Football
Brazil. So nearly perfect.
Jul 3rd
I will start off this post by saying that I am one of the converts who prefer solid, consistent and organized football as compared to flashy and near sucidal styles. I think what makes a great football team is one that can tighten its midfield and turn the game with quick forays to the final third. It is a little bit like the Arsenal of 1997-2002. Strong defense, tight midfield, quick wingers, fast strikers. It gives the team a hell lot of confidence.
So naturally in this World Cup, I picked Brazil. A different Brazil from the past. One that did not rely on ’samba’ football but was more European like and very organized. Brazil did well in every game until Netherlands. This will not be a long post but after watching the game, I’d like to post a few points.
1. Incapable Backups
Brazil’s first team would beat any team in the world. But not when Elano and Ramires were out. The second strings did not live up and Melo was not even close to becoming Gilberto Silva’s partner in the key part of its formation. Melo self destructed under pressure (most Juve fans would not be surprised).
2. No Plan B
I was surprised at the quality of the substitutes or tatics used when Brazil was down 2-1. You would have thought they would replaced one of the DMs (probably Melo) to bring an extra attacking midfielder. But a one for one change of Nilmar (what? no Pato?) for Fabiano meant that Netherlands did not need to really sit tight at the back with 10 men. Brazil had awesome first touch but while that brought them past 1 or 2 defenders, they did not have sufficient firepower upfront. More or less the team remained more or less the same even when 2-1 down. More urgency yes, but ineffective tactics.
3. Too defensive
Arsenal fans know this best. Sitting on a 1-0 lead and losing in the end. Brazil simply did not press or close down the Dutch fast enough after a 1-0 lead. I’m surprised because that was what they did effectively to Ivory Coast, Portugal and Chile. Instead they kept sitting back. Their team is more than capable to play a continual pressing game to shake the confidence of the Dutch attackers who grew in confidence as they were allowed to continually raid the flanks. It changed after Brazil fell 2-1 down but that could have been easily adverted.
So what’s left? What’s next? Spain is probably hot favourites now but Chile has shown how frail they can be. Press them and deny them space and their defense will crack. Argentina has a multitude of talents but are not well drilled defensively. The Germans look well balanced but inexperience can cost them at this knockout level. Netherlands may have beaten Brazil but what they showed in that game was more of continual pressure and hoping the other team cracks. Their forwards, chiefly Van Persie have been playing poorly (Netherlands had a good chance to turn this game 3-1 or 4-1 but they sat on the ball even when 1 on 1) and they rely a lot on Robben and Sneidjer. When denied space on the flanks, they are in serious trouble.
Quite frankly I believe the World Cup is heading to Europe but there are no clear favourites now. This actually it a good cup to watch actually.
Argentina vs Germany would be a cracker to watch. Go Germans!
First 2010 Post… In March
Mar 2nd
Busy busy year. Had no time to update and frankly been squeezed out in every way possible way. It has been an extremely quick moving year and I’ll attempt to round up every less sensitive information around me, right here.
Studies – Semester 2’s Summary
Back to school and 4 economics modules
I’m taking 5 modules as usual, 4 economic centric modules (3 core + 1 elective) and 1 elective module to cover my final faculty exposure requirement. Basically, the modules I’m taking are:
- EC2101 – Microeconomics 1 [1 Bid Point: Preallocated]
- EC2102 – Macroeconomics 2 [1 Bid Point: Preallocated]
- EC2303 – Foundations for Econometrics [1 Bid Point]
- GEK1018 – Economic Issues in the Developing World [300+ Bid Points]
- EL1101E – The Nature of Language [1 Bid Point]
It’s hard to compare the workload of this sem to the last. Last sem I was highly preoccupied with covering content for GE1101E and SN1101E which yielded very positive results for me. This sem, none of my modules are content heavy but rather concept and practice heavy. If no one has told any ‘A’ level / poly kid who want to be an economics major – Economics in NUS is a whole bunch of Mathematics. I have never manipulated more formulas and graphs as I have done right now. It’s frankly not that hard, comes across as a little shocking in the first few weeks but it gets much better in the end. EC2101 is really basic, EC2102 is made to sound ‘cheem’ but its doable, EC2303 is ‘A’ Level stats which I did not do in my ‘A’ Levels but that’s where I’m catching up now. GEK1018 is a god sent module if you are updated on current economic issues and have studied a particular region in the world marked as developing. That’s where I have reaped the benefits of SN1101E. Very good complimentary module. EL1101E has nothing to do with English but linguistics on its own. It studies the structure both in letter and voice of any language, pretty interesting but can be technical at times.
So here I am facing my mid term exams and I will be doing 3 of them (EC2101, EC2102, EL1101E) in these 2 weeks. Hopefully I can do well in all of them. I’ve cleared some projects, etc so I’m looking to clear this to get some breathing space.
My modules are basically afternoon modules so I have avoided the 8am fiasco of last sem’s mathematics slots. I still do have an 8am slot but the rest of the days allow me to have some late mornings. Sleep. Damn bloody deprived.
IT – Screens and More Screens + Thoughts on Fermi
Add the Samsung T260HD to Dell's Ultrasharp 19" and a future Fermi card...
Have a pretty much dived into the display area early this year and trust me it is the greatest factor in increasing productivity when using the comp.
First up, I got a Samsung T260HD for a really low price which offered a 1920 x 1200 resolution, a big upgrade over my Samsung 2232GW (1680 x 1050). 2 documents side by side is great. I don’t game much and frankly although people swear they have a greater gaming experience with a bigger screen, I don’t feel much of a change but yet again I have no time to fully immerse myself in it. Productivity and work wise. Awesome.
Second, I took my 6 year old Dell UltraSharp 19″ monitor and rotated it to portrait orientation (1024 x 1280). Put it to the left of my T260HD and voila, even better productivity. I’m getting news feeds, updates, social networking on that screen together with running Outlook there while doing my main work on the T260HD. Again no gaming gains because I’m not running a dual screen gaming setup, but productivity wise… awesome. (And free!)
Fermi is finally going to be released in end March 2010. About time too. It has been an insane wait for nVidia’s challenge to ATI’s 5xxx series. My graphics card is a good ol’ 8800GT (3-4 years old now) which holds up really well even now running 2 monitors. The G92 infrastructure is nothing short of impressive but nVidia’s GT200 series have not been able to better innovate on it. You get increased clocks, more cuda cores, better memory (and more) but not a quantum leap. I’m hoping Fermi does different. I skipped the entire GT200 lineup due to that. Save up the cash for a better product. ATI’s 5870 is tempting but I’m waiting on Fermi to deliver a good challenge to ATI and I’m looking to see how their product performs with the premise of better drivers, PhyX and Cuda support. Hope my 8800GT hangs on for a wee bit more. Most of my tech friends have warned me that 8800GTs are dying at the moment as it has been around for a bit too long in a tech cycle.
Football – Trauma and Topsy Turvy-ness
Get Well Soon Ramsey
This season must be the most exciting season for neutrals. There is no runaway leader at this point. Arsenal as much as they have been patchy this season – can still challenge for the title at this stage because Chelsea and Man Utd have not been consistent on their end. More upsets, more underdog wins mean only 3 points separate the top 3. The race for 4th place is also interesting with Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham close in that department. Interesting topsy turvy season. Anything can happen.
On a sadder note, Aaron Ramsey suffered what is the worst injury of the EPL this season so far with a broken leg. It looks like a clean break of 2 bones at the calf area and many football fans feel for him. He’s only 19 and its hard to say what the long term effects are. Arsenal fans took to him because of his talent and more importantly his feverish work ethic and how he was perfectly balanced in both offense and defense. The good thing is he seems to be keeping well and the support of both the team and the fans have encouraged him to quickly recover and be back on the pitch. You can follow him on Twitter – @aaronramsey1. I’ve verified with trusted UK sources and yes, that is his account for sure. I won’t label Shawcross as a villain but come on, don’t go down 2 footed with a high sliding tackle and say – ‘I never meant that’. Learn to control your legs a bit maybe? Recklessness. Gah.
CNY – Taking too much time
Tiger Year - Where has the time gone?
This year marks the longest preparation and celebration of Chinese New Year for my family. The spring cleaning of the entire house took nearly a month. We cleaned out like nuts and scrubbed nearly every surface available. Then came the celebrations, we had like extra visits to our place and that means (pre cleaning, preparation, hosting, post cleaning). Trust me its tiring as hell and although it is great to meet relatives and old friends, it was draining on my end and it affected my time for other priorities a lot.
NUS’s pretty deviously placed the term break on the CNY holiday week. Really a lot of time lost which again explains why the early 2 months of this year have come and gone so quickly.
Endnote
Some site building..
I will be updating more frequently but before I go, here’s a shout out to 2 small sites I’ve done for corporate customers. Have a look and send me some feedback. Frances Beauty Clinic & Will Events.
Till then, take care.
Another Bundle of Updates!
Jul 30th
Hit the Ground Running
No False Starts
Registration is done. Laptop is set (HP ProBook 4310s as decided earlier). So what’s left is bidding for my modules and prepping myself to put in 10hrs on school work per day. Not going to be fun but I like the idea that this is entire course of study is driven by motivation. I think in the end, the things that last the longest and becomes most prevalent are things driven by self will. Not something forced down your throat or whipped into you. Gonna be camping in the library a bit and putting all those research skills into good use. Fingers crossed, this is the final lap, I’d better sprint.
Work
Work = $$ = Food
I think every guy has been trained in the army to NOT talk about army secrets to others, even your spouse. So same here for work. I’m down to the final days and am trying to wrap up my work. Doesn’t feel good to leave things undone and handed over to someone else (to clean your shit) cause that’s exactly what happened to me in Army (tks ah Alex, & Rockey ><). Financially wise, I’m in a pretty safe position as my expenditure isn’t high at all. I’m probably a boring person that doesn’t buy new clothes, etc but well it keeps my pockets secure! =P Oh yes, I’m a sucker for food but thank goodness uni food is REALLY cheap. $1.50 for a FULL Western Meal.. Woohoo! Who knows if I would continue working when I’m studying. Still getting freelance offers from individuals and companies and if required I might continue at my job on an ad-hoc or project basis. Just see how things goes. My priority is to get my uni life flowing smoothly.
Goodbye Toure
King Kolo - A Distinguished Service Rendered
Most Arsenal fans didn’t feel much when Adebayor left. I’ve covered that before so I ain’t beating on an old horse again. But Toure is a world of difference. This is the chap that put his body on the line for the club. He’s loyal but well, performance wise he dipped quite a bit after Sol Campbell left for Portsmouth. Wasn’t an ideal partner for Gallas. Frankly, I thought Thomas V. was brought in to replace Gallas since the later is 33 years old and would be hanging his boots up in a season or two, or five if he changes his last name to Bergkamp. It looks like its Gallas + Thomas V / Djourou with Djourou taking over Gallas when he leaves. I hope Wenger brings in replacements in defence. We’re pretty well built on the final third, but where is that DM? Maybe he’s putting faith with Song / Denilson and the command that Thomas V. brings might be the final jigsaw. Then we need our attackers to learn to track back and defend. I think some Arsenal fans have forgotten that Henry, as graceful a striker he was, tracked back almost all the time to help in defence. We need to see players like Walcott, Arshavin, RVP, Nasri, etc do that more often. No use waiting upfield for the ball when your opponent is tossing it behind you. Well goodbye King Kolo. Even if we don’t miss you for your performances (tbh you’ve dipped a lot), we’ll miss your dedication and loyalty to the team. All the best at teh Citeh.
Let Go
Careful Careful...
I think I’m guilty of needing things around me under control. I was a single child in the family so I had my toys, my room, my anything neatly tidied and categorized in a manner coherent to me. Some people think I have OCD thanks to that. When planning big events or running various organizations, I have things planned to the final detail, tagged into various sets of categories (read: categories of categories) and have everything rehearsed x times with y trial runs. I’ve realized multiple times that it is very unhealthy because you cannot do that to another human being. If your safety comes from having everything calmly under wraps, you’re going to be a sad man in this volatile world. I’ve to learn to balance everything with good organization while embracing the need for surprises or even shocks. It’s hard to maintain a balance, I’ve to get that ingrained in me within the next 3 years or the years after would be worse. C’est la vive~
The Need to Upgrade
Not Me! (Yet)
It’s like an addiction. Geek addiction. There’s always something you want to improve, something you want to add, something… damn it. I was pretty excited about my switch over to Win 7 running on a Raid 0 setup. It runs really sweet but a few weeks later I’m thinking, what’s next. Frankly, there’s nothing else to upgrade besides another 6GB of DDR3 RAM (taking the total to 12GB), a DX11 card (which is not even out in production yet and would cost an obscene bomb on launch) and a 24 inch monitor (so I can give my mom my 22″ and my mom can give my dad her 19″). The 24″ is gonna need a 1GB GFX so everything is bottlenecked there. It’s a bit sad huh? Guys tweak cars at this age. I’m tweaking PCs. Oh well, at least I’m saving the dough! One day, I’ll have a room with slide out wall sized screens, a speaking voice controlled AI assistant.. Alright enough geeky indulgence.
Another Transition Incoming
Jul 20th
Stalford Stint
Learnt to use more than just Photoshop!
Time really flies. I’m drawing near to the end of my 6 month Stalford stint and it has been helluva interesting journey. Some things are better not said on this public blog! 2 weeks left and I’m rushing out some concept art, logos and 4 websites. Have already done up more than 50 signages, brochures, art boards and countless countless countless ideas and concepts. It’s been a good exposure in understanding what a full time designer does. I think the biggest fear of a designer is a creativity drain. Besides that the job is pretty fun and intrinsically rewarding.
Facebook – Addictive & Powerful
Will Events Facebook Group!
I’m involved with an investment startup called Will Holdings and we’re working on our first subsidiary Will Events. Our main marketting material has been to use Facebook and it has been pretty useful especially in our latest event “Clubbing For Charity”. Even with a bleak H1N1 shadow trailing the event’s venue, the event was a success. (Thanks guys for supporting!) Support us at this Facebook Group!
I’ve been using FB to keep old school memories together after Edwin (I know him better as Kah Wang) posted some old sec photos. Unglamorous but who cares! Really good memories! Been putting up photos from MI where I was the main photographer for 3 years. Keep posting photos, 04A4!
Windows 7 All Clear
Windows 7 - What Vista Should Have Been
Well on the geek side, it has been pretty interesting these few weeks. I’m moving my Core i7 system straight into Windows 7 RC1 as its main OS. The RC will expire 1 Mar ‘10 so I have a good 8 months before I decide whether to buy Windows 7 retail. Will be running W7 as my only OS this evening after setting up a Raid 0 drive combination.
I’ll be getting the HP ProBook 4310s from NUS come 27 Jul. Good that they’re offering a free upgrade to Windows 7. I can’t wait to be able to do work on the bus or train. All the time spent in public transport is often wasted.
Arsenal – Time For the Old
Remember the old days, Wenger
Adebayor is gone! And I don’t think he has to be replaced. The point is Arsenal never really had a target man upfront type of playing style during Wenger years. We were originally a soak-and-strike team. Relying on speed to catch the opposing team’s defenses down. That’s how the Henry, Pires, Viera, Ljungberg system worked. Viera was a box to box player that suited this style. Henry always cut in from the left and the 2 wingers were.. well wingers. That also gave our defense stability since we were waiting for them to come to us first. Adebayor was supposed to be the foil for Henry. However, Henry left soon after he came. Well now that Adebayor is gone. I hope Wenger plays back to the old ways and focus on defence and midfield stability. We have enough creative juices to spark a goal from no where especially when we lure the opponent into our half. I see Arshavin and RVP up front with Rosicky back on the wings and Nasri on his opposite end. I think Adebayor would do ok at Man City except he’s going to need to be a lot more clinical considering he ain’t getting the same midfield service he is used to at Arsenal.
School
CORS - Bid well or bid farewell
Well my mind is now swirling on the NUS CORS system. It’s a module bidding system and it kinda sucks to know that hardwork isn’t only the requirement to get preferred modules, you have to know how to play the market in order to get your favoured modules. Losing out could mean taking a harder module that would affect your CAP almost certainly. Well, no use complaining. I’m going to have to play it right with advice from the seniors. =) Tks guys (and gals)!
Round Up – So Bored I Blogged
Jul 4th
What A Saturday Morning
Working in the office on another Saturday morning when most my work is completed. Sleepy as hell, eyes hanging out and needing more rest but nope here am I ready to fulfill another 9 hours of company time. No one needs greater motivation than such to write a little junk on a sleepy morn.
Football – The Arsenal DM Mystery, Chamakh to Replace Ade? & Owen to United
Melo isn’t signing for us. Inler, Cana, etc looks like a pipe dream. Nothing going on except for Chamakh whom I’ve never heard before. Supposedly Adebayor’s replacement and I hope that Togo chap goes. Basically his heart isn’t here anymore, his form has dipped and he wasn’t a really good striker anyways. Lacking a solid first touch and sharp finishing, what Ade had was plenty and plenty of tireless hard work operating ahead of RVP alone upfront. Think about it, he’s a bit of a Heskey like player, important but he could be better. No idea how good Chamakh is though in comparison with Ade. Actually, I really miss Bergkamp, Petit & Wright.
Owen signed for United! Think its good for him. I’ve always liked players like him. Quiet, leads a decent life even with the riches he has on hand. Good professional but whether his injuries plague him again is another thing. He was with Liverpool when he was young and used his pace to burn up defenders. Now at 29, he’s slower and is back in the English League (read: physical). We’ll see how he does. It’ll be good for his England aspirations partnering with Rooney who can operate behind him or being a pacey striker to front man Berbatov. Might be an excellent deal for United in the end since he is on free transfer.
Geekish – Time for a Laptop
This is the time of the year that every uni going chap wants to get a laptop. I’m going to hold out until:
1. September IT Show sales.
2. NUS offers.
3. I know the exact requirements of my faculty.
4. Confirmation of the sponsorship so I can work out my budget.
It’s hard for a geek like me to choose a laptop. Idiots like me love power and performance. Everything must be top of the line but with a laptop, portability and battery life comes to mind so one has to balance this. I can’t go for a C2D 2.53ghz with SLI GFX and expect my laptop to be featherlight and still last a long time on battrey power. I’d still need a fast processor (can’t skim on that), good RAM and a doable GFX. I’m not very familiar with the GFX lineups for notebooks but here’s a good link to check.
I’m not going to game much on a laptop but would like my laptop to be ready in case there are adhoc gaming sessions that kinda thing. I don’t play high res games anyways, TF2 isn’t that demanding.
So basically depending on price, I’d like a:
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz or 2.53Ghz
RAM: 4GB DDR2/3 RAM (This is dirt cheap anyways)
Hard Drive: 320GB minimum
Screen Size: 13.3″ to 14.1″
GFX: Non onboard. Preferably ATI Radeon HD4570 / nVidia GeForce 9600M GS and above.
OS: Windows 7 32-bit. (I’m going to run W7 64bit on my desktop so I need a little variety)
Build Quality: No skimming on this. Has to be tough and solid.
Budget: $1,600 (Pretty tight)
News – H1N1 will become a common flu.
H1N1 was given a SARS level welcome mat and everyone went bananas about it. After following the news and talking to a few doctor friends for a bit, there’s nothing much we can do to shut the strain out. First it is not life threatening when treated on time. The 100+ people who died early in the outbreak did not know it was a new strain and it was common flu. Thus untreated >> dead. Second, recovery rate is excellent in H1N1 and there’s nothing to be too panicky about. Same rules apply, good hygenie, enough sleep (oh man), proper food (oh boy), and see a doc the moment you have symptoms. You won’t die, you need not panic. Just live your life the way it should be. Most countries are going from containment to mitigation and in 3 months to come, H1N1 would be so widely spread no one will be keeping figures (just imagine how keeping numbers of people with common flu will be like) and it will, in the end, become a common flu. Vaccine’s on the way if you’re interested.
Not Done Yet – One Centre Back Down
Jun 20th
Thomas Vermaelen - The New Gunner
I seldom ever comment about signings but here’s some special mention for new boy Thomas Vermaelen. Honestly speaking I do not watch the Dutch Eredivisie and I have no first hand information about him but he looks decent. Strong in the air and has a good command of the box. Something that has been lacking since the departure of Adams and then later Campbell. It would be weird for a new signing who categorically is also our youngest first team centre back (I see him ahead of Djourou and Silvestre), to be commanding the area usually marshaled by Toure and Gallas. The big issue is that the two seniors do not really command and the defense turns to shambles because no one pulls the strings.
Straying away from the main point, this is another reason why it has always been better for captains to play near the backline. They get to see the play developing in front of them and can shout commands when necessary. The best position for a captain would be midfielder and due to the dominating nature that leadership requires, you tend to see tough tackling midfielders as ideal captains. Read Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane.
Anyways back to the defensive issue, I personally see Vermaelen (if he manages to adapt to the EPL and not do a Cygan) and Djourou as a pair for the future. Centre backs peak around 28 – 29 so these guys have about 5-7 years to go. Djourou is quality in his performances last season so let’s see if Thomas Vermaelen can bring in the commanding presence into the backline.
What is more pressing is a defensive midfielder. These chaps are deadly important to each team. United have a good selection of such players one of them being Hargreaves, Liverpool has BOTH Mascherano and Alonso. We used to have Gilberto and then for some retarded reason allowed Flamini to walk away with Gilberto when he was certainly ready to step into Gilberto’s boots. Diaby is more of a PV4 then anything likes to charge forward too often. Fans who said PV4 was an excellent DM should remember he was more of a box to box player than a DM. Petit / Gilberto did most of the donkey work for him. Denilson has been quietly doing the work this season but still needs a season or two to impress himself on the midfield. I tend to see Brazilians as technical players rather than those with grit and power anyways. Song seems to play better as a CB then a CDM.
So that’s the final hole we’ve got. Knowing Wenger, Thomas V could well be our last major signing this summer. We’ll probably get 2-3 young players in but that’s for the future future (probably after Wenger retires, you get what I mean). So if we do not buy Lorik Cana, Melo, etc, we have two options – Send Kolo Toure back to CDM (yes that was his original position before he got wengverted into a CB) or let Eboue play as CDM since that guy is begging for a first team place. Eboue to his credit is all grit and speed so he could do well in this area.
And for the love of all good things Wenger, we DO NOT need any more attacking midfielders. We could field a whole first XI of attacking mids if we wanted right now.
Players are Employees, Not Fans
Jun 14th
Kaka - Off to a new company
This transfer season looks to be an interesting one with Kaka and C. Ronaldo already going for record fees and AC Milan and Man Utd both losing their key playmakers. As much as this is a serious setback to both teams, you can be sure they’ll get replacements and everything from Ribery to Benzema have been touted as replacements. Well, let’s get to the topic. Fans of AC Milan and Man Utd should not feel cheated about their key players leaving. This is down to one thing – Kaka and C. Ronaldo are employees just like everyone else (bar the astronomical wages) and neither are childhood fans of their former clubs.
As fans, we tend to become emotionally attached to players that ply their trade for the club we support. It’s natural. That’s what football passion is all about. What we forget is that the main reason why players move clubs is down to two things. Firstly, progression. Secondly, passion. It is rare for any player to begin plying their trade at their childhood club. Everyone starts off small at a small club before climbing and its almost rare for most players to get a chance to play for the club they support. So the player progresses in his career, moving from club to club in search of two things. Progression in their pay package and also in search of winning major titles.
Do not forget that football players have to pay for their own bills, etc etc. They need wages just like all of us and time is against them. An average football player plies his trade professionally between 22 to 32. That’s 10 years of work. And in that 10 years of work they need to earn enough to support themselves and their families for a lifetime. Only a small fraction of players become good coaches and continue earning from the football sector, some become TV pundits, writers, etc but nothing really stable in the footballing world. A player would then naturally want to earn more and move clubs in search of a better pay package.
Would you call yourself an unfaithful bast*** for swapping jobs in search of a better pay? That’s because you are employed and NOT married to your company. It’s the same thing for football players and their clubs. So most players play simply for progression. Money and medals. When more of that is available elsewhere and an offer comes, they’ll move. It works the same damn way for any other job that any layman takes up.
For Man Utd and AC Milan fans who felt betrayed, think again. Man Utd was never C. Ronaldo’s childhood dream club the way it was for Beckham. C. Ronaldo was never loved by the Utd faithful for his personality, they loved him for his fantastic footballing skills and that’s where the line was drawn, all in footballing terms, nothing emotional and personal. It’s then easy to see why he wasn’t emotionally attached to Utd. C. Ronaldo wanted to shift to Real even when Real was completely overshadowed and outclassed by Barcelona. He was winning title after title, cup after cup at Utd. Why would he want to shift then? Passion and love for Real. Real was his dream and it didn’t matter that Real wasn’t churning out trophies the way Utd were. One could argue that it was money but everyone knows that Utd could offer him better wages if he demanded it. In footballing terms, it makes no sense for C. Ronaldo to move now. He is well established in the EPL, feared by other teams, gelled nicely into the Utd team that is arguably built around him and has settled well in the city. He’s earning well enough too. And one could say that Utd was a better team than Real in the last 2-3 seasons. But he loved Real from young and you can’t turn an opportunity down like that when it comes knocking on your door.
Kaka is a little different, Real is not exactly his dream club but neither is AC Milan. He grew attached to the supporters in Milan over the time he spent there and didn’t mind playing on even though Milan performed below par this season. He rejected a better offer at Man City mid season and moved to Real only because Milan was in a transitional stage (coach left for Chelsea) and also for Milan’s need for cash. This made him 1/2 a fan of Milan. It’s the same way for Henry. Started growing attached to the Arsenal faithful but moved on in search for greater success.
I think fans have to learn to treat players as players, not fellow fans of the club they support.. They are employees and most of them do not support the club they play for.
It is a sin for a fan to swap his allegiance of his favored club easily, but swapping employers should never be seen in the same way.
A Fan’s Burden
Jun 1st
Arsenal - Wenger shares more than just his first name with the club
I’ve been an Arsenal supporter for 12 years and must be lying through my teeth to say that I’ve been a happy fan these few years. There are so many things to like about them yet so many things to hate as well. Isn’t that what you get for loving a football club?
I love Wengerball. Fast paced, exciting, illustrious and simply eye-catching. We have extremely quick and creative players with the ability to conjour something out of nothing.
I love being the underdog. Arsenal was never the top dog these 12 years in fact I supported them because they were the underdog. Sure the club has grown but it remains a huge achievement for a club to spend less than 1/3 of the rest of the top 4 and still continually push on.
But there are things that need quick fixing.
1. Fitness Levels
It is no surprise that the main reason why we have not won anything these few seasons is down to the lack of fitness of our players. Our injury list is stunning throughout the season and even though the other clubs have their injury blows as well it is not common for them to lose nearly their entire back four, or all 4 of their attacking players, or both their top two strikers, etc. It has happened to Arsenal season in and out. It is fair to say that our players are seemingly fragile and the only ones that have consistently done well are the fittest who can stand the test of an extremely harsh and physical English football arena. You don’t win trophies if you don’t have your first team ready. Our problem is not just our first team getting injured, our subs get injured as well and we end up pushing our U-19s into the Champions League. Wenger doesn’t need to buy plenty of depth when the depth we have gets injured all the time. Fix the fitness or simply make the priority attribute of our future purchases based first on fitness and strength. After all, without these two attributes, the player would not be even have to space to demonstrate what he can do.
2. Defence
We are Brazil. All attacking style and flamboyance but when the attack is turned against us, everyone gets nervous. The midfield has not been at its best supporting its defence. Some of our DMs play so high up the pitch that we get caught in the cold with a counter attack. Our CBs are both short and we have issues with crosses. Our wingbacks imo are fine but our play style encourages them to play high up the park as well. In short we need to find a balance to keep our defence clean. The huge thing about the other 3 teams is that their defence is top notch. Alumnia makes a fine keeper but he needs the team to play with a defensive mindset at certain times. Wenger has to remember that in our early successful days, the famed back four was rock solid (I remb the season where we only conceded 17 goals) and we were scoring on the break. Soak and strike that was what gave us the doubles. And we have to start using that against the stronger teams. You can’t cut every defense open like swiss cheese. Sometimes you have to let the opponent come forward so you get the space to hit them back with.
3. Youth Policy – Time for Results
Wenger has admitted that his youth policy would have failed if there be no trophies in the coming years. So lets look at it this way. This is the house that Wenger built and the house is averaged out at about 21 years of age. We should NOT be buying 17-19 yr olds to plug holes in the first team. We should be bringing in 21-24 yr olds for the first team. The 17-19 yr olds will form the future backbone and would not develop in time to fit into the first team. We can’t play a waiting catch up game forever. Isn’t this why we let Henry go? He was ahead of the curve. And we should stop pushing the damn curve back or even one day Fabregas would be too old for the team.
Here’s keeping my fingers crossed for the next season. Go you gunners!
