Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:43 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

That seems about right.....Being a nobend, coupled with the fact that he has been exposed as being, well, not very good at actually playing football, would mean that City face taking a bit of a loss on him.

Mancini has to make it seem he isn't for sale to keep his price up, even though he obviously is.

As a slight side issue, why do City fans actually like him so much (that's if they do)?....To most outsiders he is a distinctly average forward, who shows the very odd sign that he is capable of doing something special - He's a poor man's Frank Worthington, all style and very little substance.

City fans' views on Balotelli fall into 3 roughly equal categories:

1) Those that think he's a complete liability with very little talent

2) Those that think he's next messi, or messiah, who is just misunderstood.

3) Those that think he has the talent to be a very good player but is in serious danger of squandering it.

I'm in 3).

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:52 pm  

McClennan wrote: In the UK there is employment legislation that states an employee has the right to work free from racial abuse. This came as a result of an incident at Bernard Manning's club (some of you may remember it) when he was telling racist jokes and there was a black waitress who complained to her manager about it. The amendment regulations also make employers liable to their employees for third party acts of harassment. This will include clients and customers who are not under the employer’s control. Obviously in those circumstances there needs to be some safeguards for employers and the regulations make it clear that an employer will only be liable for third party acts of harassment if:- The employer knows his employee has been subjected to harassment on at least two occasions by a third party, and The employer has failed to take such steps as would have been reasonably practicable or to prevent the third party doing so. Surprisingly the regulations make it clear that “it is immaterial whether the third party is the same or a different person on each occasion”. That to me suggests that each football club has a legal responsibility to ensure racism doesn't happen. An actual legal responsibility. Now it's not happened yet but if players raise the issue and UEFA, clubs decline to deal with it, how long will it be before a player brings a claim against either? Chances of it happening are still quite low because I'm sure there'd be a campaign against it with people saying it's driven by greed rather than a desire to stamp out racism. Whatever the case, I am a bit surprised at this argument about walking off because we are talking about racism, not the price of half-time balti pies. We are talking about an issue in which people are bullied, harassed, threatened and even killed over, yet football seems to be more important. I can't buy into that sorry. The article you've quoted is old, out of date and wrong - I don't even think it's referrering to the Equality Act. 3rd Party Harassment protection (section 40 EA2010, I think) is in the process of being repealed. Employees are still protected by the EA, but that doesn't extend to 3rd parties, or at least, won't do shortly. As a result the point you raise above is out of date/wrong/whatever. As you were...

McClennan wrote: In the UK there is employment legislation that states an employee has the right to work free from racial abuse. This came as a result of an incident at Bernard Manning's club (some of you may remember it) when he was telling racist jokes and there was a black waitress who complained to her manager about it. The amendment regulations also make employers liable to their employees for third party acts of harassment. This will include clients and customers who are not under the employer’s control. Obviously in those circumstances there needs to be some safeguards for employers and the regulations make it clear that an employer will only be liable for third party acts of harassment if:- The employer knows his employee has been subjected to harassment on at least two occasions by a third party, and The employer has failed to take such steps as would have been reasonably practicable or to prevent the third party doing so. Surprisingly the regulations make it clear that “it is immaterial whether the third party is the same or a different person on each occasion”. That to me suggests that each football club has a legal responsibility to ensure racism doesn't happen. An actual legal responsibility. Now it's not happened yet but if players raise the issue and UEFA, clubs decline to deal with it, how long will it be before a player brings a claim against either? Chances of it happening are still quite low because I'm sure there'd be a campaign against it with people saying it's driven by greed rather than a desire to stamp out racism. Whatever the case, I am a bit surprised at this argument about walking off because we are talking about racism, not the price of half-time balti pies. We are talking about an issue in which people are bullied, harassed, threatened and even killed over, yet football seems to be more important. I can't buy into that sorry. The article you've quoted is old, out of date and wrong - I don't even think it's referrering to the Equality Act. 3rd Party Harassment protection (section 40 EA2010, I think) is in the process of being repealed. Employees are still protected by the EA, but that doesn't extend to 3rd parties, or at least, won't do shortly. As a result the point you raise above is out of date/wrong/whatever. As you were...

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:09 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

City fans' views on Balotelli fall into 3 roughly equal categories:

1) Those that think he's a complete liability with very little talent

2) Those that think he's next messi, or messiah, who is just misunderstood.

3) Those that think he has the talent to be a very good player but is in serious danger of squandering it.

I'm in 3).

I'd say he was category 3, but as slowly drifted into category 1, and shows little interest in stopping the slide.

The thing is, this is his third season at City and he is no better now than when he first showed up.....You can only be a promising player for so long, before it becomes obvious that you aren't quite what you are cracked up to be.

The most damning thing for Balotelli, is that as an opposition fan, when your side is due to play City, you want Balotelli in the side ahead of your other 3 forwards, because you know he is the least dangerous.....The 'Balotelli being picked ahead of Tevez in the Derby' case must go down as one of the most alarmingly poor selection decisions of the last few years - What was Mancini thinking??...

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:16 am  

Cibaman wrote:

City fans' views on Balotelli fall into 3 roughly equal categories:

1) Those that think he's a complete liability with very little talent

2) Those that think he's next messi, or messiah, who is just misunderstood.

3) Those that think he has the talent to be a very good player but is in serious danger of squandering it.

I'm in 3).

can I add a 4th category ?

4) the boy definitely has talent but lacks the maturity and/or intelligence to manage his life - once he actually grows up he will be able to handle things more capably both on and off the pitch

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:15 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I'd say he was category 3, but as slowly drifted into category 1, and shows little interest in stopping the slide.

The thing is, this is his third season at City and he is no better now than when he first showed up.....You can only be a promising player for so long, before it becomes obvious that you aren't quite what you are cracked up to be.

The most damning thing for Balotelli, is that as an opposition fan, when your side is due to play City, you want Balotelli in the side ahead of your other 3 forwards, because you know he is the least dangerous.....The 'Balotelli being picked ahead of Tevez in the Derby' case must go down as one of the most alarmingly poor selection decisions of the last few years - What was Mancini thinking??...

There was a degree of method in his madness. The Aguero-Tevez partnership is terrific in away games but they've often struggled to open up defenses at the Etihad. Its a consequence of our lack of width and pace, we tend to play too many short passes through the middle.

When Balotelli has his brain in, he's much better at getting behind a defense, beating an offside trap, finding space in the box. His movement can be superb. I think Mancini was hoping that he'd stretch United's defense in a way that Tevez wouldn't.

I actually thought he was doing ok at the start of the game. The problem was that once United scored he reverted to glory football, flicks and tricks. Again a mental thing.

At his best Balotelli is one of those players that can make the game look easy (eg his goals at United last year). Its when he plays as if he thinks that the game is easy that it all goes wrong.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:34 am  

Van Persie is just too good

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:53 am  

100% Wire wrote:

Van Persie is just too good.......

....for this United team.....

In the same way he kept a realtively mediocre Arsenal squad competitive, he now appears to be doing the same with a similarly average United squad.

He is now doing the same job that Ronaldo did in his final couple of years at Old Trafford, in making a poor side look good.

Personally, I tip my hat to Sir Alex, who has obviously realised the best way to success is to assemble a hotch potch of a side (no midfield, ropey defence), and simply crown it with a world-class striker.....It makes City and Chelsea's policy of trying to buy 11 top class players a pretty dumb one....

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:57 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

....for this United team.....

Hard to disagree too much. Then what does that say about the PL as a whole, if we're 7 points clear?

[John_D]

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:24 pm  

Romance schmomance. Hope Liverpool batter that alehouse team this afternoon.

Re: Football Chat Thread PART II : Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:15 pm  

John_D wrote:

Romance schmomance. Hope Liverpool batter that alehouse team this afternoon.

Come on, the love story between the club owner and his ex-call girl chief exec cannot fail to warm your heart?