Date published: Friday 4th September 2020 9:01
Send your thoughts on Liverpool, Manchester United and who you think has the biggest kn*b to [email protected]
Better the Neville you know
Interesting comments from G Nev as to why he thinks Utd will finish above Liverpool this year. He said it was more hope than science and I get that, I spent years hoping against hope, in vain of course.
I think Liverpool should finish above Utd this year but unlike G Nev I’ll try and put some logic to it – IMO of course, happy to debate.
Becker> DDG (argue if you like but you’ll lose)
TAA> AWB (except at defending, last ditch in particular)
VVD> HM
Gomez/Matip> Lindelof/Bailly (closer I admit)
Andy Robbo> Luke Shaw
Fabinho> Matic/McTominay
Henderson/Gini W/Keita/Milner/Ox/Shaqiri/Curtis Jones = Pogba/Bruno/DVVB/Fred/Mata (more goals and star quality for Utd, better balance/depth in L’pools for me)
Salah> Greenwood (although I love Greenwood)
Mane> Rashford (loads of potential in Utd front three but this is about next season)
Firmino> Martial (tough one this, I am a massive Bobby fan. Martial is frightening when he fancies it and his numbers are better)
Klopp> Ole
Complacency and/or mental fatigue is my only concern for the champions but can’t see Jurgen letting that happen. They will feel a bit cheated winning in an empty stadium and hopefully that will give then the extra motivation to go again.
Mark Robbo, LFC (will be an awful lot closer this year though)
Change of heart
Thanks Mr. Paul McDevitt for replying to my questions. From your reply, it seems that we have the same thought regarding the LFC squad depth.
I agree, the team need years to form an automatic and precise cohesion. Therefore, it’s quite alarming to not see any high-level subs for the front 3. Just so that that the intensity of play didn’t drop too much.
It seems that the youth players that we currently have are not up to Owen/Fowler level. Not game changer, yet. Thus, not bringing in any ready made and proven talent is somewhat alarming, to say the least.
Buying, a Tsimikas level player, to challenge Robertson is what I have in mind. LFC needs another/a few others to challenge the front 3, just to be a good subs, when needed. Always good to have a few more tricks than what we have now. Roughly the same idea as Minty’s.
Maybe, I worry too much. Perhaps, I should take this as a reason for me to look forward to how Klopp will manage the team. Without any set of expectations from me.
And, I hope this mail is not unbearable to others. Because I don’t think we need to have a Proper Football Mailer criteria. Another form of PFM – Do we need it – William and Mark Jones?
It’s obvious, this site is not under a dictator’s ruling etc. Write what you think and just send it in. Being published or not is another matter. Having your own views and reciprocating with fellow mailboxes is the way to go.
Khairur (now I’m slightly excited to see how Klopp will attack this season) Penang.
The Unbearables
Well reading the mails on who we hate more, Liverpool or Manchester United certainly gave me food for thought, personally I have never really hated either and I say that with a straight face as I am serious with my response.
Manchester United were a dominant force whilst I was growing up under Sir Alex Ferguson, what a set of teams that SAF built over the years he was at the helm, incredible names, iconic moments and much more, the 2008 UCL Final will always sting being a Chelsea fan but I respect what he has created, to see the team be in such a decline and a shadow of what it once was is actually a shame, they ended the season quite well so you never quite know if they are heading in the right direction after many a year in that decline, only time will tell.
In regards to Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp has built a quite exciting side that finally lifted the Premier League trophy where previous Liverpool sides have failed, for that I admire him as a manager, it certainly is not an easy task.
Overall I suppose it comes down to how certain sections of fans behave on social media, in the stadium etc, now all football clubs have their fans who we dislike and shake our heads at, Chelsea are not an exception, but overall the Mailbox has shown me that all clubs no matter the size have some incredible fans, level headed and yet still passionate about their side.
Mikey, CFC
Sorry a bit late to the whole “who’s more despicable Liverpool or Man United fans” debate. From what I’ve experienced over here is that it doesn’t matter much. I am a Liverpool fan through and through and have been for almost 30 years and honestly cannot remember why I even started supporting them in the first place *cough*glory hunter*cough* plastic fan*cough*.
To us in Southern Africa football is first and foremost entertainment so all this talk of hatred of other fans is ridiculous. Sure, we trade banter (actual banter and not hate filled vitriol) when watching live football from bars etc with fans of rival teams. At the end of the day we congratulate the winners and get on with our lives and wait patiently to laugh at our rivals the next time they lose to a mid table/basement team.
I’ve seen the same thing happen with supporters of EPL teams across most of Southern Africa with the biggest supporter groups being from the aforementioned two clubs including Chelsea and Arsenal and there have been sproutings of a few Manchester City fans (I wonder why).
So to summarise, football is football and is meant to be entertainment and to be viewed as such. Support your team and enjoy the highs (I did) and suffer the inevitable lows (I did) and stop worrying about the next team or what everyone else is saying about your team.
Krombopulos Michael, LFC (Bartomeu is the best president in Real Madrid’s history), Joburg
The city premium
Mikey (CFC) and to a lesser extent Paolo (MUFC) reminded me of a subject I’ve been thinking about for a while now.
Imagine you’re a young footballing hotshot. Maybe you grew up in South America, or perhaps in a rough Banilieue in Paris. Now you’ve hit big time. You’re on the verge of being called up for your national team. Clubs are fighting for your signature. Your price is rocketing up with every game you influence. Right now you play for a famous but mid-tier La Liga club – say Valencia. You’re 20, the world is your oyster. Wherever you go, your salary will be comfortably north of a 100 grand a week.
Now the question is why would you go to live in Liverpool, or Manchester, or even Turin, when you could be in Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Paris, or worst case, in London? Would money take you there – is that the lure of Chelsea? How much more? Or would it be footballing reasons? Club history? How much more attractive would Man United or Liverpool be, over Barcelona, Real Madrid, or PSG, if you weren’t from the north of England?
The only criteria I can think about that would truly be a trump card is your own career development. Whether joining a club is likely to accelerate your career or not. Which I guess is a factor of whether you play every week or not (so any world class centre back opportunity at either Manchester club, for example). Or perhaps you really see what everybody likes to call a ‘project’, in football circles. A manager with a medium to long term plan to achieve some level of greatness (Arsenal/ United). Perhaps the chance to win trophies (Man City/ Liverpool). Or even perhaps to a club where your chances of an even bigger move are increased (Dortmund/ Ajax). Or a combination of all of the above (Bayern).
Of course all of this is moot. It may well boil down to the size of the pay check your agent (who also happens to be your father/ uncle/ cousin/ Mino Riola) is trousering. But I do think clubs from less popular cities have to work harder/ pay a ‘city’ premium to attract top players who might have all the choices, especially if they are not local players who might have ties to the city.
Ved Sen (MUFC)
Football and politics
Dear Editor,
Rob, Brighton, NorthernSoul (NUFC) and Grahame, Hertfordshire I don’t care what John Nicholson’s political views are, whether I agree with them or not is irrelevant. When I’m going to a football website I want to see articles about football not any political views whether they are mine, yours or anybody else’s.
If John Nicolson wrote about football, even things I don’t agree with that is fine because this is a football news website. However if John or anybody else wants to push politics then why don’t they get a side job writing for a website that isn’t Football365?
Politics and football do not and have never gone together, when somebody forces it the results are never positive. Nobody actually supports a particular club because of its politics, nobody picks a favorite player because they share the same political views, clubs don’t get extra points or goals for promoting their politics and the Balon D’or is decided on performances not political views also. The nearest politics used to get to football was people saying certain clubs are ‘working class’ and others ‘middle class’ etc but to me that is barely political as people from any class can vote for any party and have a range of political views. Also for example the ‘Kick racism out of football’ campaign isn’t political, racism is a moral problem that has no place in or outside football so is rightfully raised without requiring a political angle.
The main reason why Football and politics don’t go together is that the sport is entertainment, a bit of enjoyable escapism there to bring people together not divide them. The politics that has now infected football and sports journalism is the same divisive one that has taken over all entertainment including movies, tv, videogames, comic books and everything else you can think of. This politics only represents the views of a small part of the political spectrum but they want to force it upon everybody else even though they do not agree with it.
Most pushing politics into football are not fans, they don’t support teams or watch games they just want their politics in another place it doesn’t belong and don’t care about the negative consequences it brings for people who actually enjoy football. This is why football needs to give politics the boot, players and sports journalists do need to stfu about it so we can get back to actually enjoying the game. If this happens all the activists and activist pretending to be journalists who have particular political views will have a tantrum but most don’t watch football, they don’t generate revenue so don’t matter, they can complain all they want but you cannot cancel football for ignoring politics as its too popular and makes too much money.
In the end as we’ve seen in other countries forcing politics down people’s throats when they are tuning in just to see sports loses money (Just ask ESPN or the NBA) so thankfully this will not last forever. Money and common sense will prevail.
If you are a football website that just does football (plus football related humor) and no politics then that site is for EVERYBODY who likes football which is the point of the sport after all. Nobody is coming to this site to read about politics so if it isn’t here nobody cares. Just football means happy readers who keep coming back resulting in equally happy 365 money men so everybody wins.
On a more positive note great mail by Mark Jones,LFC, Liverpool. Give him a job 365!
William, leicester