Moments like these are why I watch!

I haven't posted in a while, but I had to take a moment a provide another reason as to why I love this game. Forget the fact that this moment was provided by my favorite club or that the goal was against a bitter rival. Even remove the fact that I had to work that Saturday and posted an illegal Internet feed of the game on my work T.V's.

Just remember that Wayne Rooney's over head bicycle kick goal to win the Manchester derby was a true moment of sheer class...world class! Let`s face it, United didn`t look as if they were going to take all 3 points. City had gotten a fortuitous equalizer in the 65th minute and were in the ascendancy up until that bit of magic.

Rooney has not played well this season, no one quite knows why other than Rooney, and maybe his Mrs depending on who you believe. Whatever the case maybe he has failed to be as effective as he had been last season. So when he pulled off that audacious goal one had to be quite shocked, but when the wow factor wears off your realize how special he is and remember that he has the gift to pull it off.

These kind of goals and moments in a game make football such a great game. The fact that a game can be completely boring or slow, lacking pace or energy and then....sheer magic! This is why I watch...this is why I get up at ungodly hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch games.
Cheers,
Mike

Football trend #143: The Mid Season Fallout



Tevez, should he stay or should he go?



Manchester City supporters were feeling pretty good about themselves Saturday afternoon, the squad had just hammered West Ham 3-1 and looked very good doing it. Fans were finally seeing the free flowing, silky beautiful football they had been craving since the Abu Dhabi group took over the club and promised the world. Roberto Manchini's team were, albeit temporally, joint top of the table with Arsenal and finally gaining the respect of their cross town rivals United. It seemed City fans were getting an early Christmas present.

That was until about 6 pm, when Carlos Tevez decided he didn't like Manchester anymore.

The sensational news their club captain and top goal scorer had handed in a written transfer request stunned not only City fans, but the footballing fraternity in general. The fact that Tevez wasn't happy at City wasn't a huge shock. You could point to a number of actions by the Argentinian striker that showed his discontent. From repeated trips back home to Argentina during the middle of the season to see his kids, to locker room and on the field blow ups with other players and Manchini. To his requests during this off season to be transferred away from England in order to be closer to home, it was clear number 32's time at the club was going to come to an end sooner rather than later. However no one though this soon, and this abruptly.

In his own statement released Monday Tevez went out of his way to make us understand that his motives were not money based like some other striker in Manchester who tried to pull something similar. Though it is worth mentioning that City claim Tevez's handler Kia Joorabchian has been angling for an improved contact over the past year.

He stated that his relationships with "certain  executives" and management have "broken down beyond repair" and that family reasons, not money or more playing time were behind his request. Many are speculating what might be going on behind the scenes at Eastlands but Dan Roan of BBC Sport sees it as a  "developing power struggle between Joorabchian and City's board, especially chief executive Garry Cook". Whatever the case may be Tevez is not the first, nor will he be that last player who suffers from the mid season fallout bug.



Cassano's days on Sampdoria seem numbered.



Several players currently are either holding out from their clubs, or are being held out by their owners due to a mid season fallout. The biggest example currently is in Italy where Italian international striker Antonio Cassano is being "frozen out" of his club team Sampdoria for falling out with owner Riccardo Garrone. This situation is a bit different though as Cassano refused to attend a function with Garrone and later called the owner what loosely can be translated in English "an old piece of sh*t". Needless to say Cassano despite all his wonderful talent has not seen anything close to game action since, and is thought by many Italian football pundits to be living on borrowed time at the Genoa club.

Zlatan Ibrahimović is a two time member of this club, first falling out with the afore mentioned Roberto Manchini at Inter Milan before being sold to Barcelona in exchange for Samuel Eto'o (Who's no saint himself). Then admitting this summer that he and Barca manager Pep Guardiola hadn't spoken in 8 months and that he felt Guardiola wasn't good enough to manage him. That mid season fallout last season lead to his loan/will become permanent move to AC Milan in August.

Dishonorable mentions go to: Robinino (Another Man City disaster), Emmanuel Adebayor (Potentially a City disaster), Joleon Lescott, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo (Not the current one) and the countless others who have run rampant with the Bosman ruling.

As players gain more money and agents become bigger players in the business end of the game, these "fallouts" or grievances will continue to grow in the game. I do not believe this Tevez affair is all about money, if it was I believe this wouldn't be playing in the press as freely as it has. Family has a lot of say in this, his two daughters live in Argentina and he wants to be closer to them. However I also believe that he might be losing the passion to play the game at the highest level. In the past Carlos has railed against the business of the game, saying it can ruin a players desire to keep on playing. By no means do I think Tevez will up and retire, but I do think he is getting sick and tired of all the football politics around him, especially around his agent Kia Joorabchian who also owns his economic rights in regards to his footballing income.

For Tevez's sake I hope he knows what he's getting himself into.

Cheers,
Mike

Derby Day in Manchester

As I sit here on the eve of what could be the biggest Manchester Derby at least in my life time, I find it hard to be objective while writing this post. As I've stated on several occasions I am an unapologetic Manchester United supporter. I want...no wait, expect them to win tomorrow night. However these feelings of needing to beat Manchester City are new to me, it comes from the fact that City have now become a true player in the Premier League. Even the hardest United supporter cannot deny this anymore, maybe little brother has finally grown up?

To understand this you have to understand the history of the Manchester derby. Although heated it's not at the level say of the Merseyside derby (Everton v Liverpool) or the Eternal city derby (Roma v Lazio). Unlike the two rivalries mentioned they has been a massive gulf in class between United and City for a very long time. For stretches of time during the 80's and 90's City were in the 2nd division, now known as the championship. While United were challenging for titles and winning major trophies. In all competitions United lead the the way in terms of wins by a 65 to 42 margin with 49 draws. During this time City would come up with a win here and there but for the most part the match was a write off for United, Big brother kicked little brother, there fore it is hard to build a real rivalry when it's so one sided. Especially in the 90's where United  won every game played between the two.

However the stakes changed in the middle of the last decade when investors were suddenly interested in investing with City and bringing success to the club. While United were in the midst of winning 3 straight league crowns, City were starting to pour money into the club and buy players we never though would ever want to play at Eastlands.

Then came the news that on September 1st 2008 Sheik Mansour, one of the richest men on earth had bought the club and had signed Robinho for a British record fee. This was the first time I become concerned about the Blue threat. Although Robinho didn't turn out to be the world beater people expected it was clear that the gauntlet had been thrown down, especially to United who had for the longest time flashed its own money for top talent. Now with United unable or unwilling to spend on the best players in the market, there is all the reason to think City could take over as the powers not just in Manchester but all of England as well.

When looking at the two potential line ups for tomorrow's game, one could easily see the possibility that United could get hammered by the "noisy neighbours" as Sir Alex called them. I pray that won't happen, but there is a chance. United have a very thin squad in terms of proven talent, the club has a lot of promising young talent in its ranks, like Fabio and Rafael Da Silva, Federico Macheda, Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling etc... but done of them are top flight ready just quite yet. I include Hernandez in there even though he's had an amazing start to his United career, you have to remember he's only 21 and still learning the Premier League. Also factor in the proven players like Nani, Ryan Giggs, Owen Hargreves, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney will not play due to injury and potentially Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov may miss it due to illness and one can see where the issues arise.

Now compare this to City who's only major missing pieces in the recently suspended Mario Balotelli and  potentially Kolo Toure, and the bench is deep enough to replace these players without too much fuss. They will also be boosted by the return of their top scorer and former United player Carlos Tevez. He could be the X factor between United leaving Eastland with points or leaving empty handed.

If last years games are any indication on the how this year will play out, Red Devil supporters have every right to be concerned. Yes United won all 4 match ups last season. However there is a case that City were not only in every game until the end, but might have deserved a better fate than they got last season. This is especially true of the first derby of last season where the game was back and forth and by the 6th minute of 4 minutes of injury time City deserved at least a point....until Michael Owen showed up.

That game was one of the best games of football I've even seen, but it also served as a warning to us United fans. The days of dominating City were now over. So far this season City have proven themselves potential title challengers and have shown that they can break into the big four clubs of England. This puts them for the first time in almost 40 years in direct competition with United for the title, and even though it early in the season United a paying close attention to it's cross town rivals.

So while tomorrow's game will not decide who will win the Premiership, rest assured it will go a long way in either maintaining the order of things or changing the dynamic of this long standing derby.

Cheers,

Mike

Wayne Rooney is leaving Man United...now what?



Guessing on where Rooney is going has gripped the English press

 So I've been off the grid for a while but I'm back and a bit perplexed by some of the events of the past few weeks in the world of Football. From the unexpected purchase of Liverpool by NESV (New England Sports Ventures) owners of baseballs Boston Red Sox, and the subsequent legal battle. To Wayne Rooney's demand to leave Manchester United, there is no shortage of taking points, though for now I'll stick to the ongoing Rooney saga.

Someone today asked me the three most burning questions every Man United supporter (which I am one) Why does he want to leave?  where will he go? and how does this effect United going forward?

The second question is the easiest and most straight forward to answer so I'll start there. In my opinion and as far as I've seen most football pundits agree there are only 4 solid  and maybe 5 clubs in the world that would have the money to buy him and pay his salary demands, which most experts are saying is close to the 200,000 pounds a week level. Those clubs are Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona, the 5th club could be Inter Milan but I'll explain why there are a distance 5th in a moment.