Tuesday, December 21, 2004

don't play with fire, just play with yourself.

wahahahahaha cam sial jer title. sajer jer nak kasik poyo.

i read in an article somewhere that there used to be the "BIG FIVE" in the English Premiership league. uuuuu impressive. Tottenham Spurs, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal and of course, Manchester United. i don't how did they determine or establish the BIG FIVE, i guess probably based on their overall performances in the history of the league. however in the last decade, we saw the sudden emergence of Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Leeds United. okay they're not really the case this season, but we can fairly say that Newcastle United is one of the elite teams, together with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. the out of nowhere, one of the world's richest figures in the world, Roman Abramovich came to Britain and turned Chelsea into a league leader in just 2 years. it's the Chelski's revolution y'all! apsal cam poyo jer aku tulis nih.

my favorite team, Manchester United was written off as a title contender at the beginning of the season, due to a string of poor performances. what actually happened to the Red Devils? i'm NO expert, but based on my limited observation, i would think:

i) Lack of finishing touch

without a doubt, the most exciting attacking team in the league right now is Arsenal with 45 goals. Thierry Henry scored an impressive 15 goals so far, followed by Robert Pires with 9 and Jose Antonio Reyes with 6. what a record eh? Frenchmen Henry and Pires stood high as the Premiership leaders in scoring.

goals by Manchester United players in the Barclays Premiership so far:

Hasmawi Hassan 17
Paul Scholes 6
Alan Smith 5
Ruud van Nistelrooy 4
Wayne Rooney 4
David Bellion 2
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ryan Giggs 1
Gabriel Heinze 1
John O`Shea 1

wahahahahaha sajer jer tuh aku buat lawak bodoh letak Hasmawi Hassan. in case korang tak paham. okay let's do some simple maths. the 15 goals scored by Thierry Henry equals the number of goals combined by Paul Scholes, Alan Smith and Ruud van Nistelrooy altogether! and let's not start on the value of Scholes + Smith Nistelrooy, compared to Henry.

it's that simple. they're just not scoring enough.

ii) Goals win matches. But defense wins championship

anyone remember the Super Bowl XXXVII (2003) when the best defensive team in the league, Tampa Bay Buccaneers trashed the best offensive team, Oakland Raiders by 48-21?

yeah i know, it's American football, not soccer. but still, defense wins championship. the absence of the most dependable player on the squad and future captain, Rio Ferdinand for 8 months hurts Manchester United badly. and it wouldn't hurt to have someone as tough as John Terry at the back. we can only wish.

as we know in this game, everybody can score, even the goalkeeper himself. remember Paraguay's goalkeeper, Jose Luis Chilavert? even Chelsea's influential captain, John Terry already scored 3 goals so far this season. at this rate, he might even score more than Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney in a few weeks. i was even more impressed when i found out that Chelsea scored 37 goals (second highest behind Arsenal) and conceded only 8.

iii) The absence of a true defensive midfielder

Roy Keane's already passed his prime time. the manager should start recruiting younger talents who could be a dominant force in the field, like Steven Gerrard (Liverpool/England) and Patrick Vieira (Arsenal/France). okay not Patrick Vieira this season. i'm talking about real "Vieira" the past few years.

iv) They miss Beckham's crosses

David Beckham may not be the fastest player on pitch, but during his prime days at Manchester United, he is the perfect crosser for his teammates, especially Dwight Yorke and Ruud van Nistelrooy. we can almost imagine the lame-but-practical game plan...Gary Neville or Paul Scholes pass the ball to the right to David Beckham, Beckham crosses the ball and Dwight Yorke finishes with a clinical header.

v) Set pieces

don't you think they're lacking in this area? is there a decent freekick taker in the team right now? who could deliver that deadly pass and someone will connect with a header? who could fill in Beckham's boots when he left? i remember Juan Sebastian Veron scored a sensational freekick one. Teedy Sheringham too. oh yes, Wayne Ronney's Beckham-like freekick in his historic debut. but that's about it. what about Cristiano Ronaldo?

vi) They played well against good teams but sucked so bad against others

beats me. Manchester United play entertaining football against elite teams, but fail to take advantage of smaller teams. sometimes they even lose to teams from the bottom of the leauge. not right.


something came up. might continue this later. if i remember lar.

you guys have a good one, and majulah sukan untuk negara.

posted by judd. # 12/21/2004 10:22:00 PM

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