bluemoon. - Comments

#325788 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
bluemoon.
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Can't believe we could still actually get third
#325170 2015/16 Champions League
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You'd be best of with Barca in the final aye. Over 90 mins anything can happen, over 2 legs more often than not superiority shines through. Real/Wolfsburg is a prime example

I'd prefer Bayern in the final to be honest. We've actually beaten them a few times in the last few years
#325141 2015/16 Champions League
bluemoon.
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No chance we'd beat Barca over two legs, I'd have serious doubts over 90 minutes. I'd prefer Madrid ahead of Bayern or Barca, they're the most flawed.
#325066 2015/16 Champions League
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Slightly baffled by that tbh. We probably deserved to go through and all, but it seems slightly surreal.
#323609 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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To be fair there's been a long list of players in recent history who've done substantially better after leaving St. James' Park.

That thought did cross my mind as I was writing that
#323586 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
bluemoon.
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I sat and watched Danny Simpson for 2 years and he is fucking shocking though.

And I watch fucking shocking players on a regular basis so I'm very qualified to judge this.

Not saying he's great by any means but they're clearly getting something out of him. Kind of suggests Newcastle weren't getting the best out of him.
#323545 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Schmeichel, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs, Drinkwater, Ulloa, Vardy, Albrighton don't really seem like the work of a omnipotent scout.

Not to me either. It does look like a pretty obvious case of scout(s) identifying under-valued/under-appreciated players though.
#323483 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Pep wants shooting if he replaces Hart with ter Stegen. This is one of my biggest hates in modern football, judging a goalkeeper based on his passing rather than his ability as a goalkeeper.

I agree entirely, goalkeepers should know their place and stay rooted to the their line.
#323418 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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You do realise that the Leicester side that currently tops the table was built on that philosophy, right?

That stuff's only for the poncey, rich clubs. If you want to avoid relegation you need to rely on some bloke watching from the stand, every proper football man knows that.

I was about to reply a similar thing to him, but I don't know how true it is. There's no doubt they've done very well to identify good players playing in shit divisions and league and players looked over by bigger clubs but I don't know if theres anything at all to suggest they're using a moneybag or sabremetric like approach or just some very good, old fashioned scouting.

Not got any links to hand but if I remember rightly, Leicester are one of the more analytics focused clubs in the Premier League, fairly certain Mahrez and Kante were identified, at least in part, because of it too.

Also, Sabremetrics != analytics.
#323332 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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He pretty much is, all reports indicate that Pep does not fancy Hart at all.

Yeah, I can't see Hart getting sold but it'd be amazing if Pep stuck with him as number 1. He's so bad on the ball it's ridiculous, hardly fits with Pep.
#323199 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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The Telegraph are saying that we're trying to sign ter Stegen to replace Caballero/challenge Hart.
#321467 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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I know Man City fans say their academy is doing really well - surely one of them can't be any less of a disaster than Demichelis has so far been.

At least one. Tosin Adarabioyo played alongside him in the FA Cup against Chelsea. He was better then, I fail to see how he wouldn't be better now. I absolutely do not expect Pellegrini to make that change though, to say he plays favourites would be a massive understatement.

Guess bluemoon was right, they are shite.

A silver lining at least.

Man City really did look toothless. Quite odd for a team that's had so many tens of millions thrown at it.

The job Pellegrini's done on us has been incredible.

Knew City were poor but didn't realise they were that bad.

I've been trying to tell people for ages!

It's a bit of a strange one tbf. Might as well remove Pelligrini now in my opinion and just get one of the backroom staff who will be there when Pep comes in to look after the team until the season end. Txiki is Director of Football, surely he can step in?

Unfortunately the only person who really fits the bill there is Brian Kidd, and he's a bad manager in his own right.

Anyway, that went about as well as I expected. Though a little bit more slapstick than I thought and not as many goals either.

Pellegrini's a disgrace etc etc.
#320659 2015/16 Champions League
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Kompany and Otamendi both injured.

Thanks for trying to help us City, but you'll still thrash us on Sunday.

Really enjoying how much City and United fans are trying to out-do each other in the pessimism stakes at the moment
#320332 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Really? From what I've seen of City (admittedly not loads) you've been nowhere near as poor as us.

Don't get me wrong, you lot are still pretty shit but we've not won back to back in the league since October, and we have the second worst record in the league against the top half (might be against the top 8 teams, can't entirely remember).

Is Man City's problem more that they're central midfield isn't very good?

It's certainly a big factor. We only really have one good, reliable central midfielder.
#320333 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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#320316 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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I don't think you can completely discount the Pep rumours, certainly as an excuse for this season at any rate. Everyone in world football knew what was going to happen, even if the club somehow kept the players in the dark they'd have heard the rumours long before it was officially confirmed.

I'm not discounting them entirely, I'm sure they've had some effect within the club, but when the problems have been going for as long as this, it's absurd to claim it's has only happened since Pep was announced as some have.

But I think you're right, I think in that theres more to it than that but I think there's more to it than Pellegrini, too, and I'm not sure its something Pep's going to find easy to fix.

There just seems to be a culture at City of 'niceness', like the whole club is trying really hard to be almost nauseatingly, sickeningly sweet at all times. Its almost a bit Arsenal-like. Compare it to say the Man United teams of old, we weren't horrible for the sake of being horrible (although theres obviously high profile times when some players were), but we had players that could be right nasty cunts when they needed to be and would do virtually everything to win. If Keane needed to smash a few players to get the crowd and the players going, he'd smash a few players. I know 'hunger' and 'desire' are considered outmoded concepts these days, but I just don't see the same will to win in the City players as I see in good or even great 'winners'. Its not even necessarily a football thing, the two great cricket teams for example were a West Indies side packed to the rafters with bowlers who wanted to kill the person standing 22 yards away from them, and the Aussies were notoriously a bunch of right royal dick heads.

The closest you seem to have to a horrible cunt is Yaya, but him being a colossal bell whiff just seems to translate into him being a sulky and miserable bastard 99% of the time. The rest of them come off in the Juan Mata mould, lovely people, I'm sure, but more likely to apologise for a bad performance and write 'hugs' on their blog than do everything to win a game.

I don't agree 100% but you might be onto something. It does seem like City don't have the same capacity/willingness to dig deep and grind out wins over the last couple of years. For all the flaws, it was something we were very good at doing under Mancini, since Pellegrini came in we've found it harder and harder.

I'm less sure of the reason though, I'm doubtful that it's as simple as us not having enough bastards. It might help but we've not really had a wealth of bastards but we've generally done okay for players to give us that edge or step up when it was needed. De Jong, Kompany and Zabaleta were great for the more physical side whilst Dzeko, Aguero and Touré all had/have records of coming at big moments under pressure, even without a couple of those players and with a few years on the clock for the others, it's difficult to confidently blame any one factor.

I don't think it'll be that difficult to change for Pep to be honest I suspect finding the cause is more difficult than finding a solution and he doesn't have to worry as much about the cause. Given it looks like we're heading towards a major rebuild of the squad I suspect he'll get a large improvement through that alone. Get rid of Kolarov, Touré and a few of the passengers in combination with a slightly higher standard of management (being generous to Pellegrini here) and I think City will look a lot more imposing.

Anyway, whatever the answer, I'm fucking bricking it for the derby. I'd be absolutely amazed if we win.

It's almost as if city were completely average until they bought some players that couldn't give a fuck isn't it?

Completely average afterwards too, apparently.
#320167 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Its almost as if the end of his time at City has been completely undermined in someway.

You could claim that as the reason. You'd be an idiot, though. He was poor last season, he's taken it to a whole new level this season.

We haven't won back to back league matches since October, that's fuck all to do with Pep.

Be funny if Pep's first season was in the Europa League

I'd laugh.
#320150 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
bluemoon.
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Pellegrini should be sacked.
#318226 Capital One Cup 2015/16
bluemoon.
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Absolutely shite finishing from us. Should have had that wrapped up ages ago.

Was doing fuck all apart from being caught offside about a 1000 times.

Ref is a cunt, they've been doing shitty little fouls all game and only one of them got booked finally. Some questionable offside calls as well

Aye, and he didn't give you that blatant penalty you should have got either. Wait a minute...
#317025 The Great Managerial Merry-go-round guaranteed to entertain *not guaranteed
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I don't know, I think the risk/reward as you put it is pretty poor whatever he does. I think its pretty clear that he wants the Man United job, and is basically hoping to get it without actually having to do anything. Had LVG been a success, he probably would have got it, too.

I more or less agree, I just think taking it in the interim is the lesser of the two options.

I'm not sure he's got the appetite to take a job at another club, and honestly I think its probably the biggest reason why I'm opposed to him getting it. Rather than stick his balls on the line and say 'I'm a good enough manager to manage this club and I can prove it' or even 'I'm a good enough manager to manage Manchester United and I'm going to go to another job and prove it' he seems content to skulk around in the shadows undermining managers (if reports can be believed) and hoping that the club will be stupid enough to buy into the romantic notion that he's somehow the best fit. I can understand that thinking in terms of pragmatism, after all Neville was probably thought of in a better light as a manager than Giggs before he took the Valencia job, but I think that that sort of risk averse thinking is good enough.

Tbh, if and when he doesn't get the job, I can see him being let go. If he then drops down and attempts to prove himself then good on him, but I can see him jacking it in and taking a job as an ambassador or something.

Can't say I disagree with any of that to be honest.
#317024 FA Cup 2015/16
bluemoon.
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The kids are doing alright against Chelsea. Pretty encouraging first-half.

Well that escalated quickly... Not that fussed overall but frustrating to be left short by the senior players - Demichelis and Caballero, in particular - rather than the kids.

Looks like Pellegrini knows the competitions no longer matter for his job seeming its already gone, naming such a young side against Chelsea.

Less that than the fact we have about 13 fit players, and we have a Champions League tie on Wednesday and a cup final next weekend. The FA Cup's always going to be the last priority in that combination.
#317012 FA Cup 2015/16
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The kids are doing alright against Chelsea. Pretty encouraging first-half.

Can't remember the last time i was so impressed watching a teenager play football as was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch and will certainly go on to have a massive future. You could see he was always thinking of what he's gonna do with the ball before he's received it, is extremely skillful, never panics on the ball and always looks to play it forward. No idea why City let him go.

Apparently there were some attitude problems. Could be bullshit though.
#316976 The Great Managerial Merry-go-round guaranteed to entertain *not guaranteed
bluemoon.
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I don't know, I think he's got an awful lot to gain and virtually nothing to lose.

I'm almost certain we're not giving Giggs the job on a full time basis, if we were going to we would have done it, the shits hit the fan already and there's no point persisting with Van Gaal if we're going to promote him in the summer regardless, might as well have done it and given him a crack at remedying the current problems. The only possible scenario I can imagine he might be given it is if we're stage managing it a bit, think this season is fucked beyond repair and that nobody can fix it, and that appointing Giggs in the summer would get a better reaction. I don't think thats the case though, Giggs getting the job is going to piss a lot of people off. If the board think its the right decision its in spite of public sentiment.

I'm also not sure who else would give Giggs a managerial chance, and I'm not sure the clubs that currently would, wouldn't give him one if he had a bad 3-4 months in charge right now. We have a lot of problems, that go past just Van Gaal and whilst sacking him would galvanise the club its not going to get the 15 injured players back, and Giggs would be able to point to that if he doesn't improve us. And if he did? Well he'd be thought of a lot more highly than he currently is.

Theoretically, he has a lot to gain. Theoretically he could takeover this week and lead United to the title, that's not going to happen though.

Realistically, if he takes over the best he can really hope for is that he doesn't really do anything to harm his reputation - both at United and as a young coach. Given United's situation at the moment, it's going to be much easier for him to continue the form and have another disappointing spell. That's not going to do much for his reputation.

He's not in line to be given a massive job any time soon but he's still got a decent reputation, another dodgy spell as interim boss isn't going to do him any favours. Why would he want to risk his reputation for 3/4 months in the job? In terms of risk and reward, it's massively weighted towards the risk. It'd be worth it for a proper shot at it but for a few months there is nowhere near the same incentive, he may as well just bide his time and see what options he's got in a few months time.

It just feels a bit petty to me that he wouldn't help the club out in a situation because of his personal ambition.

Yeah, to an extent, but it's business. It's not like they'd be appointing him because he'd be the best option. They want a cheap and easy solution in the interim. They're looking after themselves, he's looking after himself. Seems reasonable to me.

As if to prove my point:

https://sortitoutsi.net/uploads/mirrored_images/BBRTAtr48WB6fVvjta4YUToAPcgOTAE7ywquh5jY.png

Unsurprisingly. The media would fucking love it mind.
#316822 The Great Managerial Merry-go-round guaranteed to entertain *not guaranteed
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Apparently the reason he hasn't been sacked yet (other than Ed's incompetence) is that Giggs doesn't want the boss as an interim again, he wants it full time or not at all. If that's the case he can fuck off for all I care, he's acting like he has a divine right to get the job.

To be fair, I think that's just him being sensible. He's not got much to gain by taking it on an interim basis again, and I can't imagine he's keen to be used just to calm things down until the summer. Sounds more like a "thank you, but no thank you" to me.
#316037 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Amazing that Blind turned out to be a better CB than Otamendi.

The difference in performance isn't massively surprising when you consider Blind is in his second season for United and plays in one of the most risk averse systems in the league, whereas Otamendi is in his first season in one of the most shambolic defences in the league, and has spent most of the season playing next to Eliaquim Mangala or Martin Demichelis. It's hardly a recipe for success.
#314664 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Age_of_consent_in_Europe.svg/500px-Age_of_consent_in_Europe.svg.png

Cyan is 14, light blue is 15.

That difference of year or two, decided arbitrarily by politicians, is clearly what separates the vicious, morally repugnant child predators from the good, unquestionable citizens.

If you're not careful this'll devolve into a nuanced debate on the ethics and morality of consent.

Let's all just stick to calling Adam Johnson a nonce, it's far easier.
#311553 Capital One Cup 2015/16
bluemoon.
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Well that was a weird match.
#305974 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
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Sounds like we're getting Isco.
#305938 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
bluemoon.
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Ridiculous last ten minutes, that.
#305933 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
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Same as usual from us.