Generally Speaking

Just a few quick thoughts before the weekend that we hope will contain some sort of defrosted football.

The Togo National Team attacked by gunmen.  The bus driver was killed and four others injured.  Portsmouth is asking for their players back if their safety cannot be guaranteed.  Maybe I’m cynical but this is probably a case of desperate opportunism on the Portsmouth’s part.  Their situation has never been more perilous and any glimmer of hope has to look like the second coming.  If only the club was genuinely concerned about the well-being of their players.

Man City are Desperate.  Patrick Viera?  Do we really have to witness the last painful years of a former star?  Viera is not, NOT I repeat, going to answer the equation Mancini is eagerly trying to solve.  Good players who start to fall off the pace typically move to Italy instead of the way round.  What a pity.

Man United is in Debt but…it doesn’t matter.  Have you ever been in debt?  I’m in debt.  It affects everything you do.  That is unless you’re Manchester United.  As much as I love the man Sir Alex Ferguson seems to be losing his grip of late.  It seems every week he’s ranting about some referee or complaining there wasn’t eight minutes of added time.  Now he’s telling us the “this should be illegal” amount of debt the Glazer family incurred when they bought United does not affect his day to day transfer dealings.  If you owed 700 million and cashed in on an 80 million asset wouldn’t you want to take a chunk off of your shiver and sweat inducing interest payments?  Sure you would.

I suppose that’s all for now.  What a crazy a week it’s been.

Impending Failure, Liverpool are still Crap

Everyone once in a while I whip out one of my “Season Review” DVDs to remind myself of how far my club has come.  Everything has to come to an end though.  Life, and Football, is all about cycles.  In Sport its impossible to maintain total dominance.  There is always a flux where certain players do well, others do poorly and some circumstances just can’t be replicated (I’m thinking a beachball on the pitch that magically deflects a save-able shot into the net).  Sport always changes. That’s why we love it.

I can’t help but think that Chelsea will win the League this year much in the same way United won last year.  They will be the only team that is able to show consistency and therefore limp over the finish line before any of the other teams can drag themselves across.

Liverpool are crap, Arsenal are great at smashing anyone who doesn’t actually matter, Manchester United win despite their best efforts and  Tottenham, Aston Villa and Manchester City are fooling themselves if they think they’ll get anywhere near the pinnacle of England.

Manchester United will prove to be a challenger but will fail.  As a club they have a wonderful ability to beat teams despite appearing to not care either way (Wayne Rooney apart).  The only way Chelsea won’t win is if they manage to trip themselves up as they have done in the previous two seasons.

The Conclusion:

Chelsea are still winning convincingly

Arsenal are happy to beat teams when they’re allowed to

Manchester United have the momentum of three straight titles pushing them forward and over their opposition, but will it last?

And Liverpool: you may have noticed through the number of times I bring it up but Liverpool are crap.  They most definitely peaked last season.  They should be proud of their runner-up spot to Manchester United last year.  It will certainly be their best finish for some time to come.

How much is too much?

Do you know how to say “stop”?  Do you have wil power?  I don’t.

So what games did I catch this weekend? Well Saturday included the following:
Aston Villa v Chelsea
United v Bolton along with Sunderland v Liverpool (Web stream and TV simultaneously.  You would think sensory overload but no…)
Real Madrid v Valladolid
Toronto FC v Real Salt Lake

And then on Sunday:
Blackburn v Burnley
Wigan v Man City
AC Milan v Roma

I can’t say that a significant thought came from watching all this football however I can say for certain that left to my own devices I will watch any type of football on offer.

I did make an effort to expand my horizons and filled those endless halftimes and pre/post match interview with FIFA 09, my favourite video game.

I think there are support groups for people like me…