Hibee - Comments

#561601 2020/21 Premier League
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
It was an interesting battle, Leeds have been a breath of fresh air and I really hope they stay up, the fact they survived a Championship season under Bielsa stands them in good stead, normally he has broken the team physically and mentally (training under fatigue) by March/April! I'm really looking forward to when he comes up against one of his coaching disciples, just to see what the old master comes up with and how the student attempts to counter.

I've mixed feelings about Bielsa's aborted term at Lazio, on one hand it would have been amazing to have a world class manager at the helm, on the other, the players he asked for (the reason things fell apart, Lazio said they'd talked to all of the players, turned out they didn't!) were mediocre at best and Igle Tare, on a slim budget, has brought in an amazing amount of players who've either developed or rebounded at Lazio and became far better than they were.

Like most football fans I love Bielsa and it would be amazing to see him tear up the Premier League with Leeds, history isn't in his favor, hopefully it's wrong this time.
#264646 Remember when...
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588


Ha ha, from one old timer to an even older one, welcome back lad!
#243513 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Still living in the fast lane I see Franck...

For what it's worth darjeeling makes a nice home made iced tea and chai is easy to make yourself as well.
#199419 Scottish Independence and shit
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Should have used more 'Yes' stickers as well...

I was at the count last night and was pretty surprised by how big the gap was in some of our areas as well as the country as a whole. I think Dundee was about the only place where Yes won comfortably, they scraped Glasgow but only by 30k or so votes and that was cancelled out by the Borders where Yes won by a similar number of votes despite it only having 80k or so papers.
#192948 Transfer Rumours 2014/15
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Not wishing to kick United fans when their down but Vidal's agent's in Milan at the moment (met with Inter to discuss something to do with Medal's move/contract) and confirmed there's been no contact from United since the World Cup.
#182595 Transfer Rumours 2014/15
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
As Sport Witness say, the club couldn't really say Vidal is available to buy on the same day as announcing a new manager who the fans are pissed off about being appointed. Conflicting reports still, English press seem to think it's not happening whereas most others think it will.

And as Ninja said, to say there has been no contact at all is clearly incorrect.


The true situation seems to be United made contact, Juve said something along the lines of he wasn't for sale or he's not available for less than €50m and that was pretty much it.
#182593 Transfer Rumours 2014/15
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Did he have anything to do with transfers? I though Berlusconi and Galliani would be responsible for the vast majority of transfers.


He had some input but it waa those two that had final say. It was also Allegri's choice to push Pirlo to the left of the midfield to make room for a defensive player in the centre and try to convert an average midfielder like Constant into a terrible fullback, then keep playing him...
#182540 Transfer Rumours 2014/15
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Why does no one rate Allegri? - Seems like he was doing well and Milan completely disintegrated around him


EDIT - Astori linked to Sunderland. Extremely unlikely?


Doubt he'll go there, we're meant to be close to agreeing terms with him and Inter had a look a few weeks back, he's even being linked with Juve but that just seems lazy reporting based on little more than Allegri trained him at Cagliari and was linked with him during his time at Milan.

Speaking of Allegri he's not highly rated because he's an average tactician and horrific man manager, give him a decent team with the dressing room leaders on side like 2010/11 Milan and he'll do fine but when things start getting tough he struggles. Other reasons are that for such an attacking coach at Cagliari his Milan sides were very defensive, his subborn insistance with sticking to a 4312 when Milan were built for a 433 was strange to say the least, then there's replacing Pirlo with MvB, Kevin Constant as a fullback...
#182229 Transfer Rumours 2014/15
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
I doubt it, the reason seems to be the players coming in. The pressure was on Conte to make a real impression on the Champions League in 2014/15 and he wanted Sanchez and/or Cuadrado, instead their going after Iturbe.

Now Conte has gone I really doubt we'll see Vidal or Pogba leaving Juve, the board wouldn't have the balls to sell them after losing Conte.
#173635 Group D - Costa Rica, England, Italy, Uruguay
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
That being said, Italy were pretty poor tonight, so many silly little mistakes that could have got them into trouble, credit to the likes of Darmin and Candreva who stepped up to the plate when others didn't.
#173631 Group D - Costa Rica, England, Italy, Uruguay
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Rooney was sh*te tonight, hopefully Woy has the stones to bench him for a player that'll work for the team.
#173629 Group D - Costa Rica, England, Italy, Uruguay
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Ha ha ha ha! After all the ITV & BBC nonsense I'm so glad Italy beat England, the Azzuri have been my 2nd team for 15 years but the constant nonsense about England instead of the teams playing at the time really turns you against them.

Nice to see Candreva finally deliver at international level, he's been great for Lazio this season but I have to admit I was sceptical he'd cut it at the top level.
#171969 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
That's the one, there's a bomb on the beach and because they set it off the second act is set in 'The Millennium Dome - only fuller'.
#171966 The Italian Football Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
I feel really sorry for him, seems he managed to upset pretty much all of the movers and shakers at Milanello and a few of the Italians in the squad weren't happy with his management style either. It was a hell of a job inheriting the shambles of a squad Allegri left.

A lot of the blame has to lie with Galliani though, the squad's a mess and the potential signings of Alex and Menez show their still looking to either revive older guys or give trouble makers a second chance. The stuff about them thinking of selling Cristante to fund a move for Rami says it all really. Inzaghi's always been a personal favourite of Berlusconi so he might be given a bit more time.


Slightly better news of the Lazio transfer front, a €15m deal for Dusan Basta and the other 50% of Candreva is almost done and we're meant to be in negotiations for the like of Parolo, Astori, Paletta and Feyenoord's De Vrij. The only cloud is Allegri being among the names being linked with our managerial position, the others are Donadoni, our youth coach Simone Inzaghi and Reja himself.
#171949 What's the last thing you bought thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
A mate of mine got a good deal on a few bottles of 20 year old Tullibardine whisky so got my old man one for Father's Day - really keen to have a try of it myself.
#171940 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
RIP Rik

Loved Bottom, The Young Ones & Filthy Rich & Catflap when I was growing up, saw them live as well, think it was their 3rd show - the first on the desert island.
#167402 The Italian Football Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Aye, there's been a lot of stuff floating around about de Vrij, him and Astori are our main targets for strengthening the center of the defense.

There's been some nonsense about Man Utd and Radu but I've not seen anything about Newcastle, Milan are sniffing around Santon so I suppose it makes sense for you guys to be looking for a fullback. Seeing as Stefan's injured half the time and a card magnet when he's actually playing I'd happily see the back of him for €10m.
#167333 Scottish Football Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
We actually won a game...

Have to admire Butcher's honesty when he said the players didn't really know what to do with themselves afterwards.
#167332 Lennon Leaves Celtic
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Pretty sure Paddy Fenlon's still out of work...
#166148 Parma have 303 Players in FM2014 - How realistic are the Italian leagues in Football Manager?
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Aye, it's pretty accurate, take a look at Serie A's 2013/14 transfers page on Transfermarkt, there's a mountain of loaned players moving back and fourth every summer, not to mention the plethora of co-ownerships that have to be renewed etc every season or so.

Parma have been astonishingly busy though, even by Italian standards, I thought Genoa were bad when they has something in the region of 90 loans and co-ownerships to resolve in the summer.

Dunno about you guys but I always turn off transfer budgets in the first window, so it's usually the second summer window when I can have a proper clear out when managing an Italian club, at least by then you've had a year with your squad and seen how your players away on loan have got on - there's usually a few worth keeping and offering out on co-ownership.
#165874 World Cup 2014 Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Two or three unfamiliar names in defence, where they'll probably be suspect, but some excellent options going forward. Di Santo though haha, I mean he put a decent shift in most games when he was here but I thought you needed more than that to be picked for Argentina's squad!


Any defense with Federico Fernandez in it is suspect by default... Shame Gino Peruzzi didn't make it, he's been good whenever I've seen him with Catania, even got a goal against us in Sicily.
#165873 World Cup 2014 Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Why would they take Di Santo when they have Agüero, Messi, Higuaín, Lavezzi & Palacio? Also no Tevez and Pastore? At this rate we could build a squad capable of winning the world cup just from players that aren't going!


It's just the provisional squad list, no idea why he's been named but you can bet your house he won't be going. As for Tevez he's a casualty of Argentina finally finding a system that gets the best out of their attacking triumverate of Messi, Higauin & Lavezzi, he just doesn't seem to fit whereas Lavezzi and Palacio do.
#164323 Transfer Rumours 2013/14
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588


Deserved I'm afraid.

The Immobile/Dortmund stories have been going around for weeks but in the last day or so a delegation's meant to have arrived in Italy to start negotiations. The only sticking point is he's co-owned by Juve and Torino, given the season he's had I can't see either being that happy with €10m/€11m for their share.

Edit: Sky Italia reporting he's agreed a 5 year deal with Dortmund, they just have to agree terms with Juve/Torino now, pressure on the Italians if he has agreed terms.

Oh aye, Mino Raiola confirmed that he's meeting with Juve to finally sort Pogba's contract extension, typically Football Italia posted some recycled horsesh*t linking him to Man Utd & Chelsea around an hour before Raiola's announcement...
#163303 Transfer Rumours 2013/14
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
5million euros is a stupidly small transfer fee considering he's on a 5-year deal, but I suppose no-one else is willing to pay his wages. I would actually be disappointed as I like Nani, and think he would suit a Van Gaal 4-4-3 quite well.


I wouldn't worry, the only source is Tuttosport and they aren't very reliable, plus they've brought up the Nani deal 3 or 4 times over the last year, usually when there isn't much to report...

After watching him against Lazio tonight Juve could do a damn sight worse than Juan Iturbe (like Nani), safe to say somebody at Porto's been fired for only giving him a €15m release clause.
#162172 Europa League 2013/2014
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Glad Benfica got through, Juve have been terrible in Europe this season, so slow and predictable.
#161860 Italian Catenaccio 1982
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
I've had a go at Catenaccio and specifically the formation and tactic employed by Herrera's Grande Inter on various versions of the game. If I remember correctly my last one was on FM13, I'm on my phone so I'm afraid I'll have to try and describe the tactic:

So, you've got your libero at the back, a classic stopper/cover CB pairing and an attacking leftback in the Facchetti role completing the defensive line. Next, in the DM band is your ball winning midfielder. The midfield band has a right sided midfielder with an automatic mentality, this is a crucial position and represents Jair/Domenghini linking defense and attack. Inside him you've got your deep lying playmaker just infront of the ball winner. Depending on the player/average position on the heatmap you may want 'Jair' as a fullback in the DM band - he should be getting forward and linking with your DL forward as well as tracking back.
This is where it gets difficult, you need a Corso type sitting inside Facchetti in the left of the AM band, you've also got a second/withdrawn striker to the right of your main forward. I think I switched between a lone forward and a pair with the deep lying one set to 'support'.

I do remember this taking a while to get right, the wings were a constant issue and I'm sure I had to bring my ball winner and deep lying playmaker into the same band more than once.

Edit: I also tweaked one of my CB's in the editor so he was comfortable playing as a libero, no point trying the tactic if you've nobody for one of the key roles!
#161488 The Italian Football Thread
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Inter have finally confirmed that Javier Zanetti's retiring at the end of the season, seems he'll stay on as a director. It's probably for the best, he's not looked the same player since coming back from injury earlier in the season.
#160868 Tactical Approach: Single vs Multiple?
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
It depends on what team I'm managing, lower league teams I stick to one formation and adjust it to suit the next game. Managing bigger sides with world class teams in the league and a variety of formations in Europe to contend with I often go with two quite different formations and a third which is a slight variation on one of the former e.g using a 4141 or 3511 most of the time but also having a 41221 available.
#160172 Rob...
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
When Rob says 'dancing' he doesn't mean dancing...
#159388 Inter U19 playing Copa Libertadores Sub-20? What the ...
Hibee
17 years ago
3 years ago
588
Co-ownership deals are great for developing players who'll probably not make your first team but should go on to have a decent career elsewhere. For great talents I tend to stick to loans rather than having to shell out a fortune to get the other 50% of my player back.

As for Inter's primavera being entered in the Copa Libertadores Sub-20, well, their practically a South American team anyway, surprised Catania and their motley crew of second rate Argies aren't there as well...