Damage to whom - the players. Really? Next thing you'll be telling me is that every single one of the players believed the utter bullshit that Rogers spouted to the media on a daily basis. What about the damage to the credibility of Rogers with respect to the players with all of that blarney. If we can all tell its nonsense then so can the players. At least ML is keeping it simple and honest. DPJ ... I don't think that speaking simply and honestly about the disparity within the league is negative. Have you actually watched our matches. He has players trying to do things out on the field that ML could do without thinking about it, but is a big ask for some of our players. Yet they have the confidence to keep on trying it even when it sometimes (probably too often for comfort) doesn't come off. As ML has said recently, confidence on the field is not something we lack. When you calmly play the ball out from your own penalty area, one and two touch, with the opposition pressing hard .... that's confidence, that's belief in yourself and most importantly in the team mates that you are depending on in that moment to make it happen with you. There is nothing negative presenting itself in those situations on the field. And we do this whether we're playing Manchester City, United, Arsenal or the club currently propping up the table. What you are assuming is happening and what is actually happening on the field are two different things. I don't think our players need anymore motivation to play they way we play, they already believe in themselves. ML's pitch side presence ???? .... Just because he doesn't throw a Pardew-like fit on the touch line or write in a little notebook like Rogers or .... whatever. When a manager is losing his **** on the touch-line he's not watching and most importantly he's not thinking, which means he's not figuring out the adjustments that need to be made in the game.
If the worst the habitual dissenters can come up with is the transforming of simple honesty into "negativity" or carping about "pitch side presence" and "motivation" when our players pass one-touch triangles out from our own box against the likes of City ... you're grasping at straws to be negative.
Im with Yankee, there is no surprise that our players tend to play better against the big clubs than we do with the smaller clubs, Man City fans said we were the best team (bar Munich) to visit the Etihad, after we lost 3-0, thats down to confidence, thats not a team afraid of the big clubs, that same Man City team got away with a 3-2 win at our place too. We have, been unlucky with results, but it doesn't mean we haven't deserved anything from the games. You are all on about psychology , then you best start watching our on pitch performances to see your views on psychology are a lot different to the reality of what is actually happening on the pitch, maybe just maybe, ML is streets ahead, and you just do not know it yet, and your even falling for his psychological chat. Because instead of thinking you cannot beat them, your raring to stick up for your beliefs to beat them. I am afraid, your just being given a lesson.
If you're talking psychologically then there's another way to look at it... ML says we're in two leagues and we can finish top of our own league then that's inducing (realistic!) confidence but also, by saying the teams in the "other" league are better (a fact by the way, I love his honesty), then he's saying there's no pressure on those games. So we can go out more relaxed and have a crack, nothing to lose
Go and ask Tim Flowers or Kevin Keegan about the psychological effects of comments made by SAF to the Press.
Well it hasn't been shown in our results against the top sides this season - and that is a fact. It is one thing performing - it is another thing winning. The bottom line, and the basis of this thread, is that Huw appears to be unhappy with the comments and as chairman of the club he is entirely in his rights to say so.
Another aspect to this debate is the external effect. Huw and the Board have a difficult job attracting top players to the Club. If our manager is stating that we have no chance of finishing in the top 8 they will never come.
I don't think I have ever heard that we have no chance of finishing in the top 8 out of Laudrup's mouth
Id llike to know why Huw Jenkins knows so much about about football that he expects us to be taking points off the big teams but as chairman doesnt know the date of the recall clause in Ki sung s contract !! Laudrup would have been well within in his rights to use that and score petty points against huw if he wanted,lets be honest there is alot Laudrup could say about how we run the club,differene is he keeps alot of it to himself ! Jenkins is starting to look like a bitter fool the more he puts words to the media,he is entitaled to say what he likes but it shows a lack of class from me .
Laudrup is a very canny individual and far more ambitious and politically savvy than he likes to let on. Paints a wonderful picture of himself in the media but behind closed doors he's a very different animal.
I don't think it's any secret that a bloke like laudrup isn't a canny bloke,it's the reason why he uses tutu to make the waves and beat the drum,he bangs it to laudrups tune at the end of the day doesn't he? There is no reason to think laudrup isn't one clever guy, all the more reason for hue to keep his own council,he makes himself look a bit silly in the media while laudrup keeps dignified. Behind the scenes there is obviously friction but I can't really see the point of a small time business man with a track record of failure in business using his program notes to take cheap shots at the manager,what is the point?it raises un nessercery talking points and creates a negative vibe when we need everybody fighting together to progress the club on and off the field. If they don't like each other or there are serious issues how much of it needs to be played out in the press? We are better off hearing nothing as opposed to reading about things the chairman and manager differ over. I love hue and the board but sometimes I get the feeling they like a bit too much attention for what they do, the Ki saga proves they are a million miles away from being competent,if I was them I'd be keeping a low profile not talking about the manager and pretending they know better.
Where is the Supporters' Trust in all this. We have a member on the Board. We need to start playing our role. We cannot have this petty amateur hour either in the media or in our own club program. The Club is a bigger entity than any individual at any level within the Club. The Trust must be reminding the key parties of this.
That article is from the 13th of May last year just before the last game against Fulham. In the article Laudrop says that we are garrenteed 9th but could finish 8th if we beat Fulham and Man U win.
Haha , must try harder pgf .100% with you on this yankee , Time for Huw to sit back and think twice before engaging his mouth . Great chairman , just getting to far ahead of himself . 11th place and we haven't taken a major scalp in the premier yet , it's a good thing were getting important points elsewhere ---- Huw!
OK ... let's be honest and not unintelligent here. At that point in the season the league had bifurcated into two groups of clubs with a healthy and insurmountable gap between them. We can debate all we want the root causes of why the league ended up the way it did; but it is happening again this season to date and even more so. With this structure crystallizing out, clearly there are two "leagues" within the one Prem league. Laudrup was making the intelligent point that if we can't win the whole thing, we can at least be the best our of current peers. Context is everything. It's going to play out the same way this year. The top "league" have already split off. In the "bottom" league we are currently second - with a couple of clubs (Newcastle and Southampton) kicking like crazy but will probably sink down to us or we will rise to meet them. Villa are an aberration at the moment. The major factor that drives our success given our small squad is player fitness, i.e. freedom from injuries and wear-n-tear fatigue. We have sufficient talent, organization, and leadership to play the top-tier competitively when we are totally healthy and win our share of games. We have sufficient talent, organization, and leadership to play the top-tier close when we are hammered by injuries as in December / January this season when we had to play the top-tier as a cluster of games. We can out-play the bottom-tier any day of the week - however, as Chelsea v West Ham illustrated last night, even the dross on a given day can stop one of the top teams in top-tier from playing - and if the dross can stop Chelsea they can also stop us. This means we need to be a tad less rigid in our treatment of Laudrup and the squad, on field and off field, and appreciative that given the resources available and the impact of injuries we're doing pretty good. Or, put another way, people can choose to discount and deride Laudrup the same way they did Sousa, without any regard for the situation and outcome, but Laudrup is extracting the most value out of what he has been given in the face of significant degrees of difficulty - just as did Sousa. How many top class coaches are going to keep coming here when we seem to go out of our way treat such class with such disdain and play amateur / petty hour.
Spot on yankee top post . Nobody is persfect of course but i get the feeling huw struggles with people that are not concerned with being liked or disliked ie, Sousa and Laudrup !! Brenda and Judas bobby liked to be touchy feely and kiss arse at the right times probably saying things like "huw did anyone tell you your probably the best chairman in the whole world ever " etc,etc Im just getting tired of the club being run ropey, it seems that perhaps our saviours are living on past glories a bit too much these days,nothing wrong with basking in the glory of what has been acheived but we are living in the present not the past ! As i said before,when the board can get a contract correct and learn how recall clauses work and not give away free tickets to the DVLA while the faithful get fck all then they can sit and judge others . What ever Laudrups faults are they are not terminal, i just feel that our board need cool heads and need to be professional in helping the manager with what ever they can give him . Looks like Tutu was right all along regarding the board
