Bad Refs and Other Stinkers
One month into the new season and no prizes for guessing which team tops the EPL table. Chelsea are not committed to playing free-flowing football like Arsenal or entertaining & attacking game like ManU does...they just go for the points. One goal and they win the game in some style - sitting back, defending deep and stifling the opponents' attack. Can't expect much more from a team playing 4 central midfielders!
Anyway, looks like ManU again flattered to deceive. After winning 4 in a row, they lost at home to the Gunners and then drew at Reading. They still are at number two and have a few points more than the Gunners and the Kops, their other main rivals.
Too early to say this but I think the Red Devils, Gunners and the Kops have to improve their consistency drastically if the title race is to gonna go down to the wire.
Some interesting observations till now...
Ref Trouble
The quality of refereeing seem to go down every season. Refs such as Steve Bennett still referee at the top division, elbowing still goes unpunished, inconsistencies in 'handling the ball' decisions, laughable penalty decisions, and offside controversies.
Jose's Eleven
Mourinho finally succumbs to the pressure of changing his formation to accomodate his superstars into the playing eleven. Makalele, Essien, Lampard and Ballack in the midfield...but with Sheva so out of form (as many of you had predicted!), I guess it's just a matter of time before he finds himself on the bench. Btw, Gallas is scoring goals for Arsenal whereas Cole, the best LB in the world, looks ill at ease in his new club!
Boo Hoo
The constant booing from rival fans seems to have made Ronaldo an entirely different player. He has been one of the best player in the league along with Giggs and defenders have already expressed their unhappiness at facing him on the pitch. More consistency, more goals, and of course the constant booing has made Ronaldo much more determined. And that's bad news for the defenders.
Tinker Stinker
Liverpool manager has not fielded the same team for 93 games in succession now...and they used to call Ranieri the tinkerman!
Rumble on
Why do managers seem to say the same things during the post match talk? Fergie has been singing in praise of Ronaldo saying how good he is and Wenger keeps claiming there is lot of potential in his Arsenal squad. I think I'd rather opt for Mourinho's remarks "Levski Sofia away is tougher than playing Barca"...that guy is getting funnier by the day!
posted by Lucas @ 10:52 AM
8 Comments:
Spoken like a true Manu fan. :) Entertaining and attacking while gunners get free-flowing. Come on ..you can do better.
Coming to Ronaldo..he is AWESOME.His attitude though has been a real stinker and hope he works on that. I think he will be World Player of the year, European player...the whole lot within the next 3 years.At the moment he is better than Rooney and Cesc.
Have to say, not sure Manchester United fall under the category of "attacking" in any way shape or form in the last 2 matches. Those were the ones I caught, so I can't talk about any of the others before that. Starting two defensive midfielders (against Reading it was Carrick and Fletcher; against Benfica it was Carrick and O'Shea) is not the way to "attack." I also wouldn't call either of those games entertaining. The Reading match once ManU scored and the subs were put on, but please, before that the point was to slow play down.
Ronaldo is the only player on ManU who attacks, who plays a free-flowing game and that's not good enough to consider the whole team forward-minded. Against Benfica the formation altered to play an almost vertical midfield three (that is, O'Shea-Carrick-Scholes playing one in front of the other), but that didn't translate to any attempts on goal. They got a counterattacking goal, for crying out loud!
As for Chelsea, they're good this year. I hate saying that, too. Arsenal seem to be finding their feet and could become a real force soon; Liverpool too if they continue this run of scoring, just not sure they can (but if this is what tinkering gets you, well, then yeah, "rumble on".
Players like Giggs, Neville, Rooney and Ronaldo play with their hearts rather than their minds. From that angle you can say, United are attacking.
But if the unit is taken as a whole, I have every freedom to pick out Newcastle as an attacking team. :-)Euphemism for their pathetic defending, I know.
Attacking teams,Barca is at the top. Then maybe you can say Arsenal. But grinding out results, Chelsea has overtaken Juve and Milan. Real can do well to come close.
ManU has always remained one of the best attacking teams in EPL...agree with you though that last few games, they haven't played with enough zeal...we have to blame Fergie here and his tactics...what is he doing with Rooney playing him on the left? Hopefully, things can get back to normal when Giggs comes back. And hopefully, back to 4-4-2!
Arsenal, no doubt is one of the most attractive teams to watch. i do not disapprove of that fact!
Btw, the first half against Benfica was one of the most appalling displays by ManU...no shape to the team at all. Problem is that there is no replacement for Giggs or Ruud or Keane....this has affected the team.
Barca is the best right now....but Eto'o is out for 3 months...we have to see how they cope without him...hopefully Saviola will have his chance to prove Rijkaard wrong.
To be fair to Fergie, he doesnt have a good enough squad.I am not convinced that players like Fletcher, O shea are good enough for a Manu team. Amongst the top few sides in England, Manu have the leanest squad in terms of quantity and if i may say..quality. There are your Roo,Ronaldo,Rio,giggs,scholes (a couple more maybe) etc. but then there is a huge gap after that.
And why on earth do they find it so tough to beat lesser teams?
BTW, Eto'o is out for upto 5 months now. He will now have to miss both games against chelsea and the El classico.Gudjohnsen will get his chances too, u feel.
It's happened before last season, and it's happened again. ManU has obviously suffered a lack of form without Ruud and Giggs, just as last season without Keano. And quality? Quality is nothing when Rooney and Scholes aren't in the pink of health. I'd say all we got to do is wait.
I do agree that Etoo's absence would prove vital for others to make their mark. Saviola - yes. Gudjohnsen - yes. Still, at the end of the day it boils down to whether both of them seize the opportunities well. Of course, I wish both of them luck in their new-found endeavours.
I'd be happy for Saviola. 'The Rabbit' has quite a number of tricks up his sleeve and he's still as popular as he was when burly Kluivert was leading the Barca front line as per Sid Lowe.
Chance for another Ex-Chelsea player, Gudjohnsen to show their imbecile boss on what he has missed. Ashley Cole seriously fits Chelsea. Chelsea denigrated a faithful, thoroughly professional, underpaid Gallas. Cashley found a difference of 5 grand too hard to swallow and went on to launch a tirade against all his ex-players. And Wenger only wished him all the best inspite of all the trouble he was causing. Just a couple more players like Cashley and the Empire will come crashing down.
I agree with Sriskandh...apart from 5-6 guys, the rest of the squad is often found wanting in quality. Fergie has to realize Fletcher and O'shea are no good. I hope he buys a couple of good players this winter transfer window.
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