Ha, ha. Are you saying Kenny Miller is finding it easy to score goals in the Champions League because hes based in Scotland? Thats more of a back handed compliment than the slag which I think you meant. If youre saying that playing in a pass and move team in the Scottish league has benefited his performances at the highest level then I totally agree. The style Celtic play with is thoroughly suited to this type of football and thats why Naka was able to stamp his class all over the game last night. As with Kenny I fear the likes of Naka might be lost in the kick and rush adopted by most teams down south too.
Think there like quite a proportion of nordies, they have massive chips on their shouders.
Again Tommy you canāt help but come out with the generalisation - be it Dubs, nordies, or even west Galwaymen you canāt help yourself but show your true colours. No chips on your shoulder of course - informed and reasonable comments. Smite.
Its not a chip on my shoulder. I just hate lazy, misinformed, inane ramblings. These guys are professionals paid to watch and analyse games and they come out with the same old stereotypes each time. It was blatantly obvious none of them had watched any videos of Celtic games. Fair enough RTE dont have the rights to Scottish football but if youre going to pass judgement on them before the game then at least go to the bother of watching them beforehand to back up your opinions. Anyone at all whos watched Celtic under Strachan will tell you they play a controlled, possession game with a high degree of patience. Then when theyve drawn the opposition out theyll increase the tempo with quick sharp passing and movement like for the opener last night.
The boys in the studio were flabbergasted as they expected direct, long ball, in your face, Jack Charlton style football. They had the decency to admit they got it horribly wrong but before the next Celtic game theyll probably give us the same sound bites about being gung ho etc again. It actually amazes me.
I wasnāt referring to all Celtic fans, I was referring to the main 2 Celtic contributors to this site.
Nordie comments was a generalisation but when your listening to the likes of Ian Paisley and Jeffrey Donaldson day on day itās hard not to generalise.
Re the dubs, presume your referring to the Dubs Mayo thread a few months ago. Donāt remember generalising there.
West Galwaymen? I do remember a conversation a few years back however I donāt think there was a generalisation.
I agree with pretty much all that. Possibly because we spoke at length before, during and after the game - you could say we reached a consensus or common ground.
It was achieved without 4 first XI players too - Wilson, McGeady, Gravesen and Vinegar. It must be really rewarding for Strachan to see the improvement and development of the team under his guidance. He appears to be an excellent coach as signified by the improvement in Mick and Maloney last season and now Aiden, Caldwell et al this season.
Itās also been incredibly rewarding for supporters too after the A******* and C**** debacles last season. The style and verve theyāre playing with is fooking excellent too, itās not as if theyāre grinding out results or what have you.
A special mention to Naylor, what a revelation, to Naka who gave one of the best creative ball playing displays Iāve ever seen and the hun slayer King Kenny Miller. Fooking great stuff Celtic.
Big Evander looks like he going to try ride King Kenny here:
Just a thought on the Chelsea - Barca game. I think Chelsea pretty much dominated the game and never looked in danger with the exception of maybe one or two movements form Barca. Big debate beginning to boil over in work here. What are everybodys thoughts on the game?
Chelsea were excellent last night. Essien is a real player and was superb. Drogba is on fire at the moment. I think Barca have serious problems. Ronaldinho is not interested anymore. Puyol is one of the most overrated defenders around. Gudjohnsen is not good enough to lead the attack.
The Liverpool Bordeaux game was terrible. I donāt know what has happened to us this season. I thought Hyypia was excellent last night though (cue rant from Flano).
A fellow Liverpool fan asked me an interesting question recently:
āIs Alonso really any good?ā
Thoughts?
I saw about half an hour of the Chelsea game and none of the Liverppol game. Barca do have massive problems without Etoāo though. Gudjohnsen wasnāt doing much but it was a strange decision to take him off because it left them with nobody in the box.
Agree with you largely on Puyol - he does all the high profile stuff but he makes spectacular interventions but heās not brilliant at the nuts and bolts. Think Terry is more overrated though - heās crap when playing against anyone with movement.
I think Chelsea would struggle more to contain Barca on a bigger pitch. The whole game was very narrow last night so Chelsea could afford to pick strong midfielders at the expense of wingers.
I think Alonso is very good but Liverpool havenāt settled on a balanced midfield yet (cue Bandage blaming Gerrardās presence).
I only watched the first half of the Chelsea-Barcelona game. I found it incredibly tedious and banal but I looked in at the end to find the 3 boys on RTE saying how impressive they were. It had me puzzled. Giles talks some scheidt though, really he does. He said you can count Barca out for the whole tournament because even though the final isnt for months teams cant just switch it on and off. Apparently he thought their work ethic wasnt what it ought to be. Then Brady comes in with irrefutable facts and he still wont admit hes wrong. Chippy said it would be folly to rule Barca out based on a performance in October. He cited Liverpool winning it after scraping through the group stages and Arsenal turning their season around after beating Real Madrid last March and still the old fook wouldnt accept he made a lazy generalisation. Then Dunphy comes in and agrees with Giles. Brady looked well pissed off but then again, he always does.
Iām not sure about Alonso. He had an excellent first season, was poor last year when Liverpool were doing well, and has been shocking so far this season. He needs a hacker beside him. The truly great midfielders carry their partner. I think at times Sissoko carries him.
I cannot share the view re Terry. I think that he is an excellent defender - good in the air, good on the ground, brave, tough and a great leader. I seem to remember you including Puyol in a list of the best defenders in the world at one stage so Iāll reserve judgment on your credibility re quality defenders!
I have to stand up for Giles here. He never said that you can rule Barcelona out. What he said was that the signs with Barcelona are very bad. (True I am sure you all agree). He then said that it will not be easy to turn that around. Brady naively was suggesting that Barcelona will be alright once they get to the group stages eventhough he has no evidence to back that up. He cited Liverpool (at least they were trying in the group stages in 2005) and Arsenal amazingly (did they not win all their group matches last year?).
Brady is the real villain in the bunch - not Giles
Your last comment is the height of irony considering your opening paragraph farmer. From the old board:
I picked Puyol last year in my best current world XI as a right back and I stated āIām not 100% convinced by Puyolā¦ā but I was struggling for another right full. Clarkeycat picked Finnan!
Anyway you picked Xabi Alonso in central midfield, said he is ābetter than Pirlo,ā and said āAlonso, Gerrard and Sissoko is the best midfield in the worldā
[url=http://thefreekick.proboards102.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1150452563&page=1]thread from the old board
So who is being inconsistent now Farmer?
Waffle about Alonso. Heās not been top class this season but Liverpool have been anything but top class in general. Heās a wonderful player and I donāt really think I need to outline his qualities here, we all know what he does. Donāt really understand your point about truly great midfielders carrying their partners - might I suggest positing some sufficient, appropriate audit evidence. Sissoko is class but to suggest he carries Alonso is daft imo.
Terry is a great defender imo, and quite a deal better than Carragher but I do take the point that rock67 made before that he goes for balls in the air that heās not really entitled to and this has created scoring chances for the opposition in the past. Twas most noticeable in the WC.
I didnāt pick Finnan at right back but it was me, not Farmer, who made the assertion about those three being the best midfield three in the world. I stand by it. Incredibly embarrassed that I picked Robben though. Shame on me.
Sorry it was indeed - I always seem to forget you Clarkey http://www.thefreekick.com/board/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif
Anyway Farmer did claim that Alonso is the closest thing to Roy Keane at his peak! I like Alonso by the way, just pointing out that Farmer changes his mind too.
I am not exactly sure what is going on here.
I can clearly remember an email (days pre freekick) where we had to pick our five top defenders and Rock picked Puyol.
Can I clarify my position re Alonso? It is only recently that I have found myself questioning him considering Liverpoolās start to the season. There is no doubt that he is a very good midfielder but is he a great? For me a great midfielder rules the midfield whoever his partner is. Alonso will rule the midfield if he has Sissoko beside him. He canāt play with Gerrard. Roy Keane ruled the midfield with whatever partner he had. He even made Matt Holland look good. I am aware I am judging Alonso by the very highest standards but that is what I was trying to get at with the original question.
So to rephrase: Is Alonso really that good?
On an interesting aside Bandage quite rightly says that Liverpool have to accomodate Gerrard - an opinion he shares with one John Giles!