Round of 16 Matches

[davek]

Do you work there

Very droll.

That's unlike you.

 

[davek]

"You could see straight away that Messi had felt that familiar surge of static, seen the numbers whirring, the spaces start to yawn. Footballers are often said to carry a picture in their head. Messi has a great whirring bank of air traffic controller’s screens up there, alternate visions of the future to scroll through and finesse."

- Barney'hipster'Ronay?

 

[PITA]

This is why no one should ever read the Guardian. Full of fraud hipster reporting by clueless middle class spanners who've never played a game of football in their lives but think themselves the wordsmith:

Lionel Messi, Argentina’s pavement artist who sees shapes before others | Barney Ronay

With a free role, the No 10 has been the floating brain of his country’s side at this year’s World Cup

www.theguardian.com

Apart from you apparently.

 

[Furey1878]

I agree. There’s something incredibly endearing about a mad genius like Gascoigne, Cantona, Maradonna, Zidane, Rooney - real passion matched with unreal skill. Messi is beautiful to watch but doesn’t have that extra level of box office theatre which Ronaldo always has.

If you mean R9 then I totally agree!

 

[Furey1878]

"You could see straight away that Messi had felt that familiar surge of static, seen the numbers whirring, the spaces start to yawn. Footballers are often said to carry a picture in their head. Messi has a great whirring bank of air traffic controller’s screens up there, alternate visions of the future to scroll through and finesse."

- Barney'hipster'Ronay?

The Guardian would be my choice for news in general but you are spot on about them with regards to footy. It's like me trying to write about ballet or opera.

 

[davek]

Apart from you apparently.

Yes, including me.

I dont think you've quite grasped this.

 

[davek]

The Guardian would be my choice for news in general but you are spot on about them with regards to footy. It's like me trying to write about ballet or opera.

They're choc full of them. Especially that tool who covers South American footy for them and that Jonathan Liew feller...he is as bad as it gets.

The way they wax lyrical on football underlines to me that they've never played a game in their lives. No one romances the game like that if they have any level of experience of the blood and snot of it.

 

[PITA]

Yes, including me.

I dont think you've quite grasped this.

I think I have. You don't read it but you do.

 

[Drico]

We just saw what USA is. OTOH it put out a side that bossed the middle of the park against an English midfield including Saka Sterling and Mount. Minnows don’t do that. On the other hand southgate looks down his bench and sees he can throw in Foden and Grealish and Rashford, and USA has crap. Elite teams have quality depth but USA doesn’t.

The US did well, but bossing the English in midfield is likely to become a common theme of this tournament from this week onwards (if there is an onwards)...

 

[Drico]

"You could see straight away that Messi had felt that familiar surge of static, seen the numbers whirring, the spaces start to yawn. Footballers are often said to carry a picture in their head. Messi has a great whirring bank of air traffic controller’s screens up there, alternate visions of the future to scroll through and finesse."

- Barney'hipster'Ronay?

Ronay does a good line in funny metaphors, but his overwrought prose often submerges his wit in quick-drying cement. He's always trying to find some hidden profundity in what is, essentially, 22 men kicking a pig's bladder around a field and - worse - always trying to be the cleverest man with a dog observing the action, seeing the things us mere mortals certainly don't. He's a very talented wordsmith, but he badly needs an editor to cut out the self indulgence. He, basically, writes about football in the same way he probably watches Futurama.

One man who IS unreadable, in my view, is Sid Lowe. A typical column usually begins something like: "They thought they were out. But they were in. Having been in and out and then back in again, when they finally looked out for the count, they were saved by circumstances and, some said, because they found their cojones."

It's all enthusiasm, but it's secondary school stuff designed to evoke a fake sense of confused wonder that only he can decipher. The giveaway, for me, is that these writers rarely use their wit and vocabulary to describe a piece of the action in memorable terms. There's very little of, say, the great Irish sportswriter Con Houlihan's vivid descriptions. It's all smoke and mirrors about stuff that surrounds the game, rather than about the game itself. I suppose that's because they often write columns rather than match reports, but their match reports take the same form. I suppose plenty are impressed by all of this because they've been doing it for the best part of 20 years, now.

Houlihan once described a legendary moment in a Gaelic Football match when the Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen was unexpectedly chipped by Kerry forward Mikey Sheehy while remonstrating with a referee like this: "Paddy dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning. The ball won the race and it curled inside the near post as Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who had returned to find his station ablaze."

If you never saw the incident, you could still describe it. With Lowe and Ronay, all you remember is "floating brains", "blinking into the light", and "they were out but they were in." It's all guff.

 

[Connor]

In the now infamous words of Gianni Infantino, today I feel Senegalese

 

[Lobster Johnson]

This is why no one should ever read the Guardian. Full of fraud hipster reporting by clueless middle class spanners who've never played a game of football in their lives but think themselves the wordsmith:

Lionel Messi, Argentina’s pavement artist who sees shapes before others | Barney Ronay

With a free role, the No 10 has been the floating brain of his country’s side at this year’s World Cup

www.theguardian.com

Dave gets all his reportage from the Morning Star

 

[jonnyboy316]

Aesthetically I can't think of anyone better, and to argue that Baggio was more graceful running with the ball is strange. Messi can go round opposition players in many different ways, and often looks graceful doing so.

Messi has historically been described as the flee. His running style is skittish. To my eye he is not as graceful as Iniesta, Baggio, Laudrup, Zidane. Clearly he is has been a better player than all those. I have already said I believe him to be the best player I have seen but he is not one of my favourites.

 

[davek]

Ronay does a good line in funny metaphors, but his overwrought prose often submerges his wit in quick-drying cement. He's always trying to find some hidden profundity in what is, essentially, 22 men kicking a pig's bladder around a field and - worse - always trying to be the cleverest man with a dog observing the action, seeing the things us mere mortals certainly don't. He's a very talented wordsmith, but he badly needs an editor to cut out the self indulgence. He, basically, writes about football in the same way he probably watches Futurama.

One man who IS unreadable, in my view, is Sid Lowe. A typical column usually begins something like: "They thought they were out. But they were in. Having been in and out and then back in again, when they finally looked out for the count, they were saved by circumstances and, some said, because they found their cojones."

It's all enthusiasm, but it's secondary school stuff designed to evoke a fake sense of confused wonder that only he can decipher. The giveaway, for me, is that these writers rarely use their wit and vocabulary to describe a piece of the action in memorable terms. There's very little of, say, the great Irish sportswriter Con Houlihan's vivid descriptions. It's all smoke and mirrors about stuff that surrounds the game, rather than about the game itself. I suppose that's because they often write columns rather than match reports, but their match reports take the same form. I suppose plenty are impressed by all of this because they've been doing it for the best part of 20 years, now.

Houlihan once described a legendary moment in a Gaelic Football match when the Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen was unexpectedly chipped by Kerry forward Mikey Sheehy while remonstrating with a referee like this: "Paddy dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning. The ball won the race and it curled inside the near post as Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who had returned to find his station ablaze."

If you never saw the incident, you could still describe it. With Lowe and Ronay, all you remember is "floating brains", "blinking into the light", and "they were out but they were in." It's all guff.

I'm a fan of the minimalist David Coleman school of football reporting:

"Lorimer to Clarke. 1-0!"

Just give us the details and STFU. I can do my own thinking thanks.

The Guardian lot are just there to sell football to the middle class. I detest them.

 

[Drico]

I'm a fan of the minimalist David Coleman school of football reporting:

"Lorimer to Clarke. 1-0!"

Just give us the details and STFU. I can do my own thinking thanks.

The Guardian lot are just there to sell football to the middle class. I detest them.

Today, David, like Gianni Infantino, "I feel middle class."