For The Attention Of Charlie Nicholas, OHC

[Earl Hafler]

[Guest JV]

[Herbie von Smalls]

how about andy gray? he was talking about the substitutions and saying rafa ought to make changes and 'go for the win'?

 

did he really believe that we were playing for a draw, or is he truly as idiotic as that kind of comment suggests?

[M4TTA]

i laughed Herbie,

 

remeber istanbul?

 

Didi comes on, then what happens?

 

Didi comes on against the ar$e, then what happens?

[Earl Hafler]

how about andy gray? he was talking about the substitutions and saying rafa ought to make changes and 'go for the win'?

 

did he really believe that we were playing for a draw, or is he truly as idiotic as that kind of comment suggests?

 

Staggers me what he comes out with during matches. His " Take a bow, son " comments are what endear him to some people but most of his commentary is schoolboy stuff.

[ricflairandy]

Staggers me what he comes out with during matches. His " Take a bow, son " comments are what endear him to some people but most of his commentary is schoolboy stuff.

 

 

in fairness he did say one thing today that was very true "who am i to question rafa"

[Guest Jack Bauer]

Andy Gray was ok today, he just said he was surprised to see Hamann come on if Liverpool want to win the game - unless Alonso had an injury. Then later on after we scored, he did acknowledge Hamann was an important sub. Let's be honest.

[Herbie von Smalls]

in fairness he did say one thing today that was very true "who am i to question rafa"

yet he continued to question rafa

 

i've no problem with cliches and badly-articulated comments, it's when the observations are ill-informed or a complete misreading of the game that i want to put my foot through the telly.

 

Andy Gray was ok today, he just said he was surprised to see Hamann come on if Liverpool want to win the game - unless Alonso had an injury. Then later on after we scored, he did acknowledge Hamann was an important sub. Let's be honest.

did you miss the part where he was saying about 'going for the win'?

[Greenoak]

The best one when he said a c**k up between him and Fowler was due to him not speaking English.

 

What a dick head.

[Guest Jack Bauer]

He didn't mean that we weren't going for a win, but that we should get some fresh legs on and "go for the win" as in go all out since our strikers had drew a blank. If that makes sense.

[RedMarauder]

Stunned hearing Champagne Charlie's review of the first half saying that 0-0 was a fair result at half time..... So Arsenal got nowhere near our goal, constantly gave the ball away and yet in his view it was an even match.

Why do idiots like him bother to watch matches. I don't expect total impartiality, but at least partial reality!

 

I can't believe how poor Arsenal were tonight, the old hands in midfield were abject: Gilberto / Pires / Lungberg. Defeat to Real Madrid and I can't see Henry wanting to stay.

[Earl Hafler]

Arsenal will lose if Real play anything like what they did tonight. Beckham and Cicinho were excellent and Woodgate brings out the best in Sergio Ramos.

Only chance Arsenal have is if Real put Helguera up against Henry.

[Des]

To be fair though, I do have a little sympathy for the Arsenal fans. They are in an almost identical position to us 12 months ago. Playing catch-up on their nearest & greatest rivals for the 4th CL place, lots of injuries, their star player is unsettled and the media are playing on that....sound familiar ? Having said that, I hope they don't win the CL [ obviously ].

 

Big difference between them this season and us last though is that their manager has been there for 10 years when last season was Rafa's first in this league and their star player really will be leaving them. And there may well be no CL footy to help pay that massive debt. They're in real trouble.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Des

[Guz]

yet he continued to question rafa

 

He's a pundit/co commentator for sky ffs - he was giving his opinion of what he thought would be the best way to go about after watching decades of football. So what if he got it wrong. At least he admitted Rafa knows best but all he said was basically a "this is what I think..." not "what an iditot Rafa, I know best". Commentary would be absolutely awful if the co commentator never gave an opinion. Nowt wrong with Tyler & Gray (best partnership in commentary imo), and their never usually is, people are just paranoid.

[Albertini]

i actually agreed with Gray and understood fully what he was saying.

 

We were struggling to score and our top scorer was stuck out on the right wing having little influence on the game.

 

I would have loved to see Gerrard come into the middle sooner where he is much more effective and much more of a goal scoring threat.

 

we were bluting our best weapon by having him stuck on the right.

 

Gray got it spot on in my opinion.

[DanielS]

Question for you and Andy Gray.

 

Who would you play on the right instead of Gerrard ?

 

We've got 4 high class central midfielders, we haven't got one high class right sided player...oh, hang on ! That's right ! Gerrard can play there !

 

Apologies for the sarcasm but surely it doesn't take a degree at MIT to work out why Gerrard is playing on the right ?

 

Gray has never proved a single opinion he has on a football pitch. If he managed a side - any side - for a season he would have at least have a shred of credibility. Without that his opinions hold as much weight as any fan or spectator.

Every analysis he performs is with hindsight. The man is a phoney.

[Earl Hafler]

He was a coach for about 8 seconds. Maybe he did it all in that time ?

[Leo No.8]

he's a t***, leo. david pleat has a real enthusiasm for the game, doesn't change the fact that he's a know-nowt tosswit. gray's all about reactive commentary growled out in his passionate caledonian brogue. soundbite football coverage, he's a sh*thouse.

 

I know his football knowledge is far more limited than he'd have you believe, but I just can't bring myself to hate him as much as many do that's all.

 

Pleat is more creepy than a recipiant of my hate as well. It's frightening how little he knows about football, but there are a few commentators like that, in particular Ron Atkinson.

 

I genuinly think I would have proved to be a better football manager than Ron Atkinson.

[Albertini]

Andy Gray talks more sense than any other pundit on the box.

 

I read book of his about tactics and he is switched on with some good ideas.

 

He analyses the formations and the way the team is playing like no other pundit.

 

these feckers like Le Saux who spout inane loads of nothingness add nothing to commentaries and are just token ex players offering little in the way of any quality analysis.

 

You cant blame Gray for not wanting to take on a high risk, high hassle manger's job when he can sit back earning more money and with no hassle in his Sky job.

 

I (and i am sure many on here) would do the same in his position and take the easier option and stay where he is.

 

In relation to the team last night i would have started with Garcia at right wing and Steve in the middle at the expense of Momo.

 

Why? Arsenal came with a weakened team, we were at home and our strikers were not scoring. Our top scorer who, is most effective and scores more goals through the middle was wasted in a home game that we needed to win.

 

IMO there was no need for a ball winner like Momo at home, against a weakened opposition.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Albertini

[ManxRed]

So you'd take off the hardest working midfielder?

 

No. Read my post again.

 

Its all opinion of course but I would have said Gerrard is our hardest working midfielder.

 

I know, let's bench Gerrard for the next game, clearly Alonso and Momo are better than him anyway.

[Poolfrog]

It worked against Wigan (sub Huth for Hyppia)

 

Hyypia had just gone up for the set-piece. When the chavs are losing (like the CL semi) the Special One's brilliant tactic is to put Huth - a centre half - on and punt endless long balls for 30 minutes.

 

Quite different to having Hyypia up for a dead-ball, as most centre backs do during a game

[Phil236849]

gray's not that bad. we don't get worked up about jocky hansen never managing.

 

the reason we don't like gray is he don't like us.

 

i noticed last night gray was astonishingly quick to take points against us at times. like when lehman saved and we were appealing for a corner, saying he took it over the line, gray said instantly, no replay, it didnt cross the line. there were similar snap judgments against us on free kicks.

 

he'll never like us, we'll never like him, but apart from the prejudice, he's not too bad and better than many

[Stevie H]

hansen talks s*** as well though. cliché city.

[ManxRed]

hansen talks s*** as well though. cliché city.

 

Incredible!

[Earl Hafler]

Garcia?? Cisse?? Kromkamp?? Finnan?? Kewell??

 

Maybe they're not World Class out there, but maybe they could at least hold the fort a bit while we tried Gerrard down the middle. We miss Gerrard down the middle while our strikers are not doing the business. With him on the right we are simply putting quality crosses into strikers who aren't firing on all cylinders so that's a waste of time too. He needs to get down the middle, the team improves much more with him there than the quality we would lose by putting someone 'average' on the right.

 

Kewell plays on the left, Finnan at right back. Cisse is not a right sided midfielder, especially against Arsenal. Garcia has been injured, Kromkamp only just signed.

 

Not the same quality of players we have for the right as we do at centre midfield.

 

 

hansen talks s*** as well though. cliché city.

 

And who have Chelsea missed ?

 

( drumroll.........)

 

Claude Makelele

 

( Dun dun duhhhhhhhhhh !!! )