goodfootballerornot

In the run up to the game I had to give Liverpool the edge, they seemed more likely to score in the first leg and away goals are rather valuable. A Chelsea win would be interesting, just for Avram Grant. A man who has been near vilified just for being in the job. To see him manage this team to achieve more than that twunt Mourinho would be hugely satisfying. The first leg had been so much better than their previous encounters in the competition and I was hoping for more of the same.

As it was the state of the weather and the pitch really screamed for covered grounds and I was really concerned that the result was going to be affected by the conditions. Slick, fast and sometimes unpredictable was the pitch. If people complain about the lack of predictability and consistency of officials, why add another element of luck? Even though the result of the game wasn’t obviously affected by the conditions, the tackling was often a fairly haphazard affair due to the pitch. It could have been a disaster however. As it wasn’t maybe rain conditions should be simulated for every game?

As for the result, Liverpools run against Chelsea in the competition ended due to the common complaint, the inability to score. Overall it was a good game, patchy and scrappy but had some good moments and in the end the better team won. Despite Peter Cech being the most damaged keeper in the CL, he showed he is the best. If Drogba wants to know why his diving attracts so much scorn, have a look at the replay of his first goal. An absolute cannon ball of a shot, but apparently he doesn’t have the strength to remain on his feet after what seems like 70% of tackles…yeah right.

The Sky commentary was fairly poor. Andy Grey, apparently “Britains best football pundit”, voted by his mates maybe. I quote, “I told you it wasnt’ finished” after Liverpool scored their first. No, its not over until the ref blows the final whistle and enough goals or penalties have been scored. I could relate more inanities but I can’t be bothered and the sooner hes replaced the better.

Most of the game in normal time was much the same as the first leg, a good game overall with a few more chances all round.

Extra time was where the real tension began with an Essien goal being disallowed, not an extraordinary decision Mr Grey as Drogba was offside and right in front of the keeper, its called interfering with play. Not to mention the other 2 Chelsea players also offside. Also, offside should be offside, lazy players should get their arses back on side ASAP, not mince around waiting for a chance.

Despite the Chelseas goal being disallowed they got a penalty a minute later and it was comfortably converted by Lampard. Now I know his mum died this week, but was it necessary for J. Rednapp to verbally fellate his cousin on TV telling us how strong he was etc. etc. ad nauseum. I appreciate Lampard was playing under some emotional stress but I don’t need to have a relative tell me how fucking great he is. Hes a professional footballer and he is employed by a professional club, if he can’t hack it he shouldn’t be on the pitch. He was playing so therefore he didn’t actually do anything other than his job and have a moment he can dedicate to his mum. Nice for him, but not a gargantuan moment in human history that it was made out to be thanks. Not to mention where does little Rednapp get off shouting down Hoddle and Souness in the studio? Granted they are failed managers but they talk a hell of a lot more sense that he does. Richard Keys should have kept him under control, him being the junior, less experienced, non managerial and frankly moronic pundit. Is Keys a family member too? Or just a member?

Regardless of my whinges of the coverage, Chelsea are through. Poor old Avram, despite his genuflection at the result, still will get no credit as he gives the impression of not being involved when the game is on. It is about style and what you can show, and he doesn’t show very much at all. I didn’t and don’t want Chelsea to be in the final, I think they are a classless arrogant bunch, a rich mans plaything and generally are bad for football. Still, I’m having a good laugh at the special one right now.

Well the ginger ninja, who nearly sabotaged his teams hopes in the 40th second by hacking Messi down, saved the day with a superb goal, gifted by a mistake from Zambrotta.

On form at least Barca should have lost, despite Uniteds recent slump in form, but they made a fight of it.  Yet again however they failed to produce much in the area that counted, goals.  Messi was again their best player and at 20 makes a mockery of the Premiere Leagues so called young geniuses and made Ronaldo look poor indeed.  Deco was their next best attacking option, the late Substitute Henry producing one header straight at Van Der Sar and a shot very similar to the first leg which was a fairly easy effort for the keeper.

For United Ronaldo did very little indeed, Tevez being their best forward and midfielder by a long way.  Barcas substitution of Eto for the 17 year old Bojan Karick was a hint of things to come, well in years to come  Eto had been almost totally non existent in the game and the subs should have come on much earlier.

United were not convincing and were frankly fortunate to get thier goal.  But Barca just failed to score, despite comfortably having the majority of possesion over both legs.  A sorry story for a team with such players.

As for United they have to be considered favorites again in the league and to win the Champions league now.

Well it was a nasty game with John Terry showing every good reason why not to make him England Captain.   Especially after him and Ferdinand had a serious looking disagreement, I know who I would drop from an England team.  Drogba and Ballack also had a right go at each other toward the end which was quite funny but probably indicates Drogba will be gone in the summer.  What wasn’t funny was the constant harassment and abuse of the ref and linesmen.  Pathetic stuff.   Thankfully for the vast, vast majority of the time, no decision is ever changed because a player says something, so why bother?  Frankly they look like over paid tantrum throwing twunts, oh I’m sure some fans thinks its great, shows “passion” and all that but really, grow up.

As for the result, its squeaky bum time in Manchester.  One slip and its very likely the title will be Chelseas.  Chelsea will be on fire right now for the second CL leg and it should be a good one with Liverpool needing to score to be sure.

Oh ye gods that was dull. Rangers deserved to be spanked out of the CL, but why are they allowed to contaminate the UEFA cup with the dross they call football. I hope they get stuffed in the next leg.

Well this game was surprising for the total dominance by Barcelona. It started with Man U in Real Madrid style white, which may have explained the rest of the game! A second minute penalty was missed by Ronaldo who should have had a second one later in the game.

Messi showed just how dammed good he is, injury and or fitness the reason for his fairly early substitution I would hope. Ronaldo for his part had some free kicks from which to show his talents after the penalty miss, but they were all too far out.

It took until right near the end of the first half for a Barca player to be carded for a continuous series of pretty cynical fouls on Ronaldo, the player rather than the ball was played on many occasions.

The second half was much the same as the first. Man U were somewhat surprisingly not in the game at all really. Maybe it was some SAF tactical genius, cede possession but so long as the penalty area is protected it should be ok. Barcelona for their part outdid themselves considering their form in all competitions coming into this game, but they look like a team of individuals and Messi is by far the stand out player in a team of stars. Iniesta is a master of making the most of a nudge or a half block in a tackle, and frankly deserves contempt for his continued going to ground like some sort of flailing ballerina. Its the dive around the player, a supposed art form in to some, which makes it seem all the more like an effort to get the free kick rather than just play the game.

The stats said 63% for Barcelona overall, Man U need Rooney to be more than a defender to turn this one around, Scholes probably shouldn’t start and they need to show some real ambition.

Well not the dull affair that I had expected. Both sides started slowly and poorly. Drogbaaaaaaa (thanks Clive) was given an early free kick for a weak challenge and his behaviour was consistent throughout the game, unlike the referee. It was a scrappy game for the first 20 minutes, a few poor chances after spells of brief possession. Playing Cech should have been a weakness and early on it looked to be as he flinched/drew back from a challenge. I don’t blame the man after his 50 stitch effort but it could have been a problem.

Chelsea did have the first best controlled effort of the first half and like much of their possession threatened but failed to produce much.

The ref was very harsh early on and along with the players attitudes made for a scrappy, stop start game.

From early on Drogba did his “I’ve been shot” impression and keeled over at any opportunity, please will some ref card him for this! Like the vast majority of his minute or two on the ground writhing type efforts he quickly recovered, until the next time of course. Drogba was involved in an entanglement in the box which could have been seen as a penalty, but his own less than enthusiastic plea showed it for what it was, two players with no control over the ball colliding. The ref sensibly waved play on.

The latter part of the first half was Liverpools, including an excellent Kuyt nutmeg of Ashley Cole. Kuyt showed his worth by scoring late on in the first half, if he hadn’t scored when he did he could have been given a penalty for a trio of kung-fu style challenges on him, which while lacking massive contact were pretty good (desperate) attempts to stop the player scoring. The goal wasn’t agaisnt the run of play, there was no run to go against, but it was deserved.

The second half was as the first ended, slightly longer periods of possession, with Liverpool having the best of the game, but ultimately leading to nothing. John Terry showed his credentials by giving Torres some knee style follow through after an attempt on goal.  Shows hes got balls like water melons that does. I do hope Capello gives the Captaincy to someone else. Drogba did yet another pathetic dive in amongst not much else from Chelsea. Carvalho also gave a nice fist to the back of Torreses head as part of a tackle. Torres might feel pleased that they feel he is such a threat, but it just shows the total lack of class Chelsea have. Ashley Cole got away with a proper Kung-Fu style tackle late on, the ref by then totally inconsistent compared to the first half by letting all sorts of nonsense go on.

Liverpools last best chance was by Stevie G which required a great Cech save.

But a late, late, own goal gave Chelsea an undeserved equaliser and away goal. Chelsea’s smug, practically suggesting victory hand slapping after the own goal was funny in a way, as they should have lost this by more than one. With the away goal, they may well win this now, undeservedly and unwelcome perhaps, but Avram Grant looks to be closer to steering Chelsea to a final than the so called Special one ever was.

So Hleb managed to get away with a girly slap on Saturday, apparently, since not being at the game it got no coverage that I saw. Poxy MOTD didn’t show it and I don’t think Sky covered it in the final word. So along with Rooney and Gerrard being accused of diving and providing no analysisled what they are, certain teams players can give it the ladies kung-fu as well and not get hauled up for it.

[UPDATE] While the FA have charged Hleb with violent conduct they do need to iron out the inconsistencies of the policy about reviewing game footage, especially being able to increase a penalty even if a yellow card was given.[/UPDATE]

The TV coverage has an important duty here, to show what happens, especially if the ref misses it. Particularly the BBC who are probably never going to get live Premiere League football again anyhow, so why not show this and report these incidents? Ferguson doesn’t talk to MOTD anyhow, so why not point out when Rooney dives or goes off on one at the ref and say that its wrong? Shearer was a bit fond of mouthing off in his day so I suspect he won’t say anything, but no one else? I don’t care who dives, slaps, kicks or punches, they should be held up to account for this. The quality of the punditry is appalling on the program anyhow but to ignore or tacitly condone these events is just wrong.

The FA also has a duty to change the rules to enable retroactive punishments for this sort of thing. I don’t particularly want TV replays to get in the way of the game, but the fourth official, or maybe a fifth one, should be reviewing the game footage and reporting on that. They are supposed to be there backing the ref up. All the fourth official seems to do now is mince around with the extra time board and occasionally tell a manger to get back into the technical area.

Well I have just seen a rather exceptional incident involving a referee, and in this case its all good for the ref. Villa 5 – 1 Birmingham. Mark Clattenburg is more often in the press being criticised rather than praised, more often than not rightly so unfortunately, when hes in charge of a game the anticipation is train wreck.  But in this case he did something really rather good, as well as ref the game as a whole well. There was an incident when two opposing players were giving it some of that forehead rubbing stupidity. Now normally I would expect the ref to come in, step between the players and move them apart gently, then have a little talk and maybe brandish a card, at worst he just not see the incident and it diffuses quickly. But that didn’t happen.  What happened was quite extraordinary and funny too. Mark Clattenburg ran up to the two players (no I don’t remember who they were, I was too surprised by what he did) and pushed, and I mean really, properly, pushed the Birmingham player away and then ran on as he hadn’t stopped the game. The two players, and both teams somewhat surprisingly, also just carried on. Now this was exceptional for a couple of reasons, the first being the ref taking physical action (go ref) to separate players in such a manner and second the players just getting on with it. I have to applaud Clattenburg for this as he did what I have certainly felt about such pathetic posturing by players – do fuck off and get on with it. A card would have served no purpose as it was two players acting the arse rather than what a yellow card should be for.

Its a pity refs don’t deal with these situations in this way more often, but I guess this is difficult when harassed by the players for every decision. While I don’t think the refs are always right, or even up to the standard required every game, left alone and given the chance to do their job they can. Big kudos for Clattenburg for just pushing two petulant over paid tossers apart and getting on with it when he could have ruined the game by doing the yellow card toaster impression.

I don’t believe that Clattenburg has the universal respect of the players and managers in all teams, but in this game he seemed to. Whatever the reasons, it should and needs to happen more. The FA need to censure clubs, particularly managers but also players, for abusing and questioning the referee more as well. For their part the refs need to emphatically deal with incidents firmly as Clattenburg in this game.

Watching a Championship game is like going back in time, some 15 or so years, and seeing the Premier League as it was then, sort of. The quality of the pitches is mostly as bad as it was back then and the level of fitness looks comparable. I guess that a lot of fans say they prefer the lower leagues is because they can see that an ordinary, reasonably fit, bloke could probably play to that standard without too much trouble, or they at least believe its possible. Anyone who watches the Premiere League knows that’s not the case there. Your not going to get a situation where a Sunday League player could be found and whisked off to the Premier League to make an immediate impact now. It takes years of dedication and consistent fitness training to even be able to get on the pitch.  I struggle to think how many new, upcoming players, are actually signed from the Championship. It seems that unless your in a Premier League youth team your unlikely to get signed by a top team once your over 20.

Talk of the disparity between the leagues has led to the promotion payment and parachute payoffs, the effect seems to have been somewhat positive at least, but hasn’t really made the two leagues more equal. For promoted teams to compete they undoubtedly need more cash but how can you entice better players to play in a lower league once demoted? Its difficult to say the least, but the Championship should at least be a proving ground for younger players rather than just where older players who can’t hack it go. There is also a fairly substantial disparity between the top and bottom of the League. Wishful thinking and banging on about the good old days doesn’t change the fact that to have a chance of being more competitive the top divisions need to spread the resources less thinly and the only way of doing that is to cut some teams. Yes, yes I know we have a great heritage and tradition which maintains four whole divisions, but please shut up now. No amount of polishing or history can change the fact that Leagues one and two are turds not diamonds. The fact is that Leagues one and two are a separate entity to all intents and purposes and certainly do not play to a standard that matches with the Championship, let alone the Premiere League. If you want to maintain the tradition then the lower divisions need to be amateur and forget the pretence of professional football down there.

The Championship needs to cut down to 20 teams and the Premiere League needs to pass more cash downwards or be restricted on what they have to spend. The only way to change the balance is to insist that clubs only work with the money they earn and pass more to the Championship. A central fund for pitch maintenace would be a good place to start, its not 1980 any more people, the muddy sand tracks that are passed off as pitches are a joke today, even some Premiere League teams struggle. Keeping the teams to only being able to spend what they earn would certainly put an end to the billionaire plaything, but would cause some serious upheavals. If reports are half accurate Chelsea were right on the brink of bankruptcy before Abramovhich turned up, West Ham would not be in the top flight now thats for sure. You could of course allow an initial cash injection by a new owner to help teams along. Man City have effectivly been operating under those terms this season, without unbalencing the league either.

Nothing which is effective is going to be universally popular, either with clubs or fans. Maybe the current status quo is ok, but I dont think so.

Arsenal 2 – 0 Reading.  The fact that Arsenal didn’t get six or more against a woeful Reading is a perfect summary of why they have won nothing this season.  They could easily have put five past a side who should be in the Championship.  Wenger really needs to start some coaching in putting the ball in the net rather than just passing practice.

Middlesbrough 0 – 1 Bolton.  Boro should have been in front first half as Bolton didnt seem to have turned up till the second.  Precious 3 points for Bolton and Southgate needs to work on that half time team talk.

Wigan 1- 1 Tottenham.  Spurs are seriously lacking some consistent creative play from Midfield, Huddleston looks like he might have it and did in the first half to set up Spurs goal.  But often he gives the impression of not giving a shit.  For this one he seemed to give a shit but couldn’t produce any consistent decent play.  A Spurs defensive cock up cost them the points here, King will either have to play more games or a replacement found if Spurs want to get back to challenging for a top four slot.

Blackurn 1 – 1 Man Utd.  Blackburn nearly did it, but typically United found a late goal to snatch a point.  They only really need to draw at Chelsea and the remaining two games should take care of themselves to give them the title.

Fulham 0 – 2 Liverpool.  A fairly easy game for Liverpool who will be more concerned about Gerrards injury than anything else.  While not a one man team they will need him for one of the CL games to get past Chelsea I would think.