Mails: Jose’s Shaw treatment is appalling

Mails: Jose’s Shaw treatment is appalling

Look, it’s international fortnight again. We didn’t want it and you didn’t want it, so just send some mails in to theeditor@football365.com…

Mourinho is embarrassing himself over Luke Shaw
Having just read your Winners and Losers piece in which you place Jose Mourinho in the winners section I felt compelled to write to you.

What a detestable human that man is.  Picture this scenario – A 21 year old member of your staff comes to you after not long returning to work after suffering a serious health issue.  He states that he doesn’t feel fully ready to work and has concerns about his health.  Do you:

A:  Ensure him that it is ok and that you are glad that he came to you to discuss the problem.  Then have a chat with him to discuss whether there are any lingering physical or mental issues involved and offer the support and help of the company to ensure he receives the support he needs.

Or B:  Gather all the other members of staff together and publicly call this young person out for letting them all down and generally just being a p***y.  At this time you also question their dedication to the company and their colleagues.  You then tell the board of directors, take the young mans phone call his family and all his friends and tell them what type of person that you think their son/brother/friend is.

Management Jose style in full effect.  If I was Luke Shaw I would be unbelievably embarrassed and pi***d off.
David (not a Jose fan) McLean

Liverpool fans has PTSD from 2013/14
In response to Kris, LFC, Manchester on why Liverpool fans haven’t been losing their sh*t about being a point clear after 11 games – for me there are a few reasons. I still have PTSD over the end to the 13/14 seasons and have no great desire to let myself love again that deeply only to be hurt again (especially as it is barely November).

Kris says we are “clear at the top of the league” – again, it’s November, it’s one point and if you take off the red tinted specs you’ll realise that this is shaping up to be the most wide open title races in years with up to 5 legitimate contenders (sorry Man U fans, spanking a poor Swansea team doesn’t paper over the very-visible cracks).

But mostly it’s because mails like yours tend to incite a whole lot of Liverpool-bashing in the mailbox and I’d rather not read six different mails on how Liverpool are bottlers, have never won the Prem, haven’t won a decent trophy in a decade etc.

Sure, sit back, relex and enjoy the show but why feel the need to gloat? Why not just be happy enjoying it, telling people how good we are doesn’t add to that enjoyment. It just sets you up and I guarantee schadenfreude will come back to get you.
Ben, LFC, Oz (I’ve been an atheist for years, but the Gerrard sl*p confirmed that there is no God)

A superb mail from a Leicester fan
While everyone else is getting all giddy over some of the awesome football on display lately, I thought I would counter with some glum thoughts about this season’s demise of the Leicester City of yesteryear who are understandably absent from the mailbox a lot more this season! We all knew it was going to be a tough season, other teams would be better, we would inevitably not reach such great heights. But we didn’t think it would be this bad. Is there a worse team to watch in the league than us right now?

My theory is that our form last year was built on a combination of two things; 1) A system that suited the players incredibly well, and 2) Players that were playing on the edge, giving it everything with the wind in their sails. Throw into that a bit of good fortune with injuries, a light fixture list, other teams not being on form and you have an absolute zinger of a season on your hands. Nothing ground breaking in that, but when you break that down I think you can tell a lot about our problems this year.

With respect to 1: We lost Kante. I don’t want to hark on too much about what a loss he is, as much of it has been said already. But we have recruited poorly in that position. We have been unlucky with Mendy being out so long but the jury is out in whether he is the right man to fill in. The thing with Kante and what he gave to our style was that last season we were consistently winning the ball back so much higher up the pitch than we are now. This means shorter distance to goal on the counterattacks – less players to beat, easier to play it along the ground. We also had more dynamism in the midfield to link attack and defence. Compare that to now and we are winning the ball back deep and firing long balls up, which 9 times out of 10 we don’t win. Not only f**king boring, it’s ineffective.

I think we saw this compounded when we weren’t playing Okazaki as he is the only one of our front 4 that seems willing to drop in and give Drinkwater an outlet along the ground. Admittedly Oka has made a big difference, and in the games where King or Amartey have played well, we have looked good. But neither of those two have the attributes of a player that will make our system work. Mendy might (albeit in a different way to Kante), but it’s disappointing that we went into this season with so much resting on that. January isn’t far away.

With respect to 2: It’s understandable. Even as a fan, trying to get up for games after the dizzy heights of last season is not easy. The buzz has gone, the magic has gone. The last 20 odd games of last season there was so much riding on it, it was exhausting and scintillating. This season was never going to be the same and right at the start of the season any potential success feels completely intangible by comparison. If the fans can feel that then is it fair to expect that the players aren’t feeling some of that as well? It would go some way to explaining our contrasting fortunes in the PL vs the CL where the novelty factor on motivation is clearly there.

Take the edge off some of the great performers and I think you see some players performing more true to their ability. Morgan looks very much like our captain of previous seasons, Vardy is looking like he couldn’t hit a barn door. Some people like to point towards the bumper new deals and hype machine that has surrounded them – I think that’s a little simplistic, it’s clear they want to play better, but how could they possibly get back to that state from last year? It’s going to take some time and patience.

The mainstream thinking seems to be that we have prioritised the Champions League, and since we are topping our group, yet to concede a goal, then things are okay. But here’s the thing; we have been poor in the Champions League as well. I was at both the Copenhagen games and we looked completely bereft of ideas. Far too many long balls, a complete lack of identity. Copenhagen were tidy in possession but their end product was absolutely awful. A better team would have certainly punished us. The other thing that struck me as odd about last Wednesday’s fixture in Denmark was that we rotated quite a lot, and looked very much like we were content with a point. So all this talk of using up energy in the Champions League… well it’s not really justified when you rest players and give so little to come back happy with a nil nil, is it?

I’m trying not to get too carried away. I think a lot has been made about our bad results, but point for point (before this weekend) we weren’t much worse off than the corresponding fixtures last year, and people forget how tough our start has been. That said, a win on Sunday would have taken us up to 8th, 3 points off the top 6 – it would have looked very much like we were back on track. I’d add to that by saying I thought we were well on top at the point Drinkwater slipped. Save for an unfortunate individual error I think that would be that would be the scenario we would be discussing. However, it is the manner of the defeats that has been worrying.

The real worry is that we have come to expect better and fans expectations are a worrying thing. Much is made of the atmosphere at the KP, but quite often it only takes a shaky first half for the moans and groans to come out. There are whispers now about our form, and whether Ranieri is capable of digging us out of it. Frankly I’d be so disappointed if we were even considering a change at the top. After the credit they have built up from last season that man should never get sacked. But football fans are a fickle bunch and lots of them genuinely believed we should be challenging for the title again this year.

Fortunately we have another transfer window in which it very much looks like we will be able to offer Champions League football. I sincerely hope we use that to recruit a solid partner for Drinkwater that suits our style, as well as some defensive cover/improvements. We need to be more adaptable as well – it fine acknowledging what a difference Kante made, but knowing that we didn’t replace him well, should we really be going into games against Liverpool, Chelsea and United away playing a 442 without him? Clearly no. I also think the hangover from last season will dissipate, the core of last year is there and I think they will know they are capable of better than this. We are showing that in spells, hopefully it doesn’t take long before we start showing it consistently.
Ben (Really miss being in the winners section every week though), LCFC

There are six Premier League pillars
Excellent mailbox yesterday where the discussion moved to the best player in the premier league. Blessed as the league is with talent, it is only fair to also have a Tier-II which also consists of brilliant players like Payet, Firmino, Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Koscielny and Alderweireld. Tier-I, the crème de la crème, would only be Aguero, Coutinho, Ozil, KDB, Hazard and N’Golo Kante.

Tough to pick between these “demi-gods” but my vote has to be Sergio Aguero. Proven consistency over several years and possibly the best striker in world football today. To top it all off, he has given us the greatest moment in football memory. So all the way it is Agueroooooooooooo!
Rohit, India, LFC

Some defensive shouts for best player
Micki has gone for the classic forward-only players in his best player in the PL list, which is fair as generally they are the ones who get the goals, assists and plaudits. I’m surprised he left out Alexis however, who has to surely be in the top 5 attacking players in the PL (though this just shows how subjective lists such as these are).

To put a different spin on it, I’ve opted for more defensive-minded players as they do not usually get the glory that forwards do.

De Gea – top 3 GK in the world, kept Utd alive so many times in last couple seasons

Koscielny – best CB in the league

Alderweireld – 2nd best CB in the league

Mousa Dembele – on his day, unplayable

Kante – absolute beast and the main reason why Leicester won the title last season (more important than Vardy and Mahrez)

Fernandinho – revelling in front of the defence for City this season, getting better and better
Dylan (not looking forward to international break)

Toby Alderweireld is a hero
Very well constructed list Micki, but again doesn’t it feed into the problem of not recognising great defensive work? The league hasn’t exactly been set alight defensively when you look at some of this weekends scores, but Alderweireld had only conceded 9 fouls by April last season.

Nine. Up until April.

The word you’re looking for is MENTAL.
Jon (love a bit of defending), Boston

A good one on the relegation battle
Some early thoughts on the relegation stakes:

*Hull City. An amazing comeback against Southampton, but it’s hard to see them surviving. They usually sit back, allowing opponents to come at them, but are way too easy to pass through. Michael Dawson and Curtis Davies are decent defenders, but can’t do it all themselves. Add a Championship-level set of strikers, and it doesn’t look good at all. Every statistic available suggests they’re the worst team in the division. Maybe try pressing a bit more?

*Burnley. Turf Moor has become the proverbial fortress, with Steven Defour, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, and Sam Vokes exceeding all expectations. The switch to 4-5-1 has been the key. But the away form is still pretty poor, and as good as Tom Heaton is, their opponents’ very low conversion rate won’t last forever. Opponents are creating 1.27 more big chances than Burnley per game. They’re a long way from safety, but nothing beats points in the bank, and they’ve certainly got the battling attitude.

*Swansea City. As everyone but Eddie Howe will tell you, you need defence to survive, and the Swans don’t have it. Short of an infusion of element Allardycium, I don’t see how that changes. There are some genuine wingers in the side, there’s Gylfi Sigurdsson, and up front Borja has potential, although I’m less confident about Fernando Llorente. But something special is needed to keep the back line solid, and I wish I could say Bob Bradley could provide it.

*Middlesbrough. Now here’s some defence. Boro play it very tight, which makes them hard to beat. Like Burnley, they have a probably unsustainable opponent conversion rate, but they’re allowing many fewer shots. In attack, not much going. Alvaro Negredo’s great performance against Manchester City highlights how uninspired he’s been most times out. Gastón Ramirez and Adama Traoré flicker here and there. But given the defence, it’ll probably be enough.

*Sunderland. The stats show they’re creating more quality chances than the rest of these sides, and the presence of a revitalized Victor Anichebe alongside Jermain Defoe means they might be able to score some goals. The defence badly needs stabilizing, but (here’s that name again) Big Sam has shown it can be done. Jordan Pickford is good enough in goal. So it’s up to David Moyes to get the most out of Lamine Koné and friends. Difficult, but not impossible.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

On Newcastle
Having read Jack (International breaks really need to do one) Manchester’s response re:Newcastle’s current squad, he makes a very good point and something I have considered previously.

To answer the question, “how many of the signings made by Newcastle would be useful in the Premier League?” I would say it’s 50-50. First off, I want to clarify that I’m not expecting NUFC to win the league at a canter- there’s a long way to go and some very good sides to overcome between now and the end of the season. Second, I think this time will be the making (or not) of certain players including the likes of Gayle, Ritchie, Hanley, Clark, Diame. If these players continue play well over the course of the season, there is no reason they cannot carry the confidence accrued into the PL.

On other signings, Isaac Hayden is young and full of potential, he’s tall and strong and will be one to watch in the future; Yedlin is gaining valuable experience and playing time; Daryl Murphy while adequate back up for the moment is not PL quality (4 PL goals while at Sunderland is hardly inspiring) so he might find himself out on loan (only on a 2 yr contract as it is) IF NUFC go up.

New signings aside, I would also hope that Mitrovic benefits from a full season of battling and scoring goals, and developing a winning mentality so that he reaches his potential. I would also like to see Perez reaching the next level as far as his development is concerned.

Overall, I think Benitez has a squad with huge potential and I don’t think an overhaul of players would be necessary at the end of the season regardless of whether we’re promoted or not. Just a couple of signings, perhaps a higher calibre striker and an additional playmaker would do it for me.

A reminder of some of the key players’ ages for lazy readers:
Shelvey, Hanley (24)
Lascelles, Mitrovic (22)
Colback, Anita, Clark, Ritchie (27)
Perez, Yedlin (23)
Hayden (21)
Gayle (26)

That’s a decent mix of players with PL experience and youth and they’ll all have a full season of Championship football under their belt, so physically they’ll develop as well. All this and we’ve got Benitez at the helm. Times are good. Given that, at times, the football under Schteve was as hard to look at as well… Schteve, and the amount of stick I got from my mates about how shite we were, I think I’ve earned a little time to smile and be a bit smug over Newcastle’s current situation!
Jon, NUFC, Guangzhou, China

Disappointed in Storey’s Winners
Hi all at the football 365 office, I hope you are all doing well.

The Winner and Losers section has always been my favorite thing to read on football365.com. However I must say your latest edition has disappointed me.

Your attention was a lot more on Manchester United and Liverpool when they both had wins against sides that were lackluster and very different in quality. Whereas Chelsea had a blow out vs an Everton side that had the second best defence in the EPL and they barely get a mention!

I have huge respect and admiration for your site, it really is a gem amongst other severely below par sport websites but I do notice a hint of Chelsea bias at times. Maybe it’s just me and maybe I’m right, however I trust you guys can keep it professional.
Z, Hibernating Blue
(MC – I mean we did write this on Pedro, and include Diego Costa and Eden Hazard in Winners. And last week’s Winners and Losers went big on Chelsea too. But sure, we’re biased. As ever.)