Tuesday 7 February 2012

THE GOOD , BAD , AND UGLY OF LIVERPOOL..

I Wonder if you watched the Liverpool VS  Tottenham premier league fixture at Anfield last night.  Thought i might share my observations with you all.

I suppose my first take is  : that was a typical Liverpool performance.... you can comfortably rule them out of winning the league this season , and even next. With so much money spent on new players - Carroll , Downing , Suarez , Henderson , Adam , Enrique ;  plus the youngsters blooded like -  Spearing,  and kelly; not to add the  veteran Belllamy,   the in-print of Rafa Benitez still is conspicuous in it's positive and negative.  8 draws in 12 home league games , 7th on the league standings ; and the side with  the lowest chance conversion rate in the league. It is quite a strange state of affairs , because they should really be doing better. Yesterday , as most times i have watched them this season , they were solid , forceful ,  and played with the right intensity. They just do not have the right imagination in their approach play. The plot in the last third of the pitch , just seems too mediocre,  not to add lines get fluffed by the actors in attack. Simply put , if you liken their attack to a  meal  you had in your favourite restaurant , then  you would asking to see the restaurant manager for a complaint.

However , they do have one player i truly admire , and rate as one of the best mid-fielders in Europe right now - No , it's not Steven Gerrard , it is.... wait for it :  CHARLIE ADAM .  This lad is true technical class , and what i call a sexy mid-fielder. Youngsters out there looking for role model central mid-fielders , look no further than the Liverpool number 25 .  He is a combination of the Amazing Italian  mid-fielder Andrea Pirlo , and Paul Scholes ( past and present ) . He is graceful on the ball , never hurried , varies his approach ,  a good passer long or short distance ,  makes terrific angles , can start-up attacks lying deep ,  good from set-play , and has a hammer -like left foot. I Feel Adam does not get the credit he deserves for his mid-field play prowess.  It's good to see a British mid-fielder who is not all about pace and power ;  nor just a brutish tackler ,  nothing more... Adam is a polished , and sophisticated player. He would not be out of place in the mid-field of big European teams , be it Barcelona , of  Real Madrid.

Then call this the ugly side :  You have Luis Suarez , and tribal chief , Kenny Dalglish .  Mark my words, as talented and intriguing the former is as a player , he is going to leave these shores in scandal. The Uruguayan is an unfolding disaster. He has that nasty streak associated with many South American players, and an attitude of arrogant nonchalance .  Millions would have seen him kick Scott Parker in the midriff  last night. It was such a poor attempt at displaying subtle contempt. Simply put , it was not an error.  For a player playing his first game after a ban for racially insulting an opponent , i confidently stand by my prophesy another scandal is just around the corner for this fantastic foot-baller .

When the time bomb that is Luis Suarez goes off ( finally,  properly... )  two things would be evident... it shall go off in the face of the tribal chief - Kenny Dalglish ; or the manager of Liverpool manager would wittingly or unwittingly be the trigger . Hear him yesterday say Suarez ..... " should not have been banned in the first place.'..... refering to the punishment of Suarez for his comments towards patrice Evra.  Which makes me ask why Liverpool chose not to appeal the ban in the first place ! To say i lost respect for Kenny Dalglish over his stance towards Suarez's  behaviour ( in the race row with Patrice Evra )  is to say the least.  His general scorn , lack of objectivity , tetchy riposte to anything that sounds like questioning Liverpool  ( be it players or issues ) makes me call him the tribal chief.  There is always something about tribalism that is synonymous with coarse , crude , and unsophisticated .

Monday 6 February 2012

DIVIDED WE STAND....

Soccer and Politics have often  crossed swords , and the soccer fraternity  most often wants politics to keep it's counsel .  Perhaps events last friday could be one of those times when the soccer world need borrow a leaf  from it's counterparts in politics.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is to be prosecuted  for allegedly perverting the course of justice owing to a traffic related offence by  someone driving his  car ( it's possible he was ) .   He denies  being at the wheels of the car at that exact time ( any offence was committed )  ,  but his wife Vicky Pryce. The salient point to this analogy is that the Secretary resigned his position immediately the Crown Prosecution Service arrived at  an official conclusion to charge him for the alleged offense.

Juxtapose the cases of Secretary Huhne , with that of Captain John Terry , and they may not be similar in terms of the alleged sins of both men , nor the gravity of possible punishment , what we have to take out is :
The politician resigned in order not to be a "distraction" ,  or a cause of division in running Government ; and yes ,  i am juxtaposing two different circumstances , and two individuals from  two different walks of life, but what Terry ought to have figured out long ago is that  once  events at Loftus Road touched on matters that could be deemed in the public interest , or an infringement of the laws of the Land for that matter ,  he was  walking on broken glass , and ought to have been prepared to resign as captain of the national team without letting it get to the point where he has been sacked as captain for the second time. Had that cause of action been taken , he would have been in a position of strength and honour , consequently having a bit more leverage in this narrative . It's not the first time,  in my opinion ,  John Terry has made a poor call in this episode.

I cannot say i do not feel for John Terry , he must have been heavily wound-up that afternoon by the fans , and felt raw hurt ;  that , and the unjust refreeing decisions , could have sent him into melt down. Still the law says , no excuse . John is  London bred through and through , his Chelsea team is an ethnic and cultural melting pot , on those grounds , am inclined to think what happened that afternoon was more animal instinct , rather than a definition of his convictions ( if anything wrong was said ) . I cannot say that much for Luis Suarez....... And before it sounds like i am about to pre-empt a  court trial , i hasten to add - let justice take it's course , and be served.

As stated earlier , Terry has made bad calls..... he spent far too much time trying to say he was misquoted,  or misheard , rather he should have spent that time protecting his integrity by getting the right sort of people around him ( for starters Rio Ferdinand ) ;  do due diligence on the PR side , and rally round the right causes associated with anti-racism at what was , and still is a sensitive period for race relations on the foot-ball side. This should have been done irrespective of whether he said , or did not say the alleged offensive word(s). It would been a testament of his true believes.   The decision by Chelsea to get the trial put forward was a bad one , and John Terry ought to have forced the issue , because a summer trial does him no favours , nor the foot-ball fraternity. Had he stood trial long before july , this unsavoury incident would have been put to bed much earlier. All this talk , and further distraction exacerbates tension in communities , stadia , amongst players, and England's hopes of being successful at the Euro championships suffers too....  John Terry , in not dealing with this matter properly has let himself become a controversial and disuniting  figure .  Everyone has their opinions,  but we just sound so much more divided than before all of this happened.