Brainy

1 hour ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

 

Thing is, we know that so many of the decisions in football are subjective, so I don't know why VAR should equal = perfection. 

 

We should expect that VAR increases accuracy of 'key decisions' which is has done, but it can't ever achieve 'perfection' 

Don't disagree however there have definitely been some errors from VAR which haven't been subjective

Mistakes on VAR is pretty unforgivable. Though each incident is unique and they can't necessarily be trained beforehand in how to deal with it. Everything else I'm with him though. The referee usually (probably, dunno) makes the least amount of mistakes on the pitch of all 23 people out there, will be the lowest paid yet also are the easy go-to excuse for managers and fans alike when the result goes against them. 

It is hard to please though 

We should stop paying huge fees for players. Woyo "remember him" Coulibaly

We should stop buying players that "know England/PL”. Julian "81mins, I've seen enough" Carranza

We should stop looking for managers that know England/PL. Marti "look at his track record, it's shite" Cifuentes. 

Ultimately just needs someone to do a good job no matter what their fee/background etc

34 minutes ago, murphy said:

The reason I feel strongly about this is because of the unique predicament we were in.  Going into a new season with only one recognised striker and that striker having stunk the place out for four years.  I'd call that a crisis and yet we have done next to nothing to put that right despite having had months and months to plan for it.  

 

 

 

 

So you're giving him 81mins across 3 or 4 sub appearances because of the boards incompetence?

From Oscar's onboard you can understand why it would have irked him. Would like to think after the race he'd probably have understood it a bit more. 

Imagine the conspiracy theories had Oscar's engine given up in Zandvoort. 

Monza was a unique situation. Both McLaren's had waited til near the end of the race for a SC which never came. By this point it's fair to say that the race is over between them, not exactly called off but because there was a 4/5s gap from what I recall, it was extremely unlikely they'd end up engaging in a wheel to wheel battle. I personally thought the swap was fair enough and in-line with their incredibly friendly, yet sometimes tedious team-tactics (see Hungary 2024). They were also in an uncommon position where they could actually fix and revert the positions as there was no traffic between them. If this happened mid-race I think it's possible they wouldn't have switched it back as it feels like more of a live pit stop. Towards the end in Monza it was clear they'd settled for their 2-3 in that order. 

Singapore... I mean if we want to just watch them hold position then sure he was in the wrong "rubbing is racing" "if you dont go for a gap......" seems to only go when the narrative suits. It's clear though it's now the fashionable thing to hate on McLaren/Norris. They didn't even favour Norris against Piastri last year when it was him Vs Max until it was too late and think that was only on one occasion

23 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

No different to Sunderland last season who lost 5 consecutive games before winning the play offs. Who cares when how they finish a season if they end up promoted anyway.

 

Southampton won the play off semi final leg 3-1 on aggregate and then beat Leeds, who many people thought would win the league, in the final. They finished 10 points behind us, title winners, which was more closer than last season where the 4th placed team, Sunderland, finished 24 points behind the title winners Leeds. He was then sacked 16 games into last season and both new Southampton managers couldn't do anything either. In fact I think Southampton won a massive 2 points after sacking Martin.

 

I don't like him but he got 87 points in the Championship with Southampton, in fact lost the exact same amount of games as us (11).

People forget how insane the top four were that season. I'd have had Leeds down to finish ahead of them meaning 3rd was the best they could have done anyway. As you say who cares how they finish the season, I'm sure their goal was promotion no matter how it came. 

36 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Southampton last season ended badly .

 

Because his style of play didn’t suit the squad there and they regularly got caught out.

 

Martin didn’t realise the main job at Rangers is to win games and by some distance or certainly show dominance .

There isn’t time to start playing fancy football and eventually hope it comes off after a few months .

It suited the squad the season before though? You'd then think the players signed last summer were bought in because they're suited to his style. I get it's a higher level but you don't generally see promoted sides rip up their recipe for success and implement a totally contrasting style of play, though I do think his style is very extreme as far as possession based football goes. 

There should be enough of a gulf in quality in Scotland for him to have been able to implement his style of play from the off without hindering the results. Absolutely no need for him to tip toe around the first few months. I've not really watched any of their games so no idea how it has ended this badly

7 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

His Southampton side that should have been challenging us for the title limped over the line via the playoffs, then proceeded to threaten Derby's infamous record - all while playing appalling one-dimensional football. I think it's safe to say he was garbage for them too.

 

I remember when we were supposedly in for him, people were pointing to the saint's record unbeaten run as part of the mental gymnastics, but there were a heap of draws in there where they actually dropped two points from a winning position - which is what ultimately cost them automatics. Even against Championship opposition they were getting found out playing Russellball.

So we're saying the 85/90+pts or whatever he got in that season was a disaster!? No doubt the PL stint was poor, but they were expected to be down there no? Absolutely he didn't help himself with the one dimensional football

In truth I'm not sure if he really set the world alight at MKD/Swansea, think he may have just been seen by Southampton as an up and coming young manager with an "appealing" brand of football. Think it's harsh to judge his overall time at Southampton as anything too critical. This is the first time he's totally stunk a place out though

I know he has his flaws in being one dimensional but is this not the only disaster of a job he's had??

2 hours ago, StanSP said:

Croft did during the coverage if I heard correctly. 

As well as a huge chunk of people on socials. Perhaps he's just an FT troll and doesn't roam around the internet that much 

David Croft is insufferable most of the time but his repeated plea to ban blue flags is up there with the worst shouts imaginable 

This and the Monza team order are not comparable

2 minutes ago, TheGoldenGod said:

God you're boring! He's the ****ing dogs bollocks👍

Oh right. Guy has more yellow cards than any of his players i'm probably safe in saying. Seems to be an entitlement about him that wasn't particularly visible when he was here, doing whatever he wants and either not knowing or caring about the consequences. Honestly I can get over the celebrating, but the constant berating of officials is poor. Gary Neville summed it up well when questioning what his backroom staff are telling him when they look at the monitors, it was never a penalty.

I know it's a silly thing to say off the back of him celebrating, but Maresca is a bit of a twat now isn't he? 

McLaren hadn't won a race in nearly 3 years when they won in Miami in 2024 and were immediately declared to have the fastest car. They've looked nothing like having the quickest car the last 3 races, Red Bull winning at a canter twice yet it's still all knives out for them (Norris in particular) for not taking an easy 1-2. McLaren will be grateful it's mostly "proper" race tracks for the remainder of the season.

Happy for Russell who's had nowhere near the plaudits he deserves this season. 

Slavisa Petrovic at Wolfsburg has had glowing reviews in the last 2 years

Giving Daka ago because it's only Coady, fair play

I would have been happy to spend a couple of years blooding in at younger talent, however all we've done so far is blood in Jordan Ayew & Vestergaard, so meh

How is it possible that the F1 thread is the worst thread on a football forum

6 hours ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

Max gets his debut win for Ferrari before Lewis 

Would be incredible bait had he not won the sprint race in China

My guilty pleasure is finding tragedies on Facebook and looking to see the grandmas who have reacted with a laughing emojis

Great to see Sunderland doing well but just makes our efforts last season more frustrating. 

That said I feel Sunderland's fixture list has been very friendly so far

Just now, whoareyaaa said:

Does he know how to score ?

Never bagged for Sheffield Wednesday so I'd argue no