Match Day Thread vs Liverpool in the Naughty Moose Cup

The PL games lost with Buendia stat is far higher. We need to move on.

 

I was wondering if Kabak and Normann would receive an add on as part of their loan package for featuring in the Caraboo Cup ?

May have saved a few quid last night

 

Every game!

 

Exactly, which is why DF's policy has almost always been to "ignore the noise". Which makes what happened pre-Watford most unusual. You think there's nothing to it, I disagree.

 

Well, that makes a change Robbie.

The reporter on that article described it as "impassioned" rather than a rant which usually implies shouting. There's nothing to indicate that DF was speaking any differently than his normal calm voice.

 

It's not how it was delivered that's telling, but that it was delivered at all. Unlike in Conan Doyle's story, the mystery in this case is that the dog barked.

 

Occam’s Razor again: as with the beginning of last season, Farke knows that the biggest immediate risk is losing the fans. If he can do a bit of performance art for the fans and to galvanise a few younger players, that might just buy him some time for players to gel and a bit of luck to turn, then we get momentum.

If it doesn’t, then the fans turn irremediably and before long the players lose all confidence and we are basically relegated before Christmas. He will have lost nothing by the “rant” or “impassioned speech”, whatever we like to call it.

That’s the simplest explanation. Anything more seems to be imputing an understanding of what is going on behind the closed doors of the dressing room and ignoring what has happened before in tricky situations.

 

A massive loss in confidence is the start of a slippery slope. We have all seen this before. It’s often quoted as to why a team is underperforming, but inevitably a team slips from view with few exceptions. We hope that our team will gather momentum in the next few matches from a low base, but is there a reality in this scenario?

 

Re: Farke's criticism of Tzolis for taking the penalty: Who was the designee, and why did Hanley and others allow a 19 y-o new player to take the penalty. It looks like Tzolis got public rollicking while others were responsible as well.

 

Idah was designated penalty taker apparently.

 

Thanks, DH.

 

DF did also say that he was "unbelievably disappointed" with his senior players for apparently not knowing who the designated penalty taker was. DF doesn't like insubordination -- whatever the player's age, but the public roasting handed out to Tzolis seems ill-judged to me. (Placheta is another youngster who's been publicly pilloried; not done much for his confidence.)

 

Given your predisposition to criticise everything DF does, Robbie, you have ignored the other factors like supporters being entitled to know that Idah, not Tzolis was the designated penalty taker. One minute you're criticising Farke for supporting his players against social media criticism and the next minute you're criticising him for being critical of a player who has gone against his instructions.

I seem to remember you taking a similar position regarding the behaviour of Cantwell and Buendia a year ago. Tzolis may be young, but he's playing a man's game at the highest level and being paid a fortune for doing so. His action let down his teammates and everyone else as well.

As for Placheta, he came out very publicly to say that he didn't want to go on loan because he wanted to stay and keep learning and developing under DF.

 

I don't think so. Chapter and verse on that one please. And it really isn't true that I criticise everything DF does. My criticisms have always been about specific issues, almost entirely to do with DF's failure to produce a team which can defend properly. He's had four years to do it, and we are still leaking goals as badly as ever.

 

DF has found a suitable punishment for Tzolis:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwi...tzolis-daniel-farke-liverpool-penalty-8362332

The anger of the players at halftime was also a telling factor which DF had to deal with. The Greek meal 'punishment' is a clever way to resolve the issue and include an element of team building as well. Perhaps we should follow the example and conclude this amicably.

 

Job done, nothing to see here, let's move on.

 

Yeah, nothing to see here -- like the scene of a traffic accident after the wreckage has been towed away, the ambulances and police cars gone, and the spillage cleaned up. Just a bit of sand left on the road .......

 

I hope you don't become too despoilment if we get an unlikely victory at Goodison Park this afternoon.

 

We might need to stage an intervention, I fear.

 

Tzolis to score from a penalty maybe?