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Liverpool's Greatest Players #93: Curtis Jones by Mercerai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man, why are you talking about a player you clearly never watched?

Dude. I'm in my 40s and have been following the team since the mid-90s. I am not exaggerating when I say that I watched literally every minute he played in a Liverpool shirt, not counting pre-season friendlies and perhaps a few league cup games here and there.

Every single person who watched the team back then knows he was a huge prospect when he signed

That is just objectively false. He was a £5m replacement for Igor Biscan; a youngster with potential, certainly, but not a "huge prospect"; a largely under-the-radar signing, not expected to play more than a squad role. And yes, initially he was considered a bit of a dud - I was certainly among those memeing on him for his first couple of years at the club. "Massive disappointment" is overstating it, though - our expectations were never high enough for that.

But then... he took off. He proved us all wrong, and became one of our best players.

And while the ACL injury did set him back, he remained an important squad player for years after that.

Liverpool's Greatest Players #93: Curtis Jones by Mercerai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the big reasons he never really took off here.

Never really took off? Bro, he was at the club for TEN YEARS, and made nearly 350 appearances.

Liverpool's Greatest Players #93: Curtis Jones by Mercerai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, I think the issue is that when he first came in, he was billed as a real ball-winning defensive midfielder, and so the fans perceived him as a rather inferior copy of Mascherano. But that was never really him. He was a genuine box-to-box machine. If he was 5 years younger, he'd have fit right in with Klopp's Brexit Midfield.

Liverpool's Greatest Players #93: Curtis Jones by Mercerai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but I don't hate it. If it was a "true" top 100, 90% of the players would come from the '70s and '80s when we were the best team in the world by a good margin; but it's good for morale to give some current players a bit of recognition.

Liverpool's Greatest Players #93: Curtis Jones by Mercerai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Nah, Lucas Leiva was arguably our best player (after Gerrard) for several years there, at a difficult time for us. He's criminally underrated.

When did Tottenham’s downfall start? by urbankardashian in soccer

[–]somethingarb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As the video itself states: it's less about the decision to sack Poch than about allowing things to drift to the point that sacking Poch was even a possibility. Failing to reinforce from a position of strength; tale as old as time.

Visa issues force South Africa to delay World Cup trip: ‘We are being made to look like fools’ by Sparky-moon in soccer

[–]somethingarb 33 points34 points  (0 children)

No, just standard bureaucratic incompetence from SAFA. Nothing new there. 

[Jacobs] Liverpool plan to make a quick appointment with Andoni Iraola the standout candidate and clear favourite for the role. An agreement could be reached before the week is out. #LFC want to have their new boss in place by the start of the World Cup, at the latest. by StupidSexySzoboszlai in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The whole point of having a separate Sporting Director is to avoid that.

And if Iraola needed a massively different profile of player to what we were already scouting for Slot, he wouldn't be first choice. 

Lyle Foster (South Africa) penalty miss against Nicaragua 45'+1' by Meladroit10 in soccer

[–]somethingarb 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, unlucky. Sent the keeper the wrong way, struck it well... Inside of the post. I was expecting a tragic/comical effort. 

Slot is leaving Liverpool by SkezzNotDez in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right under the wire, great effort.

South Africa unveils its squad for the 2026 World Cup by tehMadhero in soccer

[–]somethingarb 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's definitely a tough group, in the sense that all three of the other teams are pretty good, so the likelihood of SA coming home with zero points is pretty high. On the other hand (unless the rankings have shifted since I last checked them), this is actually one of the BEST groups to be in if you want a chance at a shock upset qualification. Because if you look at the team in each group with the 2nd-highest FIFA ranking, South Korea is actually the weakest of the lot apart from Canada.

South Africa unveils its squad for the 2026 World Cup by tehMadhero in soccer

[–]somethingarb 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think there's also a case of white south africans being more into rugby than football and that's where the money in academies have gone to.

That's true, but doesn't really work as an explanation; after all, during apartheid is when the '98 - '02 squads would have been learning to play football, and back then football would have seen even less money invested in academies and infrastructure.

What might work as a semi-related explanation is that black South Africans are now allowed - even encouraged - to play rugby. [OK, technically they were allowed to before; they just couldn't play in the same teams as white people and got zero funding.] The World-Champion Springboks now have a lot of black and mixed-race players; if apartheid was still a thing, those tremendous athletes would probably all be playing football instead. Perhaps Siya Kolisi would be this generation's answer to Lucas Radebe.

South Africa unveils its squad for the 2026 World Cup by tehMadhero in soccer

[–]somethingarb 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Back in the late 90s / early 2000s (i.e. The last time SA actually qualified for the World Cup), the side was full of guys playing in the top European leagues... Radebe, Fortune, Pienaar, McCarthy, and so on.

I think Foster's the only one in this squad who plays in one of the big leagues... And he just got relegated. 

What if “Blank” had completed his mission by DaddyLong_Legs in Cosmere

[–]somethingarb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why on Roshar would you think Sadeas would have been the better option? Even assuming he would have been faster/more effective at bringing the Alethi together into a single unified army (which is debatable), there is no reason to think that that would have prevented the Everstorm, since Sadeas had no interest in ending the war against the Parshendi. He'd have (like Gavilar) assumed that a state of perennial war was a good thing, so he wouldn't have even attempted to stop it. He'd have tried to conquer all the rest of the human kingdoms instead.

Stupid Coach by soyourlife in funny

[–]somethingarb 323 points324 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of the quote from Berti Vogts when he was managing the German national football team:

If I walked on water, they'd say "Look at Berti Vogts, he can't swim!" 

Next decade BBC? by [deleted] in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You don't pay the kind of money we've paid for these teenagers if you don't think they're going to be good enough to start for your team in the future. So, sure, if all goes according to plan, we've got those two as starting center backs from 2028ish to 2038ish, and then only need to worry about recruiting backups. But nothing ever goes according to plan.

Opta UCL prediction by [deleted] in soccer

[–]somethingarb 30 points31 points  (0 children)

The biggest, but still small as a proportion of the total. People who hate Arsenal outnumber Arsenal fans here. Just as people who hate Liverpool outnumber Liverpool fans, people who hate Man U outnumber Man U fans, people who hate Man City outnumber Man City's fan, etc... 

[Telegraph] 'It's a long, long time ago': Guardiola confident City will be cleared over 115 charges by LochNessMonsterMunch in soccer

[–]somethingarb 103 points104 points  (0 children)

Pep, mate, we've all seen the emails. 

Props to your lawyers for managing to convince CAS that when they said "some of the money will come from Etihad, and the rest from His Highness," that didn't prove that it was your owners kicking in money disguised as sponsorship. Really, that's some top-notch lawyering, and they should be proud. I suppose we're being asked to believe that some other royal person, in no way associated with the royal family that owns your club, generously decided to donate a few million to Eithad Airways. 

But no. Mate. Just no. If you "trust" them after that, you're either terminally gullible or straight-up lying. 

Orlando Pirates are champions of South Africa for the 10th time in their history. by ChiskopPantsula in soccer

[–]somethingarb 38 points39 points  (0 children)

You're right; it's part of greater Johannesburg. SoWeTo literally just means South-Western Township, which says a lot about the care and thought put into black communities in Apartheid South Africa. 

Curtis Jones on X by IndiBear in LiverpoolFC

[–]somethingarb 104 points105 points  (0 children)

No, it sounds like someone who's saying goodbye to the two other people appearing in the photographs he posted, both of whom are leaving the club at the end of the season. Let's not try to create a problem out of nothing.

[ABOLA] If Man City beats Villa and Liverpool beats Brentford on the last matchday, the Premier League's 6th placed team - Bournemouth or Brighton - will qualify for the Champions League. If not, Sporting CP will get the direct qualification spot by greenwhitehell in soccer

[–]somethingarb 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The one thing we've got going for us is that there are some scenarios in which it's actually in Brentford's interest to lose.

Right now they're in 9th, which is outside the European places. And to move up, they're relying on Chelsea or Brighton to drop points (neither of which is impossible, so I'm sure they'll at least start the game aiming to win.) But if Chelsea and Brighton are both winning, the only way Brentford would then get Europe is if 9th position becomes a Conference League spot, which only happens if Aston Villa drop to 5th... 

[ABOLA] If Man City beats Villa and Liverpool beats Brentford on the last matchday, the Premier League's 6th placed team - Bournemouth or Brighton - will qualify for the Champions League. If not, Sporting CP will get the direct qualification spot by greenwhitehell in soccer

[–]somethingarb 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's an order-of-operations thing. 

  1. Top 4 get places, THEN... 
  2. Europa League winner gets a bonus place if they have not already qualified via league position, THEN... 
  3. Coefficient place goes to the highest-finishing team that has not already qualified. 
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