Prompted by a post on another thread, can we define some of the phrases used in football? Hold up player -- A hold up player is one that feigns injury or delays returning the ball when a team is winning and wanting to run down the clock. Box to box player -- One that has passed his prime and now trades as a summariser for different TV companies. Goalkeeper. -- Someone that couldn't make the grade, so keeps a tally of team stats, targets and achievements. Striker -- One that makes sure the rules are adhered to. See left winger. Target man -- the one who is the focus for blame when the other players can't get the ball up the pitch. Manager -- One of 1,000's that sit round the TV or sometimes a pitch and shout "get it up field" or "boo".
Holding midfielder. -- a player that pulls back the opposition player if it looks like they could be through on goal.
He's got a good engine: he recently spunked a couple of week's earnings on a new Ferrari. Hugging the line: indulges in recreational drugs.
RWB - A one footed player that is so one footed. Make the right birth their own. Sometimes deployed at LWB which makes them look uncomfortable, ungainly, and not very good.
Journeyman - a player so utterly bereft of talent that he gets just a little time at a club before they realise their error and promptly send him on his way to the next one. Utlity player - one so average in every single position that he would've been better off in a career as a gas or electric engineer.
'He never lets anyone down or Mr Reliable' Crab's journeyman (see above) but this is mk2 that the club keeps because they either can't get shut of him or have a small budget.
Or if you'd prefer 'doping and betting scandal hits English football this week'. Incidentally, I do love the way here it's reported as a betting scandal - which it is - but when the exact same thing happens abroad, the UK media report it as match fixing.
Topical... sportingintelligence @sportingintel Antonio Conte was due in court about match-fixing today. Instead named Chelsea manager.
Just to provide the actual facts about this, he was due in court for not reporting when somebody approached him as boss of Siena to get involved in match fixing. There is zero accusation of him being involved in match fixing and he has never been accused of match fixing. Footballers and managers in England are regularly approached about match fixing and don't report it.
He's accused of failing to report that he knew a match between Albinoleffe and Siena in May 2011 had been fixed – an omission which implicated him in the scandal, even though he was not directly involved in the match-fixing itself.
