World Cup 2022

[ivoralljack]

During our many conversations in my car or in the pub, Ivor said much the same to me. As high and as close to the post as you could manage was his message. As for my own efforts I can honestly claim that I never missed a pen in my life. But that was because I only took about six during my entire competitive stint . Despite being a striker, for some reason I was never given the job on a regular basis and only took them when the usual guy wasn't playing. I missed quite a few in practise though....... but not when it mattered. Practise makes perfect is the lesson, I suppose.

 

[ivoralljack]

I see that Gareth Bale and Wayne Hennessey have been included in a French newspaper's worst team of the Finals. Our keeper scored a 3.5 with no doubt his red card lowering his score, whilst Bale rated a heady 3!!! My only question is how on earth did Aaron Ramsey escape this list of shame?

Bale had better make up his mind: is it to be golf or football? He's several years younger than many of his contemporaries but he performed like someone several years older. I honestly believe that there are many LOW players who would have contributed more than he did - at least they would have offered some running, effort and aggression. If that league still resembles how it was when I played, particularly the latter!!

As for manager Page, his shameless clinging on to his job is a disgrace. A number of good managers whose teams performed far better than his have fallen on their swords and resigned. But Page? Oh no, not him. He's hanging on like grim death to a job he knows he was never qualified to do in the first place. In international terms I regard him as no better than third rate and the Blazers at the FAW must realise the same if they know anything about football. And there's the rub. If they did know anything about football, they would never have appointed him in the first place. It leads me to believe that we have a bunch of amateurs at the helm of Welsh football and we will never improve whilst they are in charge. Page is damning evidence of that.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

When you look at Messi and Modric, you have to look at Bale and Ramsay and ponder the efforts they made to be in the best shape of their lives for this tournament and to give it their all. Physically they were not up to being in the squad never mind starting the match. Impact subs is how they should have been used.

Page was in the job as a substitute for Giggs, initially on the presumption that Giggs wouldn't be in the shit as deep as he is/was. Time passed. The trigger was not pulled when it should have been to jettison Giggs and form a new coaching team. Now is the time to clean house and start anew. Bale and Ramsay should be gone. Allen could still be selectable on the merits. But, with a new crop of younger players with a few of highly seasoned seniors (Davies, Hennessey, Roberts) it calls for a new coaching team and head coach to lead us forward. Page is not it.

 

[ivoralljack]

it calls for a new coaching team and head coach to lead us forward. Page is not it.

The trouble is that the FAW, in their infinite wisdom , awarded Page a new contract, so it will cost money to get rid. We don't have that money if you believe the FAW, so it appears as though we're stuck with him. Pathetic administration at the top showing a distinct lack of professionalism.

PS: If we held the 'glamour' games at the Millenium Stadium, with twice the capacity of the Cardiff City Stadium, we'd generate far more income. And we could have done this several times in the past but the Blazers listened to the players, the same players who were such crap in Qatar. The players' brief is to play (which they aren't doing well at the moment), keep their gobs shut and just concentrate on what they are being paid to do.

 

[CroJack]

The trouble is that the FAW, in their infinite wisdom , awarded Page a new contract, so it will cost money to get rid. We don't have that money if you believe the FAW,

FAW got £7.5m for qualifying for the group stages. I doubt Page's severance package is worth more than £1.5m. So, they've got a lot of money.

 

[KVetch]

I felt that Lori's could and should have saved most of the Argentina penalties. The French penalties were woeful , don't these pro players practice these kicks , as a 11 year old lad i attended a training session at the vetchfield during which an old pro named Ivor Alchurch talked us through penalty taking , his mantra was never look at the keeper , choose which side of the goal you are going for and hit it hard and high , never lower than 5ft and the keeper has no chance , hit it low and keeper can save , hit it softly , keeper can save , keep it simple , choose your side and hit it in your stride. I must admit that I put a couple over the bar in my time , but the majority hit the roof of the net and I never had one saved by the keeper or went wide of the posts . It seriously concerns me that today's pro footballers are shite penalty takers.

I knew France would level it, I kept thinking about Saturday's match and as awful as the Swans were they managed to score 3. Who would have wagered the keeper from Aston Villa wins the penalty shootout. I didn't want to see repeat champions. Just a 3 and a half year wait for the next one in the USA. Is Diana Ross still alive to earn redemption?

 

[ivoralljack]

I see that Page has overseen a drop in our FIFA ranking to 28th, which is below the footballing powerhouse nations of Iran, Australia, USA and Japan. This means that we'll get shitty draws against the top teams in competitions, which will result in a quick exit and substantial loss of income. I wonder if anyone at the FAW realised this when they went for the budget option of Page?

I guess investment in our grass roots football will have to be put on hold indefinitely. There again, Page might do the decent thing and resign. Don't bet on it though; my guess is he'll hang on to the job for dear life. I mean, where else will he get a post that offers the profile, the benefits and the income that he enjoys now? Reckon we're stuck with him for now. Maybe Port Vale or Northampton Town will want him back. I don't think so - we can but hope.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

We've dropped from 19 to 28? That speaks volumes for how disastrous the tournament was for us.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Check this out. Seems to me that all of our opponents this season have been mini Moroccos consciously or not.

 

[jackodiamonds]

I've been saying it for a while, but possession's been dead since Klopp brought the gegenpress. Swansea hired Martin based on his possession stats to appease the fans who hated Cooper's pragmatism and wanted to see "the Swansea Way" restored, but if the Swansea Way is predicated on 2010s-era possession, then it needs to change anyway. Martin probably would have been a great hire in 2014, not so much 7 years later.

 

[CroJack]

Stating that possession is dead is a sensationalism and simplification.

- The question is not "To play or not to play possession based football?" but rather "What kind of possession based football should we play?" or "How to convert our possession dominance into shots and goals dominance?"

- Possession is one of the important elements of the football game, but only one of, not the only one

- If possession was dead, then 0% possession would win all games, which is, of course, impossible. You have to have some kind of possession to reach the opposition box and score, unless you have a keeper who can score regularly from goal-kicks.

- If possession was dead, then all the big clubs in world football wouldn't play possession based football

- Drawing conclusions based on cup competitions' results, like the World Cup where there is a huge element of luck involved, is misleading

- Manchester City have been the most successful and most scoring Premier League club since Pep Guardiola took over and implemented his possession based football

- Liverpool under Klopp play possession based football as well when they have the ball. Gegen-pressing is what they do when they don't have the ball (possession)

- The current top six in the Championship are the clubs who are in the top 10 for the possession stats. It's same in the Premier League. And in the other top and second tier leagues.

- Don't judge possession based football on Martin's (mostly) lame implementation of it

 

[jackodiamonds]

Dude, I agree with everything you said, and was being deliberately simplistic for the sake of brevity. Point is, the focus has shifted somewhat since 2010, and now teams are being a little more direct than before, but Martin missed that memo.

 

[CroJack]

I was being deliberately simplistic for the sake of brevity.

I admit I miss your excellent in depth analysis, so when you say something like "possession football is dead" I think it's what you mean. It's a sign of respect.

 

[Victoria Swan]

Manchester City have been the most successful and most scoring Premier League club since Pep Guardiola took over and implemented his possession based football

Interestingly Guardiola illustrates your point that possession is but ONE aspect of a successful club. He has combined possession with a Johann Cruyff style of total football: "any player, at any time should be capable of playing whatever position the game has placed them in". The success of Oko-Flex last Saturday was because he went walkabout in true Cruyff style not Martin's 'disciplined position' play. Martin needs to go back and read a few of Cruyff's wonderfully cryptic quotes on such matters, then add it to his possession addiction.

 

[jackodiamonds]

I admit I miss your excellent in depth analysis, so when you say something like "possession football is dead" I think it's what you mean. It's a sign of respect.

Thank You CJ. If I ever get more time to write at length, I will