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jakarth

Listed below are comments made by jakarth between Thursday, 13th November 2008 and Thursday, 9th April 2009.

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Hiddink's sweet smell of success 08:54am on 09 Apr 2009 I still find it amazing that L'Pool fans go on about how gracious they are in defeat and yet still find time to slate Utd, doesn't seem particularly gracious to me..anyway..

Having watched the game and thoroughly enjoyed it last night as most neutrals probably enjoyed the Porto game I'm still confused as to why Benitez persists with this zonal marking system. It has cost L'Pool so many goals since he took over and is probably one of the reasons why they seem to struggle against the lesser teams who practice set pieces as their only realistic chance of scoring against them.

The smallest defender on the pitch (well he looked it anyway) surrounded by 4 or 5 red shirts and both times he had a free header. That's about as good as Utd's defending at the moment. Shocking.

Chelsea played well and on another day Drogba could have (and probably should have) had a hat trick. Hiddink was always going to be bad news for the other top teams as he oozes class, I just hope he sticks to his guns and goes back to Russia!!!
Tired Man Utd need escape act 12:50pm on 08 Apr 2009 at #90

I don't think anyone is taking anything away from Porto they did play very well, what people are saying is that Utd didn't perform as wll which is undeniable. Yes some of this may be down to the way Porto played but certainly not all of it. Don't forget Utd have played better teams (on paper) and won comfortably.

The sudden loss of form at this time of the season is very unlike Utd, usually it is the total opposite, in fact they only time they started to stumble like this they lost the league to the Arsenal.

Aside from that i agree with a lot of the other comments so far, though like phil and a few other posters agree I wouldn't discard Ronaldo just yet, he's not the only one suffering relatively poor form this season (and he's still scored 20 goals remember), I'd like to see Ribery AND Ronaldo on the flanks not just one of them :)
Tired Man Utd need escape act 10:43am on 08 Apr 2009 Good article Phil and exactly how I felt during and after the game.

Everytime Porto had the ball they attacked with pace and verve which last season Utd displayed frequently but has been missing for some if not all of this. Worst still everytime they attacked they looked like scoring and I lost count the amount of times it was equal numbers or overloaded in Portos favour.

Simply put we look totally vulnerable any time a side attacks us. Liverpool really showed the way and since then no side has relented. The cautious nature of teams visiting OT has disappated along with our solidity in defence.

Now I don't just think this is down to tiredness, Utd have a big squad and even though they have played more games than anyone else they have also rotated more than any other team. I think the real reason is that we've no decent right back cover, which has allowed teams to attack us down the flank with ease (especially considering Ronaldo's reluctance to track back and help in defence, just look at the goals conceded in the last few games). This in turn has led to a nervousness in the centre which was all to evident by Jonny Evans poor clearance attempt for the first goal. We miss Wes Brown more than ever (star man last year if you remember).

Utd desperately need to get their first choice back four playing together and utlise Carrick / Fletcher in front of them for that extra protection.

I still have faith, it could have been worst on Sunday and indeed yesterday. The bit of luck that kept Utd winning 1-0 seems to be still with us, hopefully 4 days now will give us enough time to settle back down and hopefully get the result against a Sunderland side also lacking in confidence.
Shearer gets taste of reality 6:52pm on 06 Apr 2009 Phil,

while I enjoyed reading the article as I do the vast majority of your works I feel I have to take issue with this comment

"And I am not hugely convinced by the need for coaching badges anyway".

I'm not sure if you've taken any coaching badges Phil but I have (and I'm trying desperately to break into the professional game, no mean feat for a non pro player). If you had the experience of going on these courses and working darn hard to try to get the badges you would appreciate just how hard they are to achieve, which is why so many ex pros don't bother (even though they inherently get an advantage by entering at a higher level).

The badges are extremely valuable and really do open your eyes, it's not just about tactics and positional play it's also about the physicality of the game, the mental impact of decisions and the psychology of players and the team as the whole. Some people have an aptitude for it others don't hence the phrase great players don't always make great managers.

Please don't dismiss them out of hand. Mr Shearer is on the path with his badges and I wish him the best of luck. Naturally his reputation has opened doors for him, I just hope I'm lucky enough to have a few doors opened for me.

Let's just hope his temporary stay goes well, he learns a lot and gets more experience to eventually become a succesful English manager in the Premier League (of which there are far too few).

Jak.
'Addicted' to Warcraft? 12:05pm on 13 Nov 2008 Interesting article and I agree with many of the comments other people have posted but thought I would add my own slant. You see I run one of the "guilds" mentioned in these comments and have created and led high end raiding parties to instances in the past.

The Raid culture in wow was what caused me issues, not the guild system. It's important to make it clear that not all guilds are raiding guilds. My guild for example is a group of mature adult gamers from all over Europe who want to play with a group of mature players and ultimately make friends.

We would have regular events from instances to fun challenges, social meetings and more. In fact our guild has worked so well that I've made many friends outside of the game and have visited fellow "guildies" thoughout the UK, Holland, Germany and Belgium. The social side of WoW is fantastic both in and outside of Azeroth.

Sadly though the end-game activities at the time in WoW all required 40 players, these raids could take anything from 6 - 8 hours depending and although immenseley fun they do take their toll. As an IT freelancer working all over the world there was very little to do in the evenings, it was either sit in the hotel bar or find some other sort of entertainment. So raiding was a great option and cheap to boot.

The issues arose however when I would return to the UK and neglect my partner who suffered immense frustration because I'd still want to play at the weekend.

Eventually like anything though I tired of the politics involved in raiding and to be honest like any game after a while you can lose interest. This is what has happened to WoW over the last 12 -18 months and what ultimately saved my relationship.

Blizzard to their credit is trying to change some of the end game to allow the "casual" gamer to also be able to obtain some of the rewards of the "hard core" raider but there is still some work to be done here at present. But, by reducing the numbers required for instances it allows the casual players who can't commit to spending all evening in a 40 man raid to at least see some of the end game content with their friends which, is really all that most casual gamers want.

I still play and I still run the guild and my partner now understands that whereas some people enjoy television, dvd's or even console gaming, I enjoy on line games. It's just a case of finding the right balance, which I think is harder for younger players than older. The game is growing and Blizzards quest for mmporg domination means they must appeal to players of all sorts in order to grow their subscription base that bit further and with competitors constantly emerging (WAR especially) the future should be really interesting.

Now excuse me while I go level my deathknight :)

Jak'arth Zha Xundus
Guild Leader COTM

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