Thursday, May 28, 2009

The biggest night in European football

Here it is. The moment that we have been waiting for the past few weeks. The Champions League final kicks off in less than two hours. In a sense, poetic justice has been done with the final featuring, in my mind, the two best teams on the planet at the moment, both in terms of what they have achieved this season so far (Man U has the EPL and the League Cup in the bag, while Barca won the La Liga and the Copa del Rey) and also aesthetically. So I don't really mind whoever wins. If you were to ask me a few months ago, I would have said Barcelona would have thrashed Man U. No doubt about that. In Messi, Henry and Eto'o, they have the best attacking triumvirate in world football, with all three players each scoring more than 20 goals this season. And their midfield helmed by Xavi and Iniesta, is basically the core of the Spanish midfield that won the Euro 2008 championship last year. However, it is in defence that Man U holds the edge over Barcelona. Especially so since Abidal, Dani Alves and Rafa Marquez will be missing from the Barca lineup tonight. The Rafa loss is probably not that huge of a setback because Gerard Pique is more than capable to replace him. But Dani Alves missing will be a huge loss for Barcelona, more so because of the attacking threat that he poses in tandem with Lionel Messi.

Here's to a fantastic night of football. May the best team wins!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The beautiful (and ugly) game



Much has been said about Chelsea's last minute away goal defeat (1-1) to Barcelona in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal last week, especially about how, arguably, Chelsea was hard done by an inept and incompetent referee, one particular Tom Henning Ovrebo, who "failed" to award the Blues at least three penalty decisions. Conspiracy theories abound about how the controversial decisions were influenced by UEFA wanting to avoid a repeat of an all-English final for the second year running. After all that has been written and said in the papers and on TV, here is my delayed take on it all.

As I have mentioned before, there were at least three potential penalty incidents claimed by Chelsea, all of which were not given by the referee. The first, involved a tug-fest between, if i can remember correctly between, Dani Alves and Florent Malouda, with both players pulling each other's shirt and trying to wrestle the other to the ground. When the referee blew his whistle, the action was indeed inside of Barcelona's penalty box. HOWEVER, the initial tugging, and therefore the foul, in my opinion began outside of the box. The referee was merely letting play continue just in case an advantage would rise in favour of the attacker (which in this case would be Malouda). In this regard, it is similar to a situation, where an attacker is hacked down outside of the box, in a clear foul, but the referee waves play on for an advantage just in case the ball would fall to another team-mate for another chance on goal. However, should the advantage fail to materialize, the referee is right to blow the whistle and pull the play back to where the earlier foul occured.

The second "penalty" occassion involved Gerard Pique, Barcelona's centreback, accidentally handling the ball inside the box. Although it was accidental, I believe a penalty should have been given. Yes, that's right. I'm with Chelsea on this one. I repeat. A penalty should have been given for the handball offence.

The third dubious penalty claim came in the final few minutes of the game after Barcelona had scored. In what was perhaps Chelsea's last chance to win the game, a strike by Ballack was blocked by Samuel Eto'o, as he turned his back to the ball. Ballack strongly claimed that the ball hit Eto'o's arm. But after seeing countless replays, I am convinced that the ball actually struck the back of Eto'o's shoulder. It would have been harsh to award a penalty for that.

So there you go. From three penalty claims, only one could and should have been given by the referee. So were the Chelsea players, especially Ballack and Drogba, right to harass and harangue the referee at the end of the game? A definite NO! A penalty decision missed by the referee occurs all the time. Three missed would have been, as Drogba said it, "a fucking disgrace." But like I have analyzed, there was only ONE valid penalty claim. And the referee could have missed it for a number of different reasons. For example, he may not have clearly seen the handball incident, (which i strongly doubt in this case). Or perhaps, he may have thought it was unintentional. Things like this happen all the time in football matches. By acting like thugs and threatening the referee, the Chelsea players acted like sore losers blaming everything but themselves for the defeat. Didier Drogba himsef missed two gilt-edged chances, one in each of the two legs, to carry Chelsea on to the final. And both were one-on-one situations with the keeper. A world class striker would have taken at least one of those chances. If you ask me, Barcelona deserves to be in the final. After all, they didn't concede at home. And Chelsea did. And in two-legged cup affairs, that's all that matters.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Manchester United 2009/2010 jersey leaked





My goodness. I hope this is not Man U's new kit for next season. If it is, I hope that now that it has been leaked, Man U will come up with a better looking shirt. Anyway, this design is supposed to commemorate Man U's first FA cup final against Bristol City

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Nature or Nurture

I just read an interesting news on BBC online about Bolivian football players being prescribed doses of Viagra to help them play better on high altitude. Viagra, as we know, helps to expand blood vessels and oxygenate the blood, thus providing more stamina and endurance to its users.

This brings up the question whether the recent Bolivia's 6-1 thrashing of Argentina was due to the Bolivian players inherent ability to play at high altitude or was Viagra the secret weapon that gave them the added advantage and propelled them into a resounding victory?

It's hard to say unless if the Argentinian team also used Viagra to help boost its chance of winning in La Paz. But if I have to make an educated guess, I'd say that it was the Bolivian players' unique biological structure i.e. "Nature" that made them play well on their native high grounds. I made this assumption based on two reasons: Not all humans are created equal and we are physically and mentally shaped by the environment we grew up in, and it is known that natives of high altitude have bigger-than-normal blood vessels and more expansive lung capacity to help them adapt to their surroundings; second, I doubt that South American teams with a long horrendous track record at La Paz are ignorant of ways - scientific or otherwise - to increase blood flows to the heart and brain that would help level the playing field, literally and figuratively speaking.

Argentinian and Brazilian team doctors and physiotherapists are not stupid and I'm almost certain they know the benefits of using Viagra in high-altitude matches. Why they almost never won in La Paz can then be chalked up to the Bolivian players' natural ability to play in thin-air environment. If, say, Malaysian national footballers are forced to play Zenit St. Petersburgh in the bone-freezing, snow-covered field of Russia, I'm sure they'll lose by 20 goals or more. What if the table is turned and Zenit has to play in hot and muggy Malaysia? I'm sure as heck it'll still win, but only by 10 goals or maybe less... Yeah, this goes to show how patriotic I am!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Red Devils achieved mission impossible to progress to the last four


The team that achieved the 'impossible', with Anderson cut out at the bottom left of the picture


What can i say? i'm over the moon and overjoyed with Man U's progress to the last four of the Champions League earlier this morning. I was getting really anxious before the match. Partly because no English team has ever won at the Dragao before and also because Porto is actually an excellent team, a fact that has been overlooked by most people. After all, they have reached the quarterfinals stage of the competition and they have beaten teams like Arsenal (in the group stage) and Athletico Madrid along the way. And in Lisandro Lopes, they have one of the best strikers in this years competition. 6 goals speak for his striking prowess.

Much have been made about the Dragao being an inpenetrable fortress, especially when it comes to English teams. But no English teams have ever played at the Dragao in a MUST WIN situation before, like the commentators at Sky Sports mentioned last night. However, Man U did get the supposedly unlikely job done last night. This was achieved, in no small part, due to Alex Ferguson tactical mastery. The 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the first leg gave valuable insights about Porto's strength and Fergie set the team out with a plan to, first and foremost, put a leash on that, before everything else. Stop Porto from playing, and with the quality that exists throughout the Man U squad, Fergie knew the impossible could be achieved. The main thing that Fergie did was to put Wayne Rooney on the wing, and let Ronaldo be one of the strikers. This worked because Rooney is a tireless worker and a team player. Besides being a danger himself on the sidelines, he would also track back every time Porto had the ball, particular to keep a check on Cissokho, Porto's dangerous left wingback. Something which Ronaldo would not have done effectively, or rather, willingly. The second thing that Fergie got right was putting Anderson in midfield, in place of Paul Scholes. Anderson added steel and injected pace into Man U's midfield, something that was missing in the first leg encounter. Rio came back to partner Vidic in defence too, after being missing through injury for quite sometime. With the two of them in defence, Man U looked more solid and a clean sheet was finally achieved by a defence that have leaked in goals and have looked out of sorts, recently.

A wonderful performance on a wonderful night with a magical goal by Ronaldo to cap. Glory glory Man United 1000000x

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Four-cornered Dilemma

Of course I was heart-broken. And of course I was bummed out. I couldn't sleep after the highly-exciting, action-filled second-leg quarterfinal match between Liverpool and Chelsea last night, which saw to the Liverpool's defeat of 5-7 in aggregate goals.

I started watching with just a sliver of hope for a Liverpool's win after being down 1-3 in the first-leg match at Anfield. I read in BBC Sports that 97 percent of teams in the Champions League that won their first-leg matches by three or more goals went on to the next round. A very razor-thin chance indeed for the mighty Reds to buck the overwhelming odds.

But when the Reds raced to a 2-0 lead in the first-half courtesy of a stupendously-executed freekick by Fabio Aurelio and a confidently-taken penalty by Xabi Alonso there was suddenly a bright glimmer of hope on the horizon. One more goal to tie the series and two more goals to win it, and there was still the second-half of the match to be played. Well, that was the curse of it. Both teams came out of the half-time with guns blazing and traded goals until the dying minutes of the match, much to the disappointment of Reds fans everywhere. It's next to impossible to score that many goals at Stamford Bridge to begin with but Chelsea went toe-to-toe with Liverpool in this unexpected goal-fest. There are, of course, many mind-boggling puzzles and shoulda coulda woulda in the post-mortem analysis of the match but I'll leave the dissection to other pundits. I just want to forget about the match for now and move to, in my opinion, a more worthwhile pursuit: the Premier League championship.

Seeing that Man Utd is Liverpool's closest rival in contending for this season's domestic supremacy, it is only relevant that whatever Man Utd is engaged in right now will be in the interest of Liverpool. This brings me to tonight's match between Man Utd and Porto at the Dragao stadium. In thinking about this match I'm presented with a four-cornered dilemma: support Man Utd because of English football comradeship; support Porto because, like the wise Sun-tzu used to say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend; support Porto because I have a weak-spot for underdogs; or support Man Utd because I want them to get tired out for domestic matches as they go deeper in the European stage.

I still haven't made up my mind yet in choosing which team to support tonight. More likely it'll be Man Utd as I cannot see myself rooting for a team I don't know much and couldn't care less about. As much as I don't like Man Utd for reasons that only Reds fans understand, I still think the Red Devil is a much better team than Porto and deserves to move on to the semifinals of the Champions League. Whether Man Utd can pull it off at Porto tonight is a whole different matter. And as to the reason why I might be supporting Man Utd tonight, that I have yet to decide and it might have to wait until match time before I can be finally sure of the true reason behind my support.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

A reply to True Grit (see post below)

nicely written, my friend. but u forgot to mention that Man U was missing Berbatov too through injury. And Tevez was probably out of breath after playing in La Paz and the long travel back to Manchester. I almost had a heart attack that night. It was one of the best games of the season in terms of drama and excitement, and the relentless attacking. And while i questioned Fergie's decision to throw in Marcheda as a potential saviour, i have since come to realize that a Man U fan should trust a man who was responsible for countless titles, and truly one of the greatest managers ever. The trophies and accolades speak for themselves. After all, unlike Fergie, we don't get the chance to see the reserves play week in and week out and to note their progress. I'm sure in this area, Fergie knows best. He brought us the Fergie Fledglings in the 90's and young players are still brought in to the senior squad to this very day.

Liverpool's victory over Milan in the Champions League final in 2005 was a tremendous one. It nearly gave me a heart attack too. I thought the game was truly over at 0-3 down. Milan conquered the first half and lost it in the second. Fabulous comeback by the Reds, i must say. And when u have a player like Gerrard to lead the club, anything is possible. Remember the FA Cup final against West Ham? and the comeback win over Panathinaikos in the Champions League group stage a few seasons back? Ermmmm, can we get Gerrard to play for Man U? Hahahahahaa

True Grit

Last night's match between Man Utd and Aston Villa showed what separates great teams from their lesser competitors. Truly great teams never give up and play the match until the final whistle. They attack relentlessly, defend valiantly and leave every ounce of their being out on the pitch. They play as one cohesive unit, completely trusting in the judgment of their managers and the leadership of their skippers when the match precariously hangs in the balance and the collective hope of their fans sits squarely on their shoulders - and they deliver!

Man Utd's team last night was less-than-ideal. The team missed its two defensive anchors, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and two attacking stars, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney. Fergie fielded a mix of old (Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs) and young players (Johnny Evans, Danny Welbeck, Federico Macheda) to compensate for the loss of the four starters. Man Utd was down 1-2 but fought hard until Ronaldo equalized with a weak but well-placed left-footer in the 80th minute. The match was destined to be a draw but Man Utd didn't look like it was about to accept the result laying down. It played with the sheer desperation of a soldier with his last round of ammo, attacking Villa's defense with such ferocity, and it ultimately paid off. The unlikely hero was the 17-year Federico Macheda, who was making his first-team debut. When he came in to replace Nani I'm sure virtually everybody had these two questions running in their heads: Who the heck is Macheda, and why him and not Park Ji-Sung? Every great team has a great manager behind it and players who put their complete trust in him, and trust the Man Utd players' did in Fergie's decision to play Macheda, instead of the more experienced Park. In all, it was an exhilarating match last night even though the result didn't go the way I wanted it to.

To be fair to my beloved team, Liverpool, which is also one of the greatest teams in the history of football, there's always the "Istanbul Miracle" of 2005. The Champions League final against AC Milan was the greatest Liverpool match I've seen in my whole life, and for me what epitomizes a great team. For those who don't remember or are infected with short-term amnesia, at the end of the first-half Liverpool was down 0-3 but clawed its way back into the game to make it 3-3 and finally won it in penalty kicks. Simply breathtaking! Most teams would have given up in the second half after being down by three goals, especially if they were up against the much-vaunted Milan's defense commandeered by the imperturbable Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta. Great teams like Liverpool will find ways to win even when all the decks are stacked against them, just like Man Utd did last night.

I guess to encapsulate the essence of a great team in a short sentence is simply "a team that finds a way to win regardless of what predicament it's in." Great teams don't look for excuses to lose and will keep on fighting until the last drop of sweat, blood and tear.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

What a shock!

So most football fans in Malaysia probably stayed up last night to watch the victorious Three Lions against Ukraine, albeit through a late John Terry goal in the 88th minute. Although it was a close affair, almost everyone expected England to triumph at Wembley. The most incredible result that sent shockwaves around the footballing world last night though has to be Bolivia's mauling of Argentina (6-1). After all, here was Argentina, one of the early favorites for the 2010 World Cup, filled with superstars such as Lionel Messi (in my opinion, a contender for World Player of the Year), Sergio Aguero, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez, and coached by God-incarnate himself, Maradona. Perhaps, if Argentina were beaten by Brazil, for example, the defeat wouldn't seem so shocking. But Bolivia? Bolivia!!! Perhaps this famous victory was helped by the air in La Paz. In previous years, huge controversies, issues and concerns were voiced out about football matches being played at high altitude, 3600 m above sea level, in La Paz, and the advantages it gave Bolivia over the other teams. But for now, no one can deny Bolivia one of their finest and most famous win in their footballing history.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

The BEST league in the world

The EPL is looking very interesting at the moment. A few weeks ago, Manchester United looked to be cruising to another title. Who would have thought that it's main rival, Liverpool, would only be a point behind, at this point in time, after Man United's back to back defeat. The race to the title is going down the wire. That is why the EPL is the best league in the world.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Football lookalikes

After Man U's disappointing loss to Liverpool tonight, it's time for some laughs! Here are a few cases of pelanduk dua serupa

VS.
Lucas Leiva and Craig Bellamy. Watching Liverpool playing tonight, i couldn't help but notice that Lucas looks suspiciously like Bellamy.

Carlos Tevez
VS.

The Incredible Hulk

VS.
Anderson and The Predator

This one was brought up by a friend, Jerry. I wonder how the hell did he manage to come up with the comparison.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Post-Saturday showdown (Man U vs Liverpool 1-4)

Let's get it straight firsthand. I am a Manchester United fan and have been so for as long as I can remember. But i do think that i am objective enough to be able to accept defeat and to give credits to the opponent whenever they're due.

No doubt, it was a painful defeat tonight. Liverpool, one of the contenders for the title this season, beat Man U with a flattering score of 4-1, at Old Trafford. It was a exciting game throughout. Fast-paced with both teams attacking, and a little bit of drama thrown in to add spice to the game. But in my opinion, it was not a match of brilliance (except for the free-kick by Aurelio), but rather a match of two fair penalty kicks and defensive errors. I can't remember any clear cut chances or brilliant saves. Attempts on goals consisted of mostly 50-50 chances. But Reina did make the most of what should have been routine catches (or some people would call it goalkeeping practice). Enough to put someone on the brink of a heart attack.

Like i said, all of the goals could have been avoided. You could argue that if the two penalties (one each for Man U and Liverpool) were not conceded, there was a high chance of the impeded moves ending up in a goal anyway. So penalties aside, let us analyzed the other 3 goals (all for Liverpool). Two of them were results of defensive mistakes by Nemanja Vidic. Vidic has been a defensive stalwart for Man U for the past two seasons, and I have never seen him play this badly before. His first mistake allowed Torres to burst through on goal. As the last defender, i think Vidic was trying to chest the ball back to Van der Sar. But it ended up with him misjudging and miscontrolling the ball. The third Liverpool goal resulted from a similar mistake by Vidic. In a similar fashion, he misjudged the ball, which allowed Gerrard to break through. Only this time, he (Vidic) hauled Gerrard down. And to make matters worse, Vidic was rightly red-carded for being the last man and stopping a goal opportunity. What resulted from the direct free-kick conceded was a wonderful goal by Aurelio, which i think was the only moment of brilliance throughout the match.

By then, Man U were already 3-1 down. And a desperate Fergie had already thrown in three substitutes (Giggs, Scholes and Berbatov) in order to launch a full-fledged assault on Liverpool's goal. So Vidic's sending off meant that Man U had to play the rest of the match with only 3 true defenders. It was really not Man U's night when Dossena (a full back!) manage to score a lobbed goal against Van der Sar for Liverpool's fourth goal and thereby driving the final nail down Man U's coffin. With 10 men, Man U was already fighting a lost cause.

The showdown between the top two teams in the EPL tonight really shows that football can be a game of avoiding mistakes as much as it is a game of brilliance and attacking prowess. If you don't believe me, try asking the Italians who perfected the art of catenaccio and sitting back after a one goal lead and avoiding mistakes. However, as previous seasons have shown, losing points to your main rivals is less of an influence to winning or losing the title race compared to dropping points against smaller teams. Something which Liverpool have been guilty of too many times this season. After all, Liverpool once led Man U by a handsome 10 points. Man U still has a game in hand to restore the 7-point lead at the top. The battle at Old Trafford ended up with Man U on the losing side and they probably deserve it. You cannot commit so many mistakes against a team like Liverpool and expect to get away with it. Nevertheless, the season is far from finished. No points for guessing who i am rooting for for the title.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hairy footballers

Don't you just love big hair?


Paul Breitner



Rudd Gullit...ok, his is not technically big hair, but oh well


A young Diego Maradona


Kevin Keegan


Marouane Fellaini, currently playing for Everton


And the king of all big hairs....Carlos Valderama

Vintage football outfits

Football like everything else is subject to ever changing fashion. Here are some images of football greats of yesteryears and the outfits of the time. Personally, i think nothing beats the pinaccle of tight shirts, short shorts and big hair of the 1980s.


Ryan Giggs, escaping from 3 Liverpool players in the double-winning year of 1996


Brazil, captained by Socrates, were the tournament favorite for the 1982 World Cup only to be upstaged by Italy and one particular Paolo Rossi in the semifinal


Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer in the 1974 World Cup final


A legend while playing for Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish played for Celtic in the 1960s


A young Sir Bobby Charlton of Manchester United in the 1950s

The Saturday showdown

The rout in Anfield against Real Madrid recently was the best I've seen Liverpool played in a while. I remember the Reds being in such top form early in the season, beating Man United and Chelsea, among others, but somewhat characteristically faltered toward the closing of the season. I'm hoping that they can maintain the same form this coming Saturday for a showdown with Man United at Old Trafford.

Can Man United be easily toyed with like Real Madrid? Highly unlikely. It is rare nowadays to see Man United plays such a mediocre game like they did with Inter Milan yesterday, and after a good tongue-lashing from Sir Fergie in the locker-room I'm sure the lads will bounce back this weekend. Both managers will put in their best and strongest eleven out on the pitch and it will be a ferocious battle until the final whistle is blown. There will be plenty of sweat, blood and tear left out there on the pitch. I expect nothing less!

What's my prediction? Is this a rhetorical question or what? Of course I'm hoping for a sweet Liverpool's victory and thus sweeping the series this season but I think it'll most likely be a 1-1 draw. It'll be a tight and close game with plenty of emotions and tempers flying all over the pitch. There will be a fierce battle in midfield but the game will soon open up on the flanks as both teams try to exploit each other's perceived defensive weakness. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a fast-paced and free-flowing game and this game certainly has all the elements to be an entertaining one. It might even become a classic as there's nothing less at stake in the game than the Premiership itself. Spoiling Man United's quest for the improbable quintiple can also be sweet!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

You'll Never Walk Alone



If you have ever watched matches involving Celtic F.C., you would probably have noticed the crowd singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", a song which is synonymous with Liverpool. So which club actually first adopted the song as its anthem? And, apparently, Anfield and Celtic Park are not the only football grounds where you can hear the fans singing this song to the top of their voices.

After doing a bit of online research, here are some information regarding one of the most famous football anthems ever.

1)The song is also sung at football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on matchday; this tradition began at Liverpool F.C. in the early 1960s and later spread to several other clubs (WIKIPEDIA)

2)In England, the song's most famous outing was recorded in the early 1960s by Liverpool Merseybeat group Gerry & the Pacemakers, which reached #1 in the UK charts on the 26 October 1963 where it stayed for 4 weeks. It quickly became the club anthem of Liverpool Football Club [1] and is invariably sung by its supporters moments before the start of the game and when the team was doing well or doing badly to inspire them to victory. [2] The words You'll Never Walk Alone feature in the club crest. In recent years the fans of various other clubs have attempted to claim that they sang it first, but Liverpool has the stronger claims [3]. In Scotland the song was later adopted as the anthem of Glasgow football club Celtic.

The song is also sung by other association football crowds, where it is sung variably, such as:

England: Ipswich Town, Liverpool Football Club.
Austria: SK Rapid Wien.
Netherlands: FC Twente, Feyenoord Rotterdam and Ajax Amsterdam.
Germany: FC St. Pauli (also Borussia Dortmund and Alemannia Aachen).
Greece: AEK Athens FC (AEK fans adopted a Greek version of the song).
Japan: F.C. Tokyo.
Italy: Hellas Verona F.C..
Scotland: Celtic FC.

(YAHOO! ANSWERS)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Keano Beano & The Super-Subs

By: Nick Gani

A few musings on last night’s round of games. First of all, nothing extraordinary about Chelsea’s win over Coventry City in the FA Cup 6th round. Everything about the game, down to the score (2-0 to Chelsea), and Drogba scoring, was predictable.

The only Premiership game last nite was Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur. What a remarkable comeback by Spurs after being 0-1 down for a huge part of the game! Sure, they probably didn’t deserve the result, and Sunderland was probably guilty of not killing off the game earlier, but it was an amazing strike from a player who must be dizzy from his own ups and downs this season.

It makes you wonder, how a player of Keane’s calibre and talent flopped with Liverpool, but upon returning to his former club, he’s back on top form again. Goals in consecutive games and downright an important one in last night’s game. A last minute (normal time) goal gives Spurs a valuable point in their fight to avoid the drop in what have been a hugely disappointing season for them (they were, after all, predicted to be the team to break the Big Four monopoly this season). In my opinion, Rafa Benitez was probably a little bit too quick to offload Keane. But now, we are left to wonder, would Keane have turned out to be an important player for Liverpool, had he been given more time to settle in? (Remember how Drogba sucked in his first season at Chelsea, but returned with a bang the following season and have been an important player for them ever since?) After all, we did see a few glimpses of his talent during his short time with the Reds. Goals against Arsenal at the Emirates immediately come to mind.

Fulham vs Manchester United. One of the reasons for Man U’s success in winning the league and the Champions League last season was the triple attack of Ronaldo, Roonie and Tevez. However, with the arrival of Berbatov this season, Tevez has unfortunately been relegated to the sub’s bench. I pity Tevez, really. He could walk into the first eleven of any big clubs in the world, and based on last night’s performance, Tevez really deserves to play more often. Even with Ronaldo rested and therefore missing from the game, Tevez’s link up play and understanding with Rooney was apparent. Imagine what it would have been like if Man U’s triumvirate were to start together.

Sure, I can understand Fergie’s reasoning. Ideally, you would like to have excellent cover in every position. And with Fergie’s attacking philosophy which employs two strikers, that means you need to have four quality strikers in the team (Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez, Wellbeck, and ocassionaly, Ronaldo or Giggs would play upfront too). I remember a time, specifically the treble-winning year of 1999, when Man U had Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke starting, and Solskjaer and Sheringham coming off the bench. Now that’s what I call a quality bench! At that time, there were no problems whatsoever, selection-wise and in dealing with the player’s ego and desire to play in every game. Solskjaer was contented enough to play the supersub role, and Sheringham was already
at the beginning of the end of his career. With interest from Real Madrid and other big clubs, I wonder how long would Tevez remain a Man U player.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Football blogging as a therapy

Taking up Nicky's advice I'm starting a new blog about my life-long obsession of and my undying love for football. This blog stems from my endless discussions about football with Nicky until wee hours in the morning, especially the English Premier League, and simply serves as another avenue for discussing the beautiful game from an amateur point of view. Also I guess Nicky was sick of listening to me whining constantly about my emotional problems hahaha...

The past few weeks have been very emotionally-taxing for me as my heart was broken to a million little pieces and I was at the lowest point in my life. I was a total emotional wreck despite my friends' attempts to shake me out of it. But I found that playing and talking about football can be soothing to my troubled soul (not a permanent cure though), so I decided to start blogging about football as a way to distract my mind from thinking about her, at least temporarily. Football has always been there for me in my time of need, usually acting as an emotional outlet, so this blog will be no different. I hope my football-crazy readers can contribute to the discussions in here.

I'll see you all in the next post!

p/s: The reason I create a separate blog for football is that I want to keep my old blog strictly for other topics and I don't want to mix them up. I still like to blog about politics, and given my current emotional state, relationship.