Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Ten Things I Think I Think

With so many different countries and teams and topics to cover, I've decided to continue ripping off Sports Illustrated's Peter King's 'Ten Things I Think I Think' format from his Monday Morning Quarterback column. Without further ado, here are this week's thoughts:

1. That Liverpool is a team in disarray. November is only just around the corner, but one of the Premiership's most promising squads is already seeing their title hopes vanish into thin air. The boys from Anfield are languishing in mid-table, have fallen 11 points off the leaders, and astonishingly, despite an attack with the talents of Gerrard, Garcia, Alonso, Crouch, Bellamy, Pennant, Fowler, Gonzalez and Kuyt, have failed to score a goal away from home in the Premiership for over five hours. Knowing that big games tend to bring out the best in top-notch teams, I thought that Liverpool's match-up with Man Utd this weekend could be just what the doctor ordered. Maybe if it's Dr. Kevorkian. Liverpool stunk up the joint at Old Trafford. Simple as that. A first-half strike from Scholes put them on their heels - the Englishman could've pitched a tent on the penalty spot he had so much time - and in the second half the Reds were just lifeless. A wonderfully-taken goal from Ferdinand, who looked nothing like a centerback as he trapped a cross in the box, cut the ball back across the face of goal away from the pressure of Riise, and laced a fierce drive into the top side netting leaving a sliding Carragher and a stunned Reina no chance whatsoever. Game, set, match (and to think that ManU cruised to victory with a poor performance from Rooney and Ronaldo and Heinze on the bench). The frustration was visible from the Liverpool players' faces to their body language. An errant pass from Alonso. Gerrard screams in anger. Pennant dribbles off his foot. Sissoko slumps his shoulders. Gerrard smacks a shot well wide. Crouch looks on in disbelief. It was a Liverpool nightmare at the Theater of Dreams. And worse still, with no real injuries or other problems to note, there are no easy answers or simple solutions in sight. This is a good team, stocked with great players, that is playing like a bunch of strangers. The Champions League title in Istanbul seems like a decade ago. Now it's time for Rafa the Gaffa to earn his money. And fast.

2. That Real Zaragoza is the new Villareal. As predicted in this year's la Liga preview, Zaragoza has employed Villareal's successful policy of acquiring big-name South American cast-offs from other, larger clubs. This shrewd tactic brought superstars like Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Pablo Sorin, and Diego Forlan to El Madrigal and catapulted the Yellow Submarine all the way to the Champions League semis last year. Now it's Zaragoza's turn to make some noise in la Liga. The Aragon club already counted among its ranks the likes of Argentinian Leandro Ponzio and brothers Diego and Gabriel Milito, as well as Brazilians Ewerthon and Savio. This summer, they added midfield maestros Pablo Aimar and Andres D'Alessandro. Today, Zaragoza sit in the top five of the table and look poised to make a serious run at Spain's fourth Champions League spot. For anyone who doubted their quality, look no further than Aimar's scintillating run to set up Diego Milito for the game-winning goal against Betis this weekend. Pure quality. Made in South America. Somewhere down in the standings, Villareal can relate.

3. That Middlesborough's 1-0 Tyneside derby win over Newcastle is not exactly a match I'll remember forever. A few things did leave a mark, though: Stuart Downing, Boro's much-balleyhooed winger, appeared to me to be an over-rated, over-hyped player, but in this game he was Boro's best threat. I still don't think he's the answer to England's left-wing problems, but he was man-of-the-match at the Riverside. On Boro's other wing, right-back Andrew Davis won't be winning any such honors. In fact, the only prize he gets is the dubious one of worst-haircut ever seen. Imagine an Albino boy with a shock of bleached blond hair that appears to have been scalped on one side. Poor kid. Davis also doesn't seem like a very competent defender, so it's a good thing that he's got Real cast-off Jonathan Woodgate alongside him. Say what you want about Real's ill-advised decision to pass on the aforementioned Gabriel Milito to sign the oft-injured Woody, but when healthy, few can argue that the Englishman is one of the top five centerbacks in the Premership. Unfortunately for Woody, "when healthy" means "one month over the past two years". Oh, and speaking of quality defenders in the Premier, there's a great article on Watford's Jay DeMerit in last week's Sports Illustrated. It'd be quality reading for Landon Donovan and a number of other MLS stars who could learn a thing or two about how much American footballers can benefit from plying their trade in Europe.

4. That the MLS playoffs got underway this weekend. For those not in the know, eight out of the twelve teams in the league qualify, so really all you have to do is show up for the games and not suck. And when the playoffs roll around, fans are treated to a bunch of mismatches involving crappy teams. Case in point: the atrocious New York Red Bulls got to play a home-and-home against regular season champs DC United. Gee, I think I'll take the boys from the capital city. But I won't take them to win it all. That honor will go to the winner of the other Eastern Conference first-round series between the New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire. No predictions as to who that might be, but I'll take the victor to go on to beat United and then FC Dallas in the final. Ya heard it here first.

5. That the Galactico Era at Barcelona may be underway. A squad of high-profile superstars. Loads of success and praise for a few years running. A power-hungry president prone to ego-tripping. Energy-sapping worldwide pre-season tours. Constant emphasis on advertising and expansion. Sound familiar? So it goes with Barca 2006. Maybe we should've seen the warning signs with their loss to Sevilla in the Spanish Supercopa. Maybe we should've known when most of Barca's big stars underperformed during the World Cup. Heck, maybe Ronaldinho's ill-fated headband idea should've clued us in. But if it didn't, then this week's back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Real Madrid - followed in quick succession by Ronaldinho's trip on Monday to appear in a TV ad with Michael Jordan - sure indicate that all is far from well at the Camp Nou. Now no one should overreact just because the Blaugrana lost two away matches to two of the world's best teams - they were still ranked #1 in the most recent edition of WSB's Top 20. But let's just say that that aura of invincibility is fading fast up in Catalunya.

6. That even with this summer's World Cup debacle, I'll still rank Brazil's B-team right up there with the best national sides in the world. Being the most talented soccer nation in the world doesn't always translate into international trophies, since of course you can only play 11-on-11 and not 150-on-150, but man, it is just amazing to see the guys that new coach Dunga has at his disposal. The newest star? Werder Bremen's Diego. His man-of-the-match showing in their 3-1 demolition of Bayern Munich is the latest indication that no one produces artistic playmakers quite the way they do it down in Brazil. And to think that Diego, the player of the year thus far in the Bundesliga, will be hard-pressed to break into a national team where Ronaldinho and Kaka are already laying claim to the #10 shirt...just amazing. Here's a thought - anyone want to take odds on Diego joining up with his former Santos buddy Robinho at Real Madrid next year? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

7. That we've said it before, but we'll say it again. As much as we love the veritable plethora of soccer games throughout the year, the schedule-makers need to chill. For the good of the game. It's clear that Ronaldinho is burnt-out. So is Lampard. So are countless others. These guys aren't machines. They can't play forever. Throw in all of the pressure and stress and non-stop media attention and it's no wonder that they struggle to perform the way up to their capabilities. Until there are fewer international friendlies and pre-season tours and meaningless club tournaments, soccer fans will continue to watch the best players in the game play at a level well below their best. And that, my friends, is a crying shame.

8. That all of the goalie injuries of the past month, especially the doubleheader of Chelsea knock-outs in their game against Reading, are starting to mess with the heads of these net-minders. And I don't just mean in the physical sense. Check out Victor Valdes' half-hearted attempt to stop an onrushing Van Nistelrooy as the Dutchman scored Real's second goal in Sunday's clash at the Bernabeu. Something tells me that the sight of Petr Cech nearly getting decapitated was fresh in the Spaniard's mind. And I can't say I blame him.

9. That poor Atleti just can't catch a break. Or maybe they catch too many? After we wrote about how unfortunate it was that their star winger Maxi Rodriguez went down with a season-ending ACL injury in Argentina's friendly against Spain (see point #7), what happened in their next game against Recreativo but another ACL injury to their other winger Martin Petrov. And just when everything was going so well for Atleti, as they had just outplayed Real in a 1-1 derby draw and leapt to a top-five spot in the la Liga table. The sight of Maxi and Petrov both laid up in the hospital after surgery was not a pretty one. Not many teams can afford to lose both of their wingers for the season in the span of one week. With Torres and Mista struggling up front, Jurado a disappointment, and Galletti nowhere near as good as Maxi or Petrov, it's hard to see how Atleti will cope. On the basis of their loss at Deportivo this weekend, I'd say that Javier Aguirre has his work cut out for him to avoid another season of underachievement for the boys from the Calderon.

10. That Bayern Munich might be the most dislikable team ever. Not that they used to be any better, with the despicable Stefan Effenberg patroling their midfield and the petrifying Carsten Jancker up front, but this team is something special. Mark Van Bommel, for my money the dirtiest player around, was one of their summer signings - George W will win the Nobel Peace Prize long before Van Bommel ever takes home a Fair Play award. The Dutchman joins the likes of Hasan Salihamdzic, who's just a dreadful little devil. Oliver "Chewbacca" Kahn still mans the goalposts, causing wayward shots simply by looking into the stunned of eyes of opposing strikers. Roy Makaay and Willy Sagnol are the type of annoying players that Bayern seems to love for some reason. So it is with great dread that I hereby set the over/under at one year before they sign Marco Materazzi, Thomas Gravesen, and possibly even the reigning five-time winner of world's most dislikable player...Robbie Savage.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

On #1: With the recent poor performance of Liverpool in games, do you think there's the chance that they might be relegated? I know it's an exaggeration, but I just couldn't help thinking about it.

Or, they might stay in the league, but it might be hard for them to earn a CL spot next year.


You didn't include Shevchenko's somewhat exaggerated, but funny celebration of his first goal (which earned him a yellow card). I didn't know you could earn a yellow card for celebrating a goal in a larger-than-life style.

5:20 AM

 
Blogger MJ said...

No way Liverpool goes down. Rafa could get fired, Gerrard could tear both ACLs, Crouch could join the circus and Pennant & Bellamy could both be incarcerated & they'd still be fine. As for a top-4 finish, that's looking less & less likely by the day, but I wouldn't bet against it. Tempting as it is to jump to conclusions early in the season, I think that Liverpool will find a way to sneak into the Champions League - there's just too much talent there for them not to figure it out sooner or later.

Good point about Sheva. I will say this about goal celebrations - all these rules are getting a bit ridiculous. How is it that celebrating with fans after scoring a goal warrants the same punishment as a two-footed studs-up tackle? To book Sheva & Ballack for "leaving the field of play" to celebrate with fans - who at Stamford Bridge are about three feet away from the field - is ludicrous. Yeah, rules are rules...but that doesn't mean that some of them aren't plain stupid.

9:44 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home