Marseille enquire about Mapou

Apparently Marseille are offering £5million for Mbiwa. Not bad considering how poor he has been.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor.../marseille-set-make-mapou-yanga-mbiwa-7233479

 

Not sound reasoning for me on Caulker. Being in a relegated/underperforming team is not a basis on which to make a choice. If that was the case Everton would never have signed Jagielka or Lescott. They'd never have got McCarthy. There are countless examples of picking up players from relegated or underperforming sides. We ourselves picked up Andy Cole despite being bulleted by Arsenal and Jonathan Woodgate when Leeds were struggling in the lower reaches conceding goals for fun. Sometimes good players play in bad sides. You can turn it around the other way with Caulker too, we actually have evidence of him playing well in a better side. He made 18 league apps for Spurs and was widely lauded, as they finished 5th.

Every signing "could" flop. Yeah he may have had a couple of bad games against Sunderland and Newcastle. However there were plenty of good ones. Whilst I accept Shola is a difficult one to understand, he's not the first is he? Shola has monstered John Terry on more than one occasion. I'd have loved to have him in our side for the last 10 years.

Mbiwa has not been unfairly treated, he just hasn't performed or lived up the billing. If he wants to stay he'll have to earn a place. I think Willo is fairly limited but he fully deserved selection ahead of Mbiwa. Mapou needs to look in the mirror and ask himself why and get to work. This constant red herring of Pardew favouring Saylor is nonsensical too. Pardew blatantly doesn't rate either of them, hence they are both linked with moves away.

 

Difficult to turn that down.

 

He hasn't ruined any of those players. Sissoko has improved. Gouffran has improved. Cisse lacks ability. HBA and Marveaux are a waste of space. Its just a complete falicy this "pardewed" nonsense and is just excuses for underperforming player or players who plain don't give a **** about the club.

 

Agree save for comment on HBA.

With HBA man management is extremely important probably more so than most other players. I do believe that HBA hasn't pulled his weight but has been very badly handled by Pardew in the last 12-18 months or so. With good man management HBA would be a potential star. No-one else at the Club has the same natural ability as HBA and is therefore worth more effort from the management team to get HBA to show the talent on the pitch.

Regular dropping of HBA, no long run in the team in recent times, bringing him on with 20 min to save a game and even expecting him to suddenly be a defender and constantly playing him in the wrong position (he's not a winger) are examples of the bad management HBA has been subjected to in the last couple of seasons.

Supermac was one of my favourites in the 1970's and he starred in a team which let him concentrate on his strengths (goalscoring) and not his weaknesses (defending). The reverse was true when he was badly managed and expected to defend and cover under Gordon Lee. The same principles apply to HBA. Lets play him in a position where he can attack and utilise his strengths and also don't slag him off if he fails to beat someone (it's not that easy, ask the rest of the team).

 

Hba had enough chances imo, pardew was pretty shrewd in bringing him back after the leg break and I was happy he was being slowly integrated into the team again. He doesn't seem to learn anything though its just headless chicken runs constantly, you are right in that he's not really a winger but then he's a gash number ten when he's been given that role.

Not saying pardew has been perfect in his treatment but bennis massively frustrating, I was shocked people thought he could potentially replace cabaye.

 

Improved since they got here? Hardly. And you think Sissoko is a winger? How are HBA and Marv a waste of space? Both have bags of ability. I bet you'd love James Milner

 

Most modern footballers don't give two ****s about the club. They care about success and their wage packet. The likes of Le Tissier who could have played for some of the best teams in the Europe but instead stayed with Southampton and basically kept them up season after season are long gone.

Also, Pardew doesn't give a **** about the club. If he did he would have resigned ages ago. He is a below average manager whose position is safe no matter how much he embarrasses himself or where he finishes as long it isn't relegation.

 

Swap him out for ayew. Hard working player with tons of ability and potential.

 

I thought Sissoko was a box to box midfielder until I saw him flounder in there in the PL. Might be worth another go. Certainly looked at his best on the right for us. HBA and Marv do have bags of ability. Football is about more than just ability though, its not football manager. You actually have to work, you actually have to look after yourself physically. HBA is a disgrace pure and simple. There is simply no excuse regardless of Pardew's management for a PROFESSIONAL footballer to be so over weight all the time. Its not only the manager he is disrespecting afterall, its us the fans. All said and done HBA can be productive on occasion, but he also loses the ball in dangerous areas with alarming regularity. He wants a free role...............that position died out long ago, it doesn't exist in modern football. Look at his contemporaries Ribery, Robben, Ronaldo, Messi. they are the top brass with more ability than HBA but work ten times as hard to boot. I am bored of the excuses made for him because he is a "fans favourite". They are hardly queing up round the block to take him are they? I wonder why. Why do you think Lyon couldn't wait to get rid, Marseille? Why do you successive French managers Blanc, Deschamps etc ignore him. Even taking the Pardew factor out, the evidence is stacked up against the so called wonder boy.

Marveaux is an absolute fairy, the archetypical fairweather player. Throw in the fact he is injured so regularly and keeps throwing hissyfits, he just isn't worth a wage. We took a chance and it didn't pay off.

Sissoko is a better player since arriving. He has more strings to his bow now while still having the ability he had before. The Gouff likewise, which he has commented on himself.

No thanks on Milner. Very limited. Give me a Cabella or the like anyday though. Someone who can produce the flair but couple it knowledge of how to operate in professional football. Someone who would never dream of turning up in the condition that HBA does. It makes me laugh how he takes the piss out of fans, yet they sing his name and hold him up as a saviour. Good luck with that!

 

Most modern footballers DO keep themselves in physical condition to play footballer though. They have that bit of professional pride. HBA has none. He says the right things in the press. People might buy that, I don't. I'd like Pardew gone, no doubt. I'd like HBA gone more though. They are all cancers eating away at the club.

 

Do you think HBA would struggle under Keegan?

 

Yes of course he would. Changing the manager does not make him thin or give a ****.

He would have got away with it more in the 90's though when the likes of Le Tissier, Ginola could still operate. Don't get me wrong I loved the game then, it was great to watch and it was lovely having those loveable characters who operated outside the norm.

The game is faster, fitter and stronger now though. I can't think of many (if any) players of that ilk. HBA was born at the wrong time, the game has left people like him behind. Hence all his managers have sought to get rid. They look at it in a very simplistic manner, do I spend a load of time on the fat talented guy who takes a lot of managing, or do I go for the guy is also very talented but doesn't need give me the same stress and understands the professional game.

 

I'd put Taarabt in the 'lazy fat bastard' category too.

 

Berbatov also.

 

As if to prove a point that you can't afford Fat Lazy Bastards in your team, Taarabt and Berbatov both played for Fulham the first half of last season and look what happened to them. Relegation.

 

Prime examples. Berba less so but still lazy. People often say "ah but do they need to work, their job is to create and score". The point is the two sides of the game are no longer mutually exclusive.

The fact is all sports evolve and strive to become better and better. The margins and methods of doing so become less and less as we do. So what was acceptable 10yrs ago is not necessarily acceptable today. Even in cricket where I think there is a far stronger argument to accept some bowlers just can't bat, there is a push from every single nation to get runs down the order. Even Glenn McGrath, probably one of the greatest of all time, decided late in his career he wanted to be better with the bat. He knew the game was evolving and the comical rabbit was no longer acceptable.

It really is a shame with HBA, there is a lot of talent there. Sadly a manager can't make him sort out the aspect of his game which is lacking. Professionalism comes mainly from the individual (though Pards hardly set an example at Hull!). HBA still plays schoolyard football, and turns up for work out of condition. You can't really do either in football nowadays.