stewie griffin
10:37 Mon Mar 13
Re: The Rice situation
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On re-reading, there's a lot of stuff being said about Rice here that isn't true, or fair, so fuck it, will go with what i know and expect the usual suspects to behave the way they do - its not like its going to have a damaging effect at this point.
He does care. He has never stopped caring. He was also clear that as long as we were competitive he would stay, and that he would leave if we weren't for the good of his career. He has been true to his word. So that's another thing we can thank Moyes for.
On the captaincy, I think people think that its still like it was, a bit of a token gesture, and not really all that meaningful in football, as it is in other sports. Club captaincy matters, because there's an awful lot of shit that goes with it.
Rice is a good lad, who has - unfortunately - fundamentally missed the point of CLUB captaincy. The dressing room has fallen off a cliff since last summer, completely unrecognisable from what it was. Yes, he is welcoming to new arrivals. He's generally good around the place. But precisely none of the new players have integrated. None of them know each other. To use current members of staff as an example, Nolan was called his 'dressing room manager' by Allardyce. The players, particularly the english players, met Nolan for a few beers every week. Noble took the best bits of Nolan, the best bits of Lucas Neill and did all of it. You don't just welcome players, you make sure they're fully integrated. Take Yarmolenko as an example. Awful, awful trainer. Ridiculously high wages. Didn't give a shit. But sufficiently part of the group, and sufficiently engaged, to make meaningful contributions in the second half of last season.
We have a 'nice' group of lads, pretty quiet, keep themselves to themselves. They don't know each other. It should be all everyone needs to know that Ogbonna, who has barely said a word on or off the pitch in his time here, was at the heart of the team meetings. When we lost against Spurs, there was no debrief, no discussion, everyone just got on the bus, went home, and went their separate ways. Before away games when they're staying in hotels, there's no one going to each other's rooms, knocking on doors and encouraging someone who might be out of form.
Then you've got the odd one, who think they can take advantage of the situation - no Noble, a bunch of quiet people in the dressing room - so you have - quote - 'that cunt who had ten good games once and thinks he's fucking Lionel Messi' being charlie big potatoes. Wouldn't have happened last year.
By extension of all that, you have Moyes, the ultimate mood hoover. His matchday tactics are the least negative, most positive thing about him. He's drained all life and confidence out of everyone and everything. He's never been any different, but last year, he would leave the room, and you'd have Noble who could make a joke of it, break the atmosphere, and get everyone laughing and pulling together. Now, silence. (should point out that Cresswell's diminished influence because of his form also doesn't help)
Could be here all day with stories about Moyes - and will do one day when he's gone or we've stayed up - but he wears it as a badge of honour that he's out of date, that he's the last of the great Scottish managers - like Ferguson, Stein & co. He misses the point that (a) he hasn't fucking won anything and (b) you can't treat footballers that way anymore. Telling them they're shit constantly doesn't work. It's more likely to break them. And in the absence of someone who is doing the captaincy role in the way it was done previously, it has.
So yes, Rice hasn't covered himself in glory as captain, but at the age of 24 its hardly surprising, its why so few clubs give the club captaincy to someone that young these days. There's just a lot of other shit that goes with it.
In short, if Moyes goes, we improve as a team overnight. It really is that simple. Has been for months. This isn't a group of players that can function on being told how shit they are constantly. They're not the type to go 'fuck you, you ginger scottish loser cunt, I'll prove you wrong', they're the type to go into their shells.
The scary thing is that its still eminently possible that we could win a trophy and stay up with him here, and people will think he's a good manager and done a good job. The only hope is that they think he's good enough that they come and take him.
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claret on my shirt
10:21 Mon Mar 13
Re: The Rice situation
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The guys just 24, how mature were you lot at 24?
Knowing you're about to get paid £200k plus a week must be a distraction at times, a very nice one admittedly but it must affect his game at times.
Also every player loses form once in a while, maybe this is his form dip?
Lastly any one who does not think he's our best player by a long way, watch the game away to the barcodes, he was simple immense that day, just played at another level.
Like most i thought he was below his best yesterday but its one game, get off the mans back ffs
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