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At the end of the day...it gets dark

Listed below are comments made by At the end of the day...it gets dark between Thursday, 16th October 2008 and Wednesday, 21st January 2009.

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Benitez gets his timing wrong 4:48pm on 21 Jan 2009 I think one of the problems with football coverage these days is that there is just too much of it. Every public utterance is anaylsed and given great significance, conclusions are drawn about teams based on one performance - they're brilliant one week, rubbish the next. As a result managers are either cast as geniuses or idiots - if they're achieving their aims (eg Ferguson on top of the table, Moyes a respectable 5th) they're geniuses, if not, they're idiots (Benitez not winning the league, Scolari likewise).

Earlier this season Scolari was being hailed for making Chelsea play stylish football, they were tipped to walk away with the league. Now they've slipped a bit, he's (apparently) on the brink of losing his job - in his first season. Similarly, when Liverpool were top, Benitez couldn't really be criticised much, but now they're second (only on goal difference) he is now a mentally unstable failure. Everything's just way over the top. Let's wait till the end of the season before making such sweeping statements. Remember, a year ago Arsenal looked like they could walk away with the league - they ended up 3rd.
Benitez gets his timing wrong 3:56pm on 21 Jan 2009 Well thanks for that, PaulThe Villan - there's nothing like an informed and interesting opinion. And that was nothing like an informed and interesting opinion.

So Rafa has no class, but presumably Ferguson does? Have you heard some of the things he comes out with? Doesn't stop him being a great manager.

Oh and tipping Man Utd for the title - that's really sticking your neck out. I reckon you could get a job as a BBC pundit.
Benitez gets his timing wrong 2:34pm on 21 Jan 2009 soupbear,

Moyes has not had 'next to no money' - he spent 11 million on Fellaini this summer. Yes, he's had less than some clubs, but more than most others. And it's true that Benitez spends more - but then he also wins more. Not the League title obviously, but he has won four trophies (if you include the Charity Shield!) while Moyes has won none, despite being in the job for longer. You say that Moyes 'gets results' but they haven't actually amounted to anything other than one fourth place finish. What is his ultimate ambition? Does he really want to break into the Top 4 and have to deal with expectation and pressure, or is he happy finishing in the top half every year, being praised for doing such a good job but never actually taking the next step?

Not saying he hasn't done a good job, I just don't understand the media's fawning over him, and can't agree that a manager who has never won a trophy can be considered one of the top 3 in the league, as one of the previous posters has said. There is also the contrast between the way the two managers are treated - Benitez is constantly under pressure because he hasn't won the league, but Moyes is never under pressure, even though he's never won anything. I appreciate what you say about the relative positions of the two clubs over the last 10 years, but that difference is out of proprtion to the way the managers are veiwed in the media. Everton last won the league in 1987, only three years before we did - and yet we are under pressure to win it, while Everton are not. Similarly, why, in recent years, have managers of Spurs and Villa been under pressure for failing to win trophies, but David Moyes has managed to avoid it?
Benitez gets his timing wrong 11:49am on 21 Jan 2009 kalejac_serbia: you are wrong on several points.

Firstly, a 'small-time' manager cannot win La Liga twice, or the European Cup.

Secondly, Agger was injured for the Everton game - an amateur blunder on your part, I think.

Thirdly, Man Utd's fringe players are not that great - Park, Fletcher, O'Shea etc are no better than our fringe players. But they have the benefit of playing in a confident team who always believe they're going to win, based on two successive titles.
Benitez gets his timing wrong 11:44am on 21 Jan 2009 'Rafa is the most over-rated manager of all time'

Wrong - David Moyes is. No trophies in his entire management career, and still people think he's one of the best managers in the country.
Benitez gets his timing wrong 11:09am on 21 Jan 2009 Lazy journalism. Just because something happens after something else, does not mean that the first event caused the second. Agreed Benitez's timing was bad, but it is not the cause of us losing top spot. We've been drawing games we should win all season, but until now have got away with it. Now that United are not dropping points and have played their games in hand, we are paying the price.

Secondly, you are yet another journalist buying into the myth of David Moyes - why is he immune to criticism? How long has he been manager at one of the biggest clubs in England? Six years? In that time, how many trophies have they won, how many finals have they reached? None. The highest they've ever finished is 4th. Why does everyone think he's done such a brilliant job? Granted they are better now then when he took over, but that wouldn't be difficult. You say that they have now drawn with the top clubs, and that the next step they take will be the crucial - but they've been waiting to take that step for years. They've beaten Liverpool a few times under Moyes, but they were always one-offs - they're never going to take that 'next step' under Moyes. He's always talking down their chances, saying they have no money etc, so there's no pressure on him. But if you want to win things, you have to deal with pressure.

And I don't buy this 'paper-thin resources' line - they may not have the finance of Man Utd or even Liverpool, but they were still able to spend more than £10m each on the likes of Yakubu and Fellaini in recent years.
The Cleansing 1:56pm on 03 Nov 2008 #8

How many times does it have to be explained? Any new voters registered who were not real people were as a result of ACORN workers trying to make some extra money without doing the work. These will always be picked up and discarded. Even if it was an orchestrated attempt at fraud, it would not work because these people do not exist, so they would not be able to vote!

And by the way, if you visit www.411.com, you will see that there are actually several people with the name 'Mickey Mouse' in the American phonebook - and a few Donald Ducks as well. Wouldn't be very fair if they weren't allowed to vote would it?
Are they bluffing? 10:11am on 28 Oct 2008 #85

'The vast majority of media in the US are liberal bias or slanted'.

But the polls are compiled by polling companies, not 'the media', so your point is utterly irrelevant.
Did McCain do enough? 6:25pm on 16 Oct 2008 This is a bit off-topic, but I have a vague recollection of the 2004 campaign, that although it was considered close, it was thought that John Kerry might just edge it. Obviously we know what happened, but I was just wondering if anyone can remember what the polls were like in the weeks prior to the election (or even better, has a link to any info) - I'm pretty sure he didn't have as big a lead as Obama, but I seem to remember that he was slightly ahead. But I may be wrong.
Did McCain do enough? 5:24pm on 16 Oct 2008 Re 138:

icetayoa, you seem to have missed a fairly obvious point here. The views expressed by the pundits after the debate (generally that McCain had done well) were just that, the views of pundits. The poll results they released were based on the views of potential voters - who are different people, with different perspectives and priorities. It was not a poll of the 7 or 8 pundits they had on. How can you not grasp this? And how can you maintain that CNN is 'a tool of the Democratic party' when you have stated yourself that the views of some of their pundits were favourable to McCain?

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