Alright, just like what I have been doing in my posts in the past, this post is no exception and I have to do the customary congratulation to Tottenham who have just secured the much coveted 4th spot, and in fact a possible 3rd place if they win their remaining game of the season against the already relegated Burnley and Fulham springs nasty surprises in the Emirates Stadium. That success comes at the expense of high spenders Manchester City who have been tipped all season to clinch that 4th spot and also replacing Liverpool as one of the Big Four in the Premier League this season. What went wrong? After such an obscene splurge, just like Real Madrid, they are expected to destroy everything in their path! But what went wrong with this team? The following paragraphs will show exactly why.
The first reason is of course goes back all the way to the halfway point of the season in which the Manchester City board sacked Mark Hughes who was really doing well with the newly assembled squad that he has. I mean, 35 points at the halfway point of the season is not a bad return at all. Mark Hughes was well on target. Just because he was drawing games doesn't mean that he's losing the plot. I mean, just look at Manuel Pellegrini. At around that time, Real Madrid also faced a kind of dip in form in all competitions, most famously being knocked out from the Copa del Rey by part timers Alcorcon, being thrashed severely by them in the first leg. It was such an embarrassment, and many speculated heavily that Manuel Pellegrini would be sacked soon after that cup fiasco. However, experience is indeed one's best teacher and Florentino Perez has learned his way, and he didn't sack Manuel Pellegrini. Look at Real Madrid now, they are still piling pressure on Barcelona even until the time of writing, potentially pipping them on the last day of the season if Real Madrid has their way. Barcelona fans might flame me, but that's the reality and you guys know it.But not for Manchester City, they chose to sack Mark Hughes and replace him with someone with no real experience in England besides a short playing stint with Leicester City which British commentators can't stop reminding us. This is pretty much like how US and its allies destroyed the relatively stable Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and replacing it with severely unstable new government. Now look at Manchester City, despite a great improvement from last season's 10th place finish, this is not the kind of return you would expect with that kind of squad and with that kind of money invested. I know people would just accuse me of sour grapes and asking too many “what if” questions but yeah, that's a valid question that with how Mark Hughes won at least the home games in scintillating manner to the tune of 5-1, 4-3, 6-0 week in week out, we really ought to ask plenty of “what if” questions
The second reason, which is evident not only in last night's match, but also throughout this season even before the sacking of Mark Hughes is the very fact that this expensively assembled team have no team chemistry at all. Most of the time, and last night's match included, it is Tevez that has to do it all alone to bring City up. Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi can't do things alone. Even Maradona himself during his heyday won't be able to carry his team's burden on his own week in week out. In any case I certainly appreciate the fact that the Abu Dhabi United Group has come and make Manchester City a force to be reckoned with, so that we Man City fans outside Manchester are no longer being ridiculed by the massively majority Manchester United fans around us, and also this kind of squad assembled in such a short amount of time will definitely need to gel. But this is nevertheless a huge problem, and this is definitely the same problem faced by my other favorite team, Real Madrid, in which team chemistry is very minute, if not absent. However, what I am hoping is that the players, manager (whoever that might be, hopefully it will be Roberto Mancini), and the board would not be rushed to immediately overhaul the squad once again as it will only make the team chemistry issue even worse and it will be severely detrimental What City should do is that to supplement this team according to the area which needs improvement and also doing it in a consistent by gradual manner. I just hope that they remember success doesn't come instantly, not only in football, but in every aspects of the world. This is the real world football, in which teams need time to gel and thus gain that kind of team chemistry. We could see that the players sometimes still haven't got used with each other. Such as how most of the time a pass from Bellamy from instance will only hit Adebayor's heel as he makes a run too soon and the stray ball is simply collected by the opposition to launch a swift and devastating counterattack and either Man City concede a disappointing goal, or Shay Given saves the day. This is not Football Manager or Winning Eleven in which the simple use of the Editor to move players from all over the world into a team, and in the very first match, the team is already able to destroy everyone and everything. Even in the newer versions of Football Manager, team chemistry is present and a newly assembled team will not play well.
In any case, it would not be fair and it would be amateurish to start condemning Man City as if they have crashed a toddler by the team bus based on that last night's match alone. Tottenham really made us of Peter Crouch's bodily giftedness really well last night in stationing him right in front of Marton Fulop and supplying him with balls to head into goal. Other players such as Luka Modric also constantly tested Fulop. Despite that, Fulop performed quite admirably in the match, as even if he was seen as a weak link, just like Fabianski recently, he was up to the task and more often than not, I forgot that the one between the sticks was not Shay Given! Even in Peter Crouch's goal, Fulop had saved in a really admirable manner before Crouch simply tapped in the rebound into the empty net. We can't blame Fulop for that, and credit to him that the defeat was only 1-0 and not an embarrassing 4-0 or even 8-0 which would certainly result in the sacking of Roberto Mancini on the spot, perhaps on the City of Manchester pitch a la Phil Brown's team talk there last season! Also, there's no reason to blame this on Given's injury as based on what I have seen in the two games, Marton Fulop has done well in deputizing for Shay Given.
Many Manchester City fans I know also complained on how Vieira is overutilized this season and how Vieira shouldn't have played in last night's game. They also questioned why Vieira was signed at the first place. OK, for this, I have to take all of you back to January in which Man City infamously lodged a 100 million Euro bid to lure the then AC Milan's Kaka into Manchester City. Needless to say, it was flatly rejected by Kaka himself who stated that he “loved” Milan, although the real reason was of course he wanted to move to a BIGGER club such as his current club Real Madrid. In my opinion, that's precisely the reason that led to Mancini signing Vieira. We have to admit that during his heyday, there's no chance in hell that Vieira would be joining Man City. But he's in the sunset of his career, and yet his legacy is immense and his name is nevertheless remain one of the household names of football. Thus, he was signed for free to be a catalyst to attract future big names to sign for Man City, and I kind of agree that assuming that's really the reason for his signing, he shouldn't be over utilized as a player as he would be a liability instead of helping City's cause.
Another source of problem for Man City this season is the sheer volatility and flammable dressing room atmosphere. It seems that the dressing room is full of methane gas in which a slightest of spark will cause a massive explosion. I mean, just look at the City squad. Craig Bellamy, Adebayor, Tevez, Robinho, and even Stephen Ireland. You can almost predict an explosion happening sooner rather than later with these explosive characteristics on board. That's not to say that it is a bad thing on its own. But the external environment can hasten the explosion process. OK, I won't talk about Harry Redknapp's mind games as like I said, we can't solely blame City's inability to win last night to the mind games being played about Bellamy's transfer. But even stray rumors from the media such as how it's rumored that Tevez is leaving, Bellamy is having an altercation with Mancini, it might ignite a disharmony in the dressing room with the aforementioned volatile characters on board. Simple rumors can become extremely poisonous venom without a calming influence to those hot-headed characters.
All in all, I, and of course other Man City fans wherever they might be will be keeping our fingers firmly crossed that the Man City board will be making rational and well-informed decisions such as sticking with Roberto Mancini for next season and not doing any massive culling and makeover to the squad. What should be done is simply take a leaf out of Real Madrid's book and just stick to their manager despite embarrassing comments from pundits and the media, and even snipes from opposing managers when results don't go their way. They have to realize that even a 300m Euros investment would require time and patience besides massive efforts to bear fruit.
Sacking Roberto Mancini at the end of this season will only lead to Manchester City sliding down the table again as further instability will ensue and that the big players already at the club might feel unhappy about the situation and start asking to be transferred out somewhere else. Worst comes to worst, the board itself might even decide that the investment is failing, I mean given their nature to want things to happen instantly, they might not even have the necessary patience for the City project to be successful and the only way out is to abandon ship and takeover a club which qualifies to the Champions League as their own short-cut to reach Europe's Premier Competition, and the next stop for the ADUG is, TOTTENHAM! Man City fans, all of us have been warned!
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
On Arsenal's Fiasco...
One more season for Arsenal's young guns, one more disappointment for their long suffering fans, one same excuse will be given by Wenger, and most importantly, zero addition to Arsenal's cobweb collecting trophy cabinet. At a glance, this is the season when Arsenal is supposed to have matured as a whole cohesive unit, and this is the year in which the young Gunners are finally ready to be able to be considered “Big Boys” and finally challenge on all fronts this season. However, in the usual Arsenal fashion, they simply failed to deliver yet again due to an alarming slide down the top end of the table in the run-in of the season.
That's at the macro level. Even looking at Arsenal at the micro level (game to game basis), Arsenal is still trapped in their old and usual routine, despite signs of that changing up to ¾ of this season, in which Arsenal will be blazing at the start of a match, and continue to do so while failing to register the second (or third) goal which would effectively kill the game after 20+ shots on goal or so, and then only to concede either 1 goal to make it a disappointing draw, or even 2-3 goals to make it a bitter and sorrowful defeat, all in the dying minutes of the game (between 85-90th minute). Thus, back to the macro level, Arsenal's season (this season is no exception) is also the same. They go all the way to the top with a trailing blaze, only to lose matches unnecessarily against oppositions which other top teams would thrash to the tune of a 19th century football game (9-1 anyone?) such as Wigan, in which Arsenal was pitifully defeated 3-2 no thanks to 3 goals conceded in the last 10 minutes, and recently Blackburn, again after leading the game 1-0 most of the game. It must be really frustrating to be an Arsenal fan, seriously. Especially looking at all those shiny but unused gold in their coffers (which will be touched upon again later).
Their manager, Arsene Wenger can do nothing but moan and groan about how his oppositions are playing “anti football” and are just out with machetes and hachetes to dismember his fragile, tiny, kids. This was shown in its full glory just recently in the aftermath of the 2-1 defeat against Blackburn, in which the Lanchasire outfit simply utilized the extremely low morale and confidence of Arsenal's stand in keeper Lukasz Fabianski by intimidating and distracting him by using huge players such as Chris Samba all the time, which culminated in both goals conceded eventually. Well, Arsene Wenger was really enraged by that strategy. But, just like what I have mentioned in the previous posts, that's what Blackburn (and a few other teams like Bolton) is known for, a rough but effective “Push and Shove” tactics. To be frank, that strategy works wonders for Blackburn and Bolton for instance, since both of them have been in the Premier League since their promotion back to the division God knows how long ago. And the fact that I, and I believe many other fans as well, have forgotten when the last time these two teams were outside of the division speaks volumes about how their general strategy is working!
Besides, in football, especially in the modern era of the sport in which the fine line dividing between winning and losing could mean existence and extinction has increased the volume of calls for Rationality in football, and rationality was just something implemented by Sam Allardyce during that match. I mean, think about this. You don't engage in programming contests with a pale, horrifically thin computer geek, you engage in a push-and-shove match with the geek, and that's how you win against the guy. I am apologetic for the possibly offensive analogy, but that's the perfect illustration for this. Any team facing a team full of slick and fast small sized attacking players like Arsenal would employ the same strategy. You don't engage in a dribbling and running contest with them, but you push them around the pitch and send high balls to your towering and burly targetmen instead of complying to a s-called “Law of Joga Bonito” and play carpet football and be thrashed by the Young Guns (just like how Everton found out the hard way at the start of this very season). Rationality and results are the keys, and most of the time in football, the end justifies the means, besides Blackburn didn't go against the ethics of the game such as diving, play-acting, (Sergi Busquets!) or executing career ending tackles...
Arsenal's main problem is actually the fact that even until today, Arsenal have yet to find the proper replacements for players such as David Seaman, Martin Keown, and Patrick Vieira. Not that Wenger hasn't been signing players, but as one would have noticed, he has been signing the same kind of players all these while, and that the players have to have certain criteria which are: The players must not be English, the player's height must be less than 180cm, the player must not be older than 23, and the player must be an attacking midfielder or a fast striker. (eg. Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Eduardo, Theo Walcott, Denilson etc.). Despite recent improvements in signing Thomas Vermaelen, William Gallas, and well... re-signing Sol Campbell, the much expected replacement for Vieira has yet to arrive...
Also, Wenger has, as usual, been refusing to make that “WOW” signing, or peaking in terms of Australia's A-League, Arsenal have yet to sign a marquee player who will put bums on seats. A player along the line of David Villa, David Silva, Carlos Tevez, or even Leo Messi and C. Ronaldo! What I am trying to say is the kind of commanding player which can win games on his own, or even if the team is already leading, to be able to continue to spur his colleagues on, mostly by leading by example and I believe this will undoubtedly put a lid on Arsenal's “routine” problem mentioned in the first paragraph. However, despite the availability of the kind of budget to initiate this kind of signing, Wenger's continuous defiance and stubbornness to retain his own football philosophy would mean that Arsenal fans won't be able to see such “marquee” signings anytime soon, and yeah, trophies as well.
To be fair to Arsene Wenger, his youth and thrifty policies are actually a honorable and perhaps an economically ethical philosophy. If we look at what football has become nowadays, it is quite scary to look at how obscene the amount of money being spent to bolster a team (such as the recent free for all spending of Man City and Real Madrid, which are both my favorite teams) as well as how some teams have spent way beyond their means to acquire the players they want but with a debilitating consequences to them (such as the well documented problems of Leeds United and now Portsmouth). However, Wenger has stood tall to refuse to spend that kind of obscene money and instead focusing on developing and nurturing young players to minimize costs and also to do things the “correct” way. It is also paying dividends, at least economically as despite the huge costs incurred by the club to build the Emirates Stadium, they are very healthy financially and managed to escape the crippling consequences of the recent global financial crisis, in which many clubs found out to their peril, most notably Valencia which almost ceased from existence. Also, as far as transfers are concerned, they are the only team among the top teams in Europe that have raked in profits, and a huge one, from player turnovers. Also, not forgetting the fact that they have been responsible for properly nurturing many megastars such as Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, and Emmanuel Adebayor just to name four to make them the world beaters that they are from relative obscurity. We must also not forget how Arsenal's matches are so entertaining week in week out with the carpet football in full display! Such a delight to watch Arsenal!
However, his honorable policies don't seem to have paid off so far, even after all these years. Due to this, Wenger has been coming out with the exact same excuse of “they have yet to mature” at the end of every single season such that you feel that at some point he should just record it on a tape and just play it over and over again at the end of every trophyless season. Despite the fact that the excuses can be recorded and be played over and over again in the same manner, the players' age won't stay the same. Each year that Wenger gives the press conference, the players' are getting older and older and thus time is running out, as there will be a particular point of time when the “We are not matured yet” excuse has expired as the players can no longer be considered as “Young Guns” anymore and when the dreaded thought of the star players being frustrated for lack of trophies come forth....
Also, for the sake of Wenger's legacy to be remembered properly by the future generations, he ought to abandon his policies, at least mostly if not fully and get down and dirty and most importantly to start winning trophies. Remember, only winners are remembered, not even runners-up. In fact, being second can mean insults to many, and I have heard instances when players and managers alike have been known to throw away runners up medals, sometimes to the fans as soon as they have obtained it. I mean, just look at Tony Mowbray's delightful playing style instilled on his teams. First up is West Brom, despite playing good attacking football, they were relegated, and I believe there are many who have forgotten West Brom exists, let alone their exploits in the Premier League last season. Secondly is Celtic, in which their season ends in total disappointment as they win nothing and they have to play second fiddle in the league to a Rangers side with a plethora of financial problems off the pitch. Now, Tony Mowbray is contributing to Britain's unemployment rate. Thus, what use is his attractive attacking football now? Food for thought here....
Many Arsenal fans, and even those cynical non Arsenal fans would just quip, “Hey at least Arsenal is still hovering somewhere in 3rd and 4th position all these while, while YOUR Man City and Real Madrid fail big time despite having spent obscene amount of money”. Well, as a civilized fan, I would just be cool and tell them to their faces in a polite manner as I leave them alone, “Yeah, but if that continues, then it's the matter of when, not if, their star players such as Arshavin and Fabregas' moans and groans in the media about how playing for Barcelona is the greatest thing that could happen in their career gets louder and louder and eventually culminating in them wearing the Blaugrana colors...” That's what is brewing right now, and Arsenal, you have been warned!
Even if that's not happening, I mean the exodus, even this season, Arsenal is still in danger of being usurped by Tottenham of all clubs and they might have to see Tottenham finishing 3rd, higher than them in the league table. Also, if the exodus does happen, expect Arsenal to be the second team losing their Big Four Status after Liverpool, and if the Reds' status is wrestled by Manchester City, then Arsenal fans will be in an even more intense pain, as the one who would wrestle it from them is none other than Tottenham, again of all the teams...
However, in any case, actually I have no rights to say all of what I have been saying up to the last paragraph. After all, I am just an ordinary football fan who is simply trying hard but in a futile manner to be heard and known for my infatuation on football over the internet, while Arsene Wenger, the man I am talking about here, just like his nickname “Le Professeur” suggests, is a full time football professor who is one of the best in what he does, and thus, maybe what he is doing is the right thing and the best thing for Arsenal and for football in general, and also because we don't know what might happen in the future and Arsenal might be at the top sooner rather than later. I mean, just like how I said about how those journalists who criticized Robinho would struggle even to produce 1/20 of what Robinho was producing if they are given Man City's number 10 shirt, and thus perhaps if I am given one season to manage Arsenal, perhaps they will be relegated for the first time in their history with a plethora of financial problems. Thus, Wenger might not be wrong at all. In any case, we shall just sit back, relax, and see how the Beautiful Game unfolds!
That's at the macro level. Even looking at Arsenal at the micro level (game to game basis), Arsenal is still trapped in their old and usual routine, despite signs of that changing up to ¾ of this season, in which Arsenal will be blazing at the start of a match, and continue to do so while failing to register the second (or third) goal which would effectively kill the game after 20+ shots on goal or so, and then only to concede either 1 goal to make it a disappointing draw, or even 2-3 goals to make it a bitter and sorrowful defeat, all in the dying minutes of the game (between 85-90th minute). Thus, back to the macro level, Arsenal's season (this season is no exception) is also the same. They go all the way to the top with a trailing blaze, only to lose matches unnecessarily against oppositions which other top teams would thrash to the tune of a 19th century football game (9-1 anyone?) such as Wigan, in which Arsenal was pitifully defeated 3-2 no thanks to 3 goals conceded in the last 10 minutes, and recently Blackburn, again after leading the game 1-0 most of the game. It must be really frustrating to be an Arsenal fan, seriously. Especially looking at all those shiny but unused gold in their coffers (which will be touched upon again later).
Their manager, Arsene Wenger can do nothing but moan and groan about how his oppositions are playing “anti football” and are just out with machetes and hachetes to dismember his fragile, tiny, kids. This was shown in its full glory just recently in the aftermath of the 2-1 defeat against Blackburn, in which the Lanchasire outfit simply utilized the extremely low morale and confidence of Arsenal's stand in keeper Lukasz Fabianski by intimidating and distracting him by using huge players such as Chris Samba all the time, which culminated in both goals conceded eventually. Well, Arsene Wenger was really enraged by that strategy. But, just like what I have mentioned in the previous posts, that's what Blackburn (and a few other teams like Bolton) is known for, a rough but effective “Push and Shove” tactics. To be frank, that strategy works wonders for Blackburn and Bolton for instance, since both of them have been in the Premier League since their promotion back to the division God knows how long ago. And the fact that I, and I believe many other fans as well, have forgotten when the last time these two teams were outside of the division speaks volumes about how their general strategy is working!
Besides, in football, especially in the modern era of the sport in which the fine line dividing between winning and losing could mean existence and extinction has increased the volume of calls for Rationality in football, and rationality was just something implemented by Sam Allardyce during that match. I mean, think about this. You don't engage in programming contests with a pale, horrifically thin computer geek, you engage in a push-and-shove match with the geek, and that's how you win against the guy. I am apologetic for the possibly offensive analogy, but that's the perfect illustration for this. Any team facing a team full of slick and fast small sized attacking players like Arsenal would employ the same strategy. You don't engage in a dribbling and running contest with them, but you push them around the pitch and send high balls to your towering and burly targetmen instead of complying to a s-called “Law of Joga Bonito” and play carpet football and be thrashed by the Young Guns (just like how Everton found out the hard way at the start of this very season). Rationality and results are the keys, and most of the time in football, the end justifies the means, besides Blackburn didn't go against the ethics of the game such as diving, play-acting, (Sergi Busquets!) or executing career ending tackles...
Arsenal's main problem is actually the fact that even until today, Arsenal have yet to find the proper replacements for players such as David Seaman, Martin Keown, and Patrick Vieira. Not that Wenger hasn't been signing players, but as one would have noticed, he has been signing the same kind of players all these while, and that the players have to have certain criteria which are: The players must not be English, the player's height must be less than 180cm, the player must not be older than 23, and the player must be an attacking midfielder or a fast striker. (eg. Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Eduardo, Theo Walcott, Denilson etc.). Despite recent improvements in signing Thomas Vermaelen, William Gallas, and well... re-signing Sol Campbell, the much expected replacement for Vieira has yet to arrive...
Also, Wenger has, as usual, been refusing to make that “WOW” signing, or peaking in terms of Australia's A-League, Arsenal have yet to sign a marquee player who will put bums on seats. A player along the line of David Villa, David Silva, Carlos Tevez, or even Leo Messi and C. Ronaldo! What I am trying to say is the kind of commanding player which can win games on his own, or even if the team is already leading, to be able to continue to spur his colleagues on, mostly by leading by example and I believe this will undoubtedly put a lid on Arsenal's “routine” problem mentioned in the first paragraph. However, despite the availability of the kind of budget to initiate this kind of signing, Wenger's continuous defiance and stubbornness to retain his own football philosophy would mean that Arsenal fans won't be able to see such “marquee” signings anytime soon, and yeah, trophies as well.
To be fair to Arsene Wenger, his youth and thrifty policies are actually a honorable and perhaps an economically ethical philosophy. If we look at what football has become nowadays, it is quite scary to look at how obscene the amount of money being spent to bolster a team (such as the recent free for all spending of Man City and Real Madrid, which are both my favorite teams) as well as how some teams have spent way beyond their means to acquire the players they want but with a debilitating consequences to them (such as the well documented problems of Leeds United and now Portsmouth). However, Wenger has stood tall to refuse to spend that kind of obscene money and instead focusing on developing and nurturing young players to minimize costs and also to do things the “correct” way. It is also paying dividends, at least economically as despite the huge costs incurred by the club to build the Emirates Stadium, they are very healthy financially and managed to escape the crippling consequences of the recent global financial crisis, in which many clubs found out to their peril, most notably Valencia which almost ceased from existence. Also, as far as transfers are concerned, they are the only team among the top teams in Europe that have raked in profits, and a huge one, from player turnovers. Also, not forgetting the fact that they have been responsible for properly nurturing many megastars such as Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, and Emmanuel Adebayor just to name four to make them the world beaters that they are from relative obscurity. We must also not forget how Arsenal's matches are so entertaining week in week out with the carpet football in full display! Such a delight to watch Arsenal!
However, his honorable policies don't seem to have paid off so far, even after all these years. Due to this, Wenger has been coming out with the exact same excuse of “they have yet to mature” at the end of every single season such that you feel that at some point he should just record it on a tape and just play it over and over again at the end of every trophyless season. Despite the fact that the excuses can be recorded and be played over and over again in the same manner, the players' age won't stay the same. Each year that Wenger gives the press conference, the players' are getting older and older and thus time is running out, as there will be a particular point of time when the “We are not matured yet” excuse has expired as the players can no longer be considered as “Young Guns” anymore and when the dreaded thought of the star players being frustrated for lack of trophies come forth....
Also, for the sake of Wenger's legacy to be remembered properly by the future generations, he ought to abandon his policies, at least mostly if not fully and get down and dirty and most importantly to start winning trophies. Remember, only winners are remembered, not even runners-up. In fact, being second can mean insults to many, and I have heard instances when players and managers alike have been known to throw away runners up medals, sometimes to the fans as soon as they have obtained it. I mean, just look at Tony Mowbray's delightful playing style instilled on his teams. First up is West Brom, despite playing good attacking football, they were relegated, and I believe there are many who have forgotten West Brom exists, let alone their exploits in the Premier League last season. Secondly is Celtic, in which their season ends in total disappointment as they win nothing and they have to play second fiddle in the league to a Rangers side with a plethora of financial problems off the pitch. Now, Tony Mowbray is contributing to Britain's unemployment rate. Thus, what use is his attractive attacking football now? Food for thought here....
Many Arsenal fans, and even those cynical non Arsenal fans would just quip, “Hey at least Arsenal is still hovering somewhere in 3rd and 4th position all these while, while YOUR Man City and Real Madrid fail big time despite having spent obscene amount of money”. Well, as a civilized fan, I would just be cool and tell them to their faces in a polite manner as I leave them alone, “Yeah, but if that continues, then it's the matter of when, not if, their star players such as Arshavin and Fabregas' moans and groans in the media about how playing for Barcelona is the greatest thing that could happen in their career gets louder and louder and eventually culminating in them wearing the Blaugrana colors...” That's what is brewing right now, and Arsenal, you have been warned!
Even if that's not happening, I mean the exodus, even this season, Arsenal is still in danger of being usurped by Tottenham of all clubs and they might have to see Tottenham finishing 3rd, higher than them in the league table. Also, if the exodus does happen, expect Arsenal to be the second team losing their Big Four Status after Liverpool, and if the Reds' status is wrestled by Manchester City, then Arsenal fans will be in an even more intense pain, as the one who would wrestle it from them is none other than Tottenham, again of all the teams...
However, in any case, actually I have no rights to say all of what I have been saying up to the last paragraph. After all, I am just an ordinary football fan who is simply trying hard but in a futile manner to be heard and known for my infatuation on football over the internet, while Arsene Wenger, the man I am talking about here, just like his nickname “Le Professeur” suggests, is a full time football professor who is one of the best in what he does, and thus, maybe what he is doing is the right thing and the best thing for Arsenal and for football in general, and also because we don't know what might happen in the future and Arsenal might be at the top sooner rather than later. I mean, just like how I said about how those journalists who criticized Robinho would struggle even to produce 1/20 of what Robinho was producing if they are given Man City's number 10 shirt, and thus perhaps if I am given one season to manage Arsenal, perhaps they will be relegated for the first time in their history with a plethora of financial problems. Thus, Wenger might not be wrong at all. In any case, we shall just sit back, relax, and see how the Beautiful Game unfolds!
Monday, May 03, 2010
On Lazio, Liverpool, and the BPL Title Race
In Europe yesterday, there were two teams whose names start with the letter L, and both of them had an extreme dilemma heading to their respective title decider matches. The first team is the Italian team Lazio, who was up against the Italian defending champions Internazionale. At that time, (even until now, mathematically at least) Lazio had yet secured their survival status in Serie A, and thus logically they would have needed to be at their 100% for this match, just like any other matches to collect the maximum number of points on offer from the match.
However, Lazio really faced two tough choices, whether to win against Inter and secure their survival in the league, but effectively handing the Serie A title to their despised city rivals AS Roma or just lose this match, fight another day or hoping that the surrounding teams also drop points and prevent Roma from clinching their 4th Serie A title. A poll on Lazio fans across Italy suggested that around 70% would rather see Lazio lose yesterday than handing the title to AS Roma, while around 20% declared it would depend on Roma's match against Parma, while 10% would want survival secured regardless of whether Roma wins the title or not. Since Roma won against Parma, it would have meant that 90% of the Lazio fans polled would be happy to see Lazio surrender to Inter. It turned to be just that. Lazio were defeated 2-0 by Inter and now Inter has effectively as good as retaining their title as the last matches for both Inter and Roma are just the kind of match they will undoubtedly win.
The second team with dilemma, another team with the letter L at the beginning of their name, is none other than the Barclays Premier League's Liverpool. They were up against champions elect Chelsea, and the dilemma that they had was that it's either Liverpool securing a win here and still having a remotest of chances to secure the 4th place and thus retaining their elite status of one of the Big Four and also leapfrogging 5th placed Aston Villa but effectively handing the League title to defending champions Manchester United, Liverpool's sworn arch-enemies. Not only they would have handed the title to the Red Devils (who as expected won against Sunderland) but also they would have allowed Man Utd to leapfrog them in the all time number of English titles won as this will be Man Utd's 19th English title. If this happens, the very last bastion of excuses and a tool to counter any criticisms for Liverpool fans for their shortcomings in the League in the past two decades will effectively be swept off them in an instant. The second option was just like Lazio, simply surrender to Chelsea and even if they effectively have no chance to secure the 4th place and qualify to the Champions League, they have at least successfully prevented Man Utd from winning the 19th title.
Actually, we can't just say that there was a conspiracy theory or anything like that. Probably Lazio really gave their 110% but they were not good enough to defeat Inter and the same thing goes to Liverpool as Liverpool were also defeated 2-0. I know there are so many similarities by now, same L, same scoreline, same dilemma, and also same conspiracy theory brewing over them. But let's just look at this in an objective manner and not try to guess and/or “investigate” in a futile manner whether there was really a conspiracy. Thus, I will just look at the Liverpool defeat in a completely objective manner.
The first reason is perhaps a tongue in cheek reason, but it might make sense. The sharper ones among us who watched the match last night would have noticed something different on Liverpool's proud red shirt. The usual “Carlsberg” text was emblazoned in the Chinese characters. From this, someone quipped last night to me that due to that fact, it was perhaps that Liverpool indeed “surrendered” to Chelsea by sending a “Made in China” cheap imitation Liverpool FC instead of the “Proudly made in Britain” Liverpool FC. Well, it does make some sense at least just by looking at how Steven Gerrard did his backpass. Or perhaps it wasn't a backpass, it was indeed an assist to Didier Drogba, as an expression of regret that he didn't decide to join Chelsea long time ago when they almost signed him up... OK, I will stop here since I am starting to talk about conspiracy theories myself when I have promised to be objective. So yeah,
The second reason is perhaps more obvious. It's an old debate actually which has surfaced over and over again since there has been no change in the Liverpool team since then until now anyways, and that's the fact that Liverpool is extremely over-reliant and dependent on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, and that Liverpool will only be functional if both men are playing and are at 100%! Last night, we were able to see how Torres was consigned to watch the agonizing match in the stands, and his facial expression spoke volumes about his agonizing experience. Nevertheless, Gerrard played, and he has saved Liverpool “oh so many times” over the years and even without Torres, “Captain Marvel” wold just save the day with one of his 30 meter strikes somewhere between the 87th and 96th minute or so. Yeah right, even if Gerrard did play, it was either a “Made in China” imitation Gerrard (see above paragraph) or more obviously the real Gerrard at far less than 100%. Just one look at his clumsy way of playing last night told a lot about how the Liverpool number 8 was an extremely jaded player. Seems that all these years of shouldering the whole of Liverpool FC over the years, just like how Atlas supports the whole world has taken a toll on the Captain. Also, partly, this match came right after that morale sapping and disappointing loss against Atletico Madrid which effectively dumped them out from the Europa League, the only chance of salvaging anything from the wreck of their season.
Even the other fringe players such as Ryan Babel, David N'gog and the rest again only indicated how poor Liverpool's squad depth is, and Liverpool never looked like doing anything which harmed Chelsea with those players. There was simply no way that Liverpool, in their current state to harm Chelsea in any way. In fact, Chelsea was so rampant last night that not only it looked like the match was played at Stamford Bridge instead of Anfield, but also if not because of Pepe Reina's heroics between the goalposts, perhaps the scoreline would not be too far with Chelsea's recent 7-0 mauling of Stoke City.
Yet another reason for Chelsea's victory was something which they owed and are still owing to a certain “Special” person. Yes, if the quoted word conjured the image of Jose Mourinho, then that's the correct answer. To be fair to Liverpool, they did threaten Chelsea especially in the last 10 minutes or so. Well, this is to be expected from how traditionally Liverpool would perform throughout a match, which is they will only be on the highest gear at the last minutes. However, Chelsea stood tall, although their defence looked shaky at times and Liverpool looked like scoring. But, this is where the ethos that has been ingrained by Mourinho, firmly entrenched in the Chelsea players' mind during his marvelous stint at Chelsea came in. In the last minutes, Chelsea simply performed various time wasting antics such as when Ashley Cole caused a stoppage in the match by refusing to get up not because he was injured, but he “needed” to adjust his shoelaces, and he certainly took his time to do that. Also, during substitutions, most apparent when Kalou was substituted by Zhirkov, Kalou really took his time to walk at a snail's pace from one end of the pitch all the way to the dugout. They performed the time wasting antics and causing stoppages to break Liverpool's momentum which started to build up rapidly in a so expert manner that for a moment, it seemed that the one in the dugout is Mourinho and Steve Clarke, not Ancelotti and Ray Wilkins!
Now, Chelsea only needs to lift their other hand towards the trophy to snatch it from Man Utd's relentless and seemingly eternal grasps on it since 2007. They are one home match away against Wigan from the league title victory at Stamford Bridge, but they have to notch a routine win against Roberto Martinez's side first, which Chelsea is very very very likely to do, in an explosive fashion like the one against Stoke. Meanwhile, everyone associated with Man Utd will certainly become Wigan's fans for that day when Chelsea hosts Wigan, while Man Utd is certainly on their way to get another three points against Stoke at Old Trafford. All they need, badly, is for Chelsea to drop points against Wigan. But unless this match is in the tricky DW Stadium, don't expect that to happen. The title race is done and dusted, but yet again, we have to keep our eyes open as Mourinho himself, and countless other managers after that have said, “Anything can happen in football!”
However, Lazio really faced two tough choices, whether to win against Inter and secure their survival in the league, but effectively handing the Serie A title to their despised city rivals AS Roma or just lose this match, fight another day or hoping that the surrounding teams also drop points and prevent Roma from clinching their 4th Serie A title. A poll on Lazio fans across Italy suggested that around 70% would rather see Lazio lose yesterday than handing the title to AS Roma, while around 20% declared it would depend on Roma's match against Parma, while 10% would want survival secured regardless of whether Roma wins the title or not. Since Roma won against Parma, it would have meant that 90% of the Lazio fans polled would be happy to see Lazio surrender to Inter. It turned to be just that. Lazio were defeated 2-0 by Inter and now Inter has effectively as good as retaining their title as the last matches for both Inter and Roma are just the kind of match they will undoubtedly win.
The second team with dilemma, another team with the letter L at the beginning of their name, is none other than the Barclays Premier League's Liverpool. They were up against champions elect Chelsea, and the dilemma that they had was that it's either Liverpool securing a win here and still having a remotest of chances to secure the 4th place and thus retaining their elite status of one of the Big Four and also leapfrogging 5th placed Aston Villa but effectively handing the League title to defending champions Manchester United, Liverpool's sworn arch-enemies. Not only they would have handed the title to the Red Devils (who as expected won against Sunderland) but also they would have allowed Man Utd to leapfrog them in the all time number of English titles won as this will be Man Utd's 19th English title. If this happens, the very last bastion of excuses and a tool to counter any criticisms for Liverpool fans for their shortcomings in the League in the past two decades will effectively be swept off them in an instant. The second option was just like Lazio, simply surrender to Chelsea and even if they effectively have no chance to secure the 4th place and qualify to the Champions League, they have at least successfully prevented Man Utd from winning the 19th title.
Actually, we can't just say that there was a conspiracy theory or anything like that. Probably Lazio really gave their 110% but they were not good enough to defeat Inter and the same thing goes to Liverpool as Liverpool were also defeated 2-0. I know there are so many similarities by now, same L, same scoreline, same dilemma, and also same conspiracy theory brewing over them. But let's just look at this in an objective manner and not try to guess and/or “investigate” in a futile manner whether there was really a conspiracy. Thus, I will just look at the Liverpool defeat in a completely objective manner.
The first reason is perhaps a tongue in cheek reason, but it might make sense. The sharper ones among us who watched the match last night would have noticed something different on Liverpool's proud red shirt. The usual “Carlsberg” text was emblazoned in the Chinese characters. From this, someone quipped last night to me that due to that fact, it was perhaps that Liverpool indeed “surrendered” to Chelsea by sending a “Made in China” cheap imitation Liverpool FC instead of the “Proudly made in Britain” Liverpool FC. Well, it does make some sense at least just by looking at how Steven Gerrard did his backpass. Or perhaps it wasn't a backpass, it was indeed an assist to Didier Drogba, as an expression of regret that he didn't decide to join Chelsea long time ago when they almost signed him up... OK, I will stop here since I am starting to talk about conspiracy theories myself when I have promised to be objective. So yeah,
The second reason is perhaps more obvious. It's an old debate actually which has surfaced over and over again since there has been no change in the Liverpool team since then until now anyways, and that's the fact that Liverpool is extremely over-reliant and dependent on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, and that Liverpool will only be functional if both men are playing and are at 100%! Last night, we were able to see how Torres was consigned to watch the agonizing match in the stands, and his facial expression spoke volumes about his agonizing experience. Nevertheless, Gerrard played, and he has saved Liverpool “oh so many times” over the years and even without Torres, “Captain Marvel” wold just save the day with one of his 30 meter strikes somewhere between the 87th and 96th minute or so. Yeah right, even if Gerrard did play, it was either a “Made in China” imitation Gerrard (see above paragraph) or more obviously the real Gerrard at far less than 100%. Just one look at his clumsy way of playing last night told a lot about how the Liverpool number 8 was an extremely jaded player. Seems that all these years of shouldering the whole of Liverpool FC over the years, just like how Atlas supports the whole world has taken a toll on the Captain. Also, partly, this match came right after that morale sapping and disappointing loss against Atletico Madrid which effectively dumped them out from the Europa League, the only chance of salvaging anything from the wreck of their season.
Even the other fringe players such as Ryan Babel, David N'gog and the rest again only indicated how poor Liverpool's squad depth is, and Liverpool never looked like doing anything which harmed Chelsea with those players. There was simply no way that Liverpool, in their current state to harm Chelsea in any way. In fact, Chelsea was so rampant last night that not only it looked like the match was played at Stamford Bridge instead of Anfield, but also if not because of Pepe Reina's heroics between the goalposts, perhaps the scoreline would not be too far with Chelsea's recent 7-0 mauling of Stoke City.
Yet another reason for Chelsea's victory was something which they owed and are still owing to a certain “Special” person. Yes, if the quoted word conjured the image of Jose Mourinho, then that's the correct answer. To be fair to Liverpool, they did threaten Chelsea especially in the last 10 minutes or so. Well, this is to be expected from how traditionally Liverpool would perform throughout a match, which is they will only be on the highest gear at the last minutes. However, Chelsea stood tall, although their defence looked shaky at times and Liverpool looked like scoring. But, this is where the ethos that has been ingrained by Mourinho, firmly entrenched in the Chelsea players' mind during his marvelous stint at Chelsea came in. In the last minutes, Chelsea simply performed various time wasting antics such as when Ashley Cole caused a stoppage in the match by refusing to get up not because he was injured, but he “needed” to adjust his shoelaces, and he certainly took his time to do that. Also, during substitutions, most apparent when Kalou was substituted by Zhirkov, Kalou really took his time to walk at a snail's pace from one end of the pitch all the way to the dugout. They performed the time wasting antics and causing stoppages to break Liverpool's momentum which started to build up rapidly in a so expert manner that for a moment, it seemed that the one in the dugout is Mourinho and Steve Clarke, not Ancelotti and Ray Wilkins!
Now, Chelsea only needs to lift their other hand towards the trophy to snatch it from Man Utd's relentless and seemingly eternal grasps on it since 2007. They are one home match away against Wigan from the league title victory at Stamford Bridge, but they have to notch a routine win against Roberto Martinez's side first, which Chelsea is very very very likely to do, in an explosive fashion like the one against Stoke. Meanwhile, everyone associated with Man Utd will certainly become Wigan's fans for that day when Chelsea hosts Wigan, while Man Utd is certainly on their way to get another three points against Stoke at Old Trafford. All they need, badly, is for Chelsea to drop points against Wigan. But unless this match is in the tricky DW Stadium, don't expect that to happen. The title race is done and dusted, but yet again, we have to keep our eyes open as Mourinho himself, and countless other managers after that have said, “Anything can happen in football!”
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Race to 4th place: 2 matches left!
Right after two heart wrenching matches involving three teams that are still fighting for the coveted 4th spot in this season's BPL season, it has been concluded that the fight for that aforementioned coveted spot is going all the way to the wire, with the next two matches (with the exception of Aston Villa who has only one left) proving the absolute deciding factor. Basically, Tottenham managed to notch a 1-0 victory against a Bolton side who has nothing to play for as their survival has been secured in the previous week thanks to the three teams at the bottom. While Manchester City arguably clawed their way all the way from oblivion right back into contention for 4th place by defeating fellow contenders Aston Villa 3-1 at home thanks to goals from Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Craig Bellamy.
At a glance, the race to the 4th place are actually being contested by 4 teams, which are Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa, and of course Liverpool. However, when we look beyond the always mind-boggling mathematical permutations and combinations, we could realistically see that actually it is now contested between two teams, which are none other than Tottenham and Manchester City. Furthermore, how fitting that the next match of both teams are actually a match with one another at the City of Manchester Stadium, which will be described again in great detail below.
Tottenham Hotspur
Besides Manchester City, they also managed to save themselves by beating Bolton 1-0 at White Hart Lane and they are at present perched on the 4th spot, the very spot that is being contested from now all the way until the end. They currently have 67 points, and their next game as mentioned is an away match against Manchester City, followed by another away match against the already relegated Burnley.
For Tottenham, to ensure their passage to the 4th place, nothing less than a win would be beneficial for Spurs. Although a draw would seemingly be enough for Spurs as Spurs' last match against Burnley would certainly net Harry Redknapp's men 3 full points even if the FA states that for them to win, they have to win by 3 clear goals, and that Redknapp has to field Mrs. Sandra Redknapp as his target(wo)man. While Manchester City will travel to a very tricky place (which will be appropriately discussed in the section for Manchester City). Thus, a draw would be ideal for Spurs but still, in this world, even more so in football, nothing is certain thus Spurs have to try their best to give their A-Game against Manchester City and break the Citizens' hearts in front of their passionate and long-suffering fans!
Although Manchester City have been shaky even at home, and that they are quite crippled in the goalkeeping department, it would still be a tall task to get something out of Man City at Manchester let alone claiming the full 3 points. This match is certainly anything that the match against Burnley illustrated in the previous paragraph is not.
Manchester City
Unlike Tottenham, nothing less than a win will do their chances to clinch the 4th place any good. A draw will certainly put Man City's chances into extreme jeopardy and there will not be a way back this time for the Citizens. Man City have to really utilize whatever home advantage that they have against Spurs, From the fans in attendance, all the way down to the thinnest blade of grass on the stadium's pitch will have to be at their best in supporting the Man City players to bring their A-Game yet again just like how they managed to see off the tricky and dangerous challenge from Aston Villa and to come out victors against an even more dangerous Tottenham.
It is more than crucial for Man City to keep their star performers such as Bellamy, Tevez, and Adebayor motivated and firing on all cylinders for the next match against Spurs. Even more importantly, Roberto Mancini has to find a way to keep his defenders motivated and fired up, and also to formulate effective tactics and to ingrain those tactics into the defenders' minds so that they will be watertight in the match. This is extremely important as for this match, they won't be having Shay Given to bail them out if the defenders are in disarray such as how anyone watching Man City's matches regularly have become really accustomed to by now. One more thing that Man City have to do is simply to not let the recent rumors about how Roberto Mancini is planning to put the local hero Stephen Ireland up for sale at the end of the season and how he asked Tevez to leave if he is unhappy at City, not mentioning a rumored spat between him and Bellamy. Even if those dumb rumors are true, Roberto Mancini really have to dig deep into his reserve of footballing expertise to get the dressing room back before he loses it completely and thus Spurs will not need a second chance to pounce on City and thus the 4th place.
Let's also not forget that if Man City cannot get a victory against Spurs, there is no way back as Spurs is sure to obtain 3 points against Burnley in their last match while Man city have to travel to West Ham an always tricky place to be. As although West Ham have secured their survival, somehow I believe, and I know I am not alone, Gianfranco Zola's men won't give less than 110% for that home match against Man City. Thus, other than a win, bye bye 4th place for Man City.
Unlike the two teams mentioned above, the next two teams do not have their destinies in their own hands and will be relying on their rivals dropping massive points. But nevertheless, they are still in contention.
Aston Villa
With the 3-1 away defeat against Man City, Aston Villa has blown their do or die chance and now will need some sort of miracle if they are to clinch the 4th spot. They will need Man City to be defeated against both Tottenham and West Ham while they themselves have to win against Blackburn at Villa Park. Even if they are able to win against Blackburn, hoping for Man City to drop 6 points is simply just too much. Thus, even with their mathematical chances, it's simply over for Villa. I mean, just look at Hull City's position. Mathematically, they have yet to be relegated, but realistically speaking, they have. This is pretty much the same case for Aston Villa's race to 4th position.
Liverpool
This is the last contender for the 4th place and the second team that will rely on their rivals dropping massive points. The thing is, Liverpool will need to go on a massive overdrive mode plus a generous dose of miracles to clinch the 4th place. In any case, Liverpool have to win their remaining two matches while any teams above them must not obtain beyond 68 points. They can afford this as they have quite a competent goal difference record, but everyone staying at 67 would be the most ideal of course.
But look at Liverpool's two matches which they have to win. One is the next home match against Chelsea, while the second one, just like Tottenham is a sure fire win match against the already relegated Hull City.
But the question is about whether the beleaguered Liverpool have what it takes to inflict defeat on the champions elect Chelsea, and furthermore, by defeating Chelsea, they will be inadvertently aiding their arch enemy Man Utd to leapfrog their long standing record of the most number of titles won (18 titles) as Man Utd will be winning their 19th, and it would mean that in light of the fact that Liverpool is still quite a long way off at the moment from another title, a 19th title for their arch rival would mean that anyone associated with Liverpool will be having their last bastion of excuse for their recent failures taken away from them. But defeat Chelsea and Hull, they might still be able to retain their elite position as one of the Big Four and also qualify to next season's Champions League. Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.
To sum it all up, the race towards the 4th spot is as scintillating or even better than the title race itself since this involves double the number of contenders, but just like what I have mentioned in the above paragraphs, realistically speaking, the race is just mainly between Tottenham and Manchester City, and this race will end as the final whistle in the City of Manchester Stadium in the “Super 4th Spot Playoff” between Manchester City and Tottenham is blown. Enjoy the ride, soccer fans around the world, and don't blink, as you guys will miss the whole package of extreme, no holds barred excitement!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Europa League semifinals Reflection
After the two teams who will feature in the Champions League final have been revealed yesterday. Today is also the time in which the two teams who have advanced successfully to the final of the competition have been finalized. Even though many fans and pundits alike have tended to dub the Europa League (Previously known as UEFA Cup) as the UEFA Champions League's “poor little cousin”, Europa League, have been providing quite an entertaining ride for the fans year in year out, and this season is no exception. The two teams who have to be congratulated for having reached the final are none other than Fulham FC of England and Spain's Atletico Madrid. These teams have defied every single odd stacked against them in being able to go this far in the competition. Thus, these two teams have inadvertently granted the maiden edition of the competition under its current name some sort of “romance” aka “Giant Killing Feats”.
For Fulham, it has been really amazing and miraculous on how Roy Hodgson has turned a tame and weak Fulham side into a sturdy and durable world beating side. More importantly, the veteran and well-traveled manager has also successfully managed to turn Craven Cottage from a “points collection center” in the past to a “Impregnable Fortress” in which it is arguable that Fulham are able to go this far in the competition largely thanks to their formidable form in their home ground. This is really evident on how Fulham have won every single home game in the knockout rounds, especially the 4-1 capitulation of Juventus which nullified Juventus' 3-1 advantage from the first leg in Turin. So amazing to know that upon Hodgson's arrival, and with pretty much the same set of players as before, Hodgson managed to initiate a change so drastic that in a relative manner, Real Madrid didn't even manage to initiate a change of such magnitude even after spending close to 300 million Euros.
Most importantly perhaps, is the fact that Hodgson has instilled fighting spirit and belief to win in the squad. This is evident in many occasions in which Fulham have secured a victory after being down from the first leg match (such as against Juventus as mentioned) and also after trailing at half time (such as against Hamburg last night and against Chelsea in the league). To be frank, after being a goal down against either Chelsea or Hamburg, the old Fulham would have just crumbled big time and they would just throw the towel and just concede a bucketload of goals in the second half. But Roy Hodgson has changed all these, and whichever Management theory one wants to attribute the success to, in any case Hodgson is indeed a great manager for being able to initiate such change and of course overcoming any resistance to change from the squad such that they totally conform to the change and implement them where it matters, on the pitch against the Big Boys.
Nevertheless, Fulham's run has been surprising as much as it is scintillating. I remember prior to the Round of 16 clash against Juventus, their captain Danny Murphy posted a blog post in Yahoo Sports website, claiming how he really regrets for being suspended for both legs of the tie against Juventus. Looking at how he crafted his words, it was clearly seen that even Murphy himself didn't believe that Fulham would have been able to knock Juventus out and what he implied by stating his regret-fulness was simply that the second leg tie against Shakhtar Donetsk was the last tie he would ever play in the Europa League. In a nutshell, even Danny Murphy himself initially didn't believe that the aforementioned Shakhtar match wasn't his last match in this season's Europa League, but he would send a wonderful assist to set up Zoltan Gera to score the winning goal last night against Hamburg.
It is also interesting to note that Zoltan Gera just a few seasons ago was involved in a messy relegation battle with West Brom in which the team was eventually relegated. Now, he has just sent his team to their first ever European final. Another interesting point is Brede Hangeland, who was ferociously courted by Arsenal before they settled for Thomas Vermaelen. Since Hangeland stayed on at Fulham, he is now guaranteed at least a Europa League runners-up medal and potentially a gold medal, but had he moved to Arsenal at the beginning of the season, he would not win anything with the Gunners, not even a silver medal!
In any case, now that Fulham is in the final. They really have to ensure that their belief in themselves do not fade or all those massive victories against the likes of the defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, and Hamburg would just go to waste. They really have to believe that they are not underdogs, and that they have what it takes to rub shoulders with the big boys in Europe and that they have what it takes to win this trophy to complete a fairytale story for everyone associated with the London based club. This is especially crucial since the venue of the final will be in Hamburg's own home stadium, which they have visited in the first leg of the semi finals against Hamburger SV. Fulham now have to carry their superb home form all the way to Hamburg, and since they have visited the ground, they have to try their best to treat the stadium as if it's their own home ground, at least for the final match against Atletico Madrid. Then and only then, they are able to really stamp their authority in Europe by winning a huge trophy, and also winning a date in the European Super Cup against Inter or Bayern Munich, which will further enhance their credentials as a football club.
As for the other semi final tie between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, it seemed that it was to be a hat-trick of overturning of first leg deficits at Anfield against Atletico Madrid. After trailing 1-0 due to a Diego Forlan goal in Madrid, Liverpool seemed to be the ongoing to the final after Alberto Aquilani somehow managed to ease his price tag burden a little by scoring a nice goal just before half time. Even before the goal, Liverpool had dominated the game, and came close a few times, and how they would rue the fact that Dirk Kuyt didn't manage to score a goal in his horrific near-miss somewhere at the half an hour mark, as well as how Daniel Agger was in an offside position when he headed past David de Gea.
Even when the match went into extra time, there was still a belief that Liverpool was going to pull through and secure a place in the final. Anfield rocked even more when Yossi Benayoun scored a silver goal in the 95th minute to make the aggregate 2-1 and Liverpool was on their way to the final. However, a horrifying thing for any Liverpool fan happened. Diego Forlan, a Manchester United reject in the past scored against Liverpool to put Atletico Madrid ahead on away goals, assisted by Jose antonio Reyes, an Arsenal reject, and Simao a Liverpool reject (but he wasn't signed after being targeted for a while) was also involved in the goal
. At this point of time, Anfield turned literally silence. Further horrific things followed suit. At the 89th minute, Rafa Benitez had substituted Aquilani, the goalscorer for Nabil el Zhar, and in the 110th minute, he bizarrely took Mascherano (who assisted Aquilani's goal) off and replaced him with Philipp Degen and in the 113th minute, he substituted Yossi Benayoun who had just scored 8 minutes prior to this with Dani Pacheco. All three bizarre substitutions which screamed “Sack Me all the way to Juventus!” while Liverpool URGENTLY needed a goal, any goal, even hand of God would be welcomed at this point of time!
But it wasn't to be, with literally three of their key and most in form players in the match brought off, and also the deafening silence of Anfield, there wasn't to be a way back to Liverpool. Diego Forlan had single-handedly knocked Liverpool off and carried the sheer weight of Atletico Madrid on his tennis trained shoulders (he was a tennis player before switching to soccer) and carried them all the way to Hamburg.
Now that Atletico Madrid is in the final, what they have to ensure to beat the sturdy and we have to admit, mighty Fulham is simply that since Atletico Madrid is so erratic that they can be a world class team this week and a pub team the week after before returning to a world class form the next next week, is to somehow ensure that in the final match against Fulham, the Atletico Madrid squad turning up in Hamburg is the world class Atletico not the pub team Atletico. How? I don't know, Quique Sanchez Flores and perhaps Forlan's blonde long hair know for sure....
On a personal and conclusive note, I think the Fulham vs Atletico Madrid is an ideal final for the Europa League. Had it been a Fulham vs Liverpool final, be prepared to see all top football media in the world (which are all English dominated by the way) to proclaim “English Football is the Best”, “English Football is the way to go!”, “England will win the World Cup due to this omen!” or anything of that sort from now all the way until England is knocked out (probably somewhere in the Quarter Finals) in the World Cup, before they start to criticize England like there's no tomorrow and portray Capello as a rotting Pizza. It is also interesting to note that in both Champions League and Europa League, the team which has the final venue as their home stadium have been knocked out (Real Madrid by Lyon, and Hamburg by Fulham). But the last time a team plays the UEFA Cup final at the home ground (Sporting Lisbon), they were defeated by CSKA Moscow.
Football has once again won, and we shall just sit back, relax, and enjoy an arguably interesting and explosive two great finals, firstly between Inter and Bayern, and secondly, between Fulham and Atletico Madrid. May the best teams win!
For Fulham, it has been really amazing and miraculous on how Roy Hodgson has turned a tame and weak Fulham side into a sturdy and durable world beating side. More importantly, the veteran and well-traveled manager has also successfully managed to turn Craven Cottage from a “points collection center” in the past to a “Impregnable Fortress” in which it is arguable that Fulham are able to go this far in the competition largely thanks to their formidable form in their home ground. This is really evident on how Fulham have won every single home game in the knockout rounds, especially the 4-1 capitulation of Juventus which nullified Juventus' 3-1 advantage from the first leg in Turin. So amazing to know that upon Hodgson's arrival, and with pretty much the same set of players as before, Hodgson managed to initiate a change so drastic that in a relative manner, Real Madrid didn't even manage to initiate a change of such magnitude even after spending close to 300 million Euros.
Most importantly perhaps, is the fact that Hodgson has instilled fighting spirit and belief to win in the squad. This is evident in many occasions in which Fulham have secured a victory after being down from the first leg match (such as against Juventus as mentioned) and also after trailing at half time (such as against Hamburg last night and against Chelsea in the league). To be frank, after being a goal down against either Chelsea or Hamburg, the old Fulham would have just crumbled big time and they would just throw the towel and just concede a bucketload of goals in the second half. But Roy Hodgson has changed all these, and whichever Management theory one wants to attribute the success to, in any case Hodgson is indeed a great manager for being able to initiate such change and of course overcoming any resistance to change from the squad such that they totally conform to the change and implement them where it matters, on the pitch against the Big Boys.
Nevertheless, Fulham's run has been surprising as much as it is scintillating. I remember prior to the Round of 16 clash against Juventus, their captain Danny Murphy posted a blog post in Yahoo Sports website, claiming how he really regrets for being suspended for both legs of the tie against Juventus. Looking at how he crafted his words, it was clearly seen that even Murphy himself didn't believe that Fulham would have been able to knock Juventus out and what he implied by stating his regret-fulness was simply that the second leg tie against Shakhtar Donetsk was the last tie he would ever play in the Europa League. In a nutshell, even Danny Murphy himself initially didn't believe that the aforementioned Shakhtar match wasn't his last match in this season's Europa League, but he would send a wonderful assist to set up Zoltan Gera to score the winning goal last night against Hamburg.
It is also interesting to note that Zoltan Gera just a few seasons ago was involved in a messy relegation battle with West Brom in which the team was eventually relegated. Now, he has just sent his team to their first ever European final. Another interesting point is Brede Hangeland, who was ferociously courted by Arsenal before they settled for Thomas Vermaelen. Since Hangeland stayed on at Fulham, he is now guaranteed at least a Europa League runners-up medal and potentially a gold medal, but had he moved to Arsenal at the beginning of the season, he would not win anything with the Gunners, not even a silver medal!
In any case, now that Fulham is in the final. They really have to ensure that their belief in themselves do not fade or all those massive victories against the likes of the defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, and Hamburg would just go to waste. They really have to believe that they are not underdogs, and that they have what it takes to rub shoulders with the big boys in Europe and that they have what it takes to win this trophy to complete a fairytale story for everyone associated with the London based club. This is especially crucial since the venue of the final will be in Hamburg's own home stadium, which they have visited in the first leg of the semi finals against Hamburger SV. Fulham now have to carry their superb home form all the way to Hamburg, and since they have visited the ground, they have to try their best to treat the stadium as if it's their own home ground, at least for the final match against Atletico Madrid. Then and only then, they are able to really stamp their authority in Europe by winning a huge trophy, and also winning a date in the European Super Cup against Inter or Bayern Munich, which will further enhance their credentials as a football club.
As for the other semi final tie between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, it seemed that it was to be a hat-trick of overturning of first leg deficits at Anfield against Atletico Madrid. After trailing 1-0 due to a Diego Forlan goal in Madrid, Liverpool seemed to be the ongoing to the final after Alberto Aquilani somehow managed to ease his price tag burden a little by scoring a nice goal just before half time. Even before the goal, Liverpool had dominated the game, and came close a few times, and how they would rue the fact that Dirk Kuyt didn't manage to score a goal in his horrific near-miss somewhere at the half an hour mark, as well as how Daniel Agger was in an offside position when he headed past David de Gea.
Even when the match went into extra time, there was still a belief that Liverpool was going to pull through and secure a place in the final. Anfield rocked even more when Yossi Benayoun scored a silver goal in the 95th minute to make the aggregate 2-1 and Liverpool was on their way to the final. However, a horrifying thing for any Liverpool fan happened. Diego Forlan, a Manchester United reject in the past scored against Liverpool to put Atletico Madrid ahead on away goals, assisted by Jose antonio Reyes, an Arsenal reject, and Simao a Liverpool reject (but he wasn't signed after being targeted for a while) was also involved in the goal
. At this point of time, Anfield turned literally silence. Further horrific things followed suit. At the 89th minute, Rafa Benitez had substituted Aquilani, the goalscorer for Nabil el Zhar, and in the 110th minute, he bizarrely took Mascherano (who assisted Aquilani's goal) off and replaced him with Philipp Degen and in the 113th minute, he substituted Yossi Benayoun who had just scored 8 minutes prior to this with Dani Pacheco. All three bizarre substitutions which screamed “Sack Me all the way to Juventus!” while Liverpool URGENTLY needed a goal, any goal, even hand of God would be welcomed at this point of time!
But it wasn't to be, with literally three of their key and most in form players in the match brought off, and also the deafening silence of Anfield, there wasn't to be a way back to Liverpool. Diego Forlan had single-handedly knocked Liverpool off and carried the sheer weight of Atletico Madrid on his tennis trained shoulders (he was a tennis player before switching to soccer) and carried them all the way to Hamburg.
Now that Atletico Madrid is in the final, what they have to ensure to beat the sturdy and we have to admit, mighty Fulham is simply that since Atletico Madrid is so erratic that they can be a world class team this week and a pub team the week after before returning to a world class form the next next week, is to somehow ensure that in the final match against Fulham, the Atletico Madrid squad turning up in Hamburg is the world class Atletico not the pub team Atletico. How? I don't know, Quique Sanchez Flores and perhaps Forlan's blonde long hair know for sure....
On a personal and conclusive note, I think the Fulham vs Atletico Madrid is an ideal final for the Europa League. Had it been a Fulham vs Liverpool final, be prepared to see all top football media in the world (which are all English dominated by the way) to proclaim “English Football is the Best”, “English Football is the way to go!”, “England will win the World Cup due to this omen!” or anything of that sort from now all the way until England is knocked out (probably somewhere in the Quarter Finals) in the World Cup, before they start to criticize England like there's no tomorrow and portray Capello as a rotting Pizza. It is also interesting to note that in both Champions League and Europa League, the team which has the final venue as their home stadium have been knocked out (Real Madrid by Lyon, and Hamburg by Fulham). But the last time a team plays the UEFA Cup final at the home ground (Sporting Lisbon), they were defeated by CSKA Moscow.
Football has once again won, and we shall just sit back, relax, and enjoy an arguably interesting and explosive two great finals, firstly between Inter and Bayern, and secondly, between Fulham and Atletico Madrid. May the best teams win!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Inter vs Barca Reflection...
First off, as usual, an obligatory congratulations to Internazionale who have just secured a date with Bayern Munich at Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League final. The fact that Inter have gone through to the final with 3-2 scoreline aggregate against Barcelona somehow gives Real Madrid fans a sense of relief as the final will be held in their own home ground, Santiago Bernabeu, and the sight of Barcelona being there in the final instead of them, let alone the abhorrent sight of Barcelona lifting the coveted Champions League trophy at Santiago Bernabeu would certainly haunt anyone associated with Real Madrid. Also, this somehow re-confirms Jose Mourinho as the Special One, although the aspect of that tag which was vividly expressed is “luck”. But still, in my opinion at least, luck is still a quintessential component for any top class managers or anyone for that matter if they are to obtain huge successes in life.
Any visit to the various top football websites around the cyberspace would reveal that many pundits have blamed a lack of some sort of Plan B as the main reason for Barcelona's undoing against Inter. They reason that Barcelona refuses to let go of their “beautiful, silky skilled football” in favor of more direct and unorthodox approach. However, I would certainly beg to differ on this issue. Yes, Barcelona was pinned back, and yes, they needed the plan B, and actually the sharper ones among us would have noticed that Barcelona did have a Plan B and they have executed it, albeit to no avail due to the eclectic combination of Mourinho's tactic tunings and luck. Basically, Barcelona's plan B did not involve them employing a traditional English style “Kick and Rush” into the box or “Kick and Shove” style associated with clubs like Blackburn and Bolton, but Barcelona simply dig deep into the depths of football's sinful and dark arts. Yes, they really got down low and dirty for this match.
Just take a look at the incident at the 30th minute mark in the match. First thing first, we know that football is actually a contact sport, and bodily contact, even severe ones at times, is not inevitable. With this in mind, at the 30th minute mark, Thiago Motta was maintaining his possession of the ball, and at that time he was trying his best to hold the advancing Sergio Busquets and there was a contact between Motta's palm and Busquets' face. What happened next was as shameful as an incident involving Rivaldo in 2002 World Cup against Turkey. Busquets simply tumbled to the ground, writhing in pain as if someone from the stand had shot him with a sniper, and the really shameful thing is that Busquets was holding HIS BACK OF THE NECK in “pain”! My goodness, the replay clearly showed that the palm of Motta's hand touching busquets face, and if the Spanish youngster wanted to play-act, he should have acted properly and clutched is face. It was really a shameful act, especially for a player touted to be the next big thing in Spain as well as the world. Even after Motta has received his red card, and went to confront/check on Busquets, the Spaniard was still clutching his back of the neck in “extreme pain”. Of course, after Motta had reached the dressing room, Busquets was able to run like a horse. So mysterious how players can “recover” so fast sometimes... But I digress. Nevertheless, it was one big incident involving Barca resorting to employ the darkest and most tabooed acts in the game. Whether this is the gameplan of Barcelona or whether it was simply triggered by the sheer frustration for not being able to breach the sturdy Inter wall, it is anyone's guess. There were also massive refereeing decisions but it will be touched on later.
As for Inter, I would consider their tactics last night as “Parking the bus”. I still vividly remember one of Jose Mourinho's colorful press conferences when he was in charge of Chelsea. It was right after his team was frustratingly being held by an ultra defensive Spurs side 0-0, and Mourinho commented that Tottenham had “parked the bus in front of the goal”. I would say that Mourinho certainly kept that tactic in mind. Mourinho did not utilize his attacking and effective 4-2-1-3, many attributed this to the fact that Goran Pandev, one of the triumverates of Pandev, Eto'o and Milito was injured, but nevertheless he utilized 2 defensive midfielders (Motta and Cambiasso). But actually which exact formation that he used didn't really matter as the real form of Inter's tactics last night was simply in the form of “parking the bus”.
The tactics were simply further discussed along with the game's statistics (taken from soccernet)
Shots (on Goal) 20(4) 1(0)
Fouls 20 15
Corner Kicks 9 2
Offsides 4 5
Time of Possession 86% 14%
Yellow Cards 1 5
Red Cards 0 1
Saves 0 3
A glance on this set of statistics, any statisticians would say that based on this alone, the clear winner of the match was simply Barcelona. But, just like many of Statistical data in this world, it simply lacks validity, and for this case, it lacks construct validity, for it doesn't represent what it is supposed to be presenting (well, mostly due to the fact that this tie consists of two legs but yeah).
Now, back to Inter's tactics. As we could see from the data above, (as well as from the match itself), Barcelona utterly dominated the game from the start to finish. But the question is, why out of the 20 shots by Barca, only 4 were on target? This lies in the aforementioned “Foosball” tactic. Inter's defence really resembled a unity of a white bus convoy. They simply follow and closing on to whoever is holding the ball and whoever are around the penalty area, as Inter committed at least 6-7 players at the back at any one time. Besides trying to win the ball back and to prevent the Barca strikeforce to be nowhere near the penalty box, they also forced them to resort to long range shots. Even then, the shooting angle is severely limited by Inter's players. It was totally hell for Barcelona's strikers. Even If Barcelona's players, such as Messi and Pedro who managed to do so quite a few times, are able to go through the sturdy Inter wall, there was always Julio Cesar to save the long range shots (which are actually not that strong due to the aforementioned angle limiting by the Inter defense)
But just like how shooting buses with machine guns would eventually destroy the bus, Inter's defense was no exception. They were really attacked from the start to finish and we have to commend Inter's players, including their strikers to defend themselves in such a disciplined manner throughout the match (Motta's red card didn't matter as they simply just withdraw one more man from the front) but eventually they crumbled at the 83rd minute.
To be fair to Inter's defense, the goal they conceded was an absolutely offside goal and I was surprised by how the referee was able to miss that. I mean, the goalscorer, Gerard Pique was in an offside position, but another Barca player at the far right side of the pitch was absolutely and totally offside, but the ref awarded the goal anyways. An interesting point about this offside goal was that, the goalscorer, Gerard Pique really showed the world such a Zidanesque dribble past Julio Cesar and an Inter defender that many would have forgotten the fact that Gerard “Zidane” Pique was actually a central defender. At this rate, Barcelona started to believe in themselves that they were able to get the one goal they needed to advance. Barcelona continued to dominate, but Inter continued to hold firm for the last 7 minutes of the match.
However, Nou Camp was absolutely rocked when Bojan Krkic “scored” an apparently the second goal that would have sent Barca all the way to the Bernabeu to face Bayern Munich. But it wasn't to be although it was a beautiful goal set up by none other than Gerard “Zidane” Pique. There was a handball by Yaya Toure from Pique's pass and the referee ruled the goal out, it must have hurt for Barcelona, it had to be, but in any case, the referee had made up for his earlier mistake in allowing Pique's offside goal to stand.
After the final whistle, Inter went through to the final. There was also an interesting incident at the end when Mourinho, who was on the pitch celebrating with the Inter fans in the stadium was involved in some sort of wrestling match with a clearly frustrated Victor Valdes who wasn't able to stomach the defeat and seemingly took offence with Mourinho's gestures on the pitch somewhat.
All in all, like what Mourinho himself have said, “no matter the result, I don't care, we win”. Thus, no matter how he has won this tie, whether through aggregate, away goals rule, parking the team bus, or anything else, a win is a win, and the Special One is now ready for the final battle against a resurgence Bayern Munich at Santiago Bernabeu. Something to look forward to! By the way, it is also interesting to note that since Barcelona, the defending champion has been knocked out, then the fact that since the conception of the current format of the Champions League, no team has managed to retain the trophy.
What bayern MUST do to win UCL!
Alright, first and foremost, we have to congratulate Bayern Munich for securing their place in the Final of this season's Champions League, despite the fact that there are some sections of fans and pundits alike who claim that Bayern has been lucky, especially in their semi final tie against Lyon, and that they are sure that had Bayern was up against either Inter or Barcelona, then it might have been a different story altogether. But let's face it, Bayern is in the final, and in any case, they have earned their place in the final.
Alright, I won't be discussing about how Louis van Gaal is just like a mighty phoenix which has just risen from the ashes, which I believe the world has seen enough of that kind of articles whether by professional journalists in top soccer news websites or newspapers etc. or just an average fan blogging in his/her own blogs. Now, the focus is really on what need to be done by Bayern Munich to secure the much coveted “Big Eared” trophy and stamp their authority (as well as German Football's) on the footballing universe.
The first and main priority for Bayern to go all the way in the tournament is of course by carefully keeping Arjen “Glass Man” Robben from broken. Like what I have mentioned previously in the past, Bayern have to do everything to ensure their flying Dutchman is not grounded, they have to keep him in a tip top shape or Bayern will have to contend with the runners-up medal, a medal which is seen as an insult rather than a 2nd place honor among players and managers alike. The fact that Robben has been rather surprisingly fit for a prolonged period of time this season is not merely coincides with the fact that Bayern has been performing way beyond the initial expectations at the start of the season. One could just take a look at the knockout phase of the competition from the last 16, all the way to the semi final tie against Lyon. A glance at those 6 matches so far would reveal a fact that Robben has been on the scoresheet for each and every one of those games, and that his goals have been very very vital to Bayern's chances of progressing beyond each stage of the competition. Thus, the final is no exception. I have mentioned this, and I will mention it again, put a “Fragile” tag on Robben's forehead or play him once every two match-days and put him into a special training regime a la Ledley King of Louis van Gaal must, as Robben's fitness will be -I dare say- the only determinant in Bayern Munich's chances to secure the trophy. Not even Ivica Olic can save Bayern without Robben's presence and vital goals (this point is especially for those who are carried away after Olic's hat-trick against Lyon in France yesterday).
At the beginning of the season, this following second point would have been swapped with the above point, but in any case, this priority is arguably the second one right now, but it is in any case crucial. What Bayern needs to do is simply to seriously attempt to overturn the suspension imposed on Franck Ribery for the showcase in Santiago Bernabeu next month. Alright, I know at this time, many people, and that would include Bayern fans themselves, would rather see “Scarface” on the sidelines rather than on the field and becomes a liability instead of helping the team, as evident in the first leg match against Lyon in Allianz Arena, in which he was sent off and thus the three match suspension received by the Frenchman. In the match, Ribery was clearly a liability, as besides obtaining the straight red card for a potentially career ending and poorly calculated tackle, Ribery was not being himself. This is at least mostly if not mainly due to the scandal which rocked French football in which a teenage call girl by the name of Zahia Dehar revealing that 4 top French footballers including Ribery have used her services. This scandal really didn't help matters. But then why must Bayern go at great lengths to overturn the ban (which they have lodged an appeal at the time of writing)?
The reason is simple. Assuming that the appeal lodged by Bayern is successful, even if the Ribery which turned up at Santiago Bernabeu is just half the man that he is supposed to be, Ribery is the kind of player who has a certain “WOW” factor. What I am implying is that, he is the kind of player which the mere mention in the team sheet would send chills down the opponents' spine. As long as Ribery does not receive yet another red card, especially early in the match, which would be devastating (Just ask a certain Mr. Lehmann at your own peril!), he could function as a decoy. Like what I have mentioned earlier, the Ribery who turns up (any forms of Ribery) does not really have to do the dirty work. Leave that all to Robben and of course people like Olic and even Miroslav Klose off the bench later on in the match, not forgetting Mario Gomez, but the pivot is still Robben (why the first point is crucial). Bayern could just utilize the aforementioned WOW factor possessed by the Frenchman and draw the opposing players towards him when he has the ball, leaving his team-mates free for Ribery to just pass the ball to them to get the job done. This will also increase Ribery's confidence as the match wears on, and it is a win-win situation for Bayern from now on. Even if the opposition decides to just ignore Ribery, and focus on other players, then these players will logically give the ball to the free Ribery, who is then free to roam the pitch and at this point of time, his confidence is likely to shoot up a few notches, enough to wreak havoc and even get on the scoresheet. This shows how important Ribery is no matter which Ribery turns up in the final.
Basically, Bayern Munich must only get the two points mentioned above done regardless of the costs. For, it will certainly be a fair return for the Bavarians if they manage to secure the trophy next month. However, it is certainly deceptively simple. Despite his recent immense improvements in terms of fitness and the massive reduction of “working hours” lost, I, for one, would still consider him as a time bomb waiting to explode at any time, and the last thing Bayern needs is for the Dutchman to be sidelined just before the final against either Inter or Barcelona, both are very formidable teams. All those wonder goals will then turn out to be in vain, wasted, buried in the ocean of disappointment and sadness. As for Ribery, the appeal might not be successful, and even if the appeal is successful, there are chances of Ribery, a time bomb himself at the moment, to suddenly implode and let the team down again. They may have escaped against Lyon, but against either Inter or Barcelona, any mishaps or nonsense from Ribery or any other player for that matter, will be severely punished and there's no way back for Bayern if that happens. In any case, we shall just stay tuned in the footballing universe and I, for one, am looking forward to how Bayern's European campaign turns out to be when the final has been concluded in Santiago Bernabeu next month.
Alright, I won't be discussing about how Louis van Gaal is just like a mighty phoenix which has just risen from the ashes, which I believe the world has seen enough of that kind of articles whether by professional journalists in top soccer news websites or newspapers etc. or just an average fan blogging in his/her own blogs. Now, the focus is really on what need to be done by Bayern Munich to secure the much coveted “Big Eared” trophy and stamp their authority (as well as German Football's) on the footballing universe.
The first and main priority for Bayern to go all the way in the tournament is of course by carefully keeping Arjen “Glass Man” Robben from broken. Like what I have mentioned previously in the past, Bayern have to do everything to ensure their flying Dutchman is not grounded, they have to keep him in a tip top shape or Bayern will have to contend with the runners-up medal, a medal which is seen as an insult rather than a 2nd place honor among players and managers alike. The fact that Robben has been rather surprisingly fit for a prolonged period of time this season is not merely coincides with the fact that Bayern has been performing way beyond the initial expectations at the start of the season. One could just take a look at the knockout phase of the competition from the last 16, all the way to the semi final tie against Lyon. A glance at those 6 matches so far would reveal a fact that Robben has been on the scoresheet for each and every one of those games, and that his goals have been very very vital to Bayern's chances of progressing beyond each stage of the competition. Thus, the final is no exception. I have mentioned this, and I will mention it again, put a “Fragile” tag on Robben's forehead or play him once every two match-days and put him into a special training regime a la Ledley King of Louis van Gaal must, as Robben's fitness will be -I dare say- the only determinant in Bayern Munich's chances to secure the trophy. Not even Ivica Olic can save Bayern without Robben's presence and vital goals (this point is especially for those who are carried away after Olic's hat-trick against Lyon in France yesterday).
At the beginning of the season, this following second point would have been swapped with the above point, but in any case, this priority is arguably the second one right now, but it is in any case crucial. What Bayern needs to do is simply to seriously attempt to overturn the suspension imposed on Franck Ribery for the showcase in Santiago Bernabeu next month. Alright, I know at this time, many people, and that would include Bayern fans themselves, would rather see “Scarface” on the sidelines rather than on the field and becomes a liability instead of helping the team, as evident in the first leg match against Lyon in Allianz Arena, in which he was sent off and thus the three match suspension received by the Frenchman. In the match, Ribery was clearly a liability, as besides obtaining the straight red card for a potentially career ending and poorly calculated tackle, Ribery was not being himself. This is at least mostly if not mainly due to the scandal which rocked French football in which a teenage call girl by the name of Zahia Dehar revealing that 4 top French footballers including Ribery have used her services. This scandal really didn't help matters. But then why must Bayern go at great lengths to overturn the ban (which they have lodged an appeal at the time of writing)?
The reason is simple. Assuming that the appeal lodged by Bayern is successful, even if the Ribery which turned up at Santiago Bernabeu is just half the man that he is supposed to be, Ribery is the kind of player who has a certain “WOW” factor. What I am implying is that, he is the kind of player which the mere mention in the team sheet would send chills down the opponents' spine. As long as Ribery does not receive yet another red card, especially early in the match, which would be devastating (Just ask a certain Mr. Lehmann at your own peril!), he could function as a decoy. Like what I have mentioned earlier, the Ribery who turns up (any forms of Ribery) does not really have to do the dirty work. Leave that all to Robben and of course people like Olic and even Miroslav Klose off the bench later on in the match, not forgetting Mario Gomez, but the pivot is still Robben (why the first point is crucial). Bayern could just utilize the aforementioned WOW factor possessed by the Frenchman and draw the opposing players towards him when he has the ball, leaving his team-mates free for Ribery to just pass the ball to them to get the job done. This will also increase Ribery's confidence as the match wears on, and it is a win-win situation for Bayern from now on. Even if the opposition decides to just ignore Ribery, and focus on other players, then these players will logically give the ball to the free Ribery, who is then free to roam the pitch and at this point of time, his confidence is likely to shoot up a few notches, enough to wreak havoc and even get on the scoresheet. This shows how important Ribery is no matter which Ribery turns up in the final.
Basically, Bayern Munich must only get the two points mentioned above done regardless of the costs. For, it will certainly be a fair return for the Bavarians if they manage to secure the trophy next month. However, it is certainly deceptively simple. Despite his recent immense improvements in terms of fitness and the massive reduction of “working hours” lost, I, for one, would still consider him as a time bomb waiting to explode at any time, and the last thing Bayern needs is for the Dutchman to be sidelined just before the final against either Inter or Barcelona, both are very formidable teams. All those wonder goals will then turn out to be in vain, wasted, buried in the ocean of disappointment and sadness. As for Ribery, the appeal might not be successful, and even if the appeal is successful, there are chances of Ribery, a time bomb himself at the moment, to suddenly implode and let the team down again. They may have escaped against Lyon, but against either Inter or Barcelona, any mishaps or nonsense from Ribery or any other player for that matter, will be severely punished and there's no way back for Bayern if that happens. In any case, we shall just stay tuned in the footballing universe and I, for one, am looking forward to how Bayern's European campaign turns out to be when the final has been concluded in Santiago Bernabeu next month.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Celtic 0-2 Arsenal
Certainly fans who have been religiously following football, especially UEFA Champions League football, would simply yawn upon looking at the checklist above. At a glance, they might assume that this is another discussion about another of those dead-rubber matches between Manchester United and Celtic in Champions League group stage encounters in which Manchester United have firmly clinched their spot to the knockout stage of the competition while Celtic is firmly rooted to the bottom of the table without any chances whatsoever to even clinch 3rd place in the group and being demoted to the UEFA Cup. Apologies to the fans who feel offended by this paragraph.
However, this time, the Battle of Britain doesn't involve Manchester United and the stakes are much higher than the previous Battle of Britain matches witnessed by the fans. This is Celtic vs Arsenal, UEFA Champions League play-off round first leg in Parkhead, Glasgow in which the winners of this 2 legged qualifier would clinch a place in this season's edition of the UEFA Champions League and thus bagging a few wads of cash in the process.
Both teams come into this match with sheer optimism. First and foremost, all of us know that in the build-up of this encounter, Arsenal shamed a usually sturdy Everton team in front of their own fans in Goodison Park with a rather obscene scoreline (especially true for Evertoonians) of 6-1, no less. Thus, morale of Arsenal's dressing room is certainly sky-high prior to this.
Celtic's morale is more or less quite high as well. Besides the heroic triumph of Dynamo Moscow in the cold and hostile Russia to snatch an unlikely 2-1 aggregate victory to keep their European hopes alive and book their dates with Arsenal's boys, they also have reently clinched a solid 3-1 victory over Aberdeen in Pittodrie, which is Aberdeen's home stadium.
Well, personally I don't really know why that from the matches of this season so far, I could see that teams are rather homesick, many home teams falter badly in front of their own fans and so away teams usually triumph in hostile stadiums (Just like Celtic's performances in the 2 legs against Dynamo Moscow). I will come back to this argument at the end, as based on the result of today's match, it might be about to happen again (sorry Gooners...)
In this match, Celtic was thoroughly being outplayed by the usual brand of Arsenal's carpet football, which I personally dub as "Pinball Football". I particularly like Andrey Arshavin's performance in this match. He was everywhere on the pitch and was always at the epicenter of any of Arsenal's offensive moves. In short, I would describe his performance as similar to a 100% Juan Roman Riquelme (plus a few notches of pace).
Throughtout the match, Arsenal basically pressed the Scottish side to the limit, it was as if Arsenal was playing in their homeground. But narrow misses were common from van Persie and the rest of Arsenal's firepower.
In 43th minute, Arsenal broke the deadlock through their surprisingly prolific William Gallas (maybe the number 10 on his shirt influences his knack of scoring many goals) albeit with a little fluke. In my opinion, this goal substantiated my claim that Arsenal's play was just like a pinball game. The move started when Arsenal got a free kick around 35 meters from the goal. van Persie would flick the ball a little to Fabregas before the captain dipped a shot on goal, but on the way to goal, the ball struck the back of William Gallas and as a result of the wicked deflection, Artur Boruc (Celtic's GK) dived to the wrong direction and the ball simply whistled to the net beautifully. 1-0 to Arsenal.
The second half was pretty much the same as the first one, with Arsenal playing their "pinball" with Arshavin pulling the strings and distributing the ammunition to van Persie, but the Dutchman kept on missing very slightly to extend Arsenal's lead.
However, in the 71st minute, Arsenal extended their lead when another of the pinball movement occurred, and Gael Clichy launched a searching cross from the left flank and Gary Caldwell, one of the Celtic players tried to clear it away but in the end he made himself look like an Arsenal striker as he simply directed it into his own goal! 2-0 for Arsenal and there was no way back for Celtic, as could be seen from the dejected Tony Mowbray, Celtic's manager.
Celtic tried to grab a goal late in the end, but again, they were so groggy as if they were an away team in the match and simply squandered the good counter.
The next leg would be played in Arsenal's Emirates Stadium with the Scottish side needing to climb a mountain of 2 away goals to clinch a place in the group stage of the Champions League. A tall task as they would have to win by 3 goals at least to really secure a safe passage to the group stage.
However, referring to my earlier mention about teams being homesick so far, I will never rule out the possibility of Arsenal being homesick as well (Note: We have yet to see Arsenal performing competitively in Emirates Stadium this season) and Arsenal would be left chasing for Europa League glory instead of the Champions League glory.
We shall see how it goes in the second leg of this tie, and I am certainly looking forward to it!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Texas Hold'em Poker
To beginners, (pretty much just like where I was at a few months ago) this game might seem like the most difficult game in the world. However, in the actual fact, this game is one of the simplest games in the world, it is also one of the easiest games around that is very easy to grab, master and of course just like any other forms of card games, it is rather easy to get hooked-up on once one has gotten the hang of the game. What makes it a complex and adrenaline pumping game is the sheer unpredictability as well as the very fact that even for seasoned professionals with very many WSOP bracelets (and of course truckloads of money), it is still impossible for them or anyone for that matter to totally master the game 100% and steamroll past all players in the game just like a hot knife slicing through butter. Anyways, in my opinion, it is the same as any other games, the basics are very simple, but it's the strategies and trickery which makes life difficult
for rookies...
Before going on to the rules as well as the progression of a game, it is pertinent for new players to know and if possible memorize the various combination that exist in Texas Hold'em. Players who are familiar with other types of poker (such as Video Poker and Big 25) should be well-versed in reading the five card combination in each hand.
First and foremost, the highest ever rank of a hand combination is the elusive and coveted Royal Flush. This combination is made once a person has 10, J, Q, K, A (suited).
It is almost impossible to obtain this combination and the chances of one getting it is 1 : ~800000. Very very rare indeed.
The second highest combination is the Straight Flush. This is obtained when a player has for example, A, 2, 3, 4, 5 (suited) or 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (suited) and so on and so forth.
The third highest combination is the Four-of-a-Kind. This is obtained when a player has four of the same cards such as AAAA, KKKK, QQQQ, 8888, and so on.
Next is a Full-House, which can be obtained when a player has for example, AAAQQ, 888AA (known as Dead Man's Hand), 66655 and so on.
Next is the flush, which can be obtained when all five cards are of the same suit, such as 387QA (hearts) or 5QJ8A (Spades) and so on.
Next is straight, which is obtained as long as the five cards are all continuous such as A, 2, 3, 4, 5 (any suit) or 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (any suit)
Next is 3-of-a-Kind, the same as the four cards counterpart, just that it involves 3 cards instead of 4. Examples AAA, 888 etc.
Next is 2-Pairs. Examples AA552, KKQQ6, etc etc.
Next is 1-Pair. Examples AA653, QQJ76, etc etc.
The lowest hand is High-Card, which very rarely results in a player winning a pot, but personally I have won pots with this "combination", if I can call it that. High-Card simply means that when the 5 cards offer no combination at all, then the highest card in that hand would determine the value of the hand. For example, A3527 would beat K4378. High Card A beats High Card K in this case.
The rules of the games are very simple. This game is usually played among 9 people at a table, but sometimes there can only be only 5 people or even duels!
Each player would be dealt 2 cards which is referred collectively as the "Hand". Before the first betting round (called the FLOP) begins, 2 players seated side by side have to post bets known as blinds (big blind and small blind respectively. The 2 amounts being bet by the 2 players depend on the stake at that particular table. For example, if the stake of the table is $5/$10 it means that the amount of the blinds are $5 for the small blind and $10 for the big blind. A player besides the small blind poster would get a special chip known as a Dealer Chip (usu. a black chip with a D on it). This person gets to post his/her bet last, just before the small blinder and big blinder makes their own bet. These three chips would go clockwise around the table after a hand has been played and a pot (total amount of money being bet at the table) has been won.
After everyone has been distributed their 2 cards, the first round of betting starts. This is known as The Flop. All players are required to make their bets, either equaling the big blind or raising the stake higher or they can even bet all of the chips they have by going ALL-IN. In any case, other players would have to match the highest amount on the table to keep participating in the hand. If one is not willing to match the highest bet on the table, he/she could FOLD, which means his/her participation in the hand is over and has to wait for the next hand. If for example the highest bet on the table is 1000, and a player only has 300, he can go ALL-In and still participate, but if at the next rounds of betting other players raise the stakes further, and in the end, the aforementioned ALL-IN player wins the pot, he/she would only win the pot just before the bet made once the player has gone ALL-IN. The remaining pot would go to a player who has the
second highest combination.
During the FLOP, 3 of the 5 Community Cards would be dealt, and the next round of betting would promptly start. This second round of betting is known as The Turn. This is exactly the same as the first betting round just that only 1 instead of 3 cards would be revealed. The final round of betting is known as The River, and is more or less the same as The Turn. After all 5 Community Cards have been dealt, and players have finished all the betting rounds, the players still involved in the hand would engage each other in a showdown. Assuming now that only two players, A and B remain in the hand. A's hand is A (heart), A (Spade), while B has King (heart), Jack (diamond).
The community cards are A (diamond), Jack (Spade), 3 (heart), 7 (club), 9 (diamond)
For this case, A's combination is AAA (3 of a kind) while B's combination is (JJ one-Pair). This would mean that A wins this particular pot. Simply, 5 of the 7 cards (hand + community cards) are chosen to determine which combination being possessed by the respective players).
This is just the basics of this wonderful game, there are many many more deeper aspects pertaining to the game on offer, such as the various trickery and strategies and anything along that line.
Personally, I have decided to write my own very simple manual of this game here because I have taken a liking for this game and writing about it would just satisfy me as a fan. One thing I like about this game is that unlike other games such as basketball and football, it is never too late to start picking up the game and even go professional and perhaps eventually be calling the shots at the WSOP Main Event! While in the 2 aforementioned branches of sports, to be a top professional one needs to be training since the tender ages of 5 or even 4 these days while sacrificing other aspects of life such as education. In poker, a 20 year old is able to start learning from scratch and be a professional while still going n with his/her studies, occupation, etc. Anyways, I may comeback with the deeper aspects of the game soon! Hope that this little and simple manual of the game would help new players on picking the game and for that, I am very grateful to have
contributed where I can to this great game!
Monday, August 17, 2009
1st Matchday of BPL 2009-2010
After seemingly an eternal wait through the searing heat of summer
(personally I loathe summer) as well as the sheer boredom of the agony
inducing football off-season, the Beautiful Game's season proper has
finally returned.
(personally I loathe summer) as well as the sheer boredom of the agony
inducing football off-season, the Beautiful Game's season proper has
finally returned.
On the first matchday of the BPL season, football started rather quite
brightly with goals galore in the matches contested during both of the
days of the matches (Saturday and Sunday). On Saturday, there was a
rather anomalous pattern in the results as almost all the teams
(barring Stoke City and the rather fortunate Chelsea) faltered in
front of their own fans, but order was restored on Sunday as both of
the home teams in the two matches contested that day returned home
(err... they were already at home in the first place actually) with
the full 3 points.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
练习汉语
大家好，很长时间没有来在这儿。我很想写东西在这儿。
现在，我很喜欢写汉语文章，因为，我觉得写汉语用电脑很有意思。
最近生活比较好，很多时间玩儿。。 但是我也觉得，现在我有太多时间了，有时候我不知道要做什么。所以。。。
有时候，我玩儿扑克牌跟很多人在很多国家里。我非常高兴因为现在我们都可以用上网，所以我们可以玩儿比如说扑克牌跟很多国家的人。现在世界是很小。。。 在我们爸爸妈妈的事态还没上网，所以，不可以玩儿和聊天儿跟别的国家的人。
好了，我觉得我写了比较多。明天见！
现在，我很喜欢写汉语文章，因为，我觉得写汉语用电脑很有意思。
最近生活比较好，很多时间玩儿。。 但是我也觉得，现在我有太多时间了，有时候我不知道要做什么。所以。。。
有时候，我玩儿扑克牌跟很多人在很多国家里。我非常高兴因为现在我们都可以用上网，所以我们可以玩儿比如说扑克牌跟很多国家的人。现在世界是很小。。。 在我们爸爸妈妈的事态还没上网，所以，不可以玩儿和聊天儿跟别的国家的人。
好了，我觉得我写了比较多。明天见！
Monday, August 18, 2008
Summerslam 2008 aftermath
MVP defeated the high flying Jeff Hardy in style.
Two titles changed hands simultaneously when Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix defeated the Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston and Women's Champion Mickie James in an intergender tag team match.
Shawn Michaels then appeared on the ring to announce his plan to retire from professional wrestling, with his wife by his side. However, Chris Jericho suddenly appeared out of nowhere to continue tormenting the life of Shawn Michaels, at Summerslam he did that by punching Michaels' wife.
Another title match would be the one between Matt Hardy and ECW Champion Mark Henry. This match is arguably the most disgusting one in this event as Mark Henry lost by disqualification, no thanks to Tony Atlas, who accompanied Mark Henry. This is disgusting as Henry retained the title by disqualifying the match and thus ending it early, in a way he cheated to retain the title, regardless the outcome of the match, which Hardy won.
CM Punk retained his World Heavyweight Championship by defeating JBL, this completely silenced JBL as well as anyone who thinks that CM Punk is not a legitimate champion as he won it by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract against Edge after Edge had been assaulted by Batista earlier.
The last title match in this event would be the match for WWE Championship with The Great Khali challenging The Game, Triple H who is the current champion. Triple H retained his title in a great match after turning the tide in a match dominated largely by the Great Khali. The interesting thing is that, Triple H won this match by using Pedigree, his finishing move against The Great Khali. This is in fact after Jim Ross, the Smackdown commentator had commented in a recent Smackdown episode that it is anatomically impossible to use Pedigree on The Great Khali.
Batista defeated John Cena in a match which does not feature any titles at all but simply pure hatred and rivalry. This is substantiated by their willingness to relinquish their reluctantly earned World Tag Team Championship on RAW last Monday to Ted diBiase & Cody Rhodes, the team that they got the titles from in the first place just to prove that title belts are insignificant compared to their hatred and rivalry for each other.
The main event of the match was none other than the much awaited Hell in a Cell match between Edge and The Undertaker, who was having his first match since he was banished from WWE in One Night Stand 2008 before being re-instated by Vickie Guerrero to punish Edge for cheating on her on the eve of their wedding day. A personal comment on this match, I expected the Undertaker to be in his American Bad-Ass persona but was left disappointed when he was actually still in his Deadman persona.
After a gruelling match in the steel structure infamously known as the devils' playground, The Undertaker defeated Edge after a Tombstone Piledriver.
However, it was not the end, The Undertaker was not satisfied even after defeating Edge in that match. He returned into the ring with a ladder, then he chokeslammed Edge from the top of the ladder, crushing the ring. This is reminiscence to an incident in 1999 when The Big Show chokeslammed the Undertaker all the way down the ring as the ring was damaged due to the chokeslam. However, this time, Edge was not as lucky as The Undertaker in 1999 when he was able to escape Big Show.
After chokeslamming Edge, The Undertaker raised his hand and a terrifying image was seen by everyone in the arena as well as millions who are watching from the comfort of their homes. Huge tongues of fire could be seen shooting out constantly from the hole which Edge was in, implying that Edge was literally chokeslammed all the way to hell.
If the rumors are true, Edge will come back in a new persona as Vampire Edge, a similar persona as Edge's former stable mate, Gangrel.
Even though so far the rumor about The Undertaker returning as American Bad-ass seems to be wrong, I am still not ruling it out if only the Vampire Edge rumor is true. It would be great to see Edge switches from a living man persona into a deadman persona (Vampire) while The Undertaker moves in the opposite direction, from a deadman becoming a living man (American Bad-ass).
We shall see in the near future whether these rumors are true or false.
Two titles changed hands simultaneously when Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix defeated the Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston and Women's Champion Mickie James in an intergender tag team match.
Shawn Michaels then appeared on the ring to announce his plan to retire from professional wrestling, with his wife by his side. However, Chris Jericho suddenly appeared out of nowhere to continue tormenting the life of Shawn Michaels, at Summerslam he did that by punching Michaels' wife.
Another title match would be the one between Matt Hardy and ECW Champion Mark Henry. This match is arguably the most disgusting one in this event as Mark Henry lost by disqualification, no thanks to Tony Atlas, who accompanied Mark Henry. This is disgusting as Henry retained the title by disqualifying the match and thus ending it early, in a way he cheated to retain the title, regardless the outcome of the match, which Hardy won.
CM Punk retained his World Heavyweight Championship by defeating JBL, this completely silenced JBL as well as anyone who thinks that CM Punk is not a legitimate champion as he won it by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract against Edge after Edge had been assaulted by Batista earlier.
The last title match in this event would be the match for WWE Championship with The Great Khali challenging The Game, Triple H who is the current champion. Triple H retained his title in a great match after turning the tide in a match dominated largely by the Great Khali. The interesting thing is that, Triple H won this match by using Pedigree, his finishing move against The Great Khali. This is in fact after Jim Ross, the Smackdown commentator had commented in a recent Smackdown episode that it is anatomically impossible to use Pedigree on The Great Khali.
Batista defeated John Cena in a match which does not feature any titles at all but simply pure hatred and rivalry. This is substantiated by their willingness to relinquish their reluctantly earned World Tag Team Championship on RAW last Monday to Ted diBiase & Cody Rhodes, the team that they got the titles from in the first place just to prove that title belts are insignificant compared to their hatred and rivalry for each other.
The main event of the match was none other than the much awaited Hell in a Cell match between Edge and The Undertaker, who was having his first match since he was banished from WWE in One Night Stand 2008 before being re-instated by Vickie Guerrero to punish Edge for cheating on her on the eve of their wedding day. A personal comment on this match, I expected the Undertaker to be in his American Bad-Ass persona but was left disappointed when he was actually still in his Deadman persona.
After a gruelling match in the steel structure infamously known as the devils' playground, The Undertaker defeated Edge after a Tombstone Piledriver.
However, it was not the end, The Undertaker was not satisfied even after defeating Edge in that match. He returned into the ring with a ladder, then he chokeslammed Edge from the top of the ladder, crushing the ring. This is reminiscence to an incident in 1999 when The Big Show chokeslammed the Undertaker all the way down the ring as the ring was damaged due to the chokeslam. However, this time, Edge was not as lucky as The Undertaker in 1999 when he was able to escape Big Show.
After chokeslamming Edge, The Undertaker raised his hand and a terrifying image was seen by everyone in the arena as well as millions who are watching from the comfort of their homes. Huge tongues of fire could be seen shooting out constantly from the hole which Edge was in, implying that Edge was literally chokeslammed all the way to hell.
If the rumors are true, Edge will come back in a new persona as Vampire Edge, a similar persona as Edge's former stable mate, Gangrel.
Even though so far the rumor about The Undertaker returning as American Bad-ass seems to be wrong, I am still not ruling it out if only the Vampire Edge rumor is true. It would be great to see Edge switches from a living man persona into a deadman persona (Vampire) while The Undertaker moves in the opposite direction, from a deadman becoming a living man (American Bad-ass).
We shall see in the near future whether these rumors are true or false.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
3 days to Summerslam 2008
I am looking forward to Edge vs The Undertaker match. I wonder how Undertaker would look like in Summerslam. Is he going to use the same gimmick (as the deadman) or is he going to revert back to the American Bad-Ass gimmick -much to my delight-?
Saturday, August 09, 2008
For whom?
I haven't been sleeping well these few days. I thought to myself, if I aspire to become, say a successful neurosurgeon who is able to earn at least US$500000 per year, rather than to be an ordinary white collar worker in an office to earn only a wimp of a fraction of that.
However, a thought finally struck me so hard. It will take a massive effort and a very long time to reach the level where I am earning US$ 500000, and when I have reached that level, probably I am already 50 years old, an old fart to boot. This is in contrast to becoming an ordinary white collar worker. I am already able to learn that "wimp" of an income at a tender age of 23-24 and that I will be able to enjoy my life throughout and when I am still young and pretty much alive.
If I choose to earn US$500000, I won't be able to enjoy it, and the one(s) who will enjoy it are my wife and my children. Hell no, I worked so damn hard only for them to enjoy without themselves doing anything? Hell no, we are to enjoy life, might as well enjoy it together, same goes to if we are about to suffer in life with low income, let's grin and bear the suffering together.
A fellow dared to say that I won't be getting married ever if I continue to think this way. However, not even God is able to change my thinking (since He was the one who created me like this at the first place). Sorry folks, so given the choice, at the moment I think I would choose the easy path rather than the hard path and earn US$500000 when I am already old and can't do anything besides doing crossword puzzles and watching TV throughout the remaining years of my life...
However, a thought finally struck me so hard. It will take a massive effort and a very long time to reach the level where I am earning US$ 500000, and when I have reached that level, probably I am already 50 years old, an old fart to boot. This is in contrast to becoming an ordinary white collar worker. I am already able to learn that "wimp" of an income at a tender age of 23-24 and that I will be able to enjoy my life throughout and when I am still young and pretty much alive.
If I choose to earn US$500000, I won't be able to enjoy it, and the one(s) who will enjoy it are my wife and my children. Hell no, I worked so damn hard only for them to enjoy without themselves doing anything? Hell no, we are to enjoy life, might as well enjoy it together, same goes to if we are about to suffer in life with low income, let's grin and bear the suffering together.
A fellow dared to say that I won't be getting married ever if I continue to think this way. However, not even God is able to change my thinking (since He was the one who created me like this at the first place). Sorry folks, so given the choice, at the moment I think I would choose the easy path rather than the hard path and earn US$500000 when I am already old and can't do anything besides doing crossword puzzles and watching TV throughout the remaining years of my life...
2008 Beijing Olympics
The much awaited Olympic games in China has been opened.
For myself, no thanks to an extremely busy schedule and tons of work to be done, I will certainly miss this edition of the Summer Olympics.
I told this to a few people and I received exactly the same response from each of them. "Hey, olympic games is only once in every 4 years you know. If I were you, I will watch even if my life is on the line, blah blah blah"
But I am a confident guy, I am confident that I am still alive in 2012 and that I would be able to follow closely the 2012 London Olympics as my life WILL certainly be much better in 2012 compared to now, which is only SLIGHTLY better than Soviet gulags.
The only event I will follow is football, and I think Argentina will get the gold, although I am not ruling out the possibility of other teams, especially underdogs such as Ivory Coast surprising everyone.
For myself, no thanks to an extremely busy schedule and tons of work to be done, I will certainly miss this edition of the Summer Olympics.
I told this to a few people and I received exactly the same response from each of them. "Hey, olympic games is only once in every 4 years you know. If I were you, I will watch even if my life is on the line, blah blah blah"
But I am a confident guy, I am confident that I am still alive in 2012 and that I would be able to follow closely the 2012 London Olympics as my life WILL certainly be much better in 2012 compared to now, which is only SLIGHTLY better than Soviet gulags.
The only event I will follow is football, and I think Argentina will get the gold, although I am not ruling out the possibility of other teams, especially underdogs such as Ivory Coast surprising everyone.
Friday, August 08, 2008
888
Today's date is an auspicious one. It is self explanatory.
Wrestlemania 19, The Undertaker vs A-Train & The Big Show in a handicap match as Undertaker's partner Nathan Jones was injured before the match, although Nathan Jones would come into the match later on to help The Undertaker seal his victory and extends his Wrestlemania unbeaten record at that time to 13-0.
I miss The Undertaker in his American Bad-Ass persona.
Wrestlemania 19, The Undertaker vs A-Train & The Big Show in a handicap match as Undertaker's partner Nathan Jones was injured before the match, although Nathan Jones would come into the match later on to help The Undertaker seal his victory and extends his Wrestlemania unbeaten record at that time to 13-0.
I miss The Undertaker in his American Bad-Ass persona.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
A target
My ultimate target is to be able to cycle all the way to campus and back home again. Have to be fit for this and I expect by June I would be able to do so with relative ease.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Triple Header
Right now I am in the middle of a triple header in which I must "work" for 14 hours a day.
Right now, I am squeezing the little damn time I have just to make an update.
God (if He still exists) helps me with this triple header...
Right now, I am squeezing the little damn time I have just to make an update.
God (if He still exists) helps me with this triple header...
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Dead blog
I reckon the fact that this blog is on the verge of dying, or make it... it's already dead.
This has happened mainly due to my extra-tight schedule in recent months. My schedule is so tight that basically, sometimes I don't even have time to breathe in sufficient oxygen into my lungs, and I am serious about this although it might seem exaggerated to some.
In a nutshell, I wrote this entry basically to announce that there's a plan afoot to resurrect this blog real soon and I am most likely to start writing in this blog in a larger scale from June onwards when my schedule is no longer so tight as of now.
For those who are still visiting my blog every now and then I really appreciate it and I will certainly deliver by updating more often in the near future.
Thanks, and bye for now.
This has happened mainly due to my extra-tight schedule in recent months. My schedule is so tight that basically, sometimes I don't even have time to breathe in sufficient oxygen into my lungs, and I am serious about this although it might seem exaggerated to some.
In a nutshell, I wrote this entry basically to announce that there's a plan afoot to resurrect this blog real soon and I am most likely to start writing in this blog in a larger scale from June onwards when my schedule is no longer so tight as of now.
For those who are still visiting my blog every now and then I really appreciate it and I will certainly deliver by updating more often in the near future.
Thanks, and bye for now.
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