Angry Fans
This week we are looking at Liverpool's disappointing weekend, a few myths are shattered about Andy Reid, the resurrection men at White Hart Lane, Eamon Dunphy's opinion of Cristiano Ronaldo, the night of the brown envelopes among Chelsea's scouting staff, whether it's time to say adieu to Arsene, the surprising appointment of Maradona, and the offside law.
IS IT a case of back to square one at Anfield? Saturday’s performance at W.H.L. was last year all over again - remember how poor results against so-called weaker teams proved very costly. We should not have been surprised. A poor scoreless home draw to Stoke, wins at the death against Middlesbrough and Man City, not to mention fortunate escapes against Sunderland, Portsmouth and Wigan, did not convince this humble scribe that we had found a championship-winning formula.
Granted, excellent results against Man U and Chelsea cannot be ignored but why revert to the less-than-convincing against the more lowly teams. After three minutes on Saturday they had Spurs on the rack, could have and should have matters sewn up by half-time. But no, just happy to sit on 1 – 0 and go through the motions. Striking the bar and the post could be considered unlucky but ultimately these were very costly misses. Lay blame to the defence for two very poor concessions but the on-going problem rests up front - 16 scored in 10 games thus far, just not good enough. “We” live in hope and expectation but the dreaded despair and frustration are never too far away. Steven Kelly’s column should be very interesting tomorrow.
Two words . . . Fernando Torres. Being level with Chelsea after ten games is not so dusty. Chin up Kopite.
IN presenting the case for Andy Reid's inclusion on the Irish team several journalist experts have made the point that Giovanni Trapattoni is negligent in not attending Premiership games. Imagine the shock to the man's system not to mention the waste of his time had he taken himself to one of Sunderland’s recent games and found a man almost as old as Giovanni himself (Dwight Yorke) anchoring midfield while the media-anointed Messiah warmed the bench. In Sunderland's most important game of the season (v Newcastle) the great Roy could find no role for Andy Reid than to use him to run down the clock as an injury time substitute. Maybe it’s time to start an Andy Reid for Sunderland campaign . . . one equally as nonsensical as the Andy Reid for Ireland campaign and one just as deeply rooted in analytical dishonesty.
Can’t help thinking, Dose, that Andy Reid couldn’t have done worse than Malbranque, Whitehead , Tainio, and Richardson at Stamford Bridge -- but for trenchant views, well argued, take the letter of the week prize. Bit harsh on Dwight Yorke though. I know he’s lived, ahem, a full life, but he can still give Trap a head start.
SOME things are just worth the wait. On Wednesday night we had to wait for the remaining four minutes of the game to pull one over the Woolwich scum! The sheer jubilation of coming back from 4-2 down in the 89th minute against our biggest rivals is almost unrivalled. I look forward to Bernard Azulay’s weekly column of crap, more excuses and delusions. Things continued on nicely on Saturday, while Liverpool were busy missing the goal. What did they buy Robbie Keane for again? Harry Hotspur’s troops required a mere 15 minutes to give the poor deluded Scousers a well-timed reality check. Seriously though, messing about with the top four’s championship plans is well and good we must now push on into the top half of the table, which will set us up nicely for the 2009. Who said being bottom of the table is no fun.
But what will you do for fun now that the mighty Spurs have marched off the bottom? Nice Shakespearean reference to Harry Hotspur by the way.
CRISTIANO Ronaldo has been voted the world's player of the year by fellow players from 40 countries. Shortly after the start of the season Eamon Dunphy called him a gligeen, a showoff, little better than the average player etc. Some judge, some critic.
In the immortal words of Joxer Daly in Juno and the Paycock . . . “he’s a darlin’ boy, a daarlin’ boy.”
THE news that Chelsea have sacked 15 of their worldwide scouts is yet more evidence that football is going to pull in its horns in the next two years. It also raises issues about one of the great mysteries of football . . . precisely what Frank Arnesen does with his time since he was recruited so expensively and so publicly from Spurs. Only one youth team player has come through at Stamford Bridge in the past ten years, and that was John Terry. The other young player who has made an impact is Mikel, who cost Chelsea £16m and has spawned a legal battle that continues to this day. It doesn’t sound like value for money from the Academy does it?
Ah, but if you can get two first team players to come through in a decade that’s worth, what, £25m in the transfer market. How many outstanding United (or Liverpool come to that) home-growns have come through in the past decade. Not many. It’s not an exact science.
IS THIS the swansong for Arsène Wenger? Three defeats -- the same as they suffered during the whole of last season -- to Fulham, Hull and Stoke City. Four big matches to come against Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea. A defence that looks about as solid as a wet paper bag. A failure to replace Mathieu Flamini, and a determination not to spend any money which now looks more like obsession than prudence. If Arsenal do not win the Premier League this season, and they won’t, it will be five years since their last title. Time for a change?
Not quite yet. Arsenal always looked outsiders for this season, although I have a sneaking suspicion that they could make a run all the way to Rome in the Champions League depending on the luck of the draw. When he does go, as he will, probably back to France, Wenger will leave a massive hole in the Premier League.
DIEGO Maradona as a manager? That’s going to make life more than interesting I would say. Great player, total nutter.
And God and his hands might find himself quite busy with Argentina struggling to qualify for the World Cup.
HOW IS it that the referee missed two offside goals at Chelsea which were as plain as the nose on his face? Sure it wouldn’t have made much difference overall, but they did change the nature of the game.
Here’s a serious suggestion. Let’s scrap offside. People pay to see goals, not defences gaining marginal advantage from an antiquated rule or linesmen making mistakes. And while we’re at it you can have a red card. Anelka wasn’t offside when he received his pass from Malouda.
ALEX Ferguson wants to extend the season until the end of May by staggering one round of league matches throughout January, thus giving teams at least a fortnight off. Good idea or bad?
Good idea, as long as clubs don’t fill in their spare time playing lucrative exhibition games in Samarkand and Timbuktu. And then there is the international calendar
PHIL Brown has received a lot of plaudits this season, and rightly so, but did I really read it right that he said that Frank Lampard could be the first player to be worth £100m? Have two defeats driven him mad?
Well, let’s think . . . high-scoring midfield player on a five-year contract in the form of his life. £100m is probably the price for Manchester City. And to think Mourinho nearly got him for £8m in the summer.
