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Mauricio Pochettino

MartyFunkhouser said:
The link to Thomas Frank............give it a rest FFS
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It really wasn’t a point about Thomas Frank, it was about a specific moment in time in the season. It reminded me of the Saudi Sportswashing Machine home game. The players heads had gone, and they were making schoolboy errors.

To be clear for any avoidance of doubt: I wasn’t trying to lure anyone in to a debate on Thomas Frank. I was trying to explain what I thought caused the US’s bad performance - political controversy that completely cut against the motivational theme that Poch has been repeating through the build up and in the tournament itself.
 
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
It really wasn’t a point about Thomas Frank, it was about a specific moment in time in the season. It reminded me of the Saudi Sportswashing Machine home game. The players heads had gone, and they were making schoolboy errors.

To be clear for any avoidance of doubt: I wasn’t trying to lure anyone in to a debate on Thomas Frank. I was trying to explain what I thought caused the US’s bad performance - political controversy that completely cut against the motivational theme that Poch has been repeating through the build up and in the tournament itself.
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Cool
 
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
Agreed, real shame. His whole thing was ‘Why not us?’. A carefully managed motivational theme that perfectly represented the hope and ambitions of an American people that always expect to win, while acknowledging they would be big underdogs. The political controversy completely soured it. M

Everyone in the US I speak to is convinced that Belgium were just too much for them. And I keep telling them, they could have beaten Belgium. But the US players played like Spurs at the end of the Frank era. Heads had gone. Silly, schoolboy mistakes. It wasn’t coaching, and it wasn’t quality. They just played completely within themselves. And I truly think the controversy impacted them, and that is such a shame. They became hated, with all that pressure, and they became political symbols.

It undos 2 years of careful work Poch put in to craft their culture and prepare them for this tournament. Inside, he must be seething. He’ll never say anything publicly to this effect because he seems way too pragmatic in his later years, but I’m sure this is what happened.
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I've only seen the highlights but it reminded me of US ryder Cup teams, great while it went their way and collapse at the first sign of adversity.
 
I don't think its unreasonable to think USA could have beaten Belgium, on their they are good but they just beat Wales to qualify. England have frequently struggled to beat USA. The host played some good football in the tournament and raised expectations of their fans, I think the pressure of that expectation and the hostility towards them because of an incident they were not responsible for had a major effect on them. Their problem now is American fans have little sympathy for losers.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
I don't think its unreasonable to think USA could have beaten Belgium, on their they are good but they just beat Wales to qualify. England have frequently struggled to beat USA. The host played some good football in the tournament and raised expectations of their fans, I think the pressure of that expectation and the hostility towards them because of an incident they were not responsible for had a major effect on them. Their problem now is American fans have little sympathy for losers.
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they were not responsible for it, but they had a responsibility to speak up on the situation that unfolded and should have called it out for what it was

it was a disgrace that Balogun was prepared to play, and that Poch selected him
 
glasgowspur said:
I can't help but think a lot of people who were desperate for the WC to fail so they could they bitch at trump have had their prays answered.
Until the Paraguay v France game it was a success, but that was fairly minor thankfully with no long term negatives, but the Trump intervention has soured it.
Personally I think it's a huge shame, it's been one of the better international tournaments for ages, it could have done wonders for football, now it will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Politics and sport should not mix.
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He has yet again ruined something which was somehow working.
 
Baleforce said:
they were not responsible for it, but they had a responsibility to speak up on the situation that unfolded and should have called it out for what it was

it was a disgrace that Balogun was prepared to play, and that Poch selected him
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It was a disgrace that anyone on the playing and managerial side was put in that situation. I have a strong, strong feeling there's much more to this than we will ever know.
 
thfcsteff said:
He has yet again ruined something which was somehow working.
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I think the "somehow" is a tad unfair on everyone outside of Fifa and trump.
Did a lot of us expect it to flop, yes, I certainly did, however I'm a great believer in that occasions are only what you make it.
If you turn up with a bummer attitude then it's going to be a bummer, turn with a good attitude and chances are you will have a good time.
From the outside looking in it feels like a lot of people have turned up and made it a success.

Note 1, I may have taken you too literally and have just wasted your time reading this 😊.

Note 2, I hope bummer isn't one of those words that means something totally different in other parts of the world. I don't think it is, I'm sure everyone knows what I mean, but it's so easy to get paranoid.
 
glasgowspur said:
I think the "somehow" is a tad unfair on everyone outside of Fifa and trump.
Did a lot of us expect it to flop, yes, I certainly did, however I'm a great believer in that occasions are only what you make it.
If you turn up with a bummer attitude then it's going to be a bummer, turn with a good attitude and chances are you will have a good time.
From the outside looking in it feels like a lot of people have turned up and made it a success.

Note 1, I may have taken you too literally and have just wasted your time reading this 😊.

Note 2, I hope bummer isn't one of those words that means something totally different in other parts of the world. I don't think it is, I'm sure everyone knows what I mean, but it's so easy to get paranoid.
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No worries and all good.
I meant that despite the grinding gears of FIFA's eternal crookedness, dubious decsions and alliances pre-tournament and some of the awful admin treatment of some countries during it, the whole thing was somehow working. I was saying how despite the stacked adversities, everyone was putting their best feet forward. And is still trying to...
 
thfcsteff said:
No worries and all good.
I meant that despite the grinding gears of FIFA's eternal crookedness, dubious decsions and alliances pre-tournament and some of the awful admin treatment of some countries during it, the whole thing was somehow working. I was saying how despite the stacked adversities, everyone was putting their best feet forward. And is still trying to...
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It's great to see the "fudge you" attitude towards fifa and trump, you're not going to spoil our party.
 
thfcsteff said:
It was a disgrace that anyone on the playing and managerial side was put in that situation. I have a strong, strong feeling there's much more to this than we will ever know.
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No, they are the conduit, it’s on them to do the right thing imo.

They have the voice, they have the press pool hanging on every word, and only them.

You either have principles or you don’t.
 
Baleforce said:
No, they are the conduit, it’s on them to do the right thing imo.

They have the voice, they have the press pool hanging on every word, and only them.

You either have principles or you don’t.
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If only life was so linear. No-one has any idea what pressures were applied. If you read between the lines, it is quite possible that in Balogun's case, nothing was 'off the table'.
 
thfcsteff said:
If only life was so linear. No-one has any idea what pressures were applied. If you read between the lines, it is quite possible that in Balogun's case, nothing was 'off the table'.
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you either have principles or you don't

if you are not prepared to suffer for those principles, do you really have them?

the world is in a perilous place, the US is teetering on full tyranny, if now is not the time to stand up and be counted then when is?

this is nothing to do with football, this is about freedom and democracy, everyone that has enabled this is guilty by association

c'mon man, you live there, you know what is at stake here

there is not another person in the US in this calendar year that was in the position of strength to embarrass and humiliate trump in the way that Poch could have done it this week

he could have humbled a tyrant, and boosted the soul of the game in one fell swoop

he hid, he was complicit, he was a disgrace
 
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