Captain America Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 The troll is strong in this one. https://vine.co/v/hYirVVwBFga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Quite an irresponsible thing to do for an apparently intelligent and well-grounded young man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain America Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 There were coins thrown at him before he did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Maybe he was signalling that he found two quid then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 In seriousness, though: an intelligent man would still understand, appreciate, and respect the position he is in, and perhaps refrain from such incitable gestures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ca_gere Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Yeah but... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Admittedly, I did LOL. Still a stupid fucking thing for a professional footballer to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewarden Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I think its a pretty good reaction to getting coins launched at you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scootray Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I think that's a good bit of banter. You can't shout abuse at a player, or even throw coins at them then get all pissy because he made a funny gesture at you. That guy looks a right plank too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Milner Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Yeah exactly, look at the abuse being thrown at these guys all game, i absolutely dont mind the players having a bit of banter back, especially when it involves a team getting one over on Spurs. Get it right up ye Sherwood. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have no problem with what Theo did, as it was relatively harmless. It wasn't in the same bracket as Wilshere's middle finger. Theo's not done anything offensive. The amount of vile abuse which is hurled at players just because they play for the other team is pretty foul. Good on him for giving some back. Also, having coins launched from the stands is unacceptable, and all of them should be banned from football forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I see where you're all coming from, but from personal experience, I recall Steve Fulton making a similar gesture towards the Aberdeen supporters at Pittodrie when he was going to take a corner. Some fellow Aberdeen fans had to be restrained from entering the pitch. It was the corner of the RDS and away enclosure, and some Hearts fans made their way down to the gates to counter the Aberdeen fans, and it could have been messy. Fulton got absolute pelters from Dons fans every time he came to Pittodrie, and I certainly witnessed projectiles aimed at him at on more than one occasion. As a professional footballer on a favourable salary, there comes immense responsibility. I was also at the game when some of the Aberdeen crowd broke on to the pitch side and made their way to the Rangers enclosure and started arbitrarily punching a number of the the front row Rangers supporters. It was fucking surreal. Sure, that was arguably incited by two or three Rangers supporters throwing coins at Robbie Winters, but it was all pretty grim. Not quite the same situation as Walcott, but an example of how things can get out of control in big matches with rival clubs. I also recall Adebayor running the full length of the pitch after scoring against Arsenal to celebrate before their enclosure. I don't recall that going down as 'good banter', despite the Arsenal fans directing some very personal abuse at him, both before the game and during the game. A steward was injured by an Arsenal fan throwing a projectile during the incident. So is it an acceptable reaction for a fan to throw coins after a player makes a gesture towards them? In fact, it wasn't even a gesture, all he did was sit with his arms held out before them, then an absolute shower of coins, burgers, and pies descended upon him and security staff. I can't help but feel if someone like Luis Suarez or Adebayor reacted the same way as Walcott did under the same circumstances, they would be heavily reprimanded across the board. I am not condoning coin throwing at football. Just condemning Walcott and other professionals who react with similar irresponsibility. I know that throwing projectiles and throwing insults are two very different things, but I personally feel that professionals on massive salaries should embrace their social responsibilities and behave accordingly. It doesn't matter if the gesture was one finger or two fingers displayed the other way around; it could still have incited a riot, and possibly nearly did. But it's filthy Tottenham, so it's okay. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Sure I saw on the TV footage of Walcott's incident that the stretcher bearers were hit by coins or some other projectile thrown by the crowd as they were carrying him off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsinho Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 No one should be throwing things. Why is anyone throwing things? Fuck's sake. I'M SO ANGRY THAT THE MAN FROM THE OTHER TEAM EXISTS SO I'M GONNA THROW THINGS. No. Stop. Go home. It doesn't matter if it's Walcott or Adebayor or yer ma. Don't throw things at people. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 No one should be throwing things. Why is anyone throwing things? Fuck's sake. I'M SO ANGRY THAT THE MAN FROM THE OTHER TEAM EXISTS SO I'M GONNA THROW THINGS. No. Stop. Go home. It doesn't matter if it's Walcott or Adebayor or yer ma. Don't throw things at people. True story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Sure I saw on the TV footage of Walcott's incident that the stretcher bearers were hit by coins or some other projectile thrown by the crowd as they were carrying him off. That's been established. I don't think anyone is condoning the throwing of projectiles at football matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 That's been established. I don't think anyone is condoning the throwing of projectiles at football matches. It hadn't been mentioned as far as I could tell (and wasn't shown in the vine video posted), just that coins were thrown at him earlier. By making the gesture it prompted more cretins to lob stuff at him when he was surrounded by 6 stretcher bearers who then got hit instead of Walcott, who just sat there grinning and holding up two-nil. Fans are idiots and need to get a thicker skin. Certainly shouldn't be throwing things on the pitch (except maybe the odd snowball). I'm all for footballers making the odd funny gesture. There's too much in the game that's taken far too seriously as it is, but if you're going to do something that's bound to wind up fans then at least do it when it's not going to get innocent club staff pelted by shrapnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I appreciate your elaboration and agree entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delboy1969 Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Oh dear another defeat for Man Utd at home to Swansea. Old Trafford certainly is not a fortress no more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Hasn't been since 10/11. Fabio is amazing. He just went full tilt as soon as he came on. Ran at everything. Tried to head the ball when it was in the air, missed completely and fell over, charged at a couple more players. He was a red card waiting to happen, and then it happened. Don't think he lasted 7 minutes. #moyesout all over Twitter. I don't want him out, but the frustration is understandable. I don't think all this talk of transition after losing a long term highly regarded manager cuts it. By that logic, you'd think Everton would be struggling too (who also lost arguably their best player from the past 3 seasons) but they are improving. I like Moyes, and I want him to succeed. Now that hes in the job, I don't want him to be sacked, but I'm also of the belief that Fergie's immediate successor didn't have to be the long term option. Perhaps United needed a stop gap more than they needed Fergie Mk.2 considering how sudden Fergies decision was made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) I'm also in the position of wanting Moyes to be successful, but he's displayed time after time this season that he lacks the strategical imagination necessary to manage one of the world's top clubs. At Everton he focused his strategy on opponent weaknesses (he loved to aerially target small full-backs and recycle possession by winning the second balls), and given the players he had at his disposal and the relative modesty of the players he and Everton could ever attract, that was the ideal way to approach football matches. At Manchester United, however, where he is expected to win pretty much every football match (particularly at Old Trafford), he seems to lack the nous required to unlock stubborn and obstinate teams. He takes a long time to react to various things, it's almost as if he's just hoping/expecting it will eventually come good after about an hour or so. Along with many home matches this season, the game against Spurs last week was the perfect example of Moyes' limitations as a strategist. He clearly instructed Valencia and Januzaj to stay very wide and focus on getting to the byline and floating in crosses...but they had Danny Welbeck at centre forward, and Wayne Rooney constantly dropping deep to play-make. There were no targets at all for those crosses, especially when coupled with the fact the two primary centre midfielders were Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley: two hard-working but creatively limited players with very poor movement off the ball. Limiting Januzaj to hugging the touchline was folly, because he's demonstrated time after time this season that he's far more dangerous when allowed to roam the final third and take up the positions that are instinctive to him. Limit his input to a game, and you're limiting his output. Relying on crosses into the box from the byline is very naive when your opposing centre-backs are Michael Dawson and Vlad Chiriches - two players who are outstanding in the air. Tottenham's defensive weakness is well publicised - a massive lack of pace in central areas, but Moyes failed to act upon that. It wasn't much of a surprise when Januzaj switched to the right, allowing him to cut in to his left foot a play a ball through to a pacey Welbeck who ran into the channel between the centre-back and full-back. I guess it's just a pity they were already two nil own at that point. I also noticed over the past two games that two of the four goals conceded came from the fact Manchester United did not have an established right full-back on the pitch. Neither Valencia or Fletcher are right-backs, and both winning goals came from those areas. Manchester United need an established high-level right-back in addition to at least one creative and dynamic central midfielder. I recall Adam Easy Wishes suggesting that Manchester United's key problem this season is the fact that they have a lot of "he's decent, but not amazing" sort of players, and I think that is spot on. Rio Ferdinand has been terrible from what I have seen this season, and I don't rate Chris Smalling particularly highly. Vidic is a warrior but injury prone and lacking pace. Problems everywhere. The more the season unfolds and retrospect kicks in, the more I am beginning to appreciate just how brilliant a job Sir Alex did with those players over the past two or three years. After the Champions League final in 2008, it was apparent Manchester United's midfield needed an overhaul, and they still haven't addressed that. Sir Alex was especially good at adjusting and dictating the tempo at which his teams played, and Moyes doesn't seem to be able to impress that on his players yet. Some people throughout Moyes' tough start have asked for patience due to the nature of Sir Alex's initial period as manager and how he was almost sacked, etc. But the two contexts are entirely different: Moyes has taken over the Champions of England who have regularly reached at least the quarter final of the Champions League over the past 10-15 years, in addition to winning it twice. Sir Alex took over after the club finished fourth the previous season and held a bottom half league position, and turned them into one of the most successful an dominant clubs Englan has ever seen. Not really comparable. Moyes doesn't cut it. Edited January 5, 2014 by Eupraxia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eupraxia Posted January 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 I still don't believe the Fabregas move was ever on. Thiago is the one they really let get away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 (edited) Edited January 6, 2014 by Joda Serk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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