If you're not a "Mad Men" watcher, skip the next paragraph or two.
Remember the episode this year when Paul Kinsey stayed late to work on the Western Union telegraph campaign? Remember, how with the aid of the helpful janitor, he cooked up the perfect idea? Remember how he woke up the next morning dismayed since he hadn't written said genius idea down?
That happened to me last night, to a much lesser, much less 1960s stylized scenario, although my terrible facial hair would rival Kinsey's.
Driving Saturday night I had a great idea, including a song lyric about the Manchester City/Chelsea match. Then driving back home, I spent the whole ride trying to remember that idea.
Maybe it wasn't that good.
All that really matters is what was really good and that was Mark Hughes' team notching a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the City of Manchester City Stadium, reigniting a possible Premier League title chase in the process.
I'll get out my Chelsea thoughts first, actually there is only one. As good as the Blues are, every now-and-then they have a hiccup and just don't look to have their cutting edge and lose a game. (Wonder if Didier Drogba's shoulder is actually hurt and something worth watching.)
If I'm a Blues fan, I don't dimiss the loss, but I don't dwell on it either.
And 90 percent of the time Chelsea walks out with a 2-2 draw, considering Frank Lampard had a late 80th-minute-plus penalty kick.
But Shay Given guessed to his right, blocked the save ... and Nigel de Jong's would-be smooch, and we have a title chase again.
City, it should be noted, played much more of a 2007 Blackburn Rovers team, than the would-be Brazil Juniors it's rich owners might want.
Eureka! I remembered my lost lead to the post.
"Is you saying I aint 'ard?" -- Vinnie Jones, "Extras"
Hughes fielded a "hard"/physical team, with guys like de Jong, Micah Richards, Carlos Tevez, etc. Yes, there were the tricky wings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho, but overall this was a team that unlike Arsenal a week earlier, could physically stand toe-to-toe with the horsepower of Chelsea. Most pundits would have you believe the strong, physical, imposing football played by Chelsea is the way of the future. Teams will have to adapt ... or be Barcelona to withstand it. City, for one day at least, didn't need to resort to 10-behind-the-ball and or thuggery to stand up to the Blue machine.
Is Emmanuel Adebayor a "hard" player? No. But at least he's humongously lanky in stature and gives Richardo Carvalho and Lionheart trouble in the back. (Not the best game for Mr. John Terry, he deflects the ball to Adebayor for the first City goal, protesting without avail for an offside. Then he needs to come off in the 88th minute to get his knee wrapped up in a WWI-style dressing. Of course the announcers said something along the lines of, "John Terry can't bear to sit down and watch the end of this" when the cameras caught he standing on the sidelines. Ugh. This U.S./England stuff is going to be tough to swallow thanks to the lionization of the English press.)
Naturally, not too may teams can do this, and to try to beat Chelsea you need to punch them in the mouth (Bobby Knight-cum-Brian Dennehy, style optional) -- not to mention get a perfectly placed free kick from Tevez that fooled the wall and Petr Cech.
So long story short, thanks to a proper guess by Given -- who everyone on planet earth would agree could have used a break -- we now have a chase.
Broken, beaten scarred:
In the words of Metallica, Manchester United, "Dies hard."
Love or hate Sir Alex Ferguson, but he coaxed a 4-0 road win when he defense ended as Patrice Evra -- Wes Brown -- Michael Carrick -- Darren Fletcher. How many other teams would survive injuries to its first choice center backs (ok Spurs seem to be doing it) then have Gary Neville limp off in the first half?
It will not be that easy next weekend with Aston Villa coming to town.
Then again, if this Darron Gibson kid keeps firing away...
Sorry Jimmy:
Curse me for praising Jimmy Bullard last weekend.
Poor guy got flipped over in Hull's loss at Villa Saturday, landed awkwardly and eventually limped off in tears. It's a shame, too. Fun player to watch, Bullard.
At least the injury isn't to the knee that had surgery and sidelined him for nine months. Still, he'll certainly miss a decent amount of time.
Wonder how much this sucks the wind out of Hull's recent mini-revival?
A humble suggestion to Bob Bradley:
Now that we know the U.S. draw for next June, which includes England, (read this football365.com piece for some great laughes I wish I was talented enough to have written), perhaps Senor Bradley might consider deploying Clint Dempsey in the middle of the park.
Put it this way, Dempsey has arguably been Fulham's best performer so far in the Premier League season, henceforth, he's playing against most of England's ineternationals on a week-in, week-out basis. Like it or not, he's the best outfield American player in Europe right now, a guy who's fought for a spot, claimed it and is now a fulcrum in a top-half-of-the-table squad in England.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is confident enough to play him in a central midfield role, and let him take free kicks.
To throw Dempsey outside on the right midfield in the U.S. set up simply doesn't make sense. At the very least, in light of Charlie Davies health, Dempsey should be playing in a withdrawn striker position.
This isn't rocket science. Isn't a U.S. midfield that features Michael Bradley and Dempsey in the middle (possible Ancelotti diamond scenario) giving the U.S. a better chance than Bradley/Clark/Feilhaber/Jones (?)/etc.?
Other Stuff:
Tip of the cap to Seb Larrson, who scored a pair of free kick goals at Wigan Saturday in Birmingham City's 3-2 win. Don't look now by Alex McLeish has Brum up to ninth in the table, a mere three points behind Liverpool. ... As for Liverpool, there are snooze fests and there are SNOOZE FESTS. Blackburn 0, Liverpool 0 was the latter. One chance for the Reds through David Ngog, which Chris Samba poked away. And if not for a valiant charge by Pepe Reina and subsequent forearm shiver into Nikola Kalinic on a stoppage time breakaway then Liverpool walks away with nothing. ... Best play of the weekend might be from Steve Sidwell, who wasn't even on the field for Aston Villa. For some reason Hull keeper Matt Duke came way out of the penalty box. The ball went out of play. Sidwell quickly flipped the ball to Gabby Agbonlahor, who threw it in play to an on-running James Milner, who then chipped it over Duke. One-of-a-kind play. Good stuff. ... Arsenal took care of business, 2-0 vs. Stoke City, but didn't look all that impressive. The floodgates probably would have opened up if Emmanuel Eboue didn't block away Cesc Fabregas' empty net attempt inside the first half hour with the score already 1-0. Arsene Wenger still has talent at his disposal, but he needs some sort of a physical presence/target at the top of the attack. I'm sure he could find somebody cheap in January as a stop gap. ... Maybe my ears deceived me, but didn't the announcer in the Arsenal match say it was something like the 400th appearance for the Gunners by Fabregas? That sounded insane, since he's only 22. As per Wikipedia, Fabregas has 248 total appearances for Arsenal with 173 in the Premier League. ... By contrast it was Steven Gerrard 500th overall appearance with Liverpool on Saturday. He's 29. ... Just when you think Spurs are going to notch a drama-free 2-0 win at Everton, they go and allow two goals in the final 15 minutes, and then get bailed out by a stoppage time penalty ... only for Tim Howard to deny Jermain Defoe with his legs. Insanity thy name is Tottenham. ... Lot of swearing picked up by the mics at Goodison Park on Sunday. Probably not surprising considering the state of Everton, which are on track for a season like the current Tennessee Titans, who won 13 games in the 2008 NFL season only to start 0-6 in 2009. Of course, unlike the Titans, the Toffees don't have Vince Young on the bench to help them rattle off five-straight wins and revive the season. Not sure if a crazy 2-2 draw kickstarts the campaign. ... Thinking about that Spurs/Everton game makes my head hurt too much to say any more about it.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Top honors, go to yours truly with 78 points, thanks to Andrey Arshavin, Richard Dunne and Thomas Sorensen.
One other thing:
This show is a couple years old (especially for anyone reading in the UK), but is now getting the Sunday night [adult swim] treatment, so set your DVR for it -- "The Mighty Boosh."
To me, Howard Moon and Vince Noir are the the 2000s continuation of the great comedy duo tradition. They have the timing, the pacing, the quirks. It's weird, but it works.
Maybe this clip cracks you up, maybe it doesn't. It should, because "The Boosh" is comedy gold.
So yeah having said all that, "Venture Bros." and "Mighty Boosh" help to offset the Sunday night loss of "Curb."
Final thought:
Did you ever think we'd see a weekend where Fabregas, Lampard and Defoe all had penalty kicks saved?
Suppose all three, conservatively, convert 80 percent from the spot. For all three to miss, that's a 0.008 percent chance of happening. (Methinks.) Thanks Statistics 110.
Either way, it's anti-trifecta.
Okay, one more thing:
I'm teetering toward Twitter. Do readers want this? Feedback welcome.
Remember the episode this year when Paul Kinsey stayed late to work on the Western Union telegraph campaign? Remember, how with the aid of the helpful janitor, he cooked up the perfect idea? Remember how he woke up the next morning dismayed since he hadn't written said genius idea down?
That happened to me last night, to a much lesser, much less 1960s stylized scenario, although my terrible facial hair would rival Kinsey's.
Driving Saturday night I had a great idea, including a song lyric about the Manchester City/Chelsea match. Then driving back home, I spent the whole ride trying to remember that idea.
Maybe it wasn't that good.
All that really matters is what was really good and that was Mark Hughes' team notching a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the City of Manchester City Stadium, reigniting a possible Premier League title chase in the process.
I'll get out my Chelsea thoughts first, actually there is only one. As good as the Blues are, every now-and-then they have a hiccup and just don't look to have their cutting edge and lose a game. (Wonder if Didier Drogba's shoulder is actually hurt and something worth watching.)
If I'm a Blues fan, I don't dimiss the loss, but I don't dwell on it either.
And 90 percent of the time Chelsea walks out with a 2-2 draw, considering Frank Lampard had a late 80th-minute-plus penalty kick.
But Shay Given guessed to his right, blocked the save ... and Nigel de Jong's would-be smooch, and we have a title chase again.
City, it should be noted, played much more of a 2007 Blackburn Rovers team, than the would-be Brazil Juniors it's rich owners might want.
Eureka! I remembered my lost lead to the post.
"Is you saying I aint 'ard?" -- Vinnie Jones, "Extras"
Hughes fielded a "hard"/physical team, with guys like de Jong, Micah Richards, Carlos Tevez, etc. Yes, there were the tricky wings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho, but overall this was a team that unlike Arsenal a week earlier, could physically stand toe-to-toe with the horsepower of Chelsea. Most pundits would have you believe the strong, physical, imposing football played by Chelsea is the way of the future. Teams will have to adapt ... or be Barcelona to withstand it. City, for one day at least, didn't need to resort to 10-behind-the-ball and or thuggery to stand up to the Blue machine.
Is Emmanuel Adebayor a "hard" player? No. But at least he's humongously lanky in stature and gives Richardo Carvalho and Lionheart trouble in the back. (Not the best game for Mr. John Terry, he deflects the ball to Adebayor for the first City goal, protesting without avail for an offside. Then he needs to come off in the 88th minute to get his knee wrapped up in a WWI-style dressing. Of course the announcers said something along the lines of, "John Terry can't bear to sit down and watch the end of this" when the cameras caught he standing on the sidelines. Ugh. This U.S./England stuff is going to be tough to swallow thanks to the lionization of the English press.)
Naturally, not too may teams can do this, and to try to beat Chelsea you need to punch them in the mouth (Bobby Knight-cum-Brian Dennehy, style optional) -- not to mention get a perfectly placed free kick from Tevez that fooled the wall and Petr Cech.
So long story short, thanks to a proper guess by Given -- who everyone on planet earth would agree could have used a break -- we now have a chase.
Broken, beaten scarred:
In the words of Metallica, Manchester United, "Dies hard."
Love or hate Sir Alex Ferguson, but he coaxed a 4-0 road win when he defense ended as Patrice Evra -- Wes Brown -- Michael Carrick -- Darren Fletcher. How many other teams would survive injuries to its first choice center backs (ok Spurs seem to be doing it) then have Gary Neville limp off in the first half?
It will not be that easy next weekend with Aston Villa coming to town.
Then again, if this Darron Gibson kid keeps firing away...
Sorry Jimmy:
Curse me for praising Jimmy Bullard last weekend.
Poor guy got flipped over in Hull's loss at Villa Saturday, landed awkwardly and eventually limped off in tears. It's a shame, too. Fun player to watch, Bullard.
At least the injury isn't to the knee that had surgery and sidelined him for nine months. Still, he'll certainly miss a decent amount of time.
Wonder how much this sucks the wind out of Hull's recent mini-revival?
A humble suggestion to Bob Bradley:
Now that we know the U.S. draw for next June, which includes England, (read this football365.com piece for some great laughes I wish I was talented enough to have written), perhaps Senor Bradley might consider deploying Clint Dempsey in the middle of the park.
Put it this way, Dempsey has arguably been Fulham's best performer so far in the Premier League season, henceforth, he's playing against most of England's ineternationals on a week-in, week-out basis. Like it or not, he's the best outfield American player in Europe right now, a guy who's fought for a spot, claimed it and is now a fulcrum in a top-half-of-the-table squad in England.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is confident enough to play him in a central midfield role, and let him take free kicks.
To throw Dempsey outside on the right midfield in the U.S. set up simply doesn't make sense. At the very least, in light of Charlie Davies health, Dempsey should be playing in a withdrawn striker position.
This isn't rocket science. Isn't a U.S. midfield that features Michael Bradley and Dempsey in the middle (possible Ancelotti diamond scenario) giving the U.S. a better chance than Bradley/Clark/Feilhaber/Jones (?)/etc.?
Other Stuff:
Tip of the cap to Seb Larrson, who scored a pair of free kick goals at Wigan Saturday in Birmingham City's 3-2 win. Don't look now by Alex McLeish has Brum up to ninth in the table, a mere three points behind Liverpool. ... As for Liverpool, there are snooze fests and there are SNOOZE FESTS. Blackburn 0, Liverpool 0 was the latter. One chance for the Reds through David Ngog, which Chris Samba poked away. And if not for a valiant charge by Pepe Reina and subsequent forearm shiver into Nikola Kalinic on a stoppage time breakaway then Liverpool walks away with nothing. ... Best play of the weekend might be from Steve Sidwell, who wasn't even on the field for Aston Villa. For some reason Hull keeper Matt Duke came way out of the penalty box. The ball went out of play. Sidwell quickly flipped the ball to Gabby Agbonlahor, who threw it in play to an on-running James Milner, who then chipped it over Duke. One-of-a-kind play. Good stuff. ... Arsenal took care of business, 2-0 vs. Stoke City, but didn't look all that impressive. The floodgates probably would have opened up if Emmanuel Eboue didn't block away Cesc Fabregas' empty net attempt inside the first half hour with the score already 1-0. Arsene Wenger still has talent at his disposal, but he needs some sort of a physical presence/target at the top of the attack. I'm sure he could find somebody cheap in January as a stop gap. ... Maybe my ears deceived me, but didn't the announcer in the Arsenal match say it was something like the 400th appearance for the Gunners by Fabregas? That sounded insane, since he's only 22. As per Wikipedia, Fabregas has 248 total appearances for Arsenal with 173 in the Premier League. ... By contrast it was Steven Gerrard 500th overall appearance with Liverpool on Saturday. He's 29. ... Just when you think Spurs are going to notch a drama-free 2-0 win at Everton, they go and allow two goals in the final 15 minutes, and then get bailed out by a stoppage time penalty ... only for Tim Howard to deny Jermain Defoe with his legs. Insanity thy name is Tottenham. ... Lot of swearing picked up by the mics at Goodison Park on Sunday. Probably not surprising considering the state of Everton, which are on track for a season like the current Tennessee Titans, who won 13 games in the 2008 NFL season only to start 0-6 in 2009. Of course, unlike the Titans, the Toffees don't have Vince Young on the bench to help them rattle off five-straight wins and revive the season. Not sure if a crazy 2-2 draw kickstarts the campaign. ... Thinking about that Spurs/Everton game makes my head hurt too much to say any more about it.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Top honors, go to yours truly with 78 points, thanks to Andrey Arshavin, Richard Dunne and Thomas Sorensen.
One other thing:
This show is a couple years old (especially for anyone reading in the UK), but is now getting the Sunday night [adult swim] treatment, so set your DVR for it -- "The Mighty Boosh."
To me, Howard Moon and Vince Noir are the the 2000s continuation of the great comedy duo tradition. They have the timing, the pacing, the quirks. It's weird, but it works.
Maybe this clip cracks you up, maybe it doesn't. It should, because "The Boosh" is comedy gold.
So yeah having said all that, "Venture Bros." and "Mighty Boosh" help to offset the Sunday night loss of "Curb."
Final thought:
Did you ever think we'd see a weekend where Fabregas, Lampard and Defoe all had penalty kicks saved?
Suppose all three, conservatively, convert 80 percent from the spot. For all three to miss, that's a 0.008 percent chance of happening. (Methinks.) Thanks Statistics 110.
Either way, it's anti-trifecta.
Okay, one more thing:
I'm teetering toward Twitter. Do readers want this? Feedback welcome.
Labels: Chelsea, English Premier League, manchester city, Premier League, Soccer
Three quick points on the Chelsea game:
1 - City are a damn good team. SWP looks amazing on the left, de Jong is a great holding MF, and Shay Given is unbelievable. If he played for someone other than Newcastle / City / Ireland he'd be in the discussion with Cech - Casillas - Buffon as the Best Keeper in the World. He certainly deserves to be in that discussion. All that being said, I don't know that they have the staying power to challenge for a Chamions League spot. Toure and Lescott in central defence are not going to be good enough, and I'm still not convinced that Adebayor is anything more than a slightly above-average striker.
2 - Ancelotti needs to take another look at his preferred midfield. When everyone is fit, he wants to put Deco at the point of the diamond, Essien at the base, Lampard on the left and Ballack on the right. I was a huge fan of this earlier on in the season because they seemed to instantly mesh, overlapping extremely well. The last two matches they played in - Man United and Man City - they were overmatched. For one thing, playing Lampard on the left is a waste. He is not comfortable there and they have two expensive, talented players (Malouda and Zhirkov) who can perform better there. I'd personally like to see Joe Cole deployed on the right, Malouda on the left, Lampard at the point and Essien holding. Something needs to change though, because they've been overmatched twice.
3 - Howard Webb, who I generally think of as the clear-cut best ref in the Prem, had a pretty poor game. He incorrectly awarded Chelsea a corner which led to the first goal (and that seemed pretty clear-cut). He probably should have booked Ashley Cole and Drogba for dissent, as well. The Richards hand ball seemed pretty clear-cut to me...I'd like to know if he didn't see it or thought it was self defense. I still don't understand the Carvalho card (which led to the Tevez FK) - maybe I need to re-watch it. When I watched it live and saw the re-play it looked like he cleared the ball, Tevez ran into him and he tried to land on his feet instead of split. Ivanovic and Belleti's cards both seemed harsh (although several City fans I've spoken to seem to think both were for persistent fouling), and I don't see how Tevez walks away without a card after body-slamming Ivanovic.
As you said - everyone's allowed a blip. I'm a bit nervous but not terrified after that loss. Even a loss tomorrow to APOEL is nothing to get worked up over - provided they rotate in some players. Next week home to Everton should be a good chance to re-group.
Speaking of great goal keeping...Loved the line of questioning on 606 from Gabrielle Marcotti..."If Tim Howard were English, would he be the England #1?" Spoony didn't really opine, but a caller said so (I think he was an Everton fan.) I'm not sure if that's a compliment to Howard, or an insult to the state of English goalkeeping, or both.
Hey, nice post. I've certainly had those midnight Kinsey moments. Speaking of Mad Men and Arsenal I always thought there was a strong resemblance here:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/39/2009/11/500x_conrad11909.jpg
http://www.melrosejewelers.com/rolex-watch-blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/stan-kroenke.jpg