It was interesting reading the article praising Barkley. I’m delighted to see that at last he is living up to his years of promise, that up until now he’s failed to do.
Then I looked again at his age. He’s 23.
Are people mental? I don’t mean to denigrate serious mental illnesses, but come on. What is it about the media and fans in some quarters that they place ridiculous expectations on young players, that people demand maturity from young heads whilst also expecting them to retain their youthful exuberance?
Maybe the standards of the league are higher now, so much so that precocious talents can’t prosper because clubs and fans don’t tolerate their mistakes. I don’t know, but it reminds me of a rather wonderful selection of players: Gazza, Owen, Rooney, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Sterling and Rashford. There are plenty of others. All of these broke though young, got everyone excited and then people forgot that they were kids; instead, they heaped pressure and expectation on them and then started to kick them when they didn’t match up to ill-conceived standards. What was your mental state when you were 17-23?
Barkley has done well to survive to 23 without having been ruined. However, he has now reached probably the earliest age of maturity, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s finally delivering. Sure, having a decent manager will help no end. But let’s try and not forget that these players who break through are young, they’re basically kids. Their age isn’t just a number, it’s a reminder of what is reasonable to expect. Unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg, keep your stones in your pocket.
Of all of those listed above, only one has (so far) successfully carried the weight of that burden to achieve something special, and has been kicked all the way. And we wonder why our best players underachieve…
Guy S
On Palace’s bizarre transfer policy
Last night it became clear that Crystal Palace have made a bid Patrick van Aanholt that appears to be an initial £9m but could rise to £12m. Leaving aside that this means it will cost the Eagles between six and eight times what Sunderland paid Chelsea for him, it does mean they could eventually end up spending £24m on two players competing for the same position.
Anyway, Palace’s interest in van Aanholt follows previous rumours of interest in Robert Snodgrass, which hints at an interesting transfer strategy, whereby money is spent taking important players away from your relegation rivals and forcing them to take a gamble on unproven players, rather than taking that risk yourselves. I can’t think of any other sides who have attempted to beat the drop this way. It’s also a bit of ar$ehole behaviour, a bold strategy when the club is already struggling under a manager opposed by the weight of public opinion.
In some ways, it’s like the old joke about the most effective piece of equipment to avoid a bear attack being a pair of running shoes, because you don’t have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friends, except that in this case, our new favourite Cheryl Cole impersonator is buying his friends’ shoelaces in the hope that they trip up in some way.
Ed Quoththeraven
Love for Nando Llorente
Fernando Llorente should be a Swansea legend after that performance at Anfield. I dont say this because he scored two goals and had an excellent link-up play all game against rivals and one of the chasing pack, nooo I do not care about their results as long as we keep getting three points every week.
It was his goal celebration that got me, he celebrated like he just scored the winning goal in a UCL final, running down to the away end with arms spread screaming. Who doesn’t want such passion from their player?
Uche (Goal Celebrations are the best part of football IMHO} Abuja
Ipswich: Boring and reliable
Interesting read about Ipswich from The Swiss Ramble, got me thinking about the club. It’s only when you realise what they are in competition with you realise that Marcus Evans and Mick McCarthy are doing a solid job with very little comparative funds. I often have to remind myself of this when looking at the parachute payment that the clubs that go up and come back down get. I also have to remind myself the current owner is not prepared to bankrupt the club again in order to gain promotion. Last year was more of a one off with the play-offs, but that was due to a Derby brainfart really, and once we got Norwich? Well, that’s inevitable. But I have to remind myself that the current set-up at Ipswich is, for want of a better word, reliable. Like a spatula. Or a saucepan. Or mild cheese. It isn’t going to do anything reckless.
The thing about reliability is that it’s boring. It’s so sodding boring that it honestly gets to the stage where you would want to get relegated to see something different. It’s sickeningly boring after 15 years now. Whilst reading the piece it said that Ipswich were about 12th in the list of attendance, somewhere in the middle. About 14th in revenue, somewhere in the middle. Almost every stat they had, and they had many, almost always in the sodding middle. I’m sick to death of the bloody middle to be honest, and sick to death of reliable, but you just know that when matchday comes you’ll wake up to ‘I’ve Got You Babe’ and Ipswich will do whatever they need to do to keep themselves middling, it’s like the club motto is ‘equilibrium’. Don’t chant ‘Come On You Blues!’ give it a blast of ‘Steady Now’ and ‘Whooa There’.
Even the last line of the article ‘It would indeed be a major surprise if Ipswich were to go up, especially given their current lowly position. Stranger things have happened, but not too often’. Screams don’t get excited, which is handy, because I’m not.
As for the recent FA Cup debacle, which was gloriously televised, I actually got asked whilst watching ‘Do you really support Ipswich?’ And when I replied ‘Yeah, really’ I got a pat on the back with a sympathetic ‘Ahhh, mate’. And I was like ‘Yeah, I know’, which as a conversation was as interesting as the bloody match, which was awful, really really awful, and boring (Unless you were Lincoln, congratulations to them). So yeah, got distracted a bit there, but credit where credit is due to Mick and Marcus, what they are doing is admirable, especially in the current financial climate. Reliable. Boring, so so sodding boring, but reliable.
Chris ITFC, (Middle) Liverpool
Somebody owes me a quiz point…
Whoever put the Premier League Top Scorers quiz together; firstly, thanks to them for giving me something to do on my lunch break, other than pretending to read finance magazines whilst actually reading Mediawatch and the Mailbox. Secondly however, they spelt Paolo Di Canio’s name incorrectly and cost me a mark. Yes, I am that petty.
Sean, CFC, South East
The red-tops never, ever change
I do love a bit of Mediawatch, always a great read picking out holes in red top arguments, and combines humour into its pedantic-ness.
And even more so since Sunday’s incident with Ryan Mason and how they’ve gone a step too far in its reporting. It’s good that there’s someone out there who will actually call out the red tops, but unfortunately it does very little and it’s been like this for as long as I can remember.
There was a similar incident back in 1993, Gary Mabbutt was smashed in the face by John Fashanu’s flying elbow (and got away with it because he was Mr Crazy Gang…awooooga). Mabbs was carried off the pitch on a stretcher still unconscious. Before any operation, the doc told him that he wasn’t sure if his sight could be saved. The extent of his injuries were an eye socket and cheekbone smashed in several places. A few weeks after this incident, Gary Mabbutt was included in the new years honours list and was named and MBE by her Maj for services to sport.
This was a great achievement for Gary and I know everyone around the club were thrilled for him because he had been through a hell of a lot in his career.
And how did one red top announce the news…back and centre…this photo…
Accompanied with the headline…
My Black Eye.
It’s a tragic state when the press can get away with it, what can be done? They’ve never stopped and sadly, never will.
On a slightly related note, has Mediawatch ever received a honest and sensible reply from any journo?
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