Who doesn't love a good gimmick column?
As much as love thought essays and analytical breakdowns, a good old fashioned list hits in the reader wheelhouse like a delicious triple-decker club sandwich set out in front of yours truly. Yeah, it's not good for you in the long term, but throw in a dash of cole slaw and I simply cannot resist it.
So that's my excuse for writing a standard, club-by-club most valuable player for the 2009-10 Premier League season.
Yeah, it's standard operating procedure, but believe it or not it's already May and the season will be over by next weekend. Hell, everything might even be decided beside fourth place by 1 p.m. on Sunday. Consider it the start of the end of the year wrap up stuff. (Any funny suggestions or awards, email me or send me a tweet. You'll get credit.)
As usual, whenever I get around to writing these sort of things, I have to throw out a few disclaimers. This is about value, not about going team-by-team and listing its best player. And as you'll see, some teams don't even warrant an MVP this year.
With soccer not as stat-driven as, say, baseball, it's hard to find advanced metrics for what exactly makes a player. Even with the work of Actim and Opta, it's not like we can dial up the VORP rating on why someone is better than another*. The system run by one Premier League team to the next make it difficult to compare players via raw number, those some, as you'll see do prove a point or two. Stats in soccer can't paint the entire picture by numbers like in Major Leagues.
* As we saw with Wednesday's Barcelona/Inter game Champions League semifinal, the stats don't necessarily matter when it comes to soccer. The results are the results. Possession? Passes completed? Without context they can be deceiving.
2009-10 Premier League Team MVPs:
* Chelsea -- Frank Lampard -- For years I made cheap jokes about Lampard being the Premier League's "second spitter" a play on the fact nearly every all his non-penalty goals would ping-pong off two or three legs or bodies before finding the net. That's not giving enough credit, to a player, who at 31 is aging like a fine wine. Here are Lampard's goal-totals since 2004-05: 13, 16, 11, 10, 12 and 20. Yep, at 31 he's notched a career-best in goals, aimed by nine from the spot. Quibble that most of Lampard's goals have either come in Chelsea routes or losses, but still, 20 goals from the midfield.
You could also argue, without Drogba, Chelsea isn't at the top of the league. That's fine. All I know is that we saw Chelsea win when Drogba was on African Cup of Nations duty. We haven't seen them win without Lampard, who held together the midfield with injuries to Michael Essien and a few matches without Michael Ballack. Plus he played along John Obi Mikel for most of the season, a challenge by itself. Hell, Flourent Malouda was perhaps as value as Chelsea grabbed onto the title reigns as much as anyone else at the Bridge.
Calling a guy of Lampard's quality "Fat Frank" is one of the long list of things I'll never understand. Chelsea, at their worst, are a contemptable bunch. Somehow Lampard stays above that fray of unlikeability. However you slice it, Chelsea wasn't built to revolve around one player. You don't -- probably -- win the title with one transcendent talent. The Premier League isn't the NBA.
* Manchester United --Own goal, Wayne Rooney -- Do I need to spell it out here? The last month alone is testament to Rooney's importance. Imagine where United would have been if he picked up his ankle injury on Jan. 6 as opposed to April 6? Hell, Rooney might even end up as the Premier League Golden Shoe winner without playing in the last three games of the year. The PFA's overall league choice. 'Nuff said.
* Arsenal -- Cesc Fabregas -- I nearly left this vacant, taking into consideration Fabregas' injury. Still, he's Arsenal's engine and it's best and most important player, though the difference Robin van Persie makes when he's in the lineup is worth noting. Breaking his leg on the penalty vs. Barcelona puts his commitment to the Gunners, if not his value.
* Tottenham -- Michael Dawson -- Tom Huddlestone's been Spurs' ever-present, but to me, Dawson's late-season emergence in defense has helped keep Spurs' in line for fourth place, well, he and Gomes miraculously turnaround in goal. Tottenham has seen all its other central defenders -- Ledley King, Jonathon Woodgate, Sebastien Bassong and even Verdran Corluka -- all lose time to injury. Dawson has come in and solidified the defense, even scoring an important goals in back-to-back draws with Everton and Aston Villa earlier in the season. Tottenham only have notched 11 cleansheets, but the team is averaging just about one goal allowed per game. Methinks Dawson's standout play has something to do with that.
* Aston Villa -- Richard Dunne -- When I first started writing names down, I penciled in James Milner. He's certainly been Villa's best player. It's most important, though, was probably Dunne, who's blood-and-guts play from the center of defense has kept Villa harboring hopes of the Champions League. Villa, remarkably, have kept a cleansheet or allowed only one goal in 28 of 26 league matches. That's why they're in hailing distance of fourth place with only 47 goals. Dunne, we know, is a limited player and has his lapses. Somehow his collective Irish rage from being cut by Manchester City galvanized Villa and it's defense. If Villa coax its way into the Champions League, Dunne might be exposed. As it stands, his skill set in defense might have made him an effective player in any era of English football.
* Manchester City -- Carlos Tevez -- Pretty obvious choice, no? City's fortunes are tied to Tevez, who's had two great runs during the season. From Dec. 5 through Jan. 11 he scored 10 goals in seven games. From Feb. 27 to April 11 he went for nine goals in seven games. Not sure you could make a compelling argument for any other player on City other than Carlito.
* Liverpool -- Pepe Reina Losing the half of the Mascherano/Alonso shell is one thing. Having to play directly behind Sotirios Kyrgiakos and a slowly declining Jamie Carragher is another. Reina has been ever-present for Liverpool. He hasn't had to make a ton of key saves, but his control in the box sets him apart. A consistent, stable performer in an otherwise rotten season. Of course, when your goalie is your best player, that's probably never a good thing in the long term.
* Everton -- David Moyes The usual choice, Mikel Arteta, missed too many games. The deputy, Tim Cahill, too, was sidelined and not up to his usual standard. Guess it would have to go to the manager, Moyes, for getting guys like Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman and Johnny Hetinga to play important roles, and roles all over the field. Louis Saha scored a lot when the Toffees were rolling in the winter, but he cooled off considerably. that Landon Donovan character, too, played an important role, but just not long enough. Nobody at Goodison was a consistent force from August to May to warrant a pick. It happens.
* Birmingham City -- Roger Johnson -- The 27-year-old went from completely anonymous with an ultra-generic name, to semi-unknown with a ultra-generic name. Birmingham's strength was defense, playing 29 matches with either zero or one goal scored. And the Blues weren't in the relegation fight either, thanks to a great mid-season run. Johnson, who played all 36 matches, should get some credit for that. He hasn't even been red carded, either. None too shabby. Birmingham's unsung hero may have been Lee Bowyer, who played his heart out this season.
*Sunderland -- Darren Bent -- Maybe this is the trap of giving it to the guy with the best stats. Bent's 24 league goals are hard to argue with. Guess getting compared to Harry Redknapps's wife has that kind of effect on a dude, where he goes eff you to the entire league.
* Blackburn -- Steven N'Zonzi In lines with Johnson, the young Frenchman went from an anonymous player with a funny name, to well, he's still both those things. N'Zonzi might be another great buy for Sam Allardyce. At 6-foot-3, he fits the prototype of the modern Premier League midfielder. Only 21, he played in 33 matches this year, tying together the Blackburn midfield, much like a well-placed rug, man.
* Fulham -- The system -- Read this story from the Guardian. It says it much more coherently than I could.
*Stoke City -- Rory Delap -- Kind of stuck for a candidate here, much like Jacob found outt on the "Lost" Island. Guess Delap gets the nod for his still indefensible long throws. The grim, unshaven Irishman seems to sum up Stoke, doesn't he? At least he's played in 31 matches across the entire midfield, which is more than can be said of Tony Pulis' baseball cap -- my other candidate.
* Bolton, none -- Taking a pass here, sorry. If any Bolton fan wants to make a pick here, be sure to comment. Not to be mean, just don't feel qualified here.
* Wolves -- Joey Craddock Credit Craddock, at 35 years old, dialing it back and playing 30 matches in the world's toughest league. He has scored five goals, which makes him the team's second-leading scorer. Perhaps that's why Wolves is last in the league in goals scored. Still, the team won't get relegated since it ground out enough results. Craddock has part of that. Counting on him to do it again? Mick McCarthy start making some phonecalls.
* Wigan -- Hugo Rodellaga -- Did anyone stand out on Wigan? Isn't that the point? To Rodallega's credit, he's the only player to crack the double-digit mark in goals. Who else? Paul Scharner? Emerson Boyce? Charles N'Zogbia? Could have left it blank.
* West Ham -- Carlton Cole -- West Ham actually looked frisky when Cole was healthy. He did play 29 matches, but really faded down the stretch, helping suck West Ham into the relegation maelstrom. He'll probably fetch the most money on the transfer market, too. Not exactly what we're looking for in this exercise, but count it nonetheless.
* Hull City -- Vacant/Phil Brown's headset -- Moving on...
* Burnley -- Stephen Fletcher Could have picked penalty-kick specialist Graham Alexander? Sure. Fletcher, though, was a dangerous player at times and at 23 we'll hear more from him. So specifically, the team MVP this season was Fletcher's future transfer fee, if you want to split hairs.
* Portsmouth -- David James -- I'm just going to assume that the veteran keeper's presence had an even bigger influence behind the scenes, perhaps even quelling possible player revolts than what happened on the field. James did have that terrible howler vs. Chelsea, but he was fairly competent, which is more to be said than most of Pompey this season.
Saturday:
* Birmingham City v. Burnley -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Birmingham, nice story in 2009. 2010 hasn't been as kind to the team going just 3-4-6 (WDL). About the only thing Birmingham has done right since the calendar turned was Kevin Phillips making Manuel Alumnia look stupid in extra time, essentially costing Arsenal the title. Long story short, Alex McLeish can't afford to rest on his laurel, a fact I'm sure he knows. Expecting another season with Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson to carry the midfield would seem foolish. Before a team like Birmingham City can do anything, it probably has to address what it's goal is or set a target. Does it want to emulate the season Fulham had? Or be more like Stoke City -- boring but safe? With Dr. Zaius, err, Carson Yeung in the owner's box it's hard to figure out. ... Birmingham City 2, Burnley 1 ... (I will not be rising early for this match, nor, will I expect most of America.)
* Manchester City v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) We know what's at stake here. Villa need a win to harbor hopes of a fourth place finish going into the final weekend of the season. Working in Villa's favor is the return of ex-City defender Richard Dunne to Eastlands, assuming he's healthy. Can his burning contempt for City, or at least the way they unceremoniously dumped him over the summer carry an entire team?
City crashed back to earth last weekend at Arsenal with a limp, listless showing. Throw in the fact City had to make an "emergency" move with Sunderland to grab Martin Fulop due to Shay Given's season-ending injury and this game gets a whole new wrinkle. (How City try to assemble Super Team, without an adequate backup on the roster is akin to the Titanic not featuring enough lifeboats. Or it's building an expensive sports car and forgetting the flat tire jack.)
City, even at its best, seemed very reliant on Tevez, basically expecting him to take over by sheer force of will. There wasn't much of a backup plan. Villa, barring a goal within the first 10 minutes, are going to make City earn it, but Martin O'Neill may have to sacrifice a little bit of his defensive commitment since Villa need three points. Expect this to be a wide open, physical, hard-fought game. Villa put up a fight, but City nick it late. If City don't get a result here, they'll soon start smelling like the New York Mets. And that's a stink you don't want, the Metropolitans current hot streak notwithstanding. ... City 2, Villa 1
* Portsmouth v. Wolves -- Likely the last Premier League game at Fratton Park for the foreseeable future. I'll miss the days of hearing, "Play Up Pompey." It's sad. Also sad, look at the current Portsmouth roster. If you've ever played a sports video game and are an obsessive about playing with accurate rosters like I am, well, Portsmouth's roster looks like what a "Madden" free agents list ought to look like when the game ships in August. Aside from Jamie O'Hara -- who's at loan from Spurs anyway -- there's not a guy on the roster worth really making a run at for the first team. Even given the sorry state of Wolves strikers would they really want guys like John Utaka, Nwankwo Kanu, Frédéric Piquionne or Arune Didane? ... Portsmouth 3, Wolves 1
* Stoke City v. Everton -- Congrats to Stoke City who unofficially led the Premier League in fights among teammates this year. Allegedly Abdoulaye Faye -- club captain mind you -- punched Glenn Whelan in the face after last weekend's embarrassment to Chelsea. Well played. Guess if David Moyes keeps this team together and healthy, he should be able to make a run at fourth place next season. ... Stoke City 0, Everton 2
* Tottenham v. Bolton -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Will this be typical Tottenham? Will Spurs have a massive letdown in store going from the champagne of the league (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United) to the Natty Lite -- Bolton? Working in Spurs' favor is that Bolton have been pretty miserable all season, and boring on top of that. Just a very nondescript squad, which doesn't have too much to play for aside from trying to impress Owen Coyle for next season's plans. These two played out to a 2-2 draw in September with lineups with little in common that what's in store Saturday. Tottenham got goals from Niko Kranjcar and Verdan Corluka, both injured. Tom Huddlestone actually played a central defense role. Go figure. If Spurs are patient and don't press too hard, simply playing their game, the goals should come. They just can't get sloppy and let Bolton steal something on a Kevin Davies header. Don't screw up Spurs. We need that City/Spurs game in the midweek to be epic. ... Tottenham 2, Bolton 0
Sunday:
* Liverpool v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) What more can be said. Can decide the title for Chelsea and perhaps given Liverpool fans the slightest consolation after the Europa League KO at Anfield. But is beating Chelsea and helping Manchester United maybe sneak into the title something fans of Los Reds want at this point? A lot to mull over with the 'Pool the next few weeks. Doesn't matter much, Chelsea are too good even and Liverpool will miss Fernando Torres. Now, that my friends is insight! (Pity the poor fool that drew the assignment to officiate this one.) ... Liverpool 0, Chelsea 2
* Fulham v. West Ham United -- As time allows, more on Fulham reaching the Europa League final. Fantastic achievement, even in Europe's pan-national NIT. ... Fulham 0, West Ham 1
* Sunderland v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) This could be the official end to United this season. Would it be surprising? Sunderland are strong at home and Darren Bent is in sterling form. Sunderland should press from the get-go and have no reason to sit back and let United pick them apart. Guess a lot of how this plays out will be on the Liverpool/Chelsea result earlier. Wonder if Sunderland will be able to withstand the "aura" of Manchester United? Sunderland can't get caught looking at the would-be pinstripes as Christopher Walken's character in "Catch Me If You Can" told Leonardo DiCaprio. (Sorry forgot the character names.) Not sure how United win without a penalty. ... Sunderland 1, Manchester United 1
Monday:
* Wigan v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Nearly everyone will have Wigan in the position Hull is in now by next season. I'm not so sure. Wigan have stuck around for going on six seasons in the Premier League. They're, in a season, the new Bolton. Stick around, play forgettable football, but do enough at the end of the day to play another season. For a club that next to nobody cares about, that's an achievement. Even if that achievement falls in the #youreawinnerandaloser category, which it most certainly does. As for Hull, I'm half expecting a player to walk off the pitch in the middle of the match. ... Wigan 3, Hull City 0
* Blackburn v. Arsenal -- (Live, TBA) If the results break the right way, Blackburn could find itself finishing in the top half of the table. And his is with Jason Roberts as the club's top-scoring forward. If that doesn't sum up this season in a nutshell, what else does? With nothing to play for, perhaps Arsene Wenger turns the game over to the kids. Why not? ... Blackburn 1, Arsenal 2
* One other game to pay attention to this weekend, in the Championship Sheffield Wednesday hosts Crystal Palace in a win-or-go-home match, well, make that a relegation battle.
Last round: 3-7
Season: 181-172
As much as love thought essays and analytical breakdowns, a good old fashioned list hits in the reader wheelhouse like a delicious triple-decker club sandwich set out in front of yours truly. Yeah, it's not good for you in the long term, but throw in a dash of cole slaw and I simply cannot resist it.
So that's my excuse for writing a standard, club-by-club most valuable player for the 2009-10 Premier League season.
Yeah, it's standard operating procedure, but believe it or not it's already May and the season will be over by next weekend. Hell, everything might even be decided beside fourth place by 1 p.m. on Sunday. Consider it the start of the end of the year wrap up stuff. (Any funny suggestions or awards, email me or send me a tweet. You'll get credit.)
As usual, whenever I get around to writing these sort of things, I have to throw out a few disclaimers. This is about value, not about going team-by-team and listing its best player. And as you'll see, some teams don't even warrant an MVP this year.
With soccer not as stat-driven as, say, baseball, it's hard to find advanced metrics for what exactly makes a player. Even with the work of Actim and Opta, it's not like we can dial up the VORP rating on why someone is better than another*. The system run by one Premier League team to the next make it difficult to compare players via raw number, those some, as you'll see do prove a point or two. Stats in soccer can't paint the entire picture by numbers like in Major Leagues.
* As we saw with Wednesday's Barcelona/Inter game Champions League semifinal, the stats don't necessarily matter when it comes to soccer. The results are the results. Possession? Passes completed? Without context they can be deceiving.
2009-10 Premier League Team MVPs:
* Chelsea -- Frank Lampard -- For years I made cheap jokes about Lampard being the Premier League's "second spitter" a play on the fact nearly every all his non-penalty goals would ping-pong off two or three legs or bodies before finding the net. That's not giving enough credit, to a player, who at 31 is aging like a fine wine. Here are Lampard's goal-totals since 2004-05: 13, 16, 11, 10, 12 and 20. Yep, at 31 he's notched a career-best in goals, aimed by nine from the spot. Quibble that most of Lampard's goals have either come in Chelsea routes or losses, but still, 20 goals from the midfield.
You could also argue, without Drogba, Chelsea isn't at the top of the league. That's fine. All I know is that we saw Chelsea win when Drogba was on African Cup of Nations duty. We haven't seen them win without Lampard, who held together the midfield with injuries to Michael Essien and a few matches without Michael Ballack. Plus he played along John Obi Mikel for most of the season, a challenge by itself. Hell, Flourent Malouda was perhaps as value as Chelsea grabbed onto the title reigns as much as anyone else at the Bridge.
Calling a guy of Lampard's quality "Fat Frank" is one of the long list of things I'll never understand. Chelsea, at their worst, are a contemptable bunch. Somehow Lampard stays above that fray of unlikeability. However you slice it, Chelsea wasn't built to revolve around one player. You don't -- probably -- win the title with one transcendent talent. The Premier League isn't the NBA.
* Manchester United --
* Arsenal -- Cesc Fabregas -- I nearly left this vacant, taking into consideration Fabregas' injury. Still, he's Arsenal's engine and it's best and most important player, though the difference Robin van Persie makes when he's in the lineup is worth noting. Breaking his leg on the penalty vs. Barcelona puts his commitment to the Gunners, if not his value.
* Tottenham -- Michael Dawson -- Tom Huddlestone's been Spurs' ever-present, but to me, Dawson's late-season emergence in defense has helped keep Spurs' in line for fourth place, well, he and Gomes miraculously turnaround in goal. Tottenham has seen all its other central defenders -- Ledley King, Jonathon Woodgate, Sebastien Bassong and even Verdran Corluka -- all lose time to injury. Dawson has come in and solidified the defense, even scoring an important goals in back-to-back draws with Everton and Aston Villa earlier in the season. Tottenham only have notched 11 cleansheets, but the team is averaging just about one goal allowed per game. Methinks Dawson's standout play has something to do with that.
* Aston Villa -- Richard Dunne -- When I first started writing names down, I penciled in James Milner. He's certainly been Villa's best player. It's most important, though, was probably Dunne, who's blood-and-guts play from the center of defense has kept Villa harboring hopes of the Champions League. Villa, remarkably, have kept a cleansheet or allowed only one goal in 28 of 26 league matches. That's why they're in hailing distance of fourth place with only 47 goals. Dunne, we know, is a limited player and has his lapses. Somehow his collective Irish rage from being cut by Manchester City galvanized Villa and it's defense. If Villa coax its way into the Champions League, Dunne might be exposed. As it stands, his skill set in defense might have made him an effective player in any era of English football.
* Manchester City -- Carlos Tevez -- Pretty obvious choice, no? City's fortunes are tied to Tevez, who's had two great runs during the season. From Dec. 5 through Jan. 11 he scored 10 goals in seven games. From Feb. 27 to April 11 he went for nine goals in seven games. Not sure you could make a compelling argument for any other player on City other than Carlito.
* Liverpool -- Pepe Reina Losing the half of the Mascherano/Alonso shell is one thing. Having to play directly behind Sotirios Kyrgiakos and a slowly declining Jamie Carragher is another. Reina has been ever-present for Liverpool. He hasn't had to make a ton of key saves, but his control in the box sets him apart. A consistent, stable performer in an otherwise rotten season. Of course, when your goalie is your best player, that's probably never a good thing in the long term.
* Everton -- David Moyes The usual choice, Mikel Arteta, missed too many games. The deputy, Tim Cahill, too, was sidelined and not up to his usual standard. Guess it would have to go to the manager, Moyes, for getting guys like Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman and Johnny Hetinga to play important roles, and roles all over the field. Louis Saha scored a lot when the Toffees were rolling in the winter, but he cooled off considerably. that Landon Donovan character, too, played an important role, but just not long enough. Nobody at Goodison was a consistent force from August to May to warrant a pick. It happens.
* Birmingham City -- Roger Johnson -- The 27-year-old went from completely anonymous with an ultra-generic name, to semi-unknown with a ultra-generic name. Birmingham's strength was defense, playing 29 matches with either zero or one goal scored. And the Blues weren't in the relegation fight either, thanks to a great mid-season run. Johnson, who played all 36 matches, should get some credit for that. He hasn't even been red carded, either. None too shabby. Birmingham's unsung hero may have been Lee Bowyer, who played his heart out this season.
*Sunderland -- Darren Bent -- Maybe this is the trap of giving it to the guy with the best stats. Bent's 24 league goals are hard to argue with. Guess getting compared to Harry Redknapps's wife has that kind of effect on a dude, where he goes eff you to the entire league.
* Blackburn -- Steven N'Zonzi In lines with Johnson, the young Frenchman went from an anonymous player with a funny name, to well, he's still both those things. N'Zonzi might be another great buy for Sam Allardyce. At 6-foot-3, he fits the prototype of the modern Premier League midfielder. Only 21, he played in 33 matches this year, tying together the Blackburn midfield, much like a well-placed rug, man.
* Fulham -- The system -- Read this story from the Guardian. It says it much more coherently than I could.
*Stoke City -- Rory Delap -- Kind of stuck for a candidate here, much like Jacob found outt on the "Lost" Island. Guess Delap gets the nod for his still indefensible long throws. The grim, unshaven Irishman seems to sum up Stoke, doesn't he? At least he's played in 31 matches across the entire midfield, which is more than can be said of Tony Pulis' baseball cap -- my other candidate.
* Bolton, none -- Taking a pass here, sorry. If any Bolton fan wants to make a pick here, be sure to comment. Not to be mean, just don't feel qualified here.
* Wolves -- Joey Craddock Credit Craddock, at 35 years old, dialing it back and playing 30 matches in the world's toughest league. He has scored five goals, which makes him the team's second-leading scorer. Perhaps that's why Wolves is last in the league in goals scored. Still, the team won't get relegated since it ground out enough results. Craddock has part of that. Counting on him to do it again? Mick McCarthy start making some phonecalls.
* Wigan -- Hugo Rodellaga -- Did anyone stand out on Wigan? Isn't that the point? To Rodallega's credit, he's the only player to crack the double-digit mark in goals. Who else? Paul Scharner? Emerson Boyce? Charles N'Zogbia? Could have left it blank.
* West Ham -- Carlton Cole -- West Ham actually looked frisky when Cole was healthy. He did play 29 matches, but really faded down the stretch, helping suck West Ham into the relegation maelstrom. He'll probably fetch the most money on the transfer market, too. Not exactly what we're looking for in this exercise, but count it nonetheless.
* Hull City -- Vacant/Phil Brown's headset -- Moving on...
* Burnley -- Stephen Fletcher Could have picked penalty-kick specialist Graham Alexander? Sure. Fletcher, though, was a dangerous player at times and at 23 we'll hear more from him. So specifically, the team MVP this season was Fletcher's future transfer fee, if you want to split hairs.
* Portsmouth -- David James -- I'm just going to assume that the veteran keeper's presence had an even bigger influence behind the scenes, perhaps even quelling possible player revolts than what happened on the field. James did have that terrible howler vs. Chelsea, but he was fairly competent, which is more to be said than most of Pompey this season.
Saturday:
* Birmingham City v. Burnley -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Birmingham, nice story in 2009. 2010 hasn't been as kind to the team going just 3-4-6 (WDL). About the only thing Birmingham has done right since the calendar turned was Kevin Phillips making Manuel Alumnia look stupid in extra time, essentially costing Arsenal the title. Long story short, Alex McLeish can't afford to rest on his laurel, a fact I'm sure he knows. Expecting another season with Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson to carry the midfield would seem foolish. Before a team like Birmingham City can do anything, it probably has to address what it's goal is or set a target. Does it want to emulate the season Fulham had? Or be more like Stoke City -- boring but safe? With Dr. Zaius, err, Carson Yeung in the owner's box it's hard to figure out. ... Birmingham City 2, Burnley 1 ... (I will not be rising early for this match, nor, will I expect most of America.)
* Manchester City v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) We know what's at stake here. Villa need a win to harbor hopes of a fourth place finish going into the final weekend of the season. Working in Villa's favor is the return of ex-City defender Richard Dunne to Eastlands, assuming he's healthy. Can his burning contempt for City, or at least the way they unceremoniously dumped him over the summer carry an entire team?
City crashed back to earth last weekend at Arsenal with a limp, listless showing. Throw in the fact City had to make an "emergency" move with Sunderland to grab Martin Fulop due to Shay Given's season-ending injury and this game gets a whole new wrinkle. (How City try to assemble Super Team, without an adequate backup on the roster is akin to the Titanic not featuring enough lifeboats. Or it's building an expensive sports car and forgetting the flat tire jack.)
City, even at its best, seemed very reliant on Tevez, basically expecting him to take over by sheer force of will. There wasn't much of a backup plan. Villa, barring a goal within the first 10 minutes, are going to make City earn it, but Martin O'Neill may have to sacrifice a little bit of his defensive commitment since Villa need three points. Expect this to be a wide open, physical, hard-fought game. Villa put up a fight, but City nick it late. If City don't get a result here, they'll soon start smelling like the New York Mets. And that's a stink you don't want, the Metropolitans current hot streak notwithstanding. ... City 2, Villa 1
* Portsmouth v. Wolves -- Likely the last Premier League game at Fratton Park for the foreseeable future. I'll miss the days of hearing, "Play Up Pompey." It's sad. Also sad, look at the current Portsmouth roster. If you've ever played a sports video game and are an obsessive about playing with accurate rosters like I am, well, Portsmouth's roster looks like what a "Madden" free agents list ought to look like when the game ships in August. Aside from Jamie O'Hara -- who's at loan from Spurs anyway -- there's not a guy on the roster worth really making a run at for the first team. Even given the sorry state of Wolves strikers would they really want guys like John Utaka, Nwankwo Kanu, Frédéric Piquionne or Arune Didane? ... Portsmouth 3, Wolves 1
* Stoke City v. Everton -- Congrats to Stoke City who unofficially led the Premier League in fights among teammates this year. Allegedly Abdoulaye Faye -- club captain mind you -- punched Glenn Whelan in the face after last weekend's embarrassment to Chelsea. Well played. Guess if David Moyes keeps this team together and healthy, he should be able to make a run at fourth place next season. ... Stoke City 0, Everton 2
* Tottenham v. Bolton -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Will this be typical Tottenham? Will Spurs have a massive letdown in store going from the champagne of the league (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United) to the Natty Lite -- Bolton? Working in Spurs' favor is that Bolton have been pretty miserable all season, and boring on top of that. Just a very nondescript squad, which doesn't have too much to play for aside from trying to impress Owen Coyle for next season's plans. These two played out to a 2-2 draw in September with lineups with little in common that what's in store Saturday. Tottenham got goals from Niko Kranjcar and Verdan Corluka, both injured. Tom Huddlestone actually played a central defense role. Go figure. If Spurs are patient and don't press too hard, simply playing their game, the goals should come. They just can't get sloppy and let Bolton steal something on a Kevin Davies header. Don't screw up Spurs. We need that City/Spurs game in the midweek to be epic. ... Tottenham 2, Bolton 0
Sunday:
* Liverpool v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) What more can be said. Can decide the title for Chelsea and perhaps given Liverpool fans the slightest consolation after the Europa League KO at Anfield. But is beating Chelsea and helping Manchester United maybe sneak into the title something fans of Los Reds want at this point? A lot to mull over with the 'Pool the next few weeks. Doesn't matter much, Chelsea are too good even and Liverpool will miss Fernando Torres. Now, that my friends is insight! (Pity the poor fool that drew the assignment to officiate this one.) ... Liverpool 0, Chelsea 2
* Fulham v. West Ham United -- As time allows, more on Fulham reaching the Europa League final. Fantastic achievement, even in Europe's pan-national NIT. ... Fulham 0, West Ham 1
* Sunderland v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) This could be the official end to United this season. Would it be surprising? Sunderland are strong at home and Darren Bent is in sterling form. Sunderland should press from the get-go and have no reason to sit back and let United pick them apart. Guess a lot of how this plays out will be on the Liverpool/Chelsea result earlier. Wonder if Sunderland will be able to withstand the "aura" of Manchester United? Sunderland can't get caught looking at the would-be pinstripes as Christopher Walken's character in "Catch Me If You Can" told Leonardo DiCaprio. (Sorry forgot the character names.) Not sure how United win without a penalty. ... Sunderland 1, Manchester United 1
Monday:
* Wigan v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Nearly everyone will have Wigan in the position Hull is in now by next season. I'm not so sure. Wigan have stuck around for going on six seasons in the Premier League. They're, in a season, the new Bolton. Stick around, play forgettable football, but do enough at the end of the day to play another season. For a club that next to nobody cares about, that's an achievement. Even if that achievement falls in the #youreawinnerandaloser category, which it most certainly does. As for Hull, I'm half expecting a player to walk off the pitch in the middle of the match. ... Wigan 3, Hull City 0
* Blackburn v. Arsenal -- (Live, TBA) If the results break the right way, Blackburn could find itself finishing in the top half of the table. And his is with Jason Roberts as the club's top-scoring forward. If that doesn't sum up this season in a nutshell, what else does? With nothing to play for, perhaps Arsene Wenger turns the game over to the kids. Why not? ... Blackburn 1, Arsenal 2
* One other game to pay attention to this weekend, in the Championship Sheffield Wednesday hosts Crystal Palace in a win-or-go-home match, well, make that a relegation battle.
Last round: 3-7
Season: 181-172
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Premier League, Soccer
Kind of a grab-bag post for today's "World Cup Wednesday." A couple odds and ends coupled with some half-formed ideas.
With any luck, the arrival of the EA FIFA World Cup game, hopefully a few more ideas with spring out my noggin. Look for a comprehensive review/thoughts in a few days after I give it a good 360 workout. For one, despite being developed in British Columbia, you know over the border from the U.S. the game did an abysmal job rendering the USMNT player faces.
"One Man" Teams:
This is a thought that's been kicking around for a while. Basically, here are four national teams which feature one player heads-and-shoulder more "famous" than the rest of his peers. Now I write famous in quotations, because it's more perception than anything else. Or specifically a perception by the worldwide English-speaking media, for better or worse.
Cameroon -- Samuel Eto'o. -- Quick, name another player on Cameroon. Quickly, I said. Who's that? Arsenal's Alex Song. Geremi?
Eto'o isn't only a lot more famous than his countrymen, he's clearly on another level of skill. When you think of the Indomitable Lions you're thoughts immediately turn toward Eto'o and then probably to Roger Milla dancing at the 1990 World Cup.
If Eto'o gets any support behind him, Cameroon may be able to edge past Denmark for Group E's second place behind the Netherlands.
Eto'o is on the level of players who you know you have to mark and try to contain, yet he's so good he usually makes an impact. In theory, playing on African soil should even give him an added boost.
Paraguay -- Roque Santa Cruz -- A spare part at Manchester City, Santa Cruz is still the standard-bearer for the Guaraníes. Really the only names on Paraguay even remotely familiar are Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Valdez and Salvador Cabañas, who's most famous, unfortunately, for being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Chances are, he's not even in South Africa come June.
To Paraguay's credit, it's qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup. It seems the country has developed into one of those national teams where the sum is greater than the flair of the individual parts. (You'd think national team boss Gerardo Martino would put more of an effort into impressing the English speaking media than, you know, qualifying.)
And this is doubly incredible since Paraguay formerly featured one of football's true bat-shit crazy players -- José Luis Chilavert, who had me enraptured at France 1998. (I was beyond irate when France beat them in extra time in the Round of 16.)
South Korea -- Park Ji-Sung -- Obviously for the simple fact that Park plays for Manchester United makes him a demigod in South Korea. He's by leaps and bounds the most well-known South Korean player around the globe.
Park is a very good player, but fits into the structure at both the Red Devils at Old Trafford and the Red Devils in Seoul. Korea, naturally, is a squad where the entire ethos is build around hard-work and the sum of the parts are greater than an individual player.
Uruguay -- Diego Forlan -- Uruguay certainly have plenty of players playing at all corners of the earth, yet Forlan still stands taller than his countrymen.
A scoring-machine since moving from Manchester United to Villareal, Forlan is arguably one of the two or three most dangerous players in the entire tournament. At Villareal and Athletico Madrid he's scored in over 50 percent of his matches, while that rate dips closer to one in three for Uruguay.
You know, if he's healthy, Forlan is going to be out there. You know you have to mark him. But you also know he's probably going to find the net.
For whatever it's worth, he's around 66-to-1 to finish with the Golden Boot. That's worth a flier when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is at 40-to-1. (David Villa is the overall favorite, followed by Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney and Luis Fabiano.)
* * *
Davies Dilemma Part 432:
Not to sound like a downer, but until we actually see Charlie Davies in an actual game that counts, with the ball at his feet, isn't it far to presumptuous to expect him to make the U.S. World Cup roster.
All this back-and-forth coming from France the last two weeks is just too confusing. First he's not playing for Sochaux, then he's training with the first team. Maybe he's playing a game? Maybe he isn't.
Which is it?
I'd like to see a healthy Davies on the field in South Africa as much as the next guy. Without any concrete knowledge, all we have is idle speculation and Twitter chatter. The established media sites seem to have Davies out of the mix, yet the Twitter-verse is still very high on his chances.
U.S. fans have been driving themselves crazy about this for months, and with the FIFA-mandated May preliminary squad date quickly approach, let's just see how this plays out. We're going to know in two weeks if Davies is even remotely close to international duty.
Ultimately the decision comes down to Bob Bradley. For once, Bradley's stern, Princetonian mind might be an advantage since he's not going to let emotions cloud his judgment and make an honest assessment of whether or not Davies can help the team or not.
It would be, dare I say it, an ESPY-worthy story if Davies makes the U.S. roster for South Africa. The way the fans have rallied around Davies and vice-versa is truly a great story in-and-of itself.
At the same time, is it worth using a roster space on a player who's health is nothing short of the biggest question mark in USMNT history?
Unfortunately sometimes winning games and the Hollywood ending don't go hand-in-hand.
However this plays out, the mere fact Davies will still have a professional career -- on the World Cup roster or not -- is a good enough story on its own.
And above all, isn't it crazy, how as U.S. fans were holding out hope for a player who basically broke his entire body in October? Is that how shallow the forward pool really is? If there were some other ready-made options would we all be so invested in Davies' remarkable recovery?
Despite my ingrained cynicism, I'm hoping this one ends in smiles all around. Honest.
Odds & Ends:
Two match officials selected from New Zealand for the World Cup, but none from the U.S. Not good, though judging by the first couple weeks of MLS, justified. ... This counts for nothing, but Argentina might be the most hirsute nation in the tournament. We could see a blast from the past to either 1978 or 1986 with some of the manes involved here. ... Odds for both the U.S. and Mexico to reach the last 16 are 21-to-10. For neither it's 3-to-1. ... A lot can happen in 12 years, but reading this story about Qatar's plans for the 2022 World Cup seem a tad far-fetched. ... In case you're wondering, Cote D'Ivoire could fall into the "One Man" theory with Didier Drogba. The nation still have big-time players like the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, etc. Drogba is the driving force, but there are clearly others around him. ... After Tuesday guess we can throw Ivica Olic as a player we'll miss in South Africa. How did Croatia finish behind Ukraine in England's qualifying group? Doesn't make sense. ... Michael Essien's injury makes me a lot less bullish than I was a couple weeks ago on Ghana's chances.
Prediction Pain:
Finally decided to set up an ESPN World Cup Prediction Group.
Nothing will be at stake, other than personal pride.
Plus you can tell everybody you're smarter than me, and you can't put a price on that, can you?
Follow this link for the info.
With any luck, the arrival of the EA FIFA World Cup game, hopefully a few more ideas with spring out my noggin. Look for a comprehensive review/thoughts in a few days after I give it a good 360 workout. For one, despite being developed in British Columbia, you know over the border from the U.S. the game did an abysmal job rendering the USMNT player faces.
"One Man" Teams:
This is a thought that's been kicking around for a while. Basically, here are four national teams which feature one player heads-and-shoulder more "famous" than the rest of his peers. Now I write famous in quotations, because it's more perception than anything else. Or specifically a perception by the worldwide English-speaking media, for better or worse.
Cameroon -- Samuel Eto'o. -- Quick, name another player on Cameroon. Quickly, I said. Who's that? Arsenal's Alex Song. Geremi?
Eto'o isn't only a lot more famous than his countrymen, he's clearly on another level of skill. When you think of the Indomitable Lions you're thoughts immediately turn toward Eto'o and then probably to Roger Milla dancing at the 1990 World Cup.
If Eto'o gets any support behind him, Cameroon may be able to edge past Denmark for Group E's second place behind the Netherlands.
Eto'o is on the level of players who you know you have to mark and try to contain, yet he's so good he usually makes an impact. In theory, playing on African soil should even give him an added boost.
Paraguay -- Roque Santa Cruz -- A spare part at Manchester City, Santa Cruz is still the standard-bearer for the Guaraníes. Really the only names on Paraguay even remotely familiar are Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Valdez and Salvador Cabañas, who's most famous, unfortunately, for being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Chances are, he's not even in South Africa come June.
To Paraguay's credit, it's qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup. It seems the country has developed into one of those national teams where the sum is greater than the flair of the individual parts. (You'd think national team boss Gerardo Martino would put more of an effort into impressing the English speaking media than, you know, qualifying.)
And this is doubly incredible since Paraguay formerly featured one of football's true bat-shit crazy players -- José Luis Chilavert, who had me enraptured at France 1998. (I was beyond irate when France beat them in extra time in the Round of 16.)
South Korea -- Park Ji-Sung -- Obviously for the simple fact that Park plays for Manchester United makes him a demigod in South Korea. He's by leaps and bounds the most well-known South Korean player around the globe.
Park is a very good player, but fits into the structure at both the Red Devils at Old Trafford and the Red Devils in Seoul. Korea, naturally, is a squad where the entire ethos is build around hard-work and the sum of the parts are greater than an individual player.
Uruguay -- Diego Forlan -- Uruguay certainly have plenty of players playing at all corners of the earth, yet Forlan still stands taller than his countrymen.
A scoring-machine since moving from Manchester United to Villareal, Forlan is arguably one of the two or three most dangerous players in the entire tournament. At Villareal and Athletico Madrid he's scored in over 50 percent of his matches, while that rate dips closer to one in three for Uruguay.
You know, if he's healthy, Forlan is going to be out there. You know you have to mark him. But you also know he's probably going to find the net.
For whatever it's worth, he's around 66-to-1 to finish with the Golden Boot. That's worth a flier when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is at 40-to-1. (David Villa is the overall favorite, followed by Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney and Luis Fabiano.)
Davies Dilemma Part 432:
Not to sound like a downer, but until we actually see Charlie Davies in an actual game that counts, with the ball at his feet, isn't it far to presumptuous to expect him to make the U.S. World Cup roster.
All this back-and-forth coming from France the last two weeks is just too confusing. First he's not playing for Sochaux, then he's training with the first team. Maybe he's playing a game? Maybe he isn't.
Which is it?
I'd like to see a healthy Davies on the field in South Africa as much as the next guy. Without any concrete knowledge, all we have is idle speculation and Twitter chatter. The established media sites seem to have Davies out of the mix, yet the Twitter-verse is still very high on his chances.
U.S. fans have been driving themselves crazy about this for months, and with the FIFA-mandated May preliminary squad date quickly approach, let's just see how this plays out. We're going to know in two weeks if Davies is even remotely close to international duty.
Ultimately the decision comes down to Bob Bradley. For once, Bradley's stern, Princetonian mind might be an advantage since he's not going to let emotions cloud his judgment and make an honest assessment of whether or not Davies can help the team or not.
It would be, dare I say it, an ESPY-worthy story if Davies makes the U.S. roster for South Africa. The way the fans have rallied around Davies and vice-versa is truly a great story in-and-of itself.
At the same time, is it worth using a roster space on a player who's health is nothing short of the biggest question mark in USMNT history?
Unfortunately sometimes winning games and the Hollywood ending don't go hand-in-hand.
However this plays out, the mere fact Davies will still have a professional career -- on the World Cup roster or not -- is a good enough story on its own.
And above all, isn't it crazy, how as U.S. fans were holding out hope for a player who basically broke his entire body in October? Is that how shallow the forward pool really is? If there were some other ready-made options would we all be so invested in Davies' remarkable recovery?
Despite my ingrained cynicism, I'm hoping this one ends in smiles all around. Honest.
Odds & Ends:
Two match officials selected from New Zealand for the World Cup, but none from the U.S. Not good, though judging by the first couple weeks of MLS, justified. ... This counts for nothing, but Argentina might be the most hirsute nation in the tournament. We could see a blast from the past to either 1978 or 1986 with some of the manes involved here. ... Odds for both the U.S. and Mexico to reach the last 16 are 21-to-10. For neither it's 3-to-1. ... A lot can happen in 12 years, but reading this story about Qatar's plans for the 2022 World Cup seem a tad far-fetched. ... In case you're wondering, Cote D'Ivoire could fall into the "One Man" theory with Didier Drogba. The nation still have big-time players like the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, etc. Drogba is the driving force, but there are clearly others around him. ... After Tuesday guess we can throw Ivica Olic as a player we'll miss in South Africa. How did Croatia finish behind Ukraine in England's qualifying group? Doesn't make sense. ... Michael Essien's injury makes me a lot less bullish than I was a couple weeks ago on Ghana's chances.
Prediction Pain:
Finally decided to set up an ESPN World Cup Prediction Group.
Nothing will be at stake, other than personal pride.
Plus you can tell everybody you're smarter than me, and you can't put a price on that, can you?
Follow this link for the info.
Labels: Soccer, USMNT, world cup 2010, world cup wednesdays
"Wilson, King of Honduras, I lay this hate on you." -- Tweet from early Saturday morning after Wilson Palacios pulled down Nani for a penalty, sealing Manchester United's 3-1 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford.
* * *
Usually whenever I get up for the early Saturday morning Premier League match, I'm groggy, half-asleep and even a little punchy. This time it was different ... awake, alert and even a little angry.
The anger came as soon as from the lineups came on screen, noticing Harry Redknapp took the conventional approach to his XI, putting Palacios back into the midfield, shifting Luka Modric out wide left, Gareth Bale to left back and Bennoit Assou-Ekotto to right back. (Granted, the other end of this equation means Younes Kaboul on the field, which is a risk, but kept the winning formation on the field.)
As we know, it didn't work. I'm not even a Spurs' fan -- yet it still rankled me to no end.
Later in the day, as I woke up more, (thank you Dunkin' Donuts) my blame shifted to Palacios -- a hard-worker and nice enough fellow -- to Redknapp, who's by the numbers approach to tactics might have cost Tottenham a place in the Champions League.
Is the formation the reason why Spurs lost? Is the fact Assou-Ekotto started on the right instead of the left the reason he hacked down Patrice Evra in the box setting up Ryan Giggs from the spot?
Did eventually moving things around where Palacios* was at right back the reason Nani was able to chip over Gomes? Or why he conceded another penalty? Probably not either.
* There's a difference between a player making a mistake, or a player put in the position to fail. Palacios was put in that position Sunday. Compare that to Tuesday in the Champions League, when Maicon -- a great player -- was caught out of position on the Barcelona goal. Palacios is obviously a proven, solid Premier League performer. It's just his skill set wasn't needed against a Manchester United lineup which was going to do most of its attacking through the wings of Luis Valencia and Nani.
What it boiled down to was the mentality from the opening kick.
Sure, Bale didn't exactly tear it up at Old Trafford, slipping all over the field more than anything dangerous to the United goal. Keeping he and Modric in the same spots that yielded back-to-back great results would have sent a message right from the opening whistle.
Redknapp went for it against Arsenal -- rolling the dice big time -- handing Danny Rose his first League start, and perhaps lucking into the goal of the season. Redknapp also took the calculated risk of loaning Robbie Keane to Celtic in January, putting his eggs in the basket of former laughingstock Roman Pavlyuchenko in the pursuit of the elusive Champions League spot.
Redknapp, who's been managing in England since 1983**, basically took the paint-by-numbers, conservative approach at Old Trafford. Instead of pressing the issue and putting United on the back heel, he opted for a lineup that would allow United more time on the ball and slowly build momentum.
** Are we sold on Redknapp as an actual manager? His only big trophy is the 2008 FA Cup at Portsmouth, after all. He's a great wheeler-and-dealer, but how much of a winner has be been? Overall his winning percentage is just over 40 percent...but look at that hangdog face? How can you stay made at his uber-Englishness? Will his legacy be saving Pompey from releagation, winning the FA Cup and getting the club to Europe or putting it on the path to financial ruin?
I can see the reason why Redknapp elected to take this approach, instead of fielding the lineup which beat Arsenal and Chelsea in succession. It was Old Trafford and Manchester United after all and Spurs haven't beaten them on the road since 1989. Sure it's unlikely that Spurs could register a third successive win against the top of the table.
And maybe since Redknapp's been around English football so long, he's simply accepted team's don't come to Old Trafford and get points. Maybe he didn't realize we're coming to the end of the surreal season.
As we know, United aren't exactly United this season, despite gaining first place momentarily. And with Wayne Rooney looking on from up high in a box with little Kai, they were ripe for the picking.
Instead of making a bold move and declaring his intentions for fourth place, Tottenham took the standard approach to the game, hoping maybe for a draw. In other words, a semi-defeatist strategy.
In Spurs' position did one point or zero points really matter? Wouldn't the risk involved going for all three make it worth it? Wouldn't it be better to go down fighting? If you try and miss and end up losing, you're in the same place Spurs' ended up. Why not try for the three points and keep destiny in your own hands?
Fourth place this year is still wide open with four clubs -- Spurs, Man City, Aston Villa and even Liverpool still in play. At some point one of these clubs is going to have to make a bold move, why Redknapp failed to do so, is simply disappointing.
Better still, isn't the upside of going for three points and making fourth place yours make more sense than leaving it all up to chance? Sure, a draw would've been useful, but why not set your sights higher. If Spurs were only trying to hold off one team behind, yeah, it makes a little more sense. With three other chasers?
To me, this was like a baseball manager that always consults the "book" making decisions on lefties vs. righties, instead of making a decision on ability or the specific matchup. If a lefty is up -- say Hideki Matsui, who owns lefties -- let's still bring in a LOOGIE to face him.
It's like simply thinking, we're playing at Old Trafford, ipso facto, we must play a more defensive lineup and if we lose, well, we played the percentages. It's easy to say stuff we didn't want to get overrun in the midfield, hence starting a more defensive-minded team.
I'm not saying borrow a page from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and go for it on 4th-and-two from your own 28 yard line, but showing some sort of creativity wouldn't be a bad idea, from time-to-time. Jose Mourinho went for it at Stamford Bridge with a 4-3-3 in the second leg of Inter Milan's Champions League Round of 16 match with Chelsea. It was a gamble, but it paid off.
In the end, it wasn't even Palacios' fault. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And that's chalked up to a manager playing it safe instead of going for it. At least go down guns blazing, rather than waiting for Manchester United to find a way to beat you, even if, as it turns out, is an inevitability.
Lest we forget, Tottenham's motto is, after all, "Audere est Facere" -- To Dare Is To Dream.
I should have just went back to bed.
United are United:
Great "FIFA 10"-style chip*** from Nani and a couple of penalties by Giggs.
And that was about it.
Amazingly, against a good team that was enough as United continue to coax results despite very forgettable play over the course of 90 minutes. Second place will actually be an accomplishment with this lot.
***Anyone else buying the FIFA World Cup game on Tuesday? I'm down for some challenges...
Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea:
Chelsea sure do know how to hammer the bad teams into humiliation at Stamford Bridge this season, eh?
Blackburn 5-0
Wolves 4-0
Sunderland 7-2
Birmingham City 3-0
West Ham 4-1
Aston Villa 7-1
Stoke City 7-0
And what of Didier Drogba's ridiculous over the shoulder, leg trap to set up the his countryman Kalou?
There's not much more to say, other than barring Chelsea stubbing its toe at Liverpool, the title is the Blues.
And as much as it pains me to write it, they've deserved it. Other than a few wobbles here-or-there, the Blues have been the standard of the league.
Moreso, they've been sharks at the Bridge. When they smell blood in the water, it becomes a feeding frenzy.
Penalty, penalty:
I'll admit, after getting up early on Saturday I slept in Sunday. When I read most of the match reports of Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Birmingham City most of them used the words "lucky" or "fortunate" to describe James Milner's late penalty shot, set up by Roger Johnson's tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Thanks to the DVR-like ability of Foxsoccer.tv I was able to dial up the match and instantly see the play in question.
To me, it wasn't that horrendous a call. Yes Johnson got the ball first, but he also got a lot of Agbonlahor, too. You can say the ref was 20+ yards away and unable to make the call, or at least see that Johnson got to the ball first. The idea that the ref, is physically able to be in proper position every second of the 90 minutes is fairly far flung. Barring replay, what's the solution? (I've seen a two-ref system, at length, in high school games. It's not the way to go.)
These things happen.
Even without a season-long statiscal pack to back me up, I'll tend to believe that over the course of 38 games, penalty and non-penalties tend to cancel each other out. It's just that in a game like this, late in the season and late in the match, it becomes a headline.
If Aston Villa end up racing past Tottenham and Manchester City at the end of the season, everyone will point to this call, instead of looking at the season as a whole. And if you're into that sort of second-guessing, remember the game that Fernando Torres stole at the death vs. Aston Villa. That match and Sunday's would tend to cancel each other out.
It's a long season.
I will give Aston Villa credit for pulling even with Spurs, with one less game played, for fourth place. For Villa, they need to take three points at Eastlands Saturday, or the quest for the Champions League**** is over. If they don't win, Villa likely has to hope Spurs and City draw when they play May 5.
****Aston Villa reaching the Champions League could possibly end in one of those, be careful what you wish for scenarios. The club would need to bring in four or five warm bodies, plus fight off the big club for James Milner to avoid being stretched too thin.
But hey, Villa is still alive, when I thought they were left for dead. It helps when you have a run of games against Portsmouth, Hull City and then Birmingham, back at home to right the ship.
After losing the Carling Cup final, getting hammered by Chelsea and then losing to the Blues in the FA Cup, it seemed logical Villa would mail in the season. There were even rumors Martin O'Neill would walk out.
Somehow they found a little something and are in position, at least, to salvage what could've been the ultimate bridesmaid campaign.
Hashtag humor:
I never thought I'd like Twitter. Now, I'm probably addicted. (God help us all once they inevitably start charging for it, which has to happen eventually, right?)
Anyway my favorite "hashtag" my friends and I add to is, "You're a Winner and a Loser."
West Ham's Scott Parker found himself wearing the hashtag collar Saturday.
He's a winner because he scored an absolute peach of a bending, long range effort to give West Ham a season-saving 3-2 win over Wigan Athletic. (A goal that probably offset his miss off the post in the distrous defeat to Wolves, which sent the season spiraling.)
He's a loser, since he's probably the best player on West Ham, which is still only 17th in the table in a 20-team league.
Credit Parker & Co. for finding a way out of the relegation tailspin. In March West Ham went winless in five matches. In April they've gone 2-1-1, with the loss coming to Arsenal. They've done enough.
It is remarkable that the relegation battle is done-and-dusted, while all the other possible races are still wide-open.
Hull City? When Jimmy Bullard is hitting the post on a penalty kick, it's just not your season. On top of that, when your strikers combine for under 10 goals and your defense is a leaky sieve, you probably deserve to get relegated. Sorry, but I won't miss the Mustard Tigers all that much. Other than Altidore and Bullard is there anyone on the Hull roster worth pursuing?
And Burnley went down, too, this weekend. The best I can say about Burnley was that they weren't Derby County. When Owen Coyle was in charge, the Clarets were pretty decent. The club didn't overextend itself and probably figured it was going to go down no matter what it did. When your biggest move over the summer is signing Tyrone Mears, that about says it all.
During the Burnley/Liverpool match the announcers were talking about how the Burnley board want to emulate what West Brom has done, being able to fall and rise back up consistently. There are worse scenarios. Go ask Charlton, Crystal Palace, Southampton or Norwich City.
Unlike Hull, there are probably a couple useful players to pluck off the Clarets like Steven Fletcher.
Burnley were who they thought they were.
Wave of Mutilation:
Was this the Premier League over the weekend or a torture-porn video?
I can't recall a weekend with more mangled bodies and players being carried off in stretchers than was transpired on Saturday and Sunday.
It all began with Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland's face meeting the studs of Carlton Cole, in a full-speed collision. Yeah, Kirkland and his silly tennis cap make him an easy target for ridicule, but he got mashed. (This is the photo I took off my TV.)
Kirkland stayed in the match, when it seemed like a trip to the hospital and plastic surgeon would be in the cards.
Later Saturday Shay Given was carted off at the Emirates with a dislocated shoulder following a rather innocuous dive to his left late in the match. The only upside is that Gunnar Nielsen got to play and he's from the Faroe Islands, which is always fun to type.
Given, though, was prone on the ground for a long time, finally getting a giant rubber band put around him to keep the shoulder in place, along with oxygen.
And all that for a dive to make a save.
Bad things, happen in threes.
Similar injury seemed to befall Stoke City keeper Tomas Sorensen, who tried to prevent an on-rushing Soloman Kalou from scoring. (Didn't happen.) There didn't seem to be contact, but Sorenson was eventually carted off, too, and diagnosed with a broken elbow. Looks like he'll likely miss the World Cup for Denmark.
Up at Goodison Park, both Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar took nasty cuts to the head from an inadvertent elbow and a stamp from Fulham players. Arteta even got seven stitches, but came out to play after the half and scored the game-winning stoppage time penalty. Pienaar only got the "goop" treatment.
All these injuries, only reiterated my thought to turn the clock off when a guy is writhing in pain on the ground. When the stretcher comes out, have the ref stop the clock. It's not that hard. We don't need eight minutes of stoppage time at the Emirates. Granted, in light of these injuries, it's only splitting hairs.
Mercifully, we were spared any compound fractures.
The Red Mist:
By now you know Jozy Altidore got the boot Saturday for a dust-up with Sunderland's Alan Hutton. (Watch "Joey" here.)
Not sure I have too much to add. It's hard to defend Altidore for reacting like that when Hutton goaded him into something that stupid. Granted Hull is probably getting relegated away, already down 1-0, but you can't get sent off in the most important match of the season.
You could be 20 years old or 30 years old, it's still stupidity.
Hopefully it's an isolated incident in Altidore's career because it's a shame when some players, even very talented ones (i.e. Rooney, though he's grown) attract red cards. This was only a reaction to another player, not violent conduct like an ankle stamp, so it can be controlled with proper coaching.
Let's just hope England -- or more likely Algeria -- don't bait Altidore into something silly like this in South Africa.
Then again, Altidore did apologize profusely on Sunday -- almost too much -- for his momentary lapse of reason.
As for Altidore's career? The jury is out. Not sure what Villareal wants to do with him. It seems unlikely he'll go back to Spain. Would another English club make an offer on him? Could a team that needs forward help like Everton, Wolves, Stoke City or even Fulham make an offer?
It all depends on what he's worth, or more specifically how he's perceived around the league.
Can you sell Altidore to the club's board of directors as a promising 20-year-old, who with the right training and better players around him can become a physical, fast force at the top of the attack, who's proven himself internationally for the U.S.? Or is he a petulant kid that only scored one league goal given ample chances at Hull City?
It's a tougher call than you might think. The days of the middle-table Premier League teams sinking money into unproven youngsters seems to be fading.
Right now Altidore, no matter where he lands after the World Cup this summer needs to show clubs that he's a guy you want in your starting XI week-in, week-out, who'll get you goals at least once every two or three matches.
Other Stuff:
This is how much I want to write about Arsenal and Manchester City's 0-0 draw at the Emirates. ... Okay, a little more. It was like two zombie teams, or players who didn't want to be there. Everything seemed at half-speed. Considering the defensive lineup Arsenal started, City should have pressed from the start, instead they just waited and waited for Carlos Tevez to conjure something up. It didn't happen and was an awfully boring game to watch. Guess City will have to find a way to buy Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Torres to change it. ... Liverpool still alive for the Champions League? I'd rate their chances a lot higher if Los Reds weren't playing in-form Chelsea next weekend. They, like Villa, likely need that Spurs/City match to end in a draw to have a chance. At least Steven Gerrard dialed back the clock to 2006 with an awesome long-range goal to sink Burnley to the Champioship. ... Can't really argue with Rooney being voted Player of the Year by the PFA. ... The announcing crew for the United/Spurs game might have been the most "soup kitchen" team possible. Play-by-play guy Bill Leslie must have used the term, "licking his lips" two or three times. Yikes. ... Wonder if a big club splurges for Darren Bent this summer. Wouldn't he be Fernando Torres or Rooney insurance? Doubt he wants to sit the bench, though if he wants to win a title or a trophy in his career he may have to make that sacrifice.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Colin Sebastian's cleverly named, "Ctrl Alt Da Laet" gets top honors for 92 points thanks to Frank Lampard, Milner, Bent, etc.
At the top, MVee FC has opened up a double-digit lead over Beckham Priapism with two rounds left to play.
One Other Thing:
I threw out a tweet Saturday in praise of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." All I can say is that it was a mind-blowing cinematic experience. Maybe you've heard some things about the gonzo performance by Nic Cage, but it needs to be seen to be believed.
This flick was like a raw-dog, relentless version of Vic Mackey from 'The Shield' on crack -- literally.
Werner Herzog, you are a smarter man than we'll all ever be. The movie is absolutely ridiculous from the opening scene of Cage and Val Kilmer -- a bloated, leathery skinned Val Kilmer -- picking through a flooded post-Katrina New Orleans prison. Yet as crazy as it is, the plot never stops moving. There are about eight crazy subplots that could have been movies unto themselves. I've been down on movies for keeping my attention span, the sheer audacity and balls-out craziness kept me glued to the screen.
Plus, it was completely unapologetic and didn't sugarcoat a single thing. It would have been the darkest movie about cops in a long time, if not for the absoludicrosity of Cage's performance, which transcends the genre -- and perhaps space + time. (Bonus points for best cocaine humor since the "Sniffing Accountant" episode of "Seinfeld.")
When you see the posts on the IMDb.com message board first page ranging from "the funniest things I've seen" to "complete P.O.S." you know it's something on your hands.
"Where's the kibble?"
Usually whenever I get up for the early Saturday morning Premier League match, I'm groggy, half-asleep and even a little punchy. This time it was different ... awake, alert and even a little angry.
The anger came as soon as from the lineups came on screen, noticing Harry Redknapp took the conventional approach to his XI, putting Palacios back into the midfield, shifting Luka Modric out wide left, Gareth Bale to left back and Bennoit Assou-Ekotto to right back. (Granted, the other end of this equation means Younes Kaboul on the field, which is a risk, but kept the winning formation on the field.)
As we know, it didn't work. I'm not even a Spurs' fan -- yet it still rankled me to no end.
Later in the day, as I woke up more, (thank you Dunkin' Donuts) my blame shifted to Palacios -- a hard-worker and nice enough fellow -- to Redknapp, who's by the numbers approach to tactics might have cost Tottenham a place in the Champions League.
Is the formation the reason why Spurs lost? Is the fact Assou-Ekotto started on the right instead of the left the reason he hacked down Patrice Evra in the box setting up Ryan Giggs from the spot?
Did eventually moving things around where Palacios* was at right back the reason Nani was able to chip over Gomes? Or why he conceded another penalty? Probably not either.
* There's a difference between a player making a mistake, or a player put in the position to fail. Palacios was put in that position Sunday. Compare that to Tuesday in the Champions League, when Maicon -- a great player -- was caught out of position on the Barcelona goal. Palacios is obviously a proven, solid Premier League performer. It's just his skill set wasn't needed against a Manchester United lineup which was going to do most of its attacking through the wings of Luis Valencia and Nani.
What it boiled down to was the mentality from the opening kick.
Sure, Bale didn't exactly tear it up at Old Trafford, slipping all over the field more than anything dangerous to the United goal. Keeping he and Modric in the same spots that yielded back-to-back great results would have sent a message right from the opening whistle.
Redknapp went for it against Arsenal -- rolling the dice big time -- handing Danny Rose his first League start, and perhaps lucking into the goal of the season. Redknapp also took the calculated risk of loaning Robbie Keane to Celtic in January, putting his eggs in the basket of former laughingstock Roman Pavlyuchenko in the pursuit of the elusive Champions League spot.
Redknapp, who's been managing in England since 1983**, basically took the paint-by-numbers, conservative approach at Old Trafford. Instead of pressing the issue and putting United on the back heel, he opted for a lineup that would allow United more time on the ball and slowly build momentum.
** Are we sold on Redknapp as an actual manager? His only big trophy is the 2008 FA Cup at Portsmouth, after all. He's a great wheeler-and-dealer, but how much of a winner has be been? Overall his winning percentage is just over 40 percent...but look at that hangdog face? How can you stay made at his uber-Englishness? Will his legacy be saving Pompey from releagation, winning the FA Cup and getting the club to Europe or putting it on the path to financial ruin?
I can see the reason why Redknapp elected to take this approach, instead of fielding the lineup which beat Arsenal and Chelsea in succession. It was Old Trafford and Manchester United after all and Spurs haven't beaten them on the road since 1989. Sure it's unlikely that Spurs could register a third successive win against the top of the table.
And maybe since Redknapp's been around English football so long, he's simply accepted team's don't come to Old Trafford and get points. Maybe he didn't realize we're coming to the end of the surreal season.
As we know, United aren't exactly United this season, despite gaining first place momentarily. And with Wayne Rooney looking on from up high in a box with little Kai, they were ripe for the picking.
Instead of making a bold move and declaring his intentions for fourth place, Tottenham took the standard approach to the game, hoping maybe for a draw. In other words, a semi-defeatist strategy.
In Spurs' position did one point or zero points really matter? Wouldn't the risk involved going for all three make it worth it? Wouldn't it be better to go down fighting? If you try and miss and end up losing, you're in the same place Spurs' ended up. Why not try for the three points and keep destiny in your own hands?
Fourth place this year is still wide open with four clubs -- Spurs, Man City, Aston Villa and even Liverpool still in play. At some point one of these clubs is going to have to make a bold move, why Redknapp failed to do so, is simply disappointing.
Better still, isn't the upside of going for three points and making fourth place yours make more sense than leaving it all up to chance? Sure, a draw would've been useful, but why not set your sights higher. If Spurs were only trying to hold off one team behind, yeah, it makes a little more sense. With three other chasers?
To me, this was like a baseball manager that always consults the "book" making decisions on lefties vs. righties, instead of making a decision on ability or the specific matchup. If a lefty is up -- say Hideki Matsui, who owns lefties -- let's still bring in a LOOGIE to face him.
It's like simply thinking, we're playing at Old Trafford, ipso facto, we must play a more defensive lineup and if we lose, well, we played the percentages. It's easy to say stuff we didn't want to get overrun in the midfield, hence starting a more defensive-minded team.
I'm not saying borrow a page from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and go for it on 4th-and-two from your own 28 yard line, but showing some sort of creativity wouldn't be a bad idea, from time-to-time. Jose Mourinho went for it at Stamford Bridge with a 4-3-3 in the second leg of Inter Milan's Champions League Round of 16 match with Chelsea. It was a gamble, but it paid off.
In the end, it wasn't even Palacios' fault. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And that's chalked up to a manager playing it safe instead of going for it. At least go down guns blazing, rather than waiting for Manchester United to find a way to beat you, even if, as it turns out, is an inevitability.
Lest we forget, Tottenham's motto is, after all, "Audere est Facere" -- To Dare Is To Dream.
I should have just went back to bed.
United are United:
Great "FIFA 10"-style chip*** from Nani and a couple of penalties by Giggs.
And that was about it.
Amazingly, against a good team that was enough as United continue to coax results despite very forgettable play over the course of 90 minutes. Second place will actually be an accomplishment with this lot.
***Anyone else buying the FIFA World Cup game on Tuesday? I'm down for some challenges...
Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea:
Chelsea sure do know how to hammer the bad teams into humiliation at Stamford Bridge this season, eh?
Blackburn 5-0
Wolves 4-0
Sunderland 7-2
Birmingham City 3-0
West Ham 4-1
Aston Villa 7-1
Stoke City 7-0
And what of Didier Drogba's ridiculous over the shoulder, leg trap to set up the his countryman Kalou?
There's not much more to say, other than barring Chelsea stubbing its toe at Liverpool, the title is the Blues.
And as much as it pains me to write it, they've deserved it. Other than a few wobbles here-or-there, the Blues have been the standard of the league.
Moreso, they've been sharks at the Bridge. When they smell blood in the water, it becomes a feeding frenzy.
Penalty, penalty:
I'll admit, after getting up early on Saturday I slept in Sunday. When I read most of the match reports of Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Birmingham City most of them used the words "lucky" or "fortunate" to describe James Milner's late penalty shot, set up by Roger Johnson's tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Thanks to the DVR-like ability of Foxsoccer.tv I was able to dial up the match and instantly see the play in question.
To me, it wasn't that horrendous a call. Yes Johnson got the ball first, but he also got a lot of Agbonlahor, too. You can say the ref was 20+ yards away and unable to make the call, or at least see that Johnson got to the ball first. The idea that the ref, is physically able to be in proper position every second of the 90 minutes is fairly far flung. Barring replay, what's the solution? (I've seen a two-ref system, at length, in high school games. It's not the way to go.)
These things happen.
Even without a season-long statiscal pack to back me up, I'll tend to believe that over the course of 38 games, penalty and non-penalties tend to cancel each other out. It's just that in a game like this, late in the season and late in the match, it becomes a headline.
If Aston Villa end up racing past Tottenham and Manchester City at the end of the season, everyone will point to this call, instead of looking at the season as a whole. And if you're into that sort of second-guessing, remember the game that Fernando Torres stole at the death vs. Aston Villa. That match and Sunday's would tend to cancel each other out.
It's a long season.
I will give Aston Villa credit for pulling even with Spurs, with one less game played, for fourth place. For Villa, they need to take three points at Eastlands Saturday, or the quest for the Champions League**** is over. If they don't win, Villa likely has to hope Spurs and City draw when they play May 5.
****Aston Villa reaching the Champions League could possibly end in one of those, be careful what you wish for scenarios. The club would need to bring in four or five warm bodies, plus fight off the big club for James Milner to avoid being stretched too thin.
But hey, Villa is still alive, when I thought they were left for dead. It helps when you have a run of games against Portsmouth, Hull City and then Birmingham, back at home to right the ship.
After losing the Carling Cup final, getting hammered by Chelsea and then losing to the Blues in the FA Cup, it seemed logical Villa would mail in the season. There were even rumors Martin O'Neill would walk out.
Somehow they found a little something and are in position, at least, to salvage what could've been the ultimate bridesmaid campaign.
Hashtag humor:
I never thought I'd like Twitter. Now, I'm probably addicted. (God help us all once they inevitably start charging for it, which has to happen eventually, right?)
Anyway my favorite "hashtag" my friends and I add to is, "You're a Winner and a Loser."
West Ham's Scott Parker found himself wearing the hashtag collar Saturday.
He's a winner because he scored an absolute peach of a bending, long range effort to give West Ham a season-saving 3-2 win over Wigan Athletic. (A goal that probably offset his miss off the post in the distrous defeat to Wolves, which sent the season spiraling.)
He's a loser, since he's probably the best player on West Ham, which is still only 17th in the table in a 20-team league.
Credit Parker & Co. for finding a way out of the relegation tailspin. In March West Ham went winless in five matches. In April they've gone 2-1-1, with the loss coming to Arsenal. They've done enough.
It is remarkable that the relegation battle is done-and-dusted, while all the other possible races are still wide-open.
Hull City? When Jimmy Bullard is hitting the post on a penalty kick, it's just not your season. On top of that, when your strikers combine for under 10 goals and your defense is a leaky sieve, you probably deserve to get relegated. Sorry, but I won't miss the Mustard Tigers all that much. Other than Altidore and Bullard is there anyone on the Hull roster worth pursuing?
And Burnley went down, too, this weekend. The best I can say about Burnley was that they weren't Derby County. When Owen Coyle was in charge, the Clarets were pretty decent. The club didn't overextend itself and probably figured it was going to go down no matter what it did. When your biggest move over the summer is signing Tyrone Mears, that about says it all.
During the Burnley/Liverpool match the announcers were talking about how the Burnley board want to emulate what West Brom has done, being able to fall and rise back up consistently. There are worse scenarios. Go ask Charlton, Crystal Palace, Southampton or Norwich City.
Unlike Hull, there are probably a couple useful players to pluck off the Clarets like Steven Fletcher.
Burnley were who they thought they were.
Wave of Mutilation:
Was this the Premier League over the weekend or a torture-porn video?
I can't recall a weekend with more mangled bodies and players being carried off in stretchers than was transpired on Saturday and Sunday.
It all began with Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland's face meeting the studs of Carlton Cole, in a full-speed collision. Yeah, Kirkland and his silly tennis cap make him an easy target for ridicule, but he got mashed. (This is the photo I took off my TV.)
Kirkland stayed in the match, when it seemed like a trip to the hospital and plastic surgeon would be in the cards.
Later Saturday Shay Given was carted off at the Emirates with a dislocated shoulder following a rather innocuous dive to his left late in the match. The only upside is that Gunnar Nielsen got to play and he's from the Faroe Islands, which is always fun to type.
Given, though, was prone on the ground for a long time, finally getting a giant rubber band put around him to keep the shoulder in place, along with oxygen.
And all that for a dive to make a save.
Bad things, happen in threes.
Similar injury seemed to befall Stoke City keeper Tomas Sorensen, who tried to prevent an on-rushing Soloman Kalou from scoring. (Didn't happen.) There didn't seem to be contact, but Sorenson was eventually carted off, too, and diagnosed with a broken elbow. Looks like he'll likely miss the World Cup for Denmark.
Up at Goodison Park, both Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar took nasty cuts to the head from an inadvertent elbow and a stamp from Fulham players. Arteta even got seven stitches, but came out to play after the half and scored the game-winning stoppage time penalty. Pienaar only got the "goop" treatment.
All these injuries, only reiterated my thought to turn the clock off when a guy is writhing in pain on the ground. When the stretcher comes out, have the ref stop the clock. It's not that hard. We don't need eight minutes of stoppage time at the Emirates. Granted, in light of these injuries, it's only splitting hairs.
Mercifully, we were spared any compound fractures.
The Red Mist:
By now you know Jozy Altidore got the boot Saturday for a dust-up with Sunderland's Alan Hutton. (Watch "Joey" here.)
Not sure I have too much to add. It's hard to defend Altidore for reacting like that when Hutton goaded him into something that stupid. Granted Hull is probably getting relegated away, already down 1-0, but you can't get sent off in the most important match of the season.
You could be 20 years old or 30 years old, it's still stupidity.
Hopefully it's an isolated incident in Altidore's career because it's a shame when some players, even very talented ones (i.e. Rooney, though he's grown) attract red cards. This was only a reaction to another player, not violent conduct like an ankle stamp, so it can be controlled with proper coaching.
Let's just hope England -- or more likely Algeria -- don't bait Altidore into something silly like this in South Africa.
Then again, Altidore did apologize profusely on Sunday -- almost too much -- for his momentary lapse of reason.
As for Altidore's career? The jury is out. Not sure what Villareal wants to do with him. It seems unlikely he'll go back to Spain. Would another English club make an offer on him? Could a team that needs forward help like Everton, Wolves, Stoke City or even Fulham make an offer?
It all depends on what he's worth, or more specifically how he's perceived around the league.
Can you sell Altidore to the club's board of directors as a promising 20-year-old, who with the right training and better players around him can become a physical, fast force at the top of the attack, who's proven himself internationally for the U.S.? Or is he a petulant kid that only scored one league goal given ample chances at Hull City?
It's a tougher call than you might think. The days of the middle-table Premier League teams sinking money into unproven youngsters seems to be fading.
Right now Altidore, no matter where he lands after the World Cup this summer needs to show clubs that he's a guy you want in your starting XI week-in, week-out, who'll get you goals at least once every two or three matches.
Other Stuff:
This is how much I want to write about Arsenal and Manchester City's 0-0 draw at the Emirates. ... Okay, a little more. It was like two zombie teams, or players who didn't want to be there. Everything seemed at half-speed. Considering the defensive lineup Arsenal started, City should have pressed from the start, instead they just waited and waited for Carlos Tevez to conjure something up. It didn't happen and was an awfully boring game to watch. Guess City will have to find a way to buy Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Torres to change it. ... Liverpool still alive for the Champions League? I'd rate their chances a lot higher if Los Reds weren't playing in-form Chelsea next weekend. They, like Villa, likely need that Spurs/City match to end in a draw to have a chance. At least Steven Gerrard dialed back the clock to 2006 with an awesome long-range goal to sink Burnley to the Champioship. ... Can't really argue with Rooney being voted Player of the Year by the PFA. ... The announcing crew for the United/Spurs game might have been the most "soup kitchen" team possible. Play-by-play guy Bill Leslie must have used the term, "licking his lips" two or three times. Yikes. ... Wonder if a big club splurges for Darren Bent this summer. Wouldn't he be Fernando Torres or Rooney insurance? Doubt he wants to sit the bench, though if he wants to win a title or a trophy in his career he may have to make that sacrifice.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Colin Sebastian's cleverly named, "Ctrl Alt Da Laet" gets top honors for 92 points thanks to Frank Lampard, Milner, Bent, etc.
At the top, MVee FC has opened up a double-digit lead over Beckham Priapism with two rounds left to play.
One Other Thing:
I threw out a tweet Saturday in praise of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." All I can say is that it was a mind-blowing cinematic experience. Maybe you've heard some things about the gonzo performance by Nic Cage, but it needs to be seen to be believed.
This flick was like a raw-dog, relentless version of Vic Mackey from 'The Shield' on crack -- literally.
Werner Herzog, you are a smarter man than we'll all ever be. The movie is absolutely ridiculous from the opening scene of Cage and Val Kilmer -- a bloated, leathery skinned Val Kilmer -- picking through a flooded post-Katrina New Orleans prison. Yet as crazy as it is, the plot never stops moving. There are about eight crazy subplots that could have been movies unto themselves. I've been down on movies for keeping my attention span, the sheer audacity and balls-out craziness kept me glued to the screen.
Plus, it was completely unapologetic and didn't sugarcoat a single thing. It would have been the darkest movie about cops in a long time, if not for the absoludicrosity of Cage's performance, which transcends the genre -- and perhaps space + time. (Bonus points for best cocaine humor since the "Sniffing Accountant" episode of "Seinfeld.")
When you see the posts on the IMDb.com message board first page ranging from "the funniest things I've seen" to "complete P.O.S." you know it's something on your hands.
"Where's the kibble?"
Labels: aston villa, Chelsea, English Premier League, manchester United, Premier League, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
Not a ton of time to write up a preview this week, in fact Thursday morning I almost did one of those old-timey cartoon takes were by eyes popped up my head when I looked at my computer and noticed it was, indeed, Thursday.
Since nothing really struck me and it would be too quick to rush my pending team-by-team MVP post, it seemed like a decent idea to put all the pertinent Premier League races in one place.
Something that jumps out, is that the final three matches for Wigan Athletic of all teams, figure into the title race and the relegation battle. You'll notice, too, that I've counted Liverpool out for fourth place. Six points with one less game is too much to overcome.
By the same token, I'm also figuring Wigan, Wolves and Bolton are all safe, too. This is on the basis that Hull City would need to win two or likely three of their final matches. The Tigers have six wins all season. Stranger things have happened, but I'm not banking on it.
Sorry Jozy.
Then again, what were the preseason odds a volcano on Iceland would affect European soccer.
The relegation battle, as you'll see could be over as soon as this Saturday afternoon anyhow.
Note the goal differential, which may determine first and fourth.
First place:
Chelsea (77 points, +54 GD) -- vs. Stoke City; @ Liverpool vs. Wigan
Manchester United (76, +51) -- v. Tottenham; at Sunderland; v. Stoke City
Fourth place:
Tottenham (64, +28) -- @ Manchester United; v. Bolton; @ Manchester City; @ Burnley
Manchester City (62, +27) -- @ Arsenal; v. Aston Villa; v. Tottenham; @ West Ham
Aston Villa (61, +15) -- v. Birmingham City; @ Manchester City; v. Blackburn
17th place:
West Ham (31, -19) -- v. Wigan; @ Fulham; v. Manchester City
Hull City (28, -40) -- v. Hull City; @ Wigan; v. Liverpool
Unfortunately, you can see there are frankly too many variables and moving parts, on top of most of the teams involved in everything playing each other. If you want to work out the math and do the scenarios in your head, be my guest.
The season is so close to finishing, just let it play out, right?
Saturday:
* Manchester United v. Tottenham -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) In all honesty, this could be the hardest game of the season to predict. On the one hand you have United's knack for winning games when you least expect it and it's solid record at Old Trafford -- just seven dropped points this season. Meanwhile you have a Tottenham team that's won back-to-back games against Arsenal and Chelsea, looking like a force of nature at times in doing so. Yet there is still a troublesome 6-5-5 road record for Spurs this season. From back-to-front, Spurs are clearly playing better and look like they've got more options than United. But United is still United. Amazingly, the keys yet again for United are Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, when the 30-somethings turn back the clock, the team looks good. When they look 35, well, it's the opposite. Spurs should really press the issue through Gareth Bale and perhaps even a returning Aaron Lennon. My Wilson Palacios theory will probably be put to the test, since Harry Redknapp will want more of a "battler" in the midfield than Luka Modric. Then again, why mess with a good thing. Having Gary Neville or Luis Valencia chase Bale up-and-down the wing as opposed to Modric is more of a tactical advantage to Spurs, right? Wayne Rooney is probably due a goal, but part of me thinks it would be fitting that Dmitar Berbatov ends up sticking it to his old club. Still, I'll ride the Tottenham train even though I know the tracks end up going over an uncompleted bridge, like the end of "Back to the Future Part III". ... Manchester United 1, Tottenham 2
* Bolton v. Portsmouth -- Not much to see here. ... Bolton 3, Portsmouth 1
* Hull City v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Hull fans ought to show up at the stadium Saturday, see if Iain Dowie has a pair of forwards out there (Jozy/Folan) if it's just one, walk out. Hull needs to get three points here or they could be relegated with two games left to play. When you give up 72 goals in 35 matches you don't exactly deserve to stick around. There is some hope for Hull since a) the only club's worse than Sunderland on the road are Hull and Burnley and b) Jimmy Bulllard does have a knack for the dramatic in games like these. I'm thinking this time in might come from the penalty spot. ... Hull City 2, Sunderland 1
* West Ham United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Remember that line from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' about Cameron being so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass it'd turn into a diamond a week later. (What's the edited, PG version on cable?) That's how West Ham might be on Saturday, or at least its fans. There's no way to sugarcoat it, the Irons have to win this match. Wigan still figure to be on an Arsenal-induced turkey coma from last week. The Latics have next to nothing to play for. This, however, could be a witch's brew at Upton Park. On the plus side, it's hard to see Hull making up 19 goals in the final three weeks on goal difference on West Ham. Robert Green, if you want to play for England this summer, please show it. ... West Ham 1, Wigan 1
* Wolves v. Blackburn -- Just a hunch, but a year from now if this fixture were being played we'd be calling it a "six-pointer." Both clubs ended up having very solid seasons, but with experienced teams like Newcastle and West Brom coming back up, they'll have to make some improvements if they want to sustain their Premier League status. ... Wolves 2, Blackburn 1
* Arsenal v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 a.m.) When they're free-flowing and clicking on all cylinders, City is the team Arsenal wishes it could be, though City seem to have a few more ways to score goals. To Arsenal's credit, they did get off the mat after Barcelona ended their Champions League quest. It's still hard to see them rising up after the Wigan stunner last weekend. City now know they have no margin for error and will also know the Spurs result by the time they kick off later in the day. If City wins here, they essentially control their own destiny with games against Spurs and Villa upcoming. City, it seems, boils down to this, if Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy are on, they're tough to stop. It also stands to reason Emmanuel Adebayor would like nothing more than to rub it in the faces of the Emirates crowd. Remember what happened back in September with the traveling fans? This is actually one match where Patrick Vieira might be useful since he and Nigel de Jong of Gareth Barry should be able to disrupt anything Arsenal gets cooking through the midfield. Just keep an eye on Robin van Persie and City should be set. (Wonder how much of Roberto Mancini openly talking about Fernando Torres is posturing, or if City are really hell bent on world domination?) ... Arsenal 0, City 2
Sunday:
* Aston Villa v. Birmingham City -- (Live, FSC+, 7 a.m.) Could, stress could, be a tricky derby match for Villa. Not sure how much the Birmingham players care, but the fans certainly would love to end Villa's chances at the Champions League. I'd like Birmingham's chances a lot better if its forwards took their chances better. Hard to see them getting through the stout Villa defense aside from the penalty spot. Villa figures to play fairly direct and eventually that should yield a goal. ... Villa 1, Birmingham City 0
* Burnley v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC+ 10 a.m.) Maybe Burnley gets a last hurrah in the Prem by taking some points off a fatigued, volcanic ash weary Liverpool squad. ... Burnley 2, Liverpool 1
* Everton v. Fulham -- Kind of strange that it's Fulham, not Everton, that's been able to make such a deep run in the Europa League. You'd think David Moyes' team would be better equipped for Europe, especially with Mikel Arteta in the midfield, but for whatever the reason, the Toffees aren't. ... Everton 2, Fulham 0
* Chelsea v. Stoke City -- (Live, FSC 11 a.m.) Chelsea will obviously know by the kickoff that they can pretty much wrap up first place with three points here. This could be a knock-down, drag-out game, since Stoke figures to have a little bit of fight in them, right? The season probably can't end fast enough for Chelsea with players dropping like flies. No John Terry in defense is a worry, even with his dip in form. The Blues still have Frank Lampard and he's not the kind of guy that will let them lose this match. ... Chelsea 2, Stoke City 0
Last round: 4-6
Season: 178-165
Since nothing really struck me and it would be too quick to rush my pending team-by-team MVP post, it seemed like a decent idea to put all the pertinent Premier League races in one place.
Something that jumps out, is that the final three matches for Wigan Athletic of all teams, figure into the title race and the relegation battle. You'll notice, too, that I've counted Liverpool out for fourth place. Six points with one less game is too much to overcome.
By the same token, I'm also figuring Wigan, Wolves and Bolton are all safe, too. This is on the basis that Hull City would need to win two or likely three of their final matches. The Tigers have six wins all season. Stranger things have happened, but I'm not banking on it.
Sorry Jozy.
Then again, what were the preseason odds a volcano on Iceland would affect European soccer.
The relegation battle, as you'll see could be over as soon as this Saturday afternoon anyhow.
Note the goal differential, which may determine first and fourth.
First place:
Chelsea (77 points, +54 GD) -- vs. Stoke City; @ Liverpool vs. Wigan
Manchester United (76, +51) -- v. Tottenham; at Sunderland; v. Stoke City
Fourth place:
Tottenham (64, +28) -- @ Manchester United; v. Bolton; @ Manchester City; @ Burnley
Manchester City (62, +27) -- @ Arsenal; v. Aston Villa; v. Tottenham; @ West Ham
Aston Villa (61, +15) -- v. Birmingham City; @ Manchester City; v. Blackburn
17th place:
West Ham (31, -19) -- v. Wigan; @ Fulham; v. Manchester City
Hull City (28, -40) -- v. Hull City; @ Wigan; v. Liverpool
Unfortunately, you can see there are frankly too many variables and moving parts, on top of most of the teams involved in everything playing each other. If you want to work out the math and do the scenarios in your head, be my guest.
The season is so close to finishing, just let it play out, right?
Saturday:
* Manchester United v. Tottenham -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) In all honesty, this could be the hardest game of the season to predict. On the one hand you have United's knack for winning games when you least expect it and it's solid record at Old Trafford -- just seven dropped points this season. Meanwhile you have a Tottenham team that's won back-to-back games against Arsenal and Chelsea, looking like a force of nature at times in doing so. Yet there is still a troublesome 6-5-5 road record for Spurs this season. From back-to-front, Spurs are clearly playing better and look like they've got more options than United. But United is still United. Amazingly, the keys yet again for United are Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, when the 30-somethings turn back the clock, the team looks good. When they look 35, well, it's the opposite. Spurs should really press the issue through Gareth Bale and perhaps even a returning Aaron Lennon. My Wilson Palacios theory will probably be put to the test, since Harry Redknapp will want more of a "battler" in the midfield than Luka Modric. Then again, why mess with a good thing. Having Gary Neville or Luis Valencia chase Bale up-and-down the wing as opposed to Modric is more of a tactical advantage to Spurs, right? Wayne Rooney is probably due a goal, but part of me thinks it would be fitting that Dmitar Berbatov ends up sticking it to his old club. Still, I'll ride the Tottenham train even though I know the tracks end up going over an uncompleted bridge, like the end of "Back to the Future Part III". ... Manchester United 1, Tottenham 2
* Bolton v. Portsmouth -- Not much to see here. ... Bolton 3, Portsmouth 1
* Hull City v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Hull fans ought to show up at the stadium Saturday, see if Iain Dowie has a pair of forwards out there (Jozy/Folan) if it's just one, walk out. Hull needs to get three points here or they could be relegated with two games left to play. When you give up 72 goals in 35 matches you don't exactly deserve to stick around. There is some hope for Hull since a) the only club's worse than Sunderland on the road are Hull and Burnley and b) Jimmy Bulllard does have a knack for the dramatic in games like these. I'm thinking this time in might come from the penalty spot. ... Hull City 2, Sunderland 1
* West Ham United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Remember that line from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' about Cameron being so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass it'd turn into a diamond a week later. (What's the edited, PG version on cable?) That's how West Ham might be on Saturday, or at least its fans. There's no way to sugarcoat it, the Irons have to win this match. Wigan still figure to be on an Arsenal-induced turkey coma from last week. The Latics have next to nothing to play for. This, however, could be a witch's brew at Upton Park. On the plus side, it's hard to see Hull making up 19 goals in the final three weeks on goal difference on West Ham. Robert Green, if you want to play for England this summer, please show it. ... West Ham 1, Wigan 1
* Wolves v. Blackburn -- Just a hunch, but a year from now if this fixture were being played we'd be calling it a "six-pointer." Both clubs ended up having very solid seasons, but with experienced teams like Newcastle and West Brom coming back up, they'll have to make some improvements if they want to sustain their Premier League status. ... Wolves 2, Blackburn 1
* Arsenal v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 a.m.) When they're free-flowing and clicking on all cylinders, City is the team Arsenal wishes it could be, though City seem to have a few more ways to score goals. To Arsenal's credit, they did get off the mat after Barcelona ended their Champions League quest. It's still hard to see them rising up after the Wigan stunner last weekend. City now know they have no margin for error and will also know the Spurs result by the time they kick off later in the day. If City wins here, they essentially control their own destiny with games against Spurs and Villa upcoming. City, it seems, boils down to this, if Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy are on, they're tough to stop. It also stands to reason Emmanuel Adebayor would like nothing more than to rub it in the faces of the Emirates crowd. Remember what happened back in September with the traveling fans? This is actually one match where Patrick Vieira might be useful since he and Nigel de Jong of Gareth Barry should be able to disrupt anything Arsenal gets cooking through the midfield. Just keep an eye on Robin van Persie and City should be set. (Wonder how much of Roberto Mancini openly talking about Fernando Torres is posturing, or if City are really hell bent on world domination?) ... Arsenal 0, City 2
Sunday:
* Aston Villa v. Birmingham City -- (Live, FSC+, 7 a.m.) Could, stress could, be a tricky derby match for Villa. Not sure how much the Birmingham players care, but the fans certainly would love to end Villa's chances at the Champions League. I'd like Birmingham's chances a lot better if its forwards took their chances better. Hard to see them getting through the stout Villa defense aside from the penalty spot. Villa figures to play fairly direct and eventually that should yield a goal. ... Villa 1, Birmingham City 0
* Burnley v. Liverpool -- (Live, FSC+ 10 a.m.) Maybe Burnley gets a last hurrah in the Prem by taking some points off a fatigued, volcanic ash weary Liverpool squad. ... Burnley 2, Liverpool 1
* Everton v. Fulham -- Kind of strange that it's Fulham, not Everton, that's been able to make such a deep run in the Europa League. You'd think David Moyes' team would be better equipped for Europe, especially with Mikel Arteta in the midfield, but for whatever the reason, the Toffees aren't. ... Everton 2, Fulham 0
* Chelsea v. Stoke City -- (Live, FSC 11 a.m.) Chelsea will obviously know by the kickoff that they can pretty much wrap up first place with three points here. This could be a knock-down, drag-out game, since Stoke figures to have a little bit of fight in them, right? The season probably can't end fast enough for Chelsea with players dropping like flies. No John Terry in defense is a worry, even with his dip in form. The Blues still have Frank Lampard and he's not the kind of guy that will let them lose this match. ... Chelsea 2, Stoke City 0
Last round: 4-6
Season: 178-165
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Premier League, Soccer
A couple weeks ago during the waning stages of the 2010 NCAA basketball tournament I was talking my buddy Suppe about Butler coach Brad Stevens. Never mind the fact at just 33-years-old he looked more like an extra from the cast of "Community" rather than a Final Four hoops coach.
My thought was this, if Stevens somehow had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in American sports, leading Butler over Duke in the eventual tournament final, would Stevens basically have a job coaching basketball the rest of his life? Would the words, "2010 NCAA Championship" been enough on his resume to keep him gainfully employed on the sidelines the rest of his life even if we didn't really know much about him aside form guiding his team to what would've been six-straight wins in March?
It's one of those chicken vs. egg arguments that sports are wont to produce and it got me thinking about the World Cup, which is a scant 50 days away.
Tuesday night I spent a lot of time looking through the history of World Cup-winning managers. I went into it thinking the list would rattle off like the pages of NFL history, with timeless names like Lombardi, Noll, Walsh, Schula, etc. Instead, I stumbled across the Wiki page of Vicente Feola, who's in the running for most non-athletic looking person ever involved in pro sports. (Pro wrestling doesn't count, because nobody is topping 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, ever.)
Eventually my initial theory devolved into how many of the 17 managers who've won the World Cup actually aided in his nation's* quest to lift the trophy, and how many ended up being in the right place at the right time?**
* Fun World Cup fact, the tournament has never been won by a team with a foreign coach.
** For sanity's sake, I couldn't really rate anything pre-1960.
For example, Mário Zagallo never got much credit in his native land for leading Brazil to glory in 1970. Granted, Brazil 70 is widely regarded as the greatest team of all time. If you want to deduct Zagallo points for that, so be it. What was the alternative, finding a random Samba Dancer to stand on the sidelines with a clipboard while Pele, Carlos Alberto and Jarzinho worked their magic?
On the flip side, a guy like Alf Ramsey will continue to have his name ring out around England for guiding the Three Lions to glory in 1966.
Then you have guys like Argentina 1978 manager César Luis Menotti who had 13 jobs after his World Cup triumph. That, however, is nothing compared to current South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who also had 13 jobs after winning the Cup in 1994 with Brazil. That's on top of the 11 posts he had before the Cup run. In fact, I'm not so sure what's the more amazing fact on Parreira's resume, that he's coached Brazil three separate times or that he coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars and lived to tell about it.
Another Brazilian Cup winner -- Luiz Felipe Scolari -- has a lot of work if he wants to catch up with Parreira since he's only coached at 21 stops. Right now he's in Uzbekistan, and since he's only 61 you figure clubs or countries will likely toss money at him for the next decade, because hey, he won a World Cup.
Anyway, I'm not exactly sure there's an underlying thread between World Cup winning managers. In the last 20 years the other managers to win the Cup beside the aforementioned Parreira and Scolari are: Franz Beckenbauer, Aimé Jacquet and Marcello Lippi, all Europeans with lengthy playing careers and experience on the club level prior to assuming their respective national team reigns. Lippi, of course, is back coaching the defending champion Azzurri after a two-year hiatus.
Again, this isn't an earth-shattering statement but it's fairly clear you're probably not winning a World Cup with a shaky manager. By the same token, a good or great manager probably does add to a team in a couple different avenues:
1) Squad selection -- Picking the right team and right formation is probably the No. 1 attribute of the modern national team manager. Having the the confidence and or balls to stand up to the pressure of the fans and media obviously goes hand-in-hand with this, especially in the larger "power" nations. Know your team, pick your team, play your team.
2) In game tactics/tactical acumen*** -- Strategy is paramount in the World Cup. There are so many things for a manger to consider. Not getting into everything, two of the most critical aspects of managing as the tournament progresses are a) pacing games for upwards of 120 minutes and b) devising useful set piece design. You also have to consider how to approach an opponent and how to pace your squad through the three quick Group Stage games, too.
*** Is there a more pretentious term than 'tactical nous'?
3) Personality -- If the players hate the manager, chances are it's not going to work. If the players buy into the manager, it becomes infectious -- look at Jurgen Klinsman rousing Germany in 2006 as an example. Teams really do seem to take their cues from the man standing on the touchline. It's hard to find very many International team that's won in spite of its coach.
By the same token, can you win a World Cup without a solid goalkeeping situation? It's probably not as pressing as the coaching scenario, but important nonetheless. With so few games, you can't afford a crazy man between the post flapping at balls, letting in howlers and basically driving the defense's life crazy.
So let's examine the coaching/goalie situations for a couple of the presumed contenders, at least teams that could reasonably figure to reach the semifinals, this summer in South Africa.
Argentina -- (Diego Maradona/unsettled) -- Love him or hate him, Maradona always, ALWAYS makes himself part of the story. There's no denying he's one of the best five players to ever put on a pair of boots. But as a national team manager? It's like building a hand-crafted beautiful Italian sports car then letting Lindsay Lohan drive it around the Hamptons for the summer. (Wasn't that the plot of a movie?) Maradona's bizarre insistence of relying on the super-young and super-old domestic players simply doesn't make sense. Nor does he seem to have the acumen to figure out a way to get his best players on the field at the same time, with an epic logjam at forward (Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Milito, Lisandro, Lavezzi, etc.) Maybe Maradona's craziest idea is relying heavily on 35-year-old Juan Sebestian Veron, while leaving Juan Román Riquelme -- who play's at Boca Juniors no less -- out in the wilderness. This doesn't end well. ... As for keeper, when Maradona took over he used three different keepers, but appears to have settled on 23-year-old AZ stopper Sergio Romero. Catania's Mariano Andújar seems like the other option. Both will have their work cut out for them if either Martín Demichelis or Fabricio Coloccini worm their way onto the field. ... Grade: I ... for insane.
Brazil -- (Dunga/Julio Cesar) -- You've got to hand it to Dunga. He's won a World Cup as a player, become very successful with Brazil all while managing a pretty solid Hollywood career. Oh wait, what's that? Dunga didn't play Bucho in 'Desperado.' Oops. Joking aside, Dunga took the anti-Scolari approach with Brazil, standing firm in his decision to exclude possible trouble-makers like Robinho or Adriano and sacrificing a little flair for a more sturdy formation. Dunga's no-nonsense crew-cut essentially surmises his entire ethos for the Brazil team. As we saw at the Confederations Cup, a disciplined Brazil is an even scarier than usual Brazil. ... At keeper, the No. 1 is Julio Cesar who according to the Italian press has fallen out of form at Inter Milan. Is there any chance Gomes works his way into the picture after a sterling campaign this spring at White Hart Lane? Gomes is still prone to the howler, the one thing if you're Brazil you can't afford. ... Grade: A-
Cameroon -- (Paul Le Guen/Carlos Kameni) -- Strange career for Le Guen, eh? Three Ligue 1 titles at Lyon, a hasty move in through the out door at Rangers, a couple years at perennial underachiever PSG and now his first crack at international management at Cameroon. The Indomitable Lions got whipped by Egypt in the 2010 African Cup of Nations quarterfinals, so the jury seems out on Le Guen. Coaching in the World Cup is a different skill set than club football, it just is. ... In Kameni Cameroon doesn't fall into the typical African stereotype of lacking a good keeper. Kameni has been starting at Espanyol since 2004 and is a very solid player. ... Grade: B-
Cote D'Ivoire -- (Sven-Göran Eriksson/Boubacar Barry) -- Have glasses, will travel. How Sven bamboozles club-after-club, nation-after-nation is one of the more amazing feats in world football this century. I suppose Cote D'Ivoire would sign up for Sven's standard he set at England of reaching the quarterfinals, but still, really? Sven? That's where you turned? The better comparison is Mexico, where he was run out on a rail going just 6-1-6. He's one "name" European coach I'm glad the USMNT avoided. Who knows though, maybe Sven figures out a way to get the Elephants to live up to their hype and make them a team that dangerous beyond Didier Drogba. Stranger things have happened. I'm still in the camp Sven will take more away from the table than he brings. This is just setting itself up for failure. ... Barry seems to be the established No. 1. That's about all I can say. ... Grade: C-
Denmark -- (Morten Olsen/Thomas Sørensen) -- No, Denmark aren't going to win the World Cup, but they seem to have a formula for a solid run. Olsen's been in charge since 2000 and thoroughly knows the Danish set up from soup-to-nuts. (It does help its a small country.) Denmark were better in qualifying than Portugal and Sweden, which counts in my book. Plus the guy knows international football with 100 games as a player and coach. Olsen is going to let Denmark beat itself, playing a solid established system which should be difficult for opponents to break down, even if it's not exactly "dynamite." ... Sørensen, to me, seems to have dipped a little bit this season at Stoke City, but he's still 6-foot-5 and fits the profile as a true No. 1. You could do a lot worse. ... Grade: B+
England -- (Fabio Capello/Unsettled) -- Won't go crazy writing here. Capello, with his fashionable glasses and natty suits, at least "looks" the part, or is the anti-Steve McClaren. The biggest attribute for Capello is the Italian isn't letting the media or the players run the Three Lions. Will an all business approach get England over the hump? Not as much as a fully fit Wayne Rooney will. Remember, no foreigner has ever lead a team to World Cup glory. Keeping the WAGs in check may end up being his biggest win in South Africa. That's not a joke. ... Joe Hart? Robert Green? David James? Paul Robinson? Ben Foster? Herein lies Capello's biggest question mark and eventually biggest second guess. At least the ideas of naturalizing Manuel Alumnia are a moot point. ... Grade: B-
France -- (Raymond Domenech/Hugo Lloris or Steve Mandanda) -- Between Sven and Domenech, it's a joke-writers bonanza. Say this for ol' Ray, he's stuck around, despite being disliked by the fans, the media, the players, the government, his own family and random American assholes like myself. The biggest challenge for Domenech is picking the right 23 players, since France is overflowing with talent, including pinpoint who exactly the "next Zidane" is, which is probably a fool's errand anyway. Domenech, mainly thanks to Zidane finding the "rejuvenation machine", made the finals in 2006. France then flamed out at Euro 2008. At least the two other keys to the 2006 run -- Flourent Malouda and Franck Ribery -- are in fine form. Thierry Henry on the other hand? This could be a problem. ... France is lucky, in either Lloris or Mandanda, who has Marseille atop Ligue 1, has options. Lloris is on the short list of breakout players for this Cup. ... Grade: C+
Germany -- (Joachim Löw/Rene Adler) -- I'm not proud to admit many times channel surfing at 2:30 a.m. I'll stumble upon GolTV's Bundesliga magazine show. One point they like to hammer home is a "new breed" of German players like Per Mertesacker and Stefan Kießling who are friendly and self-deprecating, unlike guys around the turn of the century like former Bayern hothead Stefan Effenberg. Löw seems to be of the older generation since he does seem to pick a lot of fights. Then again, many considered him the brains behind Germany's run in 2006. So he obviously knows his tactics. How he gets his team over the hump after losing to Spain in the finals of Euro 2008 remains to be seen. ... The bigger worry for Germany is an unproven keeper. Adler is the keeper, by default right now. Don't discount the shocking suicide of would-be starter Robert Enke, either. Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann were easy targets for ridicule, most of it self-inflicted, yet, they at least owned the penalty area. ... Grade: B-
Ghana -- (Milovan Rajevac/Richard Kingson) -- Rajevac has been in charge of the Black Stars since 2008, which is an eternity in African coaching. Though he's a Serb, he seems to have Ghana on the right track, getting the team to the 2010 African Cup of Nations final. ... Kingson is the nominal No. 1, though he wears No. 22. Can't say I remember the last time I saw him play for Wigan Athletic. Didn't seem to matter in January in Angola. ... Grade: B:
Italy -- (Marcelo Lippi/Gianluigi Buffon) -- Hard to find any way to knock Lippi, other than his penchant for nicotine on the bench. You just have to wonder if he rolls the dice by going back to the team which won in 2006, or adds reinforcements, which seems the smarter decision. Counting on another great month from Andrea Pirlo, Fabio Cannavaro, et al, seems a little risky. Lippi has to be smart enough to see going to war with "his guys" won't end in triumph again, right? ... Buffon is still Buffon. That said, Juventus had a terrible season and counting on a defense of Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini doesn't look smart on paper. Of course Italian players do have an ability to rise to the occasion in big tournaments, though the team looked old at the Euro and Confederations Cup. ... Grade: A-
Mexico -- (Javier Aguirre/Guillermo Ochoa) -- Even with his meltdown in Houston last summer against Panama, Aguirre righted the ship in Mexico and appears to have given El Tri its swagger back. This was no small feat after the mess Sven left. One smart thing the FMF has done was schedule a ton of friendlies this winter and spring before the World Cup. These games include money-makers on American soil, as well as, friendlies with England, the Netherlands and Italy. It's given Aguirre adequate time to evaluate players from the domestic league and Europe. ... Ochoa seems to be the most marketable soccer player from North America in the region these days, with ads for seemingly everything on Univision as well as a campaign for Powerade in the states. He's also a decent keeper, too. ... Grade: B+
Netherlands -- (Bert van Marwijk/Maarten Stekelenburg) -- Van Marwijk has picked up the ball Mark van Bommell got rolling with the Dutch at Euro 2008 and kept it going. The Dutch have only lost once since he took over in 2008, his second game in charge at that. The Dutch cruised through qualifying in a very easy group and for once seem like a harmonious bunch. How van Marwijk keeps everyone jolly and finds enough playing time for all his world-class attacking talent is a problem most coaches wouldn't mind having. ... Stekelenburg isn't Edwin van der Sar. Can't hold that against him forever. ... Grade: A-
Portugal -- (Carlos Queiroz/Eduardo) -- Queiroz's best run of success came at the U-20 level nearly 20 years ago. So are we so sure he knows what he's doing, despite all the glowing reports during his time at Old Trafford? You could even say the slow decline of South Africa began under his watch. So the jury is still out. Queiroz seems like he talks a better game that what he produces. ... As for Eduardo, he took over the job from Quim midway through qualifying. No problems here. ... Grade: B-
Spain -- (Vicente del Bosque/Iker Casillas) -- Del Bosque inherited, perhaps, the best team in the world after Luis Aragones stepped down following Euro 2008 success. Ten wins in qualifying later, no problems to be seen. The one question is what happens when a team, if possible, figures out how to frustrate Spain like the U.S. did last summer. Spain figures to have at least one hard game in South Africa, then we'll have a better understanding of Del Bosque, or if he simply has Spain on cruise control. Del Bosque may even have to breakout the chalkboards if Iniesta and Fernando Torres injury worries continue into the tournament. ... Casillas? They do call him Saint Iker for a reason. ... Grade: A
United States -- (Bob Bradley/Tim Howard) -- Should I take the bait? Even if I'm not the biggest fan of Bradley, he has been successful. Sometimes I wonder about his tactics and in-game managing, but whatever, he's the guy in charge for better or worse and as we've seen, you could do a lot worse. One smile during June, that's all I'm asking for. ... Timmay? Great shot stopper and his positioning as gotten better, though the occasional blunder-goal appears every now-and-then. Not the biggest fan when he starts randomly screaming at the defense. Still, the No. 1 without question. ... Grade: B
Again, you can't just go into some subterranean secret laboratory like Walter White and cook up the perfect World Cup chemistry.
A successful coach helps foster it so that such a thing is indeed possible.
And that's something you have to respect.
My thought was this, if Stevens somehow had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in American sports, leading Butler over Duke in the eventual tournament final, would Stevens basically have a job coaching basketball the rest of his life? Would the words, "2010 NCAA Championship" been enough on his resume to keep him gainfully employed on the sidelines the rest of his life even if we didn't really know much about him aside form guiding his team to what would've been six-straight wins in March?
It's one of those chicken vs. egg arguments that sports are wont to produce and it got me thinking about the World Cup, which is a scant 50 days away.
Tuesday night I spent a lot of time looking through the history of World Cup-winning managers. I went into it thinking the list would rattle off like the pages of NFL history, with timeless names like Lombardi, Noll, Walsh, Schula, etc. Instead, I stumbled across the Wiki page of Vicente Feola, who's in the running for most non-athletic looking person ever involved in pro sports. (Pro wrestling doesn't count, because nobody is topping 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, ever.)
Eventually my initial theory devolved into how many of the 17 managers who've won the World Cup actually aided in his nation's* quest to lift the trophy, and how many ended up being in the right place at the right time?**
* Fun World Cup fact, the tournament has never been won by a team with a foreign coach.
** For sanity's sake, I couldn't really rate anything pre-1960.
For example, Mário Zagallo never got much credit in his native land for leading Brazil to glory in 1970. Granted, Brazil 70 is widely regarded as the greatest team of all time. If you want to deduct Zagallo points for that, so be it. What was the alternative, finding a random Samba Dancer to stand on the sidelines with a clipboard while Pele, Carlos Alberto and Jarzinho worked their magic?
On the flip side, a guy like Alf Ramsey will continue to have his name ring out around England for guiding the Three Lions to glory in 1966.
Then you have guys like Argentina 1978 manager César Luis Menotti who had 13 jobs after his World Cup triumph. That, however, is nothing compared to current South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who also had 13 jobs after winning the Cup in 1994 with Brazil. That's on top of the 11 posts he had before the Cup run. In fact, I'm not so sure what's the more amazing fact on Parreira's resume, that he's coached Brazil three separate times or that he coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars and lived to tell about it.
Another Brazilian Cup winner -- Luiz Felipe Scolari -- has a lot of work if he wants to catch up with Parreira since he's only coached at 21 stops. Right now he's in Uzbekistan, and since he's only 61 you figure clubs or countries will likely toss money at him for the next decade, because hey, he won a World Cup.
Anyway, I'm not exactly sure there's an underlying thread between World Cup winning managers. In the last 20 years the other managers to win the Cup beside the aforementioned Parreira and Scolari are: Franz Beckenbauer, Aimé Jacquet and Marcello Lippi, all Europeans with lengthy playing careers and experience on the club level prior to assuming their respective national team reigns. Lippi, of course, is back coaching the defending champion Azzurri after a two-year hiatus.
Again, this isn't an earth-shattering statement but it's fairly clear you're probably not winning a World Cup with a shaky manager. By the same token, a good or great manager probably does add to a team in a couple different avenues:
1) Squad selection -- Picking the right team and right formation is probably the No. 1 attribute of the modern national team manager. Having the the confidence and or balls to stand up to the pressure of the fans and media obviously goes hand-in-hand with this, especially in the larger "power" nations. Know your team, pick your team, play your team.
2) In game tactics/tactical acumen*** -- Strategy is paramount in the World Cup. There are so many things for a manger to consider. Not getting into everything, two of the most critical aspects of managing as the tournament progresses are a) pacing games for upwards of 120 minutes and b) devising useful set piece design. You also have to consider how to approach an opponent and how to pace your squad through the three quick Group Stage games, too.
*** Is there a more pretentious term than 'tactical nous'?
3) Personality -- If the players hate the manager, chances are it's not going to work. If the players buy into the manager, it becomes infectious -- look at Jurgen Klinsman rousing Germany in 2006 as an example. Teams really do seem to take their cues from the man standing on the touchline. It's hard to find very many International team that's won in spite of its coach.
By the same token, can you win a World Cup without a solid goalkeeping situation? It's probably not as pressing as the coaching scenario, but important nonetheless. With so few games, you can't afford a crazy man between the post flapping at balls, letting in howlers and basically driving the defense's life crazy.
So let's examine the coaching/goalie situations for a couple of the presumed contenders, at least teams that could reasonably figure to reach the semifinals, this summer in South Africa.
Argentina -- (Diego Maradona/unsettled) -- Love him or hate him, Maradona always, ALWAYS makes himself part of the story. There's no denying he's one of the best five players to ever put on a pair of boots. But as a national team manager? It's like building a hand-crafted beautiful Italian sports car then letting Lindsay Lohan drive it around the Hamptons for the summer. (Wasn't that the plot of a movie?) Maradona's bizarre insistence of relying on the super-young and super-old domestic players simply doesn't make sense. Nor does he seem to have the acumen to figure out a way to get his best players on the field at the same time, with an epic logjam at forward (Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Milito, Lisandro, Lavezzi, etc.) Maybe Maradona's craziest idea is relying heavily on 35-year-old Juan Sebestian Veron, while leaving Juan Román Riquelme -- who play's at Boca Juniors no less -- out in the wilderness. This doesn't end well. ... As for keeper, when Maradona took over he used three different keepers, but appears to have settled on 23-year-old AZ stopper Sergio Romero. Catania's Mariano Andújar seems like the other option. Both will have their work cut out for them if either Martín Demichelis or Fabricio Coloccini worm their way onto the field. ... Grade: I ... for insane.
Brazil -- (Dunga/Julio Cesar) -- You've got to hand it to Dunga. He's won a World Cup as a player, become very successful with Brazil all while managing a pretty solid Hollywood career. Oh wait, what's that? Dunga didn't play Bucho in 'Desperado.' Oops. Joking aside, Dunga took the anti-Scolari approach with Brazil, standing firm in his decision to exclude possible trouble-makers like Robinho or Adriano and sacrificing a little flair for a more sturdy formation. Dunga's no-nonsense crew-cut essentially surmises his entire ethos for the Brazil team. As we saw at the Confederations Cup, a disciplined Brazil is an even scarier than usual Brazil. ... At keeper, the No. 1 is Julio Cesar who according to the Italian press has fallen out of form at Inter Milan. Is there any chance Gomes works his way into the picture after a sterling campaign this spring at White Hart Lane? Gomes is still prone to the howler, the one thing if you're Brazil you can't afford. ... Grade: A-
Cameroon -- (Paul Le Guen/Carlos Kameni) -- Strange career for Le Guen, eh? Three Ligue 1 titles at Lyon, a hasty move in through the out door at Rangers, a couple years at perennial underachiever PSG and now his first crack at international management at Cameroon. The Indomitable Lions got whipped by Egypt in the 2010 African Cup of Nations quarterfinals, so the jury seems out on Le Guen. Coaching in the World Cup is a different skill set than club football, it just is. ... In Kameni Cameroon doesn't fall into the typical African stereotype of lacking a good keeper. Kameni has been starting at Espanyol since 2004 and is a very solid player. ... Grade: B-
Cote D'Ivoire -- (Sven-Göran Eriksson/Boubacar Barry) -- Have glasses, will travel. How Sven bamboozles club-after-club, nation-after-nation is one of the more amazing feats in world football this century. I suppose Cote D'Ivoire would sign up for Sven's standard he set at England of reaching the quarterfinals, but still, really? Sven? That's where you turned? The better comparison is Mexico, where he was run out on a rail going just 6-1-6. He's one "name" European coach I'm glad the USMNT avoided. Who knows though, maybe Sven figures out a way to get the Elephants to live up to their hype and make them a team that dangerous beyond Didier Drogba. Stranger things have happened. I'm still in the camp Sven will take more away from the table than he brings. This is just setting itself up for failure. ... Barry seems to be the established No. 1. That's about all I can say. ... Grade: C-
Denmark -- (Morten Olsen/Thomas Sørensen) -- No, Denmark aren't going to win the World Cup, but they seem to have a formula for a solid run. Olsen's been in charge since 2000 and thoroughly knows the Danish set up from soup-to-nuts. (It does help its a small country.) Denmark were better in qualifying than Portugal and Sweden, which counts in my book. Plus the guy knows international football with 100 games as a player and coach. Olsen is going to let Denmark beat itself, playing a solid established system which should be difficult for opponents to break down, even if it's not exactly "dynamite." ... Sørensen, to me, seems to have dipped a little bit this season at Stoke City, but he's still 6-foot-5 and fits the profile as a true No. 1. You could do a lot worse. ... Grade: B+
England -- (Fabio Capello/Unsettled) -- Won't go crazy writing here. Capello, with his fashionable glasses and natty suits, at least "looks" the part, or is the anti-Steve McClaren. The biggest attribute for Capello is the Italian isn't letting the media or the players run the Three Lions. Will an all business approach get England over the hump? Not as much as a fully fit Wayne Rooney will. Remember, no foreigner has ever lead a team to World Cup glory. Keeping the WAGs in check may end up being his biggest win in South Africa. That's not a joke. ... Joe Hart? Robert Green? David James? Paul Robinson? Ben Foster? Herein lies Capello's biggest question mark and eventually biggest second guess. At least the ideas of naturalizing Manuel Alumnia are a moot point. ... Grade: B-
France -- (Raymond Domenech/Hugo Lloris or Steve Mandanda) -- Between Sven and Domenech, it's a joke-writers bonanza. Say this for ol' Ray, he's stuck around, despite being disliked by the fans, the media, the players, the government, his own family and random American assholes like myself. The biggest challenge for Domenech is picking the right 23 players, since France is overflowing with talent, including pinpoint who exactly the "next Zidane" is, which is probably a fool's errand anyway. Domenech, mainly thanks to Zidane finding the "rejuvenation machine", made the finals in 2006. France then flamed out at Euro 2008. At least the two other keys to the 2006 run -- Flourent Malouda and Franck Ribery -- are in fine form. Thierry Henry on the other hand? This could be a problem. ... France is lucky, in either Lloris or Mandanda, who has Marseille atop Ligue 1, has options. Lloris is on the short list of breakout players for this Cup. ... Grade: C+
Germany -- (Joachim Löw/Rene Adler) -- I'm not proud to admit many times channel surfing at 2:30 a.m. I'll stumble upon GolTV's Bundesliga magazine show. One point they like to hammer home is a "new breed" of German players like Per Mertesacker and Stefan Kießling who are friendly and self-deprecating, unlike guys around the turn of the century like former Bayern hothead Stefan Effenberg. Löw seems to be of the older generation since he does seem to pick a lot of fights. Then again, many considered him the brains behind Germany's run in 2006. So he obviously knows his tactics. How he gets his team over the hump after losing to Spain in the finals of Euro 2008 remains to be seen. ... The bigger worry for Germany is an unproven keeper. Adler is the keeper, by default right now. Don't discount the shocking suicide of would-be starter Robert Enke, either. Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann were easy targets for ridicule, most of it self-inflicted, yet, they at least owned the penalty area. ... Grade: B-
Ghana -- (Milovan Rajevac/Richard Kingson) -- Rajevac has been in charge of the Black Stars since 2008, which is an eternity in African coaching. Though he's a Serb, he seems to have Ghana on the right track, getting the team to the 2010 African Cup of Nations final. ... Kingson is the nominal No. 1, though he wears No. 22. Can't say I remember the last time I saw him play for Wigan Athletic. Didn't seem to matter in January in Angola. ... Grade: B:
Italy -- (Marcelo Lippi/Gianluigi Buffon) -- Hard to find any way to knock Lippi, other than his penchant for nicotine on the bench. You just have to wonder if he rolls the dice by going back to the team which won in 2006, or adds reinforcements, which seems the smarter decision. Counting on another great month from Andrea Pirlo, Fabio Cannavaro, et al, seems a little risky. Lippi has to be smart enough to see going to war with "his guys" won't end in triumph again, right? ... Buffon is still Buffon. That said, Juventus had a terrible season and counting on a defense of Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini doesn't look smart on paper. Of course Italian players do have an ability to rise to the occasion in big tournaments, though the team looked old at the Euro and Confederations Cup. ... Grade: A-
Mexico -- (Javier Aguirre/Guillermo Ochoa) -- Even with his meltdown in Houston last summer against Panama, Aguirre righted the ship in Mexico and appears to have given El Tri its swagger back. This was no small feat after the mess Sven left. One smart thing the FMF has done was schedule a ton of friendlies this winter and spring before the World Cup. These games include money-makers on American soil, as well as, friendlies with England, the Netherlands and Italy. It's given Aguirre adequate time to evaluate players from the domestic league and Europe. ... Ochoa seems to be the most marketable soccer player from North America in the region these days, with ads for seemingly everything on Univision as well as a campaign for Powerade in the states. He's also a decent keeper, too. ... Grade: B+
Netherlands -- (Bert van Marwijk/Maarten Stekelenburg) -- Van Marwijk has picked up the ball Mark van Bommell got rolling with the Dutch at Euro 2008 and kept it going. The Dutch have only lost once since he took over in 2008, his second game in charge at that. The Dutch cruised through qualifying in a very easy group and for once seem like a harmonious bunch. How van Marwijk keeps everyone jolly and finds enough playing time for all his world-class attacking talent is a problem most coaches wouldn't mind having. ... Stekelenburg isn't Edwin van der Sar. Can't hold that against him forever. ... Grade: A-
Portugal -- (Carlos Queiroz/Eduardo) -- Queiroz's best run of success came at the U-20 level nearly 20 years ago. So are we so sure he knows what he's doing, despite all the glowing reports during his time at Old Trafford? You could even say the slow decline of South Africa began under his watch. So the jury is still out. Queiroz seems like he talks a better game that what he produces. ... As for Eduardo, he took over the job from Quim midway through qualifying. No problems here. ... Grade: B-
Spain -- (Vicente del Bosque/Iker Casillas) -- Del Bosque inherited, perhaps, the best team in the world after Luis Aragones stepped down following Euro 2008 success. Ten wins in qualifying later, no problems to be seen. The one question is what happens when a team, if possible, figures out how to frustrate Spain like the U.S. did last summer. Spain figures to have at least one hard game in South Africa, then we'll have a better understanding of Del Bosque, or if he simply has Spain on cruise control. Del Bosque may even have to breakout the chalkboards if Iniesta and Fernando Torres injury worries continue into the tournament. ... Casillas? They do call him Saint Iker for a reason. ... Grade: A
United States -- (Bob Bradley/Tim Howard) -- Should I take the bait? Even if I'm not the biggest fan of Bradley, he has been successful. Sometimes I wonder about his tactics and in-game managing, but whatever, he's the guy in charge for better or worse and as we've seen, you could do a lot worse. One smile during June, that's all I'm asking for. ... Timmay? Great shot stopper and his positioning as gotten better, though the occasional blunder-goal appears every now-and-then. Not the biggest fan when he starts randomly screaming at the defense. Still, the No. 1 without question. ... Grade: B
Again, you can't just go into some subterranean secret laboratory like Walter White and cook up the perfect World Cup chemistry.
A successful coach helps foster it so that such a thing is indeed possible.
And that's something you have to respect.
Labels: Soccer, USMNT, world cup 2010, world cup wednesdays
Manchester City crave it.
Chelsea say they still have it, if they even had it in the first place.
Arsenal tricked us into pretending they had it.
Tottenham, right now, have it oozing out of their pores.
Liverpool haven't had it since 2005.
And Manchester United, through it all, still figure out a way to find it.
But we'll get to that elusive "it" in a bit a little further down the page.
Until then, consider this: doesn't it make sense on a weekend when Europe took a page from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" -- with a giant ash cloud looming ominously over the continent -- that the 2009-10 Premier League season was essentially blown wide open thanks to a sudden magma-like burst of heat from White Hart Lane.
Last week at this time everything seemed pretty figured out, even if you struggle to read the English Premier League table like a certain Sports Guy, who shall remain nameless.
Here were what we figured were the etched in stone, "facts":
Chelsea were going to cruise into the title. Manchester City appeared locked-in for fourth place. At the bottom, depending on West Ham's wobbles, it was Hull City and Burnley joining Portsmouth in the black hole vortex down to the Championship.
Instead of a stagnant, predictable final three weeks of fixtures, everything is still up in the air -- no pun intended. Well, expect for the bottom, which may be rendered a moot point pending West Ham's game at Anfield Monday afternoon.
In a way, this all makes sense. This has been for a long time, what I dubbed the "Surreal Season."
As it stands now, Chelsea are top on 77 points, one clear of Manchester United each with three games remaining.
Tottenham now have that elusive Champions League spot (granted Spurs would have to win a tricky two-legger to make the Group Stage) well within reach sitting on 64 points, two clear of City. Each have four to go and a showdown May 5 at Eastlands. Sorry, at six points back I'm not counting Aston Villa, nor Liverpool which just shut down Fernando Torres, in a rare wise decision.
For what it's worth, here are the point totals the last five seasons of the for a) the league winner b) fourth place and c) 18th place (the highest relegated club)
2008-09 -- 90/72/34
2007-09 -- 87/76/36
2006-07 -- 89/68/38
2005-06 -- 91/67/34
2004-05 -- 95/61/33
All this illustrates as something we collectively here figured out sometime around December, but probably won't fully be in focus until the number crunchers and pundits have a little time to figure it out -- the top teams came back to the pack, spreading out the point wealth a little more than usual.
Even if Chelsea takes 9-for-9 in its final three matches, it'll be the lowest total in the last six seasons, not that Blues' fans will mind when and if John Terry lifts the big trophy over his head, most likely on May 9 at home against Wigan.
What we've always thought was the "Big Four" in England, this season was more of a "Big 2 1/2" and those 2 1/2 rotated among Chelsea, Manchester and Arsenal throughout the year. This clubs weren't nearly the unbeatable steamrollers of years past, either.
Meanwhile, the fourth would-be member of the top crew quartet -- Liverpool -- slumped back into the middle. It doesn't have a catchy name, but this season it was sort of a "Above-Average Four" and it would've been five if Everton didn't wait until January to start playing. In this scenario, consider Liverpool the would-be invisible woman. (You can fill in the other Fantastic Four comparisons.)
I like this new league dichotomy, where's there's a plurality of teams that have a chance to win or get a result in a given week, even against the big boys. Is it NFL-style parity, or even on the road to it? Absolutely not. Yet it's clearly a good thing for the competitive nature of the league as a whole when most of the teams aren't defeated by the top clubs even before the opening whistle blows any more.
Not to say, either, that the standard of the top of the league has hit a threshold either, but since I've been watching the Prem on a weekly basis, this is as competitive as we've seen it. For years whether it was Chelsea or Manchester United, you knew, barring some fluke they probably weren't going to lose.
This year Chelsea and United have either drawn or lost 30 percent of their matches through 34 played.
A lot of this probably can be chalked up to a rising talent level, at least in the upper half of the table. The starting XIs that lined up at White Hart Lane Saturday, was Chelsea's that appreciatively better than Tottenham's, especially this late into the season?
The same thing struck me early Saturday when United and City walked onto the field at Eastlands. When you looked at the United lineup, how much better can it get? Where can it be upgraded?
It's obvious a player who's even a fleck of Cristiano Ronaldo's hair product isn't being bought. One day, yes, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will retire. (That year will probably be 2019 the way it's going now.) Aside from replacing Edwin van der Sar and bringing in another striker -- or half the lineup from Barcelona -- where can the talent level improve?
We've probably seen it hit its peak, at least for the short term, in the Premier League and now we're waiting to see where the (volcanic) dust settles.
So getting back to my original point this season has all boiled down to having "it." That special little something that makes a set of good players into an actual good team that got results.
Tottenham showed more of "it" that just about anyone this season, by following that brutal defeat to Portsmouth in the FA semifinals by punching in back-to-back victories over Arsenal and Chelsea -- a stirring achievement in any season. Even I figured Spurs' season was over two weeks ago when they were thrashed 3-1 at Sunderland. And with back-to-back-to-back games with Arsenal, Chelsea and then United, who'd have thought any differently.
But didn't somebody once say, "It's a funny old game"?
Somehow through a spate of injuries and possibly aided by them, Harry Redknapp has found the winning combination in a squad loaded with talent. Finally making the decision to put Luka Modric inside with Tom Huddlestone and leaving the combative, yet much less creative Wilscon Palacios was the first smart move. (Apparently, via a commenter, the Honduran was out for yellow card accumulation.) The second was, well, luck since Gareth Bale is an awakened Welsh Kraken and playing completely out of his 20-year-old mind.
Midway through City/United on Twitter I asked who the best player not going to the World Cup this summer would be. Yeah, admittedly, this is massive over-reaction after two great games, but I'll certainly miss seeing Bale's dominance on the left side of midfield this June and July.
But back to Spurs. For much of the season I've written here every Monday how the winner of fourth place would be the team that was the "least bad" and basically win by default. It's a pleasant development to see both Tottenham and Manchester City at least make an effort toward the final Champions League spot, when at the same time given similar opportunities, both Liverpool and Aston Villa faded.
The latter two clubs didn't have "it" this year, or if Villa did they had "it" way too early on.
And in decline or not, Manchester United through it all still finds a way to have "it" and infuriate half the world's populous at the same time. United, despite stories of its decline, did look the better side for most of the game and probably were more deserving of three points than City. The club still doesn't look very dangerous, but at least they controlled the ball for most of the game.
All it took was that one moment, and Scholes snuck around Stephen Ireland and guided the ball past Shay Given. (Does Gigi Buffon make that save? Just a joke, the difference between those two isn't worth all the money City is going to throw at Juventus this summer.)
City, for all it's money and grand ambitions, still has a ways to go in finding "it." Maybe it's because they have a couple ex-Arsenal players in prominent positions, but City has adopted a very off-putting personality of blowing super-hot and super-cold on a weekly basis. Why, in a 0-0 game, Roberto Mancini turns to Patrick Vieira is a move I'll never understand. City, too, seem to have adopted a bully mentality where they smack around the little teams and take their lunch money, but when they pick a fight with somebody their own size, they're not exactly sure how to go about approaching it. (It didn't help, either, that Carlos Tevez didn't have a game to write home about a Craig Bellamy's touch seemed off.)
And what now of Chelsea?
For one, my deepest sympathies are extended to John Terry. If you've got a heart in your body, you've got to feel for the guy. A handball to set up the go-ahead penalty, then an hour later getting sent off. Poor, poor John.
Mean-spirited sarcasm aside, as a USMNT fan I'd almost see Terry and Rio Ferdinand lining up on June 12 rather than an in-form Michael Dawson (That's called putting the "jerk" in knee-jerk.)
What's not a joke is the general, slow decline of Chelsea's once fortress like defense, which with three games left has let in 32. That's still second-best in the league, but consider this, here are the team's final goals allowed stats since 2004-05, when it won the league: 15, 22, 24, 26, 24.
Did Terry turn into the proverbial pumpkin overnight? It didn't help that Ricardo Carvalho has only played in 22 games, along with Ashley Cole's long-term injury. In Carvalho's stead has been Alex, who's not a bad player, but when you're a central defender and your best attribute is taking free kicks from long range, well, draw your own conclusions.
Next weekend, with Terry suspended Carlo Ancelotti is going to have to figure out a way for Chelsea to get "it" back. Luckily the Blues welcome Stoke City to Stamford Bridge Sunday. It all appears boiling down to May 2 at Anfield, and for once I'll actually be looking forward to a Chelsea/Liverpool match.
Goals haven't been trouble for Chelsea. With Didier Drogba, Nic Anelka, Frank Lampard, Flourent Malouda, etc. the Blues get goals from all over the field. Their success this century is from the back line out, in 2005 here were its forwards: Drogba, who wasn't the Drogba we see now, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Mateja Kezman and Arjen Robben/Damien Duff in a pseudo-winger roles. (A year later they, at least, had Hernan Crespo.)
Should I even waste any time breaking down Arsenal, which saw its season go down in Hindenburg-like flames, losing 3-2 at Wigan with the Latics scoring three in the final 10 minutes, including an equalizer from Titus Bramble. It's fitting, that Arsenal saw its faint title hopes smashed in such hard-to-believe fashion. Consdering how many late points the Gunners have grabbed at the death this year, it was, in a way, poetic justice.
For once, Arsene Wenger had nobody left to blame but himself for building a team that had terrible goalkeeping and absolutely not depth in defense or in forward.
Arsenal, with its ability to comeback late in games pretended like it had "it" this season. Yet again for Gunners fans, it was false hope.
The Gunners haven't won the league since 2003, or a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup. That's five young years for a proud club.
Here's an American comparison: The New York Yankees went almost ten years between World Series from 2000 to last year. In the process the team went the rout of signing aging, high-priced stars to bolster to core that won four World Series from 1996 to 2000. Sure the Yanks made the playoffs and went back to the Series, but they didn't win until last season when thanks to about half a billion dollars in free agents (Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett) the club found the right mix and won.
Arsenal went the other way from the Yankees, letting the core of the "Invincibles" team slowly drift off to Spain, France or elsewhere, supplementing around a new young core of players. Like the Yankees, this hasn't worked either.
Far be it me to question Wenger, but once again we're at the "shit or get off the pot" crossroads. Either sell Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and start over with a new core of Walcott, Arshavin, Nasri, etc. Or finally open up the purse strings, buy a world-class forward to pair with Robin van Persie bring in at least two-drawer central defenders (preferably from the Premier League already) and most certainly a goalie.
It's quite a noble thing what Wenger's tried to achieve, building a squad the "right way" and eschewing the big money signings of his rivals. It's gotten him as high as third place.
Is that good enough?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the shirts they sell say, "Fourth is the New First," not third.
So through this rather amazing confluence of events, Tottenham has changed both its own destiny and the plight of the rest of the title contenders.
That's what having "it" is all about.
(Now just, for the love of all things holy, avoid any lasagna between now and May 9.)
Other stuff:
A lot of easy jokes were made at the expense of the Gary Neville-Scholes kiss photo. Believe me, I thought long and hard about it. (Wait, did I just walk into one?) Really, the best caption I could come up with was, "Thanks for the Guys & Dolls tickets." And even that's not that funny. The photo speaks for itself, for better or worse. Add it to the file on Neville, who's become almost as much of a cartoon villian as a 80s wrestling heel. ... Lost in Arsenal's stumble was the great fighting spirit by Wigan. This Victor Moses kid is going to be a player. ... Good job by Matty Taylor with two goals in the final five minutes for Bolton at Stoke, probably ensuring the Trotters are staying alive this season. ... Didn't watch much of Blackburn/Everton, but Morten Gamst Pederson and Mikel Arteta's two man Stooges play acting was enjoyable.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Still only five points separate the top. This week's high score was 66, from Mark Thalken's Cescy Ouch. Good plays were Bale, Mikel Arteta and Patrice Evra.
One other thing:
Finally and I mean, FINALLY watched "That Damned United" this weekend.
Let me first say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was the first movie I've actually watched from start-to-finish in months, due to what I call, "The HBO Effect."
Shows like "The Wire", "The Sopranos" etc. were of the caliber and quality of a movie. Instead of a 90-minute story, we got 60-minute installments, letting the filmmakers and writers tell a much more engrossing tale. Even though "The Wire" is gone, there's still a ton of good television left around: "Lost", "Breaking Bad", "Justified", the NBC Comedies, "Treme" (I still haven't watched the premiere), "Friday Night Lights", "The Pacific", etc.
Me, I'd rather watch a good television show than a movie. You can just tell a better story with a better pace.
So as much as I loved "That Damn United", part of me wishes it could have been like a five-part joint BBC/HBO miniseries and told the tale of Brian Clough at Leeds United in a little more detail.
First, here's what I enjoyed:
* Michael Sheen as Clough. (In fact, all the acting was superb.)
* The footage from the late 1960s and 1970s. As an American it seemed like a different sport. It was like watching old grainy NFL footage when they still wore leather helmets.
* Just the whole look of the film was great. Players drinking tea before the match, stellar.
* Clough's pregame housecleaning for the Leeds FA Cup match.
* Peter Taylor feeding Clough crisps while driving down to London to sign Dave Mackay.
* The "potato field"/muddy pitch at the Baseball Ground. (Wenger would've had a heart attack just looking at it.)
Here's my few quibbles:
* At barely an hour and 40 minutes it all seemed very rushed.
* It never really seemed to explain how Clough was such a genius at football management, other than he was a cocky SOB. Did simply signing three players transform Derby from also-rans to First Division champs?
* The Leeds United players were a little too cookie-cutter villains, like the Russians in "Miracle."
More than anything, this film pushed me over to Amazon to dig up a good biography on Clough. The man is a legend and I need to know more about what made him tick. Until then, YouTube is a treasure trove.
Chelsea say they still have it, if they even had it in the first place.
Arsenal tricked us into pretending they had it.
Tottenham, right now, have it oozing out of their pores.
Liverpool haven't had it since 2005.
And Manchester United, through it all, still figure out a way to find it.
But we'll get to that elusive "it" in a bit a little further down the page.
Until then, consider this: doesn't it make sense on a weekend when Europe took a page from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" -- with a giant ash cloud looming ominously over the continent -- that the 2009-10 Premier League season was essentially blown wide open thanks to a sudden magma-like burst of heat from White Hart Lane.
Last week at this time everything seemed pretty figured out, even if you struggle to read the English Premier League table like a certain Sports Guy, who shall remain nameless.
Here were what we figured were the etched in stone, "facts":
Chelsea were going to cruise into the title. Manchester City appeared locked-in for fourth place. At the bottom, depending on West Ham's wobbles, it was Hull City and Burnley joining Portsmouth in the black hole vortex down to the Championship.
Instead of a stagnant, predictable final three weeks of fixtures, everything is still up in the air -- no pun intended. Well, expect for the bottom, which may be rendered a moot point pending West Ham's game at Anfield Monday afternoon.
In a way, this all makes sense. This has been for a long time, what I dubbed the "Surreal Season."
As it stands now, Chelsea are top on 77 points, one clear of Manchester United each with three games remaining.
Tottenham now have that elusive Champions League spot (granted Spurs would have to win a tricky two-legger to make the Group Stage) well within reach sitting on 64 points, two clear of City. Each have four to go and a showdown May 5 at Eastlands. Sorry, at six points back I'm not counting Aston Villa, nor Liverpool which just shut down Fernando Torres, in a rare wise decision.
For what it's worth, here are the point totals the last five seasons of the for a) the league winner b) fourth place and c) 18th place (the highest relegated club)
2008-09 -- 90/72/34
2007-09 -- 87/76/36
2006-07 -- 89/68/38
2005-06 -- 91/67/34
2004-05 -- 95/61/33
All this illustrates as something we collectively here figured out sometime around December, but probably won't fully be in focus until the number crunchers and pundits have a little time to figure it out -- the top teams came back to the pack, spreading out the point wealth a little more than usual.
Even if Chelsea takes 9-for-9 in its final three matches, it'll be the lowest total in the last six seasons, not that Blues' fans will mind when and if John Terry lifts the big trophy over his head, most likely on May 9 at home against Wigan.
What we've always thought was the "Big Four" in England, this season was more of a "Big 2 1/2" and those 2 1/2 rotated among Chelsea, Manchester and Arsenal throughout the year. This clubs weren't nearly the unbeatable steamrollers of years past, either.
Meanwhile, the fourth would-be member of the top crew quartet -- Liverpool -- slumped back into the middle. It doesn't have a catchy name, but this season it was sort of a "Above-Average Four" and it would've been five if Everton didn't wait until January to start playing. In this scenario, consider Liverpool the would-be invisible woman. (You can fill in the other Fantastic Four comparisons.)
I like this new league dichotomy, where's there's a plurality of teams that have a chance to win or get a result in a given week, even against the big boys. Is it NFL-style parity, or even on the road to it? Absolutely not. Yet it's clearly a good thing for the competitive nature of the league as a whole when most of the teams aren't defeated by the top clubs even before the opening whistle blows any more.
Not to say, either, that the standard of the top of the league has hit a threshold either, but since I've been watching the Prem on a weekly basis, this is as competitive as we've seen it. For years whether it was Chelsea or Manchester United, you knew, barring some fluke they probably weren't going to lose.
This year Chelsea and United have either drawn or lost 30 percent of their matches through 34 played.
A lot of this probably can be chalked up to a rising talent level, at least in the upper half of the table. The starting XIs that lined up at White Hart Lane Saturday, was Chelsea's that appreciatively better than Tottenham's, especially this late into the season?
The same thing struck me early Saturday when United and City walked onto the field at Eastlands. When you looked at the United lineup, how much better can it get? Where can it be upgraded?
It's obvious a player who's even a fleck of Cristiano Ronaldo's hair product isn't being bought. One day, yes, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will retire. (That year will probably be 2019 the way it's going now.) Aside from replacing Edwin van der Sar and bringing in another striker -- or half the lineup from Barcelona -- where can the talent level improve?
We've probably seen it hit its peak, at least for the short term, in the Premier League and now we're waiting to see where the (volcanic) dust settles.
So getting back to my original point this season has all boiled down to having "it." That special little something that makes a set of good players into an actual good team that got results.
Tottenham showed more of "it" that just about anyone this season, by following that brutal defeat to Portsmouth in the FA semifinals by punching in back-to-back victories over Arsenal and Chelsea -- a stirring achievement in any season. Even I figured Spurs' season was over two weeks ago when they were thrashed 3-1 at Sunderland. And with back-to-back-to-back games with Arsenal, Chelsea and then United, who'd have thought any differently.
But didn't somebody once say, "It's a funny old game"?
Somehow through a spate of injuries and possibly aided by them, Harry Redknapp has found the winning combination in a squad loaded with talent. Finally making the decision to put Luka Modric inside with Tom Huddlestone and leaving the combative, yet much less creative Wilscon Palacios was the first smart move. (Apparently, via a commenter, the Honduran was out for yellow card accumulation.) The second was, well, luck since Gareth Bale is an awakened Welsh Kraken and playing completely out of his 20-year-old mind.
Midway through City/United on Twitter I asked who the best player not going to the World Cup this summer would be. Yeah, admittedly, this is massive over-reaction after two great games, but I'll certainly miss seeing Bale's dominance on the left side of midfield this June and July.
But back to Spurs. For much of the season I've written here every Monday how the winner of fourth place would be the team that was the "least bad" and basically win by default. It's a pleasant development to see both Tottenham and Manchester City at least make an effort toward the final Champions League spot, when at the same time given similar opportunities, both Liverpool and Aston Villa faded.
The latter two clubs didn't have "it" this year, or if Villa did they had "it" way too early on.
And in decline or not, Manchester United through it all still finds a way to have "it" and infuriate half the world's populous at the same time. United, despite stories of its decline, did look the better side for most of the game and probably were more deserving of three points than City. The club still doesn't look very dangerous, but at least they controlled the ball for most of the game.
All it took was that one moment, and Scholes snuck around Stephen Ireland and guided the ball past Shay Given. (Does Gigi Buffon make that save? Just a joke, the difference between those two isn't worth all the money City is going to throw at Juventus this summer.)
City, for all it's money and grand ambitions, still has a ways to go in finding "it." Maybe it's because they have a couple ex-Arsenal players in prominent positions, but City has adopted a very off-putting personality of blowing super-hot and super-cold on a weekly basis. Why, in a 0-0 game, Roberto Mancini turns to Patrick Vieira is a move I'll never understand. City, too, seem to have adopted a bully mentality where they smack around the little teams and take their lunch money, but when they pick a fight with somebody their own size, they're not exactly sure how to go about approaching it. (It didn't help, either, that Carlos Tevez didn't have a game to write home about a Craig Bellamy's touch seemed off.)
And what now of Chelsea?
For one, my deepest sympathies are extended to John Terry. If you've got a heart in your body, you've got to feel for the guy. A handball to set up the go-ahead penalty, then an hour later getting sent off. Poor, poor John.
Mean-spirited sarcasm aside, as a USMNT fan I'd almost see Terry and Rio Ferdinand lining up on June 12 rather than an in-form Michael Dawson (That's called putting the "jerk" in knee-jerk.)
What's not a joke is the general, slow decline of Chelsea's once fortress like defense, which with three games left has let in 32. That's still second-best in the league, but consider this, here are the team's final goals allowed stats since 2004-05, when it won the league: 15, 22, 24, 26, 24.
Did Terry turn into the proverbial pumpkin overnight? It didn't help that Ricardo Carvalho has only played in 22 games, along with Ashley Cole's long-term injury. In Carvalho's stead has been Alex, who's not a bad player, but when you're a central defender and your best attribute is taking free kicks from long range, well, draw your own conclusions.
Next weekend, with Terry suspended Carlo Ancelotti is going to have to figure out a way for Chelsea to get "it" back. Luckily the Blues welcome Stoke City to Stamford Bridge Sunday. It all appears boiling down to May 2 at Anfield, and for once I'll actually be looking forward to a Chelsea/Liverpool match.
Goals haven't been trouble for Chelsea. With Didier Drogba, Nic Anelka, Frank Lampard, Flourent Malouda, etc. the Blues get goals from all over the field. Their success this century is from the back line out, in 2005 here were its forwards: Drogba, who wasn't the Drogba we see now, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Mateja Kezman and Arjen Robben/Damien Duff in a pseudo-winger roles. (A year later they, at least, had Hernan Crespo.)
Should I even waste any time breaking down Arsenal, which saw its season go down in Hindenburg-like flames, losing 3-2 at Wigan with the Latics scoring three in the final 10 minutes, including an equalizer from Titus Bramble. It's fitting, that Arsenal saw its faint title hopes smashed in such hard-to-believe fashion. Consdering how many late points the Gunners have grabbed at the death this year, it was, in a way, poetic justice.
For once, Arsene Wenger had nobody left to blame but himself for building a team that had terrible goalkeeping and absolutely not depth in defense or in forward.
Arsenal, with its ability to comeback late in games pretended like it had "it" this season. Yet again for Gunners fans, it was false hope.
The Gunners haven't won the league since 2003, or a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup. That's five young years for a proud club.
Here's an American comparison: The New York Yankees went almost ten years between World Series from 2000 to last year. In the process the team went the rout of signing aging, high-priced stars to bolster to core that won four World Series from 1996 to 2000. Sure the Yanks made the playoffs and went back to the Series, but they didn't win until last season when thanks to about half a billion dollars in free agents (Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett) the club found the right mix and won.
Arsenal went the other way from the Yankees, letting the core of the "Invincibles" team slowly drift off to Spain, France or elsewhere, supplementing around a new young core of players. Like the Yankees, this hasn't worked either.
Far be it me to question Wenger, but once again we're at the "shit or get off the pot" crossroads. Either sell Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and start over with a new core of Walcott, Arshavin, Nasri, etc. Or finally open up the purse strings, buy a world-class forward to pair with Robin van Persie bring in at least two-drawer central defenders (preferably from the Premier League already) and most certainly a goalie.
It's quite a noble thing what Wenger's tried to achieve, building a squad the "right way" and eschewing the big money signings of his rivals. It's gotten him as high as third place.
Is that good enough?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the shirts they sell say, "Fourth is the New First," not third.
So through this rather amazing confluence of events, Tottenham has changed both its own destiny and the plight of the rest of the title contenders.
That's what having "it" is all about.
(Now just, for the love of all things holy, avoid any lasagna between now and May 9.)
Other stuff:
A lot of easy jokes were made at the expense of the Gary Neville-Scholes kiss photo. Believe me, I thought long and hard about it. (Wait, did I just walk into one?) Really, the best caption I could come up with was, "Thanks for the Guys & Dolls tickets." And even that's not that funny. The photo speaks for itself, for better or worse. Add it to the file on Neville, who's become almost as much of a cartoon villian as a 80s wrestling heel. ... Lost in Arsenal's stumble was the great fighting spirit by Wigan. This Victor Moses kid is going to be a player. ... Good job by Matty Taylor with two goals in the final five minutes for Bolton at Stoke, probably ensuring the Trotters are staying alive this season. ... Didn't watch much of Blackburn/Everton, but Morten Gamst Pederson and Mikel Arteta's two man Stooges play acting was enjoyable.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Still only five points separate the top. This week's high score was 66, from Mark Thalken's Cescy Ouch. Good plays were Bale, Mikel Arteta and Patrice Evra.
One other thing:
Finally and I mean, FINALLY watched "That Damned United" this weekend.
Let me first say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was the first movie I've actually watched from start-to-finish in months, due to what I call, "The HBO Effect."
Shows like "The Wire", "The Sopranos" etc. were of the caliber and quality of a movie. Instead of a 90-minute story, we got 60-minute installments, letting the filmmakers and writers tell a much more engrossing tale. Even though "The Wire" is gone, there's still a ton of good television left around: "Lost", "Breaking Bad", "Justified", the NBC Comedies, "Treme" (I still haven't watched the premiere), "Friday Night Lights", "The Pacific", etc.
Me, I'd rather watch a good television show than a movie. You can just tell a better story with a better pace.
So as much as I loved "That Damn United", part of me wishes it could have been like a five-part joint BBC/HBO miniseries and told the tale of Brian Clough at Leeds United in a little more detail.
First, here's what I enjoyed:
* Michael Sheen as Clough. (In fact, all the acting was superb.)
* The footage from the late 1960s and 1970s. As an American it seemed like a different sport. It was like watching old grainy NFL footage when they still wore leather helmets.
* Just the whole look of the film was great. Players drinking tea before the match, stellar.
* Clough's pregame housecleaning for the Leeds FA Cup match.
* Peter Taylor feeding Clough crisps while driving down to London to sign Dave Mackay.
* The "potato field"/muddy pitch at the Baseball Ground. (Wenger would've had a heart attack just looking at it.)
Here's my few quibbles:
* At barely an hour and 40 minutes it all seemed very rushed.
* It never really seemed to explain how Clough was such a genius at football management, other than he was a cocky SOB. Did simply signing three players transform Derby from also-rans to First Division champs?
* The Leeds United players were a little too cookie-cutter villains, like the Russians in "Miracle."
More than anything, this film pushed me over to Amazon to dig up a good biography on Clough. The man is a legend and I need to know more about what made him tick. Until then, YouTube is a treasure trove.
Labels: Arsenal, Chelsea, English Premier League, manchester city, manchester United, Monday recaps, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
I'm not going to lie.
Wednesday afternoon watching White Hart Danny Rose* blast a perfect, once-in-a-lifetime volley gave me a body high for the rest of the day. Honestly, I couldn't stop smiling or watching the clip on YouTube every four minutes.
* I need a better pun on 'Broadway Danny Rose', but I've never seen the Woody Allen flick.
It was that incredible.
They say the hardest thing in sports to do is hit a Major League fastball.
Smacking a picture perfect left-footed volley might be just as difficult.
Yeah the ball is a little bigger, but you're doing it with your feet.** Miss-time or mishit the ball by a fraction of a fraction of a second and you're not going to pull off what Rose did. Quibble, if you please, that Manuel Almunia make was too far off his line. Most goals from that range are partially aided by the keeper straying too far. It's all about the angles, folks.
** Wouldn't it be an interesting study to take, say, 10 random baseball players and 10 random soccer players. Have the baseball guys try to attempt a volley and the soccer players hit off a live pitcher. Who does better? The skill sets for the two sports are about as disparate as you can find.
And when you throw in the fact it was Rose's first Premier League start and it came against Arsenal, well, that's Hollywood central casting 101.
Rose's goal was only the tip of the iceberg in what turned out to be a thoroughly compelling 90 minutes of soccer, which probably became almost unbearable to watch from the Spurs' perspective after Nic Bendtner's tap-in in the 85th. (Wonder if a Suns beat writer asked Steve Nash his thoughts on the match?)
From a neutral perspective, you'd be hard pressed to find a more entertaining game to watch on a Wednesday afternoon. ESPN2 truly lucked into one. Wonder how many people casually tuned in while stumbling through the channels? Or were people upset that it didn't feature talking heads yelling at each other about PacBen?
Like I said a couple weeks ago, it's games Tottenham/Arsenal that are more likely to make the American sports fan take notice and appreciate how insanely difficult it is to play soccer at the highest level. Even more so than the World Cup. Hell, South Africa's going to have its work cut out for it to even come close to the atmosphere at White Hart Lane.
It's a pity games this cracking weren't readily available two decades ago. It certainly would've helped facilitate eroding the myth that soccer is boring
Part of me wonders if this match had any impact on Thursday night's MLS ESPN telecast between Philadelphia and Toronto? (It's not good when 'Sportscenter' promos the game and host John Buccigross didn't even know Philly had a team until Chris McKendry informed him.)
Baby steps ... this time from the feet of an 18-year-old.
Mon dieu
Somewhere the Gods are having a sick laugh at the plight of our pal Arsene Wenger.
Never mind the comedy of goal-keeping errors that have consistently held the team back this season.
Or the crippling injuries to Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, et al.
Or the quasi-comical ejection from the touchline at Old Trafford.
Or the infuriating loss to Tottenham Wednesday.
Or this ear-bleedingly awful "song" about Arsenal fan culture. (Thanks Erik.)
The latest sucker-punch to Wenger came this week when Emmanuel Adebayor retired from international football for Togo.
You can't blame Adebayor. He was nearly killed in Angola this January at the African Cup of Nations, after all. Beyond that, he did lead the team to the 2006 World Cup. There's not much more he could have done for Togo.
Manchester City's brass must be doing backflips at this development. They get a 100-percent committed Adebayor, who's not jet lagged and beat-up after trips back-and-forth to Africa. (Nor, sadly, do they have to fret about his safety anymore.)
Meanwhile, poor Arsene. The man has railed on-and-on about how clubs should be compensated for players injured on international duty -- i.e. van Persie this year. Now he gets to see one of his former players retire from international duty at the ripe old age of 26.
It's got to be a joke, right?
And what about those Fabregas-to-Barcelona rumors that just won't go away...
Citizen Nyets
Maybe this is grasping at straws -- or not -- but I'd like to make a comparison between Manchester City and the New Jersey Nets.
Why attempt such a pointless endeavor?
Isn't that what the Internet is intended for? Oh right, to complain about things and look at free porn.
Both teams have recently come into a lot of money in the forms of new owners. Manchester City has transformed itself from a middling Premier League club into a cash-cow destination for players thanks to an injection of Arabian oil-bucks. The Nets, who plan to move to Brooklyn, want to do the same thing in the NBA by way of the seemingly endless wealth of Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov.
Granted, the rules in the Premier League are almost laissez-faire in finances to a fault, while the NBA does have a salary cap -- plus only 15 roster spots.
Here's the thing. City is using its newly found resources to take aim at the world of soccer and its next door neighbor Manchester United.
Meanwhile the Nets want to somehow land LeBron James and John Wall this summer and become the alpha dog in New York hoops over the Knicks.
In both cases its going to be hard.
It's unfair to compare City to the Nets, since people actually care about them -- even if they're mainly in the Greater Manchester Area (or ESPN basketball scribe Mark Stein). The club has a history, albeit one without a lot of trophies, but it's still a history.
People have lived and died with City for generations.
The Nets? I live in the Tri-State area and I've probably met two Nets fans in my entire live. They simply don't rate. This season they went 12-70, which was almost a good thing because they were comically irrelevant, instead of completely irrelevant.
When they made back-to-back finals, sure a couple Jason Kidd jerseys popped up. But those almost seem as novel as seeing somebody nowadays wearing a Limp Bizkit shirt in a non-ironic way.
Put it this way, this season the Nets offered fans reversible jerseys featuring both the Nets and popular visiting players like Kobe Bryant as an incentive to buy season tickets.
Without a flashy new Frank Gerhy designed area and a star like LeBron, nobody is going to care about the Nets, regardless of how batshit crazy their new Russian owner might turn out to be.
Thanks to god-awful stewardship of owner Charles Dolan, the Knicks have turned into an easy punchline. Even with Isiah Thomas trying to personally burn down Madison Square Garden coupled with Stephon Marbury's 'Truck Parties', people still care about the Knicks. They're in the blood, the fabric of the City.
New York City hoop fans aren't bailing on the ghosts of Red Holzman for the Nets. Not happening.
City, too, face trouble growing their brand. Sure they can pump millions and millions into new players, which may or may not yield championships.
Where the problem arises, is how City is going to win over fans on a global stage? They may be coming close to usurping United on the pitch, but in the hearts and minds of fans around the globe? That's going to take a lot more than a couple months of champagne soccer.
Maybe if United enter a terminal decline, somewhere down the line 15 years from now they're be fan clubs for City springing up across the globe. It'll take time.
As the Beatles sang all those many years ago, "Can't buy me love."
Saturday:
* Manchester City v. Manchester United -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.) Should we look at this match for more than it is? If City wins, does it mean they've surpassed United? Should we put City's recent run of good results over the last four months over the sustained history of excellence by United? Impossible to answer.
Here's when we'll know if City has passed United in the pecking order, when players chose Eastlands over Old Trafford when the money is the same. Manchester United, even with its awful April to forget, is still Manchester United. City? We'll see. As it stands they do seem to have the market cornered on defensive-minded players from Hamburg SV. So that's something.
More than anything this match figures to offer a reminder to Sir Alex Ferguson that he made a mistake letting go of Carlos Tevez. However you want to rate Tevez, he could have carried the club for a couple weeks with Wayne Rooney on the shelf.
Obviously this is a huge chance for City to fire a volley across the bow and damage its rival, but let's not forget that Tottenham is now just a point behind them in the race for fourth place. If City starts to count its chickens before they hatch, all its best laid plans begin to crumble. The club, to reach its new ambitions, must find a way into the Champions League, and the Champions League group stage proper for that matter.
Even in its wounded state, United still represent a major test for City, which has gotten in form against Birmingham City, Wigan and Burnley. Still, there's just too much firepower that's in-form for United to keep up with, healthy Rooney or not. ... City 3, United 1 (Boy has ESPN lucked into some huge games, huh?)
* Birmingham City v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Jozy Altidore is positive, you got to give him that. (Yeah you gotta give him DAP.) But let's just be honest, if it wasn't for the smiling face of the New Jersey native, would we care about the plight of Hull, who's been living by the hair of their chinny, chin chin for the last two seasons? Second-worst defense with 70 goals allowed, combined with the fourth limpest offense (32 goals) simply doesn't equal Premier League football. Sad but true. ... Birmingham City 2, Hull City 1
* Blackburn v. Everton -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) I'll just steal my own thunder on Saturday morning and pretend to take a nap here, because this match doesn't have much to offer. Anyways, my friend Twitter-ami Martin seems to think Real Madrid is lining up a bid for Maroune Felliani, aka the classic Real over-reaction move. (Thomas Gravesen anyone?) Smart move for David Moyes. Cash in on the Belgian, even it means losing his ever-so-amazing afro. Pocket the cash and buy another forward, or pry El Landito back to Ewood. Everton has gotten by with Leon Osman converting his game into a central midfielder. Same thing with the versatile Johnny Hetinga (sneaky great transfer). ... Blackburn 0, Everton 1
* Fulham v. Wolves -- Pity the team that buys Bobby Zamora or makes the team an offer it can't refuse. Don't take this the wrong way. Zamora has been nothing but outstanding this season, but he's in a career year. His form is a big reason why Fulham has been able to punch above its weight. Look at it this way, Benjani scored 15 goals in the Prem two seasons ago. Benni McCarthy had 18 in 2006-07. Marlon Harewood had 14 the year before that. Guys are going to score goals. Zamora on Fulham is infinitely more valuable than he would be somewhere else further up the table. If someone makes the "Godfather" offer on Zamora, the club probably has to take it. It's just good business sense. ... Running low on joke material, so the only Wolves I care about are of the Mod variety these days. (Too bad Leicester City can't get promoted, so I could link to the Crack Fox clip.)
* Stoke City v. Bolton -- It's spring. If you're stuck watching this game, I feel bad for you. Sorry. Take a walk outside. Get some fresh air. ... Stoke City 1, Bolton 1
* Sunderland v. Burnley -- Sunderland are pretty good at home. Burnley are still bad on the road. The Clarets don't have another shock in the system, do they, especially with Darren Bent trying to win the Golden Boot. (He's only four behind Rooney.) ... Sunderland 3, Burnley 2
* Tottenham v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) For all the ups-and-downs, it's still probably fun to root for Spurs. The team might not win very often in terms of trophies, but it's always fascinating.
Now, fresh off the first win over Arsenal since 1999, Tottenham can add another twist into the title race by trying to knock Chelsea off its perch. As I've said time-after-time, Spurs do have a deep, talented squad. Finally, after failing to do much of anything, Gareth Bale is looking like this decade's New Age Welsh Wizard. Harry Redknapp playing him further up the field in midfield as opposed to back only reaffirmed his danger.
And hand it to Gomes, too, for all the easy jokes he's actually turned out to be probably the best keeper in the league, or at least rivaling Pepe Reina or Brad Freidel. The question here, is can Spurs muster another effort against the top team in the league.
Don't forget, Tottenham went 120 minutes on Sunday in the FA Cup. So over four days, Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawnson, Bale and Jermain Defoe all went 210 minutes. Spurs have depth in the squad, but not that much. Chelsea, too, should have some Cup fatigue with nine players featuring vs. Aston Villa last Saturday and then again vs. Bolton on Tuesday. Chelsea, though, didn't have the emotions of an overtime loss or a game against a bitter rival to contend with. With Spurs still a viable option for fourth place, this game takes on a different meaning. For some reason I think they can get a result. Chelsea, too, can afford a slip-up. with four-point gap at the top. God help me. ... Tottenham 1, Chelsea 1
Sunday:
* Wigan Athletic v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) I've used the George Costanza/Play Now Sports/weed-in-Hitler's bunker comparison many times with Wigan. Here they still are. Wigan avoids the drop because other teams are less bad. It really is just a matter of time. Nobody will probably care too much either, as the sands of time eventually drift over the DW/JJB Stadium and wash it away so only rugby exists. Oh, it's clear to say that if Arsenl had a healthy Robin van Persie all season they might have really pushed even more for the title. The Dutchman is so utterly dangerous anywhere in the 18-yard-box. He's got to be a Top 10 finisher in the world, right? Arsene Wenger says its still not impossible for Arsenal to win the title. Well, it is Arsene. Sorry. Unless Spurs pull off another shocker the day before. P.S. Buy a goalkeeper this summer. Arsenal fans won't know what to do withthemselves. Lyon's Hugo Lloris seems like an idea, no? ... Wigan Athletic 1, Arsenal 3
* Portsmouth v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) This game has lost just about all appeal it might have had. Portsmouth might field some fans from the crowd, who'd probably play for free. Villa, hate to say it, but when you had the chance you never showed the balls Spurs did Wednesday against Arsenal. ... Portsmouth 1, Aston Villa 3
Monday:
* Liverpool v. West Ham United -- (Live, ESPN2, 3 p.m.) Liverpool won't even tour the U.S. this year, adding to their failures. Weaksauce. This game all depends on the results leading up to it. If Man City and Tottenham both lose, Liverpool might be able to pretend its still contending for fourth place. Of course there's that tricky little detail of having played one more game than its two rivals. Meanwhile, West Ham is probably walking on eggshells no matter what, but will really be on edge if Burnley or Hull notch a result Saturday. If the Prem isn't all about Schadenfreude, then I don't know nothin'. ... Liverpool 2, West Ham 0
Last week: 2-2
Season: 174-159
Wednesday afternoon watching White Hart Danny Rose* blast a perfect, once-in-a-lifetime volley gave me a body high for the rest of the day. Honestly, I couldn't stop smiling or watching the clip on YouTube every four minutes.
* I need a better pun on 'Broadway Danny Rose', but I've never seen the Woody Allen flick.
It was that incredible.
They say the hardest thing in sports to do is hit a Major League fastball.
Smacking a picture perfect left-footed volley might be just as difficult.
Yeah the ball is a little bigger, but you're doing it with your feet.** Miss-time or mishit the ball by a fraction of a fraction of a second and you're not going to pull off what Rose did. Quibble, if you please, that Manuel Almunia make was too far off his line. Most goals from that range are partially aided by the keeper straying too far. It's all about the angles, folks.
** Wouldn't it be an interesting study to take, say, 10 random baseball players and 10 random soccer players. Have the baseball guys try to attempt a volley and the soccer players hit off a live pitcher. Who does better? The skill sets for the two sports are about as disparate as you can find.
And when you throw in the fact it was Rose's first Premier League start and it came against Arsenal, well, that's Hollywood central casting 101.
Rose's goal was only the tip of the iceberg in what turned out to be a thoroughly compelling 90 minutes of soccer, which probably became almost unbearable to watch from the Spurs' perspective after Nic Bendtner's tap-in in the 85th. (Wonder if a Suns beat writer asked Steve Nash his thoughts on the match?)
From a neutral perspective, you'd be hard pressed to find a more entertaining game to watch on a Wednesday afternoon. ESPN2 truly lucked into one. Wonder how many people casually tuned in while stumbling through the channels? Or were people upset that it didn't feature talking heads yelling at each other about PacBen?
Like I said a couple weeks ago, it's games Tottenham/Arsenal that are more likely to make the American sports fan take notice and appreciate how insanely difficult it is to play soccer at the highest level. Even more so than the World Cup. Hell, South Africa's going to have its work cut out for it to even come close to the atmosphere at White Hart Lane.
It's a pity games this cracking weren't readily available two decades ago. It certainly would've helped facilitate eroding the myth that soccer is boring
Part of me wonders if this match had any impact on Thursday night's MLS ESPN telecast between Philadelphia and Toronto? (It's not good when 'Sportscenter' promos the game and host John Buccigross didn't even know Philly had a team until Chris McKendry informed him.)
Baby steps ... this time from the feet of an 18-year-old.
Mon dieu
Somewhere the Gods are having a sick laugh at the plight of our pal Arsene Wenger.
Never mind the comedy of goal-keeping errors that have consistently held the team back this season.
Or the crippling injuries to Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, et al.
Or the quasi-comical ejection from the touchline at Old Trafford.
Or the infuriating loss to Tottenham Wednesday.
Or this ear-bleedingly awful "song" about Arsenal fan culture. (Thanks Erik.)
The latest sucker-punch to Wenger came this week when Emmanuel Adebayor retired from international football for Togo.
You can't blame Adebayor. He was nearly killed in Angola this January at the African Cup of Nations, after all. Beyond that, he did lead the team to the 2006 World Cup. There's not much more he could have done for Togo.
Manchester City's brass must be doing backflips at this development. They get a 100-percent committed Adebayor, who's not jet lagged and beat-up after trips back-and-forth to Africa. (Nor, sadly, do they have to fret about his safety anymore.)
Meanwhile, poor Arsene. The man has railed on-and-on about how clubs should be compensated for players injured on international duty -- i.e. van Persie this year. Now he gets to see one of his former players retire from international duty at the ripe old age of 26.
It's got to be a joke, right?
And what about those Fabregas-to-Barcelona rumors that just won't go away...
Citizen Nyets
Maybe this is grasping at straws -- or not -- but I'd like to make a comparison between Manchester City and the New Jersey Nets.
Why attempt such a pointless endeavor?
Isn't that what the Internet is intended for? Oh right, to complain about things and look at free porn.
Both teams have recently come into a lot of money in the forms of new owners. Manchester City has transformed itself from a middling Premier League club into a cash-cow destination for players thanks to an injection of Arabian oil-bucks. The Nets, who plan to move to Brooklyn, want to do the same thing in the NBA by way of the seemingly endless wealth of Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov.
Granted, the rules in the Premier League are almost laissez-faire in finances to a fault, while the NBA does have a salary cap -- plus only 15 roster spots.
Here's the thing. City is using its newly found resources to take aim at the world of soccer and its next door neighbor Manchester United.
Meanwhile the Nets want to somehow land LeBron James and John Wall this summer and become the alpha dog in New York hoops over the Knicks.
In both cases its going to be hard.
It's unfair to compare City to the Nets, since people actually care about them -- even if they're mainly in the Greater Manchester Area (or ESPN basketball scribe Mark Stein). The club has a history, albeit one without a lot of trophies, but it's still a history.
People have lived and died with City for generations.
The Nets? I live in the Tri-State area and I've probably met two Nets fans in my entire live. They simply don't rate. This season they went 12-70, which was almost a good thing because they were comically irrelevant, instead of completely irrelevant.
When they made back-to-back finals, sure a couple Jason Kidd jerseys popped up. But those almost seem as novel as seeing somebody nowadays wearing a Limp Bizkit shirt in a non-ironic way.
Put it this way, this season the Nets offered fans reversible jerseys featuring both the Nets and popular visiting players like Kobe Bryant as an incentive to buy season tickets.
Without a flashy new Frank Gerhy designed area and a star like LeBron, nobody is going to care about the Nets, regardless of how batshit crazy their new Russian owner might turn out to be.
Thanks to god-awful stewardship of owner Charles Dolan, the Knicks have turned into an easy punchline. Even with Isiah Thomas trying to personally burn down Madison Square Garden coupled with Stephon Marbury's 'Truck Parties', people still care about the Knicks. They're in the blood, the fabric of the City.
New York City hoop fans aren't bailing on the ghosts of Red Holzman for the Nets. Not happening.
City, too, face trouble growing their brand. Sure they can pump millions and millions into new players, which may or may not yield championships.
Where the problem arises, is how City is going to win over fans on a global stage? They may be coming close to usurping United on the pitch, but in the hearts and minds of fans around the globe? That's going to take a lot more than a couple months of champagne soccer.
Maybe if United enter a terminal decline, somewhere down the line 15 years from now they're be fan clubs for City springing up across the globe. It'll take time.
As the Beatles sang all those many years ago, "Can't buy me love."
Saturday:
* Manchester City v. Manchester United -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.) Should we look at this match for more than it is? If City wins, does it mean they've surpassed United? Should we put City's recent run of good results over the last four months over the sustained history of excellence by United? Impossible to answer.
Here's when we'll know if City has passed United in the pecking order, when players chose Eastlands over Old Trafford when the money is the same. Manchester United, even with its awful April to forget, is still Manchester United. City? We'll see. As it stands they do seem to have the market cornered on defensive-minded players from Hamburg SV. So that's something.
More than anything this match figures to offer a reminder to Sir Alex Ferguson that he made a mistake letting go of Carlos Tevez. However you want to rate Tevez, he could have carried the club for a couple weeks with Wayne Rooney on the shelf.
Obviously this is a huge chance for City to fire a volley across the bow and damage its rival, but let's not forget that Tottenham is now just a point behind them in the race for fourth place. If City starts to count its chickens before they hatch, all its best laid plans begin to crumble. The club, to reach its new ambitions, must find a way into the Champions League, and the Champions League group stage proper for that matter.
Even in its wounded state, United still represent a major test for City, which has gotten in form against Birmingham City, Wigan and Burnley. Still, there's just too much firepower that's in-form for United to keep up with, healthy Rooney or not. ... City 3, United 1 (Boy has ESPN lucked into some huge games, huh?)
* Birmingham City v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) Jozy Altidore is positive, you got to give him that. (Yeah you gotta give him DAP.) But let's just be honest, if it wasn't for the smiling face of the New Jersey native, would we care about the plight of Hull, who's been living by the hair of their chinny, chin chin for the last two seasons? Second-worst defense with 70 goals allowed, combined with the fourth limpest offense (32 goals) simply doesn't equal Premier League football. Sad but true. ... Birmingham City 2, Hull City 1
* Blackburn v. Everton -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) I'll just steal my own thunder on Saturday morning and pretend to take a nap here, because this match doesn't have much to offer. Anyways, my friend Twitter-ami Martin seems to think Real Madrid is lining up a bid for Maroune Felliani, aka the classic Real over-reaction move. (Thomas Gravesen anyone?) Smart move for David Moyes. Cash in on the Belgian, even it means losing his ever-so-amazing afro. Pocket the cash and buy another forward, or pry El Landito back to Ewood. Everton has gotten by with Leon Osman converting his game into a central midfielder. Same thing with the versatile Johnny Hetinga (sneaky great transfer). ... Blackburn 0, Everton 1
* Fulham v. Wolves -- Pity the team that buys Bobby Zamora or makes the team an offer it can't refuse. Don't take this the wrong way. Zamora has been nothing but outstanding this season, but he's in a career year. His form is a big reason why Fulham has been able to punch above its weight. Look at it this way, Benjani scored 15 goals in the Prem two seasons ago. Benni McCarthy had 18 in 2006-07. Marlon Harewood had 14 the year before that. Guys are going to score goals. Zamora on Fulham is infinitely more valuable than he would be somewhere else further up the table. If someone makes the "Godfather" offer on Zamora, the club probably has to take it. It's just good business sense. ... Running low on joke material, so the only Wolves I care about are of the Mod variety these days. (Too bad Leicester City can't get promoted, so I could link to the Crack Fox clip.)
* Stoke City v. Bolton -- It's spring. If you're stuck watching this game, I feel bad for you. Sorry. Take a walk outside. Get some fresh air. ... Stoke City 1, Bolton 1
* Sunderland v. Burnley -- Sunderland are pretty good at home. Burnley are still bad on the road. The Clarets don't have another shock in the system, do they, especially with Darren Bent trying to win the Golden Boot. (He's only four behind Rooney.) ... Sunderland 3, Burnley 2
* Tottenham v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) For all the ups-and-downs, it's still probably fun to root for Spurs. The team might not win very often in terms of trophies, but it's always fascinating.
Now, fresh off the first win over Arsenal since 1999, Tottenham can add another twist into the title race by trying to knock Chelsea off its perch. As I've said time-after-time, Spurs do have a deep, talented squad. Finally, after failing to do much of anything, Gareth Bale is looking like this decade's New Age Welsh Wizard. Harry Redknapp playing him further up the field in midfield as opposed to back only reaffirmed his danger.
And hand it to Gomes, too, for all the easy jokes he's actually turned out to be probably the best keeper in the league, or at least rivaling Pepe Reina or Brad Freidel. The question here, is can Spurs muster another effort against the top team in the league.
Don't forget, Tottenham went 120 minutes on Sunday in the FA Cup. So over four days, Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Dawnson, Bale and Jermain Defoe all went 210 minutes. Spurs have depth in the squad, but not that much. Chelsea, too, should have some Cup fatigue with nine players featuring vs. Aston Villa last Saturday and then again vs. Bolton on Tuesday. Chelsea, though, didn't have the emotions of an overtime loss or a game against a bitter rival to contend with. With Spurs still a viable option for fourth place, this game takes on a different meaning. For some reason I think they can get a result. Chelsea, too, can afford a slip-up. with four-point gap at the top. God help me. ... Tottenham 1, Chelsea 1
Sunday:
* Wigan Athletic v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) I've used the George Costanza/Play Now Sports/weed-in-Hitler's bunker comparison many times with Wigan. Here they still are. Wigan avoids the drop because other teams are less bad. It really is just a matter of time. Nobody will probably care too much either, as the sands of time eventually drift over the DW/JJB Stadium and wash it away so only rugby exists. Oh, it's clear to say that if Arsenl had a healthy Robin van Persie all season they might have really pushed even more for the title. The Dutchman is so utterly dangerous anywhere in the 18-yard-box. He's got to be a Top 10 finisher in the world, right? Arsene Wenger says its still not impossible for Arsenal to win the title. Well, it is Arsene. Sorry. Unless Spurs pull off another shocker the day before. P.S. Buy a goalkeeper this summer. Arsenal fans won't know what to do withthemselves. Lyon's Hugo Lloris seems like an idea, no? ... Wigan Athletic 1, Arsenal 3
* Portsmouth v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) This game has lost just about all appeal it might have had. Portsmouth might field some fans from the crowd, who'd probably play for free. Villa, hate to say it, but when you had the chance you never showed the balls Spurs did Wednesday against Arsenal. ... Portsmouth 1, Aston Villa 3
Monday:
* Liverpool v. West Ham United -- (Live, ESPN2, 3 p.m.) Liverpool won't even tour the U.S. this year, adding to their failures. Weaksauce. This game all depends on the results leading up to it. If Man City and Tottenham both lose, Liverpool might be able to pretend its still contending for fourth place. Of course there's that tricky little detail of having played one more game than its two rivals. Meanwhile, West Ham is probably walking on eggshells no matter what, but will really be on edge if Burnley or Hull notch a result Saturday. If the Prem isn't all about Schadenfreude, then I don't know nothin'. ... Liverpool 2, West Ham 0
Last week: 2-2
Season: 174-159
Labels: Arsenal, arsene wenger, English Premier League, Prem Picks, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
