It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

What was refreshing tonight at Old Trafford was good solid no nonsense referring. For years the Mancs got away with murder, cheating moaning bastards. Well done Arsenal and Danny Welbeck!! Just make sure you rub it in and either yourselves or the Red Shite keep them out the Champions League :0)

PS and I will now join Moyesy in a large Johnnie Walker Red Label. Van God....Bollocks! :0)

Great ref - so an Arsenal v Liverpool final then! :-)

Van Gaal looks to me like he's on some serious medication permanently . Yep that was award winning reffing .

Oliver was poor. Welbeck dived trying to win a penalty - no card, Sanchez dived on the edge of the box and was rewarded with a free kick, Ramsey or Monreal brought down Di Maria from behind just outside the penalty area - nothing doing, Monreal's handball - another yellow not given, Bellerin on a yellow commits 2 bad yellow card tackles and stays on the pitch. No problem with the Manchester United punishments, the trouble is 6(7) cards to 2 is BS.

Arsenal didn't play world class football, far from it, they were given the win by Manchester United shooting themselves in the foot.

Moyes wasn't up to the job. Manchester United will get a ball playing CB, a RB - clearly doesn't trust Rafael, and add some steel to the midfield. They will then move the ball faster because there will be more confidence in the defensive side of their game. When Ferguson teams went through a poor defensive patch he became more cautious, returning to attack when he was happy he had a good foundation. Also likely to bring in a striker and wing/forward - out with RVP, Falcao, Rafael, Jones/Evans.

Chris Carson - is it something to take your mind off Everton?

Cheers,
KidA

Aye Kid A another few £100 millions should do the trick for Man U eh? And I don't really care what you say about Moyesy, he was shat on from a great height but laughing all the way to the bank. As for Everton second season syndrome in the Prem, jury out on Martinez.

Funny, the world and his wife were saying Manchester United had to spend big, they do and it's 'Ooh, look at them.'. The midfield hadn't been addressed for at least 6 years and the defence was ageing. I don't see how Moyes was shat on, other than appointing him in the first place. He was given a good contract and the money was there for players - he chose the wrong targets or took so long to make up his mind they were gone. He was sacked because there was no light at the end of the tunnel. You can be patient in bad times when you can see something down the line. For me that disappeared shortly after the Fulham game.

Cheers,
KidA

Looks like PSG deserved to win....well...the premiership has taken a knock in europe this season !

Chelsea were disgraceful, thought they could walk it. No urgency until it was too late. Well done PSG.
2517

Vile team.

Last British Team Standing In Europe Playing Tonight!


6pm ITV4

Dynamo Kyiv v Everton (Everton lead on agg 2-1)

COYB!!!

And then there was none. Alcaraz will never be an Everton player as long as I've got a hole in my arse.

The Demise of the Premiership in Europe :
That seems the case this year and we must hope that this is not a trend that is going to continue. we might be entering a phase like it was for a longtime for the French where their national squad picked from many clubs formed a very good team but at the same time time their clubs did not perform at all well in the european competitions.
England might be heading the same way;
I'm optimistic about Roy Hodgson having the ability to turn England into an excellent team !, but the clubs exiting at an early stage is a disaster !.
Partly the problem is that too many players are probably overpaid and far too many imports that in my view do not add quality to the premiership and the players are constantly being reminded by how good they supposedly are by the media : you see it suits everybody, the media because it fills bulletins up with nonsense , the papers like it because of the same reason, endless advertising...everbody's a winner except for the fans and the bad results that follow..
We are in a trough as far as great British players are concerned and this has been the case for a couple of decades now.....
Where are the Robsons..Keegans...Francis...Moores and Charltons..Bests...and many more of today ? : there aren't any ! that's the answer but the media will bullshit you otherwise...putting average players on a pedestal way before they have proved their worth...
The British and English public are and have been conditioned to "we are the best" when in fact we are now one of the mediocre nations as far as football is concerned...here's hoping RH can bring back some sturdy quality and imaginitive football to the national squad !..

One swallow does not make a summer

And as for the argument that this leads to a weakened England - what drivel

Who exactly do England look to from Chels, Pool, Arse etc

You may have been conditioned by the media that "we are the best" as you put it, but anyone with half an IQ knows otherwise and as for your closing comment - you're living in a dream world - it ain't gonna happen

The clubs are not as strong as they used to be but the England team can still perform well ....that's what I'm saying....

Remember the world cup 1990 !....English clubs were banned from playing in the european competitions.....if I remember correctly ManU around that time were back in the cup winners cup and won it first time round !....(not sure about the correct dates)...anyway.....the national side did ever so well in that world cup.....now....can our present side perform extremely well in the next year or so ? ....I believe so !.......anyway.....just a thought : a famous Italian manager said once when we were banned that the european competitions without English clubs were like a spaghetti without sauce !....

Burnley only 3rd from the top now... what a season -):

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/fair-play.html

Joe Say - 21 Mar 2015 08:49 - 4386 of 4389

One swallow does not make a summer

...

Nor does it make a relationship.

Sorry, I'm weak, couldn't resist.

---

Premier League clubs in Europe:

Poor defences, poor quality/technique when pressed - look at Arsenal against Newcastle United - managers outfoxed, players outfought etc.

England; can the attack make up for the defence?

Cheers,
KidA

Mersey Hard Men: Johnny Morrissey was Everton FC's winger with bite
JOHNNY MORRISSEY might not have been the first name on manager Harry Catterick’s teamsheet . . . although despite international class competition like Alan Ball, Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall, Tommy Wright, Gordon West and Brian Labone, he certainly wasn’t far behind.



But the Everton winger was ALWAYS first pick in five-a-side.

Team-mate Colin Harvey revealed that such was Morrissey’s formidable reputation as a Mersey hard-man, even in training ground kick-abouts, that people always wanted him on their side.

“He was a winger who famously used to terrify the full-back who marked him,” smiled his former team-mate.

“He definitely belongs in any list of Mersey hard -men, but because of that reputation people don’t give him enough credit for the skill he had – and he was very skilful.

“He was an excellent crosser, with both feet. He would get up and down and put a good shift in every game. He was a real team player and when you put those qualities together you had a very good footballer.

“But he knew how to tackle, too!”

Leeds United were considered the most ruthless team of that era, with teak tough players who verged on the cynical.

Names like Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and the formidable central defender Jackie Charlton were renowned for their ruthlessness.

In October 1970 Charlton famously appeared on a TV programme where he said he’d once kept a “little black book” of names of players whom he intended to hurt or exact some form of revenge upon.

Johnny Morrissey presumably figured on page one.

“We knew all about the so-called black book,” laughed Colin. “Johnny absolutely clattered Jackie one afternoon then went over to pick him up. As he bent over he muttered into his ear ‘you can put that in your ****ing book now!’

“It’s fair to say he wasn’t easily intimidated.”

That school of hard knocks attitude was imbued during Morrissey’s upbringing in the tough Scotland Road area of Liverpool in the 1940s and ‘50s.

His first club was Liverpool, but Morrissey’s value as a footballer was clear to all but the short-sighted members of the Liverpool FC board.

A £10,000 move from Liverpool to Everton for the diminutive dreadnought was sanctioned in September 1962 – without manager Bill Shankly’s knowledge.

When the incensed Reds boss belatedly discovered the deal had been done he penned a resignation letter and made it clear that any further transfers without his seal of approval would result in his exit.

Liverpool’s loss was undoubtedly Everton’s gain.

Morrissey made 33 appearances and scored eight goals in his debut season at Goodison, which culminated in the 1962/63 League Championship.

He missed only one league match in 1969/70 – claiming nine goals as Everton were crowned champions again – but it was the silverware Morrissey missed out inbetween times, the 1966 FA Cup, which played most on his mind.

The disappointment at missing out on that success perhaps explains his enthusiasm for accepting a nerve shredding role two years later – and underlined that Morrissey possessed mental strength as well as physical prowess.

The first penalty kick he ever took was in an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United – and it took Everton to the 1968 FA Cup final.

“I’d not been in the 1966 Cup winning side and was desperate to play at Wembley,” he later recalled. “It’s the one big occasion in a footballer’s life that he dreams about.

“I’ll never forget the circumstances during our preparations for that semi-final battle against Leeds were all against us.

“First of all Alan Ball was suspended. Then on the eve of the match poor John Hurst was ruled out with jaundice, which meant we had to call in reserves Tommy Jackson and Roger Kenyon, with Roger playing in the back four.

“Bally was our main penalty taker – well he took everything, corners, free-kicks, the lot! – and during our final workout on the Friday morning, the boss, Harry Catterick, asked which one of us was going to take over.

“None of the other lads were all that keen. So, because I didn’t suffer from nerves, I decided to volunteer and during practice that morning I had ten or a dozen spot kicks.

“During the game the turning point came just before half-time. Gary Sprake was put under pressure and trying to clear the ball he threw it straight to Jimmy Husband.

“Jimmy chipped it back into the goalmouth where Jack Charlton was forced to handle it to save a goal.

“I remember screaming for a penalty and when things had died down after the referee had pointed to the spot, I suddenly realised it was me who had to take it!

“Tommy Wright and one or two of the other lads couldn’t bear to watch as I put the ball on the spot.

“Despite the noise I didn’t panic. I took about a 12-yard run and sidefooted it with my right foot to Sprake’s left. He dived the right way but it went just inside the post.

“Seeing the ball go in was a tremendous experience. From that moment on we played a lot better and could have won comfortably in the end.

“It wasn’t until the Sunday that I appreciated just what an important penalty it had been. I watched a film of the game on TV. I saw how the crowd was going mad behind the goal and waiting for myself to take the penalty I broke out in a cold sweat.

“Even though I say it myself, it was the perfect penalty.

“I reckon if I’d missed that penalty I’d have been playing for Crewe Alexandra the following season!”

If he had, you can guarantee he’d have been the first pick in five-a-side there, too!



I was at Old Trafford that day in 68. I couldn't look when he took that penalty. I always thought he was underrated. He used to walk down the wing and beat everyone. Joe Royle will be ever grateful to him. And he had a fag at half time :0)