Mails: Do we just give up on Neville now?
Date published: Tuesday 4th October 2016 9:17
Send all your thoughts into theeditor@football365.com. Go on. You know you want to.
Finally!
Brian, LFC, used an awful lot of words to say this year is their year.
Sean Peter-Budge
Why Spurs won’t drop off
Re: Adam, LFC, London. Why won’t Spurs drop off like last year? The answer is almost entirely down to the quality in depth that we now have. Where last year we suffered immeasurably without any of Dier, Dembele and Kane, this year we trounce the (at this stage) best team in the league. Where last year we looked to the likes of Chadli, N’Jie and an ineffective Son to change games, we now have an effervescent N’Koudou, the two of Son/Lamela/Eriksen/Alli/Sissoko who don’t start and an actual, real life reserve striker! Bringing on Eric Dier to close a game instead of Ryan Mason is also a significant upgrade, and players like the very talented Winks, Onomah and Carter-Vickers are more developed and ready for more responsibility. We play two fewer group stage games in Europe, and only have short trips to Germany and Southern France to navigate.
The players that have come in have all visibly and immediately improved us (particularly glad Newcastle sold us the good Sissoko as opposed to the rubbish one). We can interchange our starting XI without the significant drop-off in quality we had last year, meaning our players play fewer minutes. The fatigue last season was more mental than physical; our squad has recovered from the bitter taste of losing a title battle and the even bitterer (that a word?) taste of allowing Arsenal to finish above us. We will be far stronger for the experiences, so no reason at all we shouldn’t aim for one better than last year.
Alex G, THFC (they really don’t like us, do they?)
More on the Tottenham
I’m not sure people went overboard as such when it came to us last year, Adam. We played out of skins adapting to Poch’s plan, and to me having a season of working under that expectation surely tempers the players for the next. Plus we really did challenge for the title, and that failure of nerve isn’t necessarily an indication it will happen this time around, should we play ourselves into contention again.
And surely the point of improving our squad was to cope with those demands you mentioned, and I’m not sure that the champions league “more than cancels” that out? If anything we are better built to cope with injuries, look at Son stepping up, and Wanyama and Sissoko actually usurping arguably our best player last year in Dier.
And to be blunt, we smashed them yesterday, delivering what’s been hearted on these fine pages as the best first 25 minutes of football played this season, backing it up with a defensive performance to make grown men’s knees tremble (mine).
COYS.
Jon (Pep has far less resources than Poch?), Boston
Eurgh, maths
It’s been two and a half years since I last contributed to the mailbox (it was on Liverpool net spend, if you were wondering) and I’m probably a little late to the “Tottenham should be shorter odds than Liverpool” argument, but I decided to make this mathsy.
In short, Liverpool have only played two home games and already played many of the traditional top 6 hence have an easier draw for the remaining season. In long:
1. I gave each team a coefficient between 1 and 2 based half-half on their table position last season and this one (From Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City on 1.05 to Sunderland on 2)
2. assumed it’s easier to win at home than away (Last season teams averaged 57% of their points at home)
3. Totalled the coefficients for all the opponents a team needs to play at home multiplied by the home advantage and the coefficients for all opponents they need to play away from home
In the end, Liverpool has the easiest draw followed (in order) by Arsenal, Stoke, Tottenham and Man United. Man City are seventh, while the Hammers, West Brom and Burnley are 18th-20th.
Ziggy (I can easily change the variables, so feel free to abuse my maths in the next mailbox) Sydney
Do we just give up on GNev?
With the dreaded international break coming up, thought I’d drop on our saviour Gary Neville.
Do we just suddenly drop him now as a failed experiment forever? Somehow the FA have backed the Southgate pony and have no choice at all now in giving him the job.
International football is pretty dross and no manager can have a real tactical input in the few days the players work together. Give it G Nev as at least he’d motivate the players and shows some sign of progress and excitement. Surely even Steve Bruce is a better fit than Southgate!!
Russ
The response to Gooners
I said everyone was a cheating, lying, filthy b***ard. I didn’t say the Leicester team weren’t.
Over the years I’ve become kind of immune to the diving that is so ubiquitous. But the play-acting is just beyond filth, and I’d like you to point to one example of Leicester doing that last season, or asking for an opposition player to be booked. Arsenal do both all the time, as well as all the other stuff you mentioned to the same or a greater degree than every other club. It may not be much, but, in this case, Leicester are a much taller dwarf than Arsenal.
Why do you think everyone sings ‘same old Arsenal, always cheating’?
Alex, (LCFC, Champions of England)
Eat my various thoughts
The mailbox threw up some very interesting points yesterday. I have not actually seen the Arsenal handball yet so can’t comment on it specifically, but I think there is a case that the handball rule is not clear enough – one mailboxer argued it was the application of the rule that was the problem, but I think there are too many debates about different parts of the rule to say that the rule itself is fine. There’s been a lot said about it, but the bit I’ve not seen mentioned, and I think it is a huge part of it, is where the ball would have gone if it had not hit the hand. A classic case I can think of is a defender turning when blocking a cross, and their arm is in front of their back as it turns. Let’s say it hits the arm. Now, if the ball had not hit the arm and would have gone into the box, then there is a case that is a foul. If, however, had it not hit his arm it would have hit his back, then should that be a foul? He’s not used his arms to control the ball better. He’s not gained an advantage from it, as it would have hit him anyway. Lots of variables to consider, and I don’t think the rule is clear or comprehensive enough to be beyond reproach.
On LaLiga, it is great to see a) some talk about it, and b) someone have the temerity to suggest it is quite competitive. People claim that everyone bar the top 3 are terrible and that’s why Barca, Real and Atleti rack up huge scores and points tallies. The reality is that those 3 teams are absolutely fantastic football teams. Bayern have been beaten comprehensively by Atleti, Barcelona have seen off plenty of the best England has had to offer, and Real are the reigning Champions League winners. Make no mistake, the clubs below them are competitive; it is only because the best of Spain is on a completely different level to the best of England that the Premier League is apparently more competitive. It is a shame there isn’t a European competition pitting the bottom 4 teams of each big league against each other. We have dross over here too, you know. Also great mail regarding Alcacer – signing didn’t make sense at all, Munir looked very sharp this season, and Alcacer’s career will stall without regular football.
Finally, I saw it mentioned that Spurs will tire out at the end of the season, citing their pressing game, and the added games from the Champions League. With not statistics to hand, I don’t think Tottenham’s collapse was down to physical fatigue last season, but was down to the mental pressure of a title challenge. They also had Europa League last year – I appreciate that the personnel picked for Spurs in the Europa League will bare less resemblance to the Champions League/EPL squads this year, but this is a side used to playing lots of football, at high intensity. You can pick at Spurs on a lot of things, but I don’t think physical conditioning is necessarily one of them.
I am fully prepared to eat my words come May, mind.
Martin, neutral, Brighton
Bizarre internet football rivalries
One of things I’ve observed in the last few months are some internet rivalries between fans of clubs you wouldn’t normally expect to care about each other.
Going by just the mailbox, here are a few examples:
1) Alex the Leicester supporter called Mustafi and Koscielny cheats – which is a bit harsh, especially in the case of Mustafi. This continues a trend that I feel started in the middle of last season where Leicester supporters started slagging Arsenal and reached the zenith with Welbeck’s last minute winner at the Emirates, and continued with the courting of Mahrez and Vardy.
For their part, Arsenal supporters are not too shy to call Leicester cheats (this is, I feel, directed at Vardy more than Leicester), and lucky – see afternoon mailbox.
2) A Spurs supporter named Nabil (Bentaleb?) was making a point about Tottenham’s full-backs, but somehow crow-barred Milner and Clyne into the discussion. Later on in the day, a Liverpool supporter talks down Spurs’ title chances because they’ll get fatigued. This makes less sense when you realized that there were actual Arsenal fans who were willing to praise Spurs but were shouted down by those of a ‘Red+Scouse’ persuasion.
This Spurs-Liverpool rivalry is especially pronounced in Twitter and reached peak-internet when Liverpool fans wished Arsenal a happy St.Totteringham’s day at the end of last season.
3) A bit back this one, but I remember the Manchester United/ Everton conflict from the season of Moyes. Sure this was always brimming under the surface with the reception Rooney often got at Goodison, and the general schadenfreude that is to be had with ManUtd; but it became utterly confusing when people were actually upset that Everton were mocking United for hiring Moyes when they themselves had (at the time) upgraded to Bobby Martinez.
Of course, next season, the relative reversal in fortune meant that the mailbox was full of United fans just talking about how it ‘couldn’t happen to a better crowd’.
Just wanted to put this out there and check if anyone else noticed these or some other ones that I’ve missed.
Girish, AFC, Chennai
Asking another important question
In response to Lawrence “Asking the important questions” yesterday wondering how it is possible that Giuseppi Rossi is still only 29, I see your Rossi and raise you a 29 year old who scored the winner for Deportivo la Coruna at the weekend called Ryan Babel!
Pierce Dunne, Waterford.
Question for Villa fans
So then, who’s your next messiah?
Paul, NUFC
Justice for Degsy
Tidy profit of over 30 quid if you bet a tenner on each last week.
Nice one.
Adam
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