Alright folks,
Well at least The Apprentice is on this evening as, after a heroic amount of Smithwicks yesterday, I’m good for nothing other than ordering pizzas and flicking channels. What will the Breffmeister get up to this week eh?
Back to the football and beyond the Pool game – as most of the papers have dissected that thoroughly and I feel the pictures above and below sum up my reaction to the win for the home side – both Arsenal and Man City lost two goal leads yesterday and both are lucky their capitulations have been relegated to minor reports in today’s sports pages. However, while the Gooners can count themselves a tad unlucky, City’s expensively assembled defence continue to look very ropey and should be a huge concern to Mark Hughes.
There’s the outrageously overrated Joleon Joleon Joleon Joleeeeonnnnnnnnnn Lescott, the formerly outrageously overrated Micah Richards, alongside the distinctly average pair of Wayne Bridge and Kolo Toure; the more you see of them together, the more they don’t look like a defence that will help them into the top four.
They’ve now gone seven games without a clean sheet and surely the leadership of Richard Dunne, so brilliant in the past few years for City and continually excellent for Ireland, would have made a difference yesterday and indeed as the season moves onwards. Playing for two managers with absolute faith in him – Martin O’Neill and Giovanni Trapattoni – Dunne has excelled.
There was the suspicion that it was the owners of City rather than Hughes that wanted to usurp Dunne with Lescott; trading an established international centre back for a player who struggled whenever Everton went into Europe and who was a cause for alarm any time he touched the ball in most England appearances. Like Beckham-era Real Madrid, Louis van Gaal’s Barca and other teams have proven in the past, sides that spend money almost exclusively on banner names, with little thought to knitting a side together, tend to win precisely feck all as the season wares on.
As Pool’s season gets in to gear (he said with fingers crossed), as Chelsea kick back into action, United get a wake up call and Arsenal, well continue to be Arsenal, City may find themselves a few more dropped points away from being the new crisis club in the league.
Right, where’s that pizza menu….
Later, JJ
They’ve now gone seven games without a clean sheet and surely the leadership of Richard Dunne, so brilliant in the past few years for City and continually excellent for Ireland, would have made a difference yesterday and indeed as the season moves onwards. Playing for two managers with absolute faith in him – Martin O’Neill and Giovanni Trapattoni – Dunne has excelled.
There was the suspicion that it was the owners of City rather than Hughes that wanted to usurp Dunne with Lescott; trading an established international centre back for a player who struggled whenever Everton went into Europe and who was a cause for alarm any time he touched the ball in most England appearances. Like Beckham-era Real Madrid, Louis van Gaal’s Barca and other teams have proven in the past, sides that spend money almost exclusively on banner names, with little thought to knitting a side together, tend to win precisely feck all as the season wares on.
As Pool’s season gets in to gear (he said with fingers crossed), as Chelsea kick back into action, United get a wake up call and Arsenal, well continue to be Arsenal, City may find themselves a few more dropped points away from being the new crisis club in the league.
Right, where’s that pizza menu….
Later, JJ
6 comments:
"....as Pools season gets into gear..."??????? Fingers crossed or not, that's a bold fucking statement. I'm all for slating city and their rubbish defence......but here's a couple of cliches to cheer you up: 1.One swallow does not make a summer. and 2. People in glass houses should'nt throw stones!!!!!!
LUHG.
p.s. Crisis is a strong word but how many bad results are "the pool" away from their next one?? They could just have another march against the yanks.....it's obvious to me anyway, the problem is the 500 pound Spaniard in the corner, not the two greedy Americans.
Jaysus ya can't win at all, the fingers crossed in brackets surely tells you that I'm hoping that it will - why wouldn't I, I'm a pool fan. It's hardly a confident prediction so why pick up on it other than revelling in that bizarre obsession with Pool you seem to have LUHG? I reckon deep down Unireh fans need a few a seasons of shite football and no trophies, trust me it'll let you appreciate the good days all the more.
The yanks comment is based on what by the way? The lumbering tools have given no money to the club of note (and yes, I will point towards net spend) and underminded the manager on plenty of occassions before belatedly lending their 'full support'. I'd point you towards plenty of articles that back up that point but I doubt you'd get through the first few sentences (then again how much I'd read about united's finances is debatable so don't blame you on that)
As for city - well the total cost of Pool's defence on Sunday was about the same as what City paid for Lescott so asking the wierd haired one to defend is hardly asking too much now is it. Personally, I thought their recent record has escaped most editorials so I noted how, as the season progresses, this may become the problem that stops them from getting into the top four. Considering what they've spent this season, such a failure would constitute a crisis I'd say. Give it a few weeks, papers have to have their whipping boy.
I'll totally agree with your last sentence in the first paragraph, but I've been around long enough to remember when Old Trafford was'nt a theme park, it was a proper football ground with a shit pitch and shit football being played on it. It's not to say that I'd swap the last 15 years for anything, but, I'd gladly swap the numpties that the success has attracted. Fans of other clubs seem to think if you're a United fan, then your passion for the club is somehow diluted by trophies. Interesting to see what a few years in the doldrums would do to the muppet count at OT most weeks.
I think you're right tho, I'm becoming a little obsessed with the goings on at Anfield. Don't know what the fuck is wrong with me these days! Ever since the 4-1 I've been unable to sleep or eat, my whole life is falling apart!!
The financial issue at Liverpool is interesting though, I concede I havn't read the articles to which you refer, my only knowledge of Benitez's dealings have been through the media..is it true in his 5 years in charge he has bought in the region of 70 players?? I don't know what his net spend works out to be, but, when you look at the current squad, where are they short? Up front...it still baffles me why Robbie Keane was allowed to leave. Even Peter Crouch would give him some kind of option. Voronin and Ngog(goal aside) I'm sure you'd agree are not good enough. Surely the blame for the transfer dealings lie squarely at Benitez's door.
As for the City defence, fair enough, they spent shocking amounts of money on Toure and Lescott. But has Jamie Carragher been much better than either of those two this season? Agger is a very good defender but he seems to have trouble staying fit. Skrtel is decent too. There's nothing beetween the Goalkeepers, Reina probably just nicks it. As for the full backs, Johnson is more of a winger who can't defend and Insua seems fairly raw yet. Wayne Bridge is a decent defender. As for Micah Richards, he was always shit, it's just the fact that he's English that he got so many rave reviews far too early in his career. One of City's biggest problems seems to be defending from set-pieces, With liverpool's zonal marking they are struggling here too. Over the season Liverpool's defence will prove stronger than City's and because of that City will finish around 5th or 6th. But at the moment(and again Sunday aside) I don't think there's a lot in it. But you're right to point out that it'll be Mark Hughes who's under the most pressure come next May, simply because of the huge outlay on ordinary Premiership defenders, he tried to buy John Terry too, did'nt he?? Says it all really, does'nt it?!!
LUHG.
s much as I love Dunne, he was rubbish last season for City, can't blame Hughes for getting rid.
However, while Lescott is a good player, I reckon Everton was his level
Totally off the point.....I just found out that Sky Sports News' Natalie Sawyer is engaged to that little po faced cunt Sam Matterface!!!! What the fuck is going on in this world?? He's an ugly little bastard with a big fuckin nose, She is sooooooooo Fuckin HOT!! She's Champions League, he's Blue Square premier league!! I bet he's a brown-nosing little fucker too, he has one of those heads. I'm away to slash me wrists :)
City fan here (pre-oil, I might add). Have to agree with Mark-I suspect the owners wanted someone who put the ball in the opponents' net more than their own. Considering their obsession with attacking players (I wondered much of the summer if the Arab owners were reading 4-5-1 from right to left), Lescott's purchase is no surprise and doesn't do much for creating a top-4 defense. While top 4 this year would be nice, I think the owners' expectations are Europe this year, top 4 next year. Whether Hughes can deliver remains to be seen.
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