What you missed while the Browns were beating the Steelers (screw jellyfish, this is WAY more awesome)…

• West Ham striker Dean Ashton has been forced to retire at the age of 26 due to persistent knee issues.
• Aussie rules football fans are hoping to block Australia’s World Cup hosting bid so that their season isn’t delayed or postponed.
• Mario Balotelli’s sick of everyone hurting his feelings and just wants to be left alone.
• Neither Carlo Ancelotti or Alessandro Nesta want Chelsea and AC Milan to meet up in the Champions League octofinal.
• Michael Johnson’s suffered another injury setback…prompting me to ask the question, “Who the hell is Michael Johnson?”
• Icelandic 16-year old Kristjan Gauti Emilsson has joined the Liverpool squad. Who says we don’t bring in players?
• Valencia don’t want to hear whining about how Real Madrid won’t have Ronaldo when they meet up on Saturday.
• Ronaldinho was named “World Player of the Decade” by World Soccer magazine.
• Monterrey 4-3 Cruz Azul in the first leg of the Mexican Apertura final.
• The Akron Zips will try to become the first team in 35 years to win the NCAA-I men’s soccer tournament without losing a game this weekend; they play North Carolina today in the semifinals. The other semifinal features Wake Forest and Virginia.

Chelsea haven’t won in their last three games. Is this a sign of trouble or just a rough patch?

Carlo Ancelotti cut a visibly frustrated figure during in his interview after Tuesday night’s game against APOEL Nicosia. The Italian was very upset with his team for having slacked off in the second half and disappointed at losing Essien through injury.

Carlo has had an excellent season so far and will hope that the past few games are only a minor blip in his team’s progress. But with the African Cup of Nations rapidly approaching, he will have to brace himself for the loss of Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Kalou.

Last week’s loss to Manchester City saw the Blues lead at the top cut to a mere two points. Chelsea had looked almost ubeatable but the Citizens exposed the chinks in their armour.

The Londoners were also kicked out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn last week in a game which revealed the first signs of Chelsea’s weaknesses. With a busy holiday schedule coming up one wonders whether they will slip again.

Transfer Embargo

The departing Africans won’t be Ancelotti’s only worry in January. The transfer embargo placed on the club by FIFA is suspended until a hearing, so the upcoming transfer window maybe their only chance to buy for a year.

Sergio Aguero, Franck Ribery and Luis Suarez are names being floated in the media but as of now it is all speculation. The current squad obviously works well for Carlo and carrying extra players may pose a problem.

Gael Kakuta, the man at the center of the entire controversy, is one of the many youngsters being encouraged by the manager. Jonathan Bruma and Miroslav Stoch have already made their competitive debuts under his tutelage.

Easy Winter Schedule

There is good news for Chelsea though as the Blues don’t face any team inside the top eight from now until the end of January. This means that the African players should be back by the time we get into the difficult part of the season.

Chelsea are also well placed in the Champions League, having won their group they will draw only second placed teams. The only threat here would be from Carlo’s former side Milan and their city rivals Inter.

So it looks like the Pensioners will quickly recover from this minor dip in form and continue on their path. But don’t count out Manchester United just yet, they will surely want to retain their crown.

What you missed while this terrifying statement was being uttered: “It might only be a slight exaggeration to say that in 2100, unless we change how we manage our oceans, all we’ll have left is jellyfish.”

• Champions League wrap: Juventus 1-4 Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg 1-3 Manchester United, Atletico Madrid 0-3 Porto, Besiktas 1-2 CSKA Moscow, Chelsea 2-2 APOEL, Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid, FC Zürich 1-1 AC Milan, Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Bordeaux,
• CSKA Moscow won’t be suspended from the Champions League even though two of their players have failed drug tests.
• Juventus manager Ciro Ferrara admits that Juventus were second best to Bayern; I watched this game, and it’s possible that Juventus were really third or fourth best.
• Michael Owen scored a hat trick against Wolfsburg.
• Sol Campbell is waiting to see if Manchester United plan on calling him into the side in light of their recent defensive injury crisis.
• Galatasaray winger Arda Turan’s agent feels that Turan should be allowed to leave for Arsenal in January.
• Swine flu strikes Manchester City; United fans not worried since they live elsewhere.
• Both Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson are claiming that Edin Dzeko is out of their price range.
• Portsmouth are hoping to secure a £60 million loan so that they can pay operating expenses.
• Kashima Antlers are about to clinch a Japanese double in spite of the fact that their guardian angel – a bat – has passed away.
• Queen’s Park Rangers have suspended manager Jim Magilton for headbutting QPR midfielder Ákos Buzsáky after a 3-1 defeat to Watford; Magilton’s calling the incident a “difference of opinion”.
• Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Michael Essien will miss Saturday’s clash with Everton.

There is really only one result I care about this evening, and I reckon I’ll give it its own post in the morning – so you’ll have to excuse me if it seems like I’m phoning this one in.

Calcio:

Juventus 2-1 Inter (Derby D’Italia) – Perhaps the most important game either of these teams have played yet this season, the Derby D’Italia is always a heated and highly-anticipated match between two of the peninsula’s best-supported sides. This match in particular had the potential to have an immediate effect upon the scudetto race; either consolidating Inter’s position atop the table or reviving Juventus’ flagging title hopes. What resulted was an intense and exciting match by which Juventus managed to steal a crucial 3 points from i Nerazzurri; ensuring that this year’s scudetto race is well, a race. La Vecchia Signora opened the scoring in the 20th minute on a set piece when Felipe Melo inadvertently volleyed a Giorgio Chiellini header past the fingertips of a flailing Julio Cesar and across the line. Juventus went up 1-0 and to top it off Jose Mourinho got himself sent to the stands after this play for sarcastically applauding the referee for awarding the free kick. It didn’t take long for the visitors to equalize though, with Samuel Eto’o leaping onto the end of a Dejan Stankovic cross to head past Gigi Buffon and restore parity in Torino. The sides went into halftime level and would remain that way until the 58th minute, when Claudio Marchisio scored what I wouldn’t doubt is the greatest goal we have seen from Juventus yet this season. Momo Sissokho fired a speculative long-range effort at Julio Cesar, who parried but couldn’t hold on to it. Enter Marchisio, who dashed to the loose ball, turned Walter Samuel inside-out with some slick footwork and then buried the ball neatly overtop of Cesar and into the back of the net. In the remaining half-hour of play, tempers flared, with Mario Balotelli elbowing Felipe Melo and then going to ground when the Brazilian retaliated, drawing the midfielder the red card. Balotelli’s ugly side showed through with the constant jeering from the Juventini and perhaps the crowning moment of the match for the home crowd was the young striker lining up to take a free kick and falling firmly upon his behind. Even Gigi Buffon, normally the most level-headed man in the Bianconeri shirt, allowed his temper to get the best of him at the match’s end, nearly getting into a quite physical altercation with Thiago Motta. In the end, Juventus grabbed the 3 points, while Jose’s men merely grabbed some added incentive for these sides’ next meeting at the San Siro.

Gigi descends from the heavens as Juve celebrate their Derby D'Italia win.

AC Milan 3-0 Sampdoria – Speaking of the San Siro, the Rossonero half of Milan were able to reassert themselves among the top of the table by drubbing Antonio Cassano & co. at Milan’s famous stadium this weekend. Marco Borriello, Clarence Seedorf and Alexandre Pato each found the back of the net to pile misery upon i Blucerchiati, who began the season in red-hot form but have fallen upon hard times lately. By cruising to this easy victory, il Diavolo rise to second place in the Serie A table, and with the favour done to them yesterday by Juventus, they are only 4 points adrift of the league leaders. A far cry from the Milan squad who struggled so profoundly at the beginning of this season – Leonardo and his men have grown into themselves as a consistent and dangerous squad – and it’s all because they beat Roma 2-1 a couple of months ago. Froci.

Fiorentina 2-0 Atalanta – The funny thing about calcio is that due to the nature of the language and the culture, sometimes two different teams will share the same nickname. Therefore, while one Nerazzurri squad tops the table, the other Nerazzurri are the league’s veritable whipping boys. Last week Atalanta fell at home to Roma (woo!) and this week they provided an easy three points for La Viola in Firenze. Juan Manuel Vargas and Alberto Gilardino provided the pair of goals that separated i Gigliati from their visitors – the Tuscans now sit in a 4-way tie for 5th place with Roma, Genoa and Sampdoria. They trail Parma by a point.

Football:

Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea – All good things must come to an end. Carlo Ancelotti’s men had been flying high in the Premiership, having sealed victories over each of their fellow ‘Big Four’ teams with a 3-0 victory over Arsenal last weekend. Who would’ve thought that it’d be the Citizens, who had not been able to do better than a draw in their previous 7 league fixtures, that would finally burst the Blues’ bubble and bring them back down to earth. However, things initially started off pretty well for the visitors in the Eastlands. Only 8 minutes into the match Frank Lampard fired on Shay Given’s goal only for the Irish keeper to deny him and then Nicolas Anelka; on the third rebound, however, Given’s parried ball struck the back of Emmanuel Adebayor, defending on the touchline, and this time the keeper was helpless to keep the ball out. 1-0 Chelsea. The big striker got the chance to atone for his sin just under half an hour later, however, when Shaun Wright-Phillips’ shot took a deflection in Chelsea’s box and fell at the Togolese hitman’s feet – this time he directed the ball into the right goal to make it all square at the City of Manchester Stadium. Things really started to go south for the visitors when Carlos Tevez’s rather tame free kick was able to beat the wall and Petr Cech to give the home side the lead on 56′. But the disaster was not complete yet. On 81′ Didier Drogba was fouled within City’s area – as always, Frank Lampard stepped up to the spot. By this time, however, tempers were flaring and Lamps was visibly unsettled as he took the kick. His effort ultimately was poor, and Shay Given saved it quite easily. Manchester City went on to hold out for the remaining 10 or so minutes and Chelsea dropped three points that would have given them a commanding lead of the Premiership table. If there are two things that are costing Chelsea right now, they are: a) conceding on set pieces and b) failure to convert penalties. And believe it or not, those two factors are costing the team in a way that not even Roman Abramovich’s bottomless pockets can repair.

It was a battle of the big spenders, and who'd've thought that Chelsea would lose?

Manchester Utd 4-0 West Ham – With Chelsea stumbling it the front of the pack, it seemed almost as though United smelled blood; they were quick to capitalize on the league leaders’ mistakes by doing their very best to catch up with them. While the Blues were facing defeat at the City of Manchester Stadium, the Red Devils were completing a rout of Gianfranco Zola’s West Ham at Upton Park. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men knocked four goals past a sorry Hammers side, with Paul Scholes, Darron Gibson, Luis Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney each finding the back of the net to keep West Ham hovering just above the relegation zone and cut Chelsea’s lead to only 2 points.

Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City – Arsenal bounced back from last week’s defeat to Chelsea and a midweek loss to  Manchester City that saw them knocked out of the Carling Cup by defeating Stoke City 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners had a chance to take control of the match on 20′ when Andrei Arshavin was taken down in Stoke’s area, but Cesc Fábregas failed to convert the resulting penalty. Arshavin would nevertheless put his side ahead just a few minutes later, when on 26′ he completed an angled run into the box and slotted a low strike home to beat Thomas Sorensen. The home side nearly doubled their lead minutes later when a shot from Fábregas rattled off the post. It would be substitute Aaron Ramsey who would finally put Arsenal two up in the 79th minute, again with a run into the box followed by a low shot to beat Sorensen. This victory sees Arsenal retain their 3rd place spot above Tottenham Hotspur by a single point.

Liverpool 0-0 Blackburn – Liverpool failed once again to get themselves back into the Premiership race by drawing what is an admittedly difficult fixture away at Ewood Park. Sam Allardyce’s men were able to grab a valuable point off the visiting Merseysiders, with Paul Robinson playing the hero for the home side and rejecting the myriad chances that Liverpool were given to attack the Rovers’ goal. It’s difficult to say who provided the Reds’ best chance on the evening (though Daniel Agger’s late 30 yard screamer is a contender), but easy to say that England-hopeful Robinson was at the very top of his game and simply would not be beaten. Seriously, Rafa Benitez unemployment watch anyone?

Futbol:

Messi bagged a brace to secure victory for Barca

Barcelona 3-1 Deportivo – It was the Lionel Messi show as the Blaugrana dismantled Deportivo La Coruña away at the Estadio Riazor. The diminutive Argentine proved that they don’t hand out the Ballon D’Or for nothing by scoring twice and menacing the home side’s backline throughout the entirety of the match. Messi opened the scoring on 26′ with a supreme individual effort before Deportivo were able to equalize after defensive errors saw Adrián through on goal. The deadlock would last until the 79th minute, when again it was the Ballon D’Or winner, this time scoring from a strong header to restore his side’s lead. Zlatan Ibrahimovic would put the icing on the cake, blasting into the top corner of the net on 87′ to seal victory for Barcelona and secure their position atop the table.

Real Madrid 4-2 Almeria – Both Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo had a bit of a rollercoaster night at the Bernabéu on Saturday. After Sergio Ramos opened the scoring for the home side on 30′, Almeria were able to respond with Soriano and Kalu Uche scoring twice in the span of 5 minutes to put their side ahead of Los Galacticos. Ten minutes later, a goal from Higuaín assured the home crowd that Manuel Pellegrini’s men were not finished yet. Near the 80th minute, Madrid were offered the chance to get ahead again when Cristiano Ronaldo was downed by keeper Diego Alves. CR9 stepped up to the spot, but failed to convert the penalty, and in a display of poor showmanship was seen to be sulking even after Karim Benzema tapped in the rebound to put his side ahead. Ronaldo would make up for his error on 85′ when a beautiful play from Higuaín gave him the perfect opportunity to put his side up 4-2. The game wouldn’t end on a high note for Ronnie, however, as he was sent off just minutes later for his second yellow of the match. As I always say, all’s well that ends badly for Cristiano Ronaldo!

Fußball:

Bayern München 2-1 Mönchengladbach – Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber were able to provide the difference for Bayern as they worked back to their winning ways at the Allianz-Arena on Friday evening. Gomez gave his side the lead on 19′ with a well-executed turn and shot into the bottom corner of the visitors’ net. However, Roel Brouwer would equalize for die Fohlen less than 10 minutes later, when a bad defensive mistake allowed Michael Bradley’s pass to slip through the Bayern backline; Brouwer only had to slot home past Hans Jörg-Butt. Butt was Bayern’s best man on the pitch for large stretches of the evening, pulling off a string of incredible saves to stop the likes of Juan Arango and Jean-Sébastien Jaurès. Arjen Robben made a substitute appearance in the second half and was immediately effective; his daring runs won a free kick for the home side just outside the 18-yard box which Holger Badstuber duly launched into the back of the net on 75′. Friday’s victory sees Bayern at 4th in the Bundesliga standings and finally starting to gain ground on the leaders after Die Roten got off to a dismal start to the season.

]]> http://cheddarbomb.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/arsenes-options-arsenal-at-the-crossroads/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:48:58 +0000 Robert Greco http://cheddarbomb.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/arsenes-options-arsenal-at-the-crossroads/

Arsene Ponders...

Arsenal is at the crossroads. A debilitating loss to London rival Chelsea last weekend has placed the fate of the struggling squad squarely in the hands of their manager, Arsene Wenger. While the Gunners had a blistering start to this year’s campaign, things have waned of late, punctuated by the aforementioned loss and humiliating match at Sunderland, where the result was 1-0 in the opponent’s favour. Arsenal is struggling to find goals over the past few weeks, which is concerning for a team that should be collecting them by the bucketful and is considered ’weak’ defensively. This problem has been compounded by the fact that, without star striker Robin van Persie, there no longer exists a tip of the spear to the once potent North London squad’s attack.

This problem is a complicated one. While Arsenal is stockpiled with young stars brimming with talent, the depth chart at the striker position does not read well past van Persie. Emmanuel Addebayor left the Emirates for Manchester City over the summer and petulant cry baby Nickolas Bendtner has never really rounded into his much heralded potential (and is now sidelined with a groin injury). Brazilian born, Croatian forward Eduardo has not returned to the form he held previous to having his leg nearly hacked off during the 2007/2008 season, and Carlos Vela can be considered a streaky player at best, who looks as though he may be better suited to the wing than down the middle. One commentator was overheard suggesting perhaps that winger Theo Walcott be thrust into the striker role and have Vela adopt the right wing position for the remainder of the season. Logistically this is a risky move as walcott is more often one to run with the ball and pass, rather than receive the ball and shoot. Surely there is a better way?

That being said, Wenger has some difficult decisions moving forward into the last few weeks of play before winter break… and of course the January transfer window. Of course the French manager is known for his penny-pinching, and for his attempts at shaping young players, poached from youth academies around the world, into the Arsene Wenger/Arsenal mold. However, this will not be enough to solve Arsenal’s goal scoring issues… Arsene will have to think, and invariably spend, outside the box. Once he does that, the man has options.

Arsene’s Options:

Pierre Andre Gignac

the French striker is exactly the type of force that Arsenal are looking for, and is my personal favourite on this list. Young, multi-talented, quick on his feet, strong in the air, a deft touch in close and a booming strike from distance. The only problem is that his squad, Toulousse, are not too interested in loosing him and have slapped a 12 m (pound) price tag on acquiring his services, maybe too much for a player that has yet to truly prove himself in a top league or on the international stage.

Super Mario

Mario Balotelli – Super Mario would be an excellent addition to an Arsenal side desperately lacking a focal point at the front. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancellotti is rumoured to also be interested in the young Italian’s services, which may cause problems for the Gunners. However, Arsenal can offer immediate playing time as an impact player, while at Chelsea he would be locked in behind Drogba, Anelka and Kalou.

Mamouane Chamakh – Arsene wants the Bordeaux striker, quite badly at that. It looks as though Bordeaux are not biting, as they will need Chamakh’s quality to go deep into the Champions League knockout rounds. The French club claims he is not on the market.

Ruud van Nistelrooy – Van the Man… is a return to the EPL on the horizon for the once prolific Man U striker? Under use at Real Madrid has pundits wondering. Don’t hold your breath for this one, Real probably wants a hefty price for a striker who is likely past his prime.

The Best Option?

Edin Dzeko – Perhaps Arsene’s best option, the only questions that remain are whether he has the goods to make good in the Premiership, and whether Wenger can afford the 15 million pound fee listed by Wolfsburg. The 21 year old Bosnian International notched 36 tallies in the Bundesliga last term, and already has 13 this year. Imagine a 2010/2011 Arsenal squad composed of a strike tandem of van Persie and Dzeko with Arshavin and Walcott patrolling the wings and Fabregas in the number 10 spot??? Goosebumps indeed.

Forget Christmas, bring on January and its delightful transfer window. And to Arsene: Good luck, you will need it.

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The loss to Chelsea was not personally devastating to me. No, it’s not because I never believed that we could win the Premier League this season. And no, it’s not because I don’t care. I care quite a great deal. After the 3-1 defeat in the second leg of the semifinals of the Champions League last year, I wanted to stay away from football for a long time. I was obliged to watch our final matches, but that was compounded by the fact that we could not thwart United from celebrating their title when we played them at Old Trafford.

Last season featured multiple moments that made an Arsenal fan want to hurl. The Manchester City fixture where William Gallas was left behind after being stripped of his captaincy was one of those moments. At the time, I predicted that it would be the worst moment of the season. I was wrong, but I was also kind of right. Things steadied out from there on, even though it was littered with draws to teams we should have scalped. Regardless, our indifferent form gave us a clear target; we had to finish fourth.

When we conceded the two goals back to back to Chelsea, I knew there was little chance we’d come back into the game. When Arsene Wenger made an observation that Didier Drogba “doesn’t do much,” the English media had a field day with the comments. Pulling out all their repetitive barbs at Wenger’s myopia, Wenger took most of the heat off the performance of our squad. They were still criticized for coming up short, but they didn’t feel the full force. Wenger has always been a subtle professional this way (subtle, because nobody really points out that he’s just deflecting attention away from his players). Despite that, Wenger’s observation was actually astute for he wasn’t actually calling Drogba anything short of a great player. He merely called him an efficient one, and that’s something that can describe the Chelsea team as a whole.

You see, this Chelsea team fails to impress in the larger sense of the word. Sure, they may end up as Champions, but nothing they do is as inspirational as much as it is efficient. Carlo Ancelotti may be a more likable figure than Jose Mourinho, but all he’s doing is duplicating Mourinho’s original vision. He has a blunt, powerful, and experienced team that can carve out the results. In this case, Chelsea failed to impose themselves on us until a couple of defensive lapses in concentration helped lead to their first goal. After that, they parked the bus in a manner that Stoke does. I’m not criticizing that as a tactic. Your primary goal is to win the game, and with an Italian manager, that was always going to happen. After an initial spell of pressure, Chelsea comfortably secured the three points.

And so, the result led to many claiming that it’s no good that Arsenal can beat up the smaller teams but fail to impress in the big occasions. That is the reason, they claim, we will not win the Premier League. That logic may seem sound, but it’s not entirely true. In the Premier League, you play 32 fixtures against teams that are not in the “Big Four.” You lose those six matches, but dominate the rest, you win the Premier League. Look at Manchester United last year, they didn’t do much against the top teams, but they obliterated the rest. In past years, we’ve done well against the Big Four, but slipped up numerous times against the smaller clubs. If the reverse happens, that’s perfectly fine for me. The Champions League is the competition where you need to play best against the best teams, and we’re sitting comfortably in that competition at the moment. That is precisely the reason why it made me angrier when we dropped points against West Ham and Sunderland. After showing that cutting edge against weaker teams throughout this season, we forgot the lessons we’d learned in the past few years.

When our team suffers a dip in confidence, we struggle more than other big teams should. That is what concerns our fan base primarily. After losing two games in a row earlier this season, we responded by beating up on the smaller teams. That is what we had to do, and that is what we did until West Ham snatched a draw from defeat.

From what I see, our primary problem is the intensity with which we play defense. We have the personnel to do well in this department. I don’t see a lack of power or height as our problem. For instance, during the first goal conceded to Chelsea, had Denilson just snapped a tackle into John Terry, we could have set up a counter attack. That didn’t happen. Look at how Chelsea defended in the second half anytime we were in their half. There were bodies flying all over the place. That rarely happens with our team for whatever reason. We fix that, we stop leaking goals. We’ve conceded over 40% of shots on target, that’s an astonishing number. It means that teams don’t create very much, but they score regardless.

Moreover though, back to Chelsea for a moment. It’s often said that only winners are remembered. In other sports, I’d wholeheartedly agree with this statement. In football, not so much. You try telling me that Johan Cruyff’s Holland team will be remembered less than Otto Rehhagel’s Greece team. That’s not to take anything away from actual winners, but I’d suggest that at times winners may be relegated to being a footnote in a book, for that’s all that happens to Champions that truly fail to stir emotions of excitement in spectators.

People may regard Wenger’s youth experiment as a failure, and no doubt Wenger himself would classify it as a failure if we don’t win any trophies. I’d be bitterly disappointed personally, but I already consider his experiment to be a success. There has been more ink written about Arsenal in the past few years than every other English club. We are a fascinating team, albeit imperfect, to follow and cover as a journalist. More books will be written about a “failed” experiment than Chelsea’s two league triumphs in the same span of years. For what Wenger did is bordering on genius, he’s proven that we can be competitive with this blueprint. It is the reason why Wenger has virtually obliterated the memories of George Graham, even though Graham himself won two league titles. I don’t ask for trophies every year, that kind of thinking is in line with Manchester United and Yankee fans who want everything handed to them on a silver platter. No, what I ask for is to be thrilled and a reasonable chance that trophies may come along with that type of play. And from where I stand, we’re still in the title race, we’re into the knockout stages of the Champions League, and we’re in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup. That’s not so bad, you know?

Because the truth is, when your team triumphs, you celebrate like crazy with your friends for one day. That glow lasts about a week, but it’s on to the next campaign. It’s the journey you remember more than anything else. The bad days when your team threw away points. The great days when you carve open a team in Europe. The times you think about a sublime thirty pass move that set up a goal. The times when an opponent dived to win a penalty against your team. All these things happen, and all of these are the reasons why you follow the sport.

Arsene Wenger and this Arsenal team has provided us many memories on this journey. And frankly, they’re far more valuable to me than anything Chelsea may accomplish with their “powerful” players. I don’t think you should ever forget this as an Arsenal fan.

Stepping back to present issues for a moment, I don’t think Chelsea will walk away with the title. They lost to Wigan and Aston Villa on consecutive weeks. For all this talk about squad depth, their players are about as interchangeable as ours. When people complain about how Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky are identical players, I could say the same about Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard. The point is, that’s simplistic analysis to say the least, and it says nothing. I’ve seen occasions when Chelsea have been frustrated by teams who can more adequately cope with their power. They have a healthy margin and are on a good run, but injuries happen to everybody. Don’t think this race is over quite yet. Nothing is ever over in football.

As for Manchester City today, we’re technically the underdogs as they will field a full side team against our mixture of reserves and youth players. The main impediment is that we’re playing away, and don’t ever underestimate how valuable that is when playing a cup tournament. It will take a big effort to overcome City, but that’s ideally what we should be aiming for. Because a defeat for City gives them more motivation to play hard against Chelsea. Perhaps they play Chelsea to a draw, and we defeat Stoke, and hey, it’s a nine point margin with a game in hand. This team has shown that it can bounce back from setbacks, and that’s what we have to prove that Chelsea was, a setback on a long journey.

Londono "Chelsea".

Londono “Chelsea” treneris Carlo Ancelotti teigia, kad klubas nesiruošia švaistytis didelėmis pinigų sumomis sausį, kai atsivers perėjimų langas.

Būtent šį mėnesį ekipą laikinai paliks D.Drogba bei M.Essien’as, atstovausiantys savo šalių rinktinėms Afrikos taurės turnyre.

“Visi žaidėjai yra puikios formos. Jei tai išliks, naujokų nepirksime”, – sakė italas.

Un sonoro 3-0 all’Emirates Stadium e il Chelsea di Carletto Ancelotti vola ancora più in alto nella classifica di Premier League. Con una doppietta del solito Didier Drogba, i Blues dominano (in trasferta) nel derby londinese l’Arsenal di Arsene Wenger (14ma giornata di campionato).

Drogba firma l’1-0 con tocco di piatto destro all’incrocio dei pali da cross di Cole e dopo due minuti Vermaelen mette nella sua porta il 2-0 con un clamoroso autogol. Nella ripresa, ancora Drogba chiude la partita con una strepitosa punizione di piatto destro che si infila nell’angolino.

Con questa vittoria, il Chelsea di Ancelotti rimane primo a 36 punti, a +5 dal Manchester United. L’Arsenal resta fermo a 25 punti al quarto posto. Nel pomeriggio il Liverpool si è aggiudicato il derby stracittadino contro l’Everton vincendo 2-0 a Goodison Park. Al 12′ un tiro di Javier Mascherano, centrocampista del Liverpool, finisce in rete dopo la deviazione del difensore dell’Everton Joseph Yobo. All’80′ è l’olandese Dirk Kuyt a chiudere il match. La squadra di Rafael Benitez raggiunge così l’Aston Villa in quinta posizione con 23 punti. L’Everton resta invece fermo a 15 punti.

Il Birmingham ha vinto invece di misura a Wolverhampton per 1-0 con una rete di Lee Bowyer al terzo minuto. La sconfitta lascia i Wolfes al penultimo posto in classifica con 10 punti. Il Birmingham invece sorpassa il Burnley e il Blackburn e si posiziona in undicesima posizione con 18 punti.

It seems as though derby season is upon us; there have been quite a few this weekend and next weekend the most anticipated match in Roma’s season (and the greatest derby in Italy) gets underway. But, before we can start our countdown to a good Biancocelesti thrashing, we have to deal with all the derbies (and mundane regular matches) going down this weekend. Shall we?

Football:

Somebody get this guy a Red shirt.

Liverpool 2-0 Everton (The Merseyside Derby) – Well, the Scousers went head to head today as strugglers Everton took on strugglers Liverpool. It was a battle of the underachievers, with both Rafa Benitez and David Moyes’ sides badly needing the points and morale boost that come from a derby win. In a season when both sides have fared so poorly both in league and European competitions, it comes as no surprise that today’s match was decided not by a particularly heroic individual effort but by a particularly atrocious performance. A pair of grievous mistakes from Everton defender Joseph Yobo gifted the Reds a 2-0 victory, much to the dismay of the Toffeemakers’ fans at Goodison Park. Yobo put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute, putting his foot out and tipping a long-range effort from Javier Mascherano (which was veering well wide of the net, I might add) past Tim Howard and into the back of his own goal. It was a typically scrappy derby match, and Russian wiz Diniyar Bilyaletdinov nearly leveled the score 6 minutes later in the beginning of what was a very back-and-forth first half. Everton found the back of the net twice and were twice disallowed, but the home support were buoyed by their side’s performance and were left singing at the half despite the score remaining 1-0. However, they wouldn’t be singing at fulltime – their side failed to equalize in the second half with Pepe Reina denying the Blues over and over again, seemingly through sheer determination and a bit of luck. When it finally occurred on 81′, the second error from Joseph Yobo would all but put the game out of Everton’s reach. The Nigerian whiffed on an aerial clearance, leading to a shot from Albert Riera before Dirk Kuyt buried the rebound to make it 2-0. Ten minutes later, it was the away support who were singing as another Merseyside derby came to pass.

Manchester Utd 4-1 Portsmouth – Ah, our first non-derby match of the weekend. Still though, there is a bit of history here – the last time Avram Grant came up against Sir Alex Ferguson on the touchline was in the 2008 Champions League final, with Chelsea just one slip away from being crowned Champions of Europe. Despite being runners up in that competition and in the EPL, Grant was sacked as Chelsea manager, left to ponder what could have been. Yesterday he made his (unofficial) return to coaching, this time as manager of strugglers Portsmouth, who are looking to turn their fortunes around after going through 3 owners and 2 managers already this year. Fergie himself had to watch the match from the stands, as he is currently serving a touchline ban – luckily the match was quite a spectacle, abundant with soft penalties and controversy. On 25′ the visitors were awarded a somewhat questionable penalty which Wayne Rooney buried from the spot. The Fratton Park crowd could not complain too much, though, as 6 minutes later their side was awarded an even more inexplicable penalty which Kevin Prince Boateng was able to convert – apparently awarded for some rather run-of-the-mill shirt tugging by Nemanja Vidic. The teams went into the half level, but it would not take United much longer to find their stride. Within the first 8′ minutes of the second period Wayne Rooney would complete his hattrick with a low shot on 48′ and a second penalty on 53′. Ryan Giggs would top it all off on 87′ with the 100th Premiership goal of his career, making it 4-1 United and ensuring that Avram Grant will have Fergie-related nightmares for a while yet.

Tottenham 1-1 Aston Villa – It’s always difficult to come down after an incredible high. No, I’m not referring to my own struggles with substance abuse (fictional, I assure you), but rather the 9-1 victory which the Spurs were able to achieve over Wigan Athletic last weekend. Instead of repeating that incredible feat, the Lilywhites were held to an unremarkable draw at Villa Park. Gabriel Agbonlahor gave the home side an early lead on 10′, but Michael Dawson was able to level for Tottenham late in the match to earn his side a point and lift them to 3rd place in the English Premier League. Not an overly impressive performance from Harry Redknapp’s side, but they did just enough to keep themselves in the Premiership race.

Chelsea 3-0 Arsenal (The London Derby) – Realistically, there are more intense traditional rivalries in London town; historically Chelsea and Arsenal have been less concerned with each other than their other London neighbours. However, the rise of Chelsea into the big four of Premiership football means that in recent years these two sides have been forced into competition with one another at the top of the table and as a direct result their rivalry has become much more intense. Today’s London derby turned out to be an absolute rout from the Blues, who have been in tip-top form all season under Carlo Ancelotti, decimating Arsene Wenger’s depleted side who have been just shy of top form of late. It was another episode of the Didier Drogba show at the Emirates, with the big Ivorian grabbing the brace to all but destroy the Gunners and keep his fantastic record against Wenger’s side alive – Drogba has found the net in each of the last 9 matches played against Arsenal. Drogba opened the scoring on 41′, firing from close range into the top of Almunia’s net after some impeccable service from Ashley Cole. Just 4 minutes later Cole would again play the role of provider, but this time it was Arsenal man Thomas Vermaelen who turned the ball into his own net – giving the home side plenty to think about as they retired for the halftime interval. Just after the break Arsenal should have made it 2-1 when Andrei Arshavin blasted a rebound past Petr Cech and into the Blues’ net, but the goal was disallowed for an alleged foul on the Czech keeper by Gunners man Eduardo. Despite some dangerous efforts, Chelsea dominated play for much of the second half; their persistence paid off on 86′ when (guess who?) Didier Drogba struck again from a free kick just outside the area, blasting past the wall and away from Manuel Almunia into the back of the net. Ultimately, Ancelotti’s side would cruise to a relatively easy win, taking advantage of a depleted and demoralized Arsenal side to further their dominance atop the Premiership table. Chelsea have now recorded wins this season against all of their fellow big four sides – a positive omen if there ever was one.

Manchester City 1-1 Hull City – Oh, and City drew their 7th straight game after Shaun Wright-Phillips’ opener was cancelled out by a late penalty converted by Jimmy Bullard.

Calcio:

Inter 1-0 Fiorentina – Oh, Inter. I am growing to hate you so. In a game when Jose Mourinho’s side played poorly and were well-met by an organized outing from Cesare Prandelli’s men, it would be a penalty kick which separated the two sides in the end and allowed i Nerazzurri to go 8 points clear atop the Serie A table. It’s so typical of this side to underachieve thoroughly and then get by on the skin of their teeth that I shouldn’t be surprised, but yet I am disappointed each time a more deserving team outplays them and ultimately falls, especially due to this sort of misfortune. I’m not saying that the penalty wasn’t there, but had it not been for Gianluca Comotto’s hotheadedness, or had Alberto Gilardino buried his one-on-one chance against Julio Cesar instead of hitting the post just moments earlier, then Inter surely would have dropped points on the evening. In the end, Diego Milito’s penalty made the difference in a match full of could’ve-beens for La Viola that was perhaps ultimately a shouldn’t-have-been for La Beneamata.

Genoa 3-0 Sampdoria (il Derbi della Lanterna) – The Genovese derby, or il Derbi della Lanterna, as it is known, always produces some fireworks. This year’s was no different, as i Grifoni demolished i Blucerchiati in a game that had as many goals as it did red cards. Omar Milanetto opened the scoring for Genoa on 10′ with a spot kick after Reto Ziegler executed a clumsy tackle in the box. Genoa’s Giuseppe Biava was sent off for handling the ball as he fell to the ground, Sampdoria’s Marco Rossi received two yellows, and his teammate Fabrizio Cacciatore received a straight red late in the match. Meanwhile, Genoa’s Marco Rossi (yes, there are two of them) scored on 53′ and Raffaele Palladino capped off the victory with a spot kick on 75′. An eventful and exciting derby, and also a hard-fought one, which I’m sure an inspection of Antonio Cassano’s shins would tell you. They really don’t like that guy, eh? I bet Lippi calls up the whole team come June.

Cagliari 2-0 Juventus – La Vecchia Signora ha perso contro… gli Isolani? Cagliari managed to pull one (better yet, two) over on their visitors at the Stadio San’Elia today, snatching all three points from a rather toothless Old Lady. I think I’ve waited long enough to say this – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has certainly been a huge flop at AC Milan this season, but realistically, what has Diego done for Juventus’ offense lately? I’ll tell you what he did today: not enough. Their confidence shattered by a midweek loss to Bordeaux, Juventus fell about play clumsily and were victimized by a sharp and determined performance from the Sardinians. The home side opened the scoring on 30′ when Nenê unleashed  35-yard screamer that blasted into Buffon’s top corner. Juventus struggled to respond, and with their own Brazilian Diego firing well-wide before the half, went into the break with a much-deserved 1-0 deficit. After the interval, Amauri thought he had grabbed a quick equalizer for his side, but the goal was correctly disallowed for offside, leaving Cagliari keeper Federico Marchetti more than happy to pick the ball out of the back of the net. Cagliari also had fair claim to a spot kick after Martin Cácares handled the ball in the area, but the referee adjudged it ball-to-hand and play continued. A late goal would come to pass, but it would not be the strike that Juventus needed: substitute Alessandro Matri turned Fabio Cannavaro absolutely inside-out before slotting past Gigi Buffon in the 89th minute. Both Diego and substitute Alessandro Del Piero would miss absolute sitters for the visitors in added time and Juventus were forced to swallow their second humbling defeat in 5 days, dropping to 8 points behind league-leaders Inter.

Vucigol had me praising the heavens with his 44th-minute header.

AS Roma 2-1 Atalanta – An ugly, nervy, but ultimately deserved away win. I couldn’t be happier. Though dominations at the Stadio Olimpico like the one last weekend over Bari are a joy to watch, they are expected – those are the games that we will always win, because the magic of the Olimpico rarely fails us. However, it is matches like today’s at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri D’Italia that are must-wins for i Giallorossi, because they are the ones where we so often lose our nerve and drop points against teams we would easily beat at home. It’s not called an advantage for nothing, you know. Luckily, Roma was able to pull out a comeback win against gli Orobici today after Fabio Ceravolo gave the home side the lead on 13′. Roma looked decidedly lackluster for huge spells during the first half, but were able to grab a set-piece goal just before the half as Mirko Vučinić nodded home a corner from David Pizarro on 44′. Simone Perrotta was able to give his side the lead 20 minutes later, ghosting into the box unnoticed to head home a cross from Vučinić. After gaining the lead, i Lupi simply fought to maintain it. The substitutions of Jérémy Ménez for Rodrigo Taddei and Roberto Acquafresca for Cristiano Doni changed the entire complexion of the game; suddenly Roma were on the backheel and fighting only to maintain their lead while the home side heaped on piles of offensive pressure. For the most part Roma held up nicely under the waves of attack; Riise almost scored an own-goal on 85′ but instead cleared the ball nicely, while Atalanta had a legitimate appeal for a penalty on Juan two minutes later which was happily waved off. Finally the fulltime whistle blew and Roma were able to take a much-needed 3 points home to Trigoria. We’ve finally cracked the top 10! Rejoice ironically – but only for a second. We have il Derbi della Capitale to think about.

Udinese 2-0 Livorno – The other Bianconeri were able to achieve a much better result this weekend than Juventus. A cracker of a free kick from Antonio Di Natale opened the scoring on 29′, bringing his total for the season to a round 10. 7 minutes later, Antonio Floro Flores doubled his side’s money, heading home after a build-up that was again largely the work of Di Natale. The one-two punch was more than enough to subdue the Tuscan visitors at the Stadio Friuli and le Zebrette ran away with the 2-goal win. I almost feel bad for Sersi Cosmi, fervent Romanista that he is, until I remember that it was his cursed side which sent us on the downward spiral earlier this season from which we are just now recovering (ie, getting Totti back). But then again, Udinese was a part of that spiral too… Aw, to hell with the both of them.

The Hunter finally found his gun!

AC Milan 2-0 Catania - AC Milan were given a golden opportunity to leapfrog Juventus in the standings this weekend, with i Bianconeri dropping points at Cagliari and i Rossoneri overcame Catania in Sicily to make the most of that chance. Leonardo’s side were held to a goalless draw by the Rossazzurri for 93 minutes, but Milan ‘flop’ Klaas-Jan Huntelaar finally made good on his promise to score an added time brace and catapult his side into second place. First the Dutchman sent a low strike in after some lovely control by Filippo Inzaghi, and then only seconds later after the restart he struck again, chipping Andújar beautifully to make it 2-0 for Milan. Well, the Hunter certainly took his time, but it seems that he has finally found his form for his new side – and his timing couldn’t have been better.

Futbol:

Ibra done good.

Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid (El Clásico)- Well, it might be called El Clásico, but there was nothing ‘classic’ about Spain’s biggest derby this evening. Barcelona and Real Madrid played out a scrappy game in which neither truly came into their stride or were able to showcase their own particular brand of football. Despite injury concerns, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were all able to feature in the game, but the big Swede would be the only one to make his mark on the match. The Camp Nou was buzzing with energy as 98,000 of los Culés welcomed their most hated rivals to their home ground. Madrid, however, were not daunted, and were the first to impress, with Xabi Alonso and Kaká putting in perhaps their most impressive performances in the shirt of Los Blancos to date. Cristiano Ronaldo played for a solid hour, but was clearly not at full fitness and unable to terrorize the Barcelona backline as he might have wished. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi caused all sorts of trouble but was ultimately kept fairly quiet by Real Madrid’s defense, who put in a surprisingly solid performance. It was the combination of the substitute Ibrahimovic and Dani Alves which would prove deadly, as the diminutive right-back put in an inch-perfect cross which Ibracadabra struck home with authority to put the home side ahead on 55′. However, that would be the only goal of the match, and besides red cards for both Sergi Busquets (63′) and Lassana Diarra (90′), there was not much other action to speak of. In fact, in light of the last Clásico, in which Barca drubbed Madrid 6-2, tonight’s match was a bit of a dud.

Sevilla 2-2 Málaga (Andalusian Derby) – Sevilla’s closest (and fiercest) rivals are Real Betis, against whom they contest the Derby of Seville. However, with Real Betis currently languishing in Segunda División, Sevilla’s closest rivals in the interestingly-named Autonomous Community of Andalucía are perhaps their neighbours in Málaga, who are currently languishing at the bottom of the Primera División. So, we have the Andalusian Derby; and while the rivalry might not be as intense as El Clásico, I personally found the game itself to be much more entertaining. At the Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán Sevilla were looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat in midweek to Romanian side Unirea Urziceni, but they certainly did not get off to a good start. Although in a bizarre incident Málaga substitute Albert Luque was shown the red card from the bench, it was still the visitors who took the early lead. Fernando opened up the scoring for the visitors on 22′, and Duda made it 2-0 just before the half after being set up by Fernando. It seemed as though Málaga were headed towards all three points, but a spectacular second-half performance from Luis Fabiano ensured that the spoils were shared in Seville this weekend. The Brazilian struck first on 58′, heading home past Gustavo Munúa, and then on 72′ struck again, smashing the ball into the lower corner of the net to bring his side level. Both sides fought hard for an equalizer, and Sevilla came closest right at the death with a point-blank header from Fernando Navarro that Munúa probably saved by accident. In the end, each team would come away with a single point in a 2-2 draw that was anything but uneventful.

Fußball:

Bayern München 3-0 Hannover 96 – Well, it seems that die Roten have finally regained their lost form, overcoming midtable side Hannover 96 with ease in a match that featured goals from two of their most talented young stars. Thomas Müller tapped in from close range on 19′ to open the scoring, but Bayern looked shaky at times and were not convincing in their possession of the ball. Constant Djakpa caused all sorts of trouble for Phillip Lahm up the flank, and drew a good save from Hans-Jörg Butt, but was unable to affect the scoreline before the stroke of halftime. Ivica Olic made sure that the visitors got off to a good start in the second half, rising at the far post to meet a Danijel Pranjic cross with his head and double Bayern’s lead. For the rest of the half the home side did everything they could do to reduce Bayern’s lead, but to no avail – it would ultimately be Mario Gomez who would get the last laugh, beating the offside trap on 90′ and slotting home to make it 3-0 for his side. This victory sees Bayern rise to 4th in the Bundesliga standings, while Hannover 96 sit at 12th.

Someone control this guy!

Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 VfB Stuttgart – Leverkusen exit this weekend sitting three point clear atop the Bundesliga table, and it can largely be contributed to one man: Stefan Kießling. The 25-year old striker has been absolutely on fire for his club of late and bagged a hattrick this weekend at the Bayarena to cement his place atop the German scoring charts as well. Kießling struck on 22′, 59′ and 87′, while Eren Derdiyok added a goal of his own on 38′ to complete a 4-0 drubbing of a lacklustre Stuttgart side.

Werder Bremen 2-2 VfL Wolfsburg – Edin Dzeko’s double was not enough for the reigning Bundesliga champions to grab all three points away at the Weserstadion. Each time the young Bosnian scored to give his side the lead, the home side were quick to equalize, and ultimately the two squads cancelled one another out and had to settle for a point apiece. Hugo Almeida and Per Mertesacker were on hand to restore parity for their side, with the latter scoring at the very death in the 91st minute of stoppage time. The sharing of points means that Werder Bremen now sit at 2nd place in the Bundesliga standings, while Wolfsburg remain 8th.

]]> http://rheasport.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/chelsea-win-arsenal-0-3-chelsea/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:32:41 +0000 Rhea http://rheasport.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/chelsea-win-arsenal-0-3-chelsea/

Chelsea won! On a rain-soaked evening in London, Chelsea beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and boy, was it fun! It was a very crucial match and I shudder to think that we could have reduced our 5-point lead on United (the Manure sort! ) to a mere 2-points but the mighty Blues didn’t disappoint.  I was pretty sure we’d win but that didn’t keep me from biting my nails and looking horrified every time Arsenal had the ball and you have got to admit they had the ball a lot of the time. The first half was scary with the Gunners really having the majority of the ball and playing their free-flowing football which on a normal day (read when they aren’t playing Chelsea/when they aren’t try to win our title) I love to watch.

What stunned me in the first half was the shout for penalty or should I say the ‘non-shout’ from our lads for the penalty. Surely, Anelka was brought down by Bacary Sagna in the box and that certainly was a penalty. I wonder why we didn’t ask for it to be given! I am guessing our brilliant Blueees were just too confident about beating Arsenal (hehe their name really cracks me up… pun intended!).  I love that confident air Chelsea have got about them these days, but guys next time, just claim your penalty!

Arsenal remind me of a pretty girl sitting in front of the mirror brushing her hair, while the house is on fire. OK, I know that probably made no sense and I blame it on the excitement of the win, but  I am going to try and explain it anyway… Arsenal continue to play their beautiful football even when they know that it probably isn’t working and what they should be doing is getting dirty, closing down (fire-fighting), defending … playing the Italian style. They knew they are going to get killed yet they went on nonchalantly flaunting their beautiful footballing style and losing the game.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, not one bit, and I don’t think Arsenal could have done much today, ‘coz lets face it, they were facing the ‘real’ champions tonight  but in the future if they really want to be serious title contenders they need to add steel to their style.

By the end of the first half, I was starting to get a little jittery and every time the crowd booed Ashley, I wanted to beat them up and when John Terry found Ashley Cole with that wonderful pass and Ashley did his bit of magic to pass to the Drog who scored that first goal, I stopped trying to look for the calculator (yes you caught me I need the calculator for calculating all the points and stuff!). I knew we were gonna win and started appropriately singing ‘carefree where ever we may be’. Within 3 minutes, Ashely Cole did his bit of magic again (that should teach ‘em to boo you Ashley!) and the  already stunned Arsenal defense didn’t know what had hit them when they saw the ball in the back of their goal yet again. Thomas Vermaelen’s own goal had  put us 2 goals ahead.If  truth be told, the pass from Ashely was just so good that it was impossible to defend, if Thomas hadn’t gotten his boot to it, Drogba would have; so it really isn’t the Belgian’s fault.  For a long time now I have felt, Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the best buys of this EPL season and I think he is incredibly handsome… well.. after today, I think I can safely say he is purrrfect!

When Wenger brought Theo Walcott on I thought, ‘oh boy!’  However, our lads handled the pacy Theo very well. They were phenomenal and in the words of the great Carlo Ancelotti, the defense did a “fantastic job“.

Oh and Drogba is God, his free-kick from 25 yards was a stunner and something I am going to love watching replays of!

Cheers, Chelsea! ktbffh

There has been so much written word circulating about our clash with Chelsea.  That tends to happen when two members of the “Big Four” play each other, but with the majority of the other “Big Four” being duds in terms of football excitement, the media really enjoys covering any match we’re a part of.  That’s not me being partial.  I’m convinced Arsenal v. any of the other three clubs are infinitely more intriguing game, on footballing terms, than any other match up.

So with that, the multitude of information to absorb, including the late breaking news that Robin van Persie is most likely finished for the season, I’m just going to free form the preview with a lot of points instead of a coherent whole.

- Wenger has stated that the “moment has come.”  He has used this type of language before, during the Champions League semi against Manchester United last year.  We know how that one turned out, as a Kieran Gibbs slip negated any chance of us progressing to the final.  He is saying it, because he thoroughly believes it.  We’re a point in the season where we’ve been devastated by injuries, suffered lapses of concentration, and in the process been written off.  Believe me, after today’s news, nobody will be pushing us for the title.  That is when you either take a stand or you shrivel up and die.  Make no mistake, this is at the least a “must not lose game.”  We must, as a team, as fans, refuse to lose.

- Fixtures between relegation candidate teams are usually referred to as “six pointers.”  All matches for Premier League title contenders are six pointers, especially so when facing a direct rival.

- We defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last year with a shock Robin van Persie double, one of the goals being blatantly offside.  What we’ve seem to forgotten is that Chelsea humiliated us at the Emirates in the return fixture.  That match saw us concede the most goals we’ve ever conceded at the Emirates.  I have not forgotten.  Just like I have not forgotten that Nicolas Anelka refused to celebrate his goal against us.

- Which brings us to Nicolas Anelka, one of the few Chelsea players who I do not hate with a passion.  The other player I feel that way is Michael Essien.  Anelka has aged gracefully in all facets.  He’s truly a class player, and he will be a deadly link up outlet in the game.  The reason why the diamond formation has worked at all is not because Frank Lampard is a classic no. 10, it’s because Anelka makes the attack click.

- Michael Essien is the only player I really covet from any other team in the Premier League.

- Didier Drogba has played 10 matches against us.  They have won 8 times and drawn 2 times.  Some of this is down to Philippe Senderos.  Some of it is down to the fact that he’s a big time player, and he fancies playing against us.  Tomorrow will be the first time he plays Thomas Vermaelen.  We will see if Vermaelen is truly a world class defender or a class below that.

- It will also be the first time that Chelsea face us with Alex Song as our lockdown midfield enforcer.

- John Terry has been walking around with his chest out, feeling as though the team is back to their Mourinho days.  Well, the first year Chelsea won under Mourinho, they conceded only 15 goals.  They’re halfway there already.  They lost to Wigan Athletic, and no offense to Wigan, close call aside, Mourinho’s sides did not lose to sides like that.  But that’s fine by my book, I like arrogance as much as the next professional.  They’ve done nothing to merit their status as front runners, others have merely faltered.

- On good and bad luck, Chelsea were outplayed, fairly comprehensively in my eyes, by Manchester United and still got the three points.  We outplayed Manchester United and they snuck out with three points at Old Trafford.  That’s football.  Name another sport where you can dominate a match and lose.  There is none.

- A couple of weeks ago, I spoke about how Chelsea were having injury problems.  Well, Drogba and Lampard recovered and we lost van Persie and Gibbs.  I guess it’s my fault for tempting the gods.

- Carlo Ancelotti was not a good league manager in Italy.  He won a title, but his main accomplishments are in Europe.  From what I can tell, his European touch has rubbed off on their side.  We’ve yet to see if he’s carried over his league form, but methinks the funeral parlor man will have real tests in the upcoming months, starting with the next two weeks.

- The African Cup of Nations will not affect Chelsea while their players are away.  Look at their cream puff schedule.  They can easily handle those teams without the African quartet.  However, it will affect their side when they return.  Players have a difficult time coming back from that tournament, just look at Kolo and his malaria.  But likewise, we’ll be losing Song and Eboue when we actually need them and they’ll return fatigued.  Clearly, it’s worse for us than it is for them.

- Chelsea’s transfer ban will do nothing to the club, as Wenger categorically stated. All it did was bring attention to a young player who may or may not have been worth the fuss. With rumors that Chelsea will be signing Kun Aguero for 50 million pounds, just what was the point of the ban? Aguero, on his day, is a super player. Not sure that he’ll make it here, but at least his progeny will have super genes.

- William Gallas is a warrior.  And unless his eye is completely shut off, he will play tomorrow.  He relishes the big games, and he will want to play against Chelsea.  Kolo’s pot shot at him was both disrespectful and unnecessary.  How many ex-Arsenal players have to go down that route?  And where are all the pundits who were writing that Arsenal was wrong to sell him now?  Eating that nasty bird.  That’s where.

- Armand Traore struck me as being a useful player last week against Sunderland.  Despite words to the contrary, I felt as though he could be a decent understudy to Clichy.  That being said, Gibbs seemingly helped neutralize the left side of Standard Liege, so his loss will also be felt.  But let’s not forget that Armand Traore is a devoted professional and was once and still is a highly rated prospect.

- The diamond formation for Chelsea is far less effective when Frank Lampard holds the keys.  In that respect, maybe it is better that he has recovered.  Deco and Joe Cole can operate on the tip of the diamond, but Lampard is struggling with it.  That does not mean we can discount his work rate and his affinity for shooting missiles from middle range.

- Then again, clashes between the Big Four rarely come down to offensive brilliance.  They come down to the small moments.  I find it somewhat laughable that Manuel Almunia is talking about ensuring that “we” don’t make any small mistakes.  His rash throw 18 months ago during a match against Chelsea started an attack which led directly to a goal.  If he doesn’t make a mistake against United, we could have walked to victory.  He has been okay since he’s come back from his chest infection/family bereavement.  I suggest that he is the one who should not make a mistake.

- As much as I’d like not to see Cesc associate himself with Gerrard, I can’t help but think his statements about our club are 100% genuine.  Let’s never think about his future while his present is so thoroughly with Arsenal.

- Theo, I’m looking at you.

- A few months ago, we were deprived of having Gallas (through injury) and Arshavin (through ineligibility) in the Champions League semi.  Now, it looks as though Robin will miss out.  When will the stars align for us?  These injuries are taking a toll.

- With Robin van Persie’s devastating injury news, an alternate formation may need to be developed over the next few weeks.  I can’t say something like that for sure, but now, more than ever, somebody needs to step into that breach.  That player has to be Andrey Arshavin.  There have been numerous reports about his depression following Russia’s exit from the World Cup.  I sympathize.  But this is the moment where he proves that he can be one of the all time greats.  I believe he has that potential, and he must prove me right for our season to stay on track.

- I love this club, and I will support it until the day I die.  

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Frankas Lampardas.

Londono “Chelsea” vyr.treneris Carlo Ancelotti patvirtino, kad vienas ekipos lyderių Frankas Lampardas išsigydė traumą ir galės padėti sekmadienio mače prieš “Arsenal”.

“Taip, Frankas jau šiomis dienomis treniravosi pilna jėga. Jis yra puikios fizinės formos ir yra pasiruošęs išbėgti į aikštę”, – sakė italas.

Why do I always type a little blurb here? It never really says anything; I just feel weird diving straight into the match results themselves without any preamble. It’s too… impersonal that way. So hello, hi, here we are, so let’s get down to it:

Calcio:

AS Roma Totti 3-1 Bari – Romanisti always repeat one thing when Er Pupone is sidelined: No Totti, no Party. But sometimes we get so caught up in our own negativity that we forget the flip-side of that equation: Totti = party. Er Capitano made his return today against Bari, back from over a month out after going into knee surgery earlier in the season. And just to remind us why we miss him when he’s gone, he scored a hattrick. In the first half hour. The first came on 7′ – a spot kick after Jean-François Gillet downed Mirko Vucinic in the area. Then, only 7 minutes later, Totti launched a searing free-kick into the back of the net to make it 2-0. On 28′, he scored a world-class – and seemingly impossible – goal, beating Bari’s defense, Gillet and firing an acute-angle shot into the far corner. Beauty. Roma did their usual thing in the second half, sitting comfortably back on their large lead and letting i Galletti tire themselves out. However, the visitors finally pulled one back when youngster Marco Andreolli nodded the ball into his own net on 73′. A bit of a blemish, but a pretty good party nonetheless. To Gillet’s credit, he was outstanding for most of the match (those stretches when Totti was not destroying his self esteem), as was Julio Sergio, who was very solid behind the Roman back four. Mirko Vucinic was phenomenal, back to his old self again, while the only real black spot for Roma was Nicolas Burdisso, who was an absolute horrorshow at right-back. Also, the own goal was unfortunate. But all in all, a very good party with Er Capitano back at the helm. I can’t wait until we get Danielino back – then we can really party.

Inter 3-1  Bologna – The Inter Offside webpage referred to this match as a ‘Mortadella Speedbump’ — that pretty much sums it up for me. The reigning champions probably felt as if they could simply stroll into the Stadio Dall’Ara and come back out with three easy points, and their hosts failed to prove them wrong. There was a bit of tension early in the match; Diego Milito put Inter ahead on 22′ off of a corner from Maicon, only for Marcelo Zalayeta to equalize within 60 seconds, smashing the ball past Julio Cesar and into the top corner. The next 20 minutes saw both teams get really into the game, but Mario Balotelli should have put his side ahead when he beat the Bologna backline and dummied ‘keeper Emiliano Viviano – only to waste enough time that Viviano was able to get up and rob him of his much belated shot. One could see Jose Mourinho rise from his bench, flailing in anger. However, Supermario was able to atone for his sins just before the half; another Maicon corner saw the young striker rise powerfully in the air and head home to make it 2-1 for the Nerazzurri. He picked up a knock in the process, however, and was subbed off for Samuel Eto’o, who made a rare start on the bench. The visitors would make their lead more comfortable midway through the second half, with Esteban Cambiasso, who was in excellent form, burying a left-foot strike on 72′. To be honest, the hosts never looked like they were going to get back into the game, and Inter cruised to a comfortable win over the Emiliani.

AC Milan 4-3 Cagliari – It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the San Siro this afternoon, but i Rossoneri came out on top. Clarence Seedorf gave the home side an early lead on 5′, but gli Isolani weren’t interested in falling behind and Alessandro Matri equalized just 3 minutes later. The visitors would take the lead on 30′ when Andrea Lazzari found himself completely unmarked at Milan’s back post and gave his side a 2-1 lead. This time though, it was Milan’s turn to come from behind, as Marco Borriello and Alexandre Pato bagged a pair of goals in quick succession to put their side up 3-2 by the 39th minute. Pato’s goal was particularly nice, a rocket-powered blast into the top shelf which sent the San Siro crowd into an uproar. Milan would further consolidate their lead after the break, with Ronaldinho stepping up to the spot after Borriello had been felled in the area and burying it, sending Federico Marchetti the wrong way. He seems to score all of his goals that way, doesn’t he? More on him later. Cagliari was able to reduce Milan’s lead to a single goal when Nenê beat Dida on 68′, but Milan would hold onto their rather precarious lead and edge their visitors 4-3 in what turned out to be an exciting goalfest. Now, Ronaldinho. He was quite possibly – I’d almost say easily – the man of the match; back to his Barcelona form and full of tricks and flicks. That he only got onto the scoresheet via PK is misleading, as he was the creative force behind Milan’s devastating offense all night. That being said, their defending was quite shoddy, and against a better team (no offense, Cagliari, I like you guys) they might have come away with a rather different result. That being said, an excellent high-scoring match to put il Diavolo into 3rd place. Who says Serie A is boring?

Juventus 1-0 Udinese – Oh that’s right, Juventini say Serie A is boring. Because Juve is boring. I Bianconeri edged, well, i Bianconeri in Turin to keep their Scudetto hopes alive tonight. After the kickoff, it was all Juventus; Diego and Mauro Camoranesi both came close in the first quarter of an hour. After that though, the game went into a bit of a lull, and neither side looked dangerous (or did anything important) before the halftime break – unless you count a Udinese goal rightly disallowed for offside. After the restart, it was once again Juventus who set the pace, and this time it paid off. Summer signing Martin Cácares set up summer signing Fabio Grosso, who beat Samir Handanovic with ease to put the home side up 1-0 on 51′. Udinese fought hard throughout the remainder of the half, and both Handanovic and Gigi Buffon were called upon to make class saves, but ultimately the most exciting thing to happen before the fulltime whistle was Alessandro Del Piero’s appearance as a substitute. Juventino or not, you gotta love that guy.

Football:

A hattrick? No, that was just a warm-up.

Tottenham Hotspur 9-1 Wigan Athletic – Stop the press! What in God’s name do they put in the water in Tottenham? The Spurs recorded the second-biggest Premiership blowout in history at White Hart Lane over a hapless Wigan Athletic, with Jermain Defoe grabbing 5 himself in the second half. Peter Crouch opened the scoring for the home side on 9′, and believe it or not, that was it for the first half. Defoe got started right away after the break though, netting on 51′ and 54′, before Paul Scharner (who may have also pulled a Thierry Henry) pulled one back for the Latics to make it 3-1 on 57′. Defoe wasn’t done yet though, and to complete his hattrick restored the Spurs 3-goal margin just seconds later. Aaron Lennon got in on the action with a goal of his own on 64′, and then Jermain Defoe topped off his hattrick with a brace on 69′ and 87′. Chris Kirkland put the ball into his own net on 88′ to make it 8-1, and then Niko Kranjcar scored in the 4th minute of stoppage time to make the scoreline a whopping 9-1. To put this into perspective, didn’t table-toppers Chelsea lose to Wigan this season? Holy shit, dude.

Chelsea 4-0 Wolverhampton – Speaking of Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti’s men took part in a rout of their own this weekend, though it seems rather paltry in comparison with their London neighbours’ rather excessive beatdown. The Wolves simply had no chance at Stamford Bridge, and with Florent Malouda opening the scoring with a 25-yard strike on 5′, it seemed a cricket score was imminent. Michael Essien furthered that notion, bagging a brace within a 10 minute span by finding the back of the Wolves’ net on 12′ and 22′. The visitors simply had no response to the dominant Chelsea play, and their ill-advised 2-5-3 formation left plenty of gaps for the Blues to exploit. The teams went into the half with the score 3-0, but not before Sylvain Ebanks-Blake forced a class save from Petr Cech. As the game progressed, Wolverhampton reverted to a more solid 4-4-2, it was not enough to stop Joe Cole from scoring his first Premiership goal in over a year, making the score 4-0. Another quite impressive blowout/shutout from Ancelotti’s men, but until they score 9 goals I think they’ll feel that their crosstown rivals have the upper hand. Then again, they’re leading the league, so who cares about the Spurs?

Liverpool 2-2- Manchester City – Every time a Koppite cries, and angel get its wings. Or so I’ve been led to believe. Either way, both the Reds and the Blues (no, no, other Reds. Other Blues too.) dropped points and further away from the top 4 with a 4-goal draw at Anfield on Saturday. Martin Skrtel gave the home side the lead on 50′, only for Emmanuel Adebayor and Stephen Ireland to respond on 69′ and 76′ respectively to give the Citizens a 2-1 lead. A loss at this stage in the competition would have meant disaster for the Scousers, but luckily Yossi Benayoun cut any Mancunian celebrations short by responding with a goal of his own on 77′ to equalize and make it 2-2. And 2-2 the score would remain. This result is neither a complete disaster for Mark Hughes or Rafa Benitez, but you gotta think that the two of them, and their grossly underperforming squads, have gotta be feeling a little uncomfortable right now.

Manchester Utd 3-0 Everton – As for the other Reds and Blues of Manchester and Liverpool, a draw was not in the cards. The Red Devils trounced the Toffeemakers at Old Trafford to stay within five points of Chelsea in the table. Darren Fletcher opened the scoring for the homeside on 35′ with a beautiful goal that has been compared (somewhat hyperbolically) to the work of Zinedine Zidane. After the half Michael Carrick and Luis Antonio Valencia would add a goal each, while David Moyes’ men could do little but keep the scoreline respectable. I gotta say, the Merseyside derby is going to be downright depressing this year…

Pictured: Arsenal player not fit for today's match.

Sunderland 1-0 Arsenal – Oh, Arsenal. The Gooners had gone over a dozen games without a loss, but as usual Arsene Wenger’s men got a little too close to the sun and their wings simply burned up. Also, they had a lot of injuries. The Londoners put in an unfocused and ramshackle performance against a determined Sunderland side who clearly wanted the result more. And they got it. Sunderland simply rode out wave after wave of potent Arsenal attacking play, though admittedly, it didn’t seem like the Gunners wanted to do much other than controlling the ball in midfield. On 71′, the home side finally got their chance and Darren Bent buried it to make the score 1-0 for the Black Cats. Wenger’s men had simply no will to get back into the game (perhaps their minds were occupied with thoughts of next week’s clash against Chelsea) and ultimately fell to a steely Sunderland side. This is the second time this year that the Black Cats have beaten a top 4 side – and this time it can’t even be blamed on a beach ball.

Futbol:

Real Madrid 1-0 Racing Santander – Well, Los Galacticos are still without their biggest star – Cristiano Ronaldo – and they’re still not playing as ‘Galacticos’ perhaps should, but they’re finally where Galacticos should be: on top. Gonzalo Higuaín provided the difference that Manuel Pellegrini’s men needed to take down mid-table residents Racing Santander, with a strike from close range on 22′. Both sides had second-half goals disallowed for offsides, with both Karim Benzema and Sergio Canales putting the ball into the back of the net only to be notified by the referee that they need not celebrate. As has been the norm this year, Madrid did not completely convince, but their narrow victory was nevertheless enough to see them go top of the table for the first time this season after Barcelona picked up a similarly unconvincing result in Bilbao.

Because Bear Country is more frightening than Basque Country.

Barcelona 1-1 Athletic Bilbao – Treble Champions they may be, but at times this season Barcelona have failed to look the part. They faltered again in their title race during this weekend’s trip to Basque Country. Though many of their starting 11, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were out with knocks, one could still expect Barcelona to produce a result against midtable opponents such as Bilbao. Early in the match, Los Leones put pressure on their visitors, peppering them with corners and free kicks, while Barca looked simply content to play on the counter. Soon however, Barca wrested control of possession from their hosts, and began to look like the side to score, though when it came to finishing they came up empty – at least in the first half. However, after the restart the Blaugrana got off on the right foot, with Daniel Alves running on to the end of a perfect throughball from Xavi and finding the back of Bilbao’s net. Athletic immediately responded by bringing Toquero into the game; a move that would prove very effective as the substitute would equalize for the home side within 10 minutes of coming onto the pitch, running onto a long ball and smashing it home. All that was left to do for Bilbao was to park the bus and ride out the waves of Barcelona attacks – which they did – in order to gain a point and drop the reigning champions down to second place. What has happened to Pep Guardiola’s men?

Fußball:

Bayern München 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen – Well, Die Roten haven’t sunk any further into their slump, but they haven’t de-slumped either, achieving a draw against league-leading Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz-Arena this weekend. Mario Gomez and Stephan Kießling each netted for their respective sides early on in the match; both goals came within the first 15 minutes of play. Bayern started off energetically, with their aggressive attack leading to Mario Gomez’s opener on 8′, which he sidefooted in on an advantage play after Miroslav Klose was fouled. However, their visitors soon caught up to them in pace and were able to exploit the home side’s defensive weaknesses; Kießling easily beat the offside trap and slotted the ball coolly past Hans-Jörg Butt to make it all square on 14′. Each team had spells of pacy and bright looking attack, but neither could capitalize during those stretches; Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler saved his side time and time again with world class saves to prevent Bayern from getting out in front. Even Thomas Müller, who has so often been Bayern’s ace-in-the-hole this season proved ineffectual, and was subbed in the second half for Ivica Olic, returning from a lengthy injury layoff. The chances petered out towards the end of the game, and a 1-1 draw it would remain – a result that sees Bayer reclaim 1st and Bayern languish in 7th.

Werder Bremen 6-0 SC Freiburg – Poor Freiburg. On more than a few occasions this season they have found themselvesin situations where they are simply out of their depth. The home side suffered a humbling defeat to Die Grün-Weißen in their own Badenova-Stadion, falling 6-0 in an all-out slaughter. Hugo Almeida opened the scoring for the visitors on 33′, Marko Marin added a second on 55′, Almeida doubled his money on 57′, Mesut Özil netted on 67′, Naldo on 73′ and substitute Markus Rosenberg made it 6-0 with 8 minutes left to play. Freiburg once again made a case for having the worst defense in the Bundesliga (they have the highest number of goals against; 30) and sit 13th in the league table, while this victory propels Werder Bremen to second, just a point behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen. I guess the English aren’t the only ones who know how to have a good blowout!

Click on the thumbnails to see full size (Bấm vào hình nhỏ để xem hình lớn):

(Sau ce tie nu-ti place, altuia nu-i face…)

“Voi trebuie sa-i convingeti, nimeni altcineva“, a conchis Sir Alex Ferguson, referindu-se doar la necesitatea introducerii tehnologiei video de catre FIFA pentru solutionarea fazelor litigioase, intrebat fiind in privinta hentului lui Thierry Henry. De fapt, managerul lui Manchester United nici n-a pomenit numele francezului, ca de altfel si Carlo Ancelotti, antrenorul celeilalte fruntase, lidera Chelsea, ce a atins exact acelasi subiect, evidenta video. 

Roger Federer, prezent in Londra la Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, a adus lumina din lumea Circului Alb, spunand sec ca “nu poti sa-l acuzi ca ar fi continuat faza. Daca arbitrul nu vede, cred ca de vina sunt sistemele si centralul. S-a intamplat deja de-atatea ori. S-au acordat atatea goluri ce n-au fost. Acesta a fost unul in plus.”  Roger, colegul lui Thierry, alaturi de golferul Tiger Woods, cei trei din reclama la Gillette…

Spre limpezirea apelor, odata furia oarba domolita si timpul sfetnic bun scurs intru judecarea la rece a valvataii pariziene, destui editorialisti ai ziarelor de weekend britanice si-au venit in fire iar intervievati din lumea sportului profesionist nu doar ca s-au abtinut in a-l cataloga in vreun fel pe asa etichetatul “trisor” Thierry Henry, ci s-au referit in general la erorile inerente de arbitraj, amintind de necesitatea evidentei video.

Henturile lui Henry le-au dat asadar ocazia antrenorilor sa aduca in discutie introducerea tehnologiei video in arbitraj, care bineinteles ideal ar fi sa nu permeeze lumea fotbalului. Naturaletea si imperfectiunea profund umana a jocului, ce dau har si atractivitate disputei, ar fi inlaturate in favoarea altei metode ducandu-ne incet si sigur spre robotizarea absoluta. Si-n plus, ce ne vom face cu un joc disputat la Lincoln, intr-o liga inferioara!? Toate bune pe stadioanele marilor cluburi, angrenate in marile competitii, insa apelarea la evidenta video doar in anumite partide ar fi in mod normal ilogica. Totul sau nimic… 

Mai mult, Patrick Barclay, comentatorul sef de fotbal pentru The Times, in articolul “Reactii imploratoare improasca si mai multa rusine pe o afacere trista“, pune lupa inclusiv pe incriminatorul Robbie Keane, capitan al Irlandei acuzand de la UEFA la FIFA si de la Platini la Blatter la finalul jocului de la Paris, si care jucator de la Spurs era sanctionat pentru… hent in atac, in careul lui Lloris, in prima repriza a returului din Franta.

Cu alte cuvinte, mai toti “sunt pe felie”, doar gandindu-ne la ingenuncherile teatrale, plonjoanele si tavalelile multor jucatori incercand sa smulga penaltyuri, dar unii striga mai tare decat altii “Prindeti hotul!” Am avut nefericita ocazie, intr-o buna zi, sa mi se destainuie ca irlandezii ar fi cei mai ipocriti oameni din lume. E imposibil de cuantificat o asemenea afirmatie si m-am aratat rezervat, daca nu foarte mirat, venind tocmai din partea unui… irlandez.

In februarie 2009, la Dublin, Irlanda cersea si obtinea penalty la 1-0 pentru georgieni, in urma unui hent inexistent. Roata morii se-nvarteste…

Insa reactia utilizatorului mainilor, Robbie Keane, si nu doar intr-o unica ocazie, dar mai ales inregistrarea video a incidentului din minutul 71 al jocului din februarie, Irlanda – Georgia, de pe Croke Park din Dublin, la scorul de 1-0 pentru ex-sovietici, cand centralul a acordat “verzilor” un penalty “din burta”, absolut imaginar, pentru, culmea ironiei, un presupus… hent, in ciuda semnalizarii unui… ofsaid de catre asistent, au pus deja in alta lumina scrancetele lipsite de demnitate ale insularilor in Orasul Luminii.

Vizionand faza penaltyului acordat, publicata pe YouTube, se observa ca Robbie Keane a ridicat mana intr-o tentativa de a-l influenta pe central, ceea ce de fapt a reusit, cersind practic un cadou nemeritat. Keane a egalat la unu iar cinci minute mai tarziu, dovada ca se poate ajunge la un 2-1 cu care Irlanda s-ar fi calificat la Paris, acelasi Keane a adus victoria impotriva Georgiei. Avea sa fie de fapt a doua cu 2-1 impotriva celor din Tbilisi, dupa cea din tur, la debutul lui Trapattoni, reusita insa in… Germania, pe teren neutru, datorita conflictului din spatiul ex-sovietic. De unde ca, adunand si notand ca insularii au strans doar 4 victorii din 10 meciuri intr-o grupa si cu Cipru si Muntenegru, e limpede ca Irlanda a avut sansele si avantajele sale evidente in campania de calificare, nefructificate insa, un motiv in plus pentru cresterea putin cate putin pana la temperatura de fierbere a frustrarii celor din Dublin.

O mare frustrare, sa fii egalat acasa in minutul 90, de campioana mondiala, Italia. “Daca am fi mentinut rezultatul, i-am fi <intins> pana la final in lupta pentru locul unu“, spunea apoi Given. Daca… Culmea e ca vorbele sale luau in calcul o victorie ca si acontata, in ultimul joc, cu Muntenegru. Succes ce insa n-a venit: 0-0. O si mai mare frustrare. Asta in vreme ce Italia invingea, cucerind logic si meritat grupa.

Si mai multa mizerie, in prima mansa cu Franta. 0-1. Pusi pe harta, la final, irlandezii cereau socoteala lui Diarra. Nu puteau recunoaste cu barbatie infrangerea, cineva avand insa sa se ia patru zile mai apoi de adversarii lor, la Paris, cum ca ar avea “inimi cat bobul de mazare“.

Frustrarea colosala a fost generata de ineficacitatea de pe Stade de France, de ratarile uriase ce ar fi desprins-o in invingatoare in fieful vicecampioanei mondiale, ratari care, convertite in macar un al doilea gol, i-ar fi adus calificarea. De aici probabil si reactia incredibila de dupa meci, cu declaratii, reactii si “iesiri” care mai de care mai belicoase, dezonorante, si care au inflamat oprobiul partinitor al maselor, incluzand destui microbisti de ocazie cu o precara sau inexistenta cultura fotbalistica si a sportului in general.

Spiritul revendicativ al vehementelor atacuri verbale, multe lasandu-te “masca”, fara replica, a stirbit implicit din simpatia ce Irlanda si-o atrasese cu jocul combativ impotriva Frantei, furia oarba dejucand indirect propria cauza de a arata lumii intregi nedreptatea ce li se servise si demascand un serios complex de inferioritate. Mai mult, a aratat un public telespectator “de fotoliu” nu doar patimas, ci alunecand pe neasteptate pante ale insultelor si xenofobiei. Cum a putut de fapt suporta hartia destuparea atator prejudecati latente!?

Dregand busuiocul, una din evantaiul publicatiilor dand initial in primire patimilor si etichetarilor gen “trisor”, The Independent din Londra a contrabalansat intr-o adnotare un prim editorial inflamator la adresa calificatei si a tintei oprobiului general, recunoscand in titlu “Ultima vorba: <dreptatea> noastra moralizatoare e la fel de patetica trisului” si subliniind ca “a fost tot ceea ce ne-am asteptat si ne-am dorit si – ca de obicei – ne-a facut ca si colectiv sa ne simtim mai bine“.

Omenirea a imbatranit mii de ani dar de fapt a ramas tot in jurul stalpului infamiei, cu piatra pregatita impotriva acuzatului. Henry a trecut zilele trecute prin purgatoriu…

Iar referindu-se la adidas si interesele cu conotatii economice ce ar fi influentat calificarea, dupa cum se exprimau Robbie Keane ori Duff, ar mai fi un aspect ce ridica semne de intrebare in privinta vehementei Irlandei. Tara de Smarald trece printr-o criza fara precedent in istoria sa ca natiune din Uniunea Europeana, cu cele mai mari datorii pe cap de locuitor din lume, 425% din PIB, iar o victorie in arena sportiva ar fi fost nu doar una de moral, dar si o recunoastere in proprii ochi si ai comunitatii internationale. O reconfirmare.

Irlanda va pierde venituri de milioane, ce ar fi survenit inclusiv din industria de divertisment, prin comercializarea de suveniruri cu FIFA 2010 World Cup si a bauturilor alcoolice in puburile ce-ar fi fost luate cu asalt in iunie anul viitor, motiv pentru care pe firul protestelor a intrat nu doar FAI, Football Association of Ireland, ci si ministri din guvernul de la Dublin. Masurat, prim-ministrul Cowen a declarat ca nu va aduce subiectul intr-o discutie cu francezul Sarkozy, asteptand insa din partea FAI sa lanseze un demers pe langa federatia de la Paris si FIFA pentru rejucarea jocului.

Conform regulamentului, o asemenea solutie e imposibila, deci s-a strigat in pustiu, fapt ce federalii din Dublin ar fi trebuit sa-l stie inca de miercuri noapte. Pasiunile au tulburat insa judecata si s-a ajuns la revendicari jenante. Iar la cum au actionat acum federalii, Roy Keane s-ar putea sa fi detinut un sambure de adevar in ceea ce-l determina sa paraseasca lotul national in plina campanie la Cupa Mondiala din 2002 si sa-si revendice retroactiv anumite scuze pentru un abandon reprobabil la vremea respectiva.

Vorba lui Roy Keane in lumina serii pariziene, “What goes around, comes around“, traducandu-se cam in vorbele titlului acestor randuri, cu trimitere la Football Association of Ireland. Si se pare ca nu doar noi ii avem pe cei din FRF dar, apa la moara in Bucuresti, multa lenjerie murdara e prin lumea aceasta. Roy Keane a socat zdrobsindu-se la federali pentru patetica si “plictisitoarea” cersetorie a simpatiei in privinta asa zisului “furt” din Franta, atragand atentia ca Irlanda sa se uite in propria ograda, in barna din proprii ochi, pentru a vedea carentele rezultate din temerea de a face curajos marele pas decisiv, slabiciuni ce au frustrat-o la maxim si carora le-au pus capac un gol din ofsaid.

Menanjaknya performa AC Milan baik di Serie A maupun Liga Champions tak lain dan tak bukan adalah karena tangan dingin pelatih kelahiran Brazil bernama Leonardo atau akrab dipanggil Leo.

Leonardo

Memang pada awalnya kapasitas Leonardo sebagai seorang pelatih dipertanyakan dan sempat membuat AC Milan terseok-seok di papan tengah pada awal musim ini namun, penampilannya terus meningkat tajam dan menjadikan AC Milan berada di peringkat ke-3 klasemen Serie A saat ini.

Harapan pelatih asal Brazil ini untuk menjadikan Milan seperti timnas Brazil saat ditangani Tele Santana yang menampilkan permaina-permainan indah mulai terealisasikan dengan mengubah skema pohon natal peninggalan Carlo Ancelotti 4-3-2-1 menjadi 4-2-3-1. Berkat pergantian skema ini pula performa Alexandre Pato meningkat dan membangkitkan kembali Ronaldinho.

Adriano Galliani, wakil presiden AC Milan juga turut mengomentari perkembangan positif ini, “Milan menunjukkan jati diri sebagai tim yang ofensif” ia berujar.”Leonardo mengikut jejak Capello,” ungkapnya.

“Keduanya menjabat direktur dan klub memutuskan berjudi menggunakan mereka sebagai debutan, terlepas dari kritik.”

Apakah dengan menanjaknya performa AC Milan, kapasitas Leonardo sebagai pelatih telah terbukti ? Kirimkan tanggapan anda melalui komentar.

Carlo is Fergie's biggest problem this season

First published in Racing and Football Outlook Issue date November 24 – 30 2009

I’VE spent the week going through all of my Outlook Index columns from this season – as to why, see the bottom of this page – and, in doing so, I noticed that I haven’t given Man United as much attention as I think I would have in most seasons.

Of course, when talking about the Premier League, it’s inevitable that you’ll mention them but, nevertheless, my finest-toothed comb hasn’t made its way across their scalp for a quite a while.

United are at an interesting point in their season. Although misfiring a little since the start of August, they are still well and truly in contention.
However, Alex Ferguson must be worried about the three defeats they have already suffered – while all of those losses have come away from Old Trafford, that’s as many away defeats as they had last season.

With six months of the season left, it’s a long way from being catastrophic for United and I doubt that Sir Alex is losing any sleep over it quite yet.
Their Index rating adds a little more context to the picture. United’s rating has held up well, with their current number of 956 not far off their starting rating of 960.

That small decline is nothing to worry about, and, again, I don’t suppose Sir Alex is, but that number looks worse when you compare the dip in their rating against Chelsea’s improvement this season.

The Blues’ rating is up from 962 to 966 and, if there is no change to that situation before the end of the season, then we’ll have new champions next May.

We can expect numerous twists and turns before then, but the fact remains that Chelsea are already five points clear – although they do have to visit Old Trafford in the spring. Even when that is factored in, though, my latest points forecasts show that if United are to take the title, then two things are going to have to happen – United will have to improve and Chelsea must decline. That much is obvious, but what is less obvious is the degree of improvement or decline required. Given how little there is between them at the moment, those changes do not necessarily have to be anything more than marginal.

But, if things stay as they are, the forecasts show Chelsea actually stretching their current advantage from five to six points while the other contenders for the title scrabble around in the dirt for a Champions League place.

Of course, United can make up the difference, but in assessing how likely that is, I thought it would be interesting to look at their Index rating over the last couple of seasons to see how low their figure has gone over that period and, as importantly, how quickly the side returned to form.

It seems that United’s success over the last two seasons has had as much to do with Chelsea and Liverpool’s inability to get themselves in order as it has with United being on song. With Chelsea apparently doing the business, United’s broadly flat rating means that they have, to an extent, been found out. My analysis also shows that, contrary to popular opinion, their current second place has less to do with the depature of Cristiano Ronaldo than with the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti. Chelsea have steadily shortened in the Premier League outright winner market to the point that they are now a best price of 1.82. That price is still just about on the generous side, although the opportunity now comes at shorter odds in laying Arsenal, who don’t have a cat in hell’s chance of finishing top.

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Premier League forecasted table as of November 24 2009
Pos        Forecasted pts
1    Chelsea    86
2    Manchester United    80
3    Arsenal    72
4    Liverpool    66
5    Tottenham    61
6    Manchester City    60
7    Aston Villa    59
8    Everton    53
9    Sunderland    50
10    Fulham    50
11    Blackburn    48
12    Stoke    48
13    Wigan    46
14    Burnley    44
15    Bolton    43
16    Birmingham    42
17    West Ham    41
18    Wolves    35
19    Hull    34
20    Portsmouth    31

Finally, as I mentioned at the start of this column, I’ve spent the past few weeks getting an online archive of my Index articles together for the first time. I’m pleased to say that readers can now go back and read old Index articles for this season by going to the Index blog at www.rfoindex.wordpress.com.

You’ll find all of the articles from this season there as well as the opportunity to comment on and discuss them. Hopefully, over the coming months I’ll be posting more of my 11 years’ worth of RFO writing there.

Keeping with the uncharacteristically online RFO vibe you can now also follow me and the Index throughout the week on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/rfoindex.

I look forward to hearing from you!