Yeah, we're still down in the gutter, but Hot Damn, I think I can see me some stars! Harry Hotspur has been on board just four days and already a calm has come about the club. Is this normalcy? The manager actually speaking to the press for a couple minutes after the match. Glory! David Bentley on the right? Audere est Facere! Shirt numbers for the Ramos Five! The Redknapp Revolt!
I haven't been this excited since... oh dear.
False Dawn? It was not eight months ago that Spurs fans, journos, and impartial observers off all stripes were fairly convinced that Ramos had us headed for big things. The Mourinho/Wenger comparisons, fanciful even at the time, were propped up by that magical Carling Cup run.
I maintain that Ramos was the best man to lead the team against Chelsea at Wembley, and for that alone all Spurs fans should wish the wispy Spaniard safe travels home. (Comolli: Drive your Peugeot into a ditch.)
But the world seemed to conspire against him after that brilliant February night. League and UEFA Cup dreams died grisly deaths (though, if Jenas knocks home his PK in Eindhoven... ugh) and by the time Keane and Berbatov had defected the team was a shambles. That's not to say some of us weren't complicit in this mass pre-season delusion, but sitting here, now, the absurdity is obvious.
So with Redknapp now in charge, Spurs have a proven communicator. A fella known for building his players up-- a welcome change from a guy who quite literally stripped some of them down. As for results? Lesson learned. Let's just say it can't get much worse.
Arsenal tomorrow. Take something there and we might be onto something...
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Dispatches from the Relegation Zone: Redknapp Revolt Edition!
Love your club over the king? This way to jail.
FC Barcelona has some dedicated fans, but I think Yassine Belassal is the strongest one yet. He's looking at jail time for his expression of love for the blaugrana.
In Morocco, the phrase "God, The Nation, The King" is a common expression, for it encapsulates the three things all Moroccans must love and respect. It's rare for people to speak out openly against the current monarch, King Mohamed VI, but those that have end up in jail, and young Mr. Belassal has recently joined them.
Yassine, an 18-year-old schoolboy, came into the classroom and altered the phrase written on the blackboard to read "God, The Nation, Barcelona", and it became so much more than detention and extra homework.
It is unclear whether the court felt the problem was about the football club or the inference against the king, but Yassine is currently sitting in jail awaiting resolution. Barcelona have appointed a lawyer to look into the legal fine print to see whether the boy can be helped under the letter of Moroccan law.
Based on the precedent set earlier this year, it's not looking good -- Fouad Mourtada was jailed for 3 years after creating a spoof Facebook profile for the King's brother. A blogger was also jailed in 2008 for speaking out against the king on his website, but he was released and cleared upon appeal, giving some hope to Belassal and his family.
So to summarize: love your club, but don't love it like this in a country that's still coming round to the 21st century. I hope this one works out in the end.
Read more on "Love your club over the king? This way to jail."...
Shun-Celtic Cashamora
Celtic Midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura is set to quit Scotland FOR JAPAN at just 30 years old. Join me to speculate why, after the jump.
Nakamura currently has a ankle injury that is strapped before every game and the Japanese middy fears that his career could end short if he continues to play in the wet conditions that Scotland offers him weekly. Of course we all know that it doesn't rain in Japan.
But it will this week! Why would he be playing injured? Surely Celtic would rather have a fit Shunsuke, no? Even with the expense of a lay-off for treatment?
So is the weather the real reason or does Shunsuke want out Parkhead? Could the team in his desired destination be offering him lots of money? Nothing screams ambition like a move to the Yokohama Morino's right?"I want to play football for a long time but at the moment my right ankle is giving me problems. I have to get it heavily strapped before every game I play in. I want to be the best I can be and I'm not able to do that right now. It is frustrating."
- Nakamura yesterday.
Oh, so he wants to be the best he can be! Then the J-League is the right place. After all, Gary Lineker thought so didn't he? When Nagoya Grampus Eight offered him a handsome salary and gave Tottenham 5 million smackers back in 1991. Nothing like a final pay day to bring out the bullshit, regardless of the language it's spoken in.
-Bigus.
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.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday Backpasses: Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh
When did British fans get so uptight? I can only imagine how much they would cry as away fans at a KU football game.
Wayne Rooney makes Everton fans cry by kissing his Manchester United badge [Soccernet]
Celtic fans continue to get wound up by a "Famine Song" [BBC]
Anyway, other stuff below.
Ljungberg to Seattle. Book it. Done [Soccernet]
Sucks to be a female Colombian U-17 selection [Oregon Live]
MLS three-fer:
ESPN hates MLS [Soccer America]
Greg Lalas writes as Beckham's jilted bride. "No, it's okay. He's an ass. I hope he goes. Good Riddance. Don't show your face around here anymore! *breaks into sobs*" [SI]
Greg Lalas on MLS positions within the EPL (SI,B!) [Goal.com]
And, finally:
If you haven't seen it, go check out Kieran Richardson's goal against Newcastle. Then come back and let us know what expletives flew out of your mouth when you watched it [101 Great Goals]
If Your Blog Alias Is 'Wandering Bear' Do Not Read This Post
Or if you are a Liverpool fan in general, you might want to avoid the jump. Really, because, even though it might seem like I'm piling on, I'm not. That's why I'm giving you fair warning.
You're a Red and you're on Cloud 9? Great. Stay there, because after the jump you'll be no better than Cloud 8. I'm not kiddding. Stop. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Anyone else who wants to see something mildly amusing. Click away.
So after Arsenal nearly shat the bed yet again—and yes, they've only lost twice this season, but it was to Hull and Fulham and they also gave up early soft goals against Bolton and Everton to cut out their work—on Saturday against the Hammers, I went perusing the Web of World Wideness to read about the match. I came across a wire service account—who exactly it was, I don't know as it's uncredited, but they feed Soccernet, The Irish Times, The Daily Mail, ITV Sport, and a host of other places—with this opening paragraph: Arsenal capitalised on a poor weekend for title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United to secure maximum points from a hard-fought 2-0 win at West Ham.
Ouch. Liverpool's win at Stamford Bridge was barely two hours cold and some poor stringer didn't think they were a title contender even though they were, you know, on top of the table.
FAIL!
So lost in all of the hoopla this weekend—the quarter-season title tilt in the EPL, Ramos out at Spurs, and a nutty Atlético Madrid league match for the third straight week—was the fact that MLS' regular season ended yesterday.
What's not as interesting as who finished first (congrats to Sigi and the Crew) is who finished last. Yes, it was the LA Galaxy. Or at least the rest of the legitimate soccer-loving world thinks so. Here's the MLS table from the Guardian. Notice the Galaxy in last place with the fewest points and the worst goal difference.
Compare that with MLS' own official table. See, the Galaxy aren't the worst team in the league. They still suck and are missing the playoffs again, but at least they are looking down on someone.
MLS is actually right. Go figure that the league would get their own standings correct. The tie-breakers can be found here; and sure enough in this cockamamie league, the first tie-breaker isn't goal difference, but head-to-head results. The Galaxy beat San Jose 2 of 3, so they get the pwnage. "Woo! We're only thirteenth." Congrats.
The funny part (to me anyway) isn't that the Guardian is wrong, but that it doesn't even occur to them that MLS would use something beside goal difference as the first tie breaker (it actually doesn't occur to them that they would use anything besides a single table either). But the Guardian isn't alone. On Fox Soccer Report last night (October 26), when they put up the Western Conference standings, they too had the Galaxy in DFL. On 33 points. Behind San Jose on goal difference.
Two more things. The man who was going to bring soccer to the American masses? His regular season finale wasn't even broadcast in the native tongue. No, not Algonquin or Cherokee or any of the like but the only outlet showing the match yesterday was Telefutura (on my non-HD TV anyway, I don't know if HDNET was running it). That's doubly embarrassing when you think it might be Becks' last game with the Galaxy.
There is the rumored loan to AC Milan. There is also the rumor that Milan would be cool with making that loan permanent. Now the latter seems very unlikely as the former is seemingly slightly less likely than it did just last Friday. But, it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Just a thought: Why? Clearly, Milan would do it to sell a boatload of Beckham jerseys. And Beckham wants to do it to stay on Capello's radar for England's national team as things creep toward South Africa in 2010 and he creeps toward Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton. But Kaka, Gattuso, Flamini (dead to me), Ronaldinho, Pirlo... shit, Becks is in the running with Seedorf and Ambrosini to see who's the sixth best midfielder on that squad.
And it's not like they can sub him in and out for dead ball situations (sub in sure, but that means he really only valuable late in matches when Milan is trailing).
So Becks continually reaffirms his commitment to the Galaxy but if he didn't come back, would it really surprise anyone? The Galaxy have already made their money back in spades (probably... remember the $50M a year figure was based on his cut of contingent revenues and his straight salary was $5.5 in base), and might be better served by getting on with rebuilding the team. And Beckham might be better served getting on with his self-serving national team ambitions. He's not the player he was. If Milan truly want him, then why wouldn't the Galaxy say "Arrivederci"?
[Update: Ha ha Soccernet, too]
Phew
Give me a while to calm myself. Did that really happen yesterday?
The short and sweet answer is "Yes, it happened and deservedly so." While I've fallen off the Benitez bandwagon several times in recent months, he's finally shown he can get it done against those big clubs that traditionally embarrass and humiliate us. His tactics were king. His players were heroic.
I need to lie down again. I will go through this game later, much to your disdain. After all, I get the overwhelming impression that people are a lot more tolerant of Liverpool when they're losing and continually finishing fourth. This year, it's different. Maybe second!
MOTD highlights below the jump. My gushing rhetoric will follow later on.
Seriously, we just beat Chelsea. At home. First time in 86 games that anyone has done that.
Watch Chelsea v Liverpool in News Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ligue 1 Weekend Review
This week's matches had it all: goals galore, penalty kicks, plenty of cards, and a heated competition for the "Goal-scorer to get carded" award. The big result goes to Paris Saint-Germain, who knocked off L'OM and prevented them from going top of the table.
Saturday, October 25th:
Auxerre 0-0 Lyon - Continuing their recent poor run of form (relative to their past performance, at least), Lyon were unable to take more than 1 point from Auxerre. Despite taking 17 shots and having 11 corner kicks to work with, Lyon only managed to put one shot on goal. In the 8th minute, Keita chipped Auxerre GK Riou but the shot hit the crossbar and went over. After that it was all Auxerre, all the time and Lyon GK Vercoutre (filling in for Hugo Lloris who was out with a throat infection) was kept busy. Auxerre's best chance came in the 64th minute, but Jelen hit the post from 12 yards out.
Le Havre 2-1 Valenciennes - With this win, Le Havre move ahead of Valenciennes at the bottom of the table, providing them with some hope of avoiding relegation. Valenciennes opened the scoring in the 1st minute when Bangoura picked off a poor clearance and sent the ball into Pieroni, who sent his bicycle kick into the goal. Lesage equalized in the 24th minute, and Pieroni almost put Valenciennes back on top right before the half. Lesage then continued his good form early in the second half, when he dribbled through the defense and took a scorching shot that bounced in front of Valenciennes GK Penneteau and went in. Pujol almost equalized again for Valenciennes, but his shot hit the crossbar. Minutes later Pujol volleyed a shot for their final chance, but Havre GK Revault made a brilliant save to preserve the 3 points.
Lille 2-2 Caen - Lille outshot Caen 18-8 (5-4 shots on goal) and outfouled them 29-17, but it was not enough for the win. Lille took most of their shots from distance, and the danger came entirely from Cabaye (who hit the crossbar once and placed a second shot inches over the same) and Obraniak (who had a brace on goals in the 9th and 39th minutes). Caen did their work in the second half, with Ben Khalfallah assisting on goals to Seube (46th minute) and Savidan (64th minute). Obraniak almost secured the 3 points in injury time with what would have been his hat-trick goal, but Caen GK Plante made a brilliant save.
Lorient 3-0 Nantes - In a match dominated by Lorient, the latter club got their second win of the season. They started the pressure in the 8th minute with a free-kick from Abriel, followed shortly by a diving header from Cicini which required a great save from Nantes GK Alonso. Abriel also forced Alonso into wonderful saves on 2 shots in quick succession, and he finally broke through in the 31st minute. To complete his day, Abriel assisted on the other 2 goals, to Morel in the 55th minute and Gamerio in the 77th minute.
Nice 2-2 Bordeaux - Bordeaux out-shot and out-fouled Nice, but the clubs could only play to a tie after some strange activity on the pitch. The action was end-to-end, and started with a brilliant free-kick from 30 yards in the 10th minute by Wendel which beat Nice GK Ospina. Cavenaghi continued the pressure, and Ospina made a great save in the 15th minute to avoid going down 2-0. Fae almost equalized for Nice, but his shot was blasted off the crossbar. Bordeaux finally got their second goal in the 58th minute when Placente earned a PK and Cavenaghi calmly stepped up to slot it home. Ospina kept Nice in the game with saves on Olerton and Chamakh in the 70th minute, and Nice pulled 1 goal back in the 84th minute when Mouloungui put in a cracking header. The comeback was complete in injury time when Ducasse was called for a handball in the box and Remy scored on the resulting PK in the 93rd minute. Cavenaghi wins this week's "Goal-scorer to get carded" award due to pulling off the difficult feat of being yellow-carded in the 58th minute, the same minute in which he scored on his PK.
Rennes 2-2 Le Mans - In an extremely even match that saw 5-4 shots on goal, 14-14 fouls, and 8-6 corner kicks, it was only natural that the end result was a draw. Gervinho opened the scoring, putting Le Mans ahead in the 11th minute, but Briand equalized in the 15th minute when he lobbed Le Mans GK Pele. Le Mans then upped the pressure, with Cerdon forcing Rennes GK Douchez into a difficult save in the 26th minute. The pressure paid off in the 34th minute when Mangane was called for a handball in the box and Coutadeur scored on the resulting PK to give Le Mans the lead. Pagis rescued the point for Rennes in the 78th minute when he slotted home an excellent cross from Wiltord.
Toulouse 0-0 Monaco - In yet another boring match starring Monaco, neither club looked as if they wanted to win. Toulouse dominated, but managed as many yellow cards (3) as they did shots on goal. Gignac almost started off the match brilliantly for Toulouse in the 1st minute, hitting a low shot that forced a good save from Ruffier. The Monaco GK was called into action again to stop a free kick that was headed towards goal by Cetto. Nimani provided the best chance for Monaco in the 88th minute, forcing Carrasso into a save. Gignac had a chance to take the 3 points for Toulouse in injury time, but his shot hit the crossbar. Freddy Adu rode the bench for the entire match, looking dejected.
Sunday, October 26th:
Nancy 1-1 Sochaux - In a bit of a snoozer, Nancy and Sochaux (two of the worst teams in Ligue 1) could only draw for 1 point each. Sochaux got on the board first when Dalmat scored in the 18th minute, and it was not until the 74th minute that Nancy was able to equalize through Fortune (not luck. That's the dude's name).
Saint-Etienne 0-2 Grenoble - Ligue 1 newcomers Grenoble got the derby win against Saint-Etienne despite being outshot 16-8 and only having possession in 38% of the match. The first goal came early, when Moreira blasted a shot which deflected off Saint-Etienne defender Benalouane and into the net in the 3rd minute. From that point on, Grenoble GK Wimbee was kepy extremely busy, forced to make saves on Gomis, Gilgiotti and Dernis, as well as an impressive double-save in the 40th minute. Grenoble almost scored their 2nd goal in the 66th minute but Romao crashed his shot off the bar. They eventually got the second when Dja Djedje sent home a well-struck header in the 82nd minute.
Marseille 2-4 Paris Saint-Germain - L'OM dominated the match statistically (24-8 shots on goal; 60%-40% time of possession), much as they have throughout the Ligue 1 history of both teams, but in the end PSG was able to notch only their 5th win ever against Marseille. Once again this match saw goals come early, as Rothen sent a cross off a corner in beautifully to the box and Hoarau headed it home in the 10th minute. Marseille struck back in the 21st minute when PSG GK Mandanda had some miscommunication with his defender and Niang was there for the easy finish. Valbuena then put L'OM ahead right before half-time when Mandanda gave up a rebound after a save on Kone. Soon after the start of the second half, Luvindula equalized for PSG when he chipped Mandanda. Cheyrou almost returned the lead to L'OM in the 70th minute, but he hit the bar, and it was PSG who went ahead in the 77th when Rothen hit a screamer from a 35-yard free-kick that went into the net untouched. Hoarau completed his brace in the 83rd minute to ensure the 3 points.
So, at the end of Matchday 10, the top of the table looks like this: (1) Lyon with 21 points on a 6-3-1 record and a +6 goal differential; (2) Marseille with 19 points on a 5-4-1 record and a +7 goal differential; (3) Le Mans with 18 points on a 5-3-2 record and a +7 goal differential; and (4) Bordeaux with 18 points on a 5-3-2 record and a +4 goal differential.
Liverpool v. Chelsea Open Thread
It's 6:49 in the morning for me, I am not going to say much other than it is already 0-1 Liverpool. I'm tired but this is a nice way to wake up so far. Most of the UF New York City contingent is at a bar right now, bastards.
Enjoy the remainder of the match.
Chelsea: Cech, Carvalho, Bosingwa, Terry, A. Cole, Deco, Lampard, Malouda, Mikel Obi, Kalou, Anelka
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio, Arbeloa, Alonso, Riera, Masherano, Kuyt, Gerrard, Keane,
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