Something completely different
Quick post with something that made me laugh. Like Laurel and Hardy, only with stretchers…
Singing for the unsung
As the hyperbole flies around Liverpool’s famous victory (well, loss, but you know what I mean) against the Catalans last night, it seems everyone and his dog is queueing up to lionise Gerrard, Benitez and Carragher. The centre-half especially has enjoyed an enormous amount of praise, even Gerrard saying he wouldn’t swap him for the world.Fair enough – Carragher was awesome, and has consistently been a true backs-to-the-wall leader, in much the same manner as John Terry is for Chelsea. Last night he was much lauded for, amongst other things, his aerial superiority – a charge that, while factual, isn’t as impressive as it may seem. Carragher faced Ronaldinho as a lone striker for much of last night’s game, Ronnie not being best known for his towering headers, while it was only in the last 15 minutes that Barcelona started to try the airborn route. And, to be fair, any team with a strike force containing 4 players under about five foot three – Deco, Iniesta, Messi and Giuly – isn’t going to be a huge long-ball challenge.Taking nothing away from Carragher, I’d prefer to focus on what I thought was a magnificent personal display by one Steve Finnan. Like most full backs that don’t fill their boots with goals (but actually concentrate on, you know, defending), he rarely gets star billing. An assist or goal-line clearance aside, his actions are never seen as game-changing. Last night, though, Finnan was faced at various times by possibly the best three attacking players on the planet, and none of them got the smallest of small change from him. Eto’o, sulky and withdrawn in an unfamiliar position, was subbed after 60 indifferent minutes. Ronaldinho, the best player in the world (and in his correct position), got nothing either, nor the misfiring Leo Messi.
Even when Gerrard moved to a more central, advanced role and Pennant came on to do his impression of a winger, Finnan stood tall, toeing ball after ball as Barcelona attempted to find any chink in his armoury. The goal, from the right admittedly, was more a case of a crooked back line due to an inexperienced Arbeloa and a winger in the wrong position, than anything our feted fullback could defend against.
Ultimately, Finnan was a hero amongst heroes, in a position never destined for headlines. He’ll still feel better than Barca’s superstars this morning, though.
That sinking feeling
It’s rare that a sporting occasion makes you feel sorry for the fans. One way or another, you go into every game knowing full well that there’s a pretty good likelihood that you might lose. And for the 80 per cent of us that don’t support Man United of Chelsea, that’s what normally happens. Sometimes though, events conspire to really put someone through the ringer and you’ve simply got to feel sympathy.With that fitting precursor, I’ll introduce you to Russ. Russ is my housemate, a thoroughly nice and generally drunken bloke, and, for his drunken sins, a West Ham fan. This weekend I felt awful for Russ. In a season of capitulations, misplaced confidence and decisions bordering on the suicidal, the last seven days in the season saw a neat overview of where the club is right now. In short, they got charged by the FA for fielding ineligible players (that will undoubtedly lead to a points fine), they fined one of their own for breaking club rules following a forbidden pan-Atlantic birthday jaunt, they gave their manager the vote of confidence, they lost a game they were 2-0 up at half time and 3-2 up with five minutes to go, and they all but confirmed a clear-out of epic proportions come the summer. Ouch.
There are few who come out with any credit from this season-long fiasco. While Tevez has been lauded for the effort he’s put in (on the pitch as well as in Burger King, by the look of it), he’s most likely playing not to save West Ham but to ensure a credible club buys him come May. Curbishley can point to the fact he inherited a failing team, but he’s had a whole transfer window to play with, alongside a large proportion of the season to sort out the club’s problems. That the Irons are playing worse now than under Pardew is telling. Other than that, it’s hard to think of one positive. Mark Noble’s desire and goal on Saturday has been allowed to shine too late, while Curbishley gambled, wrongly, on financial motivations pulling West Ham from their plight rather than trusting in hungry, willing players as Pardew did with Alex Song, for example.
The winter buys are an enigma of their own. Each, individually, has merit. Boa Morte was Fulham’s talismanic captain, frequently changing games of his own accord while at the Cottage. Under Curbishley he’s looked uninterested and unworthy of a training bib half of the time. Upson has been a rock for Birmingham this season, but he’s never been any more than brittle as he’s shown so far in his Hammers career. Lucas Neill is a money-grabber short and simple. Anyone that turns down Champions League football for a relegation battle due to a couple of extra zeroes per month is a mercenary, plain as day.
Nigel Quashie’s signing defies reason. Here’s a man that has been relegated four times already. Obviously he occupies the strange hinterland between too-good for the Championship and not-good-enough for the Premiership, like no other before him. How this man was thought of as a better option than Javier Mascherano?
I admired what Pardew did with West Ham last year. They attacked the Premiership with a vim and vigour that’s laid the groundwork for teams like Reading to flourish in England’s top league. It seems though, that their downfall will be equally as spectacular as their first season’s highs. The Championship is a tough place to acclimatise to as well, especially after the kind of monster fire sale that’s likely.
From England hopeful to Championship manager. Like a speccy lad’s dream, but a saggy manager’s nightmare.
The best story ever?
Possibly The Greatest Story Ever Published
As reported by the fine publication that is Galway First:
‘A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised “to get out and meet people,” the local court heard last week.
‘Thomas Aloysius McCarney with an address in south Galway was charged with cruelty to animals, lewd and obscene behaviour, and with being a danger to himself when he appeared before the court on Friday. He was also charged with damage to a mini-bar in the room, but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who caused that damage.
‘Solicitor for the accused Ms Sharon Fitzhenry said that her client had been through a difficult time lately and that his wife had left him and that his life had become increasingly lonely.
‘”Mr McCarney has been attending counselling at which he was told that he would be advised to get out and meet people and do interesting things. It was this advice that saw him book into the city centre hotel with a donkey,” she said. She added that Mr McCarney also suffered from a fixation with the Shrek movies and could constantly be heard at work talking to himself saying things like, “Isn’t that right, Donkey?”‘
Many thanks to Football365
Sodding Clapham
And the sodding people who live there.
Our house was burgled yesterday, leaving us with very very little in the way of anything left and meaning we’ve got a load of administration and hassle to sort out things like passports and insurance etc.
Second time in two weeks, and I’m barely containing my anger. Time to look for a new place, methinks.
