Fourth and Eighteen

Nope that’s not an NFL down play, just the other race going in the Premiere League. For fourth we have Everton and Liverpool vying for the last Champions League spot and if you had asked me before the start of the season I would have told you that this position was going to Pompey. Then Pompey decided to smoke some serious ganja then sold their best striker in Benjani for the over-rated Defoe. Now Everton are on a tear thanks to the Yak who seems to be scoring at will and the Merseyside lads are looking more balanced with each game. Liverpool seems to have their acts together and seem to be playing well, but I don’t have them finishing fourth. Liverpool has not been playing consistent football all season and this would be their undoing.

The more interesting race has to be for the 18th spot. While some are scrapping to avoid the last spot in the drop zone others are activity seeking it with their poor run of form. With crucial wins by Birmingham and Reading coupled with the fact that both Sunderland and Derby both earned crucial points things are getting interesting. Only five points separates the 18th and 11th positions with 10 games left to play (11 for Tottenham). Both Fulham and Derby are foregone conclusions for the drop so seeing who fills in the final slot is something worth betting on, I’ve got my money on either Newcastle or Sunderland, as the season winds to an end.

Wenger Cries, Fergie Rejoices

Before I begin with today’s post, I pray Eduardo has a speedy recovery and is capable of returning to the pitch to further his professional career. The tackle that lead to his injury (his leg broken in three places) was horrible and the Premier League along with the FA need to get such horrid tackles expelled from the game of football. I don’t understand why players lung studs up towards an opponent, it’s a very risky thing to do and has the possibility of ending a player’s career.

Now Wenger has being crying bloody murder and has called for the banning of Martin Taylor for the aforementioned tackle on Eduardo. His cries and insinuation that Taylor knowingly sought to harm Eduardo is just wrong and is not becoming of a professional manager. I know he is riding high on emotions but that does not excuse the comments he has made about Taylor. No player in football sets out to harm anyone in football, they make stupid/clumsy challenges but there is never an intent to harm a fellow player. Also he whined about how other teams are being too physical against his players since they can’t keep up with their style of play. Um, Wenger, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but football is a contact sport so deal with it. If someone is physical against you, why don’t you just get physical with them too because no one is going to just sit back and let your boys run rings around them…which is what you would like.

United strengthened their chase for the league trophy with a resounding victory over Newcastle. It was a good game which saw the Reds put five past the Magpies woeful defense, Saha even got on the score sheet after coming off the bench. The gaffer said: “But really the match was settled by the ability of the front players who were absolutely fantastic, we could have scored more goals. They (the forwards) all did really well, Ronaldo and Rooney will take the headlines but the movement of (Carlos) Tevez and the penetration of Nani (added) to all that.” In addition to the forwards the midfield again shun as they did in the FA Cup tie against Arsenal, Carrick was back to his old self again has he kept stringing pin point passes that left defenses helpless. Fletcher again impressed and is really repaying the gaffer’s faith in him. This is also the first time I have watched the Newcastle side in full, Keegan should have stayed retired because what he has on his hand is no small tasks. He doesn’t have the players to mount a serious challenge for the top half of the league especially with the dreadful, and to an extent comical, defense. I’m sure Keegan realizes what he has signed up for but do the fans at St. Jame’s Park?

Update – Wenger Retracts Taylor Statement [BBC]

Hapless Eagles

The African Nations Cup going on in Ghana has shown the world, especially Nigerians, that there’s nothing “super” about the Super Eagles. Before the start of Nigeria’s run in tournament I told my cousins that Nigeria will struggle and that I wasn’t really expecting much from them. The look of shock which ran across their faces at my mere insinuation that the Super Eagles would struggle one would have thought I had said something blasphemous against God. They then proceeded to call me a sell-out and started to cheer on Nigeria in their first match against Ivory Coast. Now we’re two games into the Nations Cup (a draw and a loss) and we don’t have control of our destiny in the tournament. Instead we have to pray that the Ivory Coast’s Team B can beat a strong Mali side…well that’s if we can beat Benin in our final group game.The trouble with Nigeria’s Super Eagles is one that have been in full display during the friendlies – a non existent midfield, the long ball, and players not knowing their roles.

The long-ball is an European thing, we don’t play that, we play African football, one that is heavily dependent on the quality of the midfield players and ball possession. Begti Vogts seems to have ignored this and has been trying to imprint the European style of football into their Nigerian players’ heads and for some odd reason they seem very inept when it comes to executing it (I find this rather hilarious when you consider that more than half of our players play in European top flight leagues). On the pitch what we get is a side seeming to forget their assigned roles whilst roaming around the pitch aimlessly.

All blame shouldn’t be heaped solely the players, some have to be assigned to the coach. Begti Vogts hasn’t grasped the fact that the long ball tactic isn’t working and worse off it isn’t utilizing the full potential of his side. Also he continues to put players out of their natural positions or off their comfort zones i.e. playing Mikel as an attacking midfielder when he’s better been a defensive midfielder or asking Kanu to attack from deep when he’s better up front along side a fellow striker or playing Martins wide left when he’s better in the striker or lone-striker role. Here’s the damning thing for Mr. Vogts, all these were evident during this friendlies yet he hasn’t corrected them…even worse some of the players he is fielding during the tournament weren’t part of his friendlies run of matches.

Whatever the end result is for Nigeria in this tournament so rethinking needs to be done by Begti Vogts but that’s if he survives the axe of the Nigeria FA.

Happy New Year!

No Miracle At Wembley

My biggest problem with McClaren, outside of his tactical ineptitude, is that he expects things to just fall in place for him. Be damned with coming up with a plan of achieving your goal, shit will happen on its own. Maybe we should blame Israel for such misplaced beliefs held by McClaren because in all honesty they had no business defeating Russia and handing England an undeserved lifeline to Euro 2008 qualification. Watching England play today against Croatia I was left believing that McClaren had brainwashed the lads with his belief also. The first 45mins of the match England played like the result would just happen for them, that the star would align magically and Croatia would tremble at the sight of the mighty Three Lions. The goals would just keep on coming and when the final whistle was blown the jubilant English masses would storm the pitch lifting McClaren whilst hailing him as the saviour of English football. But being the bitch that reality is a crucial blow was dealt to McClaren’s lofty dreams when Croatia went one up within nine minutes from kick-off.

Through out the match, except a brief stretch in the second half, England lacked creativity. There was no structure to their play with player roaming around aimlessly on the pitch. Today’s football is all about building an attack from the midfield with skillful passes or dynamic interplay while linking up with forwards via through balls or passes from both flanks. This well known form of attacking football seems to have been lost to McClaren because he continues to utilize the wretched 5-4-1 formation with long ball hoofing. I mean who still wins Championships with that and it remotely entertaining? To make things worse on the side he gives players caps that he shouldn’t have. What was he thinking giving Scott Carson his first full competitive cap with so much at stake? I felt sorry Barry who has been a shinning light in England midfield looked hapless today. Instructed to play deep he looked no match to the speedy Croatia midfield and with his fellow midfielders wandering up front Barry looked overwhelmed with his role. Why McClaren thought the pairing of Lampard and Gerrard will magically work today is beyond me but maybe he thought the star will align and they’d magically start clicking. To go on about the flaws exhibited by McClaren tactical ineptitude would just drive me bonkers but the final result was just deserved. No way would I have been pleased sending that laughable lot to Switzerland/Austria especially with their display against Croatia.

Now maybe the FA can take a deep hard look at itself, understand that it’s greed is crippling the English game and right the wayward ship that is the Three Lions. Oh yeah, FIRE McCLAREN while your at it.

L.O.A.

I’ll be taking a month leave of absence from this blog, as well as work, so that I can recover from a knee reconstruction surgery I had performed of me last week. I do hope it doesn’t take me that long to get back to blogging but you never know with this things.

Cheers!

A New Home At Bury Lane

I’ve heard many say the voice over at Theater of Dreams has left Old Trafford and has made its new home at Giggs Lane. After a first hand experience I must say such statements are not too far fetched. Last month I made my way over to Bury to catch my first F.C. United of Manchester game against Woodley Sports, the experience was absolutely fantastic. Most of the songs chanted on the ground were those of Old Trafford fame but some, and those were my favourites, were new and very creative. The best by far was whenever the opponents goalkeeper prepared to put goal kick into play the F.C. United supports would go “OOOOOOOOOOOOO…” until the ball was kicked then supporters went “YOU FAT BASTARD! HAHAHA!” The F.C. United fans were a vociferous bunch, at times intimidating, who were only to eager to cheer their side on.

The story on the pitch was another issue on that day. F.C. United have had a roaring start since its inception gaining promotion through two leagues in succession. But as I watched them play Woodley in their new league I felt they needed some additions to the squad, especially if they are to progress through the Unibond League. Since then quality players have such as Aaron Burns and Colin Bell have been added to the side which in turn has helped the side propel to second in the UniBond First Division North League after a vital 3-1 win over Ossett Albion FC.

The win was a much needed one both as a confidence booster as well as a form of continuity, continuity in the sense that they capable of stringing together consecutive wins and as in this case their third league win in a row.

Rory Patterson Goal (FC United fan video on You Tude)

Hip-Hop Is Dead!!

May be I like self-inflicted pain. How else can I explain my seeing Gigli, Catwoman, White Chicks, Battlefield Earth, Pluto Nash and Malibu’s Most Wanted in their respective entirety. I should be admitting myself into a mental care facility right about now but I haven’t seen either Bio-Dome or From Justin to Kelly so there’s still hope for me….or may not if you consider the fact that I’ve just listened Soulja Boy’s new release “Tell ‘Em”. I mentioned earlier that this blog would not be limited to football as I would delve into other interests of mine, especially music, but why I would start with this album I have no sodding idea. Let’s just get on with it….

Listening to “Tell ‘Em” was gaining enlightenment to the decaying nature of the Hip-Hop genre. Hip-Hop of today has lost its poetic beauty/flair along with its creativity and the lyricists are a dying breed in this new Hip-Hop world. What the today’s “Hip-Hop” provides these days are songs void of content, all anyone needs is a wicked hook and(or) beats and a hit is born. Coherent words aren’t even necessary to have a hit these days, take the aforementioned Soulja Boy and his hit single “Crank That”, the song leaves you wondering if he ever has opened up a book in his entire life. There are no coherent verses to this song, just a largely repeated chorus interrupted by strings of disjointed sentences. After “Crank That” the rest of the album gets progressively worse as every other songs is based off of beats from – you guessed it – “Crank That”. Take for instance the track called “Pass it to Arab”, in it he takes a gawd awful 4mins telling us to pass it to arab or “Sidekick”, he raps about his bloody Sidekick all through it and even goes on to say during the song that he “can’t believe he wrote a song about his cell phone”….no s**t!!

I think Tyler Munro of sputnikmusic.com best summed it up when he wrote -

“To try and explain just how bad the “music” is on this disc is about as much of a masochistic exercise as listening to it. The beats are a mish-mash of shitty keyboard loops and samples from “Crank That”. The lyrics, if you can call them that, are rarely no more than the song titles repeated at different tempos followed by meandering gibberish, and Soulja’s delivery is akin to what Mushmouth (Fat Albert) would’ve sounded like when he was learning to read. “

So for the past few days I’ve been cleansing my ears with quality hip-hop by the minority that still exist out there and old tracks from my hip-hop favourites such as Biggie, Luniz and Craig Mack to name a few.

Notorious B.I.G – The Warning.mp3

Lupe Fiasco – Superstar.mp3

Common – I Want You (Video)

Is It The Dri-Fit?

Since Rooney started wearing Nike’s dri-fit gear underneath his uniform, thereby ditching the long sleeves, the wonder boy has been on a tear. Three goals in two premiership games along with two for two for the Three Lions … guess we owe many thanks to Evra for starting the dri-fit trend. Rooney’s return to form also coincides with United clicking as a cohesive unit and the beautiful football we come to associate with the club has returned as a result…oh, and the goals are coming too. This is excellent timing because the Gunners have been flying quite high of recent and we need to keep pace with them.

The continued success of the Red Devils also will depend on how well Rooney and Tevez continue to understand each other’s movements on the pitch. With every game played I have seen a continued improvement with this, especially during the fixture against Aston Villa. Their awareness of one another’s positioning fantastic, when either Rooney or Tevez dropped deep the other stayed up front and their linkups were marvelous. My only concern so far into the season is Carrick’s lacking form, he hasn’t been the Carrick of old and I personally believe United needs him to be the integral part of United midfield as he was last year, tearing up defences with his precision passes, if we are to succeed at a double this year.

McClaren’s Ineptitude Shines Again

Many around the football blogosphere having been analyzing the England-Russia game to find out where the blame of England’s debacle should rest. Cases have been made for McClaren, Robinson and Gerrard, but in my opinion i say look no further than McClown himself or more specifically, his tactical shortcomings. The second half performance by Russia showed how a true coach with great presence of mind can make the right moves and say the right things to get his side going for a win. McClaren’s continual inability to motivate the players, as I’ve aways maintained, will be our downfall. On top of that he always plays the same tactical schemes be in a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 formation. The problem with this is any decent/experienced coach can easily neutralize England’s tactical approach. The game of football is all about adapting to your opponents approach, failing in this is failing to advance in success within whatever competition you’re in.

It saddens me to say this but its better that we don’t qualify, I don’t need the humiliation we’ll face because I know The Three Lions will barely make it through the group stages and crash out in the quarterfinals. Plus why feed the money grubbing suits over at the FA who are too busy worrying about merchandising sales and not about performance on the pitch. But will England realistically make it to Euro 2008? No, mainly because that answer is not in the hands of England but in Russia’s. Russia has two games in hand, England has one, with both being winnable games. So if Russian goes on to win those two England players would be watching Euro 2008 from their respective television sets and awaiting news of a new coach

Nigeria 2 Mexico 2

The scoreline does not paint a true picture of this friendly. Mexico were by far the better of the two sides, they played with more flair, creativity and intensity. The Mexican wingers carved up the Nigeria defense all day and is a true mystery as to why the scoreline remained tied at the end of ninety minutes.

In fact Mexico were actually down two-nil mainly due to the brilliance of Obafemi Martins, his speed was a constant headache for the Mexican back four and his brace were goals to be admired. That was the only positive for the Nigerian performance in the friendly tie. From the game one could clearly see that the players were still adapting to Vogts new style of football, the long ball, but it doesn’t excuse the lack of effort displayed by the Nigerian midfield. They gave away the ball cheaply and too often (especially Obi Mikel), they had difficulty creating open plays in the midfield and were not all too impressive with their defensive duties either. The defense did not fair any better, they failed to close up who they were marking, they ball watched a lot especially as crosses were coming in and were always half a step behind the Mexican attack.

I’m sure the Nigeria team would be happy leaving Mexico, a very tough view, with a tie but there is a great deal of work to be done by Vogts on the Nigeria side, especially with their set pieces, and I do hope the question raised by this game will be answered soon enough.

Mexico-Nigeria Highlights (YouTube)

In Other News:

Wayne “the wonderkid” Rooney finally ended his 3 year plus goal drought in an England shirt in the Three Lions’ 3-nil win over Estonia. Again Barry impressed and has cemented his place in the side whilest keeping Fat Frank comfy on the bench.