Happy Birthday, You Beauty!

The beauty is none other than the thing you're viewing now. Ah, one year passes so quickly that it's so surreal. Everything happened so quickly and at a glance, it's already one year since I've posted my 'maiden' post on here.

I'm a pretty lukewarm person and hard to get me passionate for something for a extended period of time but seriously, football plus blogging means I've found something I love deeply although at the same time, not compromising something bigger that is Him above.

He gave me the skills necessary to make this a success (maybe partly? :p) and here I am thanking Him.

And not forgetting you bunch of people, who regularly tags and comment on here. It's always encouraging to see all the replies and it's my joy to entertain all of you and to sharing the love and knowledge of the game together.

Thanks for the support and everything, before it gets oh so NAGGY. Whoever you are, wherever you're from, THANK YOU!


PS: I don't know the exact numbers of visitors since the first day because my trusted blog counter is a scam and it liesssss. Oh whatever....Google Analytics is still your friend...

Watching England Is Boring?

Nah. According to Football 365, here's something to expect...

FIVE POINTS

* Whole pub groans as Steven Gerrard slices the ball 70 yards downfield and out of play.

* Wayne Rooney's face twists into a mask of hate as he screams foul-mouthed abuse at linesman who correctly flagged him offside.

* Close-up of Paul Robinson. Pub smartarse sings 'Who ate all the pies?'

* Close-up of Frank Lampard scowling. Whole pub shouts 'Wanker'.

* England get free-kick in dangerous area. Commentator says, "Now this is a situation that a certain Mr David Beckham will be looking at with great interest and wondering what might have been."

* Pub groans as Stewart Downing is picked in starting line-up, despite having all the pace of a sloth on Benylin.

* Despite being left-footed and a skilled left-back, Gareth Barry isn't. Phil Neville is. Red-faced man shouts, "For FACK'S SAKE, McClaren!"

* Richard Keys opens the half time discussion with the phrase, "Well, that didn't go quite the way we'd hoped."

* Frank Lampard blasts free-kick low into the legs of the wall.

* Aaron Lennon beats someone on outside and slices cross wildly behind goal.

* Rio Ferdinand rolls casual pass straight to opposition striker, leading to Israeli goal.

* Rio Ferdinand is first to reach England goalscorer, showing burst of pace and commitment never seen in normal play.

TEN POINTS

* A red-faced man tries to prove he's the most passionate Engerland fan in pub by bellowing at the TV so hard the veins stand out in his forehead like a contour map of the Lake District.

* Scotsman wanders into pub wearing a shirt with giant star of David on the front.

* Nerdy-looking bloke walks in front of projector screen on way to toilet and 40 people shout at him to "Siddown fer fack's sake".

* Hard-looking bloke walks in front of projector screen on way to toilet and event passes unremarked, except for a lot of leaning round him to see the game.

* Attractive woman wanders in front of projector screen on way to toilet and pub falls temporarily silent as everyone watches her arse and wishes she was with them.

* Richard Keys hands back to the commentary team with the phrase, "Let's hope things get a little better in the second half."

TWENTY POINTS

* Fat man in pub has replica shirt so tight the 'w' in Owen is almost a straight line.

* One of your mates is torn between talking to a girl he fancies or shutting up and concentrating on the game, thereby spending match in existential torture.

* Red-faced man hurries to the bar five minutes before half-time, elbowing women aside to do so.

* Man in face paint and St George's flag wanders into pub, buys glass of white wine and stands directly in front of your table, obscuring your view.

* Sky swooshy caption noise is so loud it rattles the tables and spills your pint.

* Rio Ferdinand jumps onto back of England goalscorer, straddling him in piggyback style and compacting his vertebrae so that he has to be substituted.

FORTY POINTS

* England score goal. Red-faced man screams so loudly he's sick in his mouth.

FIFTY POINTS

* Phil Neville spotted with mouth closed.

Pub Quiz Time!

Alright, I assume most of you, readers, are Liverpool fans. Whatever it is, test yourself with this pub quiz and after this, you'll really know whether you're a good fan...

1) In what year was the club formed?

2) Whose the first Liverpool manager? (Multiple choice)

a) Tom Watson
b) John McKenna
c) Matt McQueen
d) Dave Ashworth

3) Who scores the most amount of League goals for the club?

4) When did Liverpool first won the FA Cup?

5) Who did Liverpool beat in the 1977 European Cup final?

6) Which player has the most number of appearances for the club?

Go on and try it!

Soccer AM Clips

You know, there are so many random things that happen in football that it's funny.





Cristiano Ronaldo one is the funniest. WOOF WOOF!

The Case Of 'Asking For Too Much'

Case 1: Rafa Wants Reserve To Be In The Professional League

Rafa: Let's take our reserves, name them Liverpool B and take over the Nationwide League One!

Alex Miller: HELL YEAH!


It's a ludicrous ask from Rafa Benitez as he suggested that reserve teams of the major clubs in the Premiership should have the privilege to be in the lower leagues but for once (okay, maybe not once), I'll beg to differ.

I'm not a fan of any of the lower league teams and I don't watch them due to the lack of media exposure but one thing I do know is those teams might not be playing at the highest level but they do have history and are still hugely followed. Putting a Liverpool B (or Castilla, whatever) is going to cause an uproar.

Shows that how ignorant the big clubs are, actually.

No doubt the reserves needs to play more games and that the current reserve league doesn't provide the necessary competition for the players. There are up and coming stars that struggle to break into first team while the reserve team provided little challenges for the young lad.

There's a gap between the reserves and the first team and that's the aim of the suggestion by Rafa. Bridging this gap is going to be tough but I don't think throwing them into lower league side will be beneficial.

What I mean is that there will be clubs that MIGHT lose their position at the league due to the emergence of a certain big club's reserves and getting relegated IS big problem now. Survival in the league ensures constant flow of coffers into the club while relegation usually means 'you go down there for a few years and rebuild'.

As I was making my rounds, I noticed this certain article from SquareFootball.net that was on this topic and the writer and I had the same thoughts. Since there's Champions League, why not create a Champions League for the U-21 team?

Let's say the first team set off for their Champions League game while the U-21 will also get to play against other youth teams. This will not only give the youngsters more regular football, it also gives them the chance to compete against youths of other countries and that'll definitely strengthen ties between clubs (maybe only, if massive brawls don't happen that is).

It's going to take a radical change before anything can be done about the gap between the reserves and the first team. If the FA and UEFA are prepared to, then they must take the route where it benefits everyone and makes no one upset.


Case 2: Asking Too Much From The Over-rated XI

In case you're asking what over-rated XI I'm talking about, it's none other than our favourite, England.

Stigmatised by the media as a mediocre bunch of overpaid players who couldn't give a toss about the pride of the nation, now the task they're given by the press is as if they need to win 3 consecutive World Cups. "Better win Israel or... *sharpens knife*" are their thoughts now, we all know it.

Come on, face it. This England team isn't very good. There are half arsed players, jealousy and schemes within the dressing room, politics in Soho Square and a very average manager at helm. Perhaps, the expectation of the press is putting a little too much pressure on them.

But what do you expect? These are players who can do a decent job, week in week out, for any team but their national team.

Yet at the same time, you got to ask where's their pride of wearing the national colours. An honour and privilege has been abused and now it looked like a social club where you can only get into if the people within it are happy with you. (See Joey Barton)

Many England fans are torn by the current circumstance. They want England to win because frankly, which fan doesn't. But they want they to lose ugly so that they can get rid of McClaren fast.

But whatever the outcome, I think McClaren is here to stay. Afterall, the FA is ran by some half wits (apologies, but it's true) from the start and the appointment is just farcical. Losing this game will only put more pressure on him, no less.

But the outcome of a win at Tel Aviv is going to have more impact on the team that getting trounced. It'll give fans false hope once again and then everyone will go through a roller coaster ride once again and at the end of it, feeling empty.

And let me reiterate once again, that the current England squad isn't as good as what people make of them. Over-hyped, that's what the press likes to do. And their current plight might be due to the players believing in their own hype.

Don't expect anything too much from this bunch. They'll do decent, nothing more, nothing less.

This Is Where They Learn Diving

I've unlocked the secrets to the training of diving, or in better words, simulation.




Who would've thunk it!

Next Season's Kit...

Mind you, these are the prototypes of the new Adidas jerseys for next season and already, the one in black was on display last week, during the European XI vs ManYoo game.

The logo might not be in the right place but you'd expect something along the line of this..


Even leak reports claim that our away kit for next season is white while the 3rd away is black. So add in Carlsberg (or maybe other sponsors) and it'll probably be right.

Anyway the black one looks class. Imagine 6 stars above the logo.....oh too far fetched at the moment!

Taken from RAWK

Well Done, Kids

The Liverpool youth squad have once again made it to the FA Youth Cup Final after beating Newcastle 3-1 in the semi finals second leg and aggregate of 7-3. Entering the cup final in two consecutive seasons are hard to come by and hopefully, the kids will take up this chance and unleash their full potential.



Yep, that's Rafa and Montse, his wife.

Midfielders Need To Start Firing

As the race for third place heats up between Arsenal and Liverpool, the two clubs could only see the shadows of Chelsea while Man United not even in sight. Once again, this season, the title race was over before Christmas and it just talks about the gap between the 'top 2', the 'other 2' and the rest of the league.

It's fairly obvious to see that there's still a lot for both Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez to do in order to edge closer to the 'top 2'. Leave the discussion of what the duo will have to do to probably after the season ends but one will have to wonder why are these two teams so far away.

It's definitely not the quality of the sides.

Arsenal are more than capable of beating the top sides. They demonstrated their ability by beating ManYoo twice, home and away. But injury has taken it's toil on the London side. As of now, Henry, Adebayor and van Persie, 3 of strikers of theirs are out injured while William Gallas missed a large portion of the season through injury as well.

Whereas Liverpool had a torrid time at the beginning of the season. They started off badly at Bremall Lane and didn't looked convincing at all away from home until they beat Wigan 4-0. They didn't have the momentum and before they knew it, they're too far behind.

But all these reasons (or excuses) aside, there's one thing I'd like to point out. There's a distinct similarity between this two clubs and that perhaps, is the reason why they're chasing shadows.

The midfielders ARE NOT SCORING.

As midfielders, it's not only your job to supply strikers with assists but also to chip in with a couple of goals. No, couple of goals is not enough. You need someone to take up the mantle of scoring along with the strikers.

Back in the 'Invincible' season of Arsenal, Bobby Pires and Freddie Ljungberg were in the top of their game. The Frenchman will regularly score beautiful goals playing on the left while Ljungberg is probably, a predator in the box, cutting in from the left. And with Henry scoring like nobody's business, they went on a 49 games unbeaten streak.

Then to the dominance of Chelsea. It was a team that's built around one man and that's Frank Lampard. Just take a look at the number of goals he scores from his attacking midfield position and you'll know why he seldom misses games under Jose Mourinho. Add in Robben and Joe Cole, it's guaranteed goals.

Now on to United's reign (a wee bit early but...). When they sold their top scorer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, to Real Madrid, many critics says that United will struggle with goals. But how wrong were they.

Revitalised were Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. The two remnants of the great 1999 team found their renewed hunger and is probably one of the reasons why ManYoo are where they are now. Not with the assists, but also with the goals.

Striker wise, Rooney still needs to be a little more consistent while Saha isn't reliable enough as he's too injury prone. But that burden was placed on the sole shoulder of Ronaldo and did he took them well.
He's been firing at all cylinders since the very start of the season and doesn't look like stopping at all. His divings and cheating antics aside, he has been by far the league's best player. The number of goals from his winger position speaks of itself and it sort of reminds me of how Arsenal were successful with Pires.

Depressingly, looking at the state of Liverpool and Arsenal, one could say that the midfielders are not contributing enough in terms of goals.

Arsenal: Gilberto (8), Flamini (3), Rosicky (1), Hleb (2) and Fabregas (0)
Liverpool: Gerrard (5), Luis Garcia (3), Xabi Alonso (3), Mark Gonzalez (2)

Those numbers are not so nice to see. Gilberto scores a hell lot from penalties while it's just mind boggling to think that Rosicky, Hleb and Fabregas are all out scored by a defensive midfielder, Mathieu Flamini.

Whereas Steven Gerrard haven't been as influential as he used to be. Of course, we're comparing to his statistics last season which showed 23 goals in all competition but honestly, anyone could tell he hasn't been able to impose himself in games. Perhaps it's him shafted to the right but hey, didn't he play there last season?

Now look,

ManYoo: Ronaldo (17), Giggs (4), Scholes (5), Park (4)

That's 17 goals from a winger. It's more than all the goals from both sets of midfielders at Liverpool and Arsenal.

And that's also the reason why Chelsea are playing catching up as their midfielders are not as potent as before as well. Only Lampard manages 11 while Ballack only 4.

Perhaps, that's why teams struggled in the league. Every member of the team needs to contribute to the score sheets and even Paul Robinson showed that goalkeepers shouldn't be counted out!

It's rather obvious that football is about scoring goals and if midfielders don't step up, then it's always fighting a losing battle. Depending too much on strikers is dangerous and who knows what will happen when your star striker goes out injured. Who are you going to turn to?

So, midfielders will HAVE to step up their game and contribute more. It's just so ironic that we talk about how big a talent Fabregas is yet he's still to score in the league (sorry Siren!). Assists aside, there's much more to a midfielder's game. Unless they are ready to take a fair share of the burden of scoring with the strikers, teams will struggle.

Step up or lose out.

YESSSS!

During Saturday's top of the table clash in the Dutch Eredivisie between Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, the Amsterdam club thumped their close rivals by 5 goals to 1. It was a game of great goals such as that scorcher from Wesley Sneijder (go YouTube and find it, it's worth it!) and also Huntelaar showing his predatory skills.

But one incident did certainly caught the eye of many. It was referee, Eric Braamaar, who is in the line of fire this time.



Any coincidence this is the same referee that took charge of that fateful game between Lille and ManYoo?

Facking glory hunter...