dholliday
deconstructed rep
One thing I just don't understand after our brilliant wins against Man City and Chelsea is the opposing manager's excuse during the post-match interview, paraphrasing:
"I guess I didn't prepare well enough, we probably thought the match was gonna be easier."
It's incredible! Why do you think they would admit that on national TV? It makes both their manager and the players look like idiots.
Further, it seems impossible anyone chasing the title could under-estimate Everton at Goodison Park as any look at the final tables at the end of the last 10 seasons will see we're generally among the best 6 teams in the country, and as much as we like to complain we're also one of the most stable tactically, having had the same manager for that time.
Mancini's excuse was bad enough given we'd already beaten his team more than once before that game, but for Andre Villas Boas to make the same statement so shortly after Mancini is just strange. I've never heard such excuses before, at least not regarding us at home.
Mancini and AVB should count themselves fantastically fortunate that they've been able to come to England to manage their first Premiership clubs with hundreds of millions of Sterling available to them. Their lack of preparation is bad enough and shows how average they would be at a less monied club, but their admittance of it is even more astonishing. And I can't understand how such a statement would somehow protect their own players, for they are almost as culpable.
Here are the interviews again:
Mancini
AVB (scroll down to halfway to see the AVB interview)
I think this little admittance touches upon how much we were ignored by the mainstream media even when we were consistently finishing 5th and 6th (and how MOTD generally don't like to focus on us). This lack of attention is so effective that opposing foreign managers still don't appreciate how strong we really are.
Maybe there's a simple explanation that ties all this: our fan-base just isn't broad enough to warrant mainstream attention, which is why outside of the old big-4, clubs like Man City, Spurs and now Newcastle seem to get more focus than we did when they have good seasons.
That may be, but it's surely no excuse for a top-level Prem manager to under-prepare like that.
What are your thoughts, or am I just babbling?
"I guess I didn't prepare well enough, we probably thought the match was gonna be easier."
It's incredible! Why do you think they would admit that on national TV? It makes both their manager and the players look like idiots.
Further, it seems impossible anyone chasing the title could under-estimate Everton at Goodison Park as any look at the final tables at the end of the last 10 seasons will see we're generally among the best 6 teams in the country, and as much as we like to complain we're also one of the most stable tactically, having had the same manager for that time.
Mancini's excuse was bad enough given we'd already beaten his team more than once before that game, but for Andre Villas Boas to make the same statement so shortly after Mancini is just strange. I've never heard such excuses before, at least not regarding us at home.
Mancini and AVB should count themselves fantastically fortunate that they've been able to come to England to manage their first Premiership clubs with hundreds of millions of Sterling available to them. Their lack of preparation is bad enough and shows how average they would be at a less monied club, but their admittance of it is even more astonishing. And I can't understand how such a statement would somehow protect their own players, for they are almost as culpable.
Here are the interviews again:
Mancini
AVB (scroll down to halfway to see the AVB interview)
I think this little admittance touches upon how much we were ignored by the mainstream media even when we were consistently finishing 5th and 6th (and how MOTD generally don't like to focus on us). This lack of attention is so effective that opposing foreign managers still don't appreciate how strong we really are.
Maybe there's a simple explanation that ties all this: our fan-base just isn't broad enough to warrant mainstream attention, which is why outside of the old big-4, clubs like Man City, Spurs and now Newcastle seem to get more focus than we did when they have good seasons.
That may be, but it's surely no excuse for a top-level Prem manager to under-prepare like that.
What are your thoughts, or am I just babbling?
