"I would rather lose a tournament than break my word to a player"

[Neville Kneville]

I know. Just figured I'd do what you did to me :)

That by Hart just now was fucking worse.

What the fuck ?

 

[Dax777]

That by Hart just now was fucking worse.

What the fuck ?

Bad day at the office. We'd get em in the 2nd

 

[juhanni]

What are the promises more than willie play the cups?
Bony plays when fit ? Any more?

 

[DJBusinesscake]

What are the promises more than willie play the cups?
Bony plays when fit ? Any more?

TBF yesterday was the perfect chance to get Bony into the side, weak opposition, he could have banged in a few and regained confidence. Having 3 strikers could be important in the run in.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

Shame we only have 2 strikers

 

[MillionMilesAway]

TBF yesterday was the perfect chance to get Bony into the side, weak opposition, he could have banged in a few and regained confidence. Having 3 strikers could be important in the run in.

It's also not comparable to the keeper. Outfield players get changed and subbed for various reasons - tactics, injury, etc.

Keepers don't, and therefore sitting on the bench is almost always an afternoon doing nothing. Well, unless Stuart Pearce is manager.

 

[Father Paul]

I understand exactly what he said fully and no amount of you repeating the same thing over and over again will change my view which is I have no problem with Manuel giving a player his word, but if he'd rather lose than break his word then personally I disagree with it because as I said yesterday, one of the major rules of management is to give yourself options, wriggle room and not paint yourself into a corner.

The world isn't black & white and things change over time. What may have been the case yesterday isn't necessarily going to be the case today. Another thing I learned in management is it takes a bigger man to admit he's wrong and change his course of action than it does to dogmatically stick to a failing strategy come what may just to save face or so you don't have to go back on your word. This isn't aimed at Manuel, it's just the experience I've gained over many years.

If 'he would rather lose than break his word to a player' is exactly what Manuel said, my personal point of view still stands because if I was faced with having to break my word to a player to ensure we advanced, I would hope he would be adult enough to understand that situations are fluid and things can change. However as I've said over and over, I had no issues with Manuel giving Willy his word and sticking by Willy after his performance at Chelsea was the right thing to do in my mind considering I didn't believe playing him would be seriously detrimental to us as was proved to be the case.

I said at the time that if Pelle believed that Willy was in the right frame of mind and had enough confidence then regardless of his performance against Chelsea he should get the shout. Clearly Willy was properly tuned in and proved it on the day and vindicated the manager. Now if the manager was of the opinion that playing someone could cost us but went ahead and played them to "keep his word" and a disaster unfolded I would be highly critical.

 

[Father Paul]

Shame we only have 2 strikers

For gods sake man get behind the team. Bony will have to play some games in the run in so get used to it. Most likely he will be gone in the summer but until then he needs our support.

 

[Dribble]

I said at the time that if Pelle believed that Willy was in the right frame of mind and had enough confidence then regardless of his performance against Chelsea he should get the shout. Clearly Willy was properly tuned in and proved it on the day and vindicated the manager. Now if the manager was of the opinion that playing someone could cost us but went ahead and played them to "keep his word" and a disaster unfolded I would be highly critical.

Thank you Father, I thought I had sinned with my opinion.... :-)