On 10/01/2023 at 07:53, roversfan99 said:

He is really savvy in big games tactically so I do wonder if he will thrive in international football, especially with less time to fall out with players.

That being said, I haven't seen that news.

Me either. A quick search pulls up lots of stories speculating. All of them seem to be based on former Brazil international Carlos Alberto making the claim on a podcast. He also reckoned that he's in line to be Mourinho's assistant. He might me in the frame but it all sounds iffy to me. 

From 2003-2013 Mourinho was the best in the business. His lost some of his mojo after his return to Chelsea. He thrived on being the underdog which became a hard act to pull off the more he won. It was easy for him to do at Porto, Chelsea, and Inter. 

He got to Real and his philosophy became impossible. Real Madrid were always favourites.

Guardiola's superb team didn't help him either. 

On 03/01/2023 at 12:16, Silas said:

Awful to see such a young athlete in that situation, really hope he pulls through ok.

I see 'the internet' dug up a gofundme page he'd done in 2020 to help poor kids get toys in the pandemic. 

Target was $2,500. Within 12 hours of the incident it had over $3.5 million. 😲😲

Quite touching how quickly people have reacted. One of those rare occasions of social media being a force for good. 

9 days later Hamlin is now home from the hospital; BBC: Demar Hamlin discharged

I expect that he'll be playing next season. I have no idea if, like Eriksen, he had a pacemaker fitted, or it is a case of him rehabbing back to full fitness. 

His gofundme has over $8m in it. 

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Those contracts are very much enforceable as things stand and are fairly commonplace. They don't literally prevent the player from being dropped, but they impose financial penalties if the player doesn't play a certain amount of games (I assume if the player is injured or otherwise suspended there is no penalty). I'm not sure on the ins and outs of real world penalty arrangements, I'd imagine they vary, but on FM (20 at least) there is an option for a monthly fee if the player plays, and another fee can be set for if the player doesn't play (on the game, clubs will almost always accept the same fee for both, but I think that's an oversight).

Loaner clubs don't attach those clauses where they can't play against the parent club anymore, because NO players are allowed, by the rules of the game, to play against their parent clubs anymore. This was introduced to prevent conflict of interest. Imagine if you borrowed a club's goalie, and he let in a couple of howlers against them, you'd be suspicious as hell.

Thanks for the explanation. I was looking at it through a small prism. I hadn't thought about financial penalties.

I should have thought more cynically on the parent club scenario too. In my mind a player would want to try his heart out and prove his worth.

5 hours ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

The frustration with Morton for me is IMO he's blocking Wharton's progression with us and I personally don't believe the Liverpool lad to be a better player, which leads me to think that we have an agreement with Liverpool that he must start the majority of matches. If our whole club philosophy is to now increase value in players, then Wharton should be starting (granted with spells out of the 11 given his age).

If Rovers do then that's a daft agreement. Surely those contracts would be unenforceable? What if Morton was a dolloper? A manager should be free to choose who they play in any match. Much like when teams play a weakened side (see Huddersfield the season Rovers went down to League 1) they should be allowed to play anyone.

Imagine if Rovers had done the same with Hirst? Calamity.

Whilst I'm at it, do loaner clubs still attach clauses that said player isn't allowed to play against them? If so, they should be banned too. A team get a loan player, he's theirs and should be available for each and every game regardless of opponent. 

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

Yes I read this, and it all seems rather crazy. 

The more I read on it the more it seems the senior Reynas are a lot of trouble. Domestic violence is totally wrong and I deplore it. This two issues however seem to me to be separate. 

I mean their son was badly behaved at the tournament. His fault he didn't get in the team and maybe they should have looked closer to home as to the issue he wasn't in the team. Revealing this now is just an act of spite rather than any moral justification for it. And it's probably - given the severity of the issue - cost the coach his career. It's unpleasant and vindictive. 

Mind you Reyna jr won't have an easy time either. It's drawn more attention both to his poor attitude and the baggage that comes with his interfering parents. 

What a circus. 

It really is. People at the top end of the pyramid acting like spoiled brats is not a good look. It happens at youth level regularly, but the national team. Terrible.

US Soccer needs to get hold of it and sort it out. 

Berhalter's contract was up at the end of 2022, it's not been renewed yet. If he doesn't get one this will be the reason cited which is not fair. If they do get rid it should be because he has taken the team as far as he can. Berhalter took over a mess and managed to get the US to Qatar but he hasn't pulled up any trees in doing so. There were some very underwhelming performances over the last 3 years and with a decent set of young players available plus the US hosting in 2026 there is strong sentiment over here that the US needs to go for broke and get a big name.

He won't be in charge for their next set of friendlies his assistant Anthony Hudson will be. Older posters will remember his dad; the mercurial Alan Hudson - ex-Stoke and Chelsea.

I heard this on the radio earlier; BBC: Cameroon find 21 of 30 u17 players are not u17

This has been going on for decades. Eto'o looks like he's trying to stop it. 

I played against the odd African lad when I was younger and I certainly wondered if they were the same age as me.

Pele, Best, Cruyff were all before my time but I've no doubt that they were all unbelievable. Pele was already legendary when I was a kid in the 80's. Puskas and Di Stefano before them. 

Players I know who were a class above the rest; Maradona, Zidane, C Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldo, van Basten. Baggio, Baresi, and Maldini are close.

English players; Gascoigne, Shearer.

Without injuries Brazilian Ronaldo would have been it for me.

I'll put this here as World Cup 2022 is done.

There is a soap opera occurring over here regarding World Cup coach Gregg Berhalter.

He is under investigation by the US federation for kicking his girlfriend in 1991.

It turns out that his ex-team mate Claudio Reyna (formerly of Man City) grassed him up after it became public knowledge that Berhalter almost sent his son (Gio - plays for Dortmund) home from Qatar for being lazy and uncooperative.

ESPN: Reyna told authorities about Berhalter

What adds to the intrigue is that the girlfriend was, and still is, Berhalter's wife. Reyna's wife and Berhalter's wife played on the same university football team. Reyna and Berhalter have been mates for decades. 

If JDT left Hirst out of the last squad on purpose then it's really in Leicester's best interest to recall him. 

The LET article says that Hirst signed a new deal before coming to Ewood so if Leicester aren't going to use him (which they won't) they'll use the loan market to recoup some of the wages they are paying him. 

If Rovers want quality they'll have to pay for it. Without that I don't see much value in the January transfer window. 

I watched this live last night; BBC: NFL player collapses after tackle

It was a lot like Eriksen at the Euro's.

The lad tackled a receiver, stood up, pointed, then fell down flat on his back. 10 minutes of CPR and an ambulance ride later he's now in critical condition in an ICU.

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Elliott is not a top level player either, for a while I have seen him as a weak link in that Liverpool team, he doesn't do enough and his dummy last night was stupid. Often talked about as an England player in the near future, not for me at this stage.

Considering how much he stood out here and how off it he looks at Liverpool, it perhaps adds perspective to thoughts of Morton breaking into their team.

He isn't looking like it at the mo, although he is still young. He needs to add more strength, but that may come with age too. 

His dummy was absolutely daft and he'd done very little before that. It was no surprise that Klopp hooked him at half time.

6 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Liverpool beaten 3-1 at Brentford. Shame that…

Well beaten too. 

Liverpool looked all at sea when Leicester scored the other day, they were worse today. 

Klopp needs to fix a number of issues. Although only one counted Liverpool conceded 3 from corners. They are usually excellent at both ends.

Their midfield has holes galore. Fabinho and Henderson have been at the core of Liverpool's success over the past few years. Fabinho looks lost and Henderson doesn't have the energy anymore to play every game. 

Nunez also misses chance after chance. I think that he will come good though.

It was a good weekend for Arsenal. Of the current chasers only Liverpool and Man U won.

City laboured against Everton. Newcastle couldn't score against Leeds. Spurs stunk it up at home to Villa. If only the Spurs version of Lloris played for France. What could have been.......

At the other end of the table Southampton's managerial change hasn't helped yet.

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

The latest instalment on Tomasson's quest to avoid promotion is nearly upon us. Who knows what to expect in terms of team selection, tactics, intensity and quality. The only real certainty is the uncertainty.

I absolutely agree. Thanks to ESPN I've seen 75% of Rovers games this season and the only constant is inconsistency. 

 I hope that JDT's policy of recurring changes includes Dack staying on the pitch and Hirst staying off it. 

6 hours ago, riverholmes said:

On a separate note, or maybe, not so separate, I wonder where the mercurial African talents have gone - the Kanu, Okocha, Obafemi Martins, Moustafa Hadji type players. I stand to be corrected, as I didn't watch much of the earlier rounds of the World Cup, but it would seem to me that there has been a Europeanisation of African players, with flair and risk taking being trained out of them. There's still some like Mahrez and Benrahma, but, especially, West Africa doesn't seem to produce them in the abudance of before. But, I'm far from an expert on this, so may well be wrong and, perhaps, being nostalgic about former players.

An interesting point. Add in George Weah. Drogba. Eto'o. 

Of the current crop neither Salah or Mane made it to Qatar.

It seems odd saying this when Morocco got to a World Cup semi-final but African football does seem to have hit a plateau. Certainly sub-Saharan Africa has. 

Ghana once had a midfield of Essien and Appiah. They were a real pair of talents. Now 

I think big club scouting networks now have the ability and resources to find African talent early and bring them in. The Red Bull conglomerate of clubs does a very good job of it. 

South Americans are also leaving for Europe earlier too, Maybe that is blocking some of the African players? 

7 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

The pitch was looking ok until they trained on it all last week, will be a mess by the end of winter.

Interesting. 

5 hours ago, arbitro said:

I mentioned last night that the pitch was looking a bit patchy. And they are training on it again on Christmas Day evening under the lights before they leave for Sunderland.

JDT played in England, surely he knows how bad the weather is in winter. The indoor facility at Brockhall isn't up to par? 

4 hours ago, davulsukur said:

So in the 3 games we've tried to play it out from the back, we've conceded 4 goals in each.

The one we didn't, we won. 

Why on earth would he revert back to it again?

I'm not saying that defenders pretty passing the ball in and around Rovers own box is the way to play, but I don't agree with your point. Not 1 goal that Forest scored came from Rovers messing about playing it out of the back. 

Overall, Rovers were well beaten by a better side. Johnson and Lingard were a class above anything Rovers had.

Other observations;

• Scott Wharton had a nightmare.
• Pears was excellent
• Hirst isn't up to it.
• Subs were odd. 
• The pitch was in bad shape.

3 hours ago, J*B said:

France have a superb keeper - Mike Maignan, AC Milan’s first choice keeper who is out injured. They were also missing their first choice left back Lucas Hernandez, Kante and Benzema. They’d have comfortably won it with those four. 

2 hours ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Lloris is their captain so would never be dropped. Kante has been poor / injured for some time now, whilst Benzema has never truly done anything with France. A big argument, certainly prior to the tournament, that they play better without him too (likes of Mbappe seem to flourish more as well).

Lloris played a blinder against England and was solid throughout the final. Although when it mattered Martinez was miles better. 

Don't forget Pogba. He usually plays extremely for France. 

However, I will say that as France are so strong their quality did not drop and I doubt those missing would have made much of a difference. They brought on Coman and Camavinga yesterday. They were both excellent.

What a fantastic game of football. Argentina were as good as France were bad for 75 minutes, then all hell broke loose. Superb entertainment. 

I really enjoyed this World Cup. Plenty of good games, and although England didn't win it I felt they were the better team in the game they lost. Onward and upward.

Brazil, Italy, and Germany are the cream of world football. After today, Argentina are close to joining them.

Brazil and Argentina won their cups with stars. The other two rely on overall quality and great organisation. 

France look like they could join too. They certainly are based on the last 25 years. England's strong domestic league and global presence has always allowed the national team a reputation greater than results have shown.

I think that until England have a true world class player it will be more misses. In my lifetime England have produced good players. Rooney, Owen, and Gascoigne came close to being good enough to join the world class club. Biased me says that Shearer could have been without injuries.

Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand, and the like were good club players who couldn't replicate their form for England. Alex Ferguson is to blame of some of it. His club was greater than country mentality pervaded those England teams, and as the players were all competing for titles and European glory they couldn't get along.  

Southgate deserves credit for breaking that down and making players proud to wear an England shirt. It no longer has the weight of chainmail.

A great 3 points. Were Norwich bad? Rovers good? Probably a bit of both. Either way, quality was lacking across the board. Rovers worked hard without creating many chances. Norwich never looked like scoring. 

It's halfway through the season and Rovers lie 3rd in the table. I don't think anyone on here predicted that would be the case. Rovers are an odd team. They've not drawn a game and have looked worse than abject in some of their losses. Score first and they win, concede first and they lose. 

JDT needs to sort out what he wants and go with it. So far, for me, he is an improvement on Mowbray.

On 15/12/2022 at 08:03, WacoRover said:

This will be the third Rovers game in a row I get on ESPN+. I sincerely doubt it will be a different result than the first two. 

But, what to do? I will have it on, 1:30 cst, because it’s not enough simply to know there’s going to be a train wreck, we’ve got to see it for ourselves. 
 

CoyB! 

I'll be watching. It may be a bit of comedown after weeks of World Cup matches. I completely forgot about the PNE game but it surely can't be worse than the second half at Turf Moor?

18 hours ago, roverandout said:

Maddison would have been the perfect link player Griezmann style this world cup but southgate stubbornes refused to use him. Another stick to beat southgate with 

 

 

England played well enough to beat France with the players on the pitch. Some iffy refereeing, and a missed penalty cost England. It wasn't down to not having James Maddison Griezmanning his way around the park.

Against England and now Morocco. I've never seen Lloris play like that for Spurs.

France 1-0 up. Could be 2 or 3. Giroud hit the post hen missed when he probably could have had a touch. 

Morocco have to attack which hasn't been their game plan. Their right side is dangerous. 

Maradona and Messi are both genius footballers. I can't pick between the two.

Maradona gets vilified because he handballed England out of a World Cup. That rankles a lot of people who saw it as it was only a few years after the Falklands war, and in 1986 that type of play was something only "cheating foreigners" did. The Champions League has all but ensured a standardisation of how top level football is played globally. Players from all nations now engage in subtle and not so subtle acts of gamesmanship.

28 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

For me it's the other way round.

England losing is just "meh - shit happens".

Rovers: Well it's like Bill Shankly's quip "Football isn't a matter of life and death ' - it's much more important than that".

Rovers will play 46 league games this season. At current pace they'll lose 23 of them. I believe that you do feel more for Rovers, but that's a lot of defeat to absorb. 

Anyway, back to England. I think that Southgate will stay. Most of this team will be around for the foreseeable future. They like him. He likes them.

I do think that some changes will be made behind the scenes. His substitutions are a bit odd at times, and he needs to advance his tactical nous.