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Jon's Blog May June 08
Mon 23rd Jun
Italy : The Grubby Pursuit Of Winning
Well I could have told Italy their tactics were wrong - playing for penalties against Spain. After all Madrid won a title whilst conceding the most shots at goal in the league with Casillas in goal. Even having said that in a match I might take Buffon over Casillas most times. However I have never seen a better keeper than Casillas 1 on 1. It is like when you take away the should I stay or should I go decisions he becomes the best keeper in the world. The simpler the situation the better he is. Forget the Galactico's, RvN, Raul, Robben and UTC he is the best player at Madrid.
As we have seen with Crossley, Beasant and others the best penalty savers are gamblers not necessarily great keepers. It is still the biggest of many mistakes that in 1990 Robson allowed Shilton to face the German's penalties. Sure he went the right way every time but he saved none - as Gazza said he could have tried....
Mon 23rd Jun
English Cricket : The Saddest Show In Town
On Cricket Writers on Sunday, the saddest show in sports, it was either an inditement of the talent available or the kind of dreck that covers cricket in this country but when asked for fast bowling options we got: Harm-less-son who has been below the standard we currently have for 3 years: Simon Jones last fit 2.5 years ago: Flintstone ditto.
How can England ever go forward when people whose personalities are so far away from correct for modern day sport - and whose fitness regimes are so far away from norms of the last 20 years - are touted as an answer to a question based on what they once did after it has been exaggerated and mythologised.
I don't know if the talent is not there although I think an insight was given into the elitest public school attitude when Nick Knight questioned Tremlett's body language. OK his fitness regime resembles Flintstone's but seriously what about Harmison? A man whose sulking for his mate was cited as a reason for making Flintstone captain instead of Strauss? Tremlett had the best figures against the best opposition England faced in test cricket last year but that of course is a fact and should not be used to pick someone Vaughany and co have to drink with.
There is clearly a club and a cut of jib to getting in and around the England team. Indeed it took Harm-less-son 2 years to crack it and the thick end of 3 years sub standard cricket to break out. So it has nothing to do with sulky behaviour on the field.
As we saw with Shah, Mahmoud, Read and to a lesser degree Monty anyone not seen as the right kind of chap can take a long time to break the team and is given every discouragement. For instance last winter they dropped Strauss and brought in not Shah, who may in a better environment have a chance to be a test cricketer, but Bopara who is a fine chap no doubt. Bopara has never threatened yet to be a test batter or bowler. Then brought Strauss back without even him showing any form.
Fri Jun 20th
Mohammad Asif Makes A Mockery Of Dubai, PCB and Supporters
Dubai has a zero tolerance policy apparently to drugs except it seems where Muslim cricketers are concerned? Is Dubai racist? In that the standard 4 years for the stupid and down right unlucky with unsmokable amounts of drugs in trace quantities on their shoes has been waived for a serial drug user who is unrepentant, unapologetic and unpunished by anyone. Asif comes along with his opium and is merely deported - no denials, bang to rights, again!!!!
One can assume that the Pakistan govt was not involved in such a stitch up. Surely the sanctimonious pious PCB and the Pakistan govt have not intervened on a man who has rewarded their letting him off by continuing to take whatever drugs he wanted when he wanted.
One can only hope the Pakistan authorities treat him like they would treat any other drug smuggler. He should surely be given an immediate drug test and if he fails (assuming opium is banned for that use!) he must get a life ban for a 2nd offence under the WADA code cricket signed up to.
The excuse offered last time was the Asif and Shoaib had not been told not to take performance enhancing drugs. That had a large 'smack' (boom boom) of patronising racism but since the Pakistan board was patronising its own people it was hard to object meaningfully
Mon Jun 16th
Beware the Obvious Child
One interesting thing that crossed my mind was the key question was Nicholas Anelka actually ever any good? Is he still around the French squad because he once threatened to be good young and people keep their moist and misty acquaintances with prodigies despite evidence to the contrary?
It does seem that many prodigies ceilings and abilities get extrapolated and assumed at a young age beyond what they ever come near achieving. Sometimes a player's size (Mickey Owen) or girth (Wayne Rooney) at least leaves a risk factor. However with Anelka Madrid were willing to rush out and pay a then ludicrous 23 million for a 18 year old. His return in his last year at Arsenal was 19 from 45 mostly it seemed running on to Bergkamp through balls - he showed the weapons he still has but they have stayed his only weapons - pace and finishing. Good but not great unless someone expected another dimension to him. Given he was already quick silver and a big lad where did we all expect him to improve?
His 25 in 43 for Siddy (17 from 32 League) being his best year and he was gone within a year after pulling cuntery. Basically his brother in the end knew best he was an ordinary footballer who had a bit of pace and every time he got a run of goals they pimped him... Buy low sell high...
His 11 in 22 for Bolton was hardly 15 million at his age when the whole team played for him - he did little but wait for the ball over and this was only a half season when he had clearly established, despite years to show it, he could not manage 1 in 2 despite being a lightweight forward who added no other value. 2 in 24 for Chelsea even allowing for bench time is risible but how good he is in a top side where he had a role to play for the team. His inability to play off the Drog or to compete in contact makes him not even a good sub when you are 1 down. He is a 1-0 player and frankly that is near worthless.
My point being how much better if at all are Owen, Rooney and Anelka now than as teenagers? Rooney's ability to put the ball in the net seems woefully under developed for a striker. Owen is a better all round footballer but then without any pace he has to be. Yet youth prodigies will generally speaking be in and around national squads long after they have been shown up or surpassed.
Arguably Chelsea would have been far better getting Defoe, half the price and a better player, if all they wanted was a lightweight jettisonable striker. Now they have 4 more years of a near un-saleable 29 year old whiner who was probably never that good. Indeed now he is not as pacy and equally contact adverse as he was then.
Players whose improvement has surprised me most are the likes of Lampard, Scholes and Joe Cole who found a position having seemed like people who could pop up with a goal but did not fit any midfield or attacking position. What is interesting is whether their key skills developed or they just found a position and learned to play it. Certainly Lampard became a dynamo who covers ludicrous amounts of the pitch and barely missed a game for years. So unless a person has no position or can develop their physical attributes where can people who have played the game since they were 5 really improve? It all, for me, makes my point that rather than more and more development of skills young English players need their knowledge and minds expanding to step up to the highest levels.
Quite how unfair of me it is to drag Rooney and Owen into a point about Anelka is a good question. Apologies to their fans.
Sat Jun 14th
France Show Up Avram Grant And Themselves
A group whose smugness has surely been shattered are those whining Henry Winter's and co screaming for a Clairefontaine style academy in England. Where is the young French talent? Italian? German?
It was probably hard for the French manager to clean out the aging coterie of stars superficially successful 2 years ago. However the evidence was there without much more than a cursory look at team selection by the leading teams and watching the tape of 2 years ago. For example: Anelka a leper for most of the last decade got on the pitch - has he suddenly become a better player in the last 2 years? (No) If so where did he show it and for how long?: Makelele is living on the pathetic Andy Gray sponsored refereeing: Henry is surely a sub to a decent team: Malouda has been shown as a poor player and how after the European cup anyone selected him again?: Gallas again surely a bench option as he ages: Those are just the players I know from the premiership.
The French manager, as should Bryan Ashton in rugby, should not have been confused by the palsied football of 2006 that, yes could have won a world cup, but the signs were there if you could read. Surely he should have been apart enough to realise that France reached the final on smoke and mirrors and a cheating dive, against the worst Brazilian team ever, by Henry.
Had this referee not followed the cheats charter that they seem to wish to uphold and restricted himself to the odd yellow then this would have been worse with the surely shot at this level Makelele off. Indeed Avram Grant can ponder how he blew the Euro final with Makelele, Malouda and Anelka in his team. Maybe Roman wanted the last 2 he had seemingly wasted 30 million and wages on less than a year before (resale value nil as no doubt Chelsea would have to pay some of their wages).
In many ways Italy's fall is harder to fathom but look at the last world cup and who was any good? The football was often tedious and only Argentina looked a complete team till their manager had a melt down. All teams have aged 2 years and maybe because like Bryan Ashton they are not subjective and judgemental enough they have come here with then old players 2 years older.
What again is clear is that if England are short of younger talent who is not? England should be here and as per the last two tournaments we have the talent but not the selection, mentality and will to win. Probably for the more nuetral fans the real worry is the lack of young players making an impact.
Holland now frightening with Cruyff and van Basten back at Ajax? But I'll leave it at that for now.
Fri Jun 13th
Refs Prefer Cheats to Non Cheats
In a footnote to the below one of Bilic's urban achievers copied the master himself. Jerko Leko pretending he had been smashed in the face when all he had done was a coward's tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger. A spokesperson for Bilic probably said impersonation was the sincerest form of flattery.
Also with no sense of history was the ITV commentators constant pumping of Croatian nationalism and passion as a good thing. Frankly no ethnic grouping of their size probably has as much blood on its hands in the last 70 years.
Fri Jun 13th
Bilic Sucking Up Is Distasteful
Whenever one of the members of the British press gets to talk to Diego Maradona they never fail to tediously bring up why a referee allowed a goal he scored with his hand to stand. Now since when did a player ever tell a ref no I handled it in?
Yet you'd think since they demand above average virtue from Maradona they would destroy the cheat Slaven Bilic who cost Laurent Blanc a place in a world cup final - worse he made le Bouef a world cup winner.
Instead Bilic is treated like some kind of renaissance man that he is not. Sure he plays in a rock band. Sure he is a trained lawyer, whatever that means in Croatia, but he is also a low life bottom feeder. Show him the tape and ask his explanation? There is no excuse for the kind of thought out deliberate unrepentant cheating that Bilic introduced us to. This is not falling on the spur of the moment. This is not tugging someone back with a moments thought. This is a pond life who would sell his grand parents.
Everton fans would probably struggle to have my high opinion of the dirt bag.
Thu Jun 12th
Red Herrings Why It Is Not Talent Stopping England
The whinging Guardian Reading Self Loathing classes got handed an open goal when Sir David Richards complained of too many foreign players and failure to develop players. Sir David is the chairman of the Premier League. Now the issue of producing players he may have a point as lunacy dictates Chelsea must over pay for another full back and re-sign failures like Paulo Ferreira and to a lesser degree Wayne Bridge for 5 and 4 years respectively. He was certainly correct it should not be a 20 team league but 18 is too conservative, surely 16 or 15 but we'll live with 18.
However I watch top teams at the these championships full of poor players who have either failed or would not get in a mid table or worse Premier League side. I watch even a good good player like Pirlo pass in a manner that would hand ammunition to Frank Lampard haters and fans of Wayne Rooney can drool over!
Honestly here is a list who would struggle to get in even the current England squad yet start for their teams Panucci, Paulo Ferreira (Left or Right, He's Shite), "Scunthorpe" Baros, Gio Van Bronckhorst, Materazzi, Del Piero, Khalid Boulahrouz (Aaron Lennon's pigeon)... ageing remnants like Henry and Vieira no longer 90 minute players at premiership pace. Indeed so talented are the Dutch that Dirk "Shite" Kuyt starts for them. Never mind all the Reading reserves and lower league players here. Look it is no accident at this quality level people wonder if it is the same Kuyt, Baros and Boulahrouz - it is and it is why people who buy on the basis of solid form at championships are wasting their money.
England's biggest problem is not the production of star players but: role players to offer pace and height options: conservative star obsessed club managers as international managers: picking 442 when our weakest position is striker/forwards: playing players out of position to fit others in: lack of pace: lousy selection of Cats: too long and hard a season.
Wed Jun 11th
Sad Sir Alex And The British Media
It is documented that Sir Alex taps players up - Stam said so and he visited RvN in hospital not to mention when Owen Hargreaves was driven to Old Trafford after an England game. Yet listen to the bawling now that Ronaldo has decided he'd like to leave with little or no evidence of anything more than guess what? Every top club would love him!!!
In the end it is just an extension of the rationalisations that Ferguson so successfully fields to his teams as motivation. He apparently convinced the Aberdeen team that not only were the Old Firm against them but the whole of the West of Scotland.
You wonder if he truly believes these delusions given the fools he (and United) seem to want to make of themselves. Maybe there is more to being a top manager than just making good decisions? Maybe believing your delusions 100% is necessary ala Jose Mourinho who had not just sane people but the Berkshire Ambulance service against Chelsea.
What a shame the English press show they really don't care about sports in covering this {TWSI aussi?] and are missing what is so far the best Euro's yet. Then again that is damning with faint praise in a tournament whose high spots don't get much beyond van Basten taking advantage of Shilton's inability to jump.
Sun Jun 8th
Referee Sends Positive Message To Italy, Dutch and Portuguese
Andy Gray and the referees please don't make decisions brigade will be nearly as misty eyed as the cheating nations at the opening game. In the worst tradition of the Premiership the referee managed not to book anyone for 60 minutes and even then the Swiss left back practically begged to be booked.
Italian centre halves, the Dutch, Portuguese and all the assembled brutes will clearly have got the message Platini and UEFA want to see a festival of continual free kicks and no open play.
No doubt many will try to emulate the pomp of Mourinho at Chelsea where 1 up a poor player like Tiato was sent on to foul constantly for the last 20 minutes 40/50 yards from goal eating up the clock with free kicks that John Terry would swat away in his sleep.
For me it shows the farce where the occasional dive is treated like larceny and the routine shirt pulls and fouls like a necessary part of the game. I hope no one wonders why penalties often seem the goal not the last resort in European matches.
Mercifully the Swiss and Czechs did not take this to its logical conclusion but we know several other nations will.
In a remarkable and probably pointless triumph Chelsea finally won something over the entrenched forces against them by getting a £9 million verdict over evil incarnate in Adrian Mutu. How the champagne must have flowed as Putin (Putsy as Roman calls him) dialled in to tell Abramovich he was a hero of the new Russia. Kenyon and Buck lit big fat Cuban cigars, not with 1 burning 50 note but a fat pile of them that Roman uses to heat the function room at Chelsea. Everyone had a party that the year finished so well.
Just because a judgement in a sports court is meaningless outside sport and those bleeding heart liberals will see Chelsea as merely vindictive brutes who make no logical sense should not in any way be used to mock this latest triumph for the Chelsea machine.
Imagine now even if any sane top managers, and a few cuckoos, will not go there at least after they have pursued the pathetic Mutu to the nth degree, every top player will telling their agents it is Chelsea or I retire.
Now they should try to recover the money from Veron and Crespo who they lost more money on and ended up paying someone else to play them! At least Crespo stopped United getting a European Cup eh!
Thu Jun 5th
Top Managers Follow Elvis' Advice
Elvis Costello summed up the view of top managers - I don't want to go to Chelsea. Even Mark "Baby" Hughes turned them down to work for a brutal joker at Manchester City. Hughes is surely aware he would make more money when Chelsea sacked him next year than when Thaksin wields the axe. However he has seen 2 of the 3 preceding Chelsea manager's leave struggling to eat solid food due to the strait jacket, paranoia (not delusional as bizarrely unlike any other club they were out to get them) and the gibbering lower lip. Grant did not last long enough to be destroyed.
That is probably why the fascist admiring Scolari and the arch clown Guus [Hiddink] were in the frame - why bother starting with someone sane? However it seems even their tenuous hold on reality is enough to prevent a move to Chelsea and the English media who would destroy them in 10 minutes before even Roman and his hench clowns Kenyon and Buck could sort them out.
Now Carlo Ancelotti has decided he'd rather suck the toes of the crypto fascist plastic surgery victim Berlusconi than learn English and get loads of money when he gets sacked in a year or two.
Sun Jun 1st
Ferguson : More Hot Air Than Most Balloons
Talking of football greed and delusion the empty threat by Man United to sit Ronaldo in the stand. Now we have seen weak managers like Vialli and that freeze lesser players out only to pick them later. Peter Reid the arch player trader did this to a kid in an act of cuntery at Sunderland. However the idea that old red face would put Ron in the stands and risk the full wrath of employment law and the media spotlight week in week out is ludicrous - and relying on Wayne Rooney to actually score some meaningful goals.
Also the Glazers don't have the ackers to risk United failing for an act of cutting off their nose to spite their face. United have massive debts and with the supply of money tight interest rates for such junk debt are rising.
It is a sad inditement of the modern world than harsh simplistic phrases and solutions seem to be the ones people try to profess. As though accepting the complexity and grey areas of the world is either too hard for us or worse makes us feel powerless.
However if Ronaldo decides to leave and Madrid realistically put up 80-100 million I really don't think there is much sane United can do but offer Ronaldo a massive contract. After all a declining centre half, ageing central midfielder and past it Ukrainian may be on more money than him at Chelsea. Indeed from what one reads he is only on the same money as a useful but wasteful centre forward who acts like a baby in international football at his own club - talking of people's preference for the angry and simplistic.
United would do well to stay silent and talk personally to Ronaldo and his agent. Trying to seem big and tough like Brown/Bliar announcing some new guaranteed to fail initiative on guns or knives does not work.
Sun Jun 1st
Jaded By Football Try Premier Rugby
One of the joys of this season, as football seems caught in an excess of greed and dictator owners, has been to watch Premier League rugby. The levels of physical contact and commitment are ludicrous. Apparently each team loses the equivalent of 1 player a year to career ending injury.
Add to that the young geniuses are often English like Geraghty, Cipriani, Lamb et al and the meat, and rugby intelligence, is the amazing south sea islanders. The game is played whereby grey areas are accepted none of this shirt pulling but a lot of hands in the ruck. The refereeing is often clear and often accurate - even when it is not it is accepted as part of the game and not an excuse.
Fan violence is next to nil and even childish thuggery from players is gradually being erased. It is a sport for most body sizes bar slow and small...
I probably should blog on it more but frankly there is no controversy and little of the delusion and corruption of Premiership Football. Good sport moderate blogging material. It also has the best writers as well in the main so what novel is there to say?
Thu 29th May
Capello : Depressingly Selection Speaks Louder Than Words
Deja Vu struck before a ball was kicked. Defoe who had worked his way out of the side as he was lightweight was back. Rooney who cannot seem to convince SAF he is a 2nd striker was back where he has failed so often before. Gerrard was wide to accommodate a holding player and not be a choice. Beckham was back on the right for reasons that make no sense.
Maybe the answer from Capello is that Svennis' team in Svennis formation is the best we can do. Wow we could have kept the man himself! Admittedly Fabio will not allow any senior players to be more than bed monitors and that if this is anything to go by is the main difference. Just as Svennis was Keegan but with less invention and hence mistakes. Capello, on this, is Svennis with less hierarchy - himself then everyone else.
Quite what John Motson and Lawro could find to be so mad about in the performance of Wayne Rooney. 4 or 5 times he failed to slide someone through giving the ball away. Then after some great work passed behind Gerrard - let's be straight most of what he does to off load the ball by kicking is poor. Whilst he can sweep a ball out wide mostly his passing, shooting, positioning, lack of height, pace, temperament and his inability to hold the ball surely rule out wasting more time on him as anything but a sub or front striker (Even then I would also be interested what percentage of 1 on 1s with the keeper he scores compared to Adi Akinbiyi). This was against a US side who gave him enough space for some of his barnstorming runs that top teams, ala Chelsea last week, just shut off.
In the end it is always excuses with the kid. Always some fiction that tries to put a positive spin on his career. He is a decent front man with his movement and it is a weak area for England. However for precisely this reason we should play to our midfield power and look for a single striker which could be Rooney, if no one steps up. Also even in this game he got a yellow and is a liability at times. Surely Joe Cole is a better bet as a deep striker? Or Lampard even.
Rooney back to where he has failed for 4 years was nothing mind compared to the depressing familiarity of the team that has by and large failed for 6 years and is not getting any younger or better. Arguably Ash Cole, Terry, Brown, Rooney, Lampard and Beckham have much lower ceilings or are declining even if slightly in some cases. Others like Defoe are going nowhere better. Owen has no pace. Gerrard is unlikely to get better. Ditto James. Hargreaves is what he is and no spring chicken. Joe Cole needs to move central or I would say he has little scope to improve. Crouch is what he is and unlikely to get any better. Bridge ditto. Beckham! Rio is probably as good as he will ever be. Glen Johnson is more a condemnation of young English talent than a positive for the future - he is just a lousy defender.
It will be interesting to see if Capello merely through attitude can weave a silk purse from what has been a sow's bladder. Indeed arguably had McClaren not tiinkered and left this poor team 442 we would at least have a more interesting summer waiting for England to go out on penalties. However Capello had the time and space to go another way and despite enough tape to convict even a rich man with Johnny Cochrane as his lawyer he returns to what has failed before. Most recently in awful performances against Russia and Croatia. Don't tell me this is the only way, I need hope!.
This is Sven's team in Sven's formation and I cannot see how this 442 will work better than previous efforts especially against better opposition.
Wed 28th May
Cricket : Weak Minded England Prove Their Critics Right
In the weak twisted little corners of their self important minds I would imagine a few of England's cricket "heroes" from Old Trafford think they proved something by coming back to beat the weakest test side not called Bangladesh. They did! How do you so easily knock off a record 4th innings total after being so awful in the rest of the match and the winter? Is it because they can only truly play when not burdened by being favoured to win? That expectation makes you nervous and tight and needing a wee wee?
Those grasping for straws and who limit their view to the next Ashes series will see some parallels with 4 years ago when England consistently left it late to show their superiority - Panesar has an almost Harm-less-son split of 4 years ago between 1st innings dreck and 2nd innings genius. They will also recall the ordinary but winning tour of South Africa that led to the 2005 triumph.
Yet all this misses the point even if England can ride their underdog status to win in 2009 will they then go on to be world no 1 or settle for another wasted 3 years of petty vanity, buffoonery, drinking, self importance, poverty stricken performances and gross self indulgence? That is of course all I can say just on what we have been allowed to hear about members of the 2005 team. I'd hate to hear the inside story of what further 2nd rate behaviour and delusion they managed to keep in house.
In a country like the US or Australia where champions are graded and achievement is generally seen as being over time and noted in dynasty and being no 1 - as opposed to the 1 off triumphs of say a Yannick Noah, Flintoff, Vaughan, Petoski, England 1966, Virginia Wade, Kim Clijsters etc they would be seen as talent squandering clowns.
Added to, and complimentary to this, is that England play ludicrously negative cricket and can thank themselves that they were playing 10 men seemingly even more denuded of confidence than England. Quite how this weak minded and negative triumph makes players less dropable is beyond me. Indeed some might say the real man of the match was not Strauss or Panesar but the heavy roller.
For me a positive leader who attacks is needed to replace the King's School in Macclesfield's Peter Moores and to counter weight the seemingly self serving captain.
Unlike the previous two Chelsea managers who left needing therapy Avram Grant can leave seemingly as sane as the first day he took the job. He was not around enough to become loveable as Ranieri was. He was not as divisive as Mourinho to become loved by the faithful either (although to be fair to the delusional one plenty of neutral people wanted the Portuguese clown as England manager over Fabio Capello!).
As with the last guy, Mourinho, who had dissolved into a near caricature of himself Grant can depart with a handsome payoff to ensure he does not tell the papers what an asylum he worked in.
In many respects it is hard to say anyone could have done a better job this year than Grant. He rotated well to keep his players and team fresh. He had Drogba being inconsistent and not there. He had Lampard missing for 10 games or more. Yet he took the title to the last game against a team who seemed far superior for much of the year. He also came as close as a manager can to winning the European Cup - seriously 1 penalty what can he do about that!
His only real faux pas was taking a light weight striker [Anelka] with an ordinary goal scoring record in a January panic at a ludicrous price. A top manager can see past a spurt of unusual goal scoring by a 29 year old with a long term record of not being good enough for a top team. Indeed no top team has a lightweight poacher up front anymore it seems. A striker is part of most team's strategy and on a bad day Drogba tracks back for corners and will take a ball in contact neither of which Nic will do. The younger and similar Defoe went for half the price showing what rotten value a whining manager killer like Nic was. Whether anyone who knows about football is selecting players at Chelsea is of course a question.
You get the impression as with Roman's beloved leader Putin's Russia that Stamford Bridge is subject to the random thoughts, fears and prejudice's of a dictator. A dictator who does not have the stones to say anything to his manager's face and hides by not coming to games. At least the only thing that comes from this dictatorship is people get paid vast sums not to work there.
As usual with Chelsea questions of sense are mute but why did they give Grant a 4 year contract in December when even the turnstile staff knew he would not survive long.
The real problem for Chelsea is that like Liverpool and unlike United and Arsenal they want to be a big club, on the pitch, without any plan or ethos to be one - just randomly buying players to put a finger in the last hole in your dyke is not an ethos or strategy. For instance to be a broken record they have vast youth systems at vast expense but seemingly cannot even open a space at full back as the recent 16 million signing of Bosingwa shows (at 25 he is surely 3 years too old for such a fee even if you are delusional enough to pay that for a full back).
Personally as I said Grant was probably not the man for the job. However he would be a better shot than a crop of well known players recently gifted top jobs in Europe short term. Long/Medium term a manager can make a big difference through his signings and ability to feed ambition and desire to the players I am not sure Grant was the man for that job.
Chelsea could do a lot better with wasting a lot less money if they could a manager in with a long term vision to develop talent and players fans can identify with. Without that Chelsea may be able to buy success at great expense but a) it will taste sour b) it will not last.
Mon 26th May
Vaughan : No Genius
There are some who would have you believe that Michael Vaughan is a great captain. However as his increasingly quirky and negative leadership continues whatever qualities he once had are being hidden behind: negative decision making: obsession with words and phrases over reality - best XI, experience, settled side: field placings designed to make the captain look a genius at the expense of runs: in short he is repeating Fletcher's mantras without any real under standing of the goal - winning.
Our bowlers seem to try to bowl to narrow plans designed to reward coach and captain's analysis. They do so at the expense of actually trying to get people out via conventional means. The result is we try to bounce the opposition out. Our bowlers give away too many runs as fields are placed for mishits and therefore we have no control.
The worst part though is the extremely negative mindset that makes England: unable to bat out days: disliking being favoured to win: bowling for mistakes and weaknesses not to get the edge: becalmed batsmen who seem desperate to not get out.
Add to all this the cronyism whereby Strauss is rightly dropped then brought back to face the anaemic New Zealand attack (trust me only England are making them look good). Where someone who might be a threat to batters 3 thru 6, Shah, is left out for good egg Bopara who does not dream of being an international first 6 batsmen. Where despite his lifestyle, form with the bat and doubts how much bowling he can take only yet another injury prevented Flintoff from playing.
I'd argue the fault lies with the selectors down (or indeed the ECB for whom greed appears to be their over riding quality other than showing off their power and patronage). However the captain is clearly a negative. The coach merely his bag carrier. Replace both - for me Tom Moody and whoever as captain as he would bring agressive positive thinking which is much needed.
It is almost like the 2005 Ashes became an excuse to stop what was good: academy: development: positive cricket: accurate bowling: dropping poor performers. Then continuing and enhancing the negative: Vaughan's ego: Flintoff's soap opera: Harm-less-son: Coach who is the team puppet: no push on talent: living on past glories: one word and one liner wisdom used as knowledge and worse analysis: obsession with team spirit and drinkers at the expense of cricketing considerations: culture of better to lose with Flintoff and Collie than play Shah or Mahmouud or anyone who does not fit team ethos - drinkus lott-sus.
Sat 24th May
Grant : The Case Against
Now I resolutely stated that Chelsea should keep Avram Grant unless they were to get someone in and start a long term plan - that that person was suited to develop young players and a team ethos. In short they have been hoovering up young talent for years now at vast expense. Yet still need to pay 16 million for full backs and 15 million for a forward with a lousy record and style of play who happens to be a club cancer. Or 10 million for a Russian who may not even be in the country!
The point is where is all this talent Arnesan is supposedly developing? How will it get a airing? Surely Arnesan should be sacked? Or is it that no one has a clue and they make up statements that appear to explain the current circumstance and just meddle through at vast expense.
However there is a good argument to dump Grant. Surely only he and the BBC pundits thought Anelka was worth a third of his fee and half his wages to cover for 4 weeks. The suspicion he guided the signing of Malouda, Sidwell, Boulahrouz, C'Ash, Ben Haim and others over the last 2 years also shows that medium/long term a manager is only as good as his signings. Grant is likely a downward spiral on those.
The Chelsea team is ageing. Some players like Lampard will need paying to decline. Drogba leaving will leave only Sheva and Anelka neither worthy of a top half of the table side. Terry has arrested his decline but is not what he was. Ricardo Carvalho is becoming even more cynical. Cech is a percentage off what he was. Makelele is living on referee largesse. Essien is being wasted out wide. Ballack is 32 and not Lampard. Joe Cole is a nice complimentary piece - who I think needs to play centrally as at present he tends to drift out of the game. The rest I don't think really matter.
The point is that I see this season as being lucky in that I don't think they can bring in enough players to halt the decline which IMO is greater than this year's results suggest. Look at their goal difference compared to United. Unlike Arsenal they brought no young players through or even threatened to. Indeed their youth team was out played by Man City!
Without a plan Chelsea may as well save the money and keep Grant as to sack Grant and Ten Kate could well cost a fair amount as someone new would probably just want more expensive and wasteful signings.
What they need is some long term vision not to leak away fans and become nothing but a rich man's folly. They are already a laughing stock as their fans show their vulgarity proudly proclaiming their support for Putin's boy. Honestly is there anything more moronic than some spiv saying how it does not matter if Roman wastes more money? That some clown like Anelka strips 30 million in fees and wages over his true value and it is no problemo? Eventually even the most coarse person will be worn down by proclaiming such stupidity.
The alternative is to decide what they want to do. Choose between: Arnesan and the current folly: just be a buying team: become Arsenal with more to spend? Otherwise just taking some re-tread/ fashionable name like Rijkaard, Deschampes, Mancini, Laudrup et al leads nowhere but to spend a lot of money and cheapen any achievement it may bring.
Thu 22nd May
No More Glory Anymore
Overall not a bad game and after the 2nd half break extra time was not that static. However the managers both failed to throw the dice until extra time and that is probably why neither should become an international manager. United by not replacing the tiring allowed a Chelsea who had been all at sea first half to settle into a rhythm and gang tackle Ronaldo.
The real problem of course is that the game descended into the kind of childish spat that games between top teams in England do. Chelsea whine and whine until the whole game goes down hill. You wonder what these players dreamed of as kids? Glory? Fame? Infamy? Shame? Winning on Penalties? To look a pratt in front of 100s of millions of people?
Let us hope the real prize the Premiership never goes the way of other sports and this faux European Club Championship - decided by one game for TV not merit.
First half was remarkable for the poverty of Chelsea but when someone makes as good a runs as Lampard it can be an equaliser literally and figuratively.
How appropriate the opening goal after a miserable 25 minutes of full back play from Chelsea Brown should cross to allow Ronaldo to exploit Essien being all at sea out of position - Lamps did let him cross rather easily mind. Honestly Chelsea have bought and paid how many expensive full backs and have to play Essien out of position and Ashley Cole a small player who is unable to play the position to a high level. Even a decent home growner player like Brown can embarrass them!
It is hard to recall a team turning out at this level with such bad full backs. Brown and Silvestre were never this bad! Obviously money means nothing to Chelsea but surely these is little point adding and retaining more players like Paulo Ferreira (just given 5 more years not to play!), Ashley Cole (butt fucked by a holding player tonight at times), the remnants of Wayne Bridge (very unlucky not to start but they probably feared Ron's pace on him), Belletti who they would rather play Essien out of position and weaken themselves in 2 positions, Branislaw Ivanovic (10 million for non footballing reasons?)... Oh and Essien who replacing Makelele would upgrade them in 2 positions at once - is Belletti really worse than Makelele's remnants and Essien at Full Back?
Quite why has Malouda climbed past SWP and Kalou? He combines Drogba at his [Drog's] worst with a ball wasting could'nt care less at his [Malouda's] worst. Is it cos Roman paid 14 million and wages for him? Can no one say BTW Roman you wasted your money - should be nothing new after Veron, Johnson, Del Horno, Mutu, Ivanovic, Crespo, Paulo Ferreira, et al... Those are just the bad signings period never mind the poor value for money.
Ricardo Carvalho had a shocking first half and capped it with his usual cynicism. A cynical tackle is a yellow. A bad tackle is a yellow. A cynical bad tackle is a yellow.... 1+1=1. Or 0 with Mike Dean and Glen "Shop Lifter" Johnson.
After all that as with Chelsea against Liverpool the other week United unaccountably started to sit deep and suck Rooney back when they should be using Chelsea's lack of shape and pace as a platform. Essien obviously realised (or Grant/Ten Kate) by being in their half he defends better than sitting at right back inviting Ron and Roon forward.
United allowed Chelsea's antics to get the better of them and the game descended into a premiership style let's all whine at the referee. Maybe they [United] started too hard on a sapping pitch. They did not adapt either as Ronaldo faced a triple team with Ballack and Joe Cole covering him and Essien effectively not playing any position when defending - a complete waste of Essien. Ronaldo should have swapped wings or gone central or become a decoy.
Watching United in this game SAF probably could learn the lesson of Mourinho, before he became a clown riding Frank Lampard and the Drog to injury, to freshen up your attackers after 60->70 minutes. 2nd half United's players needed freshening up. Even if you take my view Tevez and Rooney need to be supplanted to be at best no2 and no3 United clearly need to have more forwards they trust to play.
Only in extra time in amongst knackered players did they finally gamble.
Mon 19th May
Dean Let The Game Stop
Ok it is probably a minority view but if teams are allowed to just foul opponents who get past them, no yellow cards, the opposition get reduced to high balls into a packed box. Is that what we really want to watch? Is that fair? How Tony Adams must have smiled at Dean being conned.
That is what happened first half in the cup final after Sol Campbell, Distin and Hreidarsson's loss of mobility and Glen Johnson's extreme short fall in defensive ability were exposed early by 2 balls over the top.
Johnson was allowed 4 fouls in the first half only 2 of which could generously be described as not cheating (deliberately bringing down an opponent that had bettered them). The last was a vicious ankle breaker. Yet the only yellow card before the game was in its late stage was for dissent, from Hreidarsson who obviously felt that not only should his team be allowed to foul but that they should get the free kicks as well....
Is this Dean's over familiarity with the premiership players? Or is this the FA trying to ensure that whilst the game suffers as a spectacle, becoming a series of free kicks and frustratingly little open play, there is no controversy? Or is it a sign that those leeches from a different era when Football was as popular as the flu who pundit on the BBC and Sky have succeeded in making cheating that is not diving acceptable?
For me a bad 11 v 11 game where the cheats win is not preferable to anything else despite what TV pundits say.
Sun 18th May
No Parade For United Or Chelsea : Police Wankers?
I have no idea whether it is petty revenge or the little men of the police trying to show some power but decisions to stop parades for successful football teams just smacks of stupidity.
Now no one who has their eyes open thinks the police are benign law enforcers. From the blood lust of Orgreave to the habitual and criminal leaking of information to the press they obviously have their own agenda.
However there is no reason to ban parades because a bunch of losing supporters trashed the city. Relatively parades are like a gang on ecstacy more in danger of hugging you to injury than beating you like the drunken rabble who turned out for Rangers.
Quite what moron/petty fascist/cunt made this decision is beyond me. I suggest that he is fired but this govt loves broken petty lying incompetent policemen as they have leverage over them. They can turn up and back govt calls for us to lock people up [intern] without trial for 88 days longer than the US sees fit under similar threat i.e. petty little men who don't respect the law anymore than Pete Doherty.
Thu 15th May
Scottish Fans Get English Disease?
No doubt many Bigots north of the border will be writing to various organs to disown the Rangers fans based on religion. However Celtic fans have led to planes being landing early and other acts of self importance from football fans who expect to be treated like lords and provided with big screens and allowed to wonder around in drunken stupors. So let's not indulge in ducks and drakes most big UK clubs carry an element best described by short words beginning with a capital 'C'.
The saddest aspect is that like the scum from Liverpool last year, in Athens for the CL final, thousands of Rangers fans travelled ticketless expecting to be looked after and given facilities. Seriously do they suppose that cities hold these games to look after 1000s of ticketless drunks who react to anything with violence?
At least unlike the dreck from Liverpool they did not seek to turn the stadium into a death trap by pushing in ticketless ruining other people's day just so they could boast in the pubs after they were there - BTW if I hear another whining scouser about Hillsborough and their failure to acknowledge their murderous intent in Heysel and Athens I'll just throw up.
These trash do not just come from those two clubs and no doubt Moscow will host 1000s of equally ignorant and self important tossers expecting to be looked after by a city that did not invite them. What I think it shows is that trying to be nice and provide areas for these scum to congregate is in the end a mistake. To expect them to show any respect for hosts is a vain hope.
So much for our minister offering Zero Tolerance to racism from the Russians. This country should get its own house in order. No other country has had 2 incidents like Greece and Manchester in years. No other country's people are weak minded enough to travel to someone else's city just to be a liability and get pissed.
Wed 14th May
When Can We Get Zero Tolerance Of Stupidity?
So the Sports Minister in the style of Gordon Clown, His leader, says there will be zero tolerance of racism tomorrow at Old Trafford. Now zero tolerance is a phrase nearly as dumb and discredited as racism. It is a phrase used by moronic polarising politicians with the intellectual depth of a nano metre. Seriously is he going to lie detect them to see if they have any kind of racist thought? Now that would be zero tolerance?
Like Brown, who against all advice re-classified cannabis despite consumption falling whilst our troops preside over a record opium crop, the minister is just being a clown to ironically sound big. Are we really going to mass round up Russians with 40000 plus Britains heading to Moscow with our accusations over Polonium 210 ringing in their ears for the Champions League final? Is the Pope a Nazi? Sorry Protestant! Not sure what the answer to the slip of the keyboard is.
The UK govt is a shower jumping from bandwagon to bandwagon looking for powerless people or groups to sound big and in control over something as Iraq, Afghanistan, PFI and the economy reduce their achievements to nothing.
Mon 12th May
Bruce and Grant Managers of the Year
On Setanta the commentators tried to ratchet up Hodgson's performance but as usual his team was the one who played with nothing to lose for much of their incredible run - see Bolton this and West Ham last year. Whilst it deserves praise it was not that great. Indeed arguably Fulham were not in relegation position when Hodgson took over.
Steve Bruce's team were nearly title deciders either way with a decent performance today in the face of Bennett bottling a 2nd yellow for the Prince and giving a ludicrous penalty. The point is that Wigan were not involved in any way shape or form with relegation and well done to Bruce who I have never rated as a manager.
Whilst Sir Alex's side rode Ronaldo's goal avalanche the reason they won the title in the end was indicative of why they should have won it easily with their vastly superior goal difference.
Whereas Grant took Chelsea to the last game in the face of: an ageing team, some clowns like me predicted doom: media implying he was a clown: injuries to talisman Lampard: moody Drog: African Cup of Nations: moderate start bequeathed to him: instant loss at Old Trafford to start reign: Shadow of an admittedly broken Mourinho: fan hostility: a wobbling Cech. This was a hell of an achievement before considering he got them to the Champions League final. The future may not be that rosy as one cannot help feel United were near the bottom and Chelsea the top of their points likelihoods but hey we can only go on what the table tells us.
At least player of the year was not one for any split decisions i.e. if your view is anyone but Ronaldo please cover yourself in petrol and strike a match!
Sun 11th May
Junior Witter : At The End Of The Day A Loser
So much for years of talk about how he would easily beat a short strong fighter. Well he fought a more size challenged fighter than Hatton and it was only close as he nicked rounds. To be honest it has been hard to assess the Bitter one prior. However for all his posing and his power he is not a great fighter and arguably has done well to have done as well as he has done with so little.
Honestly he may now get his fight with Hatton although it will be essentially meaningless. He will get a lot less money for it mind and Hatton will take it as a final pay day knowing Bitter is not as good as feared.
Thu 8th May
Flintstone : I Am More Important Than You Plebs
If winter 06/07 had not convinced you for all his inane niceness Andrew Flintoff thought he was deserving of more than the next man then his being caught doing near 90 in a 50 zone confirms it. I have no beef he got off, as long as he was sober at least. My real beef with people like this is they do it in the first place.
It has become clear that the Ashes team rather than feeling entitled to challenge for no 1 in the world after the '05 Ashes they just feel entitled.
It's not just Flintstone listen to Vaughan talk on others and himself and his self belief in a side as poor as England and as poor a leader as he seems at present on the field borders on the delusional.
Mon 5th May
Walcott - Is It Cos I Is English?
I don't know if it reflects that Walcott does not know how to play football, in common with many English players who only seem to cope in rigid systems. Or because of something more sinister. However can someone explain why Arsenal would pass to Eboue constantly when the lad appears whilst earnest to have no ability to actually play football. All while Walcott stood on the left standing like guilty school boy (the standing may explain it).
When Theo went right and Traore left the ball found the other kid more than Walcott! I suspect the real reason is that Walcott has no idea that he has to link with the team and make runs. Too many young English players seem to want the team built around them and when they realise it is not that way it is too late and their ceiling has come down a fair way - see Wayne Rooney.
I just wonder if this season will mark a high water mark for Moyes Everton as they appear to have no class. they can beat anyone below and be tough to beat but have been beaten by all the top 4 at home. Arguably a one dimensional movement free goal scorer like Yakubu was a good signing only in entrenching them as dour side that looks to score 1 and it be enough.
Then again credit to Moyes who seems to now have Everton consistently around 5th and challenging for Europe.
Sad to see Lehmann leave mind. I know many prompted by the macho ex player pundits complain about the likes of The Drog and Lehmann but until either plays like the likes of Lucas Neill, Ben Thatcher, Joey Barton, Eboue, Mad Martie Taylor et al I am happy to have their comedy routines. Frankly any club with an English keeper would get an upgrade to get the German.
Fri 2nd May
Grant Can't Win The Big Ones?
OK, Avram Grant has not won a trophy but he's 3 from 4 against the rest of the big 4 recently... Indeed he's doing better than the delusional remnants of Jose Mourinho did.
Sure it all goes to show no one is a loser and managers can only be judged over the piece with their own players brought in.
Indeed the manager I would question is Rafa who continues to leak money to stand still. Indeed he is a brain cramp [by Milan] from being a total failure. Indeed it is only when spiv like scum on his board attacked him he was able to rebound as some sort of hero (he is not).
Indeed consider that when he could have any input and chose tactics his team were 3-0 down in Istanbul and the real question with evidence is can Rafa win the big ones? Can Rafa mount the kind of resurrection from a poor start by someone else Avram Grant has over seen.
Hopefully the steady job that Grant has done will encourage owners to think of managers who are not 100% full of themselves with giant egos that sour even their triumphs. Can you imagine how Mourinho would have made Frank Lampard's night his own? How he would have stolen the limelight from a player fresh late season and able to show his true form in a big game?
Indeed Lampard's prior bad rep shows the ignorance of fans and their love of people who keep fresh by having lots of games off. Make no mistake only Henry and Ronaldo could top Lampard over the recent period and Henry may be only arguable and the way he declined into self importance is not something I see happening to Frank Lampard - on the pitch at least, off all bets are off with all the ego generation.
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