McCarraWatch

Those two men must be besotted with the untethered imagination of the team. The players have no room in their minds for the uncouth aspects of the sport. So rarely and unconvincingly do they head the ball that it is if they learned everything they know about football from boyhood games of Subbuteo. While their feet are not fixed to plastic bases, the Madrid team is without any great penchant for harrying and covering.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1033880,00.html

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,1527,1030610,00.html

"Martin Keown will have to answer for his gargoyle expression as well as for bringing down an arm on Ruud van Nistelrooy."

(OK, it's hardly Oscar Wilde but it made be laugh.)

In the fight for success managers have wretched spells when they feel as if they are trying to thump phantoms. Gérard Houllier is perturbed. Having improved the attacking potential of the Liverpool side, he now finds himself battling on a more mysterious front. The minds of his own players are a greater worry than the abilities of the opposition.

There are no more signings to be made and a dustsheet might as well be thrown over the tactics board. In this defeat by Arsenal it looked as if the side had simply forgotten how to challenge for honours. There was much to admire about Liverpool before the interval but ruthlessness was not among their merits.

...

In such circumstances talent is just a provocation. It annoys supporters to recognise ability that is not made to count. Harry Kewell put Liverpool in front with a rapacious first-time drive after an Edu clearance broke from Michael Owen but his performance is tied to a moodiness that has his impact fluctuating over the course of an afternoon.

...

There was excitement for half an hour. Liverpool are no longer monotonous and the tactic of pairing the elusive Kewell and Owen in attack left Arsenal's powerful centre-backs lacking anyone to grapple with. Houllier's side, though, could not sustain their display and so suffered a second consecutive defeat in the Premiership.

...

The professional concerns of footballers are trifling by comparison with those of a bereaved man but Arsenal are performing with fortitude. It remains to be seen whether the durability will last if there is a battery of suspensions after the fracas at Old Trafford.

The Spurs caretaker manager David Pleat seemed to have low expectation of this fixture and he was pleased that the attempted comeback had enough prudence to ensure that his team were not mauled on the counter-attack. "We tried to redden Sir Alex's face a little more but we didn't," he remarked, evoking the miniature aspirations of a shrinking club.

Pleat confirmed that Spurs have the means to take action during the transfer window, whether loans or outright signings are involved, but such activity has too often amounted to further, excruciating proof of White Hart Lane's knack of wasting money.

Unfortunately there is no option but to take the risk of being fleeced in the transfer market. Spurs can hardly go on like this. Unkindly yet inevitably Darren Anderton, who went off with a calf strain on this occasion, has become emblematic of the lack of soundness in the side.

They are too slow in midfield and defence to close down men of United's calibre. The forwards ought ultimately to preserve Spurs in the Premiership but they received no pertinent passes for long stretches of this game.

Although Ferdinand was fielded, it often looked as if Ferguson had found the perfect hideaway for him. Just as long as he did not listen to the chants, the England centre-half could mostly enjoy the seclusion and leisurely pace of life in the middle of United's defence.

RIP Kevin McCarra: https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/25/kevin-mccarra-a-pioneer-who-changed-football-journalism-former-guardian-football-correspondent-dies

Tim, I literally just came here to post that, and thought of you as probably the only other person who would care.

I'm glad that this thread gives a slight idea of how much I always admired him, when he was at his career peak.

RIP. I feel quite bad for assuming his spells of going missing were him going "on one" as we say, they were due to his alzheimer's. Only 62 as well, very sad.