NOT such a Merry Christmas for…..
A very Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody out there. But it certainly isn’t a bright and sparkling Christmas for a select few in the footballing world. Let’s go through those unfortunate players, bosses and teams:-
1) Valencia Club De Futbol
Valencia’s problems actually originated in a period when they weren’t really struggling in La Liga. They were doing just well enough to remain in the top half of the top half of the table. But poor showings in Europe eventually saw that form translate into the league and they have taken a huge fall then on. Ronald Koeman has done little good so far. But his radical upheaval of the team’s long-serving veterans has done enough to garner a lot of page space in major footballing dailies. Their comeback draw in Real Zaragoza just makes the silver lining visible in a very dark, dense cloud.
HOPE: There could be a turnaround, most definitely. But patience is something that doesn’t come naturally to fans of a big club like Los Ches.
2) Carlo Ancelotti
Champions of Europe. Champions of the world. 12th in Serie A and 25 points behind city rivals Internazionale. Not even 3 games in hand give you hope, do they? Milan must improve their perilious league form, especially their poor home performances. Because if they do not finish in the top four, then look around for a person named Predrag Mijatovic lurking around the San Siro, waiting to pounce on the newly-crowned World Player of the Year, Kaka. Rejecting the overtures of a fast-returning-to-glory Real Madrid could be hard for him too, despite all affiliation to Milan.
HOPE: Inter are unlikely to drop their bearings. They are too good for that, I guess. Roma are playing great football. Juventus have done well to return to the upper echelons of calcio. Competition from teams like Lazio, Fiorentina, Palermo and many others isn’t a piece of cake either. You decide…..
3) England fans
They may be satisfied supporting their respective clubs for the time being. But in all the Christmas cheer, they know that their national team isn’t going to feature in the summer’s biggest football extravaganza. Fabio Capello’s appointment may soothe things a little and bring hope back, but not playing in the tournament could be, in fact is, one of the worst chapters in the history books of English football.
HOPE: English fans, lose your senses for those three weeks of the summer. And shut Michael Owen’s mouth when he returns to play in the World Cup qualifiers against a smirking-in-pride Croatia.
Expectations bogged down the French phenom’s early days in the Catalan capital of Barcelona. Now there are injuries and flak from the press on the whole team. And that was topped by his former club Arsenal’s meteoric return to the top of European football. Gone are the days of that fabulous, eye-pleasing, heart-thumping goalscoring. But we would be advised to pray that he returns to his best. Remember, how goalscoring was revolutionized…..
HOPE: His post-christmas time holds the most hope. Henry has overcome his injury and should regain freshness in the two-week Spanish mid-season siesta.
And finally,
5) RONALDINHO
How times change. In fact, this is something new. No former World Player of the Year felt to such depths playing at the top level, as has Ronaldo de Assis Moreira. His attitude and training desire have been questioned. Even his passion for playing football is being put up for debate. He no longer makes those miraculous runs, or glances one way before passing the other way, cannot conjure up those still-unbelievable goals, looks slow on the ball and doesn’t even show any regret. The only thing that remains is the grin. The grin that lit up Catalunya once upon a time…..
HOPE: The grin can’t play football for you, nor convince the fans, the press and the ghost of the old Ronaldinho.
Merry Christmas, nonetheless…..
- The ‘Special One’ is Back: “I’m on Setanta Sports”
- Chelsea boss Avram Grant receives late Christmas present
- Manchester United get Larsson for Christmas
- It’s Time for English Football to Make a Break for Winter
- Transfer Rumours: Huntelaar and McCarthy to Manchester United and Manchester City as Tottenham send Defoe to Blackburn
Discussion - 18 Responses
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ARSENAL: Seeing their fairy-tale run ending nowadays… No longer in top spot (and falling).
This might seem strange coming from a ManU supporter, but it’s far too early to count out Arsenal. Let’s not forget that United would have drawn with Everton were it not for a complete mental meltdown by one Steven Pienaar.
DBeech,
Don’t forget Arsenal would have drawn with Tottenham hadn’t Keane missed his penalty .
Comments 1 & 3 were completely idiotic. If anything, Arsenal’s form have exceeded expectations on them this season. The race is far from over & we’re only 1 point behind. Wtf is the big deal?
@punyadeep
‘ifs’ dont work in football. At the end of the day, only the final score matters.
Outside the pointless debate on the title race, here’s a thought:
whenever United fall behind (whether it’s 1 point or 6), there’s this huge uproar in the press that the champions are crumbling, etc etc.
whenever Arsenal fall behind, everyone is quick to point out that 1 point is not a lot, and that Arsenal are still doing quite well.
While I agree with the 2nd viewpoint, I’m a bit surprised at the selective media over-reaction - making a big deal out of things if United are involved but not with Arsenal.
Of course, when Arsenal were 4th placed twice in a row it had people asking all sorts of questions but I’m not talking about a situation where a club is in 4th place / 10-15 points off the pace - I’m talking about title races, and specifically, how Arsenal fans are quick to point out their greatness when they’re up and equally quick to cover their asses by throwing out platitudes when the team hits a minor slump (minor being triple-underlined).
Wenger’s comment - that if we don’t lose till the end of the season then we’ll be champions - is ridiculously optimistic and panders to Arsenal’s arrogance and self-absorption.
Football fans without huge egos - now there’s a thought.
Personally as a United fan I’m always thinking about United winning each of their games, but there’s such a thing as separating fact from fiction and you have to know when things are expected to get tough.
Arsenal still have two of their toughest games to play (Chelsea and United away), while Chelsea have played all the three top away games and United have already visited Emirates and Anfield and come away unscathed. If you look at just the top four fixtures, Arsenal and Liverpool have the toughest second halfs to the season while Chelsea have the easiest (all three rivals have yet to visit Stamford Bridge).
We’ll know more by January, but saying that a) Arsenal are finished) or b) Arsenal will win the title if they don’t lose is bullshit. Arsenal are not finished, and they’re not going to win the title simply by avoiding defeat (which is quite unlikely in itself).
Ahmed, I take exception to your inflammatory comments.
The press has belittled and dismissed Arsenal’s chances from the get-go. They say we had a good draw, pointing out that we hadn’t beaten a “top 4″ side. Then we draw against ‘pool, Manure, and Chelski and they still say we have to “prove ourselves”. WTF does that mean? Short of going shot for shot with the Man Utd orgy boys, or into an extended Harrod’s shopping marathon with the Chelski WAGs, there’s not a lot left to prove. Our boys may not have fully descended testicles, and they may still need magnifying glasses to pluck out their nascent scrotal pubic hair, but they’ve “arrived” with regards to playing on the pitch.
That said, I feel sorry for the drug-peddling kitten on the picture. Yes, life for Afgani kittens is hard when their opium poppies die before harvest. No saucer of milk for that little pussy during winter. No drugs for the local opium peddlers, no cocaine for international syndicates, no crack for the druggies doing it tough on the streets. That’s right, Jay Maniyer, tell it as it is.
All of this is nuts. Man Utd fans crowing on about how they’re on their way up while the last few weeks they’ve been bangin on about how being 1 point behind is no big deal.
Ahmed, there has been no selective media over-reaction. Everywhere i read on this website people have been talking on and on about whether Arsenal has the cojones to ’stay the course’ whatever the fuck that means. Even when we were on top, it was like we were grasping desperately at the lead & now that Man Utd are ahead it looks like a firm grip on the title. If anything, the media has been pretty much confused as to who to predict will win this year & that’s why there’s so much crap flying around.
You were comparing our record against the top 4 so far this season. Well let me think, didn’t Arsenal have a very good record against the top 4 last season? Did that translate into winning the Premiership? No it didn’t, so what’s your point? And i seem to remember some of your comments in earlier articles last season about pretty much the same thing & how you didn’t care if Arsenal beat Man Utd home & away, you’d take the trophy anytime over that.
Wenger’s comment, however strangely over-optimistic it was, doesn’t mean that Arsenal is ’self-absorbed’ & ‘arrogant’. This from a Man Utd fan? Pot, kettle, black anyone?
Let me see, whenever Mourinho talks crap he’s taking the ‘pressure’ off of his players but when Wenger says something like this he’s just being stupid. Have i got that right? Oh yeah, & its only ok if SAF is the only one who plays mind-games, what with all his dumbass accusations of Emirates being ‘unsafe’ & the crowd being out of control. What a load of bollocks.
Time & time again Wenger has repeatedly said that its far from a two-horse race & that they still have tough matches ahead.
In terms of Arsenal fans ‘covering their asses’ wtf does that mean? A fan will support his team no matter what & i expect nothing less from Man Utd fans. That’s where the great debate lies doesn’t it? And by the way, may i remind you that everyone & i mean EVERYONE (you & me included) were predicting a tough battle for Arsenal to hang onto the 4th spot. So MAYBE whatever you’re construing as ‘ass covering’ is just a general sigh of relief that we’re still fucking competitive despite the loss of key players & that its more than likely that there will be more glory years on the horizon.
If anything i agree with your conclusion, but almost everything else you said before that was just damn weird & full of hyperbole.
My comment #1 had nothing to do with United winning the title…
just kidding!
I was dissapointed yesterday in the ‘lack of making a big deal of United being on top of the table’…know what I mean?
For months now, I had to listen to my arrogant Arsenal Supporter friends on about how good their team is, how good their football is, that United’s days are numbered, how young their team is, how they’ll dominate for the next few years, how lucky United were, how shitty United plays, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Now that we’ve finally proven to everybody that at this point in time, we are the best team, and that we did not become champions by fluke, everybody seems quiet…even on this site. No congratulations for being back on top, even though it might be short lived or not…
SO, I WILL STATE:
Arsenal’s fairy tale is coming to an end. I don’t care if they’re just 1 point behind, fact is, they’re not top anymore. At this point in time, WE are top, and that deserves some respect.
Oh, and btw, Arsenal plays shit football!
They play pretty football…pretty ineffective!
Cheer up Spiral Architect, we might slip up again this weekend…
Karl i know what you mean i watch match of the day every time its on and i was expecting a big mad talk about United taking over Arsenal the way they talk about Arsenal but nothing.
I should also point out that my earlier comment was about more than simple mathematics. Against Everton United were frankly horrendous. In 90 minutes we didn’t produce a real chance, hell for large parts of that game we could even get the ball through the midfield. This seems to have been overlooked after we squeezed out the victory (by one of the worst errors you’re likely to see. A goal keeper letting a ball slip is one thing, that’s a skill error. Pienaar’s error was a mental one, one that you would typically only see made by a school boy - and a real dumb fuck school boy at that) and after we slaughtered Sunderland (a team whose best player is unfortunately retired and now a manager). Of course United are a superb and prolific attacking team capable of scoring 4+ goals in a match, but it’s not these high scoring matches that are going to win them the league (unless it comes down to GD
). It’s going to be the games where goals are hard to come by, where the opposition try to play largely on the counter attack. Right now the only player who has shown any serious ability to be a difference maker in these matches is Cristiano Ronaldo. On the other hand Arsenal appear to have more of a team effort on display. Don’t get me wrong, I still expect United to win the EPL (Ronaldo’s just that fucking good), but it’s quite worrying to admit that Arsenal are more often playing better football than us.
DBeech, you are partly right about the Everton game. I mean, we scrapped through a victory, but not because we were a bad team, but simply because Everton played brilliantly on the day. Always, when we lose it’s because we slipped up somewhere, but in this particular game I think credit should go to Everton. I don’t know how I would have felt if we were to lose the match, but I think the Everton game was the most intense and exhilirating game so far. I was really nervous.
So, we did not really play that badly. Everton played superbly, until Pienaar slipped up. Credit where credit is due.
Just because Ronaldo scores our goals, does not make it a one-man-team. (I think Arsenal have a better case than us for this). I firmly believe (biased and all) that we play a better ‘team’ football than Arsenal. We have a combination of individual flair and teamplay. Arsenal in this regard imo is a bit ‘one-dimensional’.
I totaly agree with Karl. DBeech have we watched the same game? Only in the second half Tevez pulled couple of good saves from Howardnot to mation clearences fro Lescot and Jagielka. Everton is fighting for CL place and they are a good team who defended well. Did you expect us to walk over them like we did with Sunderland? It was never going to happen.
To say that we have only Ronaldo as a match winner is total crap. Just to mention few more Rooney (Aston Villa, Sunderland) and Tevez(Liverpool and Chelsea). All of this games were team achivements, but our stars were superb when we needed tham to be.
There is no such thing as a one man team. There are players that are so influential to a team they make it seem that way.
Gerrard, Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo, Drogba. Having players like that who can take a game by the scruff of the neck is diffinatly not a bad thing.
NUFC ought to be on that list at the moment
You seem pretty quiet Karl, what’s the matter?
All sniping aside i think Arsenal played like crap in the first half but showed their resilience & talent in the 2nd. What i’m saying is…well what i’m really doing is trying not to gloat.
See? This is me not gloating…Just kidding (or am i?)…
Hope Arsenal continue this success into the New Year. Go the Gunners!!!
To be fair
good game by Arsenal.
Scott over at ROM says that the second goal was a bit dubious (I missed it as I was flicking through channels, trying to catch a movie at the same time), and that red card for Arteta was a fucking shame - Fab stayed down too conveniently and Toure deserved a caution for the way he barged in.
Having said that, great work by Adebayor, Rosicky and co for the 4th goal and Everton’s defending was a real shambles during the match, Moyes needs to get them back to their basics.
Having said ALL that…
Great game by Arsenal.