World Cup Quarter Final matches Update

As it is, we have witness 3 quarter final matches with two unexpected results. Both South American giant nations (Brazil and Argentina) have been eliminated at the quarter final stage. The other team that has made it through to the semi final is Uruguay.

For Brazil, they actually played well in the first half of the game and was dominating the game and Holland looks like they were out of it. Only after the mistake made by the Brazil defence that led to the own goal before Holland started to force themselves back into the game. In general, Brazil elimination was caused by two defensive errors on their part as well as the stupidity of the defender Melo to stamp on the dutch player.

For the elimination of Argentina, they were torn apart by the incisive passing of the youthful German midfield. It looks like Ballack injury which rule him out of the world cup is a blessing in disguise. Due to his injuries, they were able to use the outstanding Muller together with Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger which gave the midfield more energy and cutting edge. Germany has been outstanding in the elimination phase by trashing England ( old rival) by 4 goals to 1 and against Argentina the score was an emphatic 4 nil win. Looking at the age profile of the German team, this could be a team which will be a major force in World Football for the next decade.

For Uruguay, they were lucky to make it to the semi final. If it was not for the striker who intentionally blocked the goal bound shot, they would have been eliminated as the attempt came close to the end of extra time.

The last quarter final will be played later this evening between Spain and Paraguay. Based on form guide, Spain should have this match wrapped up without too much of a hassle. However based on the recent results throughout the world  cup, anything is possible.

  

World Cup 2010 End of Group stage

Now after the group stages are over, we are in the business end of the world cup. Elimination time !
Some of the big name countries which have not made it through the group stages are Italy, Serbia and France as well as some of the African teams such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Out of all the teams which were eliminated, France is really a sorry sight. They had infighting within the team and the management as well as players who were not motivated to play their best. For Italy, the main reason they are not through to the next round is mainly because they could not beat New Zealand as well as their normally water tight defence did not come to fore. It could be due to the lost of influential keeper Buffon in the first match which hurt them quite a bit. Another problem that Italy suffered is due to in-sufficient creative midfielder who could break down tight defences.

For Serbia, they were not consistent throughout the group stage hence were eliminated.

Two of the second round games have been completed and both Uruguay and Ghana has made it to the quarter final at the expense of South Korea and USA respectively. South Korea were close to eliminating Uruguay as they had two excellent one to one chances with the keeper before Uruguay scored their winning goal. Uruguay seem to be contented to sit back after taking the lead and were lucky to win this game as a team with a better poacher in front of goal would have taken one of the 2 chances on offer. For Ghana, they managed to be the flag bearer for the African continent by beating the USA who unfortunately were not able to come back a second time after their equalizer at 1 -1.

For tonight game, it is a crunch match between two European rivals, England and Germany. There have been many memorable games in the past and should be a high intensity match. This is a match that is difficult to call as we do not know which England team will show up. Germany will play their attacking football against the English. This match should be a cracker. I think it will end up a draw.

Hopefully the games will get more exciting as there is no benefit playing for a draw now.

World Cup 2010 South Africa ( Group Stage)

It is now about the mid-way point in the group stages of the world cup. This world cup has been quite boring in general with the exception of a few games such as matches involving Argentina and Germany. The average goals per game is about 2 goals maximum.

In general, a lot of the teams seem to be happy to sit back on a goal lead and hope to win on the counter. This led to a lot of the games meandering to draw or low scoring games. I wonder if it is due to some of the teams are still adapting to the altitude and weather condition that some of the games are been held.

It seems that the goal keeping errors have been leading to a number of goals. Example are the goal conceded by Robert Green as well as the Japan GK error in the match against Holland. I wonder if it is partially due to the new ball used in this world cup as a lot of the mistakes seem to be due to a misjudgement of the ball trajectory or after bounce.

In general, the European teams have been quite a letdown in terms of their performance especially the big teams. France and England come to mind. France seems to be on a downward slide for a couple of years as now the team looks very disjointed and a lot of infighting within the team. For England, their performance against USA and Algeria has been dismal. It seems that England has lost their qualification form and making it very difficult for themselves to qualify for the next round. For Spain, after their unexpected defeat to Switerland, they will need to buck up else they may not make it to the next round.

A pleasant surprise has been the performance of teams from Asia and Central America. Both Japan and South Korea managed to get their first world cup win on foreign soil. North Korea had a good match against Brazil. Mexico and USA has performed quite well in their 2 games.

Argentina has been playing some of the most gung ho soccer in the tournament. The only worry that they may have is their defence seems not very solid and both Nigeria and South Korea could have caused more grief for them if their finishing was better.

Hopefully as the tournament proceeds to the knock out phase, there will be more excitement and brillant goals and less of goalkeeping errors.

Last lap for the Championship in the BPL

This has been one of the most fascinating Barclays English Premier League season. The race for the Champion has been a close fight between 3 clubs. ( Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea)

The race for the fourth spot has also been a keen battle between a number of clubs ( Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Tottenham)

For this season, the top clubs seem to be dropping many more points than normal. Wonder is it due to the quality of the overall league is getting better or the top teams are getting weaker.

For Arsenal performance, they have been inconsistent throughout the season. They have dropped points against their nearest rivals as well as some unexpected teams. One reason could be due to the many injuries suffer by their various departments over the season. Another weakness is also due to the keeper inconsistency as he has made a couple of howlers in the season which does not inspire confidence in the backline.

For Manchester United, although it pains me to say it but really Manu have become over reliant on the use of star players for the offensive side of their game. Ronaldo has been carrying Manu offense for the last two seasons. This year Rooney has done very well to take over the mandate. However this also lies the problem, when Rooney is injured, there is a significant loss in cutting edge.

Even though Valencia has been a solid signing but the loss of Ronaldo as well as Tevez has been quite significant. In addition, the existing midfielders has not really managed to up their offensive game. A major downside has been the influence of Carrick. He was supposed to be the main creative force in the centre of midfield but his performance has been quite bad. Park and Fletcher has been playing well but their main role is to strengthen the centre of midfield from a defensive point of view. There is not much creativity in the centre of the park. This caused Manu to attack by the flank most of the time which makes it predictable for opposition.

For Chelsea, it can be said that out of the 3 teams, it is the most experienced as well as the strongest in depth as their bench is full of experience international. They also have suffered from players who suffered major injuries such as the loss of Essien and Ashley Cole. They have recovered well from a blip in the second half of the season.

Chelsea has just beaten Manu and are 2 points ahead with 5 games left. Based on the fixture list, their toughest assignment will be going to Anfield and not get beaten as they have a superior goal difference than Manu.

Manu have some tough games coming up which are away such as the Manchester Derby as well as Tottenham away.

Arsenal has relatively easiest run in to the end of the season. However they will need both Manu and Chelsea to drop a few points. It maybe possible for one of the two to drop a couple of points but not likely to have both teams dropping enough points for Arsenal to overtake them.

Chelsea is in a very strong position for the title. However based on this unpredictable season, both sets of Manchester United and Arsenal fans must be hoping for a last minute twist for the race for the title.

Random post about Yahoo Fantasy Football

I am sure some of the people watching the BPL do play some of the online Fantasy League games where you either pick 11 players or 14 players from the pool of all available players in the BPL. The choice of players will be limited based on a 100 pts system.

The objective of the game is to pick the individual players whom you think will perform the best for a particular week. The only constraint as mention above is the whole team total worth is 100 pts.

I have already played it for 2 seasons yet I still not able to get the hang of it.
It seems this game favour players who keep on shooting since the points awarded for a goal is 7 pts but an assist is only 3 pts. Playing this game makes us support more on individual then an overall team performance.

I have tried choosing players where the allocation is focus on two areas (striker and midfielder) and for the rest of the position it is really picking the players to fill the numbers. I have also tried going for an all rounder team allocation. However none seem to work well :(

If there are any other people who is playing this game and is able to advice on the best strategy I am all ears for it :)

Opinion on Arsenal performance in the BPL in the 08/09 season

This year is one of the most competitive season in the BPL. So far what has happen is Chelsea unbeatable home record of unbeaten run has been put to an end by Liverpool. Manchester United is shaky but still on the tailcoat of Chelsea and Liverpool. ( Liverpool is doing very having beaten both Manchester United and Chelsea)

Not only at the top, the gap between the bottom club and the middle table team, is a gap of only 8 points. Therefore if any of the bottom team is able to string a few good results, they will immediately be out of the relegation zone.

However there is one team from the big 4 which has been the most inconsistent is Arsenal.


The below is a screenshot of the league as of the 18th of November.

Arsenal this season has been blowing hot and cold. They are able to beat Manchester United but are losing to teams like Stoke and Hull city. Stoke and Hull City are teams which in previous seasons, Arsenal will outplayed these teams and beat them convincingly. In this season, the Arsenal team seems to be lacking a cutting edge in the final third. They are still maintaining their high standard of intrigue passing and fast movement in the midfield and defence but once it goes to the opposition half, there seem to be something lacking.

In my opinion, Arsenal is crossing more often in the box especially if Walcott is in the team which is something some commentator has criticized them previouslyas lacking width. However, there is usually one player in the box when the cross come in. As a result, the cross is wasted. Their main striker Adebayor is usually not in the penalty box. It can get frustrating at times when you see the sole target man is not in the box but is on the flank. Whether this is intentionally setup in this way so that like Henry previously the main striker will cut from the flank and cause problem for the opposition, however in my opinion Adebayor is not the same type of player.

Therefore in recent matches his effectiveness is less apparent. In addition, the defense of Arsenal seems to be shaky in the last few games. They have been conceding quite a lot of goals. It seem strange that now Toure is on the bench when he was outstanding in center defence in the last few seasons. Gallas has been caught out for a few of the goals.

Arsenal really have a great youth system and there is talent abundance. However in the current condition, they are too inconsistent to last a title race and they do not have a plan B once their silky football is unable to make a breakthrough unlike Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Arsenal will always entertain the fans with their play but are unlikely to win a leagu title unless they add some steel into their team to lead the team when the going gets tough. All the other teams have such a player, example Chelsea has Terry and Lampard, Liverpool has Gerrard and Manchester United has Gary Neville, Giggs, Rooney.

Taking everything into consideration, Arsenal is only a bit behind Manchester United so it is not all gloom.

The future is bright for Arsenal but whether the fans can tolerate a fourth season without any silverware remains to be seen.

This should be a very exciting race for the title.

Opinion on Euro 2008

Tonight is the final between Germany vs Spain. It should be an entertaining final as both teams have been playing attacking football throughout the tournament.

One of the more refreshing thing in this tournament is the determination by the majority of teams to play attacking football. They will not sit back after taking a goal lead. They will go for the kill and try to claim a decisive win.

In this tournament, one of the surprise so far is the performance of the Russian team. Excluding the first match and the semi final defect both times to Spain, they were really outstanding against the rest of the teams. One of the best matches was the Holland vs Russia game. It was end to end stuff and the passing movement was so fluid.

The other surprise team is tonight finalist Spain. The usual under achiever is playing some of the most fluid football and in my opinion when Cesc Fabregas is playing Spain play a level of football that no team could cope with.

The disappointing teams in this tournament are some of the big guns such as the aging Italy and France sides as well as the Czeh republic.

For the first two teams, I felt that they were counting on too many of their aging stars to pull them through. This is especially true for France which had many of the first team players were from previous world cup and euro teams.

For the Czeh side, they were unlucky in their final game vs Germany as I felt that they had a very strong midfield especially with Modric in the team. He is really outstanding and will be a great addition for Spurs in the coming season in the EPL.

There is no real standout player in this tournament so far and it seems like the team is been given precedence ahead of individualism.

May the best team win the final

Opinion on Grand Slam Sunday in the EPL: Manu vs Liverpool and Chelsea vs Arsenal

In two days time, it will be what is term as Grand Slam Sunday as the top four teams in the EPL will battle it out against each other which will have a huge bearing to where the championship will be heading to.



The below is the screenshot of the current table as of the 22/3/08. Currently in first is Manu with a 3 point lead. They are followed closely by Arsenal and Chelsea and slightly further back is Liverpool who has regained their form over the last few weeks.

The first match to preview is the Manu vs Liverpool game. This is in normal times a very intensive game but to add on to the intensity of this game is the timing of the game as well as the gap at the top.

In recent weeks, after a mid-season slump, Liverpool has hit the road and is back in a big way. They have recently went on a run of 7 successive wins and are in buoyant mode as they are scoring for fun with the new front pairing of Torres and Gerrard as the free role attacking midfielder. A win at their bitter rivals Manu would provide an additional boost to the Liverpool players that they may come out of nowhere and win the League title.

On the other hand, Manu in the last few games have developed a worrying wastefulness in front of goal which led to the elimination from the FA cup and the narrow wins against Bolton and Derby which in all honesty are quite fragile in terms of their defence. Only the individual brillance of Ronaldo is driving the team towards the Championship.

Therefore in a way we could say this could be one of the worst time for Manu to meet Liverpool. The situation would have been much difference if the fixture was a month ago.

The below is my opinion on what are the potential problem that Manu could face .

1. If Manu regular center half pairing is not able to recover in time for the game, Torres could have a field day in attacking Manu if he is on the ball as the replacement will have a harder time coping with the brilliant running of Torres and Gerard.
2. In recent games, Fergi has been trying out a number of combination for centre midfield. If the combination is not selected with utmost care, Liverpool which has an abundance of talent in centre midfield ( Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso) will dominate the center midfield. If that happens, Manu will be in big trouble.
3. Another area of concern would be the choice of the wingers. If they choose both Nani and Ronaldo, there is a high chance that these players will take the ball and charge to opposition territory. This is more of a direct route and will lead to less intricate passing in the midfield which is something useful to help remove the attention of the opposition players. Another potential weakness about the direct route is that a lot of the manu midfielders will go up and support and if Liverpool are able to take the ball of the dribblers, it will lead to a rapid counter-attack which Liverpool are very good at.
4. In attack, Manu stiker has hit a lean spell with the exception of Ronaldo, Liverpool could mark Ronaldo out and Manu would effectively be toothless in attack as they lack a finisher upfront. ( Someone in the mold of Ruud)

The below are the potential problem that Liverpool could face:

1. Ronaldo. He is the main threat that they have to watch out and they cannot afford to give too many direct free-kicks from 25 to 30 yards out.
2. If for some reason, Gerard and Torres are not on top form, it will be hard for liverpool to sustain attacking pressure on Manu defence. These two players performance will likely determined the performance of Liverpool.
3. Rafa himself. He has to decide on his team setup and the mentality they approach the game. A wrong choice in midfielder could be critical to Liverpool.

Based on the past history, Liverpool has not beaten manu in the league for a few years already and their last win was 2 years ago in an FA cup tie. However this game will be very close and to be honest during the last few meetings with Liverpool, Manu rode their luck and won games with a very late goal from John O'Shea last year.

As a Manu fan, I am hoping that we can continue the winning streak against Liverpool but it will be a very tough matchup. ( Doubt that there will be many goals)

For the second game between Chelsea vs Arsenal, it will be another tight affair. Chelsea has not lost at home for a very long time. It is a fortress for them.

In the recent matches, Chelsea defence has not looked so solid as evident from the last outing against Tottenham which they considered 3 goals from set play which previously Chelsea was fantastic at defending it. However their attack is still very strong and with Joe Cole and Frank Lampard in hot form, they will cause any defence problems.

Arsenal in the last few weeks with the exception of the Milan game has not been outstanding. They have drawn 3 times in a row against opposition that they were expected to beat. The surprising thing is that in these 3 games, Arsenal did not manage to dominate the games for long period and also need not create their usual array of chances for their forwards to finish.

Based strictly on form, Chelsea should have the upper hand since they are also at home. However Arsenal is one team you do not write off as can be seen from their performance against Milan on their day, they are nearly unplayable.

Therefore I have a sneaky feeling that this match will be a draw. ( Maybe because I am a Manu fan and the best result is a draw :)

Anyway it will be a great Sunday evening of top class football although goals could be a premium.

Opinion on the sack race in the EPL

Currently the EPL is into the business part of the season as what a lot of manager term it as it is in the December and January timeframe that will make or break clubs aspiration and dreams.

However we already seen so many managers leaving the club in which they were in charge at the beginning of the season. Even now there is quite a lot of speculation with regard to Sam's reign at Newcastle, whom in my opinion is a every good manager. (See how he developed Bolton from a lower league club to a club which is established in the EPL). Till recently, there was quite a bit of supposed clamouring from the upper management of liverpool hierachy to get rid of Rafa when he requested for additional transfer funds.

In addition, the below are a few examples managers have already left their original job at the start of the season.

1. Jose Mourinho (Chelsea he brought them one of their most successful preiod in their history winning 2 EPL titles as well as the FA cup and the league cup and also progress in the Champion League)
2. Martin Jol ( He brought stability as well as a brand of attacking football to spurs)
3. Billy Davies ( Derby manager who brought them from the mid table to a playoff promotion to the EPL)
4. Sammy lee (Bolton due to poor start of the season and players under performance)

In the case of Sam at Newcastle, the current situation he is facing is something which is a problem which has plagued Newcastle for quite sometime which is a leaky defence and the need to play attacking gung ho football.

I feel that for fans to be clamouring for his sacking so early in the season would be a mistake, as you will need time to get the players on your side as well as to have the new players brought in to adapt to the style of play required. He should be given a period of time to put his style of football into the team and not be lambasted when the team is not playing the gung ho attacking football that the fans enjoy.

For Jose, his untimely departure is even more of a waste for Chelsea. He was without doubt one of the best managers available but left when the upper echelon in the club wants to have more say in the matter of the style of football and the players to be brought in. In my opinion, the idea of having a sporting director which makes the signing is not one which seems to be working. This is because when a manager builds his team, the best person who can make judgement on the players required will still be the manager himself. When you have a second party vending through the options available, there is a likelihood that the manager first choice may not be the one brought in.

It seems that now in the league, managment and fans expectation for success is very high and once there is a slight drop in the requirement, the chances of the manager getting the boot is higher than it ever has been. This is not a healthy trend to develop as a club will not have a stable platform to work on not to mention the various compensation packages that need to be paid out when a whole team of support staff is removed when a new manager is brought in. In addition, there could be also unrest among the players as their future become unclear which could affect the performance of the players.

I believe before the end of the current season, we will be seeing at least among two sacking.

ManU early season crucial match with an additional sting in the tail !

As you know, this Sunday is the first big match for Manu against the big four. The opponent is Chelsea. At any time of the season, this would have the billing of a clash of the titan game. However with the latest development at Chelsea, the mutual departure (hmmm.. or sacking) of the special one <>, it makes this match even more high profile. To be honest, the timing of the departure, is a bit of the shock. You do not sack any manager so early in the season and especially not one with the track record of Jose. Guess there could be other reasons behind the season other than a less than satisfactory start to the season.

The latest development is that Grant together with Steve Clarke will manage Chelsea. This is actually quite a surprising development. I would have expected Roman to have got a more high profile/ established manager as the team manager since the team has quite a number of strong character. Furthermore if you are getting rid of such a well-respected manager, the replacement must be at least as capable as the previous one so that the players also have faith in the new manager decision.

This change of manager could turn out to be a double edge sword for Manu. There is one school of thought that the first match under a new regime, the team will play very well as they want to impress the new boss. This will make the Manu game even tougher than usual.

To be honest, Manu has also not been playing that well and they have been grinding out result ( somthing like Chelsea previously). Hecne this game could turn out to be crucial to Manu season, a good win against Chelsea will build up the belief and confidence in the team which will carry Manu through the season.

A bad performance and people will start to question Fergi as they will be playing an under-strength Chelsea without Lampard and Drogba.

This should be a tense game and I believe that a single goal will settle the game.

Hope it will be a win for Manu :)

Opinion on Manchester United stuttering start to the season

This season for the first two weeks of the EPL, there has been some shocking and surprising results. For example, Manchester United been held to a draw to Reading at home and the shock loss for Tottenham against Sunderland on the fist game of the reason.

The surprising team so far in the season has to be the performance of Manchester City.

However this post is more looking at the poor start made by Manchester United. ManU first three games are two draws against Reading and Portsmouth and a derby away defeat. The common theme in all three matches is that Manu dominated the control of the game but there were not that many good shooting chances. A lot of the time the shots had to be made outside the penalty box. There were also a number of occasions that the final pass made in the opposition penalty box is wayward or easily intercepted. A lot of fans are blaming the lack of a proper striker ever since Ronney was injured in the first game and the problem was further compounded by the loss of Ronaldo for 3 games after his red card in the second game.

This reason I feel is quite valid. Ever since the loss of Ruud, Manu has been playing without a targetman upfront. It was able to work last reason due to the great scoring success of Ronaldo from midfield. However with the teams in the EPL getting more used to the style of play of Manu they know that Manu is highly unlikely to hit 50/50 balls into the penalty box which mean that whoever manu play upfront there is no real need to mark very tightly on him as Manu is more likely than not to try to pass their way to goal. Currently the only striker that seem to be able to play the so called target man would be either saha or ronney but neither of them is prolific.

I feel another reason for the poor start is due to the poor pre-season preparation. Firstly they came to Asia for their pre-season which meant that they were playing games against not so strong opposition and there is also a lot of wasted time wasted flying from country to country which could have been better used for training. In addition, the new signings except Nani did not join these training games due to injuries which made the integration of the new players into the team more difficult.

After they returned to England, they had two friendlies which were against stronger team which are Intermilan and Chelsea( Charity shield is just a high profile friendly) which Manu did not do so well. After which during the one week before the EPL, they arranged friendlies against weak opposition from the lower divisions where they had the team split into half to play two friendlies at the same time. This did not help in building teamwork among the team in a match situation as they would have only played as a team during training but not in match situation. This could explain the number of misplaced passes in the first few games that have been played.

In summary, the poor start could be blamed on the injuries suffer upfront as well as the poor pre-season training. Hopefully the team will improve in the next few games else the title chase will be over by September.

Opinion on Manchester United signing in the off season

In the off season, Manchester United was the first team among the top four teams in the EPL to have made some very significant signings. To summarise they have signed Nani from Sporting, Anderson from Porto, Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich and confirmed the signing of the on-loan keeper from West Brom Tomasz Kuszczak. Currently they are trying to pursue the signing of Carlos Tevez from West Ham.

With regard to Tomasz Kuszczak, from the few occasions that I have seen him play when he was on loan last season as well as during his time at West Brom, he looks a good shot stopper. One of his potential weakness is that he does not seem to be able to handle crosses very well. In addition, he is not that dominating in the air when he comes to collect crosses. Overall, I think he is ok as a deputy.

With regard to the long awaited signing of Owen Hargreaves, I think that it is a good move in general. Ever since Roy Keane left Manu, Manu has lost a key focal point in the centre of the midfield. There has been no one one has been able to perform consistently as the covering person for the back four.

The purpose of such a position is to be the holding midfielder to protect the back four and to distribute the ball to the more flair players in the attacking portion of the field. Fergi has tried so many players in that position. Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes to name a few of the players who have tried to fill up this position. It seem that Paul Scholes was the closest to filling this role as he was mainly used in this position last season. However there are two main downsides to using him in that position. Firstly his timing of tackle is quite bad to be honest. ( The only skill he seem to be unable to really improve) Secondly, playing him in the withdrawn role will mean that you will lose his attacking foray around the penalty box which is one of his better ability.

With the signing of Owen Hargreaves who has been playing in this withdrawn role for both Bayern Munich and as well as for England, it will free Paul Scholes to go back to his more favoured attacking position. It will allow Manu to have someone who can compete in the centre of the midfield in terms of control of the centre of midfield as last season, there were a few games in Manu were overpowered in the centre of the midfield. The best example was against AC milan where Gattuso dominated the midfield and was one of the key reason why Milan was able to beat Manu. In addition, all the top teams in European football have a dominating ball winner in the centre of the park. For example, Gilberto for Arsenal, Essien or Claude Makelele for Chelsea, Gattuso for AC Milan, Mohamed Sissoko for Liverpool and Mahamadou Diarra for Real Madrid.

For the signing of Nani, to be honest I have only watched him in action once or twice in the Portugal international games. From the few matches, it is noticeable that his style of play is very similar to Cristiano Ronaldo. Like his compatriot, he is a player who likes to hug the touchline and to take on defenders and then to cut in to take a shot or pass. I believe that Fergi will use him as an impact player for his first season in Manu while he tried to help him to cope to the physical nature of the English game. In the long term, he should be the replacement for Giggs on the left of the mid-field. Hence this signing is more in mind of the future and should be a good move in general.

The last of the confirmed signing is the signing of Anderson from Porto. According to the news report he is supposed to be the next Ronaldinho but to be honest he has not been that high profile last season due to a broken leg suffered last season. He is a bit of the unknown quality and hopefully he is able to adapt to the English game as actually there has been quite a few South American who has not been able to adapt to the English game. A few high profile names come to mind. Players like Veron, Forlan, Silvinho formerlt from Arsenal and even Gilberto Silva took more than a season to adapt to the English game. He is someone who can be a big success or become another high profile failure. Like Nani, he will only be used sparingly as Paul Scholes and Carrick are currently playing the attacking midfield position

The last potential signing could be Carlos Tevez. As of now, West ham has not agreed to sell him to Manu and FIFA is going to be called in to push through the transfer. It is qute a messy affair at the moment and the end does not seem to be in sight. However from his last season performance for West Ham, he will be a valuable signing for Manu. However whether he is what Manu require for a striker is something that needs further examining.

Opinion on the awarding of the EPL player and team of the year award

The result of the EPL annual end of season is shown below:

PFA Player and Young Player of the Year 2007 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2007 - Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra (all Man Utd); Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Man Utd) & Steven Gerrard (Liverpool); Didier Drogba (Chelsea) & Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham)

With regard to these awards I have a few opinions. Firstly, I wonder why is this award given before the end of the season since these awards are supposed to encapsulate the best overall consistent performance for the season.

Secondly, from my understanding these voting are carried out in the month of January by the PFA Representative. If that is the case, how accurate would the assessment be at that time if you are talking about the whole season. You would only be voting for the players which have been performing well up to that stage of the season. A more accurate gauge would be if the voting exercise were carried out in April or May instead and the award ceremony in late May or June.

With regard to the player of the year and the young player of the year, I guess that there is not much of a complaint as Ronaldo has been by far the most exciting player to watch this season. He has shown maturity in his player and there are more end products following his fanciful trickery. He also seem to have gain an upper body strength which was not apparent when he first arrived in Manu.

With regard to the team of the year, I felt that there are too many players from the same team and if you noticed all the players are from the big teams of England.

For the centre back position, I think that Jamie Carragher would have been more appropriate than Rio. Jamie has been a pillar at the back for Liverpool for the last two seasons. He may not be as skillful but his reading of the game and his commitment is plain for all to see.

For the left back position, I feel that Matthew Taylor would have been a more worthy contender as he has been quite solid at the back and when he go forward to attack, no defence should leave him unmarked as he has one of the most lethal left foot in the league. His goals inadvertently are spectacular in nature.

For the goal keeper position, I feel that there are a few other keeper that could have been in that position. Players for example Shay Given and Tim Howard would have been potential players if there were in the bigger clubs.

For midfield, the only one I disagree with would be the addition of Gerrard. He has not been that outstanding in the middle of the part as he has been played out right for some parts of the season. I felt that Fabregas is more deserving a place in the centre of midfield as he has at times carried Arsenal in the absence of Henry this season.

Anyway that is about slightly more than a month left in the season. It will be a nail-biting end of the season for the title. So far it has been one great ride and long may it continue!!

Opinion on this season EPL title race

This season in the EPL it has been quite a fascinating season. During the pre-season, there were talks that this was going to be the tightest race for the title ever. The reason being that Manu were going to be stronger after last season experience, Chelsea with the addition of Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, Arsenal who made it to the final of last season champion league and Liverpool with the addition of a few quality players. The other teams like Tottenham, West Ham, Blackburn, Bolton also added some quality players and were expected to pull a few upsets over the big four. That was during pre-seaon.

Now currently, West Ham after sleeping for 3 quarter of the season is showing signs of picking up to avoid relegation instead of a place in Europe. Arsenal and Liverpool have fallen by quite a distance in the title race. For Arsenal case, they lost a number of key players to long term injury and were counting too much on the youth team to maintain a run. For Liverpool, their early season away form killed any chance to mount a title run. Tottenham for the players that they have are also too inconsistent to do anything for a title race.

For Manu and Chelsea, it has been a great season for both teams they went on long runs of been unbeaten in the competition that they were involved and even in April, Manu is still in contention for three of the competition and Chelsea having won the league cup is also still in contention for the three competition that are still ongoing. Both teams have approached their matches with different mentality. For Manu, they approach a game with the more gung ho approach of trying to win their opponent by scoring as many goals as possible. Chelsea' approach is the more pragmatic approach of trying to score a goal then seat back and prepare to score the next goal on a rapid counter-attack. This could explain on the goal differences between the two teams.

After such a long time, where both Manu and Chelsea were taking turns to win their respective games, the first team to fumble in the final track is Manu with the disappointing lost to Portsmouth yesterday. Actually Chelsea in the last few games have not been impressive but they grind out result where as Manu's football has been breath-taking and great to watch.

However if we are considering the efficiently of winning matches, Chelsea will win hands down. Manu to win a game has to use a high intensity style of play and the whole team must be playing at a high standard to get the win. Chelsea on the other hand counts a lot on set play as well as quick counter to win matches as they can relied on a strong defence. As a result their approach did not required a that high intensity style of play which characteristic of Manu play. This is especially crucial towards the end of season when there is fixture congestion. The difference between Manu lost to Portsmouth and Chelsea win against Tottenham is that Manu players made mistake at the bad which allow Portsmouth to take full advantage whereas Chelsea managed to score from a long shot and then the defence was able to hold out. Manu looked tired in tired in the second half.

Moving forward the last one month plus will be exciting times for both clubs, Manu have to make sure they win all their games to be champion and Chelsea on the other hand need to win all and hope Manu slip up on another game other than the Chelsea vs Manu game. I think it will go down to the wire. The involvement in the other competition could prove crucial in who will eventually be crowned champion. Will it be the cavalier approach by Manu or the more controlled style of play of Chelsea that will prevail?

Asean Champion Final Controversy: Penalty! Protest?

On Wednesday, it was the first leg of the ASEAN football Championship between Singapore and Thailand. With all the recent political happenings b/w both countries, it provided an interesting backdrop to this game.

From the start of the game, Singapore was using a very robust approach style of play to impose themselves in the match ( remind me of how some teams like to use this approach against Arsenal in the EPL) There were a lot of niggling fouls all over the pitch and no one had any time on the ball. The match was played generally in good spirit although I felt that the Thais at time are being victimised by the referee.

In spite of that, the match was proceeding as expected, a tight game with few goal scoring opportunities and a lot of robust play. That was until the 82 min. A free kick was given to Singapore. The free kick was floated into the penalty box and the goalkeeper catch the ball. The goalkeeper was about to continue when the whistle sounded for a Singapore penalty due to a foul on the striker which was spotted by the referee. This decision shocked the Thai players. On the other hand, it was greeted with great delight by the Singapore fans.( Kallang Roar) The Thai players were very adamant that it was not a penalty and contested furiously. What happened next shock everyone, the Thai coach seem to have signaled his players to walk off the pitch and all the Thai players walk off. The referee watched with not much concern. It took the tournament organiser as well as the FAS and the Thai football team manager to persuade them to go back to the pitch to continue. It was a remarkable episode in many ways. They were off the pitch for 14 mins and they had to eventually get the Thai coach to persuade them back t the pitch. The whole situation was a bit surreal. It was really what ASEAN football did not want to show to fans who watched the match from all parts of Asia.

In my opinion, there a few issues to look into. Firstly, was it a penalty? Even at first view, it looked a very soft penalty to be given. After watching a few more times on slow motion, it further convince me that it should never have been a penalty. I would only say that the referee gave it based on his point of view which may have been obstructed. In any case, if a referee is not sure if it is a penalty, the penalty should never have been given. In addition, the line man should have a clearer view and would have been better placed to make the call. On this aspect, a poor call has been made. ( Although I have seen a worse case in the EPL, where the striker was not touched but he fell but the referee gave the penalty)

The next issue is about the Thai players walking off the pitch as a form of silent protest. After discussing this issue with a few friends as well as reading the comments in the press, there seem to be two main viewpoints.

The first viewpoint which is the one I also share is that I felt that the Thai should have left any protest that they had to after the match was over. This would be the professional thing to do. This is because it is clearly stated in the rules that once a decision is made by the referee, it is not reversible. In my opinion, there is no way that the referee will change his mind even if the whole Thai team had walk off and decided not to come back unless the decision is reversed. I felt they were doing it as more of a symbolic gesture but in a way it backfired as it reflected very badly on the professionalism of the players as well as the coaches involved. In a way, it seems a bit childish as it is like a spoiled child when he cannot get what he wants, he will stamp his feet in protest. This incident plus some of the poor decision making that plague this tournament in general gives a very poor impression on the professionalism as well as the standard of football in this region. This I feel will be the most disappointing aspect in this tournament as it feels like ASEAN football has taken a step backwards.

The other viewpoint is that people feel that the Thai action is correct. This is because they feel that the referee was biased against the Thai and the football game was already tilted towards Singapore favour. Their opinion which I think is also how the Thai feel is that since the game is already biased then that is no need to play anymore as all the 50-50 decision will go in favour of Singapore. This is what people in our region called Kelong. (For those not in this region, the term kelong means that the match for some reason or another is now favouring one team. Sad to say there have been a few cases of match fixing that had occurred in this region. Hence in our region, whenever there is a controversial decision in a game, there is a tendency to think that the referee or players involved have been bribed.) They felt that this game is already fixed. My personal opinion is that I watched the game what i could comment is that sometimes referee do make mistake and in this case it could have been an honest mistake. However the referee was too hasty giving a penalty as a penalty should only be given when the referee is very sure else no penalty should be given.

In any case, this whole farce have spoiled the impression that ASEAN football has been trying to raise the standard and professionalism of the sport in the region. This I feel will be the biggest regret that will come out of his tournament irregardless on who win the second leg to be played today.

Opinion on Sir Alex Ferguson's transfer dealing

Ferguson has been managing Manchester United since 1986. He will always be famous for the incredible treble in 1999 as well as the great amount of trophies that he won both at Aberdeen and Manchester United. In addition, another legacy he will leave behind when he finally leave will be the youth system that he established and the number of players who graduated the youth system and managed to establish a career in the upper echelon of football even contributing a whole group of players for the England national team.

However this article is going to look at his top transfer dealing over the years. Throughout his time at Manchester United, he has always been willing to pay the top dollars for players he feel are at the top of the game. For examples, he paid a British record fee of 3.75 million for Roy keane from Nottingham Forest, he paid 28.1 million for Veron from Inter and 31 million for Wayne Rooney just to name a few examples.

I will be accessing the effectiveness of his big money transfer signings and the way he let these players go.

The first one I will be looking at is Gary Pallister who was bought from Middlesbrough at a British transfer record fee of 2.3 million. He started off inauspiciously by having a terrible game on his debut. However he went on from strength to strength and eventually became a key figure in the defence and went on to win a number of premier league titles, FA cups, a league cup and the cup winner cup. He was allowed to leave in a dignified manner when he was no longer at the top of his game.

The next player is Roy Keane. He was bought from Nottingham Forest at 3.75 million which broke the British transfer fee. He fitted perfectly into the role of the defensive midfield and replaced the legendary Bryan Robson and formed the fulcrum of Manchester United midfield for nearly a decade. During his time with the red devil, he won many trophies and was even appointed the captain of the red devil for a number of years. He was widely recognised as the best defensive midfielder in the premier league for a number of years. Although eventually he left manu due to comments he made about the team but I felt that Ferguson was correct in letting him go at that time for two reasons. Physically Keane' physically was not able to maintain his high standard of play and secondly it was necessary to do that for the team spirit to remain.

After these two buys, Ferguson did not made a big money signing until the 1998-1999 season, when he made Jaap Stam the most expensive dutch player in history when he purchase him from PSV. He was instructional in Manu winning the treble as he was the rock in Manu defence. He was a key member in the team till Ferguson got rid of him partly due to the autobiography that he wrote. Up to this day, in my opinion I feel getting rid of Jaap Stam was a poor decision as he did not have a replacement for him. He tried to get Laurent Blanc but it was a failure. Other defenders have been used in that position to cover that gap but none have been near the standard. Only recently Vidic looks like someone who defends in the same style as him. A no nonsense defender who relishes defending.

The next two big buys that he made during the 2001-2002 season, to push Manu to win for the second time the Champion League, had contrasting degree of effect on Manu. In April 2001, Ferguson made the first of two big money signing who is Ruud Van Nisterooy for a then British record transfer fee of 19 million pounds. In the summer, he bought Veron from Lazio for 28.1 million pounds which surpassed the transfer of Ruud.

The arrival of Veron with his style of play in Ferguson opinion was the missing component to winning the Champion League which till today is his largest ambition. However it did not go as plan. The English game was too fast pace and physical for his style of football which was more suited for a slower tempo. He did alright in the Champion League but eventually Ferguson decided that he was not going to be really a key player in his team and decided to let him talk to Chelsea. He left Manu for half of the transfer fee that Manu had bought him. In my opinion, he was one of the rare big money signing which did not work out. I felt Ferguson overpaid for him and he also did not consider the implication that Veron style of play is not suited for the high octane premier league.

Ruud on the other hand can be considered to be a great buy even at 19 million pounds. He was a pure goal scoring machine. He broke a number of scoring record at both Manu and in the English Premier League. In the eyes of many Manu fans, he was considered Ferguson best buy. He had a good relationship with Ferguson until the 2005- 2006 season. Even though he was the top scorer at the club but a number of his goals at that time were via penalty. In addition, he also developed a tendancy to fall around the penalty box which fustrated his team mates at time. In my opinion, he was agreat signing but I felt Ferguson let him go mainly because he wanted Manu focal point to be Rooney instead of Ruud. In addition, he wanted Manu to play a more flowing style of football where the center forward will sometime fall back and allow the winger to push ahead of them before they come back into the penalty box. Whether the sales of Ruud will prove to be a poor choice or not will depend on how Manu does over the next few season.

The last big money signing to look at is Rooney. Ferguson paid another record amount of money for him. With regard to the purchase of Rooney, he is paying more for the potential that he will develop into rather than a finish article. In the last two to three years, Ferguson has been considering on building a new team with the two focal points as Rooney and Ronaldo. In my opinion, he could be a great signing but it depends whether he is able to fully develop his talent to the fullest.

In general, if we are looking at the big money signing that Ferguson has paid in his time, the majority are great success with only one noticeable disappointment in Veron. However his record with the lower profile signing has not been that great. That will be my next article.

Different style of football philosophies

In my first entry, looking at the different style of football philosophies by the so called big four teams in England ( Sorry if offend, Newcastle or Tottenham fans) Manu, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

In my opinion, I feel that Manu and Arsenal can be considered under the same football philosophy and the other group will be Chelsea and Liverpool.

Manu and Arsenal have managers that decide that football should be about entertaining the fans and spectators so they will play a more open brand of football in the majority of the games. It is exciting to watch from a spectator perspective as it is more thrilling. They do not believe in seating back when they are 2 goals up. They will go for the juggler and try to score as many as possible.

In some people viewpoint, this is a waste of energy as you should slow the tempo down and do not tire the players out by playing at such a high tempo when you are leading. Howevere I feel that football is about atacking play and I personally favour such an approach. However in recent times, it seem that this style of play is getting less popular as it does not always result in the team winning matches.

On the other side of the equation, are teams like Chelsea and Liverpool which play a more pragmatic style of football. These are teams that will take a lead then will fall back and let the opponent attack them before hitting them on the break. This style of play would need a very strong defence to allow the team to fall back and are confident that they will not concede. In addition you require very fast players so as to make the counter attack effective.

Howver these style of football in theory is the most efficient mean to win matches as the team that have to do the attacking will usually leave gaps to be exploited. The team which is the best in this philosophy will be Chelsea. ( athough the loss of John Terry and Petr Cech is making this tactics not effective) However this style of football can be quite boring as it will be one team with everyone at the back hoping to capitalise on the offensive team making a mistake.

As a spectator, I would like to watch attacking football which are teams like Barcelona, Manu, Arsenal.

What is your opinion on which brand of football would you prefer to watch?