I am a huge baseball fan, because it is a pure sport that's fought hard but fair ... my team is the New York Mets (fcuk the Yankees, they are the Man U of baseball) and after getting to the World Series last year, great things have been expected from the Mets this year ... however, they have lost the core of their stars through injuries, and although they traded for a big hitter in Jay Bruce from the Reds, things have gone wrong and they have just lost three games in a row at home to the Diamondbacks, the bottom team in baseball so instead of fighting for a playoff place, the Mets now need an incredible run to get there ... after the third loss, a crushing 9-0 humiliation, it was quite eye opening to hear the Mets manager do a Monk and his words are very similar to Monk's ... read and compare, because this is the first time I have heard a manager in baseball call out his team in this way ... makes you feel Monk is on the right track: Terry Collins (Manager, New York Mets) .. post-match press conference "I don't care who's not here, there are no excuses here. These are Major League baseball players, I don't care where they came from or how they got here. The names on their back and on the front of their uniforms says they are Major League baseball players. It starts with them. And when you come and when you owe what you do (to the fans and the club), your responsibility to the fans, our fanbase, the organisation, and you yourself, (you have to show) the respect for this game to come out and grind it out. And yes, some guys are having a bad time, but you cannot say woe is me at this level. You cannot do it. Everybody's too good here (in the Major Leagues), nobody feels sorry for you because everybody's (in baseball) been humbled (at some point), and those who get out of it stay here (in the Major Leagues) a long time. Those who don't, you keep looking up and they get a little time here and a little time there but they don't stay. I want the one's who can stay! Starting tomorrow we're going to get after it (a playoff place), and those who don't want to get after it, I will find somebody else who does, because in Las Vegas (the Met's reserve team) there's a whole lot of guys who want to sit in this dressing room, and I'll find them. That's all I got to say." New York is a tough place to play baseball, and the Mets fans are on a par with Leeds fans regarding expectations and wanting blood from a stone. It's uncanny how both managers lost their tempers and basically said the same thing. You've got to want it, you've got to want that club shirt, and you have got to, above all, fight to the bitter end for every scrap. We have seen in recent seasons how soft Leeds have been, the effort on the field not matching the passion in the stands. This is what Monk is trying to achieve, for his players to understand the level of commitment Leeds fan show every game, and for his players to match that commitment on the field. The Mets are the same, very passionate fans and a brilliant away support (Mets fans here, there and everywhere). Terry Collins was basically saying that his players need to respect the passion of the Mets fans and match it on the field. If they don't he will get rid of them. About time highly paid sportsmen got lashed for taking their wages without actually earning it.
Billy - I love reading your posts, I think you have some great opinions even though I don't always agree with them. However... I fail to see any comparison with a successful baseball team and Leeds United. Managers and coaches are always calling out players, if you like the manager (not you personally) you say calling out a team or player is a good idea, if you don't like him it is destructive. Some players need an arm around their shoulder and they react to encouragement better than a kicking while others respond better with a verbal assault. I have nothing wrong with the 'soft belly' being removed, what I find strange is the fact Monk has made 8 new signings so that soft belly was surely partly his doing no? I'm not calling the players or agreeing/disagreeing that we have a soft belly just stating a fact that Monk has been given the luxury of bringing in 8 new faces and let's not forget, a whole backroom set-up I also have a concern that he changed formation against Birmingham in a panic and it still didn't work. I wasn't impressed that he picked an unfit and injured player in Berardi for the first game having to pull him off after 20 minutes leaving us in a position where a tactical change was near impossible. I will give Monk time but so far he has failed his first few tests.
Hi ristac ... should have said that the Mets have only won two World Series in their history, and their last appearance (prior to 2015) was in 2006 ... last year they were well beaten by Kansas, losing the World Series 4-1 ... however, this year they had big expectations with some great youngsters coming through (think Leeds) but injuries have robbed them of their experienced stars ... what Collins was saying, and it's exactly what Monk is saying, is that it doesn't matter one fcuking iota how young you are, how good you are or how experienced you are, the bottom line is you cannot be weak, you cannot panic and you cannot freeze on the big stage ... you are on the big stage because the manager believes in you and trusts you to go out and do your job, to try your best, give it your all ... sport at the higher levels is unforgiving, and so often you see the workmanlike teams beating the more talented teams because they put a shift in ... our players let us down because they stopped grafting, they didn't step up to the plate and fight for every blade of grass, they didn't battle to earn the right to win Terry Collins is a very respected manager in baseball today, and he clearly feels that his players are not trying hard enough so he has every right to embarrass them when they are earning millions every year ... Brum weren't better, they worked harder PS. So how did it go for the Mets the next day? They were at home to San Diego Padres, the second worst team ... first innings it's literally game over as the Padres shoot into a 5-0 lead ... by the third innings the Padres have scored 8 ... the Mets youngsters rally and end up losing 8-6, but at least they show some fight
I still think it's more down to fitness, knackered after an hour in only the second league match? Pathetic Our players may well be as passionate and full of fighting spirit as other teams but if they're underprepared because they weren't tested anywhere near enough in pre season then they'll simply run out of steam Does Monk have a fitness coach advising him? Why play Berardi when he hadn't played any football since May? The whole set up's a bit of a joke really
Fitness Forza? Don't think so, got through a tough 120 minutes at Fleetwood ... it seems you just don't want Monk (calling the set up a joke), and that's your right, but he is very good and once he sorts out the men from the boys we'll be much better ... the talent is there, the courage isn't, and that's a personal thing for each player
Yesterday I commented on Bournemouth having 10 preseason games... I just checked QPR to compare them to us, 7 games including PSV Eindhoven, FC Groningen and Watford, the rest were league one teams, not like us playing an Irish pub side. QPR played their first preseason game on 1st July Leeds played their first game on 13th July - We didn't report back for training until a week after QPR had played their first game. Garry Monk believes a limited schedule of pre-season games will pay off for Leeds United when the Championship term begins, saying a glut of fixtures would hinder his preparation for the new campaign. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....games-enough-for-us-says-garry-monk-1-8015432 I am not blaming Monk for the late start to training or lack of fixtures but his late appointment and the shambles we found ourselves in at the end of last season with nothing in place.
Never said I didn't want Monk If we'd had more friendlies against better opposition maybe Monk would have identified this "soft underbelly" sooner and brought in more suitable players to address the problem He'd have noticed the lack of leadership and the lack of fighting spirit in the team, but instead he's finding out while the season is already underway and costing us points in the process
Exactly and also.... Yes we all have different opinions and suggestions but there were two questions we were all asking 1) Who is going to be team captain, it must be someone we are going to sign as the club has no candidates 2) Who are we going to sign to replace Bamba and Bellusci To all our horror we find out that not only have we kept Bamba he is team captain!!
Loverboy, it's their game they can call it what they want ... there are many nationalities represented in the game, and there is a World Cup every four years if only football was run like baseball in the USA ... salary caps according to what your club's turnover is ... excellent youth system in place at every club ... fantastic junior school, high school and college systems in place funded by MLB, which means every club contributes in some way ... they have it sorted, making sure money is available to keep bringing talent through and ensuring competitive leagues every season it is also nigh on impossible for clubs to go bankrupt, and because of the wage caps it means every club has at least one star player in a season where each team plays 162 games not counting the playoffs, it's amazing how people keep watching ... it's a very well run game, with the fans at the forefront of everything MLB does the fans come first, not like the money grabbing Prem Lge who actually don't give a damn about you and I, nor do they care about the welfare of the game lower down the ladder, and most importantly they don't care about the welfare of the England national team Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
You are putting me in the difficult position of agreeing with LL by posting this ****e. Rounders for drug propelled middleaged fat men is a joke of a sport. Give your head a shake, its just a vehicle for flogging loads of piss weak ale and hot dogs to red necks, and its fecking tediously boring!
All of it with emphasis on it being boring, I would rather watch back to back matches of Darts, Snooker and Dressage than a baseball game.
