Interesting article from Neville

[Dubciteh]

Not sure if posted elsewhere but this is interesting:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... ville.html

I think he may have a good point but i think it might be too late to save this season.

[Im_Spartacus]

Not sure if posted elsewhere but this is interesting:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... ville.html

I think he may have a good point but i think it might be too late to save this season.

This is pretty much what I've been saying now for a very long time. It really doesn't matter what system you want to play, or even what system you want to call it, the problem is the compatibility of the superstars in the side! You simply can't fit them all in!

Aguero is an odd one, he's quick, he's a decent finisher yet since his very first game against Swansea 4 seasons ago, I don't remember him picking up the ball and driving at a defence often enough, and having many shots outside the area. He is to a large extent a slave to the way we play, and is expected to live of half chances in crowded penalty areas where he has to kick the ball through a jungle of legs or use his pace to nip in ahead of a defender. It's a criminal waste of talent.

Silva on the other hand, I don't really want to pick up on him for the incident mentioned on here and by neville about him spitting his dummy out and sitting on his arse, and if we've picked up on it, I would expect the manager to have done so also. But regardless where you play him across the midfield, he is always going to unbalance the team. In the middle, and he needs a caretaker behind him. On the left or the right, and he doesn't provide the cover we need for our attacking fullbacks. The only position Silva can realistically play in our team, is playing off the main striker. Does he shoot enough for that job, well perhaps not, but he did ok in December, so proved he can do it. It's again criminal that neither Mancini nor Pellegrini have recognised this is where he most likely should be playing.

With those two sorted, then Toure becomes a little less of an issue with the likes of Fernandinho being more inclined to sit deep, with Milner and Navas able to put a shift in on the flanks and protect the fullbacks.

That leaves Nasri as the odd man out to a large extent, although he is perfectly able to be rotated between Toure's role and Silva's, playing him in the central role he wants, and excelled in at Arsenal.

But it all revolves around moving Silva out of that midfield, pushing him up the pitch and getting the ball to him early and let him load the bullets for Aguero with clever passes in behind the defenders and use Aguero for what his talents are made for.

[iwasthere2012]

Not sure if posted elsewhere but this is interesting:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... ville.html

I think he may have a good point but i think it might be too late to save this season.

This is pretty much what I've been saying now for a very long time. It really doesn't matter what system you want to play, or even what system you want to call it, the problem is the compatibility of the superstars in the side! You simply can't fit them all in!

Aguero is an odd one, he's quick, he's a decent finisher yet since his very first game against Swansea 4 seasons ago, I don't remember him picking up the ball and driving at a defence often enough, and having many shots outside the area. He is to a large extent a slave to the way we play, and is expected to live of half chances in crowded penalty areas where he has to kick the ball through a jungle of legs or use his pace to nip in ahead of a defender. It's a criminal waste of talent.

Silva on the other hand, I don't really want to pick up on him for the incident mentioned on here and by neville about him spitting his dummy out and sitting on his arse, and if we've picked up on it, I would expect the manager to have done so also. But regardless where you play him across the midfield, he is always going to unbalance the team. In the middle, and he needs a caretaker behind him. On the left or the right, and he doesn't provide the cover we need for our attacking fullbacks. The only position Silva can realistically play in our team, is playing off the main striker. Does he shoot enough for that job, well perhaps not, but he did ok in December, so proved he can do it. It's again criminal that neither Mancini nor Pellegrini have recognised this is where he most likely should be playing.

With those two sorted, then Toure becomes a little less of an issue with the likes of Fernandinho being more inclined to sit deep, with Milner and Navas able to put a shift in on the flanks and protect the fullbacks.

That leaves Nasri as the odd man out to a large extent, although he is perfectly able to be rotated between Toure's role and Silva's, playing him in the central role he wants, and excelled in at Arsenal.

But it all revolves around moving Silva out of that midfield, pushing him up the pitch and getting the ball to him early and let him load the bullets for Aguero with clever passes in behind the defenders and use Aguero for what his talents are made for.

Sparticus, you've basically just picked the team I think we should play against Barca, and swap Yaya for Fernando in th efirst game and that is what I would have hoped for. I like the Nasri/Yaya/Silva combos but in reality Nasri really needs to be sacrificed in this kind of game. Navas and Milner will do a lot more of the hard graft.

[Burt]

Why listen to that bitter rag twat when he admitted in the article that he got it wrong and Mancini was correct a couple of years ago.

He's a horrible, bitter, devilworshipping rag cunt and I say "FUCK HIM!"

[Scatman]

Why listen to that bitter rag twat when he admitted in the article that he got it wrong and Mancini was correct a couple of years ago.

He's a horrible, bitter, devilworshipping rag cunt and I say "FUCK HIM!"

Good to see a bit of balance on here

[Ted Hughes]

Hehe.

I've posted it as well, so the Devil worshiping rag cunt has been on here twice!

I think Silva wants to play off a striker & doesn't particularly relish the job of playing elsewhere & semi sulked about it the other night when he got there only to be taken off.

Ask him if he wants to play there next season. If he does, play him there. If it turns out someone else does it better & scores more goals; drop him.

Sign someone who wants to play where Silva usually plays, or try some kids there.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

We manged it quite well with Nasri, silva, Aguero and tevez a couple of years back.


The difference this season is simply goals. Yes our defender have dropped howlers, but our goals conceded isn't massively worse than previous seasons. Our scoring has dropped off and our threat isn't there. We could play all our def mids, but if we don't score it don't matter. The threat isn't there and teams aren't scared. Time to sharpen up, batter someone and make teams sweat again.

[iwasthere2012]

Why listen to that bitter rag twat when he admitted in the article that he got it wrong and Mancini was correct a couple of years ago.

He's a horrible, bitter, devilworshipping rag cunt and I say "FUCK HIM!"

Good to see a bit of balance on here

On the other hand, he admitted he was wrong which a lot on here wouldn't dream of doing.

He's still a Rag twat though, you'r right about that.

[Im_Spartacus]

We manged it quite well with Nasri, silva, Aguero and tevez a couple of years back.


The difference this season is simply goals. Yes our defender have dropped howlers, but our goals conceded isn't massively worse than previous seasons. Our scoring has dropped off and our threat isn't there. We could play all our def mids, but if we don't score it don't matter. The threat isn't there and teams aren't scared. Time to sharpen up, batter someone and make teams sweat again.

It's not an issue about whether it worked a few seasons ago or not. In my personal opinion we massively under performed the year we won the title the first time. That team, before Mancini shit his pants and started playing like cunts between December and March, should have wiped the floor with the league that year, yet we started playing like cunts and scraped over the line.

The problem has ALWAYS been that the players we had didn't fit, and for me the answer has always been related to how we fit silva into the team. On any given day, with silva, Toure and nasri in midfield and aguero up front, we could win most games in the league through sheer talent unpicking the lock and end up 1st or 2nd, yet in Europe, we constantly get overrun by teams playing with a bit of nous. As we've seen this season, we continue to struggle against hard working teams in the league as we don't offer the same energy levels off the ball.

Just because we won the league doesn't mean that there isn't room to improve. our performances is Europe proves that beyond any doubt

[Beefymcfc]

I've not read the article but what I find interesting is all those agreeing with his assessment, like his assessment last year and probably the years before that. Did he predict us pipping the Rags to 1st, I think not. And what about last season, coming back to beat the mighty Liverpool & Chelsea, did he predict that?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and even though I do think RatBoy gives a good assessment of the game, he is prone to spouting some absolute drivel at times, just like the rest of us.

And good to see that there is plenty of back slapping for all those predicting the correct team and shape, letting us know how to play football manager. If only we could get these messages to Pellers, or Mancini preceding him, we'd have swept all before us and won the the fucking World Club Cup.

[Im_Spartacus]

I've not read the article but what I find interesting is all those agreeing with his assessment, like his assessment last year and probably the years before that. Did he predict us pipping the Rags to 1st, I think not. And what about last season, coming back to beat the mighty Liverpool & Chelsea, did he predict that?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and even though I do think RatBoy gives a good assessment of the game, he is prone to spouting some absolute drivel at times, just like the rest of us.

And good to see that there is plenty of back slapping for all those predicting the correct team and shape, letting us know how to play football manager. If only we could get these messages to Pellers, or Mancini preceding him, we'd have swept all before us and won the the fucking World Club Cup.

Lads, shut the fucking board down, beefy has declared that there's no point discussing anything, because the manager is always right.

What he says isn't particularly insightful in fact to me it's stating the bleeding obvious, but most pundits and fans are going round in circles talking about the problem with our formations and what should or shouldn't be done, without questioning whether the very simple answer is that the players we have simply arent particularly effective against pressing sides, particularly in Europe when deployed together as they historically have been.

Moving silva up behind the striker where he doesnt need babysitting solves the problem of having several players in a midfield who either don't or can't be arsed getting involved in the defensive side of the game. That he also happens to be one of he top 3 or 4 playmakers in the world is obviously a bonus!

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Why listen to that bitter rag twat when he admitted in the article that he got it wrong and Mancini was correct a couple of years ago.

He's a horrible, bitter, devilworshipping rag cunt and I say "FUCK HIM!"

Spot on chum.

Any grievous spawn of Neville Neville is, by definition, a hideous misrepresentation of a human being.

He's only fit to rot in the nearest drainpipe.

[DoomMerchant]

Why listen to that bitter rag twat when he admitted in the article that he got it wrong and Mancini was correct a couple of years ago.

He's a horrible, bitter, devilworshipping rag cunt and I say "FUCK HIM!"

Spot on chum.

Any grievous spawn of Neville Neville is, by definition, a hideous misrepresentation of a human being.

He's only fit to rot in the nearest drainpipe.

Sounds to me like Burt has been sniffing around on Rag Cafe again and he feels guilty for getting his dick wet, AGAIN, and is offering us flowers and chocolates.

It won't work this time.

cheers

[Beefymcfc]

I've not read the article but what I find interesting is all those agreeing with his assessment, like his assessment last year and probably the years before that. Did he predict us pipping the Rags to 1st, I think not. And what about last season, coming back to beat the mighty Liverpool & Chelsea, did he predict that?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and even though I do think RatBoy gives a good assessment of the game, he is prone to spouting some absolute drivel at times, just like the rest of us.

And good to see that there is plenty of back slapping for all those predicting the correct team and shape, letting us know how to play football manager. If only we could get these messages to Pellers, or Mancini preceding him, we'd have swept all before us and won the the fucking World Club Cup.

Lads, shut the fucking board down, beefy has declared that there's no point discussing anything, because the manager is always right.

What he says isn't particularly insightful in fact to me it's stating the bleeding obvious, but most pundits and fans are going round in circles talking about the problem with our formations and what should or shouldn't be done, without questioning whether the very simple answer is that the players we have simply arent particularly effective against pressing sides, particularly in Europe when deployed together as they historically have been.

Moving silva up behind the striker where he doesnt need babysitting solves the problem of having several players in a midfield who either don't or can't be arsed getting involved in the defensive side of the game. That he also happens to be one of he top 3 or 4 playmakers in the world is obviously a bonus!

Bloody hell, check you out. I've said my peace in another thread and for me it's about square pegs/round holes. My main contention with the talk about formations and tactics is that is always an assumption that you are right. The chances are that you could actually be wrong in your thoughts and we wouldn't have won the PL, twice, or any of the cups. Playing Silva here or there makes no difference in theory, as in the minds eye it must always work whereas on the pitch, in real time, all the thoughts go out of the window.

RatBoy telling us all how we should play the game is nice, as we now know that we should win every game, just like with everybody else's thoughts on the matter - we shouldn't lose. But we all know it doesn't work like that, football really is a funny old game.

I think we'll just have to accept that we're now at a cross-point where we have an ageing team that needs sprucing up. The team over the last few years have done exceptionally well, domestically, and I think if we hadn't come up against Barca we may have well progressed further in the league. We now have to mature to push further on and feel comfortable in our own clothes, and that means setting your stall to play to your strengths as well as negating the oppositions. But does our style of play allow that?

As mentioned in another thread, we are trying to create a style of play that gives us a brand, something to buy into, one that makes us exciting to watch, but you need the players to play that brand and I'm afraid we don't quite have them at the moment.

Like I say, talk all you want about tactics but in reality we don't use them. We play a certain style and it will take the board a lot of hard work to ensure it is successful.

[failsworthblue]

Neville is a Rag C*nt and always will be.

David Silva and Sergio are up there with the finest if not the best players the Prem has ever seen.

[Saul Goodman]

We manged it quite well with Nasri, silva, Aguero and tevez a couple of years back.


The difference this season is simply goals. Yes our defender have dropped howlers, but our goals conceded isn't massively worse than previous seasons. Our scoring has dropped off and our threat isn't there. We could play all our def mids, but if we don't score it don't matter. The threat isn't there and teams aren't scared. Time to sharpen up, batter someone and make teams sweat again.

And that Tevez, as forward, put in more of a shift than basically everyone in our squad in every match (that he was on the politch) then and now...except maybe Milner.

[Saul Goodman]

David Silva and Sergio are up there with the finest if not the best players the Prem has ever seen.

While i wholeheartedly agree that theyre fantastic players that doesnt necessarily mean that they should play all the time. There are other factors, mainly the age and playing style of the other players in the starting 11. You dont necessarily win the league by having the best 11 at every position. Team chemistry on the pitch is vital, and thats what Neville is speaking to. Immediately disregarding what Neville has said simply because of who he played for years ago is naive and ignorant. Im not saying hes right but dont just immedialtey shut down the idea because of who spawned it; if this was an Anonymous article i bet many on here wouldnt dismiss it as quickly

[Ted Hughes]

Neville may be a twisted bitter rat faced cunt, but some of his observations have merit imo.

Everybody who wins stuff has somehing you can learn from. And that goes for every sport. You don't have to agree with it all & take it all as being gospel, but a few paragraphs of Neville's comments imo, when delivered honestly & without agenda, are worth six months of Macmanamanam, Merson and most of the other cunts who are just tgoing through the motions.

I think one should learn from ones enemies, but never trust them.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Neville may be a twisted bitter rat faced cunt, but some of his observations have merit imo.

Everybody who wins stuff has somehing you can learn from. And that goes for every sport. You don't have to agree with it all & take it all as being gospel, but a few paragraphs of Neville's comments imo, when delivered honestly & without agenda, are worth six months of Macmanamanam, Merson and most of the other cunts who are just tgoing through the motions.

I think one should learn from ones enemies, but never trust them.

I accept what you're saying but I'd like to disagree slightly with your contention.

I wouldn't have wanted to learn anything from World Chess Champions such as Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov or even Vasily Smyslov for that matter, given their particular (pedantically boring) styles of play.

Mikhail Tal, however, was a totally different kettle of fish and, by that tenuous comparison, I can't accept anything that NevilleScum (with his abominable background) spouts as being either valid or meaningful.

Apologies, but just my opinion.

[iwasthere2012]

Neville may be a twisted bitter rat faced cunt, but some of his observations have merit imo.

Everybody who wins stuff has somehing you can learn from. And that goes for every sport. You don't have to agree with it all & take it all as being gospel, but a few paragraphs of Neville's comments imo, when delivered honestly & without agenda, are worth six months of Macmanamanam, Merson and most of the other cunts who are just tgoing through the motions.

I think one should learn from ones enemies, but never trust them.

I accept what you're saying but I'd like to disagree slightly with your contention.

I wouldn't have wanted to learn anything from World Chess Champions such as Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov or even Vasily Smyslov for that matter, given their particular (pedantically boring) styles of play.

Mikhail Tal, however, was a totally different kettle of fish and, by that tenuous comparison, I can't accept anything that NevilleScum (with his abominable background) spouts as being either valid or meaningful.

Apologies, but just my opinion.

Well why didn't you just say that in the first place Mikhail. When you explain it like that it's clear for all to see.
He's a rag twat, nothing to see here. Move on.