Talking Soccer

Liverpool Agree Aquilani Deal

2009-08-06T02:17:00.002+10:00

This just in from the Liverpool FC official website and slowly popping up in all other soccer news sites.

Although the official LFC website didn't provide the figures, soccernet believes the fee to be around £20m. Which in my opinion does seem alot for a player with an injury history. I mean, Michael Owen was free! He started(sub appearances) for the last few seasons were 14(13), 17(11), 15(7), 26(6).

Nevertheless, we all know the skill Aquilani possess and I'm sure he learned alot from Totti. In fact, I rate him as 'the next Totti'. So hopefully he will come good for Liverpool. Undeniable this guy has skill. He was captain of the Italian U-19 and U-21 squads, so he has some positive mental attributes about him. Rafa also described him as having a 'winning mentality' which is essential in all good players and sportsman.

Though the dismal appearance record seems to make him out to be somewhat of a gamble, I'm sure Rafa knows what he is doing. Afterall, it was said that AA only suffered recurrence of his ligament injuries because Roma were trying to rush him back too quickly. Let's hope now his injuries are behind him. Steven Gerrard was injury-prone, but looks to have shaken that off in the last two years, which was about the age AA is now.

So I wish he stays fit and we can see what a great player he is. Because no matter how much skill you have, if you can't stay fit to kick the ball, you're no use either. Like a certain Harry Kewell we knew.

End of the Alonso Saga

2009-07-31T12:58:00.002+10:00

News has been going around that Xabi Alonso has handed in a transfer request to Liverpool. No deal has been agreed yet, so it may be a little pre-mature to say goodbye to Alonso, but I'll do it anyway.

I understand his decision to leave, and believe it has nothing to do with Rafa undermining him at the start of last season. The Spanish boys probably grew up as young footballers dreaming of playing for Barcelona or Real Madrid one day, so this is a dream come true for him. So although, I still think UEFA should step in to intervene with Real Madrid's tapping up antics, and isn't Real's biggest fan, I'd say thanks for 5 good years, of which maybe 3 were great. I like I'm sure all pool fans round the world, we wish you all the best.

There have been a few names tossed around the papers as replacements, but Rafa hasn't commented on anything about them yet. Perhaps it's his way of not giving up hope on Alonso, but I think if he wants to leave, let him go. The club will move on, we will sign a high-profile replacement. Currently the names in the press are Lee Cattermole and Alberto Aquilani. Aquilani would be a good signing, but I'm not sure about Cattermole for £12million. In any case, that's just speculation.

People like to say that Liverpool are in debt, and they don't have the money to compete for the top players. I'm afraid that is a myth. Man United are in more debt- about £500million more. And no one talks about them being unable to afford players. We got our refinancing deal, our owners have sold off their other acquisitions. We will have money, despite what Rafa says.

Rafa is just trying to say he doesn't have money, so he wouldn't be paying exuberant prices for players. For example, we all know that Joleon Lescott is a decent defender, but no way is he worth £20million. But because it's Man City who came knocking on Everton's door, he suddenly became worth that much. So don't believe what you hear from the papers, or from Rafa himself.

Two seasons ago, he suddenly had something like £17million to sign Mascherano and another £24m+ addons to sign Torres, despite claiming the lack of funds. Last season, for all the "lack of money issues", he claimed he had, we still signed a £20million striker. Whether he turned out to be a flop or not is beside the point, really. The fact is, we had money to sign him, even when the papers and manager said we don't.

And the reason why the manager said we don't is because he didn't want to pay over-the-odds for Barry. And that is really one man who is over-rated.

So with the sale of Alonso, Arbeloa, Dossena, Leto, Hobbs, Anderson and Pennant, Rafa would have raised £40million plus however much he said he didn't have. Having only spend £9million this season to sign G. Johnson (because the rest came from the Crouch money), I will expect some, or at least one, high-profile signings. So Chelsea and Man United fans, don't start celebrating yet!

More Alonso News

2009-07-28T23:36:00.003+10:00

So it's exactly what I said.

Peter Crouch moved to Tottenham to renew his Crouch-Defoe Partnership under the same manager under a different club. Bent, makes way and moves to Sunderland. Poor chap, he has been under-rated all his life, even when he scored something like 22 league goals, Theo Walcott - who never played a single Premier league game at that time - went to the World Cup with England instead. I'm sure we all remember that incident. And now again, he is being chucked out of even Tottenham. Admittedly, I would pick Defoe over him, and they are sort of similiar kinds of strikers.

More news on the Xabi Alonso speculation today. It was better news for Liverpool that Real might be pulling out of the deal for Alonso. Quotes from Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was quite annoying to the ears of this Liverpool fan though.

He said "Some people obviously thought that because we said we wanted more Spanish players, they could ask for fees which don't correspond to reality.

"A year ago, certain players we've asked about would have cost less than half the price we're being quoted now.

"If necessary, we'll find the Spanish players we would like for the squad in our youth system."

Well, I believe Alonso is definately worth more than £30million, and thats the price Real are not willing to match. But more importantly, alot of things can change in a year! Alonso was almost out of Anfield a year ago to finance the Barry deal (Thank God it didn't happen) but if Madrid want to talk about prices a year ago, why didn't they buy him last year? It's only because he was performing so well in the season which just ended isn't it? So therefore, his value goes up! Duh!

And secondly, Real Madrid is the one who is inflating prices in the market. By breaking the world record transfer fee (by some margin) for Cristiano Ronaldo, they have opened the flood gates for inflated prices for players. Everyone is going to say, 'if Ronaldo was worth £80million, then [insert random player name here] is worth [insert ridiculous price here], if not more'.

And so finally, if Cristiano Ronaldo was worth £80million, Alonso is easily worth at least AT LEAST £35million, if not more.

Quiet Weekend

2009-07-27T23:29:00.002+10:00

The weekend just concluded, and it's been a quiet week in terms of transfers.

Crouch is almost moving to Tottenham, Bent is almost moving to Sunderland, Terry almost moved to City, Toure is nearly there. Liverpool are still chasing Silva, Madrid are still chasing Alonso. It's the same old stories, but nothing concrete.

The only news comes from Italy/Spain where Ibrahamovic and Eto'o swapped places. Mourinho made a public comment about losing Zlatan, as a coach, but as a manager, it was good business. And indeed it was. 45million euros plus Eto'o. I really wonder how the chairman pulled that stunt.

I know Eto'o wanted to leave, but still. Eto'o isn't worth only 50million euros either. That makes it almost a 100million euro deal. And let me tell you this, I rate Eto'o much higher than Ibrahamovic. "Zlatan Ibrahamovic makes Dimitar Berbatov look as hardworking as Dirk Kuyt", was one comment on F365. I can't say I agree with that, but certainly I enjoy Eto'o's pace and energy so much more than the admittedly lazy but sublime skills of Ibrahamovic.

That being said, I think it was a steal on Inter's point of view. Absolutely great business!

That's my only comment. On the only transfer story. It's back to reading about Terry, Alonso, Crouch, Silva....

The Liverpool Non-Stories

2009-07-25T02:24:00.003+10:00

Just a few comments about the stories in the papers today.

As far as I'm concerned, they are non-stories. They claimed that Liverpool are 'stepping up the chase' for Villa, and that Aberloa is going to Madrid with Alonso in exchange for another player, Negredo being the name thrown around. But then, there are no quotes. Not from Rafa, nor the owners. Rafa is enjoying the sunshine and humidity in Singapore, whilst the owners are over negotiating a loan refinancing deal with RBS.

Although I would love to see Silva and Negredo at Liverpool, Liverpool fans should not get excited because these stories are meaningless. And hence I will stop commenting on them now.

In other news, Captain Stevie G has been cleared of charges of affray. He is the only one of the seven involved who was cleared. This, obviously, has nothing to do with the fact that he is the captain of the Liverpool team, or in fact just a professional footballer at a big club. It's all a bit silly really, how the world turns a blind eye when a professional footballer is treated differently, especially one of Steven Gerrard's stature. Having said that, Joey Barton must have done some really really bad things to deserve what he got.

And finally, I wish Liverpool all the best in Singapore. I wish I was there to be part of the tour!

Tap Up Much?

2009-07-23T22:46:00.003+10:00

Okay, Madrid, that's enough.

I know it worked with Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, but this tapping up business is truly getting out of hand. In no ethical world can you discuss our clubs players in interviews. You should never, ever pin point a player you are targetting. That is just bad conduct, and terribly unprofessional. It's like saying you fancy your mate's girlfriend!

And that's not the worst part. They are still trying to haggle a bargain. Alonso is clearly one of the best in his position in the world. Save for maybe Xavi or Pirlo. And Real Madrid know that. And if they want him so badly, why don't they meet our price? £35million and Wesley Sneijder would do just fine thanks. But nooo, they are trying to haggle.

It's like saying, there is hardly any other car like a Ferrari in this world, but I want to buy it for a price of a Holden. With no disrespect to Holden, there is a reason why the prices are as they are.

To quote Real Madrid Sporting Director Miguel Pardeza, the chief "tapper-up",

"The problem with Alonso is there are no alternatives, with the way football is evolving, the creative central midfielder is becoming fewer and fewer.

"Alonso is not a fad, there are just not may alternatives - not in the Americas or in Europe are there players who can perform his task."

So talking about our player is bad enough. To praise him, although it's part of the tapping up process, is understandable because he IS an awesome player. So don't, then give me this crap:

"They stalled, from day one - the demands of Liverpool were beyond what Madrid was willing to pay and that is very difficult to understand. "

Very difficult to understand? Oh maybe because in your own words "there are no alternatives... who can perform his task". Does Real Madrid think every club in the world is a feeder club to them? So maybe Liverpool want to hold on to the player who has no alternative! Liverpool have been a more successful team than Madrid in recent history. We've been to more finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals, and even won the Champions League once in the last 5 years. We will not be a feeder club to you!

I really hope Alonso stays, and that he can see that Madrid doesn't value him like the Liverpool fans do. Having said that, we know that all footballers have their price, even Cristiano. So then, if Alonso is as valued to you, Madrid, as he is to us, then give us an offer we can accept. Or just shut the hell up!

Pre-Season 2009/2010

2009-07-20T01:08:00.000+10:00

This blog has died. But I hope to revive it this season.

I'm sure having a personal blog, food blog, soccer team blog to maintain other than this shouldn't be a problem. Saying that, I'll try to update more this season. Afterall, I do watch 6 hours of live Premier League matches on the weekend. This season I might even catch some of the Real Madrid matches given the talent on show there.

I was never a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo's off-field behaviour, or perhaps even on-field antics, but anyone who is not blinded with bias, can tell you that he is a extremely gifted player. But I would watch Madrid for two players - Kaka and Benzema. I don't think I have to give any reason why. Just youtube those names.

Back to the more familiar league. I have to agree with my closest friend I discuss soccer with, that Man City is England's Real Madrid. It's ironic though, that that came from a Chelsea fan, because last I checked his team tried to buy success too. But like Chelsea, Man City would have to trial and error for a couple of seasons before getting it right. I have to admit though, Tevez, Santa Cruz and Adebayor were good starts, but a good start - that's all it is.

Being a Liverpool supporter, I detest the fact that Gareth Barry rejected us. I understand his reasons though, and I believe him when he says it wasn't because of the money. It was because the transfer to Liverpool failed to materialize last season, and he had to regain the trust of his Villa fans all over again. Having said that, Gareth, City was a strange choice, given that they didn't even qualify for Europe when Fulham did.

For all the millions that City are bidding, they aren't exactly buying world beaters. I might be saying something different should someone like Samuel Eto'o come in. But they brought in Barry, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor. I don't think Real Madrid would have brought in any of those players. Including Bellamy, Wright-Philips, Robinho and perhaps even Kompany and De Jong, Man City have a bunch of 'almost' players. Barry and Santa Cruzalmost made it to a top 4 club. Wright-Philips, Bellamy, Tevez and to some extent Robinho did and failed. They ended up being fringe players at the top clubs, and never regulars. Adebayor is perhaps an exception, but then again, Arsenal fans wouldn't miss him too much given his terrible chance-to-goals-ratio.

Then again, on the flip side of the coin, perhaps the top clubs saw something in them which they were just too starved of opportunity to produce. And may do so playing together, regularly at City.

On to Liverpool. Like many other supporters of this club, I believe we would be a strong side, if not the strongest side in the league if we keep everyone we ended the season with last season. By that, we mean Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.

No doubt Glen Johnson was a great addition, given Aberloa's less than competent attacking approach. He was improving though, but Johnson is a ready-made attacking full-back. Rafa knows we lost out on the title last season because we failed to break down the so-called smaller sides, not so much because we can't beat the big boys. In the light of that, an attacking full-back, though not urgent, is a great tactical purchase.

I'm a fan of Alonso ever since he came to Liverpool. Even in the season where he wasn't performing/playing much and Rafa threatened to sell him, I still wished he stayed. This summer though, it looks likely he would move on. As much as I love my players to be loyal, if you offered me the chance to play alongside Kaka, Benzema, Cris Ron, Raul, Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaat, Higuian just to name a few, I would jump at that chance too. So although he would be greatly missed, I will support Alonso's decision if he decides to leave the club for Madrid.

There has been speculation that Sneijder (and some cash) might be coming the other way, I wouldn't mind that at all! Wesley Sneijder is an awesome player, and if Madrid doesn't know how to appreciate such talent, I'm sure Liverpool would use him well. There is also speculation that with the Alonso money, Pool could bring in David Silva or Ashley Young, whom either would be great signings.

I would be at the edge of my seat if either of those 3 players come to Liverpool in the close-season, even if it means Alonso leaving. If I'm not already dying for the new season to begin!

All Roads Lead to City

2008-09-02T13:15:00.000+10:00

Ha, two years the big shock was Tevez and Mascherano moving to West Ham on transfer deadline, looks like this year, Manchester City pulled off the coup of the season so far. Robinho! gg.

I believe Robinho can finally show his true potential at Man City. He would get first team football without question. Him on the left, Wright-Philips on the right. That's the best wing combination in the league imo. Arsenal and Liverpool don't have real wingers. Chelsea uses J. Cole as a "winger". Man Utd have the aging Giggs and injured Cris Ron - who is an awesome footballer but isn't a traditional winker. I mean winger.

Man City also pulled off Vincient Kompany, and we all remember buying him in our Championship Manager games since he came onto the scene at 17 years old. Kompany, Richards, Ben-Haim, Zabaleta. That's an impressive backline. Probably only back four with the bigger names on paper are those at Chelsea. In mid-field, they have the impressive Elano and inflential Ireland. And I've been impressive with Johnson as well. Add SWP and Robinho to the wings.

Up front they have Jo and Sturridge. And that is when Benjani, Vassel and the luckless Bojinov are injured.

It's only too bad they sold Corluka. But I guess it's who they have, not who they haven't. If Man City can get their team to gel together quickly, they could easily be the team to watch this term!

Pre-Season Madness

2008-08-08T08:02:00.000+10:00

Okay, I know I hardly use this soccer blog anymore. But there are a few things I have to say about this pre-season of EPL.

Firstly it's about Liverpool. They signed Robbie Keane as their big-name signing this year. Seriously, why? Sell Crouch and buy Keane for twice the amount? I really think Crouch was severely under-rated by Rafa. Crouch loved Liverpool, was a great professional and he gave his best in the limited games Rafa gave him. I liked him as a player. Keane, on the other hand, has never been a 20-goal-a-season striker. If you can buy Torres with 27mill pounds, I don't think Keane is worth 20mill.

If anything, Rafa should forget both Keane and Barry and sign one David Villa. Valencia are in financial crisis now, there is no better time to buy him. Him, or the David Silva dude. It seems they worked well with Torres in the Euro and Villa and Torres looked like best friends; if you remembered when Villa scored his hat-trick, he ran to the bench to celebrate with his good friend nando Torres.

Now, Barry is a good player, but to sell Xabi Alonso to finance his deal? Rafa clearly lost something there. There is no way Barry is a better player than Alonso is. If anything, we should get rid of Kuyt. That mosquito only has work-rate and nothing else. He is just there to annoying his opponents, if you remember how he forced Frank Lamps into and error to score when they played Chelsea in Europe. Barry is some-what a winger too anyway, and Kuyt really isn't. Rafa vowed to keep Kuyt today, and it really worried me. Keep Alonso too please!

Next thing I have to say is about Cris Ron. Man United should have just sold him. That ungrateful show-boater. Admittedly, he got Man United quite far, but which club got him that far? He admitted today that he wanted to go to Real Madrid because he had won everything with Manchester and yet didn't want to seem ungrateful. But lest we forget WHO MISSED THE PENALTY IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL?!? Your Manchester team-mates are the reason why you have a champs league medal round your neck, Cris. You owe them big time imo! To leave right after the club won the tournament for you, that would be ungrateful to club who did so much for you.

Now I think the club which improved the most on paper would be Tottenham. They got rid of the over-rated Robbie Keane, and would do well to symphon 30mill pounds out of Man United for Berbatov. They brought in the Luka Modric and Gomes the keeper. I was impressed with Gomes when I saw him play for PSV in the champs league. But the little known fact is that Tottenham's best buy could be Giovanni Dos Santos. I don't think he will get to play just yet, but when he proves himself on the pitch, he might have an awesome second half of the season. Mark my words. He is an awesome youngster!

I'm following closely the developments of Asharvin's potential transfer to Spurs and believe they would have gotten another world class player should they be able to land him. Yes, I did watch the UEFA Cup last season.

Chelsea are quite scary this time round too. Although they kept Lampard - who has proven to screw up the Chelsea system (and especially Ballack) - and Drogba - because he is such a cry-baby - they did very well to bring in a quality right-back in Bosingwa and a genius mid-fielder in Deco. I had been an admirer of Deco since the time he played for Porto FC, and I think Chelsea managed to pull off a great steal by signing him. Well done to them. Come on Rafa... would Torres be your only good buy?

It looks like it's getting exciting as the season is about to start. Just sad to see Liverpool signing players that would get them to 4th, not champions-quality players. I can't wait for the new FM to come out, then I'll show Rafa!

Champions League Quarters

2007-04-05T10:34:00.000+10:00

I got a few quick comments about the Champions League Quarter-finals.

I've watched two of the matches Milan vs Bayern and Chelsea vs Valencia. And obviously saw the goals and highlights of the other two matches.

First up, AC Milan v Bayern Munchen. I got to say that it must be one of the worse AC Milan defensive displays that I've seen aside from the 2005 Champions League final where Liverpool famously scored 3 goals against them after being 3-0 down. Bayern Muchen hardly deserved to score the two away goals, but the fact is they did and now look favourites to go through. Especially if Milan keep slipping up in defence and their forward line continue to fail to score. Super Pippo is back though given the injuries and suspensions to the other AC Milan forwards.

Next, PSV vs Liverpool. I read a comment on Football365 about someone saying that he knows what Rafa, Carra or Stevie would say that 'the tie isn't over', 'there is still 90mins', or 'we have to be professional' and things along those lines. And well, he was spot on right. But I think they should just say that 'we're through for sure', but of course be quietly professional on the return leg. Then again, I can't see a team with so many form and injury problems possibly come back from 3-0 down at Anfield when the Barcelona first team couldn't (come back from 2-1 down).

This morning it was Chelsea vs Valencia. Well, Valencia played like crap this morning and only pure inspiration got them their away goal. It could prove crucial though but I don't think so. Chelsea are likely to score an away goal (or more) themselves, so Valencia would HAVE to win the tie at home. David Villa was awfully quiet and Canizares didn't look like a keeper would made it to two Champions League finals. He was slow off his line and missed all the catches. He was indecisive when coming up then stopping - one time it lead to the Drogba goal. He better improve, or it wouldn't be a happy time for Valencia.

Manchester United vs Roma will be an interesting fixture. The game is as finely-poised as it could be. Manchester did well to finish the away game only 2-1 down having been reduced to ten men so early in the game. Rooney and Ronaldo did well to combine to produce the ellusive away goal. Lucky for Man Utd, Cris Ron is like two players! I think they would overturn the tie now that they are going to be back at Old Trafford and have 11 men once again.

In summary, I tip, Bayern Munchen, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool to go through. Let's hope I'm right cause ill be putting money on it!

Back with the UCL

2007-03-08T14:41:00.000+11:00

I haven't blogged in a while, but I just have to this time because of I just watched two Champions League matches: Liverpool vs Barca and Arsenal vs PSV.

First thing I got to say is well done to Liverpool! Okay, being a Liverpool fan I shall be defensive here. There have been criticsm about the team because they lost the home leg 0-1. And then when they beat Barca overall, Stevie G comes out to say they can beat anyone. Critics rush to claim that how can - when you lose a home game 0-1 - claim to be able to win the Champions League. They called Liverpool defending with 11 men and offered nothing but hard work.

Well, firstly, effort wins you games. Skill does count, like when Luis Garcia won some games on his own in last year's competition. But effort does count. And although Liverpool lost the home leg, they were clearly playing like they were 2-1 up - which they were. Obviously, in a normal one-legged game, if you are losing 1-0, you throw everything you got at the opposition to chase the game. But in this case, it is more important to defend for if you concede another goal, you lose. So wasn't it more important to defend your away goals lead?

So we beat Barcelona over two legs, not just over one match!

As for Arsenal, I think they are rubbish. I think they play attractive football at times, but most of the time it's just frustrating. Without van Persie and a full fit Henry, they can't score. Julio Baptista, a highly-rated player he is, doesn't seem to fit into the Arsenal style of play.

And quite so often, Arsenal are playing one pass too many, trying to dribbling once too many times, and often try their flicks and tricks when it's not warranted. Today, I saw the Arsenal team playing with the ball in the PSV penalty box, short passes and dribbling when they should just try to take a shot - afterall, you are chasing the game! Leave the showboating when you are up by 3 or 4 goals!

Anyway, enough ranting for now. It's only a matter of time before I start complaining about the postmatch comments!

18 November Preview

2006-11-18T20:41:00.000+11:00

I didn't put money on any matches this week because I didn't have time. I've been playing too much. But anyway, here are the previews and predictions of the matches later.

Man City vs Fulham

Man City have Trevor Sinclair, DaMarcus Beasley and Sun Jihai doubtful. But are otherwise at full strength and look strong at home.

Fulham have key man Papa Bourba Diop back in the side. Fulham have not lost away since the first day drubbing at Man United, so this promises an interesting match which is hard to call.

Verdict: Man City.. probably by not more than a goal.

Arsenal vs Newcastle

Arsenal do not have Gilberto, Diaby and Lauren while Rosicky is doubtful. They do have Freddy Ljungberg and Julio Baptista back though. After a comfortable win over Liverpool, it looks like Newcastle should be no problem for the gunners.

Newcastle are without Michael Owen, Celestine Babayaro and Oliver Bernard through injury and Emre through suspension. Shola Ameobi, Stephen Carr, Titus Bramble and James Milner, Shay Given and Obafemi Martins might be back.

Verdict: Arsenal... comfortably.

Chelsea vs West Ham

Chelsea has no fresh injuries. While according to soccernet, Cudicini looks to keep his place in goal.

Are West Ham the team that beats Chelsea in Stamford Bridge? It would be interesting if they do that given that they beat Arsenal and Blackburn after a run of bad form. Beating Chelsea would be a great scalp. West Ham look to have a full squad if Anton Ferdinand returns.

Verdict: Chelsea win.. but hope West Ham wins.

Everton vs Bolton

Tim Cahill is injured as are long-term absentees Hibbert, Pistone, Naysmith and Bolye. James McFadden is suspended. Everton would be hoping to bounce back after a defeat to Aston Vill at home last week.

Bolton have been strong at home, but can they repeat that form at Everton? They might have to do so without Ricardo Gardner and Joey O'Brien.

Verdict: Everton.. possibly 2-0

Portsmouth vs Watford

Gary O'Neil, Benjamin Mwaruwari and Glen Johson are out, while Kanu might return.

Watford have Clarke Carlisle out, along with Marlon King who will be out for the rest of the season.

Verdict: Pompey should be too strong at home.

Reading vs Charlton

Reading have a long injury list: Convey, Mate, Brown, Cox all out injured with Graeme Murty a slight doubt.

Charlton would hope to turn things round under their new 'gamble' of a manager. But have to do so with a number of injuries - Kishishev, Diawarra, Traore, Sorondo, Gibbs are all doubtful while Lisbie is definately out. Amdy Faye is suspended.

Verdict: Charlton with an away surprise.

Sheff Utd vs Man United

Verdict: Why both preview? Man United win.

Boro vs Liverpool

The Riverside has not been a happy hunting ground for Liverpool in recent seasons as they look to recover their loss of away form. Boro have Stewart Downing, Lee Cattermole, Andrew Taylor Chris Riggott and Ugo Ehiogu doubtful while Julio Arca makes his return. Mark Viduka is definately out.

Liverpool have no fresh injury concerns, but the loss of Momo Sissoko could mean Gerrard returns to the center of midfield with Jermaine Pennant filling the right wing spot. The left is open for Bolo Zenden, Riise, Warnock or Mark Gonzalez since Luis Garcia is out injured.

Verdict: Home win.. to add misery on Liverpool's poor away form

Wigan vs Aston Villa

Wigan have every chance of walking away with something from this match. They have to do so without Arjan De Zeeuw, Emile Heskey and Gary Teale while Legton Baines and David Cotteril are doubtful.

Gareth Barry is expected to return, while Gavin McCann is suspended. Villa do look strong away from home though.

Verdict: Draw. Villa are the kings of draws ain't they?

Blackburn vs Tottenham

Khizanishvili (that's a long name) is out along with Lucas Neil, Morst Gamst Pedersen, Jason Roberts, Steven Reid and Ryan Nelson.

Tottenham do not have wonderkid Aaron Lennon. They are also missing Jermaine Jenas, Pascal Chimbonda, Calum Davenport, Anthony Garnder and Paul Stalteri.

Verdict: Draw.

Hope you get lucky with your soccer bets this week!

Reference: soccernet.com - http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=280562&cc=3436

Pool Aftermath

2006-11-15T11:31:00.000+11:00

Though it hurts to speak about my favourite team after they get shot down 3-0 by the Gunners, it is nice to know that they are not throwing in the towel yet.

The Reds have been misquoted. The new reports come out that Carra and Reina said that 4th place is the target. While I went on to read the full quotes, Carra actually said "We had big ambitions at the start of the season, which is only right at a club like Liverpool, but we also know it's important to make sure we're in the top four as soon as possible, and then we can start thinking about what's above us."

He is not conceding that fourth is the target, it is just the target for now before they can go even higher. Makes perfect sense if you ask me.

I also read Arsene Wenger and Theirry Henry's comments about backing Liverpool. It seems that 14 points from Chelsea and Manchester United are not too far away. They have mentioned that Liverpool have played poorly away, losing five out of six. That was only because Liverpool have played Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal away. They are arguably the other of the big 4 teams in the EPL. Not that that is an excuse to falter, but it's more undersandable. The other two games which they lost were at Bolton, who we know are very commited, physical and strong especially at home; and Everton, when (Merseyside) derbies can go either way.

I personally think that they got the 5 most difficult away games of the season out of the way already. It is now when you see an upturn in form. Of course there are other difficult away games such as Tottenham, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and maybe even Man City, but they would be arguably much easier games than Chelsea or Manchester United.

I am only addressing the away games because the Reds seem fine at home. They beat a previously unbeaten Aston Villa rather convincingly. They can thrash teams at home, be it in the EPL or Champions League, 2-0, 3-0 and so on. Some might not consider it a thrashing when you restrict your opponents to so few chances they can't score and score two or three past them. Well then, stop saying Liverpool got thrashed by Arsenal then.

I believe Liverpool have the right players to turn their season around, especially after most of the tough fixtures are already out of the way. Finishing first does not look a likly outcome having lost to the big teams already, but Riise quoted some interested statistics. At one point last season, Liverpool were 27 points behind Chelsea, in May, they were only 9 points.

If they can make up the 18-point gap then, why not the 14 point gap now?

11-12 November 2006 Matches

2006-11-11T11:25:00.000+11:00

It’s back online to review the weekend EPL matches and put in a few thoughts and predictions.

Man City vs Newcastle

Probably Dietmar Hamann might return, if not only to the bench, while punters are expecting Man City to recall Bernado Corradi. There are not fresh injuries to worry about, but I think no matter how you reshuffle your squad, you shouldn’t have trouble beating a Newcastle team at home.

Newcastle could have Kieron Dyer back, unless he gets injured on the way to Manchester, and Shola Ameobi might play his last game before going in for hip surgery. Shay Given might make his return in goal tonight, while Obafemi Martins remains a slight doubt.

Verdict: Man City win… 2-0

Chelsea vs Watford

Chelsea should face a relatively easy game at home to Watford. I put a few Chelsea players in my yahoo fantasy squad this week. I’m expecting them to have a romp. Ashley Cole and Arjen Robben look set to start after being rested in the midweek Carling Cup. Captain Terry returns from suspension. He’s lucky he only missed a Carling Cup round. I still don’t know if Sheva would return yet though.

Watford only have Marlon King and Clarke Carlisle out, while captain Gavin Mahon looks set to return. But they would have a tough time against Champions Chelsea in any case.

Verdict: Chelsea win… I hope for a 3-0 or 4-0, but it might end up a 1-0 if Watford do nothing but defend with 10 man in the box.

Everton vs Aston Villa

For Everton, James McFadden is suspended for 3 games after his red-card involving under-fire Graham Poll. James Beattie looks set to start along side AJ.

Astong Villa would hope to bounce back from recent defeats to Liverpool and Chelsea, with Gary Cahill set to return to first-team action. Martin Laursen and Aaron Hughes are out, together with Garet Barry who is a slight doubt.

Verdict: Draw… Hopefully 1-1 or 2-2 for a good game to view, but might end up 0-0.

Boro vs West Ham

Middlesborough have their defensive stars returning, so look to strengthen their back line. Chris Riggot, Ugo Ehoigu and Stuart Parnaby are returning to match fitness, but might not feature in this game. While Mark Viduka is definitely out with fractured toes. “Good news” is that Abel Xavier is set to return.

West Ham have since bounced back from their slump, winning two games in a row – against Blackburn and Arsenal. Their Argentine stars might make it back to the starting line-up, as they slowly adapt to English football. There are doubts over Anton Ferdinand and Bobby Zamora though.

Verdict: Draw, or West Ham might just nick it. 1-1 or 1-2.

Portsmouth vs Fulham

Pompey are looking to bounce back after Manchester United and Chelsea ruined their encouraging start to the season. Portsmouth are boasted by the return of Campbell and Linvoy Primus this week. Kanu looks set to return to the starting line-up while Gary O’Neil and Noe Paramot might feature. Glen Johnson is making his loan totally not worth it as he sits out a long injury. Andy Cole joins him on the sidelines.

Fulham have a number of injury problems of their own. Michael Brown, Simon Elliot and Jimmy Bullard are definitely out, whilst Philippe Christanval and Mark Pembridge are doubts. Better news is that Papa Bourba Diop is expected to return.

Verdict: Portsmouth. Convincingly.

Sheff United vs Bolton

Sheffield are without Chris Armstrong, Michael Tonge, Leigh Bromby and Steve Kabba.

Bolton are only without Joey O’brien and Ricardo Gardner. Kevin Nolan might miss this game due to his fiancée due to give birth. Still, Bolton should win this easy.

Verdict: Bolton… 1-0, hopefully more.

Wigan vs Charlton

Lee McCulloch and David Cotterill might come in, while Emile Heskey is out. Not that that would make much of an attacking difference.

Charlton are without Kevin Lisbie, while Djimi Traore, Gonzalo Sorondo, Cory Gibbs and Talal El-Karkouri might return. JFH might keep his place in the Charlton strike-force. I expect Charlton to have a difficult game against a resurgent Wigan though.

Verdict: 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 Wigan, but I don’t think it would be a high-scoring game.

Blackburn vs Man Utd

This is one game which I wasted money on. I put my money on Blackburn to win. It was a tempting 4.55 odds, but it looks as slim a chance as Watford beating Chelsea,(maybe not as bad). Blackburn are without Savage, Steven Reid and Jason Roberts. Brett Emerton could return, though I hope he doesn’t because he is rubbish, and I’m in Australia!

Manchester United would field the same team as last week. I just hope for the sake of my money that the midweek lost to Southend might derail their momentum.

Verdict: Man Utd win, though I’m hoping for a long-shot upset.

Reading vs Tottenham

Another match in which I put my money on the home side causing an upset. The home side are without Bobby Convey, David Kitson, Peter Mate, Aaron Brown and Simon Cox though.

Tottenham look on a high after beating Chelsea in a sensational match last week and hope to continue that good form against Reading, though I hope not.

Verdict: Home win… for my money’s sake.

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Undoubtedly the big match of the weekend. This one is too close to call, but I might have to go for an Arsenal win despite my truest feelings a Liverpool fan. Arsenal have been playing exceptional good football recently, only that they have failed to find the net. What stops them though is ‘anti-football’ like Fabregas calls it. But Liverpool doesn’t really play anti-football. Just like Man Utd doesn’t, it looks as though Arsenal might beat yet another big name. Freddy Ljungberg and Julio Baptista are not expected to feature in the match today though.

For Liverpool, their only ‘anti-football’ star is Momo Sissoko, so his 3-month injury comes at the worst time. Gerrard looks set to move back to the centre of mid-field while Jermaine Pennant might come in on the right.

Verdict: Home win.

Suspension

2006-11-09T05:06:00.000+11:00

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few months. I've been busy with exams and all. The last paper is today though, so I hope to continue posting my thoughts and predictions starting with the Carling Cup midweek really soon.

I'll also update the tagboard as it's probably the last tagboard.com tag-board left on the internet! Haha.

Joga bonito..

The Worst Best Team Ever

2006-09-29T05:49:00.000+10:00

I just watched the champions league match this morning between Inter and Bayern Munich. And I have to say Inter are the worst 'best' team ever.

For those of you who don't know what I mean, Jose Mourinho tried to take the spotlight of his team by claiming that Inter have the best team in the world. We all know he is an admirer of once-his-player Hernan Crespo which probably lays the foundation of his respect for the Italian club. But watching Inter player, you just feel sorry for all the great players they have.

Starting from the back. I don't know what Van Buyten is doing in Inter. He was a flop at Man City and from this morning's game, isn't getting any better. Partnering him was Cordoba because I hardly saw Materazzi. He's error lead to the deciding goal, and almost gave away a penalty. It was also he's poor marking that let to the first goal. Grosso, a star at the world cup - or so the critics say, though I beg to differ - didn't get forward effectively at all, and his unprofessionalism showed - just like the dive against Australia in the world cup - when he's elbow earned him a straight red. It was so obviously delibrate when he looked Sagnol straight in the eye before sending his elbow across. Right back was Maicon, the Brazillian, who didn't impress me much as the attacking full-back he suppose to be, though he was more steady on the ball.

In midfield, Inter lacked creativity. Too bad I didn't get to see Vieira, but his deputy Dacourt didn't fill his boots at all. Figo reminds me of players I hate playing with. They hog the ball so much, trying to beat every person in the team, then lose the ball though there are team-mates in better positions. Not to mention, annoying when he drops to ground so easily. The sub Marciano Gonzalez was rubbish, as was . In attack Zlatan Ibrahamovic, who I was never a fan of, didn't do any constructive. He was another one to hog the ball, then do nothing with it, while giving away needless free-kicks when Inter were in attack. The red card was nothing less than he deserved. Crespo, for all his class that we know him for, hardly touched the ball. And where was Dejan Stankovic to back-up his forwards? I hardly saw him in the game save for a few shots either off target or easily saved.

The midfield was over-run by a lesser known Andreas Ottl, who was making his champions league debut. He reminds me of Xabi Alonso with his passes and willingness to shoot. He is definately a star for the future, not quite Ballack-like, but nevertheless a great central midfielder. When Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Salihamidzic and Makaay were doing nothing productive, Ottl and Van Bommel took centre stage in conquering the midfield. Though Pizarro's goal was nothing short of lucky, he made space and rusn more than his opposite number Crespo. The sub Lukas Podolski - a real star in the world cup - came on to score his first champs league goal, and it was no less than his cameo warranted, he was full of pace and life, and taking the game to then 9-men Inter.

And as if I'm not done insulting Inter yet, their subs did nothing, with Adriano out of form and out of sorts, never looked to be able to recover his goalscoring form lumbering alone up front, while Solari only touched the ball twice.

Inter better do something quick - like sack their manager or something - before they go down as the worst best team in history.

Poor Old Ashley

2006-09-12T04:11:00.000+10:00

Food for thought (this abstract taken from football365.com):

"My worst fears were confirmed when, as Thierry and I sat in the centre circle after the final whistle, his name was sung from the rooftops while my contribution was recognised by a deafening silence" - Cashley Cole, whose 'contribution' last season was appearances in ten Premiership games.

and now that's the excuse why Ashley Cole left the gunners? I think he is just some spoilt brat. He wanted the money and Arsenal couldn't offer it to him. He also blamed everyone for treating Henry so nicely and didn't ask him out for dinner to talk about staying.

F365 - or at least their mediawatch page - got it right when they jipped him for playing only 10 games last season and complaining about a lack of support for his contribution. While Henry, who has scored 30+ goals every season for the last 4 seasons (or more) and maybe of them spectacular and winners, deserves his applause.

It's alright Ashley, Arsenal have got a better deal by signing Gallas - though I think Wenger would make the same mistake as Mourinho, by playing Gallas as the utility man. He doesn't like the left-back position, but is willing to pay there if he is kept there all season, but I think he would move back to the centre of defence once Clichy comes back fit. Then back out on the left again once Senderos gets fit.

Poor old Gallas.

Gallas, I Support You

2006-09-06T08:56:00.000+10:00

Amid more contraversy after the long long defender saga between Arsenal and Chelsea, it turns out that Chelsea have now accused Gallas of threatening to score an own goal or make deliberate mistakes if ever selected for the Chelsea team again.

A claim furiously denied by Gallas himself. He is backed up by his french coach Domenech.

And amidst all that, I support Gallas. I believe Chelsea were capable of releasing such a statement to give an excuse to the fans for letting a class defender go. And then blamed Gallas of wanting too much money. Too much money? He went to Arsenal man, he's wages were probably halved when he went there.

Don't worry, Mr Gallas, I support you. I believe it when you said you wanted a fresh challange - and maybe get first team football in your favoured position at centre back. I believe that is your real reason for joining Arsenal.

The claims by Chelsea are just trying to turn the fans against him - to make it look like he was the traitor of that supposed tight-knitted 'family'. The club, not knowing who is the mastermind behind it, claimed this so as to put Gallas at fault and not the club. Who are the fans going to believe though?

I'm a neutral - but, as I have mentioned more than once, I support Gallas on this one!

What? West Ham?

2006-09-01T02:54:00.000+10:00

I know I should wait for the transfer window to shut before coming out with my transfers of the summer conclusions. But I just have to announce my shock at West Ham's signings of Argentinian stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano!

There have been many conpiracy theories. One is Roman Abramovich is a shareholder of the company who owns the players' rights, so they couldn't be sold to Chelsea's nearest rivals. Another is they would just be in West Ham for a year to be 'in the shop window' so as to jack up their prices.

West Ham are a team on the up. With players like Reo-Coker, Yossi Benayoun and Marlon Harewood, it is easy to see a team that is moving forward. But to attract super stars like Tevez and Mascherano? The duo has been speculated to go to Arsenal or Manchester United or even once Real Madrid and AC Milan; and they ended up in West Ham? I would believe the story more if they ended up in Portsmouth!

But soccernet has confirmed it, I just have to say I'm very very shocked. West Ham are going to be a formidable side now. More of my money going on them to win matches! Whatever the reason they ended up in West Ham and not the elite clubs will remain a mystery (until maybe next season), but I have to say West Ham got themselves two great players.

I'm just glad Liverpool has already played them once this season!

The Break

2006-08-31T16:18:00.000+10:00

I don’t like to talk much about international football – much less friendlies and meaningless qualifiers, where frankly, the smaller nations fail to beat the big guns especially in Europe. There may be a shock in one or two games, but throughout a league system format, the smaller nations just ain’t going to collect enough points.

Hence, after a long introduction, I would be talking about the EPL. And how the teams have did so far. And perhaps evaluate their key players and summer signings, along with the last minute speculation.

Manchester United are sitting comfortably at the top despite not having Rooney and Scholes for two games (and one game more), Ruud Van Nistelrooy who left for Madrid and a holding midfielder (till Michael Carrick decided to make an early comeback as a substitute). Cris Ron has been under much stick because of his role in Rooney’s dismissal in the World Cup, but he ended up rising to the challenge. Saha and Giggs have been in sensational form, but goals are coming from all over the place – like in the last games Fletcher and Silvestre scored! Man Utd look to be strong again this year, as they also prove their doubters wrong.

Portsmouth are a surprise second and no doubt have the best free transfers of the season so far. Kanu and Sol Campbell have driven a club from relegation candidates to a team which conceded no goals in three games, and whacked oppositions 3-0 and 4-0! Only time will tell if Portsmouth can keep up their form, because even the manager, Harry ‘Houdini’ Redknapp is afraid of the lack of strength in depth of the squad. He did manage to get Manuel Fernandes though – the looks to get a couple more players before the window closes.

Aston Villa has been showing good form early. Taking points from Arsenal then winning against Newcastle and Reading. It’s a great start for the new manager – and I’ll like to see how good that ‘Petrov’ dude is after O’Neil chased him and lost him and chased him again the whole summer long.

Everton are tied with third with new signing Andy Johnson heading the way. I’ve always been a fan of this man, and he is proving he can score once again. The only surprise is how come no other clubs came in for him earlier. And if you see the goal against Watford, Beattie and AJ look to have a good partnership forming up.

Chelsea with a record of lost one won two isn’t too bad unless they consider they spend at least £60m a year on new players! I believe Shevchenko is still finding his feet in the Premierhsip and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him up there or thereabouts at the top-scorers chart at the end of the season.

West Ham picked up a possible 4 of 9 points which is a decent effort and it sees them sit in 6th in the table. They have been playing good attacking football and have only come undone by a spectacular strike by Daniel ‘the Dagger’ Agger.

Liverpool have done well so far. They sit in 7th with 4 points out of a possible 6. Sheffield United was a blip with early-season jitters kicking in, but a dominate performace against WestHam was a prefect remedy. Signings Fabio Aurelio, Jermaine Pennant and Daniel ‘the Dagger’ Agger have started to impress while Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt have shown glimpses of why Rafa bought them. Riise and Crouch are showing encouraging signs while Gerrard, Gonzalez and Alonso have yet to pick up their form of this season yet though, so I feel the best of Liverpool is yet to come.

Bolton have had a decent start to the season too. With Anelka now in their ranks, they look to have more talent on the field. They can improve though, the only thing good about their performances have been an Ivan Campo wonder strike which will compete with the Dagger for early goal of the month.

Man City overcame a early thrashing by the defending champions to record a draw against in-form Portsmouth and win against Arsenal. Though Arsenal were rubbish on that day, the defensive pairing of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin seem to be getting more and more formidable as the season progresses. Good thing Distin didn’t leave!

Fulham somehow overcame a torrid start to their campaign after being walloped by Man Utd 5-1. Jimmy Bullard has been rescuing them – saving a draw and snatching a win. Coleman showed great vision in snapping him up just after last season ended. Let’s just hope the rest of his team can be on par with the on-form midfielder.

That’s the top ten of the league so far. We definitely expected Arsenal and Tottenham to be there, but we’ll have to look at them next time when we review the bottom half of the table while this international break gets moving on!

Week 1 Midweek

2006-08-24T13:32:00.000+10:00

The mid-week matches have been concluded. And I'm pleased to announce. Chelsea got beaten! All thanks to Middlesborough's late show. Unfortunately, I was hoping Chelsea won this time for I was going to put my money on Liverpool - with handicap - to win the premiership, now the odds would probably drop.

Anyway, it's good news for the rest of the Premiership that the defending champions have dropped 3 points so early in the tournament. Hopefully, more teams would come out and play against them rather than hoping for a 0-0 draw which - even if you tried - probably wouldn't end that way.. thanks to a deflected Lampard shot or something.

On the other hand, Manchester United are looking really good. Despite injuries to key players like Carrick, Heinze and Gary Neville and suspensions to Rooney and Scholes (the in the second game), they choked up 8 goals in 2 matches and only conceded once! They look like real premiership contenders at this early stage, though Arsenal and Liverpool who fumbled in their first game, have yet to play their second game.

In a day of draws - involving Blackburn and Everton, Fulham and Bolton, Man City and Portsmouth - it was nice to see O'Neil pick up his first win as Aston Villa manager. Right now the only teams yet to register a point are Wigan and Charlton. For Wigan, they only played one game - which they were unlucky to lose. And for Charlton, they just got whacked by an attacking West Ham and in-form Manchester United. Guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone would pick up points soon and we wouldn't see jokes like Sunderland in the Premiership - simply losing every game.

Anyway, the EPL has well and truly begun with new challengers rising and the defending champion faltering. Let's hope it's going to be a more exciting season for the fans!

Comments on Week 1

2006-08-21T15:06:00.000+10:00

The first round of EPL games have been concluded with a big Chelsea win. Needless to say, the biggest disappointment was Liverpool being held to a draw at Sheffield United!

They might have done little to suggest that they can challenge for the title, and with the gap 2 points from Chelsea, the race might be over already. But many fail to note that Liverpool weren't playing their top strength team - probably with the Champions League qualifier against Macabi Haifa in sight. With Gerrard playing on the right where he is much less effective - evident with his surging run which lead to the (arguably controversial) penalty when he was playing in the centre - Liverpool also lost top players Carragher and Riise early in the game. That means that very few tactical changes can be made. Also, Finnan, Xabi Alonso and Peter Crouch were missing from the starting line-up. But whether or not they were on the bench is not important because they never made it to the field. I wouldn't write off Liverpool's chances just yet!

Arsenal struggled too against Aston Villa. But they were at home! It can be said, it's not really their home ground because it's a new stadium, and that's the first time they are playing there as well! For Arsenal, I was glad to see Theo Walcott make an appearance. Arsenal played a pretty much full-strength team. With Campbell out of the club, and Swiss Senderos still injured from the World Cup, they had to play Johan Djourou in defence with Kolo Toure. Worse still, Ashley Cole still refuses to sort out his future and so Wenger wouldn't play him yet - Justin Hoyte fills his big boots. Arsenal had full strength in midfield and attack with names like Fabregas, Helb and Henry filling the team sheet. For Vila, Lee Hendrie had an aweful game again - just coming off the bench to receive a yellow card and doing pretty much nothing else. I'm a fan of the old Lee Hendrie and hope he gets more match practice to dispell his poor run of form. And by the way, what's the news on Baros? He is loaned out? Is he injured?

And the rest...

Everton beat Watford with AJ scoring. If you been following this blog, you would know I'm a fan of Andy Johnson - always quoting his stats. Well, he proved he can score in any level! Great buy Everton!

Reading provided the somewhat shock of the round by beating Southgate's Middlesborough 3-2 after coming from 0-2 down. I don't want to talk about this match because I bet on it to end as a draw. Also, I removed Kitson from my fantasy league team just a day before the season started and he scored!

West Ham hammered Charlton with Troare showing exactly why Liverpool sold him. Darren Bent got his season off to a scoring start though. But Zamora and Carlton Cole upstaged last-season's top scorer Marlon Harewood.

Newcastle had a useful win over Wigan at home. Ameobi was having to fill big shoes, and he did by scoring the winner. I've been a fan of Ameobi although he gets alot of stick from the media as not being a good enough Alan Shearer replacement.

Pompski got off to an excellent start with Kanu the hero (and villian at the same time) scoring 2 goals but missing a what-could-have-been-a-hat-trick penalty. Todorov tapped in the other goal in a 3-0 victory over poor Blackburn (with had two players - Lucas Neil and Andy Todd - sent off). Their not going to repeat their 6th in the league with that performance! Though Brad Friedel made 8 saves, he still let in 3 goals, goes to show the domination as a result of the Pompski Revolution under Harry Redknapp (and Russian money spinner).

Bolton beat a poor Tottenham 2-0 with Ivan Campo scoring a fluke goal. Well, I think he did intend to try to strike it from 40 yards out, but he was lucky that England keeper Robinson was caught by surprise. It wasn't a good result for my yahoo fantasy team because I had Berbatov in it. Neither was it for my money as I bet on a draw.

Chelsea had a thumping victory over Man City and the scoreline should have been much more really. I did have Distin in my yahoo team - but good thing he didn't earn me negative points. Terry was a star in defence (and getting a goal as well) while Lamps and Drogba finished the job.

Lastly, is the biggest victory of the first round were Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha were on form firing Manchester United to the top of the league with a 5-1 win over Fulham. Saha showed us exactly why he left Fulham - to score goals past them! Christanval and Ian Pearce absolutely had no answers to the Manchester forwards' questions. Anyone with Rooney and Cris Ron in their fantasy team would have done well this week.

To conclude, I would access my yahoo! fantasy team

Forwards
Rooney - awesome with 33.5 points! Only problem is his value shot up so much, I don't want to sell him though he is suspended for the next 3 games in case I can't buy him back!
Sheva - didn't do anything, so at least his price dropped.
Berbatov - didn't do much but still got 5 points from drawing fouls.

Mids
Gerrard - a disappointing game by his standards, but he can only improve.
Phil Neville - if they allowed me, I might as well have left it blank. He brought in a miserly 0.5 points. Don't buy defensive midfielders, they can't score points - though they are really cheap
Ballack
Rosicky - both didn't play, what a waste. Anyone knows if Rosicky is injured?

Defence
Terry - was a star in the game against City, raked in loads of points!
Distin - was average considering his team got whacked 3-0 by the champions
Carragher - unfortunate to be stretchered off around just 20+ minutes. He did manage to block two shots before that though - earning some points. His price went up, so I can't sell him too though he might be injured for next week.

Keeper
Reina - 0 saves, let in a goal. That's all there is to say.

Season Preview Part III: Blackburn Rovers

2006-08-17T21:11:00.000+10:00

The EPL starts in a few days!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming days.

A good signing and Blackburn look to be on the way to improvement. I would have like David Bentley to stay, but looks as though he wouldn't be back next season. Florent Sinama Pongolle is back at Liverpool too, but with the arrival of Dirk Kuyt today, it looks as though as he is moving on as well - not back to Blackburn - but to Lyon.

Anyway, back to Blackburn. They look to have a strong defence with Brad Friedel as inspirational as ever, shielded by Ryan Nelson - whom every club wants to chase now - and in front of him is Robbie Savage, the midfielder who defends like his name says. Partnering Nelson in defence this season would look to be Todd or Khizanishvilli and flanked by Michael Gray and the awesome Lucas Neil. It looks though that Brett Emerton is on his way out.

In midfield, they have the creative, if not aging talent in Tugay. They have pace on the wing with Morten Gamst Pederson. Pederson is an awesome talent and we all remember him being the conquerer of Manchester United - scoring against them in 3 of the games played against them last season! Steven Reid on the other flank is also good talent, with excellent skill on the ball, but I'm not so sure about his crossing.

In attack, they have left Paul Dickov go - thank goodness for Blackburn fans - but brought in another joke in "Franny" Jeffers. Selling Bellamy to Liverpool (*smilez*), Blackburn look to be short upfront with only Jeffers and Shefki Kuqi - until they brought in Jason Roberts. I'm a fan of Roberts, and I think he would soon establish himself as first choice striker in Blackburn - if he isn't already. He has been a great acquisition and would do well I predict.

The future looks bright for Blackburn as they build on their 6th place from last season. However, I don't see them challenging the top four teams for their places this year.

Prediction: 6th

Season Preview Part I I: Aston Villa

2006-08-17T12:44:00.000+10:00

The EPL starts in a few days!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming days.

I was waiting for Villa to sign some players before I write a preview of them. But the season is starting in just 3 days! I don't think they would sign any big name in time for the season to begin. I'll investigate their line up as of now.

After a disappointing campaign last year, Villa have got a new chairman, new fundings and a new manager. I like the headline 'Lerner drives new Aston Martin' (football365.com). Jokes aside, Villa really should be a force this year under the whole new club board and manager. Martin O'Neil was known as one of the best managers around, but the Scottish League and EPL are two very different leagues in terms of class. He might find some trouble in his first season - especially with the current members of his squad.

Goalkeeper: Thomas Sorensen is the undisputed number 1. With reserve keeper Stuart Taylor making only 2 appearances last term, it is unlikly anything would change. Sorensen is an excellent keeper - stats say he made 240 saves in the EPL alone -, but he needs his defence to help him.

His defence need help though. Wilfred Bouma has been looking less than steady while Liam Ridgewell is prone to his mistakes too. Olof Mellberg is a rock in defence, though they need some pace at the back. Aaron Hughes is Villa's best defender I think. He is consistent and stable.

In midfield, Villa need strengthening too. I don't think very much of Gavin McCann or James Milner. Is Milner still there though? The news of him going to the club permenantly or going back to his former club seemed to have died down. Anyway, the more consistent performers in midfield are Gareth Barry (Garry Barry) and young Steven Davis. I was expecting Barry to jump boat, but thanks to wise words from the new manager, he's decided to stay, I can just say it's good for Villa because he is their best player. Davis on the other hand is a good young prospect, but I don't see him playing for a big club anytime soon.

In attack, O'Neil needs to find Phillips' scoring boots, Angels compass on the field and teach Baros how to kick a ball. Phillips is getting old, but he proves to be the only Villa striker who knows where the goal is. Angel is most probably going to be sold while Baros... I hope O'Neil can bring out what Gerard Houllier and David O'Leary saw in him. Don't worry though, if all else fails, they have promising Luke Moore to come off the bench. This is one player I think would go to a big club one day.

Other than their strikerforce, the Villa team look horribly short of depth. Out of everyone NOT mentioned above, only Mark Delaney made more than 10 appearances last term. All the rest like Lee Henderie, Ulises De La Cruz, Patrik Berger, Peter Wittingham have all made at most 7 starts.

I don't see them being a force yet this season, but I would like to see who O'Neil brings in and what he can do with the team. A highly-rated manager with money should be able to transform even the crappiest teams.

Prediction: 10-15th position

Can You Score in the Premiership?

2006-08-15T22:52:00.000+10:00

I was reading the comments on this poll on football365.com/forum. The thread was 'Can you score in the premiership?' (if you played every minute of every game)

Quite a number of people actually say they can. Those people obviously haven't played against the best. And then there were some, who claim they play for divisions just a bit lower than conference and say they don't think they can. What makes people think they can score 5-10 a season? Rubbish.

Even Emile Heskey and Djibril Cisse can't do that.

Others claim they can probably put away a penalty. Those humble say they can put away 1 out of 5. I don't even think that is possible. The only way you would score is if you get a penalty, blindfold the keeper and tie his hands round his back!

Otherwise from open play, maybe if you are too crap to even mark; and then the linesman forgets to flag you offside, and Theirry Henry sprints through the entire defence, rounds the keeper and lays it at your feet 1 yard before the line. Maybe you might score then.

I wanted to write that all on the forum, but guess what? You have to wait for a review panel to manually check your registeration before activating your account! Ha. It's alright, I got my talking soccer blog!

For the Community

2006-08-14T16:38:00.000+10:00

Final score: Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1.

Sweet goal for Shevchenko, but sweeter victory for Liverpool. In my opinion, Liverpool deserved to win by more than that 2-1 scoreline. But I suppose when you want to compare with the Premierleague champions who spend at least £50million on new players every season, you can't be too greedy.

As expected, Mourinho started complaining about the lack of preparation for his team amidst 'praise' for Liverpool. Quoting from football365.com Mourinho said "...but if you don't think about the difference of condition of both teams they deserved to win because they were better than us." It sounds like putting an excuse to why you lost while praising the opponent so you don't sound sour grapes. And I was about to predict that he would whine about the internationals disrupting his preparations futhtur, but he already did:

"I have to say this is intelligent. They realise players should be with their teams before the season starts not with their national teams."(football365.com) when commenting that his native Portugal decided not to have an international friendly.

Anyway, we all don't care with all the excuses Mourinho makes about his team. The fact is Liverpool beat Chelsea. And Liverpool weren't playing their first XI. The only first-teamers who started were probably Reina, Carragher, Finnan and Crouch. If you want to count Pennant, go ahead, but we all know that key players like Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Bellamy weren't in the starting line-up, while Chelsea on the other hand had the best squad they could put forward minus the injuries.

With Mourinho saying that Liverpool would have a psychological blow if they lost to a 50% Chelsea, then Chelsea must have suffered a blow losing to 50% of the Liverpool first team. Chelsea are still the team to beat this season - mainly because of their money - but Liverpool had sent out a good sign to the rest of the Premiership - that Chelsea are beatable!

I like the quote on soccernet.com: "Crouch's late goal gave Benitez another win over Mourinho and tightened his psychological hold. He has beaten him in the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield. Now for the Premiership."

It might be a "meaningless friendly", but they did do something for the community.

Crespo to Inter

2006-08-07T23:52:00.000+10:00

Chelsea is so rich eh. They just let Hernan Crepo go to Inter for free. But they have an option of taking him back after 1 year. It pretty much is a loan unless Chelsea decide they don't want him.

Inter would be a good team this season with all the additions they made. And they would be looking to "defend" their "title". Lots of inverted commars thanks to the controversial way they won last season.

Anyway, back to Crespo. I'm an admirer of this player ever since he played for Inter in his first spell. I think he is an ideal striker. He can take long shots, and finish when running onto the ball, he is also good in the air and powerful with headers. He has great tap-the-ball-in-van-Nistelrooy-style positioning in front of goal too. But I think the best thing about him is his movement. With him running off a striker partner, he always seems to be able to find space, or make space for his strike partner. I think it's a pity Chelsea had to let him go, because I was picturing in my head how well Sheva and Crespo worked so well together in AC Milan. It was mainly thanks to Crespo's intelligent running.

So all the best to one of the great modern strikers. I hope he finds he settles well where he is, because his football deserves it!

Season Preview Part I : Arsenal

2006-08-06T14:44:00.000+10:00

The EPL starts in 2 weeks!.. Here I'll look at how the teams would perform in the coming 06-07 English Premierleague Season. This is based on the players they have as of today, and assuming no shock moves expected in the coming 2 weeks.

Out go 3 veterans and in comes one superstar. Can they really balance the team? Campbell was always a rock in defence till last season, Pires, though now slower has the experience and creativity and Bergkamp was more than special as Mourinho says. Can Arsenal do without them? They did bring in an awesome Tomas Rosicky for a steal of about £7m. He would be an awesome player.

Their first team squad is well-balanced and strong. With Henry up front, they can always be guaranteed goals. Reyes is finding his feet in England, and I expect Hleb to do the same this season. Gilberto is showing good form to fill the void left by Vieira in the 'destructors' role, while Fabregas is magnificient in spraying passes round the pitch. In defence, Toure is becoming a world-class player and when fit again, Swiss Senderos is showing what good talent Wenger knows how to nuture. They might lose Ashley Cole to Chelsea though, and when that happens, I hope to see who Arsenal can bring in to replace him. On right-back, they have the young, skilful and pacy Eboue to challange now-fit-again Lauren for the spot. Between the sticks is the now-consistent Lehmann, who I think has come of age to show leadership and steadiness.

They look like a formidable side - at least their first XI- this season. But with back-up players like Van Persie, Adebayor, Ljungberg and Flamini, it can't be that bad. I just hope to see a bit more of Theo Walcott this season!

Prediction: Top 4

Probably first XI:

Man Utd This Summer

2006-08-03T11:30:00.000+10:00

Manchester United suffered a bad summer. I think it was made worse by the press really. They make the bust-up between Rooney and Cris Ron probably worse than it really is. Also, the bust-up with Ruud Van Nistelrooy too. I think Man Utd just wanted an excuse to sell him, they probably wanted a bigger fee though.

Also, they failed to attract Patrik Vieira. It would have been strange to see Vieira in an Arsenal jersey, also giving his previous stand-offs between Keane, Ruud and Neville. Nevertheless, two of the three are not in the club anymore. After Vieira's supposed move to Inter supposedly stalled, Man United looked favourite to land him, but in the end, it looks 99% sure he would land up in Inter.

Man United's only signing this summer has been Michael Carrick so far. Fergie says he was worth it, so we shall see how it goes. I would be very interested in seeing Carrick perform at the highest level though.

If Manchester can perform well in the league after this difficult summer, I would credit it to Ferguson, for knowing exactly what he was doing selling Ruud and getting Carrick. It's a gamble, but we'll see how it goes.

Ruud to Leave Like That

2006-07-31T11:38:00.000+10:00

I know it's a bit of old news that Ruud Van Nistelrooy has left Manchester United to go to Real Madrid. But it had been speculation for weeks, and only Man Utd couldn't agree on a fee. The fee turned out to be a paltry 10mill-pounds. Considering they spent 18-mil on Michael Carrick.

I wouldn't even pay 18 mil for Owen Hargreaves, and he is England's first choice defensive midfielder! No doubt Carrick has improved alot in the Tottenham ranks, but even they must be laughing now at the 18mil price tag. I don't know what's going on in Manchester United, but I sure hope Fergie knows what he is doing. Maybe a couple more big name signings would please the fans.

They need them up front to replace the ageing Soljkaer, the injured Smith and someone to partner Saha when Rooney is suspended. They also need a left winger since Giggs is getting way too old. And maybe another central midfielder to partner Carrick. I don't think John O'Shea or Alan Smith would do a good job. Don't get me wrong, I think O'shea is an awesome defender, but we should leave him as a defender.

Man United need a covering right-back as well since the senior Neville seems to be getting old, and he has no understudy. They have got 4 left-backs (or 4 who can play at left-back) in O'Shea, Silvestre, Heinze and Evra. It's a good thing they sold Fortune then. Admittedly, only Evra is strictly a left-back. The others can play at centre-back though I'm not sure about on the right.

If Man Utd doesn't get a few more signings in these key areas, it's hard to see them challenging for the title.

Bad Boys

2006-07-27T13:20:00.000+10:00

There have been a tranfer of two of the top wingers in the EPL. One went to Newcastle in the Duffman, the other to Liverpool.

Jermaine Pennant finally completed his move to Liverpool, and if I must say, now everyone is declaring that they are life-long Liverpool fans! Maybe that is Rafa's plan, bring in people who love the club. It's evident in Robbie Fowler, Mark Gonzalez, Criag Bellamy and now Pennant. Before you know it, Dirk Kuyt says he was a life-long Liverpool fan!

Anyway, if Rafa can really do it, he would have changed some of England's bad boys into the best players. Admittedly, Pennant and Craig Bellamy don't have the best track record when it comes to discipline. Bellamy was famous for his Champions League red-card when he went off the field crying, and his bust-ups with Graeme Souness, but then again, every other player has a bust-up with the latter. Pennant was famous for being banned from driving, and than later caught drink-driving and than later caught turning up for training drunk. That really takes some doing.

But as Pennant is young, it looks as though those are the mistakes of a schoolboy and if he matures into a good sports professional, all that could be put behind him. And not only Liverpool fans would agree with me, but I think Rafa is the man to change them. The main incentive for these 2 new bad boys is they were brought from so-called 'lower clubs', so they must take their chance at a top club. Also, taking their chance in a club where they proclaimed they supported all their life.

I hope Rafa's plan works, I have confidence in him though.

More Tranfer Speculations

2006-07-26T10:57:00.000+10:00

Nothing much happening in the transfer market so far.

It's been alot of speculation and some of the rumours get the club fans really excited. As a Liverpool supporter, it would be good to see Pennant in a top side and see how he can perform on a troublesome right flank for Liverpool. Rafa also said there might be another player by the weekend. But that's all sepculation.

The only real big-name transfer is Damien Duff from Chelsea to Newcastle. Well done to the Toon for getting him on such a cheap price of 5-million pounds. Considering Chelsea paid 16million for him, and that he is still only 27, and that there was more than one top club chasing his services, Chelsea made a real mess of the tranfer - either that or Newcastle got a great bargain.

Surplus to requirements might be true, but it seems like 5-million for a player like duff is not good business. Take Ruud Van Nistelrooy for example. He might never play for Manchester United again even if he is not sold, even so, Man Utd are demanding an excess of 12million pounds for him. That's good business. I always thought that Van Nistelrooy was a feared name to defenses, I'm surprise how quickly that changed with half a season of injury, Saha showing good form and a reported rift with the manager. Now he is low on confidence and failed to impress in the world cup too.

I would love for Liverpool to take him in, although he do have Peter Crouch to be a target man and Folwer and Bellamy to be the cherry-picker role. But see, Van Nistelrooy is a combination of all of that. He is a strong target, he has presence upfront, and he has great positioning to always tap the ball him at the right time and place. I'm actually quite surprised that only two clubs went in for him, alas Liverpool wasn't one of them.

Back to Liverpool, with 2 strikers out, and only 1 in, it looks as though there is one more striker to be coming in this season. I would like to see someone like Miroslav Klose, but so far there has been no speculation about him, and he looks happy in Werden Breman.

The only other transfer speculation to note is Ashley Cole linked to Chelsea - but which player isn't linked to Chelsea?

Barca's Turn

2006-07-21T06:35:00.000+10:00

I speculated that Zambrotta would go to Barcelona. And looks like things are going just the way I expected.

Although Barca do have class full-backs on either side in Gio Van Bronkrost and Belletti, it is hard to see why they need a new full-back. A back-up of Zambrotta's standard would never be happy as a back-up.

Some might argue that Belletti is not first choice right-back. Well, perhaps Zambrotta is better than Oleguer in an attacking sense, but the reason why Oleguer is on sometimes instead of Belletti is because Rijkaard is looking for a more defensive formation. And, I must add that I think Barcelona are under-ultilizing Belletti - though really 21 starts last season isn't too bad.

Back to Zambrotta though. He can play 'winger' you say? Last time I checked Barca doesn't play with wingers. They usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation with 2 holding midfielders - usually Xavi if fit and Van Bommel/Motta and an attacking trio of Deco, Ronaldinho and Guily. With the all too famous assassin Eto'o upfront. The attacking midfield bench includes: Leo Messi, Andre Iniesta, Santiago Ezquerro and the new addition Eidur Gudjohsen. So where does Zambrotta fit in?

Never mind Zambrotta though, where would Lilian Thuram fit in? A player his age and stature should not be sitting on the bench, he should play out his career on a high. But to think that Barca might do away with either Carlos Puyol or Rafael Marquez or Edmilson in central of defense? Or Belleti/Oleguer/Zambrotta on the right full-back? Unthinkable.

You have your own opinions about the great Juve Sale... and the clubs that bought the players.

Super Star Syndrome

2006-07-20T15:05:00.000+10:00

Well done Real Madrid in landing Juventus stars Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson.

Obviously Cannavaro is the bigger of the two stars, but really, Real Madrid failed to plug the hole left by Makelele for the last 3 years, and so Emerson is a really important acquisition. The latter - Cannavaro - is undoubtedly a superstar defender, and he did not need the World Cup to highlight that. He is absolutely fantastic and Real Madrid did very well to get him.

Real Madrid are finally going to be back in business if the speculations in the press are to be believed. They have already got the star Juventus duo, and they might land Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben.

I don't think Fabregas and Kaka would go to Madrid in all honesty. Fabregas has pledged his future to Arsenal as they brought him up, and AC Milan supposedly rejecting a 50-million-pound bid from Chelsea for Kaka, it doesn't look like the talented Brazillian is going anywhere soon.

Imagine a starting XI with Casillas, Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos, Cicinho, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Baptista, Beckham, Robben, Robinho and Van Nistelrooy. They would seriously be back in business. Oh wait, I forgot they have to get rid of clowns like Jonathan Woodgate, Thomas Gravesen, Antonio Cassano, Michel Salgardo and the lists goes on. Good thing ageing Zidane is stepping down. Don't get me wrong, I am a great admirer of his skills, but I think it is time for him to step aside for the younger guns, and it would be hard to drop him from the team, he has to do it himself.

More than one name in the starting XI might not be there when the season begins though. Roberto Carlos seems to be attracting the interest of Chelsea. And Beckham might have other plans as well.

And I would take the opportunity to apologise to Mr Jose Mourinho for stating earlier in my blog that he buys crap like Shevchenko and maybe Roberto Carlos. Apparently, it was Mr Roman Abravomich's idea to bring the duo in. In fact, Mourinho doesn't agree with them. Looks to me that Mourinho wants to bring in Ashley Cole, while Abramovich wants to bring in Roberto Carlos. That's way both are speculated to be playing for Chelsea next season.

Then Chelsea would end up like the Real Madrid of past 2 seasons. Having the has-beens stars who cannot perform together. Then they would undertake a total restructuring and splash loads of cash just like Real Madrid is doing now.

That is what I call the super-star syndrome.

Summer Transfers to Date and More Speculation

2006-07-16T00:52:00.000+10:00

There has been a flurry of tranfers when the world cup was going on. Some deals were concluded even before the world cup, and there are no signs of things slowing down especially with the teams from Italy dropping to a less prestigious league.

Key players from Juve include Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Buffon, Vieira, Thuram, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Ibrahamovich are all set to leave. They are so well-known you don't have to put a first name to identify who they are. Any knows if Pavel Nedved would still be playing professional soccer? Del Piero would have trouble finding suitors though if he is not prepared to go to a 'lower club'... as though nothing gets lower than Juventus in Serie B with a 30 point deficit.

Florentina might have trouble keeping hold of Luca Toni, promising forward Valeri Bojinov and star defender Ujfalusi. While Lazio.. well, they don't have much to lose.

While Italy is set to lost all their key players to other big clubs, and possibly Inter becoming the most powerful team ever, if all big names who don't want to leave Italy go there, England has been busy with their tranfers.

I'll round off the top clubs.

Liverpool is making the biggest changes in the EPL so far. Craig Bellamy, Gabriel Paleta, Fabio Aurelio and Mark Gonzalez coming in. With they let go of Morientes, Cheyrou, Cisse, Kirkland, Hamann and some others who are not in the first team. They still might bring in even more faces namely a right-winger, while more exits are expected.

Arsenal looks to be making steady progress with the the signing of Tomas Rosicky and letting go of old-timers Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Sol Campbell. They look certain to bring in a a few fresh faces.

Chelsea made some big-profile signings in Micheal Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou and a lesser known Hilario and Jon Obi Mikel. They look like a packed team already, it just seems more people are expected to leave.

Manchester United looks to be in turmoil. Ruud Van Nistelrooy looks set to leave, and seems to be followed by Cris Ron. Departures include Tim Howard, out on loan at Everton, and Quinton Fortune, being released. Other departures involve non-first-teamers.

I'll update the rest of the details in a while... stay tuned as I update all the transfer news!

World Cup Conclusion

2006-07-15T01:24:00.000+10:00

I didn't get to update about the World Cup because my best buddy had been in the country to visit me for the last week.

By now the World should know that Italy beat France to the World Cup. I'm not at all excited by it. Germany finished 3rd which was a good result for the team I supported. I was hoping Klismann stays on, but looks like he isn't going to.

This World Cup was a poor one wasn't it? I'll just conclude the entire World Cup series with Chau's talking soccer World Cup XI. This is based on their performances in the world cup, so I dont think you would see the best player in the world Ronaldinho in here.

Keeper: Gigi Buffon
I don't know if he really was the best keeper or if his defence was just awesome, either way, he was only beaten by an own goal and a Zidane penalty.

Left Back: Philip Lahm
Opening the world cup with a goal proved to be icing on the cake for this left-back's excellent performances. He would really be one to watch for the future.

Right Back: Miguel
I was impress with this right backs strong attacking-minded play. He was unfortunate to get injured and had to end his exciting world cup prematurely. The fact that he replaces the first-choice Chelsea right back goes to show his class.

Centre Back: Fabio Cannavaro
Solid in all the games he played, and comes in with the saving tackle in so many occassions. He is undoubtedly the best centre-back in the competition.

Centre Back: Carlos Puyol
I know it may seem a bit biased picking all the big names, but these are the big names that performed this world cup. Puyol was solid as ever and even had a hand in creating goals.

Defensive Mid-field: Torsten Fringes
He proved to be one of the best in his position. A cracker to add gloss to his tournament was well-deserved.

Left Midfield: Juan Pablo Sorin
Although sort of a left-wing-back, Sorin has played well above the strictly left midfielders in the competition I feel. His playmaking skills were great and I really applaud his effort.

Righ Midfield: Arjen Robben
Robben did have a good world cup although Holland were knocked out early. I considered him to be playing on the right though he switches continuously with Robin Van Persie on either wing.

Central Midfield: Stephen Appiah
It might seem the strangest choice of all the XI, but I felt he was the centre of everything Ghanian. He held his own very well when his partner in crime Essien was suspended. Well done to Appiah!

Central Attacking Midfield: Zinedin Zidane
What headbutt?

Striker: Miroslav Klose
I don't know if anyone would disagree with me, but not only was he top scorer, he also showed good work-rate and creativity. Undoubtedly my man to put up front!

Well, the World cup has been concluded.. stay tuned, we talk summer transfers next!

The Finals

2006-07-06T10:00:00.001+10:00

The finals have been decided. It is Italy vs France.

I'll rather France win, but I'm not really supporting any of them. I wouldn't be able to stand the sight of the diver's of Italy winning the trophy; wait, didn't Henry dive to get France into the final too? They should knock all diver's out of the game. Italy deserve to go home after Mr Grosso dived to win against Australia, and Henry dived to win against Portugal. But then again, Portugal ain't exactly innocent about diving too.

I think I'll put my money on the underdog, whoever it is, probably France.

I'll be gunning for Germany in the 3rd-4th playoff though. And hope they send those diver's home once and for all. I'll update again once the odds are out!

90 Seconds

2006-07-05T07:38:00.000+10:00

Shit... 90 seconds, that's all I have to say for now.

Italy left it late just like against Australia. I'll write up a full conclusion of the match later. I'm off to bed.

And dream what might have become of my Aus$160 bet..

The Odds

2006-07-04T17:59:00.000+10:00

The odds for the World Cup semi-final are out and analysized here at Talking Soccer.

Germany	2.25	<1.95>
Draw	2.80	<3.10>
Italy	3.15	<3.68>

* current odds
* <opening odds>

The first semi-final match between Germany and Italy has the Germans to be the overwhelming favourites. Odds for a Italian victory has dropped since the opening odds, but it is still a cool 3.15 for an Italian victory (dropped from 3.68). It could be because many are backing Italy or it could also be due to the loss of Torsten Fringes for Germany. But that shouldn't be much of a problem since Germany do have cover in midfield with the likes of Tim Borowski and Sebastian Kehl.

I hope for my money's sake Germany makes it all the way to lifting the cup. So I would be on them on this match as well. The odds for them going up only help. Maybe you can try a German 2-1 victory (7.50)or 3 goals scored (3.90)

Portugal	3.60	<4.30>
Draw	3.05	<3.15>
France	1.95	<1.77>

The France start as overwhelming favourite to win this game. I think they would make it to the finals too, but I'm not sure if they can do it in 90minutes. 3.05 for a draw is looking to be a good bet. You can also bet on 0 goals (5.00).

That's all for my tips, I hope you are making your WC fortunes!

#odds by Singapore Pools at ~6pm (AEST; GMT +10.00)

First Shock

2006-07-02T07:09:00.000+10:00

There has finally been a shocker in the World Cup. World Champions Brazil are out of the tournament! Well, it's not as big a shock had say Ukraine beaten Brazil, but France had been out of sorts in this tournament till this game.

In truth, they were never in the match against France. They looked strangely out of sorts, and perhaps overconfident. But take nothing away from the French. They defended resiliently, and tucked away the chance that counted. Zizou had answered his critics with a storming performance today. He totally commanded the mid-field in which Brazil looked second best.

I swear if someone who didn't know any of the Brazillian or French players but knew the reputation of the countries in terms of footballing terms, he would have thought the France team was the Brazillian team. That is a testimony to how good the Frence were playing. The only downside is that I still think Frank Ribery is over-rated. Besides not being the best looking bloke around, I think he does not have enough craft to be a good player. People who don't know soccer think that a player who can dribble is a good player. It's true that he might be eye-catching and exciting, but in this player, he doesn't posses the craft to create much or skill to put in the final pass or decisions to pass at the right time. Often he dribbles into good positions and wastes the possession there. He also can't finish when Henry put him one-on-one with the 'keeper. I think he is over-rated, exciting as he might be.

Anyway, back to the good points about the French performance. I'm happy that Brazil got knocked out only because I have my money on Germany. But I don't know if I should be happier or feeling more worried - that Germany now don't have to face Brazil, or that Germany might need to face a resurgent French side. If France continue to play the way they did, Portugal shouldn't be a problem for them. I think they would make it to the final, and I hope they meet Germany there.

There might be a conspiracy theory about having only European teams in the last 4, but they have always been the biggest footballing continent in recent times haven't they? Well done to Europe, especially France and Germany!

England Strike Three, You're Out!

2006-07-02T05:06:00.000+10:00

I swear if England won the match, I would start thinking of the World Cup as being rigged. They did not deserve to win. And thankfully they did not. But having said that, Portugal played poorly too, and did not deserve to win as well.

Why I say it could have been rigged? Well, someone please explain to me why Big Phil took off his only striker when England were reduced to 10 men? And Cristiano Ronaldo, being his best player on the pitch, going into an ineffective role as centre-forward where he hardly touched the ball. And why, after England had a man down, did Portugal not go for the initiative for the entire half hour of regulation time, and the entire extra-time. I don't remember a decent shot on target by the Portugese! Robinson turned away a Figo cross-shot, but the latter obviously meant it as a pass. The other shots were by Maniche from way outside the area. And Maniche was crap, it's a good thing for Chelsea he didn't sign permenantly, he was a shadow of what I saw of him 3 years ago in the European championships.

Actually to start off, I don't know why Wayne Rooney got sent off. Was it the accidental stamp on Carvalho? Or was it the little nudge on club team-mate Cris Ron? But looked less than a yellow card, but he got a straight red. It really left me bemused. Well, he wasn't playing that well anyway, if you ask me, England might have scored had Rooney not lost the ball in the good areas and even nicking his own team-mate Aaron Lennon when the latter was on for the shot. Rooney scuffed his shot in the end.

Eriksson made a mistake too, when he took Joe Cole off for Peter Crouch after Rooney got sent off. Crouch did play much better than Rooney, at least he saw much more of the ball. But Joe Cole was playing much better than Frank Lampard. And having an ineffective Lamps in the centre, and virtually rendering Gerrard useless in an unfamiliar left winger role, he was never going to win the game. For all of Crouch's and Lennon's toil up front, England were undone by Eriksson's poor decisions.

I also couldn't understand the British media for criticising Owen Hargreaves before the World Cup. Though on paper Michael Carrick looks a better option, given that Mourinho recommends him and so many top clubs are chasing him, but Hargreave was the best England player on the field today I felt. He even outplayed Gerrard - especially when the latter was made to play on the left wing. He was far better than Lampard with his forceful runs and work rate. He sank a few important tackles as well, and in my opinion was unlucky to be called for a few 'fouls'. Thumbs up to Hargreaves - especially after all the stick he has been getting.

Now, bad decisions from Eriksson lost the game for England, but take nothing away from Ricardo the Portugese goalkeeper. He is an excellent shot-stopper and when it came to penalties, he was always favourite to triumph. This time with his gloves on! He famously removed his gloves to stop penalties 2 years ago, and even scored the winning penalty himself. This time though he didn't need to score one himself, because he made three brilliant stops. Robinson looked a far cry from his Portugese counterpart, only with Petit and Hugo Viana missing the target altogether.

Two penalties missing the target? Now you would know, if had England won, why I would have said the match was rigged. Good thing they didn't. And it's about time Eriksson steps down so his mistakes can no longer harm the nation. And to think he said the better side lost.

Heh.

Germany!

2006-07-01T14:08:00.000+10:00

We all knew the hosts' will get through wouldnt we? Even when they were trailing in the game till the 79th minute; even when Argentina bombarded their goal after the hosts had equalized. We all knew that didn't we? Now, I'm one step closer in winning my jackpot of Germany winning the cup.

The next task wouldn't be easy though. Italy just demolished Ukraine - a result I'm happy about. If you had been following the comments on this blog, I found Ukraine an ultra boring side, and though I don't like Italian style of football, I was hoping they would win big to get boring teams out of the tournament. It's the beautiful game! If you want to play defensive, go and be the defence team in American football!

On the other hand, Germany and Argentina played out a good draw. I don't know why some reports said it was dull, I found it quite entertaining. Maybe it was because there wasn't much goal-mouth action. But the middle of the park, there was an intensity to behold - evident from the players clashing after the game. It was fast-paced like an English Premier League game I'm used to watching, the passing was crisp and quick around the triangles for both teams, only maybe the dribbling and final pass let them down. But personally I found it thoroughly entertaining.

I though Germany would win it in extra time, having the reputation of being the fittest team in the competition and after Argentina played extra-time against Mexico compared to Germany cruising against Sweden after the first 20minutes. Well, at least I predicted the 1-1 final score correctly, and Germany to qualify.

Next up is England vs Portugal. I'm not an England fan at all, but I'm supporting England on this one. I don't think Portugal have lived up to their billing so far. I mean true they are winning games, but not convincingly by my standards. Besides, a England vs Brazil rematch would be nice to watch, assuming Brazil can beat a resilient France team.

My picks are:
England to win in 90minutes.. possibly 2-1
and Brazil to win in extra-time... something like 1-1 then 3-1.

Qualified for Quarters

2006-06-28T07:14:00.000+10:00

Well, all the quarter-finalists have been decided, with France beating Spain to claim their place against Brazil.

So far it has been a predictable World Cup, and France beating Spain, though surprising, was no shock again. The French did answer their critics - myself included - by outscoring Spain 3 goals to 1. Zidane sure answered my questions about him when he played an inspirational game, setting up both goals and scoring one himself. Frank Ribery also had a lively game, another of the players who I had thought was overhyped. He is starting to show what he can do on the world stage, and he and Zidane might just be the inspiration France need.

Now, it is just a small matter of Brazil to get to the semi-finals.

Spain for all their possesion failed to create much. David Villa and Raul were rightfully subbed off because I hardly saw them touch the ball. Fernando Torres had a quiet game too by his standards. Still, Spain have no excuses for losing as they looked to go into extra-time then penalties towards the end.

It's quite amazing how few shocks there are in this competition. Most of the big guns are there in the last 8. 6 of them are former winners. Only Portugal and Ukraine haven't won the World Cup before. Ukraine overcame Switzerland - which isn't exactly a football superpower - by boring them to death. Though it was surprising they got this far, its really no shock if you look at their easy group and easy draw against Switzerland. While ironically, the one who finished top of the group - Spain got knocked out by a better opposition in France. Portugal have done well to reach this far, though they didn't beat Holland convincingly. A game with 4 red cards and was it 20 yellows? That can't be taken seriously...

Now to recap the quarter-finalist and my predictions:
Germany v Argentina
This one could go either way, but I hope Germany wins for my money's sake. Germany 2-1 (could take extra-time)

Italy v Ukraine
I never liked Italian football. I think they are boring and play dirty - as the world saw against Australia. Well, this is one match I would be missing given how boring Ukraine play as well. My call: 0-0 after extra-time. It would go down to penalties, if which I'm sure the Italians are good at taking.

England v Portugal
The English might scrape through this one given the suspensions that Portugal have. But boring boring England will keep pumping their long balls forward. It's not a match that's going to be a spectacle. 1-0 after extra-time.

Brazil v France
This would arguable be on par with the Germany v Argentina match. I don't know who to back for this game, but I guess Brazil would be the favourites wouldn't they? Brazil 2-0 or 2-1.

Penalty Shit-Out

2006-06-27T07:58:00.000+10:00

That one one bloody boring game, if I didn't put my money on Switzerland, I probably would have turned the tv off in the 15th minute. Ukraine and Switzerland have played out an extraordinarily boring match. And you know how much I bag Ukraine, and they did not prove their critics wrong.

If someone said Chelsea was a defensive team, take a look at Ukraine. They should ban teams from playing that way somehow. That was dead boring. They hardly attacked, and defended with 11 men behind the ball. They did not concede a single offside goes to how how deep they were defending. In Jose Mourinho's words, "they brought the team, and parked the team bus in front of the goal".

I'm so disappointed Ukraine went through, it would just encourage teams to play nonsense football, or like how another famous manager Arsene Wenger would say, it was "anti-football". They play to destruct not create. I hope Italy thrashes them now, though they knocked the Aussies out.

That was another BS match, the brave aussies getting knocked out by 10 men Italy with an injury time dubious penalty. Manz, that was such a bad way to exit. At least this time the Italians can't say the referees were biased against them! Nevertheless, the socceroos have done Australia proud already. Better luck next time - the next time they qualify for the tournament.

The stage is looking set for a Brazil vs Germany final (again), but there is still alot of time for that to change. Assuming Brazil and Spain overcome their next games, they will face each other and what would be a great encounter. I think whoever wins that game would go all the way to the finals.

My predictions:
Brazil v Ghana... of course everyone thinks Brazil will win. I wouldn't dare say otherwise, but Ghana could be the surprise package. At least they don't play shit football like Ukraine! Brazil 2-1 maybe.

Spain v France... would there be pain for Spain? I think this year they are stronger than their French opponents though, and that should see them through to the next round. But France have players - I mean a player - who can change the game on their own. Mr Theirry Henry, it's time to step up to the challenge! Spain 2-0.

Then the quarter-finals would look like this:
Germany v Argentina
Italy v Ukraine (I hope Italy wins by a huge huge margin!)
England v Portugal (which England have the potential to stuff up)
Brazil v Spain

My guess would be the semis looking like:
Germany v Italy
England v Brazil

That said, you get a final of Germany v Brazil. Something I predicted at the start of the tournament, but I also stress that there is much time for that to change.

Round of 16 part I

2006-06-24T12:08:00.000+10:00

The teams into the round of 16 have been decided. There were no shocks at all. Maybe a couple of ‘surprises’, but those weren’t shocking enough. Ghana to qualify ahead of Czech Republic, Australia ahead of Croatia, and maybe if you want to count Ecuador ahead of Poland are the minor surprises thus far. There was no Togo, or Angola or Saudi Arabia to provide a shock was there? All results have gone as planned for the favorites and now we analyze the round of 16.

I would pick out two players from each side. One who I felt was the best player of the side, and the other who is over-hyped in this competition. I stress that it is dependent on the performances of this competition only.

Germany vs Sweden

Germany have been impressive so far this tournament. Winning all 3 of their games and scoring 8 goals in the process. They showed that they can finish off so-called weaker teams, and break down resistant teams like Poland. It has been a good showing by the hosts so far and I think they will beat Sweden were have been struggling to score.

Best Player: Philip Lam
Over-hyped: Michael Ballack/ Bastian Schweinsteiger

Sweden have come through the group unscathed after their disappointing goal-less draw against T&T, but it’s all going to be forgotten now as they head into the second round. I think the 2-2 draw with England was half-planned. It ensured Sweden qualified and England to finish top of the group. But other than scoring 2 goals in that game, Sweden have struggled to score, and must improve to even stand a chance against Germany.

Best Player: Christian Wilhelmsson
Over-hyped: Zlatan Ibrahamovich

Argentina vs Mexico

It is hard to estimate the performances of Argentina. In the first game, they were luck to win; in the second game, they thrashed their opponent, but in their third game – it was probably because they qualified already – they failed to score. But I think the Argentines have enough class to get through this match.

Best Player: Juan Pablo Sorin/ Esteban Cambiasso
Over-hyped: Leo Messi/ Carlos Tevez

Mexico were unconvincing in qualifying, and it would be an upset to bring down Argentina in the second round. But when it comes to knock-out stages, no one reads the script anymore.

Best Player: Rafael Marquez (undoubtedly)
Over-Hyped: Jared Borgetti

England vs Ecuador

England somehow won their first two games, so in the end it didn’t matter they didn’t win their third game. They have got great individual players who have the “match-winning” capability, and that should see them through to the quarter-finals at least.

Best Player: Joe Cole
Over-hyped: (I don’t know where to start) Wayne Rooney? Michael Owen? Frank Lampard? David Beckham?

Ecuador have some really exciting players, but everyone knows that England are favourites to get through to the next round. I was impressed by Ecuador in their 3-0 demolition of Costa Rica, but then that was Costa Rica, it’s no England.

Best Player: Edison Mendez
Over-hyped: Austin Delgado

Portugal vs Netherlands

Portugal have won all three of their games – albeit unconvincingly. They failed to finish off smaller teams in a relatively easy group. They do have players who can change matches in Deco, C. Ronaldo, Figo, Simao just to name a few of the big names, but can they work consistently as a team?

Best Player: C. Ronaldo
Over-hyped: Simao

Netherlands have been showing good form until their 0-0 draw with Argentina. They did well to get out of the group of death and I suppose that puts them favourites to win this match. Van Persie and Robben have been working exceptionally well together despite all the off-field media squabbling.

Best Player: Arjen Robben
Over-hyped: Wesley Sneijder

Round of 16 Part II

2006-06-24T11:22:00.000+10:00

Italy vs Australia

Italy have been unconvincing until their 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, but of course the Czechs have looked a different side since Jan Koller stepped off the field in the first game. That Lokvensc guy is hopeless. But anyway, Italy have a much better squad then the under-performers 4 years ago. They brought a proper strike-force this time. But I’m still waiting for Luca Toni to score.

Best Player: Andrea Pirlo/Alessandro Nesta
Over-hyped: Luca Toni

Australia did well to get to the round of 16, performing above expectation for a country who were in football wilderness a few years ago. Their journey might end against the Italians though, but they have to take heart in the fact that Italy have a neck for screwing up simple games. And they need that die-hard Aussie spirit to see them to the next round at least.

Best Player: Harry Kewel
Over-hyped: Mark Viduka (come on, you have to agree on this one!)

Switzerland vs Ukraine

Switzerland feature in this possibly the lowest key second round match of all eight. Nevertheless, Switzerland deserved their place in the round of 16. Like Australia, Switzerland have come a long way in their football too. Earning an easy tie against Ukraine should see them through to the next round.

Best Player: Philip Senderos
Over-hyped: Alexander Frei (I know he scored, he was lucky)

Ukraine are in for big trouble though, they were lucky to proceed because they were up against an easy group. Come on, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia? They whacking of 4-0 at the hands of Spain show they cannot compete against the world super-powers of football. Wait, Switzerland didn’t even fit that bill.

Best Player: Andriy Shevchenko
Over-hyped: Andriy Shevchenko (yes, that’s how sad I rate the Ukrainians)

Brazil vs Ghana

Brazil have finally got a big win under their belt after an initial scare against Japan. Many expected them to do much better in a relatively easy group. I was wondering if Ronaldo to score, but good for him, he silenced his critics (including me). Their ‘B’ team impressed me more though, they should just get rid of Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo. – but it would take a very brave Brazilian coach indeed. But after that ‘B’ team showing they now look like they might go all the way, first up is the underdogs Ghana.

Best Player: Kaka
Over-hyped: Adriano/Ronaldinho (only because so much more is expected from them)

Ghana face a tough test against the world champions. Many have written off their chances; but I agree they would have to improve dramatically to overcome the Brazilians. I like Afrian football for it’s freedom and flair, but they just need more than that to win football matches. But it really is quite unthinkable to see Brazil get knocked-out at this stage of the competition.

Best Player: Stephen Appiah/ Michel Essien
Over-hyped: none (the big names played well, not much to over-hype)

Spain vs France

Spain play the most mouth-watering tie of the second round. And saving the best for last isn’t it? Spain have played tremendously well over the games I’ve watched them in. I missed the Saudi Arabia game, but I heard it was a second-string side anyway. As for the first-teamers of Torres, David Villa and Puyol, to name a few who have been inspirational, they look set to beat a French side who failed to get going.

Best Player: Carlos Puyol/Fernando Torres
Over-hyped: Joaquin

France have stumbled into the second round. Somehow they did so by winning unconvincingly over Togo, a team who we expected to get thrashed 5-0 on paper, and drawing with Korea Rep and Switzerland. Nevertheless, they have class on paper, but if they continue to play that underperforming Zidane, who I’m actually a big fan of, they might suffer against the Spanish.

Best Player: Patrick Vieira
Over-hyped: Zinedine Zidane (never thought I would say this)

I hope you are looking forward to the round of 16 as much as me!

Aussie Aussie Aussie

2006-06-23T15:47:00.000+10:00

Australia have qualified for the last round of 16! There is excitment all around here, with people cheering from cars on the streets! And cars parading the Aussie flag. That's the World Cup fever - and it's in a country where soccer is not the number sport. But what is more amazing in the fashion in which they pulled it off. They left it late no doubt - but Mr Harry Kewell scored the all-important equaliser to send Team Australia into the last 16 and Australia as a country into pandemonium!

The other qualifier was of course Brazil, who, as I predicted, dispatched Japan with ease. Though they already qualified, the Brazillians still showed enough attack flair to score 4 past their Asian opponents. Ronaldo certainly proved his point and answered his critics with two well-taken goals. No doubt it was Japan and not some super-power in defense, but that would certainly boost the great Ronaldo's confidence. He is already the World Cup's top-scorer ( adding all the World Cup goals he scored in total), and he looks to score more.

Brazil was in 'good hands' as the commentator Gary Bloom put it. When the rising stars took their chance to shine on the World's biggest stage. Kaka is not young and 'rising' anymore, but he certainly has played well so far in this tournament. But the youngsters Robinho, Cicinho and full-back Gilberto made a real name for themselves playing in Brazil 'B'. Not much of a 'B' team is it? I was always a fan of Juninho Pernabucano and was glad to watch him play today. He scored a long-range belter which pleased me, but I wish I saw one of his long-range free-kicks today. Nevertheless, I hope he will feature more in the Brazil's run to defend their title.

Japan, though they were really crap in terms of teamwork and passing, I believe have good individual players. These players deserve to be given the chance to play for bigger clubs - like how Park Ji-Sung of Korea is playing for Manchester United. Inamoto, Ogasawara, Nakamura, Takahara and Brazillian-born Alex are just some of the names to be mentioned. I hope to see them play for bigger clubs soon.

Other predicts of mine were correct - predicting the exact 2-1 Ghana win over the USA. And Italy beating Czech. Though I predicted 1-0, A late goal by Pippo changed that to 2-0. Close enough. Well done to Ghana to qualify. I always liked African football for their flair and the players don't dive or "play dead" on the ground for half the match. But I feel there is much to be improved in terms of winning football matches. So Italy top the group, with Ghana following behind them.

Tonight's predictions:
Ukraine vs Tunisia... Ukraine 2-0

Saudi Arabia vs Spain... Spain 0-3

Switzerland vs South Korea... Switzerland 1-0

Togo vs France... France 0-2

I yes, I predict Switzerland, France to qualify from group G and Spain, Ukraine to qualify from group H. (In that order). I hope you are having luck in your predictable World Cup!

Quick Tips

2006-06-22T11:47:00.000+10:00

I haven't been blogging because I had two exams in a row. Well, I'll just drop my quick tips before heading off to my exam venue:

Ghana vs USA...
I would go for a narrow Ghanian win to book their place in the round of 16. Odds on bet365.com are pretty good with a 2.09 for a Ghanian win. My call: Ghana.. 2-1

Czech vs Italy...
Tough call with both sides so erratic. Italy might just see this one through though given the injuries the Czechs have been having. My call: 0-1 Italy.

Croatia vs Australia...
Many Aussies would disagree with me, but I don't think Australia can pull this one off. It would probably be the biggest upset of the World Cup which has so far proven to have lack of upsets. The Croatians played well against Brazil. But poorly against the Japanese. We shall see which team appears today. But on the assumption that it was the heat that made their play against Japan lacklustre, then we should see the Croats like how they played against Brazil. Then, Australia would be in for a defeat. My call: 2-0 to Croatia.

Brazil vs Japan...
The biggest upset? I don't think so. Though Brazil have already qualified, I think they would still dispatch Japan with ease. But given the fact that they are already through, they might be a bit laclustre in going forward. My call: Brazil (comfortably) 2-0..

Hope you tip the correct winners!

Another Predictable Day

2006-06-20T07:25:00.000+10:00

This World Cup has been terribly short of drama. Last time, the big teams such as Argentina and France went out in the group stages. This year, it looks alot more smooth sailing. Only that the French and Italians can still screw up, but it's a bit difficult.

I just the drama will set in the knock-out rounds. When golden goals and penalties take effect. Also, the bigger teams get to face each other. Imagine a Germany versus England in the second round! That will really whett the appetite! Even England vs Ecuador would be a good match given the recent run of the South Americans. Scoring 5 and conceding none.

But today's match were predictable as ever. Switzerland beat Togo comfortably 2-0. The Saudis got thrashed (again) 4-0 this time by Ukraine. And Spain overcame Tunisia 3-1 - in the end more comfortable than the scoreline suggested. The Tunisians - credit to them - scored first with their only effort and meaningful attack. The Spanish hit back with a cherry-picking goal from Raul and great finishing from Torres, before a penalty by the latter gave the scoreline a more justified look.

The Tunisians did defend well their 1-0 lead. But it was nothing more than a scare for the Spaniards. Their side, oozing with class, wouldn't fail to turn the game around. Cesc Fabregas was the man of the match for me, though he came on only the second half. Fernando Torres played very well too, he was full of running till the end - a great athelete. His price would have just soared though after this World Cup. IT could just be his! The Spaniards showed great attacking play - especially from the excellent Fabregas. I heard Wenger was watching the match - he must have been pleased. The Spanish side are now the second highest scoring team in the competition so far - behind only Argentina who we all remember had that thumping win.

I would tip the Spaniards to go furthur this year than they did last time out. But when it gets to the knock out stage, it becomes hardly predictable. Then we shall let the drama begin.

But for now, there are more group matches coming up tomorrow. And as usual, I leave you with my tips:
Ecuador vs Germany... probably end as a draw, though the Germans have the quality to pull off a narrow win.
Costa Rica vs Poland.. both teams have nothing but pride to play for. I think Poland can pick up their first 3 points. Something along the lines of 1-0.
Paraguay vs Trinidad&Tobago... I think it would be a bore 0-0 draw. But T&T might just provide the much-needed shock of the tournament - though its hard for them to qualify. They need to win and by 2 goals if England only beat Sweden by 1. Otherwise, if England win by any other score, T&T just need a win. And that is hoping England can even beat Sweden in the first place! An England-Sweden draw would not do the T&Ts any good.

Enjoy your predictable World Cup!

Korean Comeback!

2006-06-19T07:32:00.000+10:00

Who would have thought it when the French were cruising in the 85th minute that South Korea could score with their only shot on target.

I truth, it was a poor match like I expected. I thought there would be only a goal in it, but a 1-1 draw signified how lacklustre the match really was. The South Koreans were limp; many due to the fact that there best players did not start. I personally find it a bit puzzling why Seol Ki-Hyeon and Ahn Jung-Hwan only came on in the later part of the game. Other big names like Song Chong-Gug were also left on the bench and did not come on at all. Only the two Premiership players of Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young-Pyo former Real Sociedad player Lee Chun Soo started the game of those I regard as big names.

Nevertheless, the big name players came on the dying minutes to make a difference in dramatic fashion. And a lacklustre French side were made to pay. Barthez staked the claim on why he should NOT be playing after he failed to block a miscued "shot" by Park Ji-Sung. He also dropped the ball more than once when he was under no pressure. Mr Domenech just admit you were wrong and please let Gregory Coupet play for Les Blues!

In all honesty, the French themselves didn't have many chances. Henry scored with a classy finish but in truth he was lucky the ball ricocheted to him. The only other chances came when Vieira tested the goalkeeper with a header from a corner and Henry trying to slide the ball under the keeper but it was brilliantly stopped. The Vieira effort though could have counted on another day, it looked to have crossed the line for me, but the French players weren't appealling, - and more importantly the referee didn't give the goal - so maybe it didn't look like it crossed from the pitch-view.

Well, the game was so dull I could describe all the goal action in 2 paragraphs. Quite amazing isn't it? Well, as it stands now, South Korea lead the table with 4 points, France with 2, and Switzerland and Togo - both whom have yet to play - stand on 1 and 0 respectively. The Swiss are favourites to win against Togo, and if that happens, there will be two teams with 4 points and France in 3rd with 2 points. That means that even if France win their last game, it might not be enough if South Korea and the Swiss draw!

Could this be the first big name to be knocked out of the tournament? The first step would be to see the Swiss-Togo game.

It's another wide open group.. and I look forward to tomorrow's action.

Predictable Match

2006-06-19T04:28:00.000+10:00

Brazil sank Australia in a nothing more than predictable match.

The Aussies did well to pack their defence in the first half, but when they decided to go forward, they were cruelly exposed at the back. I predicted a 1-0 win to the South Americans because I thought this is what was going to happen. The Aussies defend in numbers and an out of sorts Ronaldo wouldn't do much.

Indeed that was the case till the 90th minute when Ronaldo and Adriano were subbed off more a more mobile and active pairing of Robinho and Fred. I was hoping to see Juninho in some of the action, but it wasn't to be. Brazil came out comfortable winners in the end though chances falling for Kewell and Bresciano threatened to dampen the party. But if you don't take your chances against the World Champions, the match will turn out to be predictable as the scoreline suggest.

Next up is the French against the South Koreans. I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst in this match recalling the lacklustre game the French had against Switzerland previously. South Korea have a good chance of upsetting the odds. So if you would still call your bookie, you might take their 9.00 bet. Though I see a boring 0-0 or 1-0 to someone at the end of the game, probably France.

Well, I'll leave you with my predictions for tomorrow's games:

Togo vs Switzerland 0-0 (or a low-scoring draw)
Saudi Arabia vs Ukraine 1-0 (or 0-1 but I only see 1 goal in this game)
Spain vs Tunisia 2-0 (Probably be as predictable as today's Brazil vs Australia match)

The Italian Job

2006-06-19T01:52:00.000+10:00

What did I say about Italians screwing up simple matches?

I thought I would see them walk away with a victory. And when Gillardino scored - I was thinking I was right. Then Zaccardo had to put the ball into his own net not more than a few minutes later. And I was thinking "yup, that is the USA consolation goal which I also predicted".

Then, it all went wrong for the Italians. De Rossi got sent off for an elbow into the face of Fulham striker Brain McBride. And honestly he can have no complaints. McBride was bleeding from his brow and was even forced to change his shirt soaked with crimson liquid! It was then, when I hang my head and thought "that's how Italy screws up simple matches".

Then, they screwed things up even furthur when they failed to beat 9-men USA after the Americans - known more for their football that requires helmets and lare shoulder pads - became too physical for the Uruguayan referee's liking. The league in Uruguay probably has many red cards in the game, and the referee brought it here. He sent 2 Americans off in Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope.

Even then, the Italians couldn't break down a weakened American side - remember a side which got torn apart 3-0 by the Czech Republic. even then, the Italians could have lost the game had DaMarcus Beasley's goal had stood. He was clearly onside when he shot the ball, but it went through McBride's - who was in an offside position - legs, and that was deemed interfering with play. Though that was very arguable, the Italians can count themselves somewhat fortunate to be still leading the group.

Anyway, the Italian's still have a chance to screw up if they lose to the Czech Republic. And then, if Ghana beats the USA - which by the way the teams performed in the last game - would look likely to happen, Czech Rep and Ghana go through. Ghana for one really deserves to go through for the football they have been playing. The last game awaits for the most open group of the tournament!

The Great Performers and Entertainers

2006-06-18T04:45:00.000+10:00

I didn't update for 2 days because of my exam on Friday. Yes, I know what luck having exams during the World Cup. Fortunately it would all be over by the knock-out rounds.

On the bright side, I did catch the Argentina-S&M match.. and was thouroughly rewarded. 6-0 just showed the masterclass of Argentina, and S&M looked no where near the side which qualified so convincingly at the World Cup. Masterclass by the South Americans indeed!

I truth, it was always going to be easy against 10 man. But Argentina took their chances, and created them too. The pick of my goals was Cambiasso's goal. It was a fantastic team goal, you can count the passes they had before it ended up in the back of the net! Most of the passes were one-touch passes as well. People get the wrong idea of Joga Bonito if they are not avid players of the game. It is not about doing spectacular tricks all the time, it's about great team passing and movement like Argentina has shown. That's Joga Bonito.

Likewise, Ghana had shown flair and freedom in their outing against Czech Republic. And if Petr didn't put the Cech in Czech Republic, the scoreline could have been far more embarrassing. 2-0 didn't justify the match which the Ghanians controlled from start to finish. Their team work was fantastic, and their passing was crisp. The had monster stamina as they attacked and defended as a team. When they lost the ball, there was quickly at least 8 men behind the ball. When they attacked - even with a comfortable lead, there was at least 4 against 3 in favour of the African attackers. The match shouldn't have ended 2-0. The Ghanians were wasteful in their over enthusiasm, getting caught offside on the break too often, and shooting right at Czech keeper Cech.

The one that should have counted was the last goal that would have made it 3-0 was ruled offside. That was not offside! The officials got it dead wrong and lucky for the them, the Ghanians didn't pay for it. Clearly when the ball was passed to Muntari, Pimpong (the man who passed it) had already broken the offside trap. The rules say you cannot pass it behind the last defender - but not if you had already beaten him! The goal should have stood. A 3-0 scoreline would reflect the match more. Though if I were to describe the match, I would say it should have ended 6-0.

Well, one more match from that group later in Italy vs USA. I think Italy would walk away with a victory here. With their new-look lineup of Luca Toni, Gillardino and Iaquinta looking in top form. They are solid as ever at the back, with the name of Nesta first to spring into mind. Although, the Italians are known for screwing up simple matches in big tournaments, I don't see them screwing up this match. I would say it would win big 3-0. Or the American's might find a consolation to end the match 3-1.

Till tomorrow's games. Good luck!

Tomorrow's predictions:
Japan v Croatia... 0-4 (Or a big winning margin like 3-0 at least)
Brazil v Australia.. 1-0 (If they continue to play Ronaldo)
France v South Korea... 1-0 (though its a massive 9.00 for a SK win)

England to Win World Cup?

2006-06-16T06:12:00.000+10:00

Not on that performance.

The ESPN soccernet match report made the English sound more impressive then they actually were. They lacked bite in front of goal with Lampard and Owen missing easy chances throughout the game. Against better opposition, with all due respect to T&T, England wouldn't have come away with a win.

It was a strange decision to take off Carragher and bring on Aaron Lennon, and putting Beckham at right back. I don't know if I should say it worked, because Lennon combined with Beckham to produce the cross for Crouch's headed goal. But it didn't look to work for most of the game though other than the goal.

England looked best down the left flank with the two Coles (Ashley and Joe) making real progress. However, I don't think they did enough damage. It could be due to the waseful finishing of Crouch, Owen and Lampard.

The 2-0 scoreline flattered England, though they might have deserved to win for all their domination. But again, it's not the result, it's the performance that I base my speculation on for them not to progress much furthur in the World Cup. They look to finish top of the group and would face either Germany or Ecuador, both of whom I was very impressed with in previous games.

Ecuador played a bit earlier than England and I must say all their goals were world-class. The last goal especially. It was well worked, and the cross was truly out of the top drawer! They played really compact, and because of that, managed to conserve energy for their attacks and to last the whole game. That is much of the reason for their late goals to finish teams off. Well done, Ecuador! They might well be the dark-horses of the tournament now!

So far I have got my predictions right - that Ecuador will win (though I predicted 1-0) and England to win (spot-on 2-0 though it didn't reflect the game). I just wonder if my 1-1 prediction will come right. Sweden at being held to a 0-0 draw so far at half time. It might end that way.

Tomorrow's tips and preditions:
Argentina v S&M... 1-0 (maybe more)
Netherlands v Cote d'Ivoir... 2-1 (a late goal might settle it)
Mexico v Angola... 3-0 (or at least a comfortable 2-0 win)

Now That's Drama!

2006-06-15T07:06:00.000+10:00

Drama indeed. The winning goal in stoppage time.

Just when Poland thought they would hang on for the draw, David Odonkor's pace found it's way past the backline, and a whipped cross was steered in by Oliver Neuville. Tremendous stuff from the Germans, heartbreak for the Poles.

I was predicting a comfortable win for Germany, but it wasn't to be. Though their goal was hardly threatened, they failed to break down a tough Polish defense. It was made even harder when Poland got a man sent off; making them resort to a 10-man defence. Wave after wave of German attacks finally brought the goal they deserved though in the 91st minute! What drama!

The games are just getting more exciting now, now that elimination can stare a nation in the face given results of the first game. It's a good time to be watching the tournament! I'm obviously happy Germany won if you remember my $100+ bet on them to win the cup. But getting through the group stage is only the beginning.

It's now time to look forward to tomorrow's games. Here are my predictions.
Ecuador vs Costa Rica... 1-0
England vs T&T... 2-0
Sweden vs Paraguay... 1-1

Round 2

2006-06-15T05:01:00.000+10:00

The second game of the group stages is kicking off in about 15 minutes with host Germany taking on Poland.

After watching all teams play for at least once this World Cup season, I can put forward my predictions with a bit more accuracy. I think it would be a predictable, if not comfortable, 2-0 win.

I just watched a thrilling 2-2 draw between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, but somehow I think the World Cup needs better English commentators. I don't know who was commentating on the previous match, but we definitely needed more exciting commentators. Saudi Arabia played much better than the team I saw got whacked 8-0 by Germany 4 years ago, and I think they deserved to win had it not been for a last grasp header by Bolton defender Jaidi.

Spain provided the best attacking display so far this tournament in terms of goals and domination with a thumping 4-0 win over Ukraine. Czech came close with their razor-passing and clinical finishing, but switched off after their comfortable 3-0 win. Spain continued to attack, and the huge goal difference might prove to be Ukraine's undoing in getting to the next round.

Anyway, the game is about to begin. Feel free to comment and tip on the blog!

Disappointed

2006-06-14T04:34:00.000+10:00

Now that was one boring match. I say this after a 0-0 draw between France and Switzerland. I knew it would be tight; the scoreline, though didn't surprise me, bored me. I was predicting a narrow French victory with inspiration from Henry, or Saha, or Zidane to unlock the game. Unfortunately for the french that inspiration didnt come.

The South Korea vs Togo game was good for only about 20minutes. The South Koreans didn't play well at all in the first half, and Togo were happy punting long balls forward - one eventually lead to the well-taken goal. But otherwise, South Korea only hit back in the second half through a Lee Chun Soo free kick and eventually a classy winner by Ahn Jun Hwan. Then after that, they stopped playing! Togo had been reduced to 10 man as a result of the foul that lead to the free-kick, and so as long as South Korea played possession, they were never going to give up their lead - and they did that to perfection, if not boredom.

It could have been the heat - I heard reports that it was the hottest
day of the year recorded in Germany thus far - so it's no wonder the
players were sluggish and drenched in sweat!

But let's hope the weather can suit Brazil, and may they entertain us
later; for the earlier two matches were as Aussies would say "boring
as".

Comments on Match Day 4 and Tips for Match Day 5

2006-06-13T19:14:00.000+10:00

Well, after commenting on the early game of Australia-Japan, I didn't update again after watching the next two games.

First up was USA vs Czech. If you read my prediction, I predicted a comfortable 2-0 win, but even I didn't expect them to stroll to a 3-0 victory. The Americans were by no means pushovers, but the Czechs just showed that class that brought them the biggesting victory in the tournament thus far. I was very impressed by the Czechs razor-sharp passing, incisive running and deadly.. oh deadly, finishing. If Jan Koller's goal showed they can do the easy things clinically, then Tomas Rosicky's goals showed they can do things with the utmost class. Rosicky could have had a hat-trick had one shot not hit the crossbar with the keeper well-beatened. If the commentator a few days ago thought Argentina was sending a message out to the rest of the competition, well, watch out, because Czech Republic just did that with bigger sirens yesterday.

Next, Italy vs Ghana. As usual, the African team playing with vigour, pace and freedom, but the final ball let them down. Just like Ivory Coast, they were made to pay with the oppositions classy finishes and poor finishing of their own. Ghana has to do much better in the last third to get any furthur. They could string passes impressively together in the midfield, but they are always missing the incisive through pass or shot shot on target. Ghana would feel a bit hard-done by the 2-0 scoreline, but the Italians, with the way they took their chances and defended strongly, deserved a victory.

Today's tips include the mighty Brazil vs Croatia, South Korea vs Togo, France vs Switzerland.

Most punters are predicting an easy Brazillian victory, and I think so too, although we have been shocked before. But I think Brazil wil have too much attacking flair to crumble even after they have conceded first. It remains to be seen though if all those talented individuals can play as a team. My call: 2-0 or 3-1.

South Korea vs Togo. This South Korea side is not as strong as the one which finished 4th last World Cup. But if Togo are going to be playing like the other African nations and fail to do well in the last third, then South Korea might well cruise to a victory. Though like Japan, the small-sized Koreans might prove to struggle against the tough Africans. I predict a narrow 1-0 win for South Korea, if they indeed score at all. But something tells me it might end up a bore draw.

France vs Switzerland. The french has underachieved in the World since its famous double of the World and European Cup, but this year might be different - with Henry and Saha leading the lines! If Cisse were fit to play, France would have the Arsenal-ManU-Liverpool attack, unfortunately, Cisse broke his leg for the second time in his career - the other led this time. I wonder what is wrong with his bones. But jokes aside, I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. Though he might never kick a ball for Liverpool again, I still wish him all the best as a player! But back to the France game, I think the French should take this win away although Switzerland as one of the major dark horses in this tournament. This game will be tight, before individual brilliance would unlock it. Something inspirational from Henry perhaps, or Saha, or Trezeguet or maybe even Gallas! Who knows, Switzerland have quality players in Frei and Strellar too. But be prepared for France to do most of the attacking.

Like all days, I hope you picked the right winners and increase the pot of your World Cup punting!

Australia 3 Japan 1

2006-06-13T00:57:00.001+10:00

Who would have thought? Australia with 3 goals in the last 8 minutes to seal a famous, famous win for the socceroos. It had brought the drama I thought was lacking so far this World Cup, a come from behind win with so much excitment!

That was Australia's first goal - or first three -, first win of the world cup, and that was some way they did it! It would be celebrations here in Australia tomorrow!

You have to feel sorry for the Japanese to have thrown the game away in the last 8 minutes, but really, they failed to create many good chances. Their crosses and final pass was terrible and they were wasteful when chances did come their way.

It remains to be seen if Australia can make it past the group stage, but this victory is a significant historical landmark for Australian soccer!

Next game: Bring on Brazil!

Australia 3 Japan 1

2006-06-13T00:57:00.000+10:00

Talking About Match Day 3 and 4

2006-06-12T22:08:00.000+10:00

Match day 3 was quite disappointing. To refresh your memory, the final scores were
Angola 0 Portugal 1
Mexico 3 Iran 1
S&M 0 Netherlands 1

I expected Portugal to put more goals past Angola, maybe 3-0, but they failed to even create clear-cut chances. In fact, Angola were the better side I feel, though their striking departments needs alot more help. I always liked watching African teams play. They play with freedom and flair. They can make strong runs, and are tough, and you don't see them rolling on the ground for half the game like those players of Europe. The Africans also like to take long-shots, which makes the game unpredictable. But having said that, they don't have the strength in depth to be able to cause real problems for tactical defenses. Ivory Coast is fortunate to have a player who can unlock such defences in Drogba, but for Angola last night, that factor was clearly missing.

I was tipping Iran to provide an upset victory, and it looked that way in the first half. But I guess after those two defensive errors in a row lead to Mexico's second goal, the Iranian's lost heart - or the Mexicans packed their defense - or both. A 3-1 score was probably unfair on them, but they had plenty of positives to take from that game.

S&M vs Netherlands was nothing short of disappointing. I expected more fight in such a game, unfortunately, it was all Netherlands. The Dutch players chased when they lost the ball, and pressuring even the defenses. I was very impressed with their closing down, allowing S&M to create very little. When the ball did break for them though, they had Metaja Kezman to screw it up for them. He collided into his striker partner twice, and miscontrolled half-chances on a couple of occassions. He was duly subbed off. Netherland's attack looked impressive though with Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy - from 3 of the top clubs in England - combining with deadly effect. Their movement was fantastic and with hard ball-winners like van Bommel and Cocu behind them, it give them plenty of freedom to attack.

Today's games will be interesting and much closer though.

I was looking forward to Australia playing, but I don't think they can overcome Japan. After watching their friendly matches, Japan looks a much better side than Australia. Although the Australian physical approach might put them off. The severe lack of height in the Japanese team might also work against them, they might lose the game because of that set-piece which they couldn't clear because of height. It would be a tough game to call, but I think it would end something like 1-1. The thing I'm quite certain of is that there will many Japanese players rolling on the ground for half the match.

USA vs Czech Rep will be an awesome game I think. It's offically 2nd vs 5th in the world. How on Earth they came about such rankings I have no idea, but no way are USA 5th in the world! Nevertheless, they ain't pushovers and they will make it tough for the Czech Rep. However, the Czech might prove to be too strong for the Americans. They have excellent dynamics to their attack with Rosicky and Nedved pulling the strings, and Baros and Koller up front, two very different players will test the American defence in adaptibility. I do see the Czechs taking out this game though maybe 2-0.

The final game of today is Italy vs Ghana. Though you proabably don't know a player from Ghana other than Michel Essien, they have a good chance of taking this match. The Italians are known to be predictable and also screwing up at big competitions. Though Ghana - like the other African teams - have this problem of having no good strikers to finish the game off. The score might end 0-0, but I wouldn't disregard a Ghanian upset!

I hope you all enjoy today's matches. And remember to tip your winners on this site!

Tipping Match Day 3

2006-06-11T17:37:00.000+10:00

Yesterday's thrilling matches were over. T&T proved that underdog status meant nothing, while Argentina proved that there are 2 ways to a win a match. One is to totally be dominant, creating many chances, the other is to create just a few, but put away the few you created.

I feel for Cote d'Ivoire. I felt they did enough to earn a point. They were the better side while Argentina got the lucky bounce (for Crespo's goal) and the refereeing decision (Saviola's goal). I'm not going to say the second goal was offside. It was very marginal, but on another day, a different referee could have called it off. While the first goal was just right time, right play for the ever-predator Crespo.

Cote d'Ivoire created many more chances than Argentina, and they certainly didn't deserve to lose. It was a good thing they scored the goal in the dying minutes, otherwise a 2-0 scoreline would have done them no justice. Kanga Akale and Abdulkadaer Keita were lively was so was Didier Drogba. I wouldn't be surprised to see Akale in some top European club next season with the performance he put in. I have already been saying long before the first ball was kicked that Ivory Coast would be a good team, and if they weren't pitted in the "Group of Death" I certainly would put my money on them to go far.

Argentina put in a clinical, if not unspectacular, performance. I don't know if it is same commentry beamed around the world, but the commentator I heard was saying how Argentina was sending a message out to the competition and how they won so comfortably. Firstly, they didn't win comfortably and secondly, if not for cool finishing, they were second best in all other departments for the whole game. The only thing they did well was exaggerating a fall. I think it was Saviola who fell like he had been shot when Eboue faintly touched him, earning the latter a yellow card. And I wouldn't be surprised if Sorin had the intention of getting Eboue sent off when he collapsed in his own penalty box, again theatrically, from the latter's challenge. Eboue would have been so hard done if he indeed got sent off then.

The good points of the Argentinian display, other than the cool finishing I already mentioned was their crisp passing. Although it failed to create many opening, their quick movement, one or two touch passing was quite impressive. Unfortunately that was spoilt with every flowing move ending with an Argentine rolling theatrically on the ground.

I may have got the predictions of the previous two matches wrong, but it wouldn't stop me from tipping today's matches. On show we have:

Serbia & Montenegro vs Netherlands.
S&M are like Sweden, unfancied and lack of big names. But that doesn't mean they cannot play football. When you look at the team sheet, you would probably only recognize Dejan Stankovic from Inter and Mateja Kezman, made famous - or infamous - by being a flop in Chelsea. But I would tip this team to go far again if they were in the group with Netherlands and Argentina. Hell, they might even lose to Ivory Coast. The last time I saw Netherlands play, they didn't have the "total football" fluid passing that they were famous for, but when I saw them, it was a friendly, things might be different on the field. Netherlands might not be as strong as the FIFA rankings (they are 3rd) say they are because most of their old guard like Roy Makaay, Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids are now deemed too old to play. Honestly I find their exclusion surprising given that they are all still playing in the first-team for their club sides, and all big clubs for that matter! However, I think Holland still have enough strength in depth to oversome S&M. It would probably be a tight game, and Holland might just win it 2-1 or 1-0. But I wouldn't rule out a bore draw.

Mexico vs Iran
The first match of Group D pits Mexico against Iran. Though I'm looking forward to Iran playing, I think Mexico might be too strong for them. But given what has happened so far this world cup - or as other world cups for that matter - favourites are nothing. At 7.00 odds for an Iranian victory, it wouldn't be too bad to go for them.

Angola vs Portugal
This is one where I really see Portugal take home the win. I know that I said that about Sweden and T&T, but in my opinion, Sweden is not as good as Portugal while Angola ain't as good as T&T. Although I do see a frustrating encounter for the Portugese, they have the quality to change such a match with brilliance from one player, say inspiration from Figo, or a brilliant pass by Deco or some surging run by Cristiano Ronaldo or Simao.

It's one more day before Australia plays! And another before we can watch how football should be played - by the kings of Joga Bonito - Brazil. I'm looking very much forward to those games.

For the Underdogs!

2006-06-11T04:06:00.000+10:00

I like the underdogs, and someone must have read my blog to prove me wrong that I initially doubted them. Trinidad and Tobago, you are truly an inspiration to the underdogs of the tournament! Well done! And you proved the best match of the tournament so far!

It may have ended goalless, but the match was ten times more exciting than the England match. The former's game had character and fighting spirit. It was what the World Cup is about. Ten man T&T.. that was amazing!

Now, I just hope Ivory Coast can follow their lead, and take down giants Argentina.

For the underdogs!

Match Day 2

2006-06-11T01:37:00.000+10:00

The England game just finished and like I predicted they won. Though I was predicting a marginally more exciting match that would end 2-1 or 2-0, it wasn't to be. England looked happy to hold on to the 1-0 lead and in all honesty Paraguay never threatened to make them pay for their complacency.

My comments on the game are that England have to do much better if they even want to think about winning the cup. Lamps and Stevie G were resorting to long shots from range while Beckham, Neville and A. Cole resorted to long punts into the penalty box. Owen was rather ineffective while Joe Cole seemed the only spark in the England midfield. Nevertheless, it was an efficient win for the English, but they had better play better against the likes of Sweden!

I got my predicting about the upset last night too. I predicted Ecuador to win, and they did not let me down. I hope this means my punter skills are improving! Anyway, I was rather impressed with E. Mendez and A. Valencia of Ecuador while Carlos Tenorio and Austin Delgado were proving problems for the Poles upfront. I deserved victory for Ecuador, and they would have been considered unlucky had the two shots which the Poles hit the poles, if you don't mind the punt, had instead gone in. Well I hope you took the tip last night before it would have won you come handy money!

Later tonight features Trinidad & Tobago vs Sweden. Many experts feel that Trinidad and Tobago are a joke to be in the World Cup. I for one am a believer in supporting the underdog, but I'm sorry, this time I don't think the underdogs can pull it off. Unfancied Sweden, with a lack of big names (compared to the likes of England and Brazil) are a technically good side and have individuals who can gel as a team. This is the reason why some experts believe they can pip England for top spot in the group. I see a comfortable Swedish win. Highly possible by 1 1/2 goals.

The next match is Argentina vs Ivory Coast. No doubt that Argentina are very strong as a team on paper, and Ivory Coast are the unfancied underdogs. I see Ivory Coast matching up to Argentina though in a high-scoring game which probably might end a draw. I would guess something along the lines of 2-2. Otherwise Argentina might just edge it 2-3 or something close. But odds at 3.4 (Bet365.com) for a draw is a good bet!

Hope you all tip the right score! Drop more comments and predictions too ya? Come back often because of the World Cup, there will be updates daily!

Germany Kicks Off

2006-06-10T04:52:00.000+10:00

The wait the world was enduring is finally over. The World Cup 2006 has finally started.

And what better way then to bring the crowd to its edge of the seat with a thrilling 4-2 opener won of course by host nation Germany over Costa Rica. The scorers for Germany were Lahm, Klose (2) and Fringes. Costa Rica scored twice through Paulo Wanchop.

The pick of the goals for me has to be the Torsten Fringes one. For all the talk that he is too old, he showed us just why he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. Although playing in the anchor role, he can score scorchers when he is up 35-40 yards from goal. You don't see Makelele doing that! No doubt Makelele is a great in the holding role, but face it, football is about goals. And what Fringes did today showed that you need players who can score from all over the pitch.

I have to acknowledge Germany's team work. They do have great individual players like Klose who has a phenomenal strike-rate and playmakers like Fringes and Schweinsteiger and of course the famous Ballack. But they worked as team, something that teams like England, Spain and maybe even Brazil would prove unable to do. Those countries cited as an example have great individuals, but could fall into the trap by thinking they must do too much. Ronaldinho is a bit in that phase now, probably explaining his poor performance in the UEFA Champions League final. So in the light of that, I think Germany can be major contenders this year if they can continue to work as a team. "Players win matches, but teams win tournaments".

Well, I wish Germany all the best for the rest of their tournament! Hope their victory can bring me my small fortune (I bet on them to win the cup).

As for other betting tips. I think Ecuador have a very good chance of upsetting the odds against Poland in the game in 15minutes time. At odds of 4.00 (Singapore Pools), they are a awfully good choice to bet on. I would put $20 on that, a possible payout of $80 would come in handy!

Also, England will kick off their campaign against Paraguay at 2100hrs (Singapore Time (GMT +0800)), and I think England should pull off that win. However an opening odds of 1.53 (Singapore Pools), it's proabably not worth the money betting on them. You could bet on 2 or 3 goals though, with the odds for those coming in at the usual 3.4 and 3.6. The score should end up 2-0 or 2-1 in England's favour. But somehow it wouldn't surprise me too much if the score was indeed reversed in Paraguay's favour. Either way, you would still win a "total goals" bet.

The month-long of soccer has begun. I wish all the teams best of luck, and their supporters! May the team you support do well and may the gambling gods look favourably on you!

Boro A Manager

2006-06-08T23:08:00.000+10:00

Should Gareth Southgate be the Middlesborough manager? Now that the World Cup hasn't started yet, there is nothing much to blog about other than transfer speculations and Wayne's foot. So it's a good breathe of freash air that Middlesborough have come up with and idea to challange the FAs managerial rules in the Premier League.

In experienced, unqualified and unproven are just some of the words describing Southgate. At 35, he is very young to be a manager of a top flight club, especially one which had improved so much over the last few seasons from relegation candidates to well-beaten in the UEFA cup final. Nevertheless, they did made it to the UEFA Cup final. The most recent manager to have stepped up from player to manager in the English Premier League was probably Chris Coleman. The latter has had it tough - working in a small club when all his big names want to leave and no one wants to join. Heskey might be a big-name going to the club this summer, which I still find intriguing that the goal-shy striker has such high-demand, but that is another story.

Back to the story: and so there was no one to take the job at Middlesborough, the Boro board have handed the gaffer's job to their central defender. Boro have ever right to argue to the FA that Southgate is the man for the job, with the Premier League bending the rules for Glenn Roeder to take charge at Newcastle. So if there is one unqualified manager, why not have two?

But here is my argument for Mr Southgate, like Coleman, was in his team for a long time, he knows all the players through and through. He knows the club, the fans, the system. That makes up for his coaching certificate he lacks that any Tom, Dick and Harry can qualify for. So although Coleman isn't exactly the shining example for coaches to make the step-up, he still saved relegation-threatened Fulham to escape the drop over and over again. That is because he knows the club, and knows the players. I believe Mr Southgate can do the same job. And following from Coleman's lead, there is no reason why Southgate cannot get his required coaching license in due course whilst he is manager at Middlesborough. He would be qualified sooner, if not later, so what is the big fuss all about now?

Right now, I am for Mr Southgate to take the top coaching job at Boro. But I think the bigger problem for Middlesborough was losing a central defender rather than gaining a manager!

Picture: http://www.carling.com/football/middlesbrough-fc/gareth-southgate.html

Sheva to Chelsea

2006-06-01T19:29:00.000+10:00

Are Chelski unstoppable now?

Imagine the first XI of Shevchenko leading the lines of a midfield of Lampard, J. Cole, Essien, Robben, Ballack backed by a defence of Terry, Carvalho, Ferreira, Del Horno and Cech. Having the likes of Gallas, Makelele, Kalou, Drogba, Crespo and that new Portugese keeper Mourinho signed on the bench. Okay, so Crespo might leave, along with Gallas, Huth, Shawn Wright-Philips (SWP), Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Which again proves my point that, unlike Wenger, Mourinho is incapable of bringing up youngsters. His latest signings were Ballack, Sheva and Henrique Hilario. I think Ballack would have bad luck, Sheva could do betta and Hilario would be 'Hilarious'. Anyway, besides the fact that they are all has-beens, with maybe if lucky 2 years of top-flight football left in them, they are all 30 years old this year. This shows Mourinho has no eye for talent.

Wenger is still the master at this, and you have to look no futhur than Fabregas or his best ever project a certain Henry. Rafa Benetiz is one for good young talent as well, recently has been bringing Sissoko into the Liverpool first team and building an all-star youth reserve squad dribbing with promise and this year bringing in - or trying to at least - Mark Gonzalez. Alex Ferguson had gone for proven youngsters such as Rooney and C. Ronaldo and groomed the class-of-all-conquering-1999 with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Keane etc, while Mourinho has gone for proven oldies.

I'd be disappoint if I was a Chelsea fan. Mourinho brings in oldies, and ignores the young talent waiting to grow. The SWP project went awefully wrong, while Glen Johnson or Diarra haven't been getting an game time. I think I've said this before, but Robben is on the decline. It reminds me of Real Madrid - won indeed won the Champions League and then went 3 seasons without winning anything. They have since gone back to basics and hired players such as Robinho and Baptista.

Chelsea is going to suffer the same fate if they are not careful. Powerful this or next year they might be. But soon they would be ageing oldies who have too big paycheques and names to drop from the team. And then you get a 33-Sheva, 33-Ballack, 31-Lampard, 34-Crespo, 36-Makelele and the lists goes on.

Don't the people with money ever learn?

The Transfers

2006-05-26T09:39:00.000+10:00

I like talking about club football. But it has ended after a spectacular 10 months which seen twists of all kinds. And because the warm-up games to the World Cup are hardly indications of how the teams will fair in the actual tournament, I wouldn't bother reading too much into it.

Although it must be mentioned that England lost to Belarus B. Other than Hleb from Arsenal, I don't think there are many other big name Belarusians known in this part of the world - forgive me if I'm wrong - but he plays for Belarus A and not the B team!Yet England, with a side featuring names like Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher, Jermaine Jenas, Aaron Lennon, Stewart Downing, Peter Crouch and of course Michael Owen (and the list goes on), they still lost. But I already said I wouldn't read too much into games such as those.

I shall give my views on the latest big-name transfers though. Firstly, as a Liverpool fan, I would touch on the topic of Fernando Morientes, who the club confirmed has joined Valencia for an undisclosed fee. Not disclosing the fee was probably to save the embarrassment of announcing a loss on a player they paid £6.3million 16 months ago. The sale price of 'Nando' was believed to be less than £3million. The sale of Morientes doesn't come too much a big surprise though, having failed to perform to expectations in his stay on Merseyside. Many think it was because he hasn't adapted to the English game, and I agree. He scored only 12 goals in 61 games, that is about 1 goal every 5 games - which is much less than a striker of his repuation should deliver. I think it was a good decision by Benitez to make way for another top-class striker. He would probably sell Neil Mellor and Sinama-Pongolle as well. But having said that, I do feel a bit disappointed I didn't get to see a top class Morientes scoring and playmaking in Liverpool. There was so much expected of him, and although he did show some touches of class he is known for, it wasn't regular enough. It was a waste that he didn't show form for Liverpool. But form like that is not tolerated in a club like Liverpool. Though I am a keen admirer of the Spaniard, we'll have to say it's for the best for the club to make way for a striker who can adapt to the demands of the Premiership.

Secondly, Robert Pires as moved away from Arsenal after 6 years. He moved to Villareal - and honestly, Arsenal must be laughing now. Pires, though classy, had been out of form of late - and hence out of the team. Wenger has had brought in a more than capable replacement in Tomas Rosicky - a true world class player. I just hope he adapts to the Premiership, because I would love to watch his talents on display at the new Arsenal Staduim. Arsenal would have a good mix in midfield. Gilberto Silva can play the destructor role (breaking down opposition attacks, I hope and not his own), Fabregas to spray passes from midfield - sort of Xabi Alsone or Pirlo-like and there are pacy wingers like Ljungberg and Reyes. There is also the skill and technique of Hleb, and the energy of Diaby. Rosicky would fit into the Arsenal midfield perfectly, and the London club probably got themselves a playmaker twice as good as Pires in his peak and 7 years younger.

Transfer speculation is that Andy Johnson, also known as AJ, is on the move to the Premiership. Having failed to bounce back into the top flight, Crystal Palace have let their star striker go. If you have been reading my blog, you would know I'm an admirer of this top quality finisher. And at £8.5million pounds, he is rightfully priced. I have quoted his stats before, but more importantly, is his ability to finish off team moves with deadly efficiency. Not playing for a big club, and able to score over 20 goals a season regularly, shows that he is no fluke. Wigan or Bolton would be lucky to have him, although I did wish he would have gone to a bigger club like Liverpool or Manchester United. Face it, with Morientes gone, or with the imminent departure of Van Nistelrooy, the two clubs could use a proven striker. I remains to be seen who the clubs will bring in to replace their big-names.

Lastly, I forgot to mention earlier that Chelsea are wasting a whole lot of money signing Michael Ballack, not that it woud really matter to Mr Abramovich. But why Ballack? He is 30 years old, and Chelsea have a packed mid-field already. With Lampard, Essien, Makelele and Gudjohnson already in the midfield, and even Joe Cole had been forced to the wing, Chelsea do not need another midfielder. At £130,000 a week, the extra midfielder doesn't come cheap. I think they should worry about strengthening other areas instead of wasting their money packing their mid-field and get problems of unhappy big-name players. It is a good thing, from the Chelsea point of view that they are trying to buy Shevchenko and maybe Ashley Cole, and these are the areas their team needs improvement in. But I think Chelsea would jsut be a victim of the big-name disease. Real Madrid have shown already that it doesn't work - having failed to win a trophy for the last 3 seasons. But Chelsea doesn't seem to learn from other's mistakes. Ballack is 29 going 30, Shevchenko a similar age, Crespo is 30 as well, it shows that they are signing the big names, but maybe these men are approaching the end of their careers and arguably past their peak. What happened to signing good young talent like Robben, Cech, Essien and Wright-Philips. I forgot, Cech and Robben were signed by Claudio Ranieri while the Wright-Phillips project turned out wrong. I wonder if Mourinho has the abilities to pull young talent like how Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson does. Perhaps not.

In recent times, Wenger had brought up Fabregas, Reyes, Van Persie, Diaby and spotted Henry going a few years back. And who can forget Theo Walcott - who has yet to feature in an Arsenal senoir game but is picked for England's World Cup squad. Alex Ferguson on the other hand, had brought up his old school players like the Nevilles, Scholes, Giggs, Silvestre and to some extent Beckham - I think he is overrated too, but let's give him some credit ok? - and more recent young exciting talent like the famous one-footed Rooney and fleet-footed Cristiano Ronaldo and the natural goal-scorer Rossi.

I haven't seen Mourinho bring up young talent - or not as yet. In fact, Robben is on the decline, I have mentioned that Wright-Phillips project is going Wrong-Phillips. Glen Johnson looks to be nurtured in the wrong way as well. There have been question marks over Lassana Diarra, and really the only success was Essien - but he was already a big player before he arrived at Chelsea. I haven't seen young players come through the system at Chelsea in the past 2 seasons - forget the John Terry and Frank Lampard, they broke into the team ages ago.
Maybe I have picked out the flaw in "the special one".

Final to Forget

2006-05-18T20:19:00.000+10:00

Although Barcelona fans would beg to differ, I don't think this final lived up to its billing. And I would go as far as saying it was a final to forget.

People spoke about the Liverpool-Milan Final long after the new season of the champions league kicked off. I doubt many would speak about the Barca-Arsenal final in the same way. I think it was mostly down to the referee.

We are all entitled to our opinions, and I feel the referee wasn't totally imparitial. Or at least he made some errors. The most obvious one would be when Lehmann was sent off. It spoilt the game totally. It would be a brilliant contest were it 11-a-side, but Arsenal being one man down would predictably pack their defense and try to catch Barcelona on the break. With only a single Henry up front, even the genius of Fabregas couldn't find space for him. It would be that sort of night.

Although even Mr Wenger thinks a red card was fair, I don't think so. If not for the sake of the exhitbition, then for following the rules. The rules state that a professional foul is commited when a player prevents (usually deliberately) an opposition player a chance at goal. However, in this case, Guily followed up the trip on Eto'o and hence a goal was still scored and it should have counted and Lehmann shouldn't have been sent off. Although it is hard to tell, I would think that Lehmann didn't deliberately trip Eto'o, the striker was merely too quick for him. And besides, with no malice intended and the ball did end up in the back of the net, there should have been no need to spoil the game.

Poor Jens Lehmann, and you also have to feel for Robert Pires, who most believe has played his last game of Arsenal - and what a way to go, sacrificed early because of the loss of a goalkeeper. But most of all, the spectacle of the two best attacking teams in Europe was destroyed by one team forced to defend for the majority of the game.

The red card was the main talking point, but other talking points include Eto'o's goal. Arsene Wenger seems to think it was offside. And personally, TV replays show that it probably was. However, in the defence of the referee, it was probably hard to see the faintest touch by Larsson that would have ruled Eto'o offside. It looked like it didn't matter that the referee that was photographed in a Barcelona top didn't get to officiate. The decision still seem dubious.

Other incidents include giving Theirry Henry a yellow card, when it was clear that he got the loose ball, and if anything, Van Bommel accidently kicked Henry (whilst going for the ball) and hence got tripped. Also, the numerous free-kicks given to Barcelona at the edge of the penalty box - which Ronaldinho, who had an aweful game by his standards, failed to capitalise on - would serve to think that all the officials might have been wearing Barcelona jerseys.

In the end, Juliano Belletti scored the winner, after incisive work from Larsson. TV replays and commentators suggested it might have gone wide of the far post had Arsenal keeper Alumnia not touched it. Well, it is such luck that wins games. But if 11 men Barcelona could only beat 10 men Arsenal 2-1, then it would be interesting to imagine what might have been had both teams been at full strength for the whole game.

But hats off to Barcelona for now. They have won the game, although it was not proof that the best team won. But I didn't feel the magic when Puyol lifted the cup compared to when Gerrard did. I guess last year, it was more of a final to remember, it had goals and drama. This one just had poor refereeing decisions and a lack of contest.

I would say it was a final to forget.

Champions League Final

2006-05-15T14:47:00.000+10:00

Somehow this year I'm more excited about the FA Cup Final than the Champions League final. Maybe it's because I'm a Liverpool supporter and they were participating in the latter last year, but the former this year.

This year's eltie European competition pits the two best attacking sides on the planet I believe - or at least in Europe. Barcelona and Arsenal, it doesn't get better than that. I wouldn't be as excited about it were it Villareal and AC Milan I reckoned, but fact now is it is the Catalan Giants against an English Powerhouse.

I would still call Arsenal a great team in England although they finished only 4th. They play the best football in the Premiership at the moment. Chelsea for all it's results, can't produce the same kind of mouth-watering football as a championship-winning Arsenal team 2 seasons back. Manchester United have been pulling off results too, but other than Rooney and Ronaldo, they fail to impress with the flair. Liverpool are an attractive side sometimes too, but they tend to switch off their flair on occasions. Like during the FA Cup final, they were playing many "long-balls" which didn't impress me. They were capable of winning games 7-0 though, which we all remember being similar to Arsenal's 7-0 win over Middlesborough.

All they need is Fabregas on form to play the passes to Theirry Henry, and he would play make the rest. The thing about Henry is that he is so good, the opposite team puts so many players on him. That either frees up his other team-mates, or he would show his class by beating the many players on him. He is one player that can change the game all on his own. And I seriously hope he does that in the Champions League Final.

His opponent is undoubtedly Ronaldinho, who is arguably the most flambouyant world-class player that the moment. Some of the things he does on the pitch just leaves you in awe and worship him as the master of Joga Bonito. He truly is the player to watch, if not for his tricks, then his runs, if not then for his passes and vision, if not for his goals. He has everything, maybe other than the agression to defend.

The beautiful thing about Barcelona is that they have such great hard-working players who win the ball and play the simple passes so that Ronaldinho doesn't tired himself out with the things the rest of the team needs to do. The best midfielder in the world is arguably Steven Gerrard, I say this because he does everything for his team, defend, play-make and score goals. Ronaldinho only has to worry about the attacking aspect of his team. Because he has players like Motta and Van Bommel to do the hard crunching work.

And unlike Gerrard, Ronaldinho has a partner-in-crime Deco who can do almost everything Ronaldinho can only with less flair. And Deco would be the star of any other team but is not in this since the brilliant Brazillian is there. Deco has a great range of passing ability which allows the team to find Ronaldinho, and while Deco himself can go for audious shots and dizzy runs, he implements his vision into the game to bring other of his team-mates to play. He was missed in the victory over AC Milan as it was obivous Ronaldinho had less space to work in, because players like Deco were not around to free up his space, it hence ended 0-0 in the Nou Camp.

To complement the importance of playmakers is strikers to finish off their work. In Samual Eto'o, they have one of the best finishers in the game. Not only can he create things on his own, he has pace and skill to finish off passes that are supplied to him. To add presence to their forward line, they have Hendrik Larsson to win headers and score goals. He is something like a free Peter Crouch, only that he does the job so much better. Giuly on the other hand is under-rated, but adds a different dimension to the Barcelona team. He has his own creativity and skill, which is an excellent addition to a forward line known more for just putting the ball into the net.

I would talk about the defences of the two teams soon, if I got time before the match actually kicks-off in another 3 days! But whether I do or not, you would look at the attacking ability of both teams to know you got a wonderful final to look forward too.

FA Cup Final

2006-05-14T03:30:00.000+10:00

It truly is remarkable isn't it? Liverpool showed what they need to do to win cup finals, go behind, take the game to 3-3 then win on penalties with some class from the 'keeper. Fairytales couldn't have been written better, or if you wrote a fairy tale like this one, people would say you were unorginal because you used the same ending twice. But it was the same ending twice.

True, West Ham are no AC Milan, but by luck or by skill, they were 2-0 up in 26 minutes. A unlucky own goal by Carragher followed by a lucky goal by Dean Ashton. Credit to the lad for reacting the quickest, but it was unlucky that Reina spilled the ball. West Ham were lucky again when Peter Crouch put the ball into the net just to be ruled for offside. It was largely debatable, but he did look like his nose was beyond the last man. But it was a tremendously close call. On another day, it could have counted.

Cisse did well to bring Liverpool to within a goal with a well-taken Michael-Owen-sort-of-finish. And Gerrard showed all the class by hammering home the second to equalise the game.

Luck was with the Hammers though, and when Paul Konchesky scored that audious goal - which he obviously meant it as a cross - I just couldn't believe their luck! But when all seemed lost, with Liverpool lethargic, Steven Gerrard - captain fantastic showed why he is the best midfielder in the world (if you consider Ronaldinho as a forward) by sinking an incredible incredible goal that brought cheers that lifted the Millenium Staduim's roof off. It is one goal I could watch over and over again. An amazing one-touch strike from 35 metres out right into the bottom corner! And in the 91st minute of all times to score.

Extra-time was sluggish as players seemed to have run out of energy. Harewood got injured, and several Liverpool players went down with cramps. Cisse looked like he couldn't hardly walk. But with West Ham looking to have better fitness, it looked as though they might take the game. A chance fell to one-legged Harewood, but given his injury, he had an excuse to miss.

The game finally came to penalties, and I was nervous as a Liverpool fan because I thought Reina had a bad game - bad luck or whatever you want to call it, it was a bad game. But then, so I thought with Jerzy dudek about 12 months ago. Turns out Reina saved 3 penalties in similar fashion Dudek saved two (and one missed) in Istanbul.

Liverpool have won the FA Cup in exactly the same manner they won the Champions League. You really couldn't write a script for that.

Why Walcott

2006-05-10T21:43:00.000+10:00

source: http://www.metacafe.com

Has Sven Lost The Plot?

2006-05-09T17:08:00.000+10:00

The big news today was that Theo Walcott was selected in the England squad ahead of Jermaine Defoe, Darren Bent and Andy Johnson. Which personally I feel is insane. He admitted it is a huge gamble, and he himself has never seen Walcott play in flesh. While only listening to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's words that he has electric pace and raw talent. If he is good enough to be brought into the World Cup, how come he is not good enough to play for Arsenal - not even as a substitute appearance.

You tell me Wright-Philips is not good enough to play for Chelsea, it is a fair comment and hence should not be brought into the World Cup. But you tell me that Walcott is not good enough to play for Arsenal, yet good enough to play for England? And mind it, it is not last resort stuff, they like the likes of Defoe, Johnson and Bent!

I've always been an admirer of Jermaine Defoe. However, the Tottenham striker has found himself on the bench most of the season behind a partnerhsip of Robbie Keane and Mido. The pair work well together to justify the absence of Defoe, but some one who comes off the bench to score quality goals is better than someone who cannot come off the bench isn't it?

Andy Johnson might be playing in the Coca-cola championship, but at least he is playing first team football. He was top scorer and top assist in for his club with 17 goals and 6 assist. And it is not just a one-off high-scoring season, he has been scoring well over the past few seasons, in fact this is the first one in 2 seasons he failed to score more than 20 goals. He scored 21 goals in the season he was in the Premiership. These stats of consistancy don't lie. He is a true marksman. And he is selected behind Walcott?

I really feel for Darren Bent as well. He's previous season's totals from 2002-2003 season were 18, 17, 20, 22. He scored 22 goals this season and for a Charlton side who can hardly create anything. The biggest stat to show that he is a true marksman in a club who cannot score is that the next top-scorer in his club is Danny Murphy with 4 goals! This shows he is a quality player in a somewaht lower club. But he delivers the goods. I don't think he would stay in Charlton much longer since it is becoming more and more evident that only players in big clubs get a call to the international team - even though Bent has started 36 more times and scored 18 more goals in the Premiership alone ahead of Walcott's zero all.

Imagine that Eriksson takes this 23-man squad to Germany. The strikers would be Rooney, Owen, Crouch and Walcott. With Rooney still ruled out for the first few games of the tournament at best, then we have Crouch, who is a useful player but not a prolific goalscorer and Michael Owen who spent most of the season on the treatment table. Though he betrayed Liverpool, I still admit he is one of the best natural finishers in the game. But given a season lacking match fitness and sharpness, he doesn't look like he is going to be half the player he is. So short of match fitness, he would maybe last 60 minutes of a match effectively. Then, we would have Crouch and Walcott to lead the lines for England. Right. Having a back-up pair of Crouch and Bent, or Crouch and Defoe, or Crouch and Johnson would sound like more of a pairing that would score a goal.

Now that Rooney is injured and the odds of England to win the world cup have dropped from 6 to 7.8 (1-6 to 1-7.8), I don't even think that is good enough for people to bet on England to win because of Sven's insanity of not choosing the best players. I'll rather bet on Ivory Coast at 75-1. They stand a better chance.

The Final Verdict

2006-05-08T02:38:00.000+10:00

The last Premiership weekend has just concluded. And when I said on the last day it is hard to predict anything, I was right. I had 5 right and 5 wrong. Though some of the wrongs were really close.

Arsenal VS Wigan
I predicted a home win and indeed. But it was no surprise I guess. I did say it would be high-scoring, but I didn't expect 6 goals either.

Villa VS Sunderland
Villa just scraped this one. It was close at 2-1. But since I predicted a low-score draw, I'm wrong for this one.

Blackburn VS Man City
Blackburn would win comfortable I said. And Man City would just have to hope for a better next season.

Bolton VS Birmingham
I predicted a narrow home win. I was spot on with Bolton winning 1-0. It doesn't get more accurate than that.

Everton VS West Brom
I got this one wrong. I predicted a narrow home win. Turned out to narrowly be a draw. I was wrong about West Brom, but it was cruel they lost their 3 points with minutes to go.

Fulham VS Boro
I thought this game would be high-scoring, but it was not to be with Middlesborough fielding a second-string side. And with Captain Boa Morte injured, it turned out to be a narrow home victory.

Man United VS Charlton
I said comfortable home win, and it doesn't get more comfortable than 4-0. It was no surprises really, hats off to them for stamping their authority on second spot. Who needs Rooney anyway?

Newcastle VS Chelsea
Party mood indeed took it's toll on Chelsea, and wih the Champions fielding a second string team, they proved that a 2.38 odds on a Chelsea win would be too good to be true.

Portsmouth VS Liverpool
Liverpool did all it can to fight for second, but it was not to be with the victory by Manchester United. But a 3-1 win here still earned me money on my bets.

West Ham VS Tottenham
It was quite unbelievable, but West Ham actually won this one. I would have thought they would rest players for the FA Cup final. But looks like they fielded their FA Cup final side other than Marlon Harewood. A surprise win for me to prove me wrong. And it let the gunners take 4th. Quite incredible indeed.

Final EPL Weekend

2006-05-07T01:25:00.000+10:00

It's a full schduele with all teams playing at the same time. It's the final weekend of the EPL. Here, form is thrown out of the window because teams with nothing to fight for, would probably field a lesser team, or not play so intensively. While teams with something to fight for, know it's their last chance.

There are a few key games to determine 2nd and 4th. Manchester United have an easier task of dispatching Charlton at home rather than Liverpool's away trip to Portsmouth so are widely expected to finish 2nd. Arsenal should beat Wigan, and must hope for Tottenham to fail to win away to West Ham. If Tottenham loses, Arsenal can claim 4th even if they just draw.

But although form is throw out of the window, it would be fun to predict the outcome of the matches.

Arsenal VS Wigan
Arsenal are expected to take this one out easy. But might be looking to conserve key players for the Champions League finals. I would say a home win - although a 1.18 odds are not exciting to bet on. You might be better off betting on 3 or 4 goals.

Villa VS Sunderland
I expect Sunderland to put up a bit of a show given that they had such a disappionting season, but it would be a case of too little too late. At 6.8 for an away win, it looks tempting to bet on them. But I wouldn't push my luck, and maybe got for a no-score or low-score draw.

Blackburn VS Man City
Man City has had terrible form over the last few games, and few would expect them to take it out on Blackburn at Ewood Park. Looks to me it would be a comfortable home win. But I might be eating my words because Blackburn have nothing left to fight for after securing 6th.

Bolton VS Birmingham
I have always liked a bet on Bolton at home, so this one is no different. It is a good time for the star-men of Birmingham to jack up their price and maybe even playing to catch an eye for a transfer. But I would still go for a narrow home win.

Everton VS West Brom
West Brom has never impressed me over the season and probably wouldn't do so against Everton. Everton, though, hasn't been finishing teams off. So I would go for a narrow home win, probably along the lines of 1-0.

Fulham VS Boro
This one is a tricky one to call. Because both teams have nothing to play for in the league then perhaps finishing above the other. But the best either one can hope for is 12th position. So I see them fighting out a high-scoring draw, or a narrow high-scoring win like 3-2 for either team.

Man United VS Charlton
I think Manchester United should dispatch Charlton easily and claim second spot. Though we have yet to see the effects of a loss of Rooney other than the 0-0 draw mid-week. As a Liverpool fan, I hope they fail to beat Charlton, but I don't really see that happening at Old Trafford.

Newcastle VS Chelsea
Party mood in Chelsea may spark a low-key affair with few hard tackles and lack of aggression. Though the champions-elect would like to record a final win to end their season on a high, Jose might field a weaker side for those who haven't got to be playing recently. Though a 2.38 odds for a Chelsea victory were irresistable for me. Away win.

Portsmouth VS Liverpool
A 5.45 odds for a Portsmouth win looks tempting after their recent resurgence. But they have got nothing to play for, having secured Premiership football again next season, while Liverpool have everything to play for. That might be the difference. But given that Rafa the Gaffa might rest key players for the FA Cup final against West Ham, Liverpool might not make it pass Pompey. Draw or narrow away win.

West Ham VS Tottenham
Tottenham are looking to finish 4th, and West Ham, with so many key players already injured, might not want to risk any more before the FA Cup final. So an away win looks likely though I wouldn't disregard a surprise draw.

Good luck in your punting! May you end off the season well!

Fowler For a Season

2006-05-06T02:23:00.000+10:00

It is rare that a player has so much passion for the club that he plays with his heart, not his mind on the money. We often see players from supposed 'smaller' clubs leave because of money or ambition. But this bloke is special. He plays with his heart for the club he loves since he was a kid - Robbie Fowler.

I am obviously overjoyed by the fact that Fowler got signed for another season. With more time to build on his fitness, he is ready to show us what passion can do. Indeed he has already turned in great performances with the club before, but now he would be even hungier because he was given the second chance, and you can tell immediately how much it means to him.

I've always said that he is the reason I wear the number 9 jersey on my back. The Kop hero is back! All the best, Robbie!

Rooney Is England?

2006-05-03T00:01:00.000+10:00

I have just a short comment about the poll in soccernet.com. They asked if England could win the World Cup without Rooney. I said "no", but it was not an entirely correct answer, in my opinion they can't win the World Cup even with Rooney.

Nevertheless, this is England's best chance in many years with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and John Terry hitting their supreme form this season, if form is anything to go by in the World Cup. And it could work for them when many of their key players get a rest towards the end of the season - like Michael Own, Ashley Cole and Ledley King.

Rooney could be a start this World Cup, and many experts believe so... before he broke his foot. Only time will tell if he would recover in time. He would certainly boost England's World Cup hopes with them in the squad. He might be more than just a player - he could be the inspiration England needs, just like how Manchester United rely on him.

Rooney's deputy's include Liverpool's Peter Crouch, Tottenham's Jermaine Defoe and Charlton's Darren Bent. With all due respect, that's not every good prospects for England. Peter Crouch is a useful player in the squad, but he is not as influential or prolific as Wayne Rooney; although a quick Michael Owen running off him might be useful. Jermaine Defoe is a good striker, but is too similiar to Michael Owen and spent most of this season on the bench, which may or may not work against him. As for Darren Bent, I'm a fan of this young lad, he is a fantastic striker with pace and positioning. And for a club like Charlton who is struggling to score goals, his 25 this season just shows his class. However, I feel he lacks the experience especially on the international scene as his club doesn't play in Europe.

And although Alex Ferguson seems to think Rooney's World Cup is over, I would think he has a good possibility. And the anxious wait for England begins. But whether he is the difference between winning the World Cup or not, I'll let you decide.

Verdict on Predictions

2006-05-01T13:19:00.000+10:00

The predictions for last weekend were mostly right. Hope that means that more people would come here to view my predictions for matches in future. And post their comments about them.

We take a look back on last weekend's results.

Chelsea VS Man Utd wrong
I predicted a draw, but Chelsea came off with a win. I don't think anyone expected such a convincing victory the scoreline says. But this is the only one of two that I'm wrong.

Wigan VS Portsmouth partially right
Although I did predict a draw, I also said a narrow away win wouldn't surprise me. Indeed it was a narrow away win. 2-1, with a penalty seperating the teams. That's how narrow it was.

Birmingham VS Newcastle right
Reading my predictions before the game would tell you I predicted the score to be a draw on the back of Birmingham's last 0-0 draw. And it ended 0-0 again this time, so I was absolutely right!

ManCity VS Fulham wrong
This one turned around in the last 5 minutes of game time! Man City from 1-0 up till the 84th minute somehow managed to lose 2-1. At least I picked the right score, only that it is reversed. You would still win a bet if you put your money on 3 goals like I did.

Middlesborugh VS Everton partially right
I predicted a draw or away win. And true enough, it is as close to a draw you can get, but it resulted in an away win. A 89th minute winner by McFadden of Everton proved to be the difference. This time it wasn't Boro to be scoring the last minute goal!

Liverpool VS Villa right
I predicted a comfortable home win and it indeed proved to be. 3-1 the final score.

Charlton VS Blackburn right
I predicted an away win and it was spot-on.

Tottenham VS Bolton right
Spot-on again with a home win.

There are still Monday's games to come, but I hope you earned a small fortune on the weekend!

The Champions of England

2006-04-30T03:23:00.000+10:00

Source: soccernet.com and Empics.

So Chelsea have won it. It was a forgone conclusion some time ago, it's just that they confirmed it now, mathematically uncatchable, and a thumping victory over their nearest rivals. Though many would say the result does not justify the game, the league table wouldn't lie that they are by far the best team in the Premiership.

Alex Ferguson claimed before the game that next season they would be challenging closer for the title, and so claim the members of Liverpool FC. But that was before the crushing defeat handed out by the blues with the greens on the Red Devils.

Blues with the greens indeed, with Mr Abramovich assembling a team of world-class players. He did inheriet indominable captian John Terry and midfield general Frank Lampard, who are undoubtly the key players in the squad, but you need players around them to finish the job. Joe Cole has been a revelaton at the bridge, and others are beginning to play their part to perfection. Drogba is the big target man, Makelele is the ultimate stopper (defensive midfielder), Gallas is the versatile ultility defender who can score vital goals. That makes the championship team - a team who work together and not a team of super-star individuals.

It seems like the bigger picture can be seen now. Although, we find that the Chelsea strikers don't score as much as a say Theirry Henry, but they are winning games with deadly efficiency. That is because, though each player in the team can buy a nuclear bomb, the players are picked for team-work and Mourinho has imbued a sense of team-spirit and the want to work hard for another. And these players themselves are world-class, so they can change the game all on their own.

Imagine Arsenal have Henry, Liverpool have Gerrard, to name a couple of big-name players with the ability to change the game all on their own. Chelsea has, if not 11, then at least 5 in the starting line-up who can do just that. That why Chelsea paid so much for these players. They are "big" players, who can play "big" games. Not merely players who are good at soccer and have names up in lights.

Well, it's hat's off to the Champion of EPL. They truly have been the best team over the course of the season.

EPL Weekend

2006-04-29T09:58:00.000+10:00

It's a big weekend this week with Chelsea VS Manchester United. And of all things, if Chelsea even just draw, they would win the title against another powerhouse of English football.

I must admit that this weekends matches are really tough calls. Because it's mostly mid-table teams playing each other or relegation-threatened teams fighting for survival. I did get most of the winning teams right last time, but the scores were not as predicted. So this week I'll just put my tips down on the final outcome.

And again, this weekend's matches are tough to call, so I will not be held responible for any monetary, or otherwise, loss as a result of gambling.

-saturday-

CHELSEA v MAN U
All Chelsea needs is a draw, that's how I think it would end.

WIGAN v PORTSMOUTH
Wigan has stopped firing the way it did at the start of the season. Jimmy Bullard though would love to put in a good performance to celebrate his deal with Fulham. Portsmouth, though, have been on a roll recently. So the teams look balanced on paper, I would predict a draw. Though a narrow away win wouldn't surprise me.

BIRMINGHAM v NEWCASTLE
Another relegation-threatened team to battle it out till the end. I would go for a draw for this game as well on the back of Birmingham's 0-0 draw with Everton last week.

MANCITY v FULHAM
This one is another close call. But I don't think Fulham can win away in the league this season. There is always a first time though, because Manchester City are struggling till they sank Villa mid-week. I'll go for a home win, possibly 2-1.

MIDDLESBOROUGH v EVERTON
Another tough call. Boro has the ultimate confidence after pulling off 2 extreme come-backs in their last 2 european trips. However, they might rest those players against Everton today. So draw or away win.

LIVERPOOL v VILLA
Liverpool should win this one comfortably given that Villa has had trouble scoring. I just hope a certain Milan Baros doesn't decide to inflict revenge for this Anfield exit. Home win.

CHARLTON v BLACKBURN
Charlton hasn't had the best record of scoring except for a marvellous Darren Bent. Blackburn look to acheive a European spot. Away win.

-sunday-

TOTTENHAM v BOLTON
As much as Bolton are strong at home, so are they weak away. A Tottenham side determined to keep 4th spot should be too much for them. Home win.

-monday-

SUNDERAND v ARSENAL
Who is going to bet on Sunderland against the potential Champs of Europe? I would put my head instead of my heart to the test by saying it would be an away win.

MAN U v MIDDLESBOROUGH
Boro might just collapse and die here after playing so many games in such a short time. Though it remains to be seen on what effect the Chelsea game will have on Manchester United. Home win.

WESTBROM v WESTHAM
West Bromich are fighting for survival and pride. West Ham have been playing good football all season, but West Brom might just scrape this. Home win or draw.

Champs League Semi 2

2006-04-27T16:57:00.000+10:00

And as I predicted, Barcelona is through to the final.

Though I expected Barcalona to at least score that home, but nevertheless they are through comfortably. Their goal was rarely threatened, with the defence superbly marshalled by Rafael Marquez and Carlos Puyol. AC Milan, with all their top-name strikers have failed to break down a class act in the Barca defence.

For all the big names the top club in Catalan have, Ronaldinho, Eto'o etc, it was the defence that was a master-class today. Even the most experienced and highly-rated strikers of Shevchenko and Inazghi and the youthful talent of Gillardino barely had a sniff.

In fact, considering that Milan were chasing the tie, Barcelona were the better attacking side, when Eto'o and Ronaldinho were brillantly foiled by Brazillian World Cup 'keeper Dida. With an AC Milan 'keeper and a Barcelona defence on form, it was no surprise it ended 0-0 at the final whistle. Barcelona are through to meet Arsenal, and Milan would have to go back to Italy to realise that they simply weren't good enough.

As for the final in Paris, it's the two teams that have deserved to be there. Barcelona and Arsenal, often hailed as the best two attacking sides in Europe, have often fell short of the top honour in club football. It would be a real spectacle for the neutral. In my opinion, the two best players in the world with flair are Ronaldinho and Henry, and there is a large possibility of both of them sharing the field barring injury.

It would be a great game of football. It would definately drag in more fans than compared to the finals of Juventus VS Milan and Monaco VS Porto in the two seasons before the previous. Be prepared to be entertained! Whoever wins, its a victory for soccer.

For now, congrats to Arsenal and Barcelona for making the final.

source: GettyImages, from soccernet.com

Champs League Semis and Cheating

2006-04-26T06:58:00.000+10:00

Villareal 0 Arsenal 0

Arsenal are doing what Liverpool did last season, going to the final on the back of strong defensive displays and playing games just to get results like goal-less draws. It is boring, but efficient. And credit to them, they played their tactics to perfection.

Arsenal did well to keep the game goal-less and advance through to the final in Paris thanks to a 1-0 aggregate win, thanks to some poor finishing by the opposition and a world-class penalty save by Lehmann. I would have put my money on Riquelme to put that penalty away, but Lehmann did all so well. When you have big games and big moments, it's the big players with stand up, and Lehmann did just that.

One down side of Arsenal's team was Gael Clichy I feel. He was the worse Arsenal player on the pitch. And I was thinking that even before he gave away that clumsy penalty. There is good reason why Wenger plays Flamini - a natural midfielder - in the void left by Ashley Cole instead of a natural left-back in Clichy. But since he is just coming back from injury, I would hold back much of the criticism.

So Arsenal will march into the final and I predict will play Barcelona - as most people would - but AC Milan is no easy time for the Catalans. But home advantage on top of their 1-0 away win should see them through. I wouldn't go as far as trying to predict the score, but I would just say Barcelona should win. Barca-Arsenal in the final would be a real spectacle of class attacking football, though on paper Barcelona look to be the team with the edge thanks to the more experienced players. But talk of a Barca-Arsenal showdown is a bit premature. We shall find out if Barcalona indeed overcome Milan in 24 hrs time.

And thing to address is cheating in soccer. There are many ways to cheat, the one under the microscope recently is diving and whether or not to kick the ball out. Both had a part to play in this morning's game. I feel the Spanish players are too theatric when it comes to falling down. One example is Gilberto's lash out at - was it Arruaberrana? - and true you shouldn't lash out at your opponent, but the Villareal player went down like he had been shot.

If I was the referee, I would have booked half te Villareal players for simulation, if not diving. They roll on the ground for as long as possible, and hope the opposition will kick the ball out and they can regroup. Reyes did that a couple of times too, is it something about Spain and theatre?

To be fair to Arsenal, they had to kick the ball out of play quite a bit because of that even though they were having the run of play. And they should well have done so because of the incidents in the London Derby against Tottenham, when the latter scored whilst two Arsenal players will struggling on the pitch. A soccernet.com poll asked if Tottenham cheated, or did nothing wrong. I didn't know what to vote for, because technically, they didn't cheat, nor did they do anything wrong. They were merely unsportsmanlike.

But given the number of players who roll on the ground due to the slighest touch, it is no surprise that some teams get impatient with these kind of players; and knowing that if they kick the ball out of play, the opposition can regroup sufficiently. So I don't really blame them for playing on sometimes, but it was cruel on Arsenal though, who looked to have players genuinely injured.

It wouldn't matter though if Arsenal win the Champions League and Tottenham finish fourth, because Arsenal will still go to the Champions League next season ahead of Tottenham.

We'll see though how things unfold in the next 4 games for Arsenal. For now, it's well done for making the semis!

FA Cup Semi-Final

2006-04-23T23:06:00.000+10:00

Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2

[I could only find copyrighted photos of this match, so I can't put anything up without permission, but you can see the photos on thesun.co.uk or soccernet.com]

I was laughing when the read reports about the match when they said Luis Garcia knocked Chelsea out of the cup competition – and this time the ball crossed the line (soccernet.com). That tells the story of how Liverpool have beaten Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final to face either West Ham or Middlesborough in the final.

Chelsea didn’t play well at all, or maybe it was a mistake of tactics by ‘the Special One’. Before the game I was telling my close friend that Chelsea should deploy their wingers to catch out Liverpool relatively slow full-backs. To no surprise, Liverpool fielded Steve Finnan, who isn’t the fastest full-back and John Arne Riise, though skilful, would also lack pace against the young Arjen Robben. However, Mourinho decided to leave his wingers Duff, Robben and Joe Cole on the bench. And expectedly changed his tactics to accommodate his wingers in the second half.

But take no credit away from Liverpool. Harry Kewell, before he broke down for his groin – we have yet to know how bad the injury is – had an outstanding game, beating players, cutting inside and delicious long passes, one that comes to mind is the cross-field pass to Gerrard who cut the ball back to an unmarked Luis Garcia, but he fired over that time.

The little Spanish attacking mid-fielder did make amends though by scoring the winner in a game Liverpool thoroughly deserved to win. It was expected to be a tight game, and mistakes were what were going to be the difference. And in truth, that was what happened. First the free-kick given away by John Terry was needless, and arguably a bit harsh, but Riise made them pay with a freekick that went through the wall. 2 more mistakes lead to the other 2 goals. A mistimed header by Gallas, leading to Garcia’s eventual winner; and Riise’s poor headed clearance leading to Drogba’s scrambled goal.

Chelsea could have sent to the game into extra time though when Joe Cole found himself free in the box in injury time, but he lacked the composure to finish it off. It can be argued that Chelsea didn’t have the luck to finish off that move, or 2 of Drogba’s earlier misses, but the day belonged to Liverpool, who were criticised for their poor scoring form a month ago, to put away the chances that came their way. (Other than that Luis Garcia miss).

As a Liverpool fan, it would be no surprise to you that I think Liverpool deserved to go through. It would be unfair for Liverpool not to win the FA Cup after having such a good season. They improved from 5th in the league to 3rd, with a slim possibility of finishing 2nd. If Man United fall to Chelsea, and lose another game, and Liverpool win their last 3 games by ten goals more than Man United, they could go second. But like I said, it is a slim chance, but anything is possible.

To think of Liverpool going from Champions League Winner to trophy-less is unthinkable, so I hope that whoever Liverpool face in the final, they can pull off that one more Istanbul miracle.

Weekend EPL Predictions

2006-04-22T22:34:00.000+10:00

Here are my tips for this weekend:

Arsenal-Tottenham:
Home 2-1
Tips: Home, D-H

Bolton-Charlton:
Home 1-0
Tips: Home, H-H/D-H;

Everton-Birmingham:
Home 2-0
Tips: Home, Home -1.5, H-H;

Newcastle-WestBrom:
Home 2-0
Tips: Home, Home -1.5;

Portsmouth-Sunderland:
Home 1-0
Tips: Home, H-H, Goals 1/2;

FA CUP
Chelsea-Liverpool
Draw 0-0 ; Liverpool to win after regulation time.
Tips: Draw, Goals 0,1 (after full-time)

Should We Keep Robbie?

2006-04-20T22:25:00.000+10:00

3 games to go in the league, at most 2 more games in the FA Cup. That is the time frame for Robbie Fowler to earn a new contract at Anfield.

I believe the stats right now read 4 goals in 7 starts. It is a similar stat to what Fowler had when he was in Anfield for his first stint. It goes to show that when he plays for a club he loves, his strike-rate will never fail to show the efforts he puts in. In Leeds and Manchester City, he did have decent strike-rates for a bench-player, but the lack of consistency didn’t make his name glow like it should.

Also, there is this quality about Robbie Fowler which all great strikers have/should have. It is the fox-in-the-box quality. He is always lurking around in the penalty box, usually not picked up, and in the right place and time to slot the ball home. Van Nistelrooy, for such a big man, strangely has that same quality, and they go to show that these instincts bring goals.

I can name a few other prolific strikers with this quality – “Pipo” Inzaghi, Michael Owen, Andy Johnson, and the list goes on. Though Andy Johnson doesn’t play at a big club, I’m still a fan of his game. He scores prolifically for Crystal Palace in ever division he has played in. Don’t look down on a player from palace I can tell you his strike-rate is much better than a lot of highly paid strikers I know – (16goals/34games, 21/38, 32/47, 14/33 in seasons in reverse chronological order.)

But the subject of the matter is Robbie Fowler. He is the type of player every club needs. Someone to stay in the box, and not be picked out, and tap the ball home. He does score his spectacular once in a while to show his quality, but stats don’t lie – when you score the way he does, he know you got a quality player already. One reason I can think of that he didn’t score that many in Leeds and City is because of the lack of service. Like I said, he is the type of player who merely puts the ball in the net, rarely creating something for himself like a certain Thierry Henry. In Liverpool, he is getting the service he deserves from a creative midfield quartet of Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Kewell and Luis Garcia. Combine that with the pace of Cisse, or the ball-winning ability of Crouch, then Fowler is the man to complete the job.

His age is catching up with him though, he is no longer the fox-in-the-box we once knew when I first supported the club as a boy. He’s experience does count, but if Rafa can find a young talent with the qualities of Fowler, like he is good at doing, then by all means get the youngster instead. But Fowler would always be held in high regard personally, he is the reason I wear the number 9 on my jersey!

Source of pictures: pic1 - famousmales.com, pic2 - GettyImages

Chelsea

2006-04-12T11:46:00.000+10:00

Pictures by Empics

I was reading a friend's blog about Chelsea and I do disagree to a large extent. Ever since the billionaire Russion tycoon Roman Abramovich bought over the club, it has been under intense scrutiny and pressure to perform. If money can buy success, this club will prove or disprove the statement.

I would think that the club is becoming a Real Madrid, they buy the big names, the superstars, but not neccessarily the best players. True, Essien was the African player of the year, but it was more because he played for a good club on the biggest stage. Also, he has alot of flair, pace and enery in his game to be eye-catching. Taking nothing away from his achievements, Chelsea still paid too much for him.

Their other overpriced buys include Didier Drogba, Shawn Wright-Phillips, Asier Del Horno in recent times. Drogba isn't as useless as some people describe him to be. He wasn't bought for scoring goals, as much as he was bought for a physical presence upfront. All teams need a huge strong target man. It would be great if he can score goals as well, but Drogba wasn't bought to do that. They have wingers such as Damien Duff, Arjen Robben, Joe Cole and SWP to do that; and if they need forward men who can score, look no furthur than Hernan Crespo and the much-under-rated Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The issue about target man is evident from some of the top teams in England. This is because England has such a physical league, and long balls are also played often. Liverpool, for example tried to solve that problem with Peter Crouch. Again, his goal tally isn't good, but he is not there to merely score goals such as the likes of Micheal Own or Robbie Keane to name a couple of big names. If you have a tall, strong, target man who can score, you have potentancy upfront - an example would be Ruud Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United. If you have a tall, strong, fast target man, who can pump goals in by the truckload, and has the flair of the best dribblers in the world you are blessed as a club - two such players are the famous Theirry Henry and Adriano.

However, not all big target man are blessed with quick feet, so I would defend Drogba on this one, that he doesn't score many, but he is still an asset to the team. But having said that, he is still overpriced, because if they needed just a target man to score a handful of goals, they could have gone for a 7-million-pound Peter Crouch.

SWP is an exciting player when I watched his games for Manchester City. The reason why he doesn't seem to be playing well is not because he is not a good player, it is because he doesn't have enough match-time. It's a fact that the less you play, the poorer your form. Training is different from matches in terms of intensity, concentration, pressure and many other factors. So a lack of match-time would effectively mean a poorer performance in the long run. I don't blame SWP for wanting to move to a bigger club given that his former club has been under-acheiving for seasons. But I believe he chose the wrong club with well-established wingers like Robben, Duff and Joe Cole. So it is not that the player is crap, it is the club that isn't good for him. Having said that, however, he is still too expensive for a player the club intends to be a bench-warmer.

The last player I speak about is Del Horno. I haven't been impressed with this player since his 14milion-pound move from Spain. He was much better playing in his former club Athelic Bilbao, but I suppose you have to give a player team to adapt in a new country. Unfortunately, that cannot be used to defend him against the red-card he received against Barcelona (Champions League 05/06 last 16) which effectively cost Chelsea the tie. Against Spanish opponents, he should have been familiar with their style of play, and yet disgraced the team by 'cleaning up' Leo Messi, and when they lost at home, no one expected them to beat a on-form Barcelona team in the Nou Camp.

Chelsea on the hold are doing well this season, lying the first place though they have a neck of screwing up simple games. The games against Middlesborough in the Riverside and the 0-0 draw against Birmingham spring to mind. However, other than their effiency to win, they have failed to impress me with flair, and a team with flowing football to take the breathe away. They used to be that when Arjen Robben was on form a season back. But seems like Robben has been forced to take dives now that he is heavily marked.

In my opinion, Robben is a diver, he goes down way too easily and we all remember his theatrics when he got tapped in the chin by Jose Reina of Liverpool. Okay, maybe sometimes he is taken down unfairly, but you've won the free kick, stand up and take it rather than rolling on the ground for 30seconds!

I would sum up my entry by saying that Chelsea are an efficient team, but not a team I would pay to watch. And also, their millions better buy them a title, I just don't think that they are doing it in the most effective way. With the 200million pounds more they spent than Manchester United, they should be more than just 7 points ahead in the league - which could easily reduce to 4 should the latter beat them in the showdown later this season.

Man Utd 2 Arsenal 0

2006-04-10T15:35:00.000+10:00

The scoreline says it all.

Source: Empics

Man United beat Arsenal to stay in the hunt for the premiership. Being a Liverpool supporter, I had mixed feelings about the result. I wish someone would catch that bloody arrogant Chelsea team, and proof that money is not corrupting the sport. But on the other hand, Man United are occupying Liverpool's targeted 2nd spot. And even if they manage to overtake Chelsea by some miracle, I doubt Liverpool can do the same and relegate Chelsea to 3rd. So the more Man United screw up, the better it will be for Liverpool and Chelsea.

But Arsenal was not the team to do it unfortunately. To have all the hype in the media, they failed to produce the form which sees them tear through the Champions League. Goal-less. Is it just coincidence? Or are they nothing without Mr Thierry Henry?

Henry's introduction to the game was a little too late I feel, and I think I speak for most of the Arsenal fans. But unfortunately playing so many games already this season, and back to back high-energy games against Aston Villa and Juventus, he deserves a rest. But indeed in a crunch match against United was not the time to be resting him.

Rooney stole the show instead, but scoring a classy goal and setting up another. Even Ruud Van Nistelrooy, restored to the line-up after a long rest could not produce a showing like Rooney against one of his great opponents - we all remember the incident when he got mauled by the Arsenal players after missing a penalty and getting Viera sent off.

I had predicted a 1-1 draw for this game, but tipping hasn't been going my way recently, so I wasn't surprised I lost. I just hope Arsenal can bounce back, because they are deserving to claim 4th spot from Tottenham. In all honesty, Tottenham have played well this season, but I would like the best 4 teams from England to qualify for the Champions League. Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool Arsenal. Those are in my opinion the best four teams in England right now. And except for Arsenal, the league table is showing it.

But do not forget that Arsenal has a game in hand over Tottenham, and another game against their London rivals. They are 5 points behind now, but can overtake them if they win those two games in question. Only Blackburn is another barrier for the Arsenal team as the season draws to a close.

I'm more interested in Arsenal's fight for fourth, but do not disregard a Manchester United team determined to chase Chelsea to the very end of the race!

Talking Soccer

2006-04-10T15:20:00.000+10:00

This is a new blog by Chris Chau. I will use this as a place to talk soccer - including world news, and local news and my very own Kismis United club. Though the part about my club can be used for the Official Kismis Weblog.

There will be much to talk about - I would cover all the leagues in Europe, but focussing mainly on the English league which I'm most familiar with. And then there's the World Cup to talk about soon! So drop by often!

I will code up this page asap with a background and a more personal style of text and sidebars. I would also install a tag-board soon, but I'll recommend using the comments key. But do remember to drop by and drop your comments. I invite comments, predictions, tips anything to do with soccer!

Spread the word, 'cause Chau is talking soccer.