That's On Point: The Web Site

Never gonna tell a lie ... and hurt you.

"You cannot drag this negative energy in to the tournament!" -- Walter Sobchek

From best anyone can tell, the nonstop reports filed from about the nearly minute-by-minute status about Andre Villas-Boas are almost the perfect storm for English journalists. 


1. High profile club owned by a mysterious, patchy-bearded Russian oligarch. 
2. Foreign coach who is only 34 years old and looks like a certain Rick Astley, if only the ginger bossonova wore trench coats, which Morty Seinfeld would not approve. 
3. Old, cranky players -- many England internationals. 


It's almost like the other side of the Atlantic's answer to Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin, except for the exact opposite reasons. If you follow English (or European) soccer, how many AVB headlines have you read in the last two weeks? 10? 100? 1,000? It's almost so many that it becomes white noise at this point. 



Long and short of it, the players -- unnamed but assumedly the old guard core of Didier Drogba/Frank Lampard/Ashely Cole/John Terry -- don't like being told what to do by Villas-Boas, who in turn has responded, on repeat, that Roman Abramovich has his back. Rinse. Lather Repeat. 


Chelsea's form hasn't been strong in 2012, four wins, four draws and two losses across three competitions -- including a draw in the FA Cup to Birmingham City followed by a lackluster 3-1 loss to Napoli in the first round of the Champions League Round of 16 encounter. 


As written before, Chelsea -- namely Abramovich -- seem to want their cake and eat it to. If you're going to keep the old guys around Stamford Bridge, what sense did it make to fire Carlo Ancelotti, who'd won a Premier League/FA Cup double only two years ago? If you're going to go for a new look team, maybe you miss the Champions League a season, but you tear it down and let Villas-Boas (or somebody else) build a new team. In the world of soccer it's almost absurd Chelsea has kept the Drogba-Lampard-Terry-Cole-Petr Cech core together as long as it has, considering most good teams seem to only have shelf life of a couple years, not bordering on a decade. 


Granted, Chelsea's situation gets much more complicated with the blond-haired, $70 million elephant in the room named Fernando Torres. 


And since the average English fan -- in the stadium, on the couch or behind the keyboard -- enjoys nothing more than laughing at and or mocking the flopping, fair-haired boy from Madrid, that cloud of negativity tends to overlap onto the entire team as well as Villas-Boas. 


It's almost as if Abramovich -- hell bent on winning the Champions League, apparently though we've never really heard him say this directly -- needs a talk from Mike (the Cleaner) on "Breaking Bad" when he told Walter White, "no more half measures," or to use another cable drama character, Marlo Stanfield, "either do it or don't, I got somewhere to be." The Russian can't make up his mind on what to do. As we've seen in all sports, when owners get impatient and irrational, it's never good for long-terming planning. 


There's another aspect of the Chelsea situation with AVB, and to an extent the lingering Arsene Wenger issues at Arsenal(*) worth exploring. 

(*) No sense re-hashing a recurring theme via Arsenal, in that the team aside from Robin van Persie isn't as good as fans have come to expect from the North London side. It's just not. Losing 4-0 to Milan in the Champions League is a bit much, but fighting tooth-and-nail for fourth place isn't too out of line with realistic expectations when you look at the club in its current state. 


In this case it's a matter of access. English writers and journalists only have so much direct contact with the particulars, especially at a big club. How often to writers get exclusive one-on-one time with a manager? Instead it's usually grouped around with dozens of other people with a microphone. 


And the players? Ha! Unless it's in an interview sponsored by Umbro or Nike or (sometimes) for a charitable cause, how often do you here direct quotes from an active player?


Unlike a beat writer for baseball or the NBA or any other major American sport, the soccer writers seem to rarely interact with players?(*)  It's not like a writer can sidle up to Lampard around the batting cage and talk show with him for a couple minutes before a game, even if only for idle chit chat. 

(*) No, Piers Morgan -- and Joey Barton -- picking fights with every English player or English journalist, respectively, on Twitter doesn't count.

Or take it another example, it's standard practice for journalists to enter the locker rooms in North America pre-and-post games. This would never happen in England, or Europe. Think back to all the soccer matches you've watched, maybe you'll get a couple softball questions to the man of the match (always behind the team's sheet of sponsors) from a television "presenter" and that'll be it. 

It's this lack of access and lingering distrust it creates behind journalists and the people they cover that helps lend itself to this almost seige mentality in European soccer. 

A big team loses a match or two? It's crisis time and the vulture start circling. 

Or if you're Wenger, you've probably become so numbed by the press questioning your methods (albeit without a trophy since 2005) you almost end up looking like the proverbial Emperor without any clothes, backed into a corner and forced to defend the indefensible. 


So, as it stands, writers need to fill their column space -- print, digital or otherwise -- with something. The longstanding mantra of "sex sells," might not apply to sports, so calling for the manager's head is apparently the next best option.


Worth 16 Minutes of Your Time:

One of my best Internet buddies, @Rev215 sent me this last night. I've seen plenty of "Best" Soccer goals of all time clips in my day, but this one is done is such a fantastic manner you should drop everything you're doing and watch it. The music alone makes it worth your while.

Hell, it starts off with George Best playing in the NASL. 

http://www.50goals.org/

Damn do I miss Dennis Bergkamp and Roberto Baggio.


Saturday:

* West Brom v. Sunderland -- West Brom are, perhaps, the most irrelevant team left in the Prem. The Baggies aren't pushing for Europe, nor are they miserable enough to fall into the Championship, so it's safe to say their season peaked two weaks ago with a 5-1 win at Wolves and piling dirt on the grave of Mick McCarthy. Chances are Peter Odemwingie couldn't pick McCarthy out of a lineup, not that supporters care. Sunderland are red hot. Stephane Sessgnon and James McClean (aka Landry/Lance from "Friday Night Lights)  are fast, tricky players on the counter attack and more than that -- fun to watch. And to the suprise of nobody, aside from his pappy/agent, the Black Cats seem better suited playing without Niclas Bendtner. ... West Brom 1, Sunderland 2

* QPR v. Fulham -- (Live, FSC+, 10 a.m.) QPR spent money on Dijbril Cisse and Bobby Zamora in the transfer window, maybe the club ought to have done a little more for the defense aside from Nedum Onuoha and Taye Taiwo since the Hoops haven't keep a clean sheet since Oct. 23 in Premier League play. That said, a home game against a so-so Fulham team is something QPR needs to find a way to win if wants to stay up. Fulham definitely define the blah-ness of the Premier League. Sometimes awful, sometimes on fire, often times boring and forgettable. Guess that's what happens when you take a Dutchman with his 4-3-3ish DNA in Martin Jol, trying to overhaul a team that found so much success with football's missionary position, the 4-4-2. ... QPR 2, Fulham 1

* Chelsea v. Bolton -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Guessing Chelsea, when it bought Gary Cahill from Bolton last month, they didn't anticipate him as the replacement for David Luiz, who let's be fair after a blinding start last season has been a comedy show in defense. The Blues have given up nine goals in four matches across all competitions in February. Problem is, Chelsea a) spent a bunch of money on Luiz last year and b) he's "young" and not part of the old guard. Bottom line, perhaps judging defenders from the Portuguese Liga is on par with strikers from the Eredivisie. ... Chelsea 2, Bolton 0

* Wigan Athletic v. Aston Villa -- Will Charles N'Zogbia mist up when he hits the field at the DW Stadium? Perhaps with the familiar first few bars of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" chiming in his head. Frightening thought for Aston Villa fans -- the club is in 15th place, for Randy Lerner that's an improvement over his other team, the Cleveland Browns.Good thing Alex McLeish came across the Atlantic last week to mirror Browns' coach Fritz Shurmer for a few days. Viva mediocrity! ... Wigan Athletic 0, Aston Villa 1


* Newcastle United v. Wolves -- When the dusts settles, could Newcastle end up with the final Champions League place ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool? If Alan Pardew's team keeps plugging and chugging away, with loads less pressure on them than everybody else, could they do it? The biggest red flag? Away games against Arsenal and Chelsea, though the Emirates and Stamford Bridge weren't what they once were. The Mapgies did survive without Chieck Tiote and Yoann Cabaye, didn't they? Nothing to say about Wolves. They're going down and deserve it. ... Newcastle United 2, Wolves 0

* Manchester City v. Blackburn Rovers -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Certainly warms the heart, doesn't it, that Carlos Tevez and City were finally able to put their issues behind and get back together. Pretty sure that was a deleted scene on the Season Six "Friends" DVD box set. ... City 2, Blackburn 1

Sunday: 

* Arsenal v. Tottenham -- (Live, FSC, 8:30 a.m.) Spurs, under Harry Redknapp, have been very good against the Gunners, going 3-3-2 including that famous win two years ago with the Danny Rose goal for the ages. The question here, do Spurs, after a limp showing in the FA Cup have enough guts to put Arsenal and the Gunners fans firmly with one foot off the ledge?

A healthy Emmanuel Adebayor could certainly do that by himself, especially sine Johan Djourou -- perhaps the embodiment of Arsenal's awful play (in patches) this season certain to start in the Gunners' defense. Also worth watching, if Alex Song -- who may have to slot in at center back -- can stop Luka Modric from dictating the Spurs' attack. Arsenal, if they're going to do anything other than heaping the entire offensive responsibility on Robin van Persie, have to get something -- anything -- from Theo Walcott, Gervinho or Alex Olade-Chamberlain, though Spurs do have the speed in Kyle Walker and caginess in Benoit Assou-Ekotto to bottle up those attacks.

It's weird, Spurs are clearly -- by a margin -- the better team coming into this game, yet with the burden of responsibility, on the road, can the old predictable stigmas of Typical Tottenham be overcome? That said, how much fortitude does Arsenal have left at this point, with van Persie probably typing up a transfer request on his son Shaqueel's iPad as we speak. As we are now learning Friday morning, sadly, Andrey Arshavin might be going back to Russia. We'll always have this face, though, won't we? ... Arsenal 1, Tottenham 3

* Norwich City v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC+, 8:30 a.m.) Trickier encounter than it looks like for United. Norwich aren't a team that rolls over at the sight of a good team, are they? The biggest news about United I stumbled across over the week was that admitted technophobe Sir Alex Ferguson has a Spotify account. For what it's worth, Tom Cleverly should be a huge lift to the team's midfield. ... Norwich City 1, Manchester United 2

* Stoke City v. Swansea City -- Stoke City's Europa League dream ... is dead. I'll be wearing a black armband all weekend, in case you're wondering. ... Stoke City 1, Swansea City 1

* Carling Cup Final: Liverpool v. Cardiff City -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) As is oft said, it's a funny old game, isn't it? Liverpool have had the black cloud of Luis Suarez's peccadilloes hanging over the club for months, plus the continued talk of how much Andy Carroll and his three league goals this season cost the team. The crazy thing is, Liverpool are on track to win an English Cup double.

And, really, would you bet against Steven Gerrard at this point? There's no metric to gauge it, but as long as he's wearing Liverpool red and not England white, the King of the Scousers is about as clutch in "big games" as there is currently in England.

It doesn't matter who you root for this goal never -- ever -- gets old, does it?








Hard to imagine Liverpool will never Gerrard's heroics against the fifth-placed team in the Championship, especially one that's lost three of four in the February, giving up eight goals in those losses. Birmingham City did upset Arsenal in last year's Carling Cup final, however it's hard to see Pepe Reina gifting the Bluebirds a goal like Wojech Szcznesny did last season.

Expect Liverpool to win its first major trophy, believe it or not, since 2006. ... Liverpool 2, Cardiff City 0.

Last round: 5-5
Season: 118-135

Labels: arsene wenger, Chelsea, English Premier League, EPL, EPL picks, media, Soccer