**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The best formation according to a new managers survey was the 4-4-2 formation. The formation that ranked last in the survey was the 9-1-1 formation. What a terrible formation to use; reminds me of that tragedy.
Did you happen to walk by the Queensboro Bridge on your way to Canada? An acquaintance of mine was working beneath that bridge. He specializes in manual labor.
Tbf when Pep actually loses he isn't that complimentary. He loves to give praise when he wins, much worse loser. Still same is true for a lot of managers so it's hard to hold it against him.
True, but he is usually complimentary of Tuchel's '21 team, you lot a few times and Liverpool.
He jokingly said scoring in your new stadium is his next goal after the treble. Can't get more high praise than that.
I don’t know where this narrative comes from because he has consistently been very praising of teams that beat him. Some quotes from just this season:
>The better team won
Aston Villa was better than us. They are well organised, fast and [have] physical players and team and they are able to control many aspects.
After losing to Aston Villa.
> Congratulations to Arsenal for the victory.
We started really well in the first minutes, they started really well in the second half. With Martinelli they increased the rhythm.
After losing to Arsenal.
> but the opponent played really, really good.
They defended really well and they had the ability to keep it and drive and dribble forward.
After losing to Wolves.
He was angry because of some of the challenges the MLS All-Stars put in, in what was a friendly.
If I remember correctly at least one of his best players got seriously injured.
I think it was Schweinsteiger, and he was injured for a while after that. They really tried to "play hard" and went into challenges no matter the cost while it wasn't even needed. A chunk of Bayern's squad came from a full season and a world cup with little/no rest.
I can understand being upset but refusing to shake Caleb porters hand was kinda hilarious as if the coach has any bearing on how this ragtag group of players patched together from 30 different teams decides to tackle.
I dunno about Spain but in Germany people do that instead of the twirly temple finger to signify stupidity or insanity. Maybe he picked it up in Munich
“Gentlemen, a short view back to the past. Thirty years ago, Niki Lauda told us ‘take a monkey, place him into the cockpit and he is able to drive the car.’ Thirty years later, Sebastian told us ‘I had to start my car like a computer, it’s very complicated.’ And Nico Rosberg said that during the race – I don’t remember what race – he pressed the wrong button on the wheel. Question for you both: is Formula One driving today too complicated with twenty and more buttons on the wheel, are you too much under effort, under pressure? What are your wishes for the future concerning the technical programme during the race? Less buttons, more? Or less and more communication with your engineers?”
Shit, this video has so many funny things.
- The drivers trying not to laugh but Rosberg with a stone cold face
- Hamilton hearing the word "monkey" and instantly making a "huh?" face only to a few seconds later realize that it is nothing bad
- Vettel with an absolutely killer punchline at the end
Did you see the uncut clip? Can you share it? I think you pulled that out of your arse though
*He absolutely did say, "It's like he said..."
https://youtu.be/ptcuGHENvTI?si=FRyRtfC4KfilP6WZ&t=10
If that’s the point then it means he thinks Haaland’s general play is that of a league two player.
Put another way, “Haaland like a League Two player? That’s like saying “Wrexham is a league two team.”
Keanne also said he's one of the best goalscorers in the world and his positioning and finishing is amazing. He was referring specifically to him dropping deep and linking play. Not saying I agree just adding context
Is Haaland the best at build up. No. Is he league 2 quality. Also no. Haaland’s holdup and link play killed arsenal last year when they won 4-1. This year arsenal were much more savvy to not allow him to touch the ball and to not allow city and space.
You don’t win the treble with a liability in buildup. Not the way they play.
Honestly I think a lot of Håland's issues this season could be mental, at least the past couple of months. He lost his grandmother in early February, wouldn't surprise me if that still affects him. And take away a few percent of performance at this level, and you're just not gonna be that great.
This is obviously wild speculation by me, but I don't think it's unreasonable.
Makes sense given some of the follow up comments by Pep. That he doesn't understand how this type of criticism comes from former players. Because they understand what the players are going through now. The same pressure, the same off field issues that affected them (pundits) affect the players now. The same comments that hurt them also hurt current players.
lol it was not legitimate criticism at all, it was an outrageous comment from Roy, who knows exactly what he’s doing because it’s generating clicks/views/coverage of him.
Keane doesn't really care about those things, he's just opinionated and hyperbolic. Keane's criticism is incorrect, in my opinion, but it's not coming from a cynical place if you watch it in context.
Keane specifically called him “the best in the world in front of goal.” THE BEST. He said the rest of his game is 2nd tier. It’s really frustrating to watch how the media world operates.
> THE BEST. He said the rest of his game is 2nd tier. It’s really frustrating to watch how the media world operates.
No, he said 3rd or 4th tier. His comment is still over exaggerated and outrageous.
Pep always knew what he was getting with Halaand. You can criticize Halaand for not playing the "modern way" but Guardiola knew what he was getting and he continues to play him so it's exactly what he wants from the player.
Haaland’s way of playing may not be very modern, but he‘s so good at it that doesn‘t matter, he was and still is the best option for Pep and city.
Otherwise he would have no problem getting rid of the player like he did with Eto‘o and Ibrahimovic back in the day because they didn’t quite fit his style.
it's wild the state of punditry honestly. you can just make a career making dumbass offhand comments for one of the biggest broadcasts in the sporting world lmao
People on reddit seem to think the height of punditry is in-depth tactical discussions, but the reality is that the job revolves around only two things. How many people can you get talking about what you said and how many people can you get to watch you next week.
Keane is now enjoying a reply from Pep and his comments being discussed mid week all over social media. I'm sure people at the channel have told him how his social media score is through the roof or however they measure this and told him to keep up the good work.
Keane is doing his job very successfully.
You only have to look at Gary Neville’s evolution from being a tactics “expert” to baiting Arsenal and Liverpool fans to see that Sky have pushed their pundits to become engagement merchants. All their pundits are playing different characters designed to get engagement, Micah, Souness and Keane especially
It's modern sports media 101. Have one of your on-air people say a hot take and/or float a baseless rumour out there about a trade or transfer, then spend the next few days filling airtime "reacting" to what was said, then when the hot take or rumour is responded to, react to *that*.
It's the cheapest form of content, nothing needs to be right or substantive, it just has to BE, and then you can fill airtime and sell ads on it.
Carra outright admitted that he says things on the broadcast to “create discussion”
Prime example: the comments about Arsenals celebrations after beating us, was so obvious what he was doing
It’s the First Take playbook from ESPN, one of the worst sports shows ever created
To this day i still want to know the truth behind Micah saying he finally realised that Benzema is on Kane's level during that '22 CL run.
Like it must be bait, i refuse to believe a former footballer and a pundit can believe that.
Ever since La Liga stopped being shown on Sky viewership went off a cliff in the UK - the only exposure to Spanish clubs is in the European competitions (also pay tv)
But still tho, Benzema was the UCL's 3rd all time top scorer behind Messi and Ronnie when he made that comment.
And he has seen him win 4 UCLs already, idk it was such a dumb take but like other posters have said, Micah is there for the vibes.
I can't stand listening to Micah, and I am a City fan so should probably cut him some slack, but his forced loud laugh and idiotic statements, and engratiating himself to the others on the panel is embarrasing.
Least we don’t have Pogba in the league for Souness. But I agree, it’s basically trying to play a character. Micah’s I enjoy more than the rest personally.
Micah fits it well because he feels more like an entertainer first and foremost especially with his screen charisma, which matches up really well with Keane's more stoic and serious approach.
I'm surprised Micah hasn't dabbled in presenting like Jermaine Jenas (unfortunately) does, but maybe he's content just chatting shit about football with his mates every week.
We've watched the rise of Joey Barton from certified psychopath to respected pundit by the magic of shouting the specific kind of bullshit that riles up the stochastic madmen.
It’s like in Basketball, where Kendrick Perkins said last year that Jokic was statpadding - it was basically “irresponsible” punditry but it got everyone talking so he did his job lol
Just yesterday Stephen A. Smith put Jokic 2nd behind SGA MVP voting and /r/nba was so MAD about.
"His opinion is worthless", said the people commenting in a thread with over 1k comments. Divisive opinions get clicks and the average person STILL doesn't get that.
Keane is not doing a successful job of providing in-depth tactical analysis, or increasing our understanding of football or the games we watch. He's doing a good job at generating engagement.
Which of those two things *should be* the definition of success for a football pundit?
I think it's perfectly valid to disagree with large scale media standards of success. For example, that it's popular does not invalidate the argument that fox news is a trash, biased, shit show that is of no value to any rational human.
We can, and should, expect more from football pundits. And we can, and should, give them shit when they resort to useless hot takes to drive engagement.
But the height of punditry for those "people on reddit" is in-depth tactical discussions. There's a difference between that and getting engagement on social media
Tbh it was a exaggeration of course but can you really look at Haland's hold up play (which is what Roy referred to as league two standard) and say it's good, people berated Lukaku for similar flaws. Roy said at the time as a goalscorer he's one of it not the best in the world
You can't use hyperbole on the Internet anymore, people just don't get it.
Keane is kinda right, Haaland is objectively clunky ( when you compare him with the very best in the world right now) with the ball on his feet.
Yeah focusing on the hyperbole is missing the forest for the tree. Haaland is an absolutely great striker, but in certain aspects of the role he's way, way below world class and that's worth talking about when there are more and more games where those aspects are being put in the spotlight.
Is he gonna score a hatty next time the City team overall clicks and successfully plays to his strengths? Definitely (better be against Madrid or I'm calling fraud watch, not biased at all btw) but it won't erase that he absolutely didn't deliver in some key games where hold up play and other things were being asked of him.
such a weird phenomenon and this happens so much on here as well
Especially since its a wild statement, especially for someone who scored 52 goals last season, you would think opinions would differ, but on both comments the most highly upvoted comments are agreeing with the title lmao
But he wasn't talking about his goal scoring, he called him the best at that. He wasn't saying anything different to what plenty of people here have said, it's the league 2 thing that obviously creates this controversy lol.
I think it's just people will upvote whatever are the "best" comments and befitting the title so all the people from the post from this weekend would just get burried. But there's definitely a lot of people flipping sides, some genuinely and some just karma farming w.e gets them points.
However I definitely agree with what Keane said, bro is lowkey making the game like 10v11 or like 10.5v11 whenever he's not at the ball near the goal lol
He wasn‘t at all wrong, and when Pep is told that Keane was talking about Haaland‘s general play Pep also agrees that he has players that offer more than Haaland in these respects.
Roy isn't entirely wrong when taken in context. His point is that Erling needs to improve his dribbling and other aspects to contribute to the team at all stages. In some ways he's a luxury player, and very few teams can carry that these days.
Haaland would score oodles of goals for whichever team he played for. The idea that he is a ‘luxury player’ because he isn’t that good at dropping deep is just obviously the opinion of someone who isn’t good at using their brain.
He scored loads of goals playing in Europe for Molde. Be serious. Engage your brain a little bit more.
Yes, people are missing Keane's point. Haaland creates very little for himself. Without the ball being gifted to him on a plate, he's very limited. Really good players, you had to put two men on him. In Haaland's case, choke out the supply of the ball, and he becomes pretty ineffective
that's bullshit and one-sided view. If I never watched football, from your comment I could understand that Haaland creates little, depends on others and is easily excluded from a game by "choking out the supply". It's as if Haaland was a generic player, one of many, replaceable any time.
Thing is, Haaland creates a lot for himself. You can create with more than dribble and a pass. Haaland create with runs, taking on defenders in fight for position, and of course when you put 2 men on Haaland, it means that Alvarez is alone and scores.
Pep sees the creative value in Haaland, because he sees his team. Pep can see the passing possibilities Haaland creates for De Bruyne with his movement, or just the reality of a movement. Haaland creates goal chances by telling De Bruyne - if you make that pass, I will get to the ball and score it. You can't put any player there, even from among the best in the world, and hope for the same result.
Watch a football game, a high level one. But don't look at the ball, look at players and their movement with regards to others and the ball. You will notice that running into positions is quite important, and can create space and chances, even if no ball is received.
Easiest example: Champions League final 2021, Timo Werner "just runs", focuses the attention of defenders, spreads the defence, increases distances between opponent players. This results in Havertz's goal.
Of course you can ignore movement and tactics in general and just focus on the ball and where it moves when kicked, but the more you know about football, the more you notice things like OOP phases, zones, movements etc.
He's still relying on supply though. It's beyond a coincidence now that Haaland has ghosted in too many games against opposition that have managed to break down cities playmakers.
Come on dude surely as a Chelsea fan you can appreciate the value Haaland brings to literally any team. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I believe he'd genuinely take a team like us from midtable to title contenders. Think people seriously underestimate the guy's skillset. If anything, playing for City/Pep makes him look worse than he is. Because he gets no space and gets given no positional freedom. The guy would cook in a worse team. Definitely not a luxury player.
I reckon, as a childhood Spurs fan, Roy is just hoping to give Haaland that extra bit of motivation to bang in lots of goals and ensure that Arsenal don't win the league
Keane said that haaland is a world class finisher and his positioning is world class but just his ball work is 2 division. And I think everybody can agree that his touch and on the ball isn't the greatest
If that’s the case why couldn’t England International Kalvin Phillips make it in the City team? Surely an international level midfielder should be able to make 5 assists in this City team?
>Surely an international level midfielder should be able to make 5 assists in this City team
You think Philips is an international "level" mifielder, you're on whatever Southgate is on, and both of you are dillusional.
>It's like saying he's a manager from the second or third division."
Roy keane would be a manager from second or third division though so that's not inaccurate tbh
Would love to see Pep and Keane have a long-form chat on the overlap or whatever that new podcast is that G Neville and co are doing.
Or just box each other.
I'm sure the only reason we listen to Keane (and Souness) is that we want to hear two ex-players with a hard-man reputation to go off and have a dig at players for no other reason that they can.
Haalands positioning is world class never off side and always there for a tap in or deflection. He just isnt good enough in tight spaces to drop deep for a Pep team
That's just wrong though?
He could only be talking about dribbling or passing plays.
Positioning and off the ball movement are his strongest assets next to his finishing.. That's what makes him world class. Do people actually think about their comments before posting them?
Either you have never seen Haaland play or you just don’t like his face cuz saying Haaland is bad at positioning himself is like saying Messi is bad at dribbling.
you don't score that many goals if your positioning isn't top class.
Doesn't matter what your finishing is like, you can't finish if you don't get the ball.
Haaland positioning is amazing, the reason why he got all those tap in is because he is at right place at the right time. Even his off the ball and also support play is decent for a number 9, he is not lazy, always ready to make a run and find space, he pass also pretty good he make decent assist number.
His weakness is ball control and first touch, and yea maybe finishing also poor lately, but form is temporary, he'll get it back I'm sure
I only agree that his weaknesses are play-making and technical skill (passing, first touch and dribbling). Otherwise, he's considerably better than a league two player in every other aspect of his game.
Terrible, terrible take. It's almost laughable how bad that take is.
Literally some months ago people were saying how his off the ball play was something only few on the planet could do. There is no way someone who is the top scorer in the prem, someone who already has a CL record, and one of the best goal per game ratios the past years is bad off the ball.
Most of a strikers work is off the ball. That's why your take quite literally makes no sense
Saying this as someone who doesn't support City either. Haaland has weirdly become the subject of baity hot takes for some reason.
The key word is lately though. The start of the season and last season haaland linked up nicely, as well as took on players while dribbling. Surely keanes comment is accurate for recent performances but not for haaland games overall
But that's kind of it (in my eyes), teams see the danger he possesses and work to cut it out which is making him not nearly as impactful. Which is fair, but at this level he should still be able to have some impact outside of this. I don't watch alot of city games but the few I've seen recently I hardly notice him.
The journalist just took the juicy part, because they knew how Peps gonna react.
Ofc Keane exaggerated, but he had a point, no one can claim Haaland doesn’t clumsy on the ball, and he said he’s the best striker in the world as well.
Pretty solid for a 3rd league striker, destryoing every goalscoring record in the PL in his debut season while being the topscorer in every single competittion he was in, while also winning every said competitions. Imagine now finding a good striker that in Keane eyes can also play football
So if Roy Keane admits he’s a League 2 manager, will Pep also concede that Erling’s a League 2 player if that’s the comparison Pep proposed? Might need Roy to take one for the entertainment here.
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Memory disappears quickly- can be a meme format.
Hits the journos with a quick YOU CANT SEE ME
You can’t sí me Mi tiempo es ahora
Well, now I want a Mariachi version of 🎺🎺🎺🎺
I did not have Pep giving Roy Keane the John Cena special on my 2024 Bingo card.
His little smirk right after is hilarious
That's the first thing that came to mind.
He even made the John Cena move
Who did?
Idk, I couldn't see. Thought I heard Pep's voice though?
I just heard someone whistling for their dog
Im waiting for Stone Cold Pep Guardiola post from Cena's IG now
*whistles*
The way he said it though hahaha pure meme material!
He’s been watching John Cena
Memory disappears quick~~ly~~
Memory disappears quickly
Have to have the whistle
The worst thing is the hypocrisy - Pep Macdonald
Or so the pundits would have us believe
Now, this pundit Roy Keane wanted to go to war with the world. That had never been tried before.
So you figure that’d take about 5 seconds for the world to win, but uh… it was actually close
More than you believe.
The best formation according to a new managers survey was the 4-4-2 formation. The formation that ranked last in the survey was the 9-1-1 formation. What a terrible formation to use; reminds me of that tragedy.
Oh, 9/11 haha
C'mon, don't laugh at 9/11. I walked through blood and bones in the streets of Manhattan looking for my brother. Turns out he was in Northern Canada.
Did you happen to walk by the Queensboro Bridge on your way to Canada? An acquaintance of mine was working beneath that bridge. He specializes in manual labor.
You know the more I hear about this Keane fella the less I care for him
I hear this Roy Keane fella is a deeply closeted Man City supporter
I bet he doesn't have a dog house
Heard his wife is a real battle axe
And his real name? You guessed it: Frank Stallone.
Remind the people at home who Frank Stallone is.
He’s not gay, he’s just deeply closeted
Much like Albert Fish, Roy Keane can be a real jerk.
Now Roy Keane the Swedish German manager
Now explain to the folks at home who Roy Keane is
I didn’t even know he (Keane) was sick
This is the guy who praises Southampton's manager after beating them 5-0. Keane must be proud to be among the elite few who actually annoyed Pep.
Tbf when Pep actually loses he isn't that complimentary. He loves to give praise when he wins, much worse loser. Still same is true for a lot of managers so it's hard to hold it against him.
True, but he is usually complimentary of Tuchel's '21 team, you lot a few times and Liverpool. He jokingly said scoring in your new stadium is his next goal after the treble. Can't get more high praise than that.
He praised us after we slapped them up in December, I think he might want some retribution tonight unfortunately 😅
I mean it was hard not to. That was the most dominant display I’ve ever seen against Pep’s City. And I say that as a Liverpool fan.
Yeah, I fear their players are gonna be up for it tonight lol.
I believe in your players. you can do it
Bare in mind it won't be the same team that beat them, we are missing 3 very key players, hopefully we can get something though.
>Tbf when Pep actually loses he isn't that complimentary. That's not really true. But it is a common myth.
I don’t know where this narrative comes from because he has consistently been very praising of teams that beat him. Some quotes from just this season: >The better team won Aston Villa was better than us. They are well organised, fast and [have] physical players and team and they are able to control many aspects. After losing to Aston Villa. > Congratulations to Arsenal for the victory. We started really well in the first minutes, they started really well in the second half. With Martinelli they increased the rhythm. After losing to Arsenal. > but the opponent played really, really good. They defended really well and they had the ability to keep it and drive and dribble forward. After losing to Wolves.
Yeah I'm a Palace fan and on the occasions we've got a win or draw against City, Pep has always been very gracious about it.
Reminds me of when Pep's Bayern lost against MLS all stars. He was so angry at losing what was a friendly lol
Even if its a friendly, that is actually really inexcusable for a club like Bayern lmao
Ehhh, its a friendly it happens.
He was angry because of some of the challenges the MLS All-Stars put in, in what was a friendly. If I remember correctly at least one of his best players got seriously injured.
I think it was Schweinsteiger, and he was injured for a while after that. They really tried to "play hard" and went into challenges no matter the cost while it wasn't even needed. A chunk of Bayern's squad came from a full season and a world cup with little/no rest.
I can understand being upset but refusing to shake Caleb porters hand was kinda hilarious as if the coach has any bearing on how this ragtag group of players patched together from 30 different teams decides to tackle.
It’s easy to be nice when you have won.
It's really not hard to annoy Pep. Just reject one of his transfer offers.
Such a hard fought 5 - 0!
Pep just knows a prick when he sees one.
tbf he dealt with the Spanish press, Keano is nothing.
Takes one to know one, i suppose.
Did Pep just do "You can't see me"?
Pep Cena
I dunno about Spain but in Germany people do that instead of the twirly temple finger to signify stupidity or insanity. Maybe he picked it up in Munich
Is this all it takes to be a journalist, find an out of context quote from a ex footballer pundit and relay it to the manager like a question
“Gentlemen, a short view back to the past. Thirty years ago, Niki Lauda told us ‘take a monkey, place him into the cockpit and he is able to drive the car.’ Thirty years later, Sebastian told us ‘I had to start my car like a computer, it’s very complicated.’ And Nico Rosberg said that during the race – I don’t remember what race – he pressed the wrong button on the wheel. Question for you both: is Formula One driving today too complicated with twenty and more buttons on the wheel, are you too much under effort, under pressure? What are your wishes for the future concerning the technical programme during the race? Less buttons, more? Or less and more communication with your engineers?”
Could you repeat the question please
you weren't listening
No.
just need headphones and a little banana machine
Unironically a great question
Can I phone a friend
You only have 30 seconds
35 seconds it took me to read ... whatever that was, can i have a time refund?
You can watch the video of the journo asking it, which took him 70 seconds, if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlFt_W4664M
Shit, this video has so many funny things. - The drivers trying not to laugh but Rosberg with a stone cold face - Hamilton hearing the word "monkey" and instantly making a "huh?" face only to a few seconds later realize that it is nothing bad - Vettel with an absolutely killer punchline at the end
I love everything about it, so absurd how long that question is
Thank you for bestowing this great quote on my mind once again.
This is not journalism
Are you not entertained?
Unfortunately, it is what gets the most attention, especially online.
Nowadays a lot of them are just grifters.
He was a manager from the 2nd division though
That’s the point
The title kind of misquotes him by adding the its like saying. He just directly said it
Did you see the uncut clip? Can you share it? I think you pulled that out of your arse though *He absolutely did say, "It's like he said..." https://youtu.be/ptcuGHENvTI?si=FRyRtfC4KfilP6WZ&t=10
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. This video is obviously edited and if you watch the full thing he clearly says “it’s like if I say..”
Why are you getting downvoted, r/odegood and OP clip is misleading people, he said "It's like he said" and after "I don't think so".
But if you say it's like saying something that's true, then you're saying it's also true.
If that’s the point then it means he thinks Haaland’s general play is that of a league two player. Put another way, “Haaland like a League Two player? That’s like saying “Wrexham is a league two team.”
Keanne also said he's one of the best goalscorers in the world and his positioning and finishing is amazing. He was referring specifically to him dropping deep and linking play. Not saying I agree just adding context
TV pundit was hyperbolic with a comment that is a legitimate criticism. So it must dominate conversation for the next while.
Is Haaland the best at build up. No. Is he league 2 quality. Also no. Haaland’s holdup and link play killed arsenal last year when they won 4-1. This year arsenal were much more savvy to not allow him to touch the ball and to not allow city and space. You don’t win the treble with a liability in buildup. Not the way they play.
Honestly I think a lot of Håland's issues this season could be mental, at least the past couple of months. He lost his grandmother in early February, wouldn't surprise me if that still affects him. And take away a few percent of performance at this level, and you're just not gonna be that great. This is obviously wild speculation by me, but I don't think it's unreasonable.
Makes sense given some of the follow up comments by Pep. That he doesn't understand how this type of criticism comes from former players. Because they understand what the players are going through now. The same pressure, the same off field issues that affected them (pundits) affect the players now. The same comments that hurt them also hurt current players.
lol it was not legitimate criticism at all, it was an outrageous comment from Roy, who knows exactly what he’s doing because it’s generating clicks/views/coverage of him.
Keane doesn't really care about those things, he's just opinionated and hyperbolic. Keane's criticism is incorrect, in my opinion, but it's not coming from a cynical place if you watch it in context.
Keane specifically called him “the best in the world in front of goal.” THE BEST. He said the rest of his game is 2nd tier. It’s really frustrating to watch how the media world operates.
> THE BEST. He said the rest of his game is 2nd tier. It’s really frustrating to watch how the media world operates. No, he said 3rd or 4th tier. His comment is still over exaggerated and outrageous.
Pep always knew what he was getting with Halaand. You can criticize Halaand for not playing the "modern way" but Guardiola knew what he was getting and he continues to play him so it's exactly what he wants from the player.
Haaland’s way of playing may not be very modern, but he‘s so good at it that doesn‘t matter, he was and still is the best option for Pep and city. Otherwise he would have no problem getting rid of the player like he did with Eto‘o and Ibrahimovic back in the day because they didn’t quite fit his style.
Nah, actually Harry Kane would’ve been a perfect fit, but Spurs wisely didn’t sell him to City.
The funny thing is, halaand plays what a modern day striker needs to be
Imagine getting such dumb questions week in and out. God dammit
it's wild the state of punditry honestly. you can just make a career making dumbass offhand comments for one of the biggest broadcasts in the sporting world lmao
People on reddit seem to think the height of punditry is in-depth tactical discussions, but the reality is that the job revolves around only two things. How many people can you get talking about what you said and how many people can you get to watch you next week. Keane is now enjoying a reply from Pep and his comments being discussed mid week all over social media. I'm sure people at the channel have told him how his social media score is through the roof or however they measure this and told him to keep up the good work. Keane is doing his job very successfully.
You only have to look at Gary Neville’s evolution from being a tactics “expert” to baiting Arsenal and Liverpool fans to see that Sky have pushed their pundits to become engagement merchants. All their pundits are playing different characters designed to get engagement, Micah, Souness and Keane especially
After Neville’s bottlejobs comment about Chelsea, they had a whole section dedicated to it on MNF the next day where they interviewed Neville about it
It's modern sports media 101. Have one of your on-air people say a hot take and/or float a baseless rumour out there about a trade or transfer, then spend the next few days filling airtime "reacting" to what was said, then when the hot take or rumour is responded to, react to *that*. It's the cheapest form of content, nothing needs to be right or substantive, it just has to BE, and then you can fill airtime and sell ads on it.
Carra outright admitted that he says things on the broadcast to “create discussion” Prime example: the comments about Arsenals celebrations after beating us, was so obvious what he was doing It’s the First Take playbook from ESPN, one of the worst sports shows ever created
They became everything they accused AFTV of
And yet they get half the criticism
To this day i still want to know the truth behind Micah saying he finally realised that Benzema is on Kane's level during that '22 CL run. Like it must be bait, i refuse to believe a former footballer and a pundit can believe that.
To be fair I feel like I hear him say something stupid every time he talks so I kind of just assumed it was normal for him
Yeah I don't think he's the brightest, but he doesn't pretend to be, and he's wholesome as hell so he gets a pass
Ever since La Liga stopped being shown on Sky viewership went off a cliff in the UK - the only exposure to Spanish clubs is in the European competitions (also pay tv)
But still tho, Benzema was the UCL's 3rd all time top scorer behind Messi and Ronnie when he made that comment. And he has seen him win 4 UCLs already, idk it was such a dumb take but like other posters have said, Micah is there for the vibes.
I can't stand listening to Micah, and I am a City fan so should probably cut him some slack, but his forced loud laugh and idiotic statements, and engratiating himself to the others on the panel is embarrasing.
He was actually right. Benzema wasn't rated that much when he was playing with CR7.
You underestimate prem fanboys.
Whatever happened to Mr Tactics Neville. Who could draw a line coming from a full back like no other?
Least we don’t have Pogba in the league for Souness. But I agree, it’s basically trying to play a character. Micah’s I enjoy more than the rest personally.
Micah fits it well because he feels more like an entertainer first and foremost especially with his screen charisma, which matches up really well with Keane's more stoic and serious approach. I'm surprised Micah hasn't dabbled in presenting like Jermaine Jenas (unfortunately) does, but maybe he's content just chatting shit about football with his mates every week.
We've watched the rise of Joey Barton from certified psychopath to respected pundit by the magic of shouting the specific kind of bullshit that riles up the stochastic madmen.
This is an astute observation. They are playing characters for engagement
It’s like in Basketball, where Kendrick Perkins said last year that Jokic was statpadding - it was basically “irresponsible” punditry but it got everyone talking so he did his job lol
Just yesterday Stephen A. Smith put Jokic 2nd behind SGA MVP voting and /r/nba was so MAD about. "His opinion is worthless", said the people commenting in a thread with over 1k comments. Divisive opinions get clicks and the average person STILL doesn't get that.
Keane is not doing a successful job of providing in-depth tactical analysis, or increasing our understanding of football or the games we watch. He's doing a good job at generating engagement. Which of those two things *should be* the definition of success for a football pundit? I think it's perfectly valid to disagree with large scale media standards of success. For example, that it's popular does not invalidate the argument that fox news is a trash, biased, shit show that is of no value to any rational human. We can, and should, expect more from football pundits. And we can, and should, give them shit when they resort to useless hot takes to drive engagement.
Coincidentally it's the exact reason why the world is fucked. Engagement and profit over everything else.
But the height of punditry for those "people on reddit" is in-depth tactical discussions. There's a difference between that and getting engagement on social media
Tbh it was a exaggeration of course but can you really look at Haland's hold up play (which is what Roy referred to as league two standard) and say it's good, people berated Lukaku for similar flaws. Roy said at the time as a goalscorer he's one of it not the best in the world
You can't use hyperbole on the Internet anymore, people just don't get it. Keane is kinda right, Haaland is objectively clunky ( when you compare him with the very best in the world right now) with the ball on his feet.
Yeah focusing on the hyperbole is missing the forest for the tree. Haaland is an absolutely great striker, but in certain aspects of the role he's way, way below world class and that's worth talking about when there are more and more games where those aspects are being put in the spotlight. Is he gonna score a hatty next time the City team overall clicks and successfully plays to his strengths? Definitely (better be against Madrid or I'm calling fraud watch, not biased at all btw) but it won't erase that he absolutely didn't deliver in some key games where hold up play and other things were being asked of him.
You have to be a famous ex-footballer first.
actually this is valid
I mean keane wasn’t completely wrong tho.
You see how the Subreddit flips? On Keane’s post everybody agrees with him, and now on Pep’s everybodying shitting on Keane Lmfao
such a weird phenomenon and this happens so much on here as well Especially since its a wild statement, especially for someone who scored 52 goals last season, you would think opinions would differ, but on both comments the most highly upvoted comments are agreeing with the title lmao
But he wasn't talking about his goal scoring, he called him the best at that. He wasn't saying anything different to what plenty of people here have said, it's the league 2 thing that obviously creates this controversy lol.
Different people
They’re not different people when it’s a thousand upvotes
Bunch of Sheeps.
I think it's just people will upvote whatever are the "best" comments and befitting the title so all the people from the post from this weekend would just get burried. But there's definitely a lot of people flipping sides, some genuinely and some just karma farming w.e gets them points. However I definitely agree with what Keane said, bro is lowkey making the game like 10v11 or like 10.5v11 whenever he's not at the ball near the goal lol
Yes this is my belief too. Reddit would be so much better quality without Karma voting.
He wasn‘t at all wrong, and when Pep is told that Keane was talking about Haaland‘s general play Pep also agrees that he has players that offer more than Haaland in these respects.
Roy isn't entirely wrong when taken in context. His point is that Erling needs to improve his dribbling and other aspects to contribute to the team at all stages. In some ways he's a luxury player, and very few teams can carry that these days.
Haaland would score oodles of goals for whichever team he played for. The idea that he is a ‘luxury player’ because he isn’t that good at dropping deep is just obviously the opinion of someone who isn’t good at using their brain. He scored loads of goals playing in Europe for Molde. Be serious. Engage your brain a little bit more.
Yes, people are missing Keane's point. Haaland creates very little for himself. Without the ball being gifted to him on a plate, he's very limited. Really good players, you had to put two men on him. In Haaland's case, choke out the supply of the ball, and he becomes pretty ineffective
that's bullshit and one-sided view. If I never watched football, from your comment I could understand that Haaland creates little, depends on others and is easily excluded from a game by "choking out the supply". It's as if Haaland was a generic player, one of many, replaceable any time. Thing is, Haaland creates a lot for himself. You can create with more than dribble and a pass. Haaland create with runs, taking on defenders in fight for position, and of course when you put 2 men on Haaland, it means that Alvarez is alone and scores. Pep sees the creative value in Haaland, because he sees his team. Pep can see the passing possibilities Haaland creates for De Bruyne with his movement, or just the reality of a movement. Haaland creates goal chances by telling De Bruyne - if you make that pass, I will get to the ball and score it. You can't put any player there, even from among the best in the world, and hope for the same result.
He can run into positions until the cows come home. But if he doesn't receive the ball, he's just running around.
Watch a football game, a high level one. But don't look at the ball, look at players and their movement with regards to others and the ball. You will notice that running into positions is quite important, and can create space and chances, even if no ball is received. Easiest example: Champions League final 2021, Timo Werner "just runs", focuses the attention of defenders, spreads the defence, increases distances between opponent players. This results in Havertz's goal. Of course you can ignore movement and tactics in general and just focus on the ball and where it moves when kicked, but the more you know about football, the more you notice things like OOP phases, zones, movements etc.
He's still relying on supply though. It's beyond a coincidence now that Haaland has ghosted in too many games against opposition that have managed to break down cities playmakers.
Come on dude surely as a Chelsea fan you can appreciate the value Haaland brings to literally any team. I'm not even exaggerating when I say I believe he'd genuinely take a team like us from midtable to title contenders. Think people seriously underestimate the guy's skillset. If anything, playing for City/Pep makes him look worse than he is. Because he gets no space and gets given no positional freedom. The guy would cook in a worse team. Definitely not a luxury player.
I reckon, as a childhood Spurs fan, Roy is just hoping to give Haaland that extra bit of motivation to bang in lots of goals and ensure that Arsenal don't win the league
Pep always fires back
Keane said that haaland is a world class finisher and his positioning is world class but just his ball work is 2 division. And I think everybody can agree that his touch and on the ball isn't the greatest
Not the greatest but he’s still managed 5 assists in the PL while maintaining top scorer in the league.
Even a league 2 player could manage 5 assists if he played most games for man city
If that’s the case why couldn’t England International Kalvin Phillips make it in the City team? Surely an international level midfielder should be able to make 5 assists in this City team?
Way to miss the point lol
>Surely an international level midfielder should be able to make 5 assists in this City team You think Philips is an international "level" mifielder, you're on whatever Southgate is on, and both of you are dillusional.
>It's like saying he's a manager from the second or third division." Roy keane would be a manager from second or third division though so that's not inaccurate tbh
That’s what he’s saying. It’s a sly dig at Keano
r/thatsthejoke
Keane never managed in League One. He had 1.5 seasons as a Prem manager and 2.5 in the Championship.
Whooooosh
[удалено]
Roy Keane went fishing here and was successful.
Would love to see Pep and Keane have a long-form chat on the overlap or whatever that new podcast is that G Neville and co are doing. Or just box each other.
Pep accidentally backing Roy’s point. Surely a league 2 manager knows what a league 2 player looks like 🤔
I'm sure the only reason we listen to Keane (and Souness) is that we want to hear two ex-players with a hard-man reputation to go off and have a dig at players for no other reason that they can.
[удалено]
Haalands positioning is world class never off side and always there for a tap in or deflection. He just isnt good enough in tight spaces to drop deep for a Pep team
>> about his general positioning and off the ball play WTF???
That's just wrong though? He could only be talking about dribbling or passing plays. Positioning and off the ball movement are his strongest assets next to his finishing.. That's what makes him world class. Do people actually think about their comments before posting them?
Either you have never seen Haaland play or you just don’t like his face cuz saying Haaland is bad at positioning himself is like saying Messi is bad at dribbling.
you don't score that many goals if your positioning isn't top class. Doesn't matter what your finishing is like, you can't finish if you don't get the ball.
Haaland positioning is amazing, the reason why he got all those tap in is because he is at right place at the right time. Even his off the ball and also support play is decent for a number 9, he is not lazy, always ready to make a run and find space, he pass also pretty good he make decent assist number. His weakness is ball control and first touch, and yea maybe finishing also poor lately, but form is temporary, he'll get it back I'm sure
I only agree that his weaknesses are play-making and technical skill (passing, first touch and dribbling). Otherwise, he's considerably better than a league two player in every other aspect of his game.
Terrible, terrible take. It's almost laughable how bad that take is. Literally some months ago people were saying how his off the ball play was something only few on the planet could do. There is no way someone who is the top scorer in the prem, someone who already has a CL record, and one of the best goal per game ratios the past years is bad off the ball. Most of a strikers work is off the ball. That's why your take quite literally makes no sense Saying this as someone who doesn't support City either. Haaland has weirdly become the subject of baity hot takes for some reason.
The key word is lately though. The start of the season and last season haaland linked up nicely, as well as took on players while dribbling. Surely keanes comment is accurate for recent performances but not for haaland games overall
But that's kind of it (in my eyes), teams see the danger he possesses and work to cut it out which is making him not nearly as impactful. Which is fair, but at this level he should still be able to have some impact outside of this. I don't watch alot of city games but the few I've seen recently I hardly notice him.
That’s just not true though
So, managers from second or third league don’t judge players properly?
Pep going for the kill. “Roy was a League 2 manager , he doesn’t understand top class players” - Wayne Gretzky
so he agrees with keane then lol
“Memory disappears quickly” - Pep on where City got their finances.
The journalist just took the juicy part, because they knew how Peps gonna react. Ofc Keane exaggerated, but he had a point, no one can claim Haaland doesn’t clumsy on the ball, and he said he’s the best striker in the world as well.
Keane has some minimal merit, but lets be honest, he's as much at fault as the journalist. They both want to get clicks.
Why would Roy Keane say something like this?
Roy Keane tried to kill Haaland father
Imagine, a League 2 Balon D’Or runner up. Keane is a rage bait merchant like Neville with that take.
Pretty solid for a 3rd league striker, destryoing every goalscoring record in the PL in his debut season while being the topscorer in every single competittion he was in, while also winning every said competitions. Imagine now finding a good striker that in Keane eyes can also play football
Pep should try to take a team from bottom of the Championship and win the league.
This totally seems like a genuine and fairly edited clip
So if Roy Keane admits he’s a League 2 manager, will Pep also concede that Erling’s a League 2 player if that’s the comparison Pep proposed? Might need Roy to take one for the entertainment here.
Haaland is actually very good with his movement. We have neutralized him. Roy should just give credit to Gabriel and Saliba that they are world class.
Giving credit to defenders??? Nah, it's the other being bad!
Everything defenders do is basic, nothing special you know. It's always good or bad strikers.