Mr. Angry is back. Check him out here.
The thing about Hodgson is that when he’s angry, he doesn’t come across as threatening or intimidation, like a Roy Keane figure.
He looks, frankly, like an exasperated penguin.
Good luck Roy. When you see the squad Sanchez left you, you might need it.
Right, we’re about halfway through the season and we all think we know better so here’s my Premiership team of the season so far.
Keeper - Reina
Difficult one, I thought - there’s been some outstanding keepers but some howlers made by those you wouldn’t expect. Reina has been the most consistent in my opinion.
Defence - Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Nemanja Vidic, Joleon Lescott
Sagna has been the find of the season I reckon. Gallas was pretty average last season but making him captain of the Arsenal team and his new-found ability to stay fit has upped his performances. Vidic doesn’t get the plaudits that Ferdinand does, but doesn’t make the same expensive mistakes of his partner. Lescott has been outstanding, weighing in with the odd goal (as has Gallas) to boot.
Midfield - Ronaldo, Gareth Barry, Cesc Fabregas, Elano
Despite the fact that Ronaldo goes down quicker than a cheap tart, his talent is undoubted; he’ll probably get Player Of The Year again. Barry has been solid, reliable and the captain of an improving Villa side. Fabregas has been Arsenal’s best player this season and will only get better; his form has dipped a little recently though it must be said. Elano has been excellent this season in an almost brand new City side.
Strikers - Carlos Tevez, Fernando Torres
Once the dust settled after the protracted transfer/loan/personal contract hire plan or whatever he’s on, Tevez has formed a good partnership with Rooney and United are my bet to win the Prem this season. Torres has whacked in a fair few goals now, beginning to repay his significant transfer fee; a run in the team helps of course, and he’s way better than any of the other options Benitez has.
Subs - Robert Green, Steven Gerrard, Michael Essien, Ryan Giggs, Benjani.
Any thoughts/opinions?
In “The Game”, the Times’ laudable football supplement on 24/12/07, Tony Cascarino stated in his Fiver section:
Dimitar Berbatov has more ability than Dennis Bergkamp, the former Arsenal striker, but the Tottenham Hotspur forward lacks that bit of nastiness that gave Bergkamp his edge. So how badly do you want it Dimitar? How big is your heart?
What planet are you on, Tony? Utter, utter bollocks. The only way Berbatov has more ability than Bergkamp is if there is some undiscovered talent such as juggling or ventriliquism. Not on a football pitch.
…I’d sack Sam Allardyce. Not for the crappy football, not for the league position, but simply for spending over £5m of the club’s money on Joey Barton.
Seriously, the lad is just trouble and the baggage he brings is not made up for by what he does on the pitch. How anyone in their right mind could possibly think he’s worth the effort is beyond me.
Update: You know your situation is bad when Stan Collymore is offering to help you.
I love the Christmas fixtures, I have to say. The glut of games in such a short space of time leads to tiredness and results that make you look twice.
Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa - Why was Cech playing just days after we heard he could be out for a month? Did his injury contribute to his second ‘howler’ in the last few games?
Ricardo Carvalho’s red card was thoroughly deserved but at least he apologised afterwards. There was no apology from Ballack for his dive in the box which saw Zat Knight red-carded. Scott Carson should have done better with Ballack’s free kick. Villa are a team with real character under Martin O’Neill while Chelsea are a team that leaks goals without John Terry. It’ll be interesting to see how they cope with the loss of Carvalho for 3 games and the ACN departees.
Sunderland 0-4 Man United - Any other manager would be under serious pressure but Roy Keane has a board that understands his players aren’t that great and who will give him money in January to try and turn it around. Even if they go down, and there’s a real danger of that, I think he’ll be kept on. Continuity is a good thing. They really need to get themselves a defence though.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kick was fantastic.
Portsmouth 0-0 Arsenal - A disappointing result for Arsenal but without Robin van Persie and with Fabregas and Hleb struggling to find their form since recent injuries they looked a little short of ideas. Bendtner looked good when he came on and should get more time in the upcoming fixtures.
Arsenal have to hope Gallas isn’t too badly injured as they’ll miss Kolo Toure when he leaves for Africa.
Spurs 5-1 Fulham - One thing overlooked is just how many goals Robbie Keane has scored in 2007. I think he’s got 32 in the calendar year for Spurs, which is a fantastic record by any standards. It’s no surprise that they’re climbing the table but I think they’d have done that under Jol so it’s not all down to Ramos, although the Spaniard seems to have them much more organised at the back.
Wigan 1-0 Newcastle - 3 great points for Steve Bruce, Newcastle are just absolutely rubbish though. They are weighed down by the completely unrealistic expectations of their fans who insist they are a ‘big club’. The trophy records suggest that’s far from true and perhaps the sooner they accept the fact they’re barely a top 10 side, let alone a side that should challenge for titles, the happier they’ll be.
New owner Mike Ashley watches the games with fans who will be bending his ear about Sam Allardyce. You would think the former Bolton man needs more time but as he wasn’t Ashley’s appointment his days could be well and truly numbered.
Derby 1-2 Liverpool - Cruel on Derby and their young keeper but Steven Gerrard really does have a habit of scoring last gasp important goals. Pool fans will be worried by their inability to break down the worst team in the league and Benitez really needs to look at the striking position. They have Torres, then Crouch who doesn’t get as much time on the pitch as he should, and after that he needs to seriously consider what Kuyt and Voronin bring to the team. A builder can work hard but he won’t score you any goals.
Everton 2-0 Bolton - A great example of what continuity in the managerial position brings. Moyes has fashioned a very good side who, on their day, can beat anyone and on most days are hard to play against. Definite top 6 finishers for me.
West Ham 1-1 Reading - It’s no wonder the Upton Park crowd are frustrated, their team just aren’t very good. Too many passengers, not enough attacking threat, soft at the back. Reading outplayed them when it was 11 v 11, they weren’t far off doing that when they went down to 10.
Birmingham 3-0 Boro - It’s hard to gauge how good any team is when they’ve just played Boro who can flit between rather good and utterly dreadful. A decent 3 points for Alex McLeish though.
More games on Saturday. Bring ‘em on.
Just a quick one to wish all the readers a very happy Christmas and thanks too to all the authors for their posts during the year.
Have a good one.
I find it a little bit sickening - not to mention hypocritical - that managers and players are calling for an end to abuse from fans in the same week that Man Utd players have been accused of having gang-sex with a 19-year-old girl at their Christmas party.
Respect has got to be earned, and I’ve got no respect for some of these overpaid thugs and cowards.
The irony is that the United players wouldn’t even have had their Christmas party this week if the players at the party - including Jonny Evans, who has been indicated in an alleged rape - hadn’t been knocked out of the Carling Cup by Championship strugglers Coventry.
Injury prone West Ham midfielder Freddie Ljungberg shows off his new protective gear.
With Capello being appointed the Engerland manager (Moyes for Scotland please), I just hope he picks the team rather than basing it on either what’s in Supergoals on a Monday or Showboat on Soccer AM. Given his English is not that great, I can’t imagine he’s going to be looking to expand his vocabulary by taking pointers from either of those sources.
Hopefully, the first thing he does is give the captaincy to someone else - Gerrard would be my choice. John Terry has reached the level of untouchability that Shearer enjoyed; at least Terry thinks he has. He has kicked, elbowed and complained his way through the last couple of seasons and seeing him limp off during yesterday’s game at the Emirates made me think “It’s about time”. Eboue’s challenge wasn’t great, but it certainly wasn’t the only one and probably not worthy of the coverage Sky et al spent on it.
I also hope Ashley Cole cried himself to sleep on his massive bed of money; he’s going to be giving some of it away fairly shortly with a bit of luck.
…but find their celebrations somewhat dampened by the fact that nobody gives a shit.