't even a genuine look at whether there is corruption or not - just a tacit acceptance that British = honest and uncorruptable

Skrtel is just "man marking" is the great English tradiion. Penalties are given for those about once every four years. Clearly fouls each and every time but such is the incompetence of refereeing

Expecting one of our players to make a run nearer to the goal? Bad cross/pass but horrific movement

Checking wikipedia - Masch scored 2, Momo scored 1, and Lucas has scored 6

What's mental is that that is deemed as bad as Williams' challenge. 2-2, s***

Ok ok, since 1999 then

I agree entirely about Mascherano but is he the exception or is he the rule? Is he a general principle to use when defining a club's youth development strategy? I don't think he is

Quick question - how many games has that player played in the top divisions (England, Spain, Germany, Italy) and Europe since 2000? No rush, take your time.

When you label a desire to produce young players who have a strong technical competence with the ball as snobbery then you have polarised the debate. How come you haven't taken the Wimbledon comment as shorthand for a combative nature or a strong will to win? In fact you now seem to be distancing yourself from the suggestion that Wimbledon had any admirable traits in one breath and in the next doing one of your frequent "what if by x he meant y" switches and then listing Wimbledon's key strengths as not ignoble. As someone else pointed out, Gerrard improved when he cut down on his tackles and was put in a position to use his other skills, his better skills, more frequently. I don't doubt that he might've seen himself as a tackler and shooter but that does not make it the right attitude for him to have had. Could he have been even better had he had a better education in his youth and played in a more advanced role earlier? It's a point to debate. What I don't think is for debate is that he's a great player because he can play, not because he can tackle. I covered Bale under the world's most expensive player. Being strong and physical is different from tackling. I know I strayed into mentioning the slide tackle which you didn't seem to like but at least it's within the scope of tackling. Bayern are aggressive and powerful but aside from their SF against Barca they dominated possession in all their CL games. Their game was fundamentally built on technique with good organisation and a strong team ethic Rooney works hard but he isnt a good tackler, mainly because too often his tackles come when he's frustrated. His work rate is very good, exception team player in that regard but he's not a good tackler

Who is the he? Shankly and/or Paisley for not wanting players to dive in? That's as a general principle rather than an explicit rule to never slide in. I state this because your gif makes me think you aren't smart enough to pick that up

You're missing the point that in the modern game, with the rules as it stands, it is a bad thing for youth development programmes at large clubs to be producing young players who list tackling as one of their top two skills. A kid can be proud of their tackling and shooting but I'd prefer the culture of the youth team to be one where the players are more proud of skills which utilize the ball and make it more likely that they will be a first team footballer for this club. Tired inverted snobbery? Perhaps it was a fresh inverted snobbery years ago when our management talked about not sliding in because winning the ball when lying on your a*** left you unable to then use it properly. Or are you suggesting that the possession based style of Barca and Bayern is tired and snobbish and is about to be swept away by a refreshing 21st century Wimbledon? It's these skillful players that we need to develop, not only because they are the ones who are most likely to make us win stuff, but also because they're the most expensive on the open market. Tacklers are ten a penny. The worlds most expensive player is exactly that because he wouldn't list tackling as one of his two best attributes. It's his ability to run with the ball, technique with the ball to pass/cross/shoot that Madrid paid all that money for, not because they wanted to add more tackles to their front line. Let's look at other players who have went for huge money CRonaldo Neymar Kaka Zidane Figo throw in Messi because if became available he'd be up there Tackling gods, each and every one of them

It's not the fact that he rates himself good at tackling it's that he rates himself better at that than thing's involving the ball. And even within that it's a general symptom of the British culture of players being overly physical to cover for the fact that they are s***. Go in hard to show how much you want it because actually spending hour after hour honing your technique with the ball is a bit too much like hard work. Xabi has a valid point so ner

And maybe the youth player was a winger? Or a goalkeeper? You also spend half the game with the ball where your movement, passing, first touch, awareness will all be needed. Tackling? Not needed so much when you have the ball. Plus, when you don't have the ball you can use those same awareness skills you have to track runs, block easy passes, know when to press people and if the opposition's main skill is tackling, well, they'll quickly give you the ball back!

You've listed the crux of the issue but seem to have missed the point. Referees are clamping down on physical contact and hard tackling such that the era of Souness will never be seen again. But within the frame of reference that we have now, a lad from the youth team should be talking about his technique, first touch, finishing, reading of the game, passing etc as their strong qualities because as Jay Spearing has found out, running around a bit and liking a tackle isn't sufficient to play at the top level. "A desire to tackle shows a competitive spirit" - this reads so close to the failed British mantra of needing 'grit' and 'passion' that I'm not sure it isn't a joke I'd have said Rush was great at pressing and closing down rather than tackling with it being the pressure that got us the ball back via wayward passes or touches more so than him actually tackling the defender

"At Liverpool I used to read the matchday programme and you'd read an interview with a lad from the youth team. They'd ask: age, heroes, strong points, etc. He'd reply: 'Shooting and tackling'. I can't get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play" he was f***ing spot on

Toure had a big effect on Benteke imo - last season with Carra there instead he'd have had time to pick his spot but Kolo forced him to rush and stopped him going across goal

I said to friends when we bought him that he'd either be a world beater or horse s*** - nothing in between. He undoubtably has the talent but there were questions over his work rate and selfishness. Really looks to have bought into what Brendan is trying to do and I think the manager has to take great credit for this as well. Really put a shift in today on top of that great finish and hopefully he can stay fit and healthy all season

Marcotti wrote an article recently proposing a total revamp of live football in England and trying to use some sort of American model to show more games but only if an attendance requirement is met http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/scrap-the-tv-ban-on-3pm-kick-offs

His shot stopping is obviously very good and the penalty rebound for me was a more impressive save than the penalty itself (he's up very quickly). I'd temper that with a jury's out for me on crosses until I see him more - I think he's looked a bit susceptible under the high ball but I'm only going on what I've seen for us which is only a limited sample. Good with the ball at his feet apart from once instance in the first half

Rapidly becoming my favourite player at the club. Lad's got the balls to take the kicks he'll get in England, get up, and hurt them with his skill

I don't think we did. Hate the little s*** and thought he was a terrible pundit on the bbc with an awful voice

I'm finding him more annoying than I expected

True, we dont know but I think there was a good few weeks between the two. I'd be surprised if we had reached agreements with them both and then took a few weeks to get the rest completed, esp. with the Valdes rumours and the lack of progress on the Reina front. Tito leaving Barca throws another spanner in the works now, will the new manager want Reina next year?

Sold to who? Valdes made his decision to stay at Barca well before we completed the signing and if there were other interested parties for Reina then where did they go? It looks like they thought he was going, lined up a replacement, and decided to buy the replacement after Barca's interest waned. I think we need to be adaptable than that