Why Yes, It Is A Slow Day

In the absence of a WAG scandal or some sort of witch doctor cursing African clubs, we're at a bit of a loss until the USA v. Mexico match (which we will be liveblogging).

But it's the interlull—as coined by either the Spoiler or the Arseblogger. International friendlies, FA Cup ties, and no Prem for almost a couple of weeks still (save for the United game in hand v. Fulham). Anyway, Italy and Brazil did square off yesterday at the Emirates with the South Americans winning 2-0.

Italy did have two goals disallowed, so it wasn't as bad as the score sheet looks. In fact Luca Toni missed a couple of near sitters by himself aside from the one called back because he more of less caught the ball in his arms to settle it. Fabio Grosso's disallowed goal in the 3rd or 4th was a borderline offside.

The above is probably the highlight of the match. Robinho schools half the Italian defense with a double-stepover cutback before beating Buffon. It was pretty sweet. Although Pirlo should probably get his ass kicked by Lippi for being so nonchalant in taking the ball out of the Eye-tals end.

Two other quick observations from the match:

A) Arsenal should try to enlist as many Brazilian fans as possible. The Emirates was rocking in a way it hasn't all season. Of course there was also scoring in this match not to mention competent Brazilians on the pitch.

B) Joga Bonita might be coming back. The Brazilians played loose and flowing football, with cheeky passes that really left the Italians looking stupid at times. They were nothing at all like the team that sucked in Germany in 06. The other goal, a one touch feed give-and-go with Robinho, Ronaldinho, and Elano was also rather pleasant to look at.

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Quick Throw: Robinho Should Have Signed With Manchester United

Late breaking news, but it appears Robinho may have signed with the wrong Manchester football club, you know the club that throws parties where girls are allegedly raped but the players receive no punishment, yeah that one. Mr. I-want-to-visit-home-so-I-am-walking-out has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault stemming resulting from an alleged attack in a Leeds nightclub.

Ah yes, the nightclub, the downfall of many footballers.

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Well It's Not Like They Were Going to Put 50 People on the Roster

Linked with transfer targets Villa, Buffon, Fabragas, Tevez, and Jesus (great left footed shot, the Messiah), Manchester Citeh is making room at the Middle Eastlands for its drastically diminished transfer target estimations by shipping out—or attmepting to ship out—three malcontents.

And by 'malcontents' we mean people who may or may not want to see manager Mark Hughes take a mudshark up the pooper.

From Al Guardian:

Mark Hughes has identified a small but influential group of Manchester City players he fears are trying to lead a dressing-room mutiny against him. There has already been one meeting at which the ringleaders shared their grievances, and a fringe player has complained about Hughes to the club's executive chairman, Garry Cook.

The coup plotters? Two Brazilians and a Jew.

So, Mark Hughes is an anti-semite, eh. Actually he's just stupid.

That's not our assessment, that's merely an inference based on the fact that his squad is sitting 2 points from safety. But he's trying to move Jo, Elano, and Ben Haim, which also makes him kind of stupid.

Okay, if they are going to bring in around £100M in transfers in January, then some bodies have to go. Ben Haim has been offered to Blackburn as part of the Santa Cruz deal. That's no biggie. He's more than serviceable, but to get Santa Cruz that's an easy sacrifice.

But cutting the Brazilians loose? It's no secret that Hughes and Elano aren't bosom buddies—but the image of them in drag does make me giggle—but Elano was maybe one of the 5-7 best attacking mids in the Prem last season. Plus, if the Abu Dhabi owners want to continue to bring in Brazilians, it might help to keep some others around. Robinho barely knows that he's there to begin with, and seems to get the fuck out of there any chance he can. So, not the wisest move from a recruiting standpoint, but when you can pay players by the truckload, maybe that matters less.

In any event, this might all be desperate attempts by Hughes to stave off the inevitable: his getting sacked. Again, the team is just a couple of point from safety (but to be fair so is about half the table) and got humiliated in an FA Cup match 3-0 against Nottingham Forrest over the weekend.

As the Guardian article points out: "Yet Hughes's problems can be gauged by the fact that one of the players who was involved in Saturday's game was seen laughing and joking in the showers directly afterwards."

Bet it was the Jew. Oh, and Mark, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

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Um...Yeah?

Manchester City is destroying Hull City 4-0 at halftime. Felipe Caicedo (who?) has a brace as well as Robinho. There are two things that stick out from this match so far. The first is the video below of Robinho's goal celebration after his first goal. I don't know how to describe it, but it seems to be a mix of modern interpretive dance, break dancing, and samba with a porno video end flourish. See for yourself below.

The second is Hull City manager Phil Brown's blow dryer treatment of his team at halftime. ON THE FIELD. He sat the boys down like a bunch of teenagers and let them have it in front of all the fans. It really looked like a high school halftime where the team just went off to the side. Hopefully video coming soon.

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Robbo Keeping It Real.

A while ago I accused Man City's speedy Brazilian goal banger of being 'tight' and a 'penny pincher' after he lined up for 25 minutes to save some money in a department store. It seems that maybe I was wrong and Robinho is UNLIKE every other superstar footballer. Intrigued?

How refreshing... Robinho takes the bus. THE BUS.

But not only does he take the bus, he takes his bird on the bus. The Daily Mail reports that the Brazilian has been on regular shopping trips with his missus to the Trafford center in Manchester by public transport. How down to earth, how... incredibly normal.

In a world of fancy cars, chauffeurs, expensive clothes and overpriced luxuries, a story that focuses on the highest-paid footballer in England being fiscally responsible. Lets hope that 'keeping it real' becomes a trend in the football world.

I can see it now...Ronaldo shopping at H&M. Defoe riding a bike to training in Sketchers. Lampard strap-hanging on the Circle line home, Bellamy driving a Ford Fiesta for a meal at TGI Friday's. Somehow I think that Robinho will be alone with his real world sensibilities.

Robinho, here at UF we take our hats off to you sir. Robinho ladies and gentlemen... keeping it real.
-Bigus

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30 Goals... Wright? Bolton breathe deeply.

Former Arsenal net banger Ian Wright says Man City's Brazilian superstar Robinho can score 30 goals this season. He also said that Man City would have no trouble at the Reebok today. Man City lost 2-0 to Bolton earlier and Robinho didn't really get a sniff. So if the Brazilian is to meet his self imposed target of 30 he has some catching up to do.





If Robinho is to score 30 goals this season he will need 24 more. With 27 Premier League games left, 30 Prem goals would require nearly one every game. In fact an average of 0.8 goals a game is what's needed. Based on Man City's performance today I should think that THAT target is the stuff of fantasy. Quite frankly, if you march into the toughest league and declare you will score 30 goals, then you deserve to look a pratt on the last day of the season. Also as the games wear on it looks as if Robinho is being found out. Man City will certainly need to play more like a team instead of relying on the Brazilians one man show to win games. Man City have won ONE of their last five games.

Bolton's victory this afternoon was deserved but the goals were the product of some absolutely shocking defensive lapses. Ricardo Gardner did the damage on 77 mins as he was left unmarked to find an empty net before Richard Dunne sealed his teams fate, turning in Gardners cross from the left and handing Bolton 3 points that keep them outside of the bottom three. Gary Megson also gets to keep his job for another week.

-Bigus

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It's your round Robo... hey, where'd he go?

Footballers, they are flashier than the northern lights at times. Driving around in their Ferarri's, strutting down the street in those expensive clothes. But wait: one of them likes to save money on his shopping and keep those pennies tucked away, even if it means lining up for TWENTY FIVE minutes!

According to the Daily Mirror , one Robinho was out shopping in Harvey Nic's the other day and spent 700 quid on some new togs! Nothing unusual there you say, footballers, pfft. Probably dropped that lot on a pair of undies with brown checks on 'em (not the kind Kelly Pavlik was wearing last Saturday night after his run in with Bernard Hopkins).

Not so! No frivolous spending here, Robinho has a keen eye for a bargain and spotted that if he applied for a store card he could save a whopping 50% on his fancy pants. Wowser. According to the Mirror the speedy forward stood in line for 25 minutes to seal the deal, 'bout as much time as he needed in the second half to bang away his second and third goals against Stoke this weekend.

Could Robinho be nothing but the tight bloke down the pub who sneaks off to the lavvy when it's his turn? Maybe Robinho is feeling the pinch of the impending credit crunch. 180,000 bucks a week only goes so far right?

- Bigus.

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Manchester? No..Wait... What?

Robinho may have signed as number '10' but he doesn't appear to know where...

During his first interview after a record breaking 32 million quid transfer from Real Madrid, the temperamental Brazilian looked back at the deadline day craziness that brought him to Man City and stated that it was "a great proposal" that led him to join "Chelsea!"

A Freudian slip?


So just why did Robinho join Manchester City instead of Chelsea? Could it be that City's new owners, the consortium known as Abu Dhabi United, offered him 160,000 pounds a week? Yep you read that right.

I'll repeat it for effect in a different currency... 300,000 US dollars a week. Hot diggity dog! That's a nice payday. In fact that makes him the TOP earner in the Premier League.

So was the mention of Chelsea just a slip or did he really want to join the Blues?

He says that he really did, but...because "it was the only club to have made a formal offer". Robinho's mother, Marina De-Souza, thinks that her son was genuinely confused as to his destination on Monday night...

"I don't think that Robinho even knew what was happening but if it's best for him, then so be it - I just hope he is happy in England."-

I guess money talks and Robinho walks. As for Chelsea, it appears that the Robinho shirt fiasco WAS a key issue in Real's determination to deal with City instead of them. Robinho himself noted its importance today as he arrived in Brazil to train ahead of this weekends World Cup qualifiers with Chile and Bolivia:

"Real did not like Chelsea shirts with my name on being sold before sorting out the negotiations."

Ironically Chelsea fans will get a glimpse at what they might be missing as Robinho is set to make his Premiership debut for Man City against Roman's Blues on Sept 13th.

During today's press call with Brazil, Robinho also addressed the criticism he has received from legend Pele over leaving Real Madrid, apparently, for "financial reasons". Robinho responded: "I think that only someone who suffered as I suffered in Real Madrid may have something to say on this."

If being used as a make-weight in a deal that would see you sent to Old Trafford (Robinho was offered as part of a deal to send Ronaldo to Madrid) to earn a fortune as a Manchester United player is suffering, then I would love to hear his definition of joy.

This is "suffering"... this too!

OK, so Man City fans have ordered their new shirts and Robinho has opened his NatWest account ..I'll sign off for today with a look at what the City of Manchester can expect to see from Robinho over the coming months...



WOWSER...

-Bigus.

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