The idea isn’t remotely related to whether they get under the skin of opposition players or fans. It’s about whether they are good pros, good team mates, or are going to do anything off the pitch that takes attention away from them all doing their job well.
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I understand the idea in theory. It’s not applied evenly or consistently. It’s mostly guess work or grudges. Neither Conor Gallagher nor Simeone have broken those rules as you described.
Or rather, people on message boards with no idea about who people actually are beyond what they see on their tellies are not responsible for applying the principle.
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Don’t know where the feeling that Gallagher is a dickhead even comes from. He strikes me a more of a Hendo type of character and player. Not the most talented, but gives his all. It’s probably more his appearance, that’s also a thing these days.
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Henderson might have jumped himself up the dickhead scale over the last 12 months, to be fair.
I dont know where Gallagher being a dickhead comes from, think that might just be the irrational dislike of certain players people get. For some reason I used to hate Simon Davies as a kid, for absolutely no reason.
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So did I, but only because I grew up playing with him, was universally regarded as the better player yet he was the one playing for Petersborough.I was a very salty bitch for quite a few years
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We have two ideal son in laws in Gakpo and Gravenberch, I trade them for two south amarican players with the fire (read dickheads) of Diaz and Núñez every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Simeone doesn’t at times have the decency to shake his oppositions mangers hand
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I don’t want Simeone as our manager, but I will try to say a word in his defense.
Some of the perceived antics might be cultural. So for an Argentine of his vintage, getting one over on the opponent (such as faking injury when Beckham barely touched him in the World Cup) or holding a grudge and having a bit of machismo about it, might be different behavior to what would be normal for a northern European.
I don’t want to open up a cultural can of worms, and I certainly don’t mean to offend anyone with my cultural observation.
Simeone is probably in the same ballpark as Darwin Nunez, culturally and in terms of heightened emotion and so on. Darwin Nunez is ours, so we will love him and defend him.
I don’t agree, it always has been part of the culture of the game to shake an opponents hand after a match, there maybe the odd onfield situation, being spat at by an opponent, that may change this but saying it is cultural is beyond me, if it was the case then the whole Argentinian team wouldn’t shake hands at the end of the game when they lose.
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For me, this goes back to people like Ruddock, Bowyer, Barton and, of course, Diouf. Not all our players, but good examples.
We have learned that such characters are detrimental to the team and thus damaging to morale.
Bellamy came close, and Suarez was a one-off brilliant bastard.
Robbo can be snide, but he’s nowhere near the levels of shithousery of the guys above.
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He’s our Jack Russell terrier, the man has zero quit in him. I love him to bits for it.
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I’ve thought about this for a while, and still don’t know. It literally depends on who our new manager is, and what his view is on some of our players.
I think we’ll bring in one experienced CB, but then there’s Van den Berg to come back from loan. There’s Quansah, Konate, and VVD (contract needs sorting) too. If we used a back three, then I guess we could do with the numbers. If Trent moves into midfield, then VDB and possibly Ramsay (depending on his loan) could deputise with Gomez for Bradley.
I’ve also thought we could do with a pacy wide player, but then we have Gakpo, Nunez, Diaz, Salah, Jota, and to fill the final spot, it’s likely we’ve left that open for Elliott to cover, or a young player like Doak or Gordon (not to block development).
It’s tough to know, really. Endo’s been great this year, but a new manager may target someone younger with combative qualities. However, if Trent moves into midfield, we then get into territory of overkill.
After all that, I guess an experienced CB is the only definitive signing we may look at, and by Klopp’s comments about no top centre-backs being available in January, then it’s likely we’ll be looking at an elite level player as we begin to plan for life after VVD. If Salah leaves, then another elite attacker.
I wouldn’t expect major surgery in the summer window. I think the new manager will use the 24/25 season to work with the squad, and any real adjustments made in the summer 2025 window, rather than the upcoming summer 2024 window.
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We’ll see how the new managers sees it, but I could definitely see a situation where Quansah is part of the first team squad next season and we still bring in a new CB.
That doesn’t mean I see us going into next season with 10+ defenders or so, we don’t need that many.
Matip is not getting a new deal I don’t think, regardless who takes over.
Konate is definitely good enough to be here for the coming years, but still: a) has to prove he can play more than 30 games a season, b) can’t be without proper competition in the current “if I’m fit, I start, regardless of form” situation. He’ll never be class, but if he cuts out poor reactions like today, he can be very good.
Virgil is still more or less at the top of his game, but with him being 32 this summer and a year left, that’s something that counts. Cannot allow that our defence suddenly becomes problematic as midfield was last season.
What pleases me is that Quansah has actually looked somewhat better at LCB than at RCB.
Time to inject new quality, someone who would get into direct competition with Konate (and the rest of course) between that 2nd and 3rd spot and also potentially become an automatic starter of course.
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Except that he already is. He’s only 24, which is young for a central defender, and he’s better than Virgil was at that age.
The amount of crap spouted about Ibou on this forum is ridiculous.
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So what, Sterling was better than Salah in the first years of his senior career? Depends on circumstances also, this is a team sport.
Ibou is very good when he’s in form, what’s wrong about that. For a mostly physical CB up to the age of now 24-25, he should be playing more games. And also, he clearly isn’t a Virgil type of CB. Doesn’t have to be.
Of course.
But you said that he’ll never be class, which is, quite frankly, nonsense.
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Yeah, I don’t believe his ceiling is that high. In terms of style, I don’t think he can become that “classy” type because he’s already in the middle part of his career. The rest, I’m very glad to have an Ibrahima Konate fit for 40-50 games a season in his well known physical style, also good enough on the ball and with less mistakes here and there.
But that positioning/ball-playing “classy” aspect comes with experience.
As I said, the lad’s only 24. He’ll be imperious in a couple of years’ time.
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Not necessarily, it’s also skills. I’m totally fine with Konate the player he is right now. Hopefully he becomes more available in coming seasons (including this one, might be on the way to get to 40+ games), shows a bit of natural progression and we also raise the competition level.