Poyet: You're talking rubbish Steve (Claridge)

[Turkey]

I think you've missed the point. Claridge seems to be saying that the only way to get success is to not pass it around and to play it long, hence why Gus talks about Swansea recently coming up from the lower leagues and having great success by passing the ball. It's not so much a criticism about us, more about passing football in general which is annoying people. As Smart Mart put it, he's an advocate of old fashioned, direct football as being the only way to go forward and that's the same mentality that's held England back for so long.

I don't think he's saying that at all. He's talking about whether we can play our excellent football at this level at a higher level. I happen to think we can but I don't think questioning this is such a crime. Who the hell do we think we are? Its a step up, better teams, better players, bigger challenege. It's a fair point to consider, especially as he says might.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

I don't think he's saying that at all. He's talking about whether we can play our excellent football at this level at a higher level. I happen to think we can but I don't think questioning this is such a crime. Who the hell do we think we are? Its a step up, better teams, better players, bigger challenege. It's a fair point to consider, especially as he says might.

The way I read it is he's not targetting us in particular, he's targetting passing football in general. How the hell can anyone know, if we do go up, what players we might sign? I really don't think he's alluding to us at all, just spouting old tosh of playing it long being less risky and passing teams are likely to fail. The Swansea reference from Gus is case in point

 

[severnside gull]

the only area where Claridge could possibly have a point (and I am being ultra generous because he didn't seem to actually make it) is that we didn't have a realistic Plan B to counter Stoke's very individual style. That said the Tranmere fan is spot on - we are unique at our level because the players are generally able to assess what is happening on the pitch and adapt their game to counter the opposition. As we move up the leagues we will recruit better players - more skill, better physique, and fitter. Gus has already said as much when he has indicated that he might need as many as 6 new first team players before the start of next season.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

I don't think he's saying that at all. He's talking about whether we can play our excellent football at this level at a higher level. I happen to think we can but I don't think questioning this is such a crime. Who the hell do we think we are? Its a step up, better teams, better players, bigger challenege. It's a fair point to consider, especially as he says might.

He backed his point up with the Stoke [PREMIERSHIP - 2 Levels Up] game and ignored the Watford and Portsmouth games [CHAMPIONSHIP - 1 level up] It was a ridiculous argument. And I'm genuinely suprised he managed to come up with such a complete load of BOLLOCKS, even by his standards.