So, I checked for Utd’s weekend fixture, only to find that it’s FA Cup weekend thus Utd have a break of a week before we play Ajax at Old Trafford in the 2nd leg of our Europa League tie. Ergo, I decided to reflect on why Utd went out of the cup to our fierce rivals a few weeks ago. Here are my succinct thoughts:
Why Liverpool beat Utd.
Enjoy.
Before the game a demon was exorcised. Ravel Morrison was banished from the theatre of dreams, joining West Ham on hours before the game. He had dominated Utd related talk over the last few weeks, with his contract situation being the subject of millions of tweets. He’s moved on now, and so must we, the fans. We’ll always wonder what might have been but meh. Next.
Meh.
Stoke were woeful, horrifically woeful.
Utd were decent, horrifically decent. We dominated possession, with Paul ‘Gingersaurus’ Scholes completing 105% of his passes. Our goals came about from two penalties, both of which were warranted and came about from fouls on our wing wizards for the night, Park and Valencia. This in and of itself shows how reliant we’ve become on our wing play to drive the team forward. The penalties were duly dispatched by Chicharito and Berbatov respectively. The latter missed a gilt-edged chance to add to the scoreline, and we should’ve had at least one other penalty. But meh. This game showed that the strikers that started are our 3rd and 4th choice behind Messrs Rooney and Welbeck. Rooney offers more creativity than Berba, while Welbeck has a better all-round game than Chicha.
Good news is that our back-line basically had a night off, and Amos looked assured in goal. It looks like he could push De Gea and Lindegaard for the no.1 jersey. And Amos doesn’t have a stupid beard thing like De Gea, a major plus point in my book.
We should’ve scored more, given our dominance. It wasn’t meant to be, I guess. Meh.
Meh. The end.
*please not there may be some exaggerations in the above piece.
This life swirls,-
swirls like an undercurrent.
But for me? Not for me,
does it swirl, not for me-
For me life washes over,
washes over me, unnoticed,
unannounced, if you will,
except for a faint whisper-
A whisper that is audible,
but tis barely so- Not now,
Not for a while, has it,
Has it spoken to me, not since-
Not since you were taken,
taken from me, unannounced,
An unwanted action, but,
that is life, i have learned-
I have learned, this life,
quite harshly sometimes,
deals one as much joy, as much joy
as it does strife- This Life.
Another poem that I wrote several years ago. Just archiving it here, really. But if you do happen to read it I hope you enjoy it.
His name has a Brazilian flourish, despite him hailing from Côte d’Ivoire, which is pretty far removed from the land of Samba football. He has the world’s biggest forehead and a comb-over style dreadlocked hairstyle. Gervinho has only been at Arsenal for about six months, but more than anyone else he embodies what this Arsenal are all about; frustration. Frustration at the failure to finish off chances, to get over that hurdle that is holding back what is a supremely talented Arsenal team.
Gervinho is a very direct attacker, who can play on either wing or up top. He has mostly started on the left for Arsenal, and offers something that no other Arsenal winger has – unabashed confidence. No matter how many chances he misses or how many times he fails to get past the opposition, he always comes back for more. And for this and his direct style, which is at odds with Arshavin, Gooners love him.
His finishing leaves a lot to be desired, a problem which affects Arsenal as a club. And some times his final ball from the wing is lacking, but bless him he tries and works his socks off. He has played a part in 11 goals at Arsenal, which ranks him amongst the clubs most effective players – but it will always rankle with Gooners as they say ‘if only he could finish better and provide better balls’. In his first game at Arsenal there was cause to question his temperament, as he got sent off for raising his hand as he clashed with Joey ‘Nietzsche’ Barton, but that seems to have just been a one-off incident.
He’s direct, he’s frustrating. He is perfect for Arsenal and the Premier League. So, I say welcome to the jungle, Gervinho.
You lie there, listless now,
Framed in this wooden carriage,
A carriage heaven bound,
Another angel to get it’s wings.
Sadness descends into our world,
A world seemingly the same,
At least outwardly so,
Winds still whirl, birds still chirp.
But not for us is the world the same,
It is altered, eternally altered,
For you touched our lives daily,
Your infectious smile, joyous laugh.
Life goes on, so they say,
No doubt it will, but,
Alas our lives are altered,
Eternally and completely altered.
Just as an addendum, I wrote this poem about five years ago – I am aware its not very subtle. Basically just archiving it here.
This will be my final piece of 2011 – yes, I am well aware that there’s still about 8 days left and that some would do a dozen or so pieces in that time, but alas, I am busy from here on out. I am off to Ireland for nigh on two weeks as of the 26th and shan’t return to the laptop until the second week in January.
In the new year I shall kick on with the Welcome To The Jungle blog series, which started with a piece on the Juan ‘and only’ Mata. I shall chronicle the likes of Gervinho and De Gea in the first couple of weeks upon my return.
It has been an interesting year, for clubs and country, with Utd regaining the Premier League and Shamrock Rovers retaining their league crown in Ireland. Its not been perfect for either club, with Utd losing badly to City and Rovers losing manager Michael O’Neill after the Spurs game – apparently something behind the scenes wasn’t right, which is a sad way for such a magical journey to end. Utd also got comprehensively outgunned by Barca in the Champions League final in May, at Wembley, which makes things a tad worse – its all very well saying ‘we lost to the best team in the world’ but we should never just accept defeat, not at Utd. Anyways, things have improved since the derby, at least domestically, and the Red Devils are only two points shy of free-spending City. I am not going to mention Europe beyond this one sentence. As for Rovers, the future is a tad unclear despite retaining the league, with financials dictating what will happen in the close season. I shall report more on this once it becomes clearer in early 2012.
On the international front it was a tremendous year for Ireland, with Trap’s men qualifying for Euro 2012. Even if our group looks impossible to get out of, the main thing is that Ireland are there, at an international tournament for the first time in ten years. Bravo to Trap and the boys in green. Moving on. ….
The year 2011 has not ended on a good note for football, with racism and bigots coming to the fore – a problem that seems set to drag on until we have a definitive take on the Suarez and Terry cases, so I expect this season to be remembered for those two incidences, whether that is right or wrong. People seem blinded by the club they support, which saddens me. Loyalty should not come before morals.
For 2012 I’d like to see a properly united stance against racism.
Happy holidays to one and all. May we see each other on the other side.
Clichés, Football & Death
Clichés used in football, by anyone, that should be left to die and never mentioned again. Sadly, they will get mentioned this coming weekend, the weekend after and so on and so forth. SIGH. But anyways, here’s a few that annoy me, some with comments. Enjoy or not.
He’s not that type of player – Mainly spewed out by a manager in the immediate aftermath of a match in which his player got sent off for a horrendous challenge. This being despite the fact there’s dozens of cameras that captured the player actually proving that he is, in fact, that type of player.
Width of a goalpost blah blah – Mostly mentioned by commentators in an attempt to appear clever. Stop it now, Tyldesley and co. We all know that if it went a few inches either side it would have been a goal. OK? Thanks.
A game of two halves – Thank you for presuming we are so thick that we need to know again and again that football consists of two equally lengthy halves. Now do one.
There are no easy games – Well, this theory is disproved nearly every weekend, as evidenced by Arsenal trouncing Blackburn. But that was hard work for Arsene’s boys. Oh. ….
There are many more clichés used in football, the above really annoy me. These make me want to stream football matches in Arabic, despite the fact I pay for Sky. So, to the above clichés I say do one, please.
Posted by talkingspheres on February 7, 2012 in Football
Tags: cliches, commentators, death, Football, meh., post, Sport, Tyldesley