Quick apologies and an admission before anything else.
Sunday morning I missed the Chelsea/Manchester United game because of a softball game. To add insult to injury, the other team forfeited. Brilliant. It got worse later in the day when working my job there were production errors at my paper and I didn't get home until after 2 a.m.
So, in other words, Sunday morning I missed a potential early match of the season for a rec game that wasn't played. At least I didn't weep about it like John Terry. Okay, maybe I didn't, but who's counting.
Since I only saw the muted highlights and quick DVR speed-through of the match, I'll instead use this space to ruminate on something that's gnawed at my psyche for a while. It reared it's head again during Liverpool's 0-0 draw at home to Stoke City.
Is there another sport in the world where you can be successful by essentially sucking the air out of the ball? Let's just examine American sports. Baseball, even as good as your pitching is, one mistake can doom you. Once the shot clock appeared, it rendered the "Four Corners" basketball strategy moot. American gridiron football? No coach, not even guys like Wayne Fontes or Rich Kottite would purposely play for a low-scoring, defensive game.
Some credit, I guess, goes to Stoke City and manager Tony Pulis for executing a perfect semi-'rope-a-dope' tactics, except there wasn't any counter-punching. Stoke might have touched the ball five times in Liverpool's half of the field in the second half. He got an important point that perhaps could stave off relegation. More power to him, but I don't see it being a viable long term survival stratagem.
More times than not, this isn't a long term strategy for success. It would be easy to kill Liverpool for failing to beat a promoted team -- at Anfield no less. To say nothing of the phantom disallowed goal by Gerrard within the first three minutes. What team in the world likes playing with around six, tall, lumbering dudes inside the box? (That's what she said.)
Is there even an effective strategy to play against a team that isn't at any costs coming out of its defensive shell other than to keep hoofing shots and maybe hope for a deflection or handball? Steve Gerrard and Xabi Alonso kept taking shots and creating corner kicks. Yossi Benayoun worked into the side areas, but couldn't find anybody free in the area. Fernando Torres had a few near chances, but couldn't pull out a moment of magic.
Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating.
Every fall I see this sort of thing happen in local high school soccer come the state playoffs. The superior teams almost always see 10 men behind the ball in the early rounds, and no matter how good these teams are it's near impossible sometimes to breakdown a packed in defense that has no inkling of playing offense. Since penalty kicks -- where are the decider -- loom and are a total crapshoot, why not play this way?
To some degree this is the classic old Italian style, but at least the predicated getting a 1-0 lead and holding dearly to it, so there have to be methods to breaking it down.
In short, the Stoke City blueprint might be good for long term survial but I don't hope it spreads too far, because its not fun for a neutral like myself. Most of the time the better team somehow find a way to crack through and win 1-0. In those rare times like this when it doesn't, I find myself almost rooting against the dogged and determined underdogs for ruining my spectacle.
** Chelsea/Man Utd. quick thoughts -- Judging by the highlights, the Red Devils blew a pretty great chance to get back into the thick of things. ... Looked like a match that actually lived up to the names. ... Will Edwin Van der Sar miss time for United? And on that note, is Ben Foster still alive? ... Figures Chelsea gets even on a set play, but from Kalou? ... United will rue dropping these two points all season. It's still early and they have a game in hand, but would anyone in the entire Earth population think Hull City would have been three points ahead of United at this point?
** Mea culpa -- Earlier in the year I took some digs at Arsenal midfielder Denilson. He's better than I thought, but he'll have to maintain his playmaking to keep Tomas Rosicky out of the lineup when he gets back. Overall, the Gunners seem more galvinized and are playing with an edge away from home this season. Maybe it's still too early, but Arsenal will be in the mix all season. (Revelatory!)
** Runners on your marks -- What was West Ham doing Saturday wearing runner's bibs? Yeah, its shirt sponsor but didn't they have any blanks lying around? It made most MLS shirts look good. On the topic of West Ham, where did David Di Michele emerge from? Peach of a left-foot self-volley. Again, the Irons are an impossible team to figure out week-to-week, unlike their Saturday opponents Newcastle, which is shambolic.
** I'm not a coach, but... -- Gareth Southgate, seriously troll-face? You think it might be a time to pick a new penalty taker and save Stewart Downing from falling off the England map? You are the guy that was immortalized in the "Three Lions" song for missing a PK at Euro 1996, after all. Call me a crazy man, but wouldn't Brasilian Afonso Alves be a perfect candidate for this? In case you're wondering, Downing missed a PK for the second time this season.
** Man love, English style -- Was it just me or did the color guy on the FSC feed of the Bolton/Arsenal game have a serious love for Trotters striker Kevin Davies? The man could do no more -- including a steam roll tackle on Gael Clichy.
** City, City, City -- 6-0 over Portsmouth, including some cheeky stuff from Robinho and Shaun Wright-Phillips, should we really be scared or was this a blip?
** Best goals -- The Robinho, SWP, back heels finished by Ched Evans was playground stuff. ... Leon Osman's scissor kick to save Everton embarrassment at Hull City was nice, too.
** Best saves -- Jussi Jääskeläinen made a great full extension punch to deny Alexandre Song. ... Brad Freidel had a similar save, diving to punch a close range header vs. West Brom.
** Fantasy team of the week -- Shai Smargon's thekillerrabbits thanks to the unusual 5-3-2 formation, highlighted by Shaun Wright-Phillips, Born Again Berba and oddly enough Steed Malbranque.
Sunday morning I missed the Chelsea/Manchester United game because of a softball game. To add insult to injury, the other team forfeited. Brilliant. It got worse later in the day when working my job there were production errors at my paper and I didn't get home until after 2 a.m.
So, in other words, Sunday morning I missed a potential early match of the season for a rec game that wasn't played. At least I didn't weep about it like John Terry. Okay, maybe I didn't, but who's counting.
Since I only saw the muted highlights and quick DVR speed-through of the match, I'll instead use this space to ruminate on something that's gnawed at my psyche for a while. It reared it's head again during Liverpool's 0-0 draw at home to Stoke City.
Is there another sport in the world where you can be successful by essentially sucking the air out of the ball? Let's just examine American sports. Baseball, even as good as your pitching is, one mistake can doom you. Once the shot clock appeared, it rendered the "Four Corners" basketball strategy moot. American gridiron football? No coach, not even guys like Wayne Fontes or Rich Kottite would purposely play for a low-scoring, defensive game.
Some credit, I guess, goes to Stoke City and manager Tony Pulis for executing a perfect semi-'rope-a-dope' tactics, except there wasn't any counter-punching. Stoke might have touched the ball five times in Liverpool's half of the field in the second half. He got an important point that perhaps could stave off relegation. More power to him, but I don't see it being a viable long term survival stratagem.
More times than not, this isn't a long term strategy for success. It would be easy to kill Liverpool for failing to beat a promoted team -- at Anfield no less. To say nothing of the phantom disallowed goal by Gerrard within the first three minutes. What team in the world likes playing with around six, tall, lumbering dudes inside the box? (That's what she said.)
Is there even an effective strategy to play against a team that isn't at any costs coming out of its defensive shell other than to keep hoofing shots and maybe hope for a deflection or handball? Steve Gerrard and Xabi Alonso kept taking shots and creating corner kicks. Yossi Benayoun worked into the side areas, but couldn't find anybody free in the area. Fernando Torres had a few near chances, but couldn't pull out a moment of magic.
Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating.
Every fall I see this sort of thing happen in local high school soccer come the state playoffs. The superior teams almost always see 10 men behind the ball in the early rounds, and no matter how good these teams are it's near impossible sometimes to breakdown a packed in defense that has no inkling of playing offense. Since penalty kicks -- where are the decider -- loom and are a total crapshoot, why not play this way?
To some degree this is the classic old Italian style, but at least the predicated getting a 1-0 lead and holding dearly to it, so there have to be methods to breaking it down.
In short, the Stoke City blueprint might be good for long term survial but I don't hope it spreads too far, because its not fun for a neutral like myself. Most of the time the better team somehow find a way to crack through and win 1-0. In those rare times like this when it doesn't, I find myself almost rooting against the dogged and determined underdogs for ruining my spectacle.
** Chelsea/Man Utd. quick thoughts -- Judging by the highlights, the Red Devils blew a pretty great chance to get back into the thick of things. ... Looked like a match that actually lived up to the names. ... Will Edwin Van der Sar miss time for United? And on that note, is Ben Foster still alive? ... Figures Chelsea gets even on a set play, but from Kalou? ... United will rue dropping these two points all season. It's still early and they have a game in hand, but would anyone in the entire Earth population think Hull City would have been three points ahead of United at this point?
** Mea culpa -- Earlier in the year I took some digs at Arsenal midfielder Denilson. He's better than I thought, but he'll have to maintain his playmaking to keep Tomas Rosicky out of the lineup when he gets back. Overall, the Gunners seem more galvinized and are playing with an edge away from home this season. Maybe it's still too early, but Arsenal will be in the mix all season. (Revelatory!)
** Runners on your marks -- What was West Ham doing Saturday wearing runner's bibs? Yeah, its shirt sponsor but didn't they have any blanks lying around? It made most MLS shirts look good. On the topic of West Ham, where did David Di Michele emerge from? Peach of a left-foot self-volley. Again, the Irons are an impossible team to figure out week-to-week, unlike their Saturday opponents Newcastle, which is shambolic.
** I'm not a coach, but... -- Gareth Southgate, seriously troll-face? You think it might be a time to pick a new penalty taker and save Stewart Downing from falling off the England map? You are the guy that was immortalized in the "Three Lions" song for missing a PK at Euro 1996, after all. Call me a crazy man, but wouldn't Brasilian Afonso Alves be a perfect candidate for this? In case you're wondering, Downing missed a PK for the second time this season.
** Man love, English style -- Was it just me or did the color guy on the FSC feed of the Bolton/Arsenal game have a serious love for Trotters striker Kevin Davies? The man could do no more -- including a steam roll tackle on Gael Clichy.
** City, City, City -- 6-0 over Portsmouth, including some cheeky stuff from Robinho and Shaun Wright-Phillips, should we really be scared or was this a blip?
** Best goals -- The Robinho, SWP, back heels finished by Ched Evans was playground stuff. ... Leon Osman's scissor kick to save Everton embarrassment at Hull City was nice, too.
** Best saves -- Jussi Jääskeläinen made a great full extension punch to deny Alexandre Song. ... Brad Freidel had a similar save, diving to punch a close range header vs. West Brom.
** Fantasy team of the week -- Shai Smargon's thekillerrabbits thanks to the unusual 5-3-2 formation, highlighted by Shaun Wright-Phillips, Born Again Berba and oddly enough Steed Malbranque.
Labels: Monday recaps, Premier League, Soccer
If it's any solace, you did not miss a match of the season, early or otherwise.
To answer your question about the 10 men behind the ball being a viable survival strategy...If Stoke could manage this same feat every week, yes it would be a viable strategy because 38 points would almost guarantee safety (40 points is the mark that every newly promoted side and Fulham set for themselves for the season). So 38 should be able to accomplish it.
the problem is, as you mention, the good teams will find a way to eventually get some sort of opportunity via a deflected shot or handball. so it would behoove Stoke and their ilk to attempt to register some form of offense especially against the likes of Fulham, Bolton, and other perennial relegation battlers.
Your comments on discovering Stoke 'taking the air out of the ball' lead me to believe you didn't watch Rangers in the UEFA cup last year.
Newcastle have quickly reverted to mid-season form.
They won't win again until the team is sold.
Easy money to be had betting against them. Sadly.
Also, the uniform situation in the EPL is indicative of the global financial crisis... AIG (ManU) pays $1B for jersey rights, and gets bailed out. Northern Rock (Newcastle) paid million UP FRONT, then get taken over by the UK, XL (West Ham) go under... It just doesn't end.
Re: 10 men behind the ball
Arsenal of the last several years say Hi.
A player like Denilson is more important to the side Rosicky, who a) won't be headed back anytime soon b) always was a bit of a pretender c) can't defend. Remember, Flamini is the one being missed, not some superflous winger when you have Nasri, Walcott, Vela etc. waiting in the wings.
Having said that, you heard it here first Alex Song Bilong, this year's Flamini.
United were lucky to get the point at the Bridge, as Joe Cole should have scored three separate times. At least twice he was alone with the keeper and missed the net.
And I found the Liverpool/Stoke match highly entertaining, despite its scorelessness. It was tense, featured lots of good technique and chances. Sometimes you just don't put the ball in onion bag.