[Archived] Other Pl Happenings 2009/10

[ffan]

Most unlike me to bother about other teams fortunes but even I was gutted for you. Unjust and harsh sending off too imo.

btw if you want some advice don't just fly to Rome for the match and come straight back home like many do. Take 3 / 4 days and make it a mini break. Rome has a lot more to offer than 90 mins with 22 grown men chasing a bag of wind around.

I'm flying in on the Wednesday and flying out on the Saturday morning.

Any recommendations on what to see apart from he Coloseum?

[philipl]

I'm flying in on the Wednesday and flying out on the Saturday morning.

Any recommendations on what to see apart from he Coloseum?

In the Coliseum, you can see the underground cages where they kept the Rovers before feeding them to the Chelsea.

Rome is just mind boggling.

The Vatican Museum- well worth a day (you need a day, it is so big- you go through the Cistene Chapel at the end of it).

The Forum and then the Palatine- far more impressive than the Coliseum, miles and miles of ancient Rome.

The Panthenon is a complete Roman building in the middle of Rome

Further out, the Caracalla Baths are just massive. They are better preserved than the Roman remains nearer the centre because they weren't used for building materials.

The Caravaggio/Bacon Exhibtion at the Villa Borghese is probably the single most important art exhibition anywhere this decade. I think it will change the way people look at and think about painting.

If you are into fascist architecture, the Olympic Stadium is in EUR (pronounced eeyor as in Winnie the Pooh) and it is worth looking round the "new Rome" Mussolini had built. Creepy but interesting.

There are at least 16 churches with world class paintings and interiors.

I love walking round Rome- the seven hills are all walkable if you are good for doing 16 miles in a day.

Have your wits about you- I have been subject to one attempted mugging and one attempted pick pocketing when in Rome. The trick is to head towards where other people are and the would be assailants slip away.

[CrazyIvan]

Interesting watching Wet Spam V Arsenal. West Ham standing off Arsenal and losing 0-2 at half time. They aren't pressuring Arsenal and paying the price to an Arsenal side that aren't actually playing that well. Comparing that to Liverpool V Man U, Liverpool chased and harried Man U every step of the way and won 2-0. The lesson, I think, is pretty obvious although having top quality strikers helps considerably...

[DE.]

West Ham come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal. Can anyone ever see us doing that in our present state?

[tony gale's mic]

West Ham come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal. Can anyone ever see us doing that in our present state?

If we'd got that penalty vs Arsenal things couldve been very, very different. Both Arsenal and Chelsea may have been thrashings but they were quite different in terms of performance.

[philipl]

West Ham come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal. Can anyone ever see us doing that in our present state?

West Ham got given the pen to get them back to 2-2 and didn't conceed a pen for a blatant hand ball early in the first half or the Arse would have been out of sight.

We had a far clearer pen turned down when we were 2-3 at the Emirates.

[John]

West Ham come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal. Can anyone ever see us doing that in our present state?

Whilst still difficult/challenging, it is easier to stage that type of fightback when playing at home - our thrasings have come away from Ewood (so far!).

[mickbrown]

West Ham got given the pen to get them back to 2-2 and didn't conceed a pen for a blatant hand ball early in the first half or the Arse would have been out of sight.

We had a far clearer pen turned down when we were 2-3 at the Emirates.

Blatent handball !? I must have misses that.

You also forgot to mention the blatent penalty parker should have got or the shocking 2nd yellow for parker.

[DE.]

Regardless, if we were 2-0 down at HT to one of the top four, home or away, we wouldn't come back to draw. I'm not interested in 3-2, penalties not given, whatever else. We just wouldn't get into the types of positions to gain penalties or scoring opportunities. The mentality would be "let's shut up shop and try not to concede any more" rather than "let's try and get back into the game". Sam admitted as much yesterday in his press conference.

[Tom]

How about going 1-0 down early on to Villa and then being reduced to ten men once we were back in the game, no chance we'd ever win that one is there, oh wait.

[DE.]

How about going 1-0 down early on to Villa and then being reduced to ten men once we were back in the game, no chance we'd ever win that one is there, oh wait.

Are Villa one of the big Four? Not relevant, we don't set out our stall to keep a game at 0-0 against Villa.

[Tom]

I know i was just being flippant, as an aside remember last season Boro beat Liverpool at home, freak results do happen and today was for me.

Arsenal were in control and West Ham got lucky.

[DE.]

I agree that the Hammers got lucky, but watching it, I realised how we would not even get a sniff of goal the way West Ham did every so often. We'd just have Jason Roberts or Di Santo up front struggling helplessly against 2 world-class centre-backs, whilst Andrews left gaping holes in midfield and our defence faced a constant barrage of shots.

I guess Sam's comments yesterday that the gameplan was a 0-0, and that he did not plan for us to even try to score a goal, really irked me. I didn't like the way he berated the players "they threw the gameplan out the window at 2-0 and went up the other end and tried to score". Because our previous tactic was working so well, after all. I'd hope he doesn't go for the same tactics at home, but I get the horrible feeling he will.

[Steve Moss]

I guess Sam's comments yesterday that the gameplan was a 0-0, and that he did not plan for us to even try to score a goal, really irked me. I didn't like the way he berated the players "they threw the gameplan out the window at 2-0 and went up the other end and tried to score".

I don't think that is exactly what Sam said. I listened to the interview and what I got from it is that they tried to force a score, as opposed to looking for the opportunity to catch Chelsea on a counter-attack. Which loosened up the Rovers' defense and allowed Chelsea to run rampant in that 20 minute period.

[DE.]

I don't think that is exactly what Sam said. I listened to the interview and what I got from it is that they tried to force a score, as opposed to looking for the opportunity to catch Chelsea on a counter-attack. Which loosened up the Rovers' defense and allowed Chelsea to run rampant in that 20 minute period.

It's pretty much exactly what he said on the interview I watched. Think it was sky sports?

[Steve Moss]

What I saw was on BBC. And I think your quote is more or less accurate, but it was the context. I don't think he was saying never attack. I got the impression it was a take your "chances" strategy, not a sit back and take it forever plan. Open them up while defending, and then push through. Don't push through until you've opened them up.

[Miker]

What I saw was on BBC. And I think your quote is more or less accurate, but it was the context. I don't think he was saying never attack. I got the impression it was a take your "chances" strategy, not a sit back and take it forever plan. Open them up while defending, and then push through. Don't push through until you've opened them up.

He basically wanted to contain them and not give them the opportunity to score, while attacking on occasion to hopefully score a winner, but realistically aiming for a 0-0, which is fair enough. A lot of teams that did beat the top four last season did just that. Stoke was one of them, they did that against Spurs this week as well. They just sat there and defended non-stop and Spurs had about a million chances and shots cleared off the line or deflecting off the post, and in the end they lost 1-0.

It's interesting to look at teams and their first choice partnerships up front. We had our first choice partnership out of this game (Dunn and Di Santo). So when people moan about us not challenging Chelsea, you have to look at other teams to see how they could manage without their first choice strikers. Imagine West Ham without Cole or Diamanti (goal and assist each against Arsenal). Berbatov and Rooney for United. Torres and Gerrard for Liverpool. Drogba and Anelka for Chelsea. All these teams would be fairly toothless without those players. Those are teams that have fairly strong depth though (besides maybe West Ham and Liverpool), but we don't.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Stan Collymore reckons that to make the Premier League the best in the world they should kick out teams like Wigan, Hull and Bolton and replace them with teams like Leeds and Newcastle. He also thinks promotion and relegation should be scrapped:

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/stan-collymore/To-make-the-Premier-League-the-best-get-Leeds-and-Newcastle-back-get-rid-of-small-clubs-and-scrap-relegation-and-promotion-article201025.html

Always thought Collymore was a bit of a prat, this just confirms it.

[Blue blood]

Stan Collymore reckons that to make the Premier League the best in the world they should kick out teams like Wigan, Hull and Bolton and replace them with teams like Leeds and Newcastle. He also thinks promotion and relegation should be scrapped:

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/stan-collymore/To-make-the-Premier-League-the-best-get-Leeds-and-Newcastle-back-get-rid-of-small-clubs-and-scrap-relegation-and-promotion-article201025.html

Always thought Collymore was a bit of a prat, this just confirms it.

It's a wind up.

I'd be suprised if Collymore can string a few sentences together, let alone this bit of drivel. They just needed to attach someone's name to it who they're not worried about the credability of. Sensationalist journalism is all it is.

[Hughesy]

What a prick Collymore is....he doesnt mention us though to be fair!

Why should Leeds & Newcastle be in the league? Because they have big cities? What a toss-pot!

He's probably been on the booze again...

[BuckyRover]

I read somewhere else that using his criteria we would be in the top 25 teams.

[Billy Castell]

Stan should stick to what he's good at-sticking his nob through car windows.

[philipl]

It's a wind up.

I'd be suprised if Collymore can string a few sentences together, let alone this bit of drivel. They just needed to attach someone's name to it who they're not worried about the credability of. Sensationalist journalism is all it is.

Dog of an idea.

[jonv]

A fair comment was made by one user in reply to this idea,

"How the hell do you get a job in the media? You write and talk total and utter rubbish.

This idea would kill football right from grass roots level upwards. The beauty of this game is that teams can come up and have a chance to play Manchester United, Liverpool etc.

And how would this work for the likes of West Ham, Bolton etc who would never win the Premiership and with no relegation would have nothing to play for.

I am sorry Stan but you should not be allowed to voice your idiotic ideas.

Stick do doing something that you are good at....I will leave that for you to decide."

This has to be reactionary journalism as it makes absolutely no sense. Did he even read through what he'd written the night before and 10 bottles later?

[riverside returns]

The idea has obviously worked as we are all discussing the ridiculous. Is that not the job of the 'journalist'. Stan is a complete numpty and would have struggled to come up with the sentences in the article.

He really should stick to his other passtime