The danger of dogma. - It renders the whole thing pointless.

Liverpool Football Club - General Discussion

Postby bigmick » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:52 am

Bob touched on something earlier which I think summed up the current problems with the forum. Discussions are increasingly more to do with people defending a position, and less to do with the actual subject matter itself, namely football.

I used to like coming on here for a bit of banter, to discuss football with knowledgeable people, but it's changed. People have developed the notion of having an opinion into some kind of seige mentality, defending their stance to the hilt regardless of what they see before their eyes. Course it's OK to diisagree with each other, that's what it's all about but there are two discussions going on at the moment in which common sense has gone out of the window. The most surprising thing of all is that rotatioin isn't even involved, I'm referring of course to the Kuyt and Alonso threads.

Let me explain where I think some people are in danger of losing it. Apologies in advance to those who I'm referring to, but I'm going to name names.


Firstly the Dirk Kuyt thread. How is it possible to have a sensible discussion about the merits of the player, when you get people comparing him as a footballer to Djimitar Berbatov, claiming that he "keeps on scoring important goals" when he's just scored his first league goal in 28 starts, and calling him Dirky Boy? I'm going to name a name here, this GFYS character or whatever else he calls himself has forever lost any credibility in my eyes with his posts on this matter. Utterly ridiculous. When people try and sensibly talk about the player and are happy to accept that he's our  best option for the right bar the captain, but then keep getting this nonsense about him being some kind of scapegoat, or told that he works hard it makes it ridiculous. Despite his claims to the contrary, I am far from convinced that the aforementioned poster is not a full time wind up merchant. I do know that there is more satisfaction discussing the game of association football with my missus than there is trying to do it on the kuyt thread when he is around. My appeal to this fella is this, at least try, just for a second to be objective about the subject.

On the same thread we have Peewee banging on about Kuyt being sh!te every game. I do think there is a slight difference in that Peewee is at least funny (deliberately so much of the time) and also he does it seems to me pick up plenty of flak these days almost regardless of what he post on any subject. Once more though a bit less dogma would be kind of good, although certainly the likes of Saint and Bam have been happy to praise Kuyt up for some of his better performances.

On the Alonso thread, we are beginning to get silly on there too. Now for two seasons many posters (myself included) have been of the opinion that Xabi hasn't played as well as he did in his first couple of seasons. Some of us even bored everybody senseless by advancing a couple of theories as to why. "Not so" said another faction, all an optical illusion by all accounts. He either didn't play quite as well as we thought he did in that first season, or he was actualy playing much better than we thought he was in his third season, or a combination of the two. Anyways, he was actually the "most important player at the club" according to Lando as the argument raged on.

Well just to confuse the issue even further, Rafa tries to flog him off to all and sundry and replace him with Gareth Barry. Then nobody is prepared to pay mid teens for him, but just to make the waters even muddier Xabi comes back and starts playing right back at the top of his game again. Lando claims Gerrard did nothing whatsoever in the first half against Everton, then says it was just sarcasm and he was only kidding and meanwhile the people who are big Xabi fans are trying to reconcile the fact that he is clearly playing better than he was last season, with their statements back then. It's all going to pot.


Here's an idea. Lets just admit we were wrong sometimes, or even not totally right. If you defended the extremes of Rafa style to the hilt, I've got news for you, you were wrong. Nothing to be embarrassed about, Rafa was wrong too. Most important thing is though, we've moved on and we've got the hang of it now. I was wrong about Robert Earnshaw, Albert Riera before we signed him (although I would like to see him PROPERLY prove it), Skyrtel is developing into a better defender than I thought he would as is Arbeloa, and Kuyt is doing better on the right of a 4-4-2 than I thought he was able. There, it really isn't anything to be ashamed about.


So, here's my charter for peace. When Lando said that Alonso was the most important player at the club, he was wrong. It is either Gerrard or Torres, with my personal opinion being that it's the former. Similarly, he called it wrong in the Everton game and Gerrard played well. GFYS's name is wrong because it's supposed to be an acronym of comething Andy Gray said, but infact isn't. He was also wrong to not dismiss the comparison between Kuyt and Berbatov as footballers instantly, because it's ridiculous. When people said last season that Alonso's form hadn't dipped, they were wrong. It had, and he's showing us right now exactly how much. When Stu says people don't improve as they get older, be it in "attributes" or whatever, he was wrong. Not in many cases, but I liked Emeralds example of Kevin Phillips. Occasionally they do, so to say they never do is wrong. That said, Emerald was wrong to use Thiery Henri as an example. He was wrong, because infact it's not a good example. Kevin Phillips is though, so we'll let him off.

Anyway, now I've p!ssed everyone off I'm gonna feck off again. I'll keep coming back to read though, and if it looks like it's good fun and a good discussion again, I'll be back sticking my oar in again. I'll get loads of stuff wrong no doubt, but I will try my best to admit it when it's so. 
Last edited by bigmick on Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Bam » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:12 am

I think the Alonso and Kuyt threads need locking.
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Postby Kharhaz » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:13 am

You havent wee weed everyone off mick, you have called it as it is, and I agree it is getting tiresome. Starbridge made a great post earlier tonight. There are discussions and arguments, but not many well made points, I include myself in this.  In the kuyt thread, I wanted to raise Landos points but thought against it, its not about individuals opinions, its about the feelings of each supporter, but like you say mick, its about standing ground. Its about being rafa ! Ive mentioned this before, we no longer watch the match for what it is, we watch the match for what we make of it. I will sit here and see players like kuyt have a good game, others will sit and watch and point out what he is doing wrong. How about, if we cant make the match, lets support the team. Its not possible, like you say mick, we are too stubborn to give up the ground on our opinions. For every one supporter who celebrates a win there are three to mourn pour performance. Its a shame, so many people almost wish a failure to justify criticism.
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Postby bigmick » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:28 am

I'm not even sure I agree Kharaz that people "mourn poor performance" after a win. Every fan is ahappy when we win, every fan jumps off his chair when Kuyt scores the winner against Man City. I'm absolutely certain of it, and just like it was complete and utter nonsense that I got a number of times over the last three seasons, I'd never think for a moment that anybody who was stridently "pro" rotation previously would be gutted if we went on and won the title with out current selection policy. Course they wouldn't be gutted, they'd be absolutely over the fecking moon.

This is the thing which gets me. Who is right and wrong matters nowhere near as much as people think. I come on here to talk about football and I couldn't give a feck if someone is proven to be right or wrong six months down the track. Usually in football it's possible to be both right AND wrong anyway. Take sinema Pongolle for example. Those who said he wasn't good enough were 100% right at the time. Those who said "I don't know he might be one day" were right too. Alonso? Those who said his form had dipped were 100% right. Those who advocated sticking with him/not selling him were right also. Kuyt? Those who said we'd signed a superstar (me that one :D ) were 100% wrong, as was rafa for signing him to play up front. Those who thought and think he would make himself a valuable member of the team were right too. Those who thought Sissoko wasn't good enough to play regualrly for Liverpool at the time he was sold were 100% right. Those who thought he would make a player one day though were right too.

Perhaps its the Stu influence which gets everyone at it. Babel for instance isn't currrently worthy of a starting slot most would agree. Stu though would tell you that he "will never ever make a footballer" which does make it quite tough to praise him up should he have a good game. The reality is of course that nobody can say absolutely for certain what will happen to the fecker (Babel that is, not Stu) but we will of course see. On the subject of being wrong I forgot a couple. Those who slagged off zonal marking were wrong, those who said Rafa hadn't seen the light were wrong, and those that thought that Bruno Cheyrou would prove to be a good signing were wrong too. So the feck what though, that's the question.
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Postby skatesy » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:45 am

I think that people are more concerned with being right and coming across to their fellow posters as some "football knowledge messiah" than they are with discussing Liverpool and everything football related.
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Postby Kharhaz » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:55 am

bigmick wrote:This is the thing which gets me. Who is right and wrong matters nowhere near as much as people think. I come on here to talk about football and I couldn't give a feck if someone is proven to be right or wrong six months down the track.

And yet here you are talking about the opinions of this forum, which raises my point. Stu being the main, we try to find the positives. And people like Stu find the wrong in the team which raises topics like this, and has raised many an opinion, and none have any influence on the team, none raise any positives in the team we are watching. Come matchday, we have the odd comment on how the match went but we seem to spend our entire time justifying the team selection and how well they played or didnt play. This is what gets me. People talk about the team, about the club, but its all the same, the owners and how they are ruining the club and who played bad in our latest performance. I dont want to hear negatives, I dont want to hear who was poor I want to hear, "A great victory for Liverpool" but even now all we read is "We was lucky to beat Man Utd"  I would like to talk about football, but its impossible. Come match day, you have people like saint and nanny trying to calm down the watchers come match day, you have people of the like damning the result (win or lose) performance wise.  Its hard to find a solution,

"Who is right and wrong matters nowhere near as much as people think."

To you it doesnt, nor does it to me, but bet your backside this makes more of a discussion. Look at the other threads, this backs it up.
Its hard to justify the team selection, the performance when there are so many cynics.
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Postby bigmick » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:07 am

But I don't just want to hear "it was a great victory for Liverpool" mate to be honest either. You might as well close the forum down if there's not to be any debate. I started a thread on the team selection versus man City and gotr derided in some quarters for being "negative". It's abolsutely ridiculous the way some people go with this "support the team" nonsense sometimes (not talking about you mate). I'll bet you rafa will have thought long and hard about his team selection in the aftermath of the city game, so how on earth was it being negative starting a thread in which you ASK peoples opinions? That kind of thing absolutely does my head in.
Last edited by bigmick on Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Kharhaz » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:13 am

You might as well close the forum down if there's not to be any debate. I started a thread on the team selection versus man City and gotr derided in some quarters for being "negative". It's abolsutely ridiculous the way some people go with this "support the team" nonsense sometimes


Its also a nonsense when you, heaven forbid, have an opinion that is against many others. One person fires a gun, the others go to war !
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Postby account deleted by request » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:18 am

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Postby Kharhaz » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:23 am

s@int wrote:Image

LOL I miss French and Saunders, am I doused now?  :D
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Postby account deleted by request » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:28 am

:D I would say its safer in gen chat, but with Maypax and Metalhead around, I am not too sure about that anymore :D
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Postby account deleted by request » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:41 am

Back on track

Top post Mick, I just think people are taking things to the extreme at the moment, you offer honest criticism or even question Rafa and somehow you hate Rafa, you say you prefer player "A" to player "B" and immediately its taken that you consider player "B" to be so bad he shouldn't be allowed near a football pitch. 

I agreed with Rafa's decision to change the team against City, but that was obviously just a ploy so that I could criticise a player instead. It really makes me laugh at times.
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Postby 112-1077774096 » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:43 am

bigmick wrote:Bob touched on something earlier which I think summed up the current problems with the forum. Discussions are increasingly more to do with people defending a position, and less to do with the actual subject matter itself, namely football.

I used to like coming on here for a bit of banter, to discuss football with knowledgeable people, but it's changed. People have developed the notion of having an opinion into some kind of seige mentality, defending their stance to the hilt regardless of what they see before their eyes. Course it's OK to diisagree with each other, that's what it's all about but there are two discussions going on at the moment in which common sense has gone out of the window. The most surprising thing of all is that rotatioin isn't even involved, I'm referring of course to the Kuyt and Alonso threads.

Let me explain where I think some people are in danger of losing it. Apologies in advance to those who I'm referring to, but I'm going to name names.


Firstly the Dirk Kuyt thread. How is it possible to have a sensible discussion about the merits of the player, when you get people comparing him as a footballer to Djimitar Berbatov, claiming that he "keeps on scoring important goals" when he's just scored his first league goal in 28 starts, and calling him Dirky Boy? I'm going to name a name here, this GFYS character or whatever else he calls himself has forever lost any credibility in my eyes with his posts on this matter. Utterly ridiculous. When people try and sensibly talk about the player and are happy to accept that he's our  best option for the right bar the captain, but then keep getting this nonsense about him being some kind of scapegoat, or told that he works hard it makes it ridiculous. Despite his claims to the contrary, I am far from convinced that the aforementioned poster is not a full time wind up merchant. I do know that there is more satisfaction discussing the game of association football with my missus than there is trying to do it on the kuyt thread when he is around. My appeal to this fella is this, at least try, just for a second to be objective about the subject.

On the same thread we have Peewee banging on about Kuyt being sh!te every game. I do think there is a slight difference in that Peewee is at least funny (deliberately so much of the time) and also he does it seems to me pick up plenty of flak these days almost regardless of what he post on any subject. Once more though a bit less dogma would be kind of good, although certainly the likes of Saint and Bam have been happy to praise Kuyt up for some of his better performances.

On the Alonso thread, we are beginning to get silly on there too. Now for two seasons many posters (myself included) have been of the opinion that Xabi hasn't played as well as he did in his first couple of seasons. Some of us even bored everybody senseless by advancing a couple of theories as to why. "Not so" said another faction, all an optical illusion by all accounts. He either didn't play quite as well as we thought he did in that first season, or he was actualy playing much better than we thought he was in his third season, or a combination of the two. Anyways, he was actually the "most important player at the club" according to Lando as the argument raged on.

Well just to confuse the issue even further, Rafa tries to flog him off to all and sundry and replace him with Gareth Barry. Then nobody is prepared to pay mid teens for him, but just to make the waters even muddier Xabi comes back and starts playing right back at the top of his game again. Lando claims Gerrard did nothing whatsoever in the first half against Everton, then says it was just sarcasm and he was only kidding and meanwhile the people who are big Xabi fans are trying to reconcile the fact that he is clearly playing better than he was last season, with their statements back then. It's all going to pot.


Here's an idea. Lets just admit we were wrong sometimes, or even not totally right. If you defended the extremes of Rafa style to the hilt, I've got news for you, you were wrong. Nothing to be embarrassed about, Rafa was wrong too. Most important thing is though, we've moved on and we've got the hang of it now. I was wrong about Robert Earnshaw, Albert Riera before we signed him (although I would like to see him PROPERLY prove it), Skyrtel is developing into a better defender than I thought he would as is Arbeloa, and Kuyt is doing better on the right of a 4-4-2 than I thought he was able. There, it really isn't anything to be ashamed about.


So, here's my charter for peace. When Lando said that Alonso was the most important player at the club, he was wrong. It is either Gerrard or Torres, with my personal opinion being that it's the former. Similarly, he called it wrong in the Everton game and Gerrard played well. GFYS's name is wrong because it's supposed to be an acronym of comething Andy Gray said, but infact isn't. He was also wrong to not dismiss the comparison between Kuyt and Berbatov as footballers instantly, because it's ridiculous. When people said last season that Alonso's form hadn't dipped, they were wrong. It had, and he's showing us right now exactly how much. When Stu says people don't improve as they get older, be it in "attributes" or whatever, he was wrong. Not in many cases, but I liked Emeralds example of Kevin Phillips. Occasionally they do, so to say they never do is wrong. That said, Emerald was wrong to use Thiery Henri as an example. He was wrong, because infact it's not a good example. Kevin Phillips is though, so we'll let him off.

Anyway, now I've p!ssed everyone off I'm gonna feck off again. I'll keep coming back to read though, and if it looks like it's good fun and a good discussion again, I'll be back sticking my oar in again. I'll get loads of stuff wrong no doubt, but I will try my best to admit it when it's so. 

i'm funny    :D

I win    :laugh: (nice to see there are still people on here who appreciate real humour)

I do agree though mick, i kept out of the kuyt thread for a while as it was embarrassing the lengths people were going to trying to defend him. on another note though mick when kuyt has done something well i have credited him for it in the individual match threads ( you will have to look very hard to find it and obviously you wont find it in every match thread   :p )
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Postby NiftyNeil » Mon Oct 13, 2008 6:36 am

Good post Mick. With any luck, the war will be over by Christmas :D .
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Postby GYBS » Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:51 am

I find it quite funny when you say people cant be right or wrong then state that people are wrong for this that and the other ? Critising me for my name on the forum ? what next ? Lost credibility with you ? Who fecking cares what you think about me ? i certainly dont - but you obviously care so much about yourself you want to start a thread critizing people and what they say or what their opinions are - Im sorry but someone must of forgotten to give me the brief where i was told you are the law on what people must say on here . You dont like what people say and what peoples opinions are then fine ignore them im sure your big enough (as stated in your username) . If people want to defend players then they are allowed to if they want to have a opinion on a player then they are allowed to - im pretty sure they arent doing it to get some credit from someone like yourself.
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