Allez les rouges wrote:Not taking finances into account, although Stoke have spent quite a lot recently, I can understand the emotional reaction of "that's not football at all" in their case, but seems ridiculously harsh and inappropriate for Villa recently, money or no. I can't imagine Stoke beating anyone 6-4...
The Santa Stalker™ wrote:Allez les rouges wrote:As I've said, they are indeed excessively long-ball for my tastes too but a team like Stoke deserves that criticism more than Villa, who were excellent on Wednesday.
Stoke are doing what the can with the budget they have. And it's not like they cannot play at all with some of the players the have - Etherington, Lawrence, Fuller & Tuncay for example.
MON spends way more than Stoke so he deserves more criticism.
L r dd wrote:Burnley are going down Stoke are a solid prem team now who can attract decent players due to that status. I get you don't like teams who play certain football. But to consider it wrong or cowardice is a bit ridiculous. Learn to combat it and they'll change or struggle. Whine and you get nowhere. I like the different mix we have.
The Professor wrote:The Santa Stalkerwrote:
Allez les rouges wrote:As I've said, they are indeed excessively long-ball for my tastes too but a team like Stoke deserves that criticism more than Villa, who were excellent on Wednesday.
Stoke are doing what the can with the budget they have. And it's not like they cannot play at all with some of the players the have - Etherington, Lawrence, Fuller & Tuncay for example.
MON spends way more than Stoke so he deserves more criticism.
That's not a valid excuse TS - see Burnley.
Are Stoke any less talented?
It's just pure cowardice by their manager.
I also reckon Stoke's budget isn't any smaller than at least 1/3 of La liga sides.
The Santa Stalker
I've said before that all the money in the EPL really doesn't help the quality of footy at the bottom end cos the vast majority of managers just want to survive and will resort to percentages to do so... and I don't blame them one bit cos of the financial implications.
WBA & Middlesbrough played the best footy out of all the teams in the relegation scrap last season & guess what, they finished in the bottom 2.
Arsene Wenger blames media for Michael Ballack row
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has blamed the media for causing a row with Chelsea's Michael Ballack following his team's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.
Wenger claims he was misreported by the press and insists he was "full of compliments and praise" for Chelsea.
"I find it completely unfair, you take one word of my press conference to turn it around, every time.
"You did it at Villa, you did it at Chelsea, but every time I was positive towards the opponents," he said.
"If you want I can say nothing in my press conferences, don't worry," warned Wenger.
Ballack was unhappy with Wenger's comment that "we didn't get a demonstration of football" from Chelsea in Sunday's match.
"Wenger always says things like this when he loses to find an excuse," said the Germany captain.
"It is my job to take a distance from that and analyse the game in a calm way with a cool head and to analyse what is right."
"I have to live with all the conclusions that Chelsea are a much better side, but I believe what I believe."
Chelsea midfielder Ballack also labelled Arsenal one-dimensional, saying: "We knew the way Arsenal play. It is always the same style."
"That is what Manchester United showed when they played them and what we did.
"We derived the win because we were very effective, and that was our strategy."
Ballack, who joined Chelsea from Bayern Munich in 2006, believes the title race is now between the Stamford Bridge outfit and Manchester United.
Chelsea's victory on Sunday put them two points clear of Manchester United in the Premier League table, and nine in front of the Gunners.
"If you look now, it seems like a race between Manchester United and us. But four weeks ago, you could see how it was [different] and it can go quick when teams lose points," the 33-year-old added.
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