Nult satis nisi optimum: Phil McNulty 2011/12

jesus

It is also a meeting between two past managers of Real Madrid in Chelsea's Jose Mourinho and Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini. If one emerges victorious today it will be seen as a real statement of intent for the months ahead.

the first 18 search results for 'a real statement of intent' are fitba related

Arsene Wenger will face the same questions until the day he can hold up a trophy in front of his inquisitors and remove the 2005 FA Cup triumph as the last entry in his and Arsenal's list of honours.

Knives would not have been out but there would have been knowing glances, suggestions that the excellent form after that opening day defeat to Aston Villa was merely a false dawn before the fade.

In midfield there was much creation to admire from Mesut Ozil but the goals came from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, showing that an end product can come from elsewhere even when Olivier Giroud, whose touch has been so sure this season, does not hit the target.

It may be something of a distant memory but Wenger will well remember what it takes to win a Premier League - and how not too many conclusions can be drawn early in the season.

There can no question, however, that Arsenal's mood - and that of their supporters - will have been lifted greatly by events on Saturday.

Wenger will know more after the trip to Old Trafford next Sunday but they will go there in a rare position of strength against a Manchester United side still in the process of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era and getting to know his successor David Moyes.

The Wenger we are seeing this season looks refreshed. The form of his team from well into last season and continuing into this appears to have had a rejuvenating impact on the 64-year-old French manager.

The German has provided the link and quality that can not only hurt opponents but also inspire his team-mates.

Manchester United moved swiftly to deny they were interested in Ozil as Arsenal prepared their deal - Wenger will hope he will leave Old Trafford next Sunday having shown the reigning champions that maybe they should have been.

that's bad even by his own standards.

doggerel.

http://i.imgur.com/Y9M5UP9.gif

is this the worst bit?

Wenger will know more after the trip to Old Trafford next Sunday but they will go there in a rare position of strength against a Manchester United side still in the process of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era and getting to know his successor David Moyes.

or this?

Wenger will hope he will leave Old Trafford next Sunday having shown the reigning champions that maybe they should have been.

i mean that double use of "will" in such close proximity. you'd give out to a child for that.

Knives would not have been out but there would have been knowing glances takes it by a furlong

the excellent form after that opening day defeat to Aston Villa was merely a false dawn before the fade.

this is p awful too. after/before.

a false dawn before the fade, to be distinguished from the other false dawns where the dawn doesn't fade

The Uruguayan will carry the burden of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League after a dismal start - not helped by some unforgiving fixtures - that has yielded only a single point from seven games and restoring calm from Di Canio's chaos.

The Uruguayan will carry the burden of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League after a dismal start - not helped by some unforgiving fixtures - that has yielded only a single point from seven games and restoring calm from Di Canio's chaos.

The Uruguayan will carry the burden of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League after a dismal start - not helped by some unforgiving fixtures - that has yielded only a single point from seven games and restoring calm from Di Canio's chaos.

The Uruguayan will carry the burden of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League after a dismal start - not helped by some unforgiving fixtures - that has yielded only a single point from seven games and restoring calm from Di Canio's chaos.

The Uruguayan will carry the burden of keeping Sunderland in the Premier League after a dismal start - not helped by some unforgiving fixtures - that has yielded only a single point from seven games and restoring calm from Di Canio's chaos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24445999

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, especially with saves from Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, was a monument to Pellegrini's measured man management. He has always been the Chilean's number one choice but looked rejuvenated following his recent enforced rest cure.

Some recalled the so-called "Valentine's Day Massacre" not so far away at Oldham Athletic in 1990, when West Ham were also thrashed 6-0 in a League Cup semi-final. That was bad - but it would have had to be very bad to be worse than this.

read that at work earlier and it just straight shut my brain down for about three minutes, defeated utterly by the Nult hierarchy of badness

Brilliant. That last sentence sounds like the strapline for Airplane 2 or something.

And Maradona, looking like a well-dressed pirate, will have savoured the quality in Liverpool's display.....

Maradona will have appreciated the movement and menace of his fellow South American Luis Suarez, whose partnership with Daniel Sturridge shone a harsh light on the seemingly dysfunctional footballing relationship between Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.

The Argentine will have noted the relentless work-rate and pressing of Jordan Henderson. He will have relished the enduring brilliance of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, now in a deeper role but still the controller.

3 paragraphs, 4 "will haves". The man's a menace.

"harsh light on the seemingly dysfunctional" made my eyes water a bit as well.

http://twitter.com/paulbrownUK/status/451672104815955968/photo/1

https://twitter.com/philmcnulty/status/515253751356358656

http://i.imgur.com/oHqEjYm.png

haha

Tariq Ali

It was a horrific event. It was condemned in most parts of the world and most poignantly by many cartoonists. Those who planned the atrocity chose their target carefully. They knew that such an act would create the maximum horror. It was quality, not quantity they were after. The response will not have surprised or displeased them.

https://twitter.com/TumblrTXT/status/585411804655919104

the atm in my building says something like "please wait - your card will have been checked in a few seconds" and it makes me think of this thread/nult

it's nult's world we just will have lived in it

Gerrard v Lampard: Who was better? 797

Steven Gerrard had the iconic moments but Frank Lampard won more. Phil McNulty grapples with a long-standing question.

25367103-Suicide-attempt-by-slitting-the-wrist-with-a-knife--Stock-Photo.jpg

It is a debate that will be had in the tapas bars on La Rambla but one that will be conducted in an atmosphere of awe.

Could Short even make an attempt to bring David Moyes back to the Premier League from Real Sociedad?

One thing is certain - any contenders will have closely observed the downfall of a succession of previous Sunderland managers and need a lot of persuading that this time things will be different.

http://s18.postimg.org/f0xtkk56h/Screen_Shot_2015_11_15_at_12_26_21.png

lol

slight under the volcano ambience to that.....drinking himself to death at his post , heatstroke, delirium tremens, eventually just ranting incoherently in nult-syntax

yes definitely - Chief Football Writer In Alicante seems like a great novel waiting to be written.

the isis government manifesto is reminding me of nult a bit.

That year was tantamount to the hemiplegia for the idolatrous west that began preparing equipment and projects to strike any project of the Islamic State, and the announcement of the caliphate.

And the announcement of the caliphate was the result of the mujahideen’s realising the lack of advantage in fighting against the idolaters without the existence of a leader and caliph who could gather the Muslims under his banner and be a figure of strength for them.

The announcement of the caliphate in Syria was a powerful blow that the agents of the west who were set on the direction of the Sahwat of Iraq by whom the west thought that it could put an end to the Islamic caliphate project as it had weakened it in Iraq did not expect.

Jihadi groups in Iraq and Syria have lived through long bonds of humiliation pledged on conditional western support, until they seized wide areas of the land and possessed all assets of advancement. Bakr Al Baghdadi is an seasoned campaigner, respected in the region, and will not be easily shifted. However ISIS' vociferous fans will only tolerate poor results for so long before making their feelings known in no uncertain manner.

haaa

Thousands migrated to Syria to fight alongside the mujahideen, without their knowing the direction of any faction, its affiliation or private agendas.

It was necessary to prepare a sound programme in which the muhajireen might take refuge as their jihad is the result of the glory to Islam and the monotheists. Although many tipped Alex McLeish to do the job, the former Birmingham and Scotland man was quick to rule himself out.

The preparatory camp is the first home and school of the mujahid in which his military and jihadi training sessions take place and he undergoes sufficient education in matters of his religion, life and jihad.

Although it is a far cry from Barcelona's La Masia (less paella, sangria, and Messi, and more AK47s and children being hit with whips for minor transgressions, the youngsters here are still being taught the basics of the game.

the 64-year-old, hugely popular Italian will have enjoyed the sweet taste of victory against his former club on Monday.

Had Leicester City kept manager Nigel Pearson - who for all his bizarre behaviour did brilliantly as the Foxes won seven and drew one of their last 10 games to stay up - we would not be in this relegation territory.

But his sacking, with Leicester's board saying their working relationship was "no longer viable", and the appointment of Claudio Ranieri means I fear the worst.

Ranieri's appointment is, at best, left field and at worst uninspiring and unwise. A charming man but perhaps one out of time with the Premier League having last worked there with Chelsea in 2004 and having had a chequered career since.

The Italian known as "The Tinkerman" for his constant team changes was sacked last year as manager of Greece, an infamous four-month reign notorious for a home defeat by the Faroe Islands.

Time will tell - but this one does not quite sit right and it is to be hoped Leicester are not plunged back into the danger zone they occupied for so long last season.

It will come as a huge shock to United's hierarchy, as well as Van Gaal, that they will have their noses pressed up against the Champions League window when it resumes in 2016.

The feeling inside Old Trafford was qualification would have been assured before they even reached the industrial heartland of Wolfsburg for the finale. This was a vain hope.

lol at nult/isis

lately I will have genuinely pondered writing a short story called chief football writer in alicante

alicante is in communidad valenciana right? so probably plenty of the northwest football commentariat filing expenses claims for resort hotels and remembering not to mention neville neville's sexual assault trial over the next half season

yeah it's not as far south as I imagined given its rep. my parents have an apartment south of malaga and the area is full of british - joe kinnear had an apartment in the same complex and he and my dad hung out a bit - it wasn't plush as such, more old fashioned, a place entirely based on weather.

the local restaurant, on a hot motorway opposite strip clubs and right by the beach, had pics of george graham, harry redknapp etc on the walls - a backwater i guess, but with the heat it becomes something else.

ilxor jim will have had positive memories of a brief spell spent in the environs of Alicante in the early 2000s, although it would have not have come as a shock to the Glaswegian that the holiday romance he undertook with a girl from Gravesend would not endure

The Manchester City job appears to have had Guardiola's name on it for years - with the pieces seemingly put in place for his arrival at the Etihad.

All it needed was the nod from Guardiola himself and that seems to have moved closer with his decision to leave Bayern Munich at the end of this season. The Premier League looks certain to be his next stop.

Begiristain and Soriano are already in place and ready to welcome the man they worked with to bring such success to Barcelona. Guardiola's arrival would complete the managerial infrastructure you suspect has been the long-held dream to match the fierce ambition of City's Abu Dhabi owners.

Guardiola may yet be diverted off course by offers from elsewhere - perhaps Manchester United or even Chelsea - but all the smart money is on that dream ticket finally being in place at the Etihad at the start of next season.

The pieces of Wenger's jigsaw look to be coming together but they must now fight off what has often been their fiercest enemy - themselves. Too often Arsenal have been the team that cannot be trusted when the pressure is on.
Can they change that habit of a recent lifetime?

once someone talks about a concept or a "managerial job" or a "nod" actually physically doing something, this is the language of bad politics. incredible that in something as clearcut as sport, nult still finds a way to talk about these ephemeral notions as the subject.

Aye the man's a menace.

"that habit of a recent lifetime"

is pretty incredible