Monday, January 15, 2007

Drogballs' Weekly Thoughts

Hey, I'm back! Tiring day I had but I'll continue to blabber on whether you like it or not.


All Things Liverpool, First

As you've read the previous post, the DIC's takeover is imminent and quoted from our CEO Rick Parry, he said it'll be done pretty soon and I think we should expect the announcement to be made within the next week days or perhaps over the weekends. Pretty much looking forward to it and with those fans still going on with the RTK (Reclaim The Kop), there is no worries about us being 'sold out'.


Wins For All Four

ManYoo, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all had a good weekend. But I predict there will be disappointments in the midst of celebration next weekend because....we're playing Chelsea while Arsenal host ManYoo. It has to be one of the biggest weekend in the English football calender and it might sound cliché, but this is sort of a make or break for all the teams.

ManYoo might be in cruise control, but they should not let up and let slip of the title, which I personally do NOT believe they will. But this is football and an odd anomaly will just hit you in the face and all the good works might be undone in a matter of weeks.

Chelsea finally plays chasing pack after setting the standards for such a long time. They had a terrible time dealing with Cech and Terry's injury while unrest was set about in the squad. Now it is time for Jose to show his man management skill and bring the players together again.

We will have to shrug off the 'wanna-bes' tag by finally beating the top team in the league. We have been suffering from inferiority and this mental block needs to be put right. Also, with tough games like Barcelona and ManYoo coming up, a slip up will cost us the European place especially with Bolton and Pompey still hot on our heels.

Arsenal, meanwhile, can build on their impressive run with a victory over United again. That result at Old Trafford was a fantastic one to say the least and if they can snatch another 3 points from ManYoo, who knows, they might be THE ultimate downfall for ManYoo.

The race is heating up although title race is restricted to only 2 teams. With 2nd and 3rd place all to play for, it's now or never.


Relegation Strugglers Struggles

Surprise! Watching the Premier League highlights and seeing how they manage to blew their chances is not surprising but rather, amusing. Charlton, as usual, was a shower of sh*te and managed to lose heavily at home to 'Boro. The defending was comical and even with Carson in goal, nobody could save them. Might be too early to say but I don't see them staying up.

West Ham, how the mighty have fallen! With Yossi Benayoun finally decided to turn up for the game and rediscovered his form of last season, his team mates went to 'drunkard' mode and managed to self destruct. Firstly, Bobby Zamora turned from hero to zero with that unnecessary sending off. Then they conceded a very soft equaliser in the 90th minute. The defending was horrendous throughout and do they actually know how to deal with aerial threats?

But they have Sheffield United to thank for, as the Blades managed to blew it as well. Holding on to a precious 1-0 lead over Portsmouth, Claud Davis managed to screw it all up when he had a huge misunderstanding with goalkeeper, Paul Gerard and in the end, both of them were made to look liked utter buffoons. You could imagine the dressing room after the match with Neil Warnock......


Spurs Spurns It

I don't know why but I think I should have a go at Tottenham after watching them lost to a Newcastle youth team. It was puzzling. It was bizarre. With the Geordies defence made up of some 19 year olds and a right winger, Tottenham piled on pressure but was thwarted time and again by the brilliant Shay Given.

In my humble opinion, he has to be one of the best goalkeeper in the league and to me, he's like who Casillas is to Real Madrid. A bunch of scare crows in front of him, he had to do the majority of the defending albeit his lack of height and commanding presence.

That's beside the point. Spurs took the lead. Then soon found themselves leveled when Paul 'Ate the pies' Robinson decided to hand them an early Valentine's Day gift. How he's still England's number 1, I'll never know. The faster Ben Foster or Scott Carson takes over the better anyway.

Spurs then predictably took the lead again but began a sequence of self destruction. Martins scored with perhaps a shot which was meant to break the net while Butt scored from tight angle. Like how they did Liverpool, threw Dawson on as striker and began their long ball bombardment tactics.

Is it me, or do I find Tottenham a team who goes around buying players just for the bloody sake of buying? They seemed to buy 5-6 players every time the transfer window opens and they're all youngsters (preferably English midfielders). How on earth does Jol managed to keep them all happy is still quite a mystery, but his constant tinkering is costing his team while the press hasn't been hard on him as they did to our Rafa Benitez.

Ashley Young for 10million? Go on! Because I can't remember him completing a single pass in the game against Liverpool. And you wonder why they 'under-achieve'.

3 comments:

Ace Cowboy said...

That Newcastle/Tottenham match was pretty cool, one of the best in recent weeks...lots of back and forth, a quick turnaround from Spurs up to Spurs down, some great goals (as well as some bad ones). But Martins' strike was brilliant, just a sick goal.

Unrelatedly, given all the injuries to the Reds of late, how do you think starts along the midfield this weekend against Jose's boys?

psychohare said...

i never heard of Ashley Young until this morning's headline... who is he? i read that he scored 4 goals in like alot of matches? something like that? well i cant be bothered...
vs Chelski... i dunno, i just hope we dont lose, and i'll be glad, but if we do lose, ARSEnal better lose also!

Riise as left winger, or Aurelio? they can play both left wing and wingback positions.
Liverpool lacks quality players, we need that Dubai money soon!

DROGBALLS said...

Yea, the Martins one have to be one of the goal of the week or perhaps even month.

Think we're a bit short on the left as well as in the middle so there's no choice but to reinstate Riise to the left flank while Aurelio pushed back to left back because Riise's form has been terrible and his defending was horrendous at times. So just let him have a little bit of freedom down the left.

Central will be the usual 2 while Pennant is the only choice on the right. I don't see Rafa using that 4-3-3 against Chelsea. Too risky.

Well, Ashley Young is a ...young player from Watford. Just like any English talent, overhyped and over-rated I think. Then the vicious cycle happens and now he's over-priced. 10mil for him? I'll rather get another Kuyt then.

He's one of the shining light among the Watford team this season and Opta stats shows he is a pretty handy player. But looking at his performance against Liverpool, sorry, no chance.