Lou Macari: Tired? Who do they think they are kidding?

[Kevin]

MANCHESTER UNITED legend Lou Macari last night lashed the club's crop of multi-millionaire stars for complaining they are too tired to play.

Old Trafford bosses blamed a poor show in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Aston Villa on a hectic travelling schedule.

But Macari hit out, saying: "Who do they think they are kidding? This really gets up my nose.

"The public must be fed up with players trying to take them for a ride by complaining about the volume of matches.

"I was amazed to hear some at United excusing their draw at the weekend because the players were still fatigued from their trip to Greece.

"Who are they trying to fool? Not the fans - they've wised up to the constant bleatings about workload.

"United were hardly busting a gut against Real Madrid or AC Milan. They were sauntering to victory over an average Greek side."

Scot Macari, 53, who spent 10 years at Old Trafford from 1973, also laid into Arsenal.

The champions have complained of fatigue in recent weeks.

But Macari added: "My heart goes out to Thierry Henry and Co as they pick up their 40 or 50 grand a week.

"It must be such a hard life for them, playing football a couple of times a week and training for a couple of hours a day.

"It must be very hard for them to find the energy to get out of bed in the morning."

<a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2002500977,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2002500977,00.html</a>

 

[Livvie]

I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.

 

[jraby]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Pleeeeeeeeese, that's exactly why they get paid the FORTUNES they do today. And the only supporters that are more demanding are the glory hunting kind.

There's plenty of players and supporters who go up and down the country who dream of playing and watching the games some Prem teams do. The only difference is over paid you owe me a living would be superstars, it's only a game FFS.

 

[Livvie]

Some players can cope with mental pressures, and some can't. How much they earn has nothing to do with their state of mind, and us saying they should be able to deal with stuff just because they earn a fortune is nice in theory, but doesn't always work out like that.

At their age, they should be able to cope with the physical side without a problem. Whether they can cope with the mental pressure is down to their psyche.

Sometimes you can be tired purely down to mental fatigue, but the physical symptoms are the same.

 

[MancFanFromManc]

Travelling round Europe is hardly a new thing. And its not like they had to take Russia on. Jesus H, it scares me.

 

[Stanley Road]

Macari's right

Footballers are a bunch of ponces these days

 

[Nigel Borrington]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I feel that Lou Macari has a good point to make, the fans are getting sick of things, these days you could be forgiven for wondering just what UTD players are committed to winning. First we dumped out of the Worthington Cup each season, they the FA cup was just getting in our way, so we played like that didn’t matter.

This season so far you could be forgiven for thinking the players minds are only on one thing the CL final at OT. I attended the Fulham game two weeks ago and you could be left wondering just who was playing in a RED shirt, 1-1 will do anyway we have a CL game coming up!

I think Lou is spot on, the team we currently have might as well forget about anything other than the CL and pull out of everything else as commitment wise they don’t turn up anyway.

As for rotating the players to give the STARS a brake, it wouldn’t be so bad if you where left with the feeling we could win a single game even if we where playing the Students from BATH!

I am sick of hearing how good some of our younger players are when every time we call on them they perform like last night and give everyone but UTD fans something to smile about!

AF has always been quoted as saying “Don’t entertain any STARS” well our team is full of them, if its not a CL game to get your price rating up to don’t matter any more. What ever happened to the players would graft out a result in mid January on a wet and cold afternoon?

 

[Nigel Borrington]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I feel that Lou Macari has a good point to make, the fans are getting sick of things, these days you could be forgiven for wondering just what UTD players are committed to winning. First we dumped out of the Worthington Cup each season, then the FA cup was just getting in our way, so we played like that didn’t matter.

This season so far you could be forgiven for thinking the players minds are only on one thing the CL final at OT. I attended the Fulham game two weeks ago and you could be left wondering just who was playing in a RED shirt, 1-1 will do anyway we have a CL game coming up!

I think Lou is spot on, the team we currently have might as well forget about anything other than the CL and pull out of everything else as commitment wise they don’t turn up anyway.

As for rotating the players to give the STARS a brake, it wouldn’t be so bad if you were left with the feeling we could win a single game even if we were playing the Students from BATH!

I am sick of hearing how good some of our younger players are when every time we call on them they perform like last night and give everyone but UTD fans something to smile about!

AF has always been quoted as saying “Don’t entertain any STARS” well our team is full of them, if its not a CL game to get your price rating up to don’t matter any more. What ever happened to the players would graft out a result in mid January on a wet and cold afternoon?

 

[Kilcarman]

fergie is at the same crap ...see his latest letter to members ......blaming Sats result on travel , and leaving half his squad behind for the Haifa game to tiredness ...dont remember any of that crap with the Treble squad and we have after all been travelling in Europe now for well nigh 16 years .......

I think I am becoming officially worried about how things are being run at OT .....for that shower last night would not have scored if they were playing still ..some say it doesnt matter , but losing becomes corrosive to morale no matter how weakened the team , which wasnt in truth all that weak on paper

 

[Nigel Borrington]

Originally posted by Kilcarman:
<strong>fergie is at the same crap ...see his latest letter to members ......blaming Sats result on travel , and leaving half his squad behind for the Haifa game to tiredness ...dont remember any of that crap with the Treble squad and we have after all been travelling in Europe now for well nigh 16 years .......

I think I am becoming officially worried about how things are being run at OT .....for that shower last night would not have scored if they were playing still ..some say it doesnt matter , but losing becomes corrosive to morale no matter how weakened the team , which wasnt in truth all that weak on paper</strong><hr></blockquote>

Manchester United Newsletter
-----------------------------------------
Monday, October 28, 2002 14:03


Dear Supporter

We lacked the real quality in Saturday's game. I think the travel during the week had a lot to do with that. It wasn't a great performance by Manchester United and I think Villa deserved the point. They could have been two-up in the first half. The boy Moore got through but Fabien made a good save at that point. Towards the end of the half we had two or three good attempts ourselves.

In the second half we had more urgency and it was a better team effort. We're always capable of scoring, there's no question of that. And with the amount of work we put into the second half, I think we deserved to equalise.

Diego also deserved his goal and we're all delighted for him because he's shown perseverance throughout the period when everyone hoped he was going to score. He had four attempts against Villa: his goal, his first half header just over the bar, and two saves by the keeper.

When you're not doing as well it's important to take something out of the game. And we did that on Saturday. In fact, if Ole Gunnar had scored with his head, when the keeper made a fantastic save, we'd have won a game that we didn't deserve to win. But I think we deserved a point... just.

Looking ahead to the Maccabi Haifa game, we had to leave behind a few players because of tiredness and there are a lot of aches and pains in the squad. Nicky Butt is going to have an operation on Tuesday morning which is unfortunate for us. It's our seventh operation this season!

Thanks for your support

Sir Alex Ferguson

We lacked the real quality in Saturday's game. I think the travel during the week had a lot to do with that.

Maybe we should request that all our games be played at OT.

 

[jraby]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.</strong><hr></blockquote>

You're taking the piss now, mental fatigue, they only kick a ball around a field. Let's face it most footballers don't have enough brains to fatigue. The only mental thing they know how to do is recite cliches and count money.

 

[Kilcarman]

Thanks Nigel for posting Fergies letter ....I was so pissed off I sent a reply , not that I expect anyone will give a damn ....

 

[ryansgirl]

I think Livvie has made a good point - as usual. The financial rewards are so high today - I find it unbelievable that some very ordinary players in the 2nd and 3rd divisions can complain about earning WAY above what many people, unemployed and otherwise.
I also find it unbelievable, despite commentators defending such wages by pointing out that golfers or basketballers earn more, that a player in the Premiership can earn 10,000 pounds a week let alone the amounts earned by the Keanes, Beckhams, Henrys, Shearers, etc.
If we look at it from a financial point of view (not to mention ethical point of view) it is OBSCENE that while many people in the western world are subject to the new feudalism - huge discrepancies between income, more and more people being forced to work at low paying jobs that do not provide benefits because the employer fixes the hours at a certain level, more and more people finding themselves jobless - and many in the poor countries simply slowly starve to death, sportsmen can earn more in one week than an average income earner makes in one year, not to mention the working poor and the jobless poor.
However, just because a Premiership player makes ridiculous amounts of money does not mean that he is better equipped to deal with all the pressure that comes with professional football today.
In Lou Macari`s time, football was in essence semi-professional and not the big business industry it is now. The mental demands plus the physical demands have rocked since his time.
However, I like little Lou`s comments as they do pinpoint just how privileged footballers are, and how they don`t seem to be aware of it generally,even with the new pressurs and stresses.

 

[granty]

Personaly im getting tired of Lou Macaris constant criticism about the team and in particular individuals. Week in week out on MUTV its the same. Fails to see the positives in a team performance. Why should you expect to see a second string, no matter where they are from beat a champions league oponent. They are there on merit. Did anyone see an arsenal second team get thumped by an average Blackburn team in the worthless cup last season. It may have been full of good players, but they had never played together as a team b4. If it wasnt for 2 excellent goals last night and Diegos effort hitting the cross bar it would have been a different story. For a meaningless game I thought they did o.k

 

[Stick]

Losing 3-0 to Israels answer to West Ham is hardly a good result. I think it wasnt a team who hadnt played together before with the exception of Richardson. Maccabi Haifa are whipping boys in the champions league that was a very poor performance!!! As for players being tired thats a lame excuse!!

 

[giggzy]

Originally posted by jraby:
<strong>

You're taking the piss now, mental fatigue, they only kick a ball around a field. Let's face it most footballers don't have enough brains to fatigue. The only mental thing they know how to do is recite cliches and count money.</strong><hr></blockquote>

its not 'only' kicking a ball around these days... most big team players train everyday...both in the gym and on the pitch.. which is tiring in itself... plus they're jetting out to Europe each week which must be a factor thus tiredness can creep in.

 

[darko]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>I think the fatigue is mental more than physical.

Times have changed since Macari's day. Footballers are more in the spotlight professionally and privately. Everything they do is analysed. Supporters are more demanding. And Macari never had the pressure of trying to live up to the successes of previous seasons.

I know what he means and he generally talks sense. But I still think it's different today.</strong><hr></blockquote>


I think he is spot on. Quit the complaining.

 

[darko]

Originally posted by MancFanFromManc:
<strong>Travelling round Europe is hardly a new thing. And its not like they had to take Russia on. Jesus H, it scares me.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Russia! Try playing in New York one day and two days later in Los Angeles. Or 4 games in 5 nights, like hockey and basketball. Or playing criket for three days.

 

[darko]

Originally posted by Nigel Borrington:
<strong>

As for rotating the players to give the STARS a brake, it wouldn’t be so bad if you where left with the feeling we could win a single game even if we where playing the Students from BATH!

I am sick of hearing how good some of our younger players are when every time we call on them they perform like last night and give everyone but UTD fans something to smile about!

</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'd agreed with all of your post, but this part stood out to me. Regardless of who we were missing, we should have been able to bang in a couple of goals against Macabi.

I can't say that the big boys (collectively) have impressed at all this season. Losing to Bolton at home! Drawing Villa at home where they were allowed to score away for the first time. Draw against lowly Sunderland, etc.... It has been a pathetic start.

To add to this we have a depleted strike force. And yet there are no players good enough to buy that are not cup tied. Who is our fourth striker? OUR THIRD STRIKER SCORED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OPEN PLAY IN THE VILLA MATCH! Our player of the year is out with injury. Veron is his usual self.

All is not bleak, though. Scholes is playing very well. (I wonder if his status has been upgraded to world class? ) Giggs has been playing well. And for me, I like Blanc. Everybody talks about Ferdinand. To me he hasn't made much of an impact. I didn't see his worth while at either West Ham or Leeds. I'm not saying he is a bad player, but I'm not convinced he's great either. He'll earn his worth if he can stop Owen and Henry.

It's early in the season, but the scoring record is just awfull. I must improve or United are doomed to be trophyless this season. So come on SAF, get that strker(s) we need.

 

[darko]

Originally posted by giggzy:
<strong>

its not 'only' kicking a ball around these days... most big team players train everyday...both in the gym and on the pitch.. which is tiring in itself... plus they're jetting out to Europe each week which must be a factor thus tiredness can creep in.</strong><hr></blockquote>

In yesteryear, players did it along with smoking! Charlton may have smoked, but he never stopped running.

 

[Livvie]

Originally posted by darko:
<strong>


I think he is spot on. Quit the complaining.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Who's complaining?????

For the record, I feel that footballers should be grateful for the job they are in, and compared to life in the real world, have it easy.

But being realistic, some players can't cope with the demands of everything that goes with the job - it's not just a case of playing football.

Saying it shouln't be that way doesn't make it so.

 

[Nigel Borrington]

Originally posted by Kilcarman:
<strong>Thanks Nigel for posting Fergies letter ....I was so pissed off I sent a reply , not that I expect anyone will give a damn ....</strong><hr></blockquote>


To be honest I have kept all these emails, don’t get me wrong, to the club and the fans including myself AF is a GOD for the things he has delivered to us over the years. My first ever game at OT was when Tommy Doc was the manager and well, sad days!

I am getting worried however about the number of comments in these e-mails that appear to be justifications for poor performances. Have the team lost the drive that won us the treble and all trophies before it?

I am a committed fan of both AF and the club, but AF has always edged it for me. However I am also left wondering if even though he stayed on for another three years, that somewhere in his mind he hasn’t already left to some degree and that having believed he was going to put his feet up, one of them at leased is still not left there hanging.

I only hope I am wrong and that we get back to winning but.......?

 

[Nigel Borrington]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>

Who's complaining?????

For the record, I feel that footballers should be grateful for the job they are in, and compared to life in the real world, have it easy.

But being realistic, some players can't cope with the demands of everything that goes with the job - it's not just a case of playing football.

Saying it shouln't be that way doesn't make it so.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't get what your conclusion is to your comments, if they as you put it "can't cope" then should the club 'UTD' keep them?

I think I would find it very hard to be paid in one week more than I get in a year of hard work, and to be asked to travel all the time as well, that would be taking the piss!

I ask you some companies really treat their staff so wrong don't they, thank god I work for who I do!

 

[darko]

Originally posted by Livvie20:
<strong>

Who's complaining?????

For the record, I feel that footballers should be grateful for the job they are in, and compared to life in the real world, have it easy.

But being realistic, some players can't cope with the demands of everything that goes with the job - it's not just a case of playing football.

Saying it shouln't be that way doesn't make it so.</strong><hr></blockquote>


This ia a Macari quote. "The public must be fed up with players trying to take them for a ride by complaining about the volume of matches."

You know what they say? If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

 

[Livvie]

Originally posted by darko:
<strong>


This ia a Macari quote. "The public must be fed up with players trying to take them for a ride by complaining about the volume of matches."

You know what they say? If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm not disagreeing. Just being realistic. Being a brilliant footballer doesn't mean you are also a tough character.