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Subterranean

Listed below are comments made by Subterranean between Monday, 3rd August 2009 and Thursday, 29th October 2009.

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Agassi confession lengthens shadow of doubt 7:14pm on 29 Oct 2009 Because of the hypocritical attitude toward drugs in our society, I think people confuse the taking of recreational drugs- because it is considered 'morally' wrong and stigmatises the user- with the act of taking performance-enhancing drugs- which basically makes you a cheat.

I believe there should be different disciplinary procedures in sport to deal with these two separate issues.

Crystal meth is not performance-enhancing.

I think Agassi deserves credit for turning his life and career around. The fact that people feel there should have been some punishment at the time or some measure taken I think is neither here nor there. Punishment is meant to teach the one who is punished a lesson, not make the rest of us feel better because we're annoyed that someone else got away with something. Got away with what? Agassi gambled with his life and career. He has actually gone up in my estimation for this, not down.
Capello's World Cup contenders 11:00am on 15 Oct 2009 38. At 08:29am on 15 Oct 2009, the78sum wrote:
And for Rooney being irreplaceable...

He's a very good player, a great player. But is he irreplaceable because he is so great, or because we have no other international class strikers?
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I think Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe have been in good form so far this season.

We've also got a guy who has scored 17 goals in 18 starts for England (Crouch)

And another guy who might not make the squad and has scored 40 international goals.

So the answer to your question is no.
Hiddink's Russian revolution still on track 09:29am on 13 Oct 2009 3. At 08:55am on 13 Oct 2009, Wardy4Ireland wrote:
Good blog Phil

Whatever happened to Alexi Smertin?

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He retired last year after his last spell in english football with Fulham.
Can French claim innocence in tapping-up row? 11:43am on 10 Sep 2009 30. At 10:43am on 10 Sep 2009, Mike_Naylor wrote:
Can I explain. These children are members of academies. Where the club spends huge amounts of money developing their talents. Not only in training costs, but food, accomodation.

Bringing up restriction of trade is a none factor. If any company spends huge amounts of money on this sort of thing (food, housing, accomodation), you won't just be allowed to walk out and join another company.

They'll either make you pay it back (the army and the air force), the company pay it (compensation), or they'll withhold your company registration (gardening leave).

Let's be honest. The big clubs stay at the top, by screwing over mid sized clubs. The only reason fans think it's unfair, as a lot of their dominance is based on this sort of cheating
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But Mike- where is the morality in holding 14-16 year olds to binding contracts?

They should be able to sign for whichever club they like.

That's what happened in this country with talented prospects- many of the good young players trained at various clubs. Ryan Giggs trained at Man City, for example as a teenager. It didn't mean City owned him. Just because a club gave you an opportunity in an Academy should not mean you are obliged to sign a professional contract with them. That's the crux of this issue- and as someone else has pointed out, it's not about clubs taking a moral high ground- clubs such as Le Havre and Lens are unhappy about missing out on the multi-million pound transfer fee they might get from Man Utd or Chelsea if the player moves when he is 19 or 20, rather than 16. Sure, the big clubs are trying to scout talent on the cheap but that's the name of the game in football!
Football's international language 2:28pm on 24 Aug 2009 16. At 2:17pm on 24 Aug 2009, blindedbyfear wrote:

Tim, the plural of stadium is 'stadia'.
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And say hello to Mr Pedantic!

Blindedbyfear, both the plural forms of stadium- stadia and stadiums- are valid in english.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stadiums

So Tim is correct and you will find the use of 'stadiums' is widespread. Thanks.
Review of the week 10:56am on 15 Aug 2009 32. At 09:28am on 15 Aug 2009, CaptainBernard wrote:
"It took me a while to suss it was Paul Whitehouse"

Why? Are you deaf and blind?
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Haha that's exactly what I thought! When I first saw the advert, it was obviously Paul Whitehouse.
Kent skipper could be Key for Ashes 10:51am on 15 Aug 2009 Regarding Marcus Trescothick...

I agree whole-heartedly with the comments above. Seems to be there's a bit of rose-tinted revisionism going on!

Trescothick was a fine attacking opening batsman and a player who could play an exciting innings on his day. I am amused by the comment that he was our 'best batsman produced since Gooch'. Hmmm. It's only an opinion, but I think Alec Stewart, Robin Smith, Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen are/were all better Test batsmen than Marcus Trescothick. This would make him most definitely not our best batsman since Gooch.

Also I really cannot understand the cries for Ramprakash. He's mullered some county attacks over the last 5 years but Hick was amazing in county cricket too. Both played numerous Tests for England over the years and both consistently failed - Ramps more so than Hick. Most of Ramprakash's big runs were scored when Tests were dead rubbers at the end of series. It is proven that when pressure is on, he struggles mentally. The blog made a very good point that he was stick on 99 centuries in 1st class cricket for ages because suddenly there was pressure on him to reach a milestone. Again, even in county cricket, he struggled with pressure. He's not the man for The Oval.
South Africa's white knight 1:27pm on 06 Aug 2009 6. At 12:24pm on 06 Aug 2009, the bard was a bear wrote:
Booth has somewhat clouded vision if he thinks socer is only 'construed' as a black sport in South Africa. It certainly is a black reserve and the number of blacks and lack of whites in the national team and the numbers watching the sport backs this up. Rugby and cricket on the other hand have a large number of blacks/coloureds playing the game at club and national levels. So, what's he on about? I'm afraid Booth is simply pandering to the black audience and it's a shame he is incapable of thinking for himself. He really should stop believing his own press.

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Not sure what your point is...for example, the Test cricket team has really only had Makhaya Ntini over the last few years, there have been others like Amla and Prince but it's quite clearly dominated by whites. As is the rugby set-up.

It's not a selection issue clearly- it's just rugby and cricket is producing more outstanding white players than outstanding players from other racial backgrounds and it would be nice to see that change. I think Booth has a point there, and he certainly has a point in regard to the football national team, where he's the only white player in the starting XI. I don't understand the motive for your annoyance with him in regard to 'pandering to the black audience'.
South America's wayward footballing stereotypes 7:43pm on 03 Aug 2009 23. At 12:00pm on 03 Aug 2009, shifnalwolf wrote:
10 subterranean

Carrick is not in the same league as Keano --get real.
Or is it because he is an englishman make him better ?

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Has nothing to do with nationality. Roy Keane is one of the most hyped myths that British football has ever seen. One away game in Turin seems to have encompassed his entire career.

He's an example of what Tim was talking about, the 'honest' but aggressive player that British football fans so admire and idolise. The midfielder that gets 'stuck in'. I would not go as far as to argue that Carrick is a better player overall. In terms of leadership and combative play, Keane was superior and he achieved such a level of consistency in his prime.

However, Carrick is definitely underrated and regarded harshly in comparison to Keane. Carrick is a better passer, a better finisher when in scoring positions and definitely has a better temperament by far. I have not seen Carrick get sent off in a big CL game when Man Utd needed him. I saw Keane lose his head many times, even if he had that defining performance in Turin which everyone chooses to remember.
South America's wayward footballing stereotypes 10:35am on 03 Aug 2009 You're very harsh on Eriksson as well, Tim.

England didn't play great football at World Cup 2006, althouigh there was a decent 2-2 draw with Sweden.

At Euro 2004 though there were some excellent performances, notably from Lampard and Rooney. The 2-1 defeat to France was disappointing,but the 4-2 win over Croatia was an excellent game, the eventual exit to Portugal in the quarter finals was disappointing but it was 2-2 and if Rooney hadn't broken his foot in that match the result could have been different.

At World Cup 2002 England beat Argentina, and then took on Brazil in the QFs with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo all in their prime with a half-fit Beckham/Owen and the likes of Emile Heskey, Nicky Butt and Trevor Sinclair in the team. I think it's harsh to blame Eriksson for that defeat, even if the Brazilians were down to 10 men. There comes a point when you have to say 'we're a quarter final team' and that was a quarter final team.

I do agree with the points you make about the conflict between football styles in England. I think a perfect example is Michael Carrick. He's been at the heart of a Man Utd team that have won three titles in a row and reached the last two Champions League finals. Somehow he still has his doubters. But he is a player in the mould of some that you mentioned like Brooking, Wilkins and there are still critics who say he needs to get 'stuck in' and that Man Utd lack an aggressive midfield player. He is frequently compared in a negative way with Keane, when I think he's superior to Keane in so many aspects of the game.

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