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	<title>Football quotes, humour and opinions - dangerhere.com &#187; Opinion</title>
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		<title>Toothless Arsenal bitten again</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/toothless-arsenal-bitten-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/toothless-arsenal-bitten-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:19:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danger Here</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dangerhere.com/?p=2889</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For Arsene Wenger, this was the chance to prove to his club&#8217;s critics and to the players under his control at Arsenal that the Gunners really are worthy of being considered likely candidates on odds comparison sites for the Premier League title this season. With Patrice Evra stating earlier in the week that Manchester United had nothing to fear from a weak Arsenal side that is currently undergoing a period of &#8220;crisis&#8221;, last night was the chance for Wenger to lead his team to a victory that would not only hand the North London side an advantage in the Premier League table standings but also finally show that the players so often laughed off by opponents as light-weights are able to compete against the big boys of the league. Wenger must, therefore, be scratching his head in bemusement today after the reality that played itself out on the pitch last night. Arsenal shot themselves in the foot once again, proving to all those observing their efforts on Sky Sports that they&#8217;re still not capable of turning impressive possession statistics into the stats that count: goals. With Arsenal enjoying the majority of possession at Old Trafford, they barely registered a shot on target and Edwin Van der Sar was left a mere bystander for the majority of the evening. Perhaps more worrying for Wenger was the desire and hunger shown by the United players compared to that displayed by the Arsenal starting eleven. With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, along with Evra, showing that they&#8217;re prepared to do whatever it takes to keep a clean sheet and help their team record a crucial victory that leaves them favourites in the fixed odds, the sort of team spirit needed to win tight battles such as that seen last night was absent from an Arsenal side that contained several players who looked like they couldn&#8217;t care less what the score-line was at the final whistle. With Arsenal also notching up the fouls across the pitch and Andrey Arshavin guilty of going down softly on more than a couple of occasions, Wenger can surely no longer claim that Arsenal are bullied off the pitch by teams in the Premier League without being ridiculed. If Chelsea manage to return to form over the next week or so and travel to the Emirates full of confidence after Christmas, the results for toothless Arsenal could be frightening.]]></description>
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		<title>Pulis stays focused on survival</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/pulis-stays-focused-on-survival/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/pulis-stays-focused-on-survival/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:58:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danger Here</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dangerhere.com/?p=2850</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tony Pulis is a realistic man. He knows that Stoke City can never take their Premier League status for granted. He also knows how hard he has to work to ensure his team continue the excellent form they have shown over the past couple of years. This is why he is keeping his aims for this season as simple as possible. He says that despite sitting in 8th position after a home draw with Manchester City, the main target for his side is to ensure they remain in the top flight. The Potters boss said: &#8220;I&#8217;ve always said that it was a three-year plan coming into the Premier League. If we maintain Premier League status for a third year, then we can really push on.” As ever with teams like Stoke, the 40-point barrier is one they would like to pass as soon as possible. It is extremely rare that a team gets relegated with 40 points or more, after all. The quicker they get there, the more chance they give themselves of a respectable top-half finish too. So, you can see why Pulis’ initial aim is to work towards survival. There is no reason why they won’t achieve this either. At the very least, Stoke will finish fourth from bottom this season. They are an extremely difficult team to beat and have their own style, but with Sanli Tuncay, Kenwyne Jones and Matthew Etherington, they have some classy players too. The whole squad will always work for each other, never give up on a result and consistenly wear their Stoke City Football Shirts with pride. The fans are always very vocal too and they have a team to be proud of. This weekend they have a trip to Wigan to contend with as they look to consolidate their place in the top-half of the Premier League table.]]></description>
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		<title>Money madness and unwanted cups</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/money-madness-and-unwanted-cups/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/money-madness-and-unwanted-cups/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:08:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Danger Here</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dangerhere.com/?p=1165</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some have too much for their own good&#8230;.. The season is barely over and already the transfer madness has begun with a select few clubs (and their billionaire owners) touting obscene amounts of money. It’s like a high stakes poker game with likes of Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour and Florentino Pérez sat on the top table rabidly raising the stakes to unprecedented levels. Read More&#8230; Let’s start with Man City. Mark Hughes had had an Arab wallet bulging with cash burning a hole in his pocket for months now and he wasted no time in snaring Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for £12 million quid. Yes this is the same Gareth Barry who wanted to play Champions League football &#8211; Yet City aren’t even in the Europa League and at 28 Barry can hardly argue it is a long term ambition. The logic? Well it’s amazing how things can change with 80-100k a week wafted under your nose. Over in Spain and Florentino Pérez is back which, of course, means a return of his infamous Galacticos, an annual circus whereby Madrid pay obscene amounts of money for the current world player of the year. This is regardless of whether that player will fit into the side and the opinion of the coach, who is clearly just a yes man in Perez’s expensive game of fantasy football. Next on the list is Kaka, who will cost the GDP of a small country at £60 million with sulky Portuguese Ronaldo next in line. More evidence that Perez has more money than is good for him is the curious clause agreed last summer whereby Real have to pay Man United £20 million if they DON’T sign Ronaldo by the end of the month. I’ll leave you to work that one out. The madness of King Tony. Is he hearing voices in his head? Either that Tony Adams has come up with a novel way of finding employment &#8211; make up an elaborate back-story involving a close friend and a fabricated “recommendation”. Adams: &#8220;When Celtic approached Wim [Jansen] he very kindly said that Tony Adams was the man they needed to go and get. &#8220;I really appreciate and I&#8217;m really thankful that there are people in the game who are batting for me and putting me up for the jobs.” Wim Jansen: &#8220;I&#8217;m not interested in the Celtic job. I don&#8217;t know anything about it. “I have never suggested anything about Celtic.&#8221; Nice try Tony. Salt in the wounds. Fresh from an FA Cup final defeat Evertonian wounds won’t have been lifted by the comments of John Terry last weekend who gave us an insight into his thoughts when he was lifting the Cup. &#8220;Yes, I did think &#8216;Wrong cup&#8217;&#8230;. at the back of my mind, I was hoping I could rewind and that it was the Champions League trophy.&#8221; Beaten by a team who didn’t even want to win, nice.]]></description>
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		<title>Kaka move makes City laughing stock</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/kaka-move-makes-city-laughing-stock/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/kaka-move-makes-city-laughing-stock/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chef</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dangerhere.com/?p=755</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Poor old Man City, no one seems to take them seriously at the moment, writes Tom Mallows A host of footballing names have taken it in turns to slag the club off after their admittedly ridiculous bid to sign Kaka for a trillion pounds a week fell flat on its face. Even Kaka himself had a dig according to the Mirror: “Not even for 3 seconds did I think about going to Manchester City” Oh dear. The Mirror also reports that the Brazilian held an impromptu party at his apartment to celebrate the end of City’s interest in him. Well narrowly avoiding having to play alongside Darius Vassell in a relegation battle is a good enough reason to celebrate than any. Former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi also put the boot in, just for the hell of it I think, after it was reported Robinho ran away from a City training camp and flew back to Brazil. The former Italy coach said: “Robinho clearly made a mistake: no one can leave Real Madrid to go to Manchester City” Fair enough. You may expect Flavio Briatore, as owner of QPR, to give a bit of support to another British club: “Even with Kaka Manchester City wouldn&#8217;t have gone anywhere. They were completely mad.&#8221; I guess not then. You can always rely on Wigan chairman Dave Whelan to have a no nonsense opinion to such matters, and he didn’t let me down. “If some Arabian fellas or oil-rich sheikhs come in and pay £90m for a player,that is totally barmy.” Too right Dave, and I bet they don’t like pies either. Meanwhile City executive chairman Garry Cook was keen to put the record straight about why they wanted to buy Kaka for over £100 million and were willing to pay him £500,000 a week: “The perception that we are out there throwing money around is simply not true.” Of course Garry. He continued: “We talked a lot about a humanitarian approach and also environmental issues and the statements his son would like to make around the world.” Kaka is that good he can stop the polar ice caps from melting obviously. Perhaps the madness will stop with City boss Mark Hughes? He seems a sensible kind of guy. On January the first he said this: &#8220;We&#8217;re aware of this assumption about the level of finance that we&#8217;ll throw at the project in January, but we still have realistic market values&#8230;It will not be to the extent where we are paying hugely over the market value.&#8221; Then, 21 days later: City sign Midfielder Nigel De Jong for £19 million even through they could have signed him at the end of the season for just £2.3 million. But despite all the madness that has gone over the past few days a few people still don’t get it. Take former City chairman David Goldstein for instance, who was apparently dead serious when he said this: “It wasn&#8217;t that long ago that Main Road was nicknamed the [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Torres purchase sates Gerrard ego</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/torres-purchase-sates-gerrard-ego/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/torres-purchase-sates-gerrard-ego/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:30:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chef</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dangerhere.com/torres-purchase-sates-gerrard-ego/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Despite the obvious qualities and iconic status of Stevie G, I&#8217;ve long held the belief that Rafa Benitez would be glad to see the back of him &#8211; well, until the arrival of Fernando Torres that is. Gerrard has always posed something of a problem for the Spaniard. Undoubtedly Liverpool&#8217;s best player for the past several years, Gerrard&#8217;s tactical indiscipline allied with a need to maintain a hero&#8217;s standing has often upset Rafa&#8217;s tactical tinkering. A peculiarity of the English view is that to be a world-class midfield player, you must play in central midfield (never mind that the likes of Zidane, Figo and others did their best work notionally to the left or the right). In England, you must be the fulcrum &#8211; the general. Gerrard and David Beckham are the two most recent English players of genuine quality to suffer from this general outlook. Take Becks. Despite being a truly world-class operator on the right &#8211; the conventional wisdom was that Golden Balls would eventually make the move to the middle where his genuine class would properly flourish. It was if this was a step forward &#8211; a natural progression. But Becks&#8217; move inside was a failure for him and for Madrid where he was playing at the time. Lacking the guile and quick thinking required to play that role, Beckham suffered a serious dip in form. The team malfunctioned and so did he. Gerrard has posed a similar problem for Benitez. Gerrard has many of the qualities required to be successful in that position. He has the engine, he has the power and the skill &#8211; but he does not have the game sense. Compare Gerrard&#8217;s distribution to that of Alonso (at his best) or Xavi at Barcelona. It is not that Gerrard cannot make a pass &#8211; we know he can. But his timing and decision-making are questionable. When Gerrard plays in the middle, Liverpool are laboured, ponderous and predictable. Driven by his urge to be in control, Gerrard drops deep &#8211; crowding his defensive midfield partner &#8211; demanding the ball from the back. By and large, opponents are happy to see him do this. The odd 60-yard ball apart, Gerrard does not really hurt opponents from such a deep position. His immediate reaction is to look long or cross-field. Spectacular when it works &#8211; easier to defend the more you do it in a game. Watch Xavi, Alonso, Fabregas &#8211; quick feet, quicker minds. They tend not to dwell, they move the ball &#8211; and move again in support. Every ball is not the killer ball &#8211; more often that not, their passing is used to create the foundations for a goal &#8211; keeping possession, probing, stretching opponents &#8211; eeking out openings. Gerrard lacks patience &#8211; he needs to make an impact. And he is well aware of the media &#8211; a media that insists that his best position is in the middle. Hence, Stevie&#8217;s pre-season grumbles on where he&#8217;d like to be playing. Don&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Take a Bow Mr Delaney</title>
		<link>http://www.dangerhere.com/take-a-bow-mr-delaney/</link>
		<comments>http://www.dangerhere.com/take-a-bow-mr-delaney/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:46:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chef</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[All hail the return of Little at Large. And he&#8217;s well pleased with Irish football&#8217;s most organised dandy, John Delaney. The process may have been tortuous but the result is inspiring. While Trapattoni’s name is obviously on the tongue of every football lover in the Emerald Isle, the name of FAI Chief Executive John Delaney also deserves to be uttered with respect. Rightly pilloried over the Staunton debacle, Delaney has shown that he learns quickly. He certainly pulled out all the stops not to make the same mistake again. The Staunton era was a shambles. Promising a world-class management team, and then producing the likeable, but totally inexperienced Staunton was risible. But then we were used to it. The FAI does not have a strong history in the area of managerial appointments. Even when it did hit the jackpot with Jack Charlton, it was more accident than design. The appointments of Mick McCarthy and Brian Kerr were par for the course. The cheap option some said – showing a lack of ambition. But it now seems that Staunton was the last straw. A 5-2 defeat by Cyprus and a last minute winner against San Marino were surely the lowest moments in Irish football history. It simply could not go on. But sacking Stan was always going to be difficult for Delaney – after all, he was instrumental in his appointment. He also promised publicly that Stan would see out his contract – there was a four-year plan, we were told. But so poor was the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, that the removal of Staunton two years in to his tenure was the only sensible option. Staunton’s failure was Delaney’s failure too – and many called for Delaney’s head to roll as well. But the chief exec stood his ground. And while his efforts to distance himself from the Staunton appointment were unedifying, everyone must now be glad that he did not give in to the clamour. A harsh lesson learned, and learned well. In Irish football and for the FAI, the international XI is critical. Without a strong domestic league, the Irish legionnaires who ply their trade in England and Scotland are the association’s one real money-spinner. For all the fine work that Delaney has done to create a proper structure for the development of the game at grassroots level and his efforts to put the eircom League house in order, at the end of the day, the association is judged by media and public alike on the success of the Boys in Green. It may seem unfair, but it is true. The appointment of the great Trapattoni is finally proof that the FAI now understands that it must give its only major cash cow a proper foundation for success. Delaney deserves huge credit for all of this, and his manoeuvrings since the Staunton sacking are worthy of note. Delaney and the FAI board were hammered for giving Stan the job in the first place – their selection serving [...]]]></description>
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