Players supposedly unhappy

[lazerblue]

Alternatively, lots of players (if not most) do a fair bit of charity work alongside their career and it doesn't automatically mean it's going to have a negative impact. I'd think a happy and fulfilled player is likely to be more confident generally than a player who is prevented from doing things that are enormously important to them. Just got to let them live their lives (within reason) and trust them to get the balance right.

as long as its not constantly in the media then yeah, crack on and do your bit in private, its when the media get involved sticking their oar in things tend to go tits up form wise

 

[bluealf]

no, you know i don't mean stuff like visiting the kids at xmas in hospital, its the prolonged campaigns that seems to cause players to lose focus

They all have things, just sometimes we don't hear about it, take Bellamy who 99% of people think is a cock, he had something going on out in Seirra Leone.

I'm not sure how much distraction it causes them, I'd say shagging about and getting caught by the wife causes more trouble with form.

See Stones and Hart for example

 

[lazerblue]

They all have things, just sometimes we don't hear about it, take Bellamy who 99% of people think is a cock, he had something going on out in Seirra Leone.

I'm not sure how much distraction it causes them, I'd say shagging about and getting caught by the wife causes more trouble with form.

See Stones and Hart for example

ok

 

[bluealf]

ok

You'd have been better off not replying but yeah cheers for that discussion.

 

[BringBackSwales]

You'd have been better off not replying but yeah cheers for that discussion.

Lol

 

[BringBackSwales]

Lol

My 3 letters beats his 2 letters

 

[bluealf]

My 3 letters beats his 2 letters

You quoting yourself for a reason? You daft git lol

 

[Xhavenjoe]

See Stones and Hart for example

They were shagging each other!

 

[domalino]

Maybe,but im sure they were as surprised and bewildered by the team choice as the rest of us and that cant have failed to have an impact.

After 5 years being under Pep they 1) Shouldn't be surprised and 2) Know he's won them 10x more games than he's lost.

He's actually been an incredibly generous lightning rod for the players over the years. Pep didn't cause Fernandinho to slip over in his box, or stop anyone closing down Oxlade-Chamberlain, but all people talk about is a frankly irrelevant decision to play Gundogan. Pep didn't make Laporte gift Son 2 goals in the first 20 minutes of the Spurs game or miss a penalty, and yet all people talk about is him not risking a half-fit KDB. Pep didn't make Laporte fuck up against Lyon, or miss tap ins.

And he's never blamed them, he's happily let the peanut gallery and the tabloid writers and the talking heads blame him entirely.


Perhaps the biggest problem with Pep making changes in big games is that it's given some players an easy excuse to not turn up, and they've taken full advantage of it over the years.

If any of them do question him, we need to thank the for their service and get rid of them asap, because the one thing that guarantees a tactical plan not working is the players not committing to it 100%.

However, I suspect the players have a better memory than some fans, and the Premier League title they won thanks to Pep's tweaks and unusual selections is probably still dominant in the memory.

 

[Mr Blue Moon]

My 3 letters beats his 2 letters

I bet you’re great at playing scrabble against 5 year olds..,