I'm inclined to think that was what Shankly meant though. That you can be drawn into overcomplicating and overthinking it. Mind you, he did have the advantage of some pretty decent players. Speaking as an old git, some of the graphs and stats @reids posts smack of this for me.
I think football is simple, but at the elite level hundreds of little things get utilised because they make 0.002% of a difference, but those things collectively can become meaningful and that’s what can make it seem complicated. The biggest differentiator will always just be having better players.
It really is. I think GT always felt that and he knew a heck of a lot more about football than most Football is made complicated by people who want to sound clever and bring meaningless statistics and quotes that could have been said in one sentence rather than a whole paragraph. Heart surgery is complicated, football is not.
I equate understanding and playing football to playing the piano - it's an easy sport to understand on a basic level, and easy enough to pick up if you have any natural skill with a ball. But the deeper stuff like positional play, formations, tactics, strategies, outwitting both the opposition players and managers is quite a bit more complicated. I read a couple of articles in recent years (some of which I didn't fully understand) about the tactics and (changes of) formations that Mazzarri used at Napoli (that one made me really look forward to the 2016/17 season, alas it seems he over-complicated things for our players and his poor English didn't help) and Roberto Martinez employed at Wigan that enabled possibly the greatest escape in Premier League history in the 2011/12 season. Some people may remember that I used to post long match reports during the early part of my time here, and that was because I had vague aspirations of being a sports journalist, but then I ditched them when realizing that actually compared to even the more insightful posters here let alone the writers of the above articles, I suck when it comes to the finer points of football and it's a more complicated and deeper sport than I previously realized.
On the subject of Leeds, while I enjoyed GD's preview, it (the city and team) doesn't seem as bad as he makes out. Leeds United themselves are a curious club; hated by many because of their large contingent of thuggish and/or deluded fans, but they have had quite likable teams over the years that some outsiders have rooted for - the team of starlets that against the odds made it to the Champions League semis (IIRC that was before people knew that they had a couple of thugs in their side) and alongside Arsenal looked one of the two most likely to end or at least put a temporary halt to the Man Utd monopoly, and the team under Bielsa that finally got promoted back to the Prem and finished a surprise 9th in their first season back. I think you could say the same about Leeds the city - it does have its run-down areas (but then what city doesn't?) but it has one of the top universities in the country (I applied for a place there once or twice) and plenty of culture, and it seems to be a more attractive city than Manchester with fewer social problems (I think during the 1990s Manchester had one of the highest truancy rates in the country, maybe the highest of any big city). I have felt a lot safer during the many years I've lived in London than the few years I spent in Manchester, I don't know if Leeds is anything like that though.
Didn’t Leeds (Through Peter Ridsdale) basically gamble on CL qualification again and spend money they didn’t have which is what ultimately lead to their downfall? I’ve always hated them since then, we got stick for utilising the loans system, whilst Leeds were always apparently a proper club who deserve to be in the PL and their model of overspending was somehow ok.
Oooh, you lot clearly have jumped on the "We all hate Leeds scum" bandwagon, which no doubt you'll enjoy singing" "We don't give a ****, We don't give a ****, We're Leeds United, We don't give a ****" After reading this thread, Leeds fans don't give a s**t about any other club, bar Scum, where as you lot and many others do give a **** little old Leeds. Anyhow, we have all had a good laugh at this thread, so thank you for this. FKTS
Did you really join a forum because you were wound up and then decided it was a great idea to post that? @GoingDown was right. Thickos.
I find the best way to prove you don’t give a **** about what other teams say, is to prowl opposition forums, register and verify an account, then write a multi-paragraph response about the negative chants that you assume they’ll sing and how it won’t hurt you. Point well and truly proved.
No need for three points against a direct relegation rival (just about) whilst both the teams closest to us have games in hand, as long as we get 'something to build on'. The pressure's off, boys!
Didn't prowl, this came up on one of our forums with a thread opened earlier and ran to six pages, so I clicked the link and had a read. It takes 30 seconds to register and 30 seconds to type a short response. You make out it is a big task to post... it really isn't. It is quite common to look at football forums and opposition sites, get a feel for what their fans are thinking. Plan where to drink pre-match and meet up with up with regular Away Season Ticket holder's. Away tickets are like gold dust, so always worth getting the low down to enjoy the game. I will put my hands up here, the OP has done a bloody good job and a good read, certainly worthy of a response, a 100x better than some drivel other clubs stick up. Prediction. If we put our chances away it should be a clear winners...... However, we know how to f*** u* and sometimes have a complete lacklustre performance , so I take nothing for granted. This is a must win for both so a dour 0 - 0
For me, away at Leeds was the lowest of many low points this season. Toothless, inept display and 1-0 defeat against a poor team in the p1ssing rain at a big skip of a stadium, insulted by their neanderthal fans in front of us who spent more time doing so than watching the match, all topped off by delays on the train on the way home. So I'm really looking forward to today's match! Given that the small window in which to renew season tickets ends soon, this match could make my decision for me...
I'm looking forward to Leventhal's message after our relegation is confirmed: "Think keeping morale up is most important. Obvs getting relegated is not ideal but we still have a good platform to build on defo."
Football is a simple game and many of us will have played it at various levels. How easy it is to become one of the best in the world at it, is nothing to do with how “complicated” the game itself is.
Name me a better combination than a must win game and watford failing to turn up. I bet results go out way this weekend but we still find a way to **** it up.
Excellent preview. Can't f*cking stand Leeds. My brother in law supports them for some cret1nous reason - he's from f*cking Kent! Anyway, our opponents tw*ttishness notwithstanding, they'll probably beat us easily. We still look rubbish, and though we're all still torturing ourselves by looking at our rivals results, we were down ever since we let Norwich turn us over. 2-0 to the northern neanderthals.
Thanks mate. It’s weird for me this morning. Usually I’m 100% beat Leeds whatever the circumstances, but I can’t deny I’ve slipped to 99% beat Leeds, 1% want to see the loss combined with the committee toxicity reaction.
