Man Utd vs Arsenal

Manchester United vs Arsenal

This is it... In less than 6 hours we'll be able to know Arsenal's chance of winning the Premiership this season. A defeat or a draw will realistically banished Arsenal's dream of winning any silverware at all this season and this is their 3rd season without any trophy.

Man Utd is leading on top of the table with Chelsea trailing by 3 points and Arsenal by 6 points. That means, if Arsenal could win tonight's match against Man Utd they are very well still in the race but they have to look at Chelsea before hoping to grab the championship.

It is a crucial one for Man Utd. They can't afford to drop anymore points as Chelsea is lurking right behind their tail waiting for United to slip up and snatch the title away. If Man Utd fail to win this match, they are in deep trouble because on 26th of April, United will travel to the "Invicible" Stamford Brigde, home of Chelsea.

For more than 2 years ever since Jose Mourinho took over as Chelsea's manager, they have never lost a home game. That is a very remarkable record.

Therefore, as the season has 5 games to go(4 games for some of the teams played last night) the Premiership title is very much up for grab between Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. Hopefully, United will emerge as the winner and retain their title.

Random Fact

Do you know that Manchester United was originally formed in 1878.

The name was Newton Heath L&YR F.C.

The original club's shirt were green and gold halves.

A young immigrant Italian suggested the club to be named Manchester United in 1900's.

Do you know that Manchester United was the first English team to win the European Cup (now known as UEFA Champions League)

Do you know that Manchester United was and still is the only English team to win the Treble - Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season?(David Beckham was in that team though =.=")

Now you know...

SO, COME ON UNITED!!! ROARRRRRR!!!!

He cheats for a penalty

Okay, I really didn't wanna update so soon because I would like to watch the Man Utd vs Roma match before updating.

But after witnessing an absolutely dissapointing match of Liverpool vs Arsenal I really can't take it anymore.

By half time the scoreline is 1-1(2-2aggregrate), then in second half Fernando Torres scored and makes it 2-1(3-2aggregrate)... I thought that's it la, because Arsenal hardly threaten Liverpool the whole night until Arsene Wenger introduced Theo Walcott as a substitute.

85minutes++ Theo Walcott dribbled from his own half, dribble past 4 Liverpool defenders, cross the ball in the penalty box and Adebayor finished the job.

2-2(3-3aggregrate) according to the away goal rule, Arsenal will win the game...

86minutes++ Just one minute after scoring the important goal,disaster struck for Arsenal

Watch the video

It WAS NOT a penalty! It never gonna be a penalty! Toure was chasing Babel and he slightly touched Babel's back ONLY! Not even minimal contact that would cause a penalty. That was a feather light touch. Even a poke is much stronger than that touch from Toure really.

Let me repeat myself IT WASN'T A PENALTY goddamnit!

To rub salt on the wound, the diver, Babel scored a goal for himself in 89 minutes to clinch the win... =.="

Although I'm not a big fan of Arsenal but it was really dissapointing. I throughly think Arsenal deserve to get into the semi-final. Let's watch the video again...

Buying and Selling Footballers

Have you ever thought of what if football clubs are not allowed to buy or sell players?

You can only imagine Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani playing for Europe's minor club, Sporting Lisbon in Portugal; Cesc Fabregas playing for Barcelona(he was from Barca, Arsenal bought him); Ronaldinho playing for Gremio back in Brazil; as well as Kaka' still playing for Sao Paulo.

I'm sure EPL, La Liga, Serie A and Champions League will be fucking dull without those superstars.

Buying & selling player plays an important role in a football club. Selling good players usually will generate income if a buying club offer big amount of money for him. Selling bad players will, well, get rid of them for good la.

As for buying, new players won't guarantee they could make positive impact into the club because it really depends on how the manager make full use of the new player and how the player would adapt into his new club. Some might improve the club, some might get worse.

Okay, let's travel back time to the oldies. During the 1800's-1900's, buying players does not involve any money. It's more like the Barter System. For example, the buying club offer 2 tables or few chickens or books etc etc for a player. Basically, they exchange a player for something in return but no money was involved.

But after the 1900's, football clubs are getting used to buying players with money. In 1904, Newcastle United bought Andy McCombie from Sunderland for the then-British-record-transfer fee of £700. Ten years later, the record transfer fee has reached £2,500. In October 1928, Arsenal has bought a player for over £10,000 for the first time in history. And the number kept on increasing over the years.

In 1961, Man Utd legend, Denis Law, who was originally from Man Utd's neighbouring arch rival, Man City. Torino of Italy bought him from Man City for £100,000, the first ever transfer that has reached hundred thousand pound in Britain. A year later, Man Utd bought him for £115,000.

In 1979, British record transfer fee has finally breached the million pound mark. Trevor Francis from Birmingham was sold to Nottingham Forest for £1,180,000. The amount of money for buying a players by then was absolutely frenzy. The number kept on increasing.

Alan Shearer broke the then-British-transfer-record as the first player to involve over £15,000,000 in 1996. Crazy money! But it didn't stop there as Rio Ferdinand became the world most expensive defender when Man Utd bought him from Leeds United in 2002 for £29,500,000. But the record was broken when Chelsea decided to splash their Russian tycoon owner, Roman Abramovich's money on AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko for a reported £31,000,000 in 2006. So far, that is the standing record transfer fee in BRITAIN but not in the world.

Here's the list of the most expensive transfer in history of football.
11-Ronaldo(the Brazil one); Inter Milan to Real Madrid for £28.5million
10- Gaizka Mendieta; Valencia to Lazio for £29million
9- Rio Ferdinand; Leeds Utd to Man Utd for £29.5million
8- Wayne Rooney; Everton to Man Utd for £30million
7- Pavel Nedved; Lazio to Juventus for £30.6million
6- Andriy Shevchenko; Milan to Chelsea for £31million
5- Christian Vieri; Lazio to Inter Milan for £32million
4- Gianluigi Buffon; Parma to Juventus for £32.6million
3- Hernan Crespo; Parma to Lazio for £35.5million
2- Luis Figo; Barcelona to Real Madrid for £38.7million




and behold, here is the World most expensive footballer.. The player that has achieved everything as a footballer could including using his head to attack someone who verbally assaulted him on the grandest stage in football, the World Cup Final. Yes, he is the one and only......... Jeng jeng jeng *drum rolls



ZINEDINE ZIDANE; Juventus to Real Madrid for £46-freaking-million!!!!!!!!!





No wonder there are so many dying kids in Africa....

Young Guns Part II

If you've missed the Part 1, I would suggest you to have a look at it first by clicking this link*. By the way, Part 1 has been revamped since there are complaints of words cramped up half way into the blog in which I've noticed of since posting but I didn't have time to correct it until 2 two days ago.


Ok, here comes the Part II as I've promised earlier!


On the side note, apparently right now Man Utd is winning and scoring for fun and we can't give the credits to the youngsters such as Nani and Anderson only but Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs played very important roles as well, so bravo to Fergie!

In Part II, I will "pretend" to predict what those young guns that I've mention in Part 1 could bring to their respective clubs in the next few seasons. As well as introduce more young guns that I feel could make an impact very soon.

Manchester United;

The truth is inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo is on top of the world right now. No matter what they said how Kaka' brought the whole Milan team all the way to the Champions League Final and winning it that made him the best player in the world, I thought it was a wonderful achievement but the consistency wasn't there. Milan is awful right now. What Kaka' have done for them this season?

As for C.Ronaldo, he has done it again. Score goals after goals after goals after goals and it goes on and on. He broke his last season scoring record by January and now he has surpassed the best of the best, George Best' scoring record (32 goals) as a midfielder. The best part is, the season is far from finishing. His scoring record has made United lifted up to the top and dominating games. But many people overlook those new boys in town's contribution because of Ronaldo's unbelievable form.

Nani was the first player to score a win for United against Tottenham back at the start of the season when United were struggling. Anderson was the one who filled in when Paul Scholes was injured and outclassed Steven Gerrard of Liverpool and Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal during their respective meetings earlier this season. To be fair, Man Utd fans are not blind. They have made Anderson as their Man of the Match a few times already.

During the summer, Fergie bought 4 players, Nani, Anderson, Carlos Tevez, and Owen Hargreaves. But feeling short of striker to cover up Rooney and Tevez since Louis Saha has been a "has been" due to his consistent form of getting himself injured, Fergie bought another striker his name is Manucho from Angola. 25 years old, tall and consider big in size and able to score goals with both feets as well as putting in some headers. He's currently on loan at Panathinaikos, in Greece. Fergie had to loan him out because he wasn't eligible to get UK's working permit but I'm sure he'll be a good addition for Man Utd attacking front next season.

If you wonder what kind of player he is, just imagine Emmanuel Adebayor in Man Utd's shirt. Fair enough clear enough?

Carlos Tevez has been a revelation, he has scored countless important goals such as the 90th minutes goal against Lyon to draw 1-1 and have an advantage for the second leg in which United won 1-0. Owen Hargreaves is one of those not getting alot of limelight but he is in fact a very very effective player. Protecting the back four is his priority, other than that it doesn't bother him.

Now, Arsenal! I've mentioned Carlos Vela in Part I and I couldn't stop mentioning about this fella. I found out right now he is playing as a very important First Team Player in Osasuna, starting games and getting oppoturnity to gain invalueable match experience in Primera Liga aka La Liga.

ENOUGH of Carlos Vela! PLEASE!!........... One last note, he's the new Wonderkid in town. Do you know whats that suppose to mean? He's the next big thing! ROARRR!

Not buying big names or popular players is practiced by Arsenal all these years. They prefer getting young players with very little money involves and polish them into a superstar. Thierry Henry was a reject of Juventus, Arsene Wenger snapped him up with few million quid and made him the most prolific striker in Barclays English Premier League history. He has done the same to Patrick Vieira and Cesc Fabregas.

The biggest mistake Arsene Wenger has ever made was purchasing Jose Antonio "Betrayer" Reyes from Sevilla with 17million pound. With so much money spent on him, he did not shine is another matter but making noises in the media about how unhappy he is in the Gunner's camp has got himself a self-satisfaction loan to Real Madrid half in 2006/2007 and eventually he was sold by Wenger to Atlectico Madrid. Since then Reyes has been very happy and very satisfied with life much to Wenger's frustration that he has wasted so much money on him. Jeeeezzz....Spaniards....

Since then, Arsene Wenger has never splash his cash on "over-hyped" players anymore. Oh, Tomas Rosicky is a popular player but Wenger bought him on a very reasonable price. Choosing him instead of the very expensive Franck Ribery was a masterstroke in my opinion.

There are alot of belief in Arsenal squad during the earlier stage of the season when they've stayed on top of the table for a very very long period. Everyone talking about the maturity of the younger players in the squad has propelled them into that position. I kept my mouth closed and watch patiently how they will progress.

Indeed, about 7 months into the 2007/2008 season, Arsenal has finally lost their master touch, their wonderful form. 4 draws and 1 lose in 5 games Arsenal finally surrendered their lead to United. Just as I've expected, the young guns of Arsenal hasn't got the stamina yet to lead all the way to the finish line.

To be fair, Arsenal aren't out of the title race yet as they are keeping pace on United with a 6 points deficit.

Will be continue.....

Love for Premier League

Last night, after 45 minutes Arsenal was down by 2 goals and Abou Diaby was sent off against home side, Bolton Wanderers. Everyone thought, "Yea, that's it. Arsenal title dream is over." Obviously, no one would even dare to think that Arsenal got a chance to fight back in that match.





45 minutes later, Arsenal won 3-2. Celebrated like they've won the title





What can I say? Witnessing the red card, the 2nd goal scored by Matt Taylor for Bolton and then the turnaround made by a 10man Arsenal side. No script can be written as perfect as this one.

Yes, it was an absolutely thrilling match. A sore eye for Man Utd fans such as me. Told my brother about what happened in that match, being a semi-pro football gambler, he can't help but tell me it was most probably match-fixed by big-time bookies. Well, I kinda agree with him but we can't say that it was match fixed because we've got nothing to prove and we do not need to prove it.

In fact I hope it's not match fixed because these are the kind of matches that attracts football fans around the world to watch the Premier League. Thrilling, amazing fight back, soaking in heavy rain,being 2-0 down by halftime, down to 10 man, score in the 90th minute to win the match. What more you could possibly ask from a football match?

As I said before, this is the part of a game that ruined anyone's interest in International matches. Don't you love the Premier League?

Young Guns

The Barclays English Premier League (EPL) is arguably the best league in the world at the moment amongst club football. One of the strongest evidence to prove English clubs' capabilities could be seen in this year's UEFA Champions League as all 4 English clubs has progressed to the quarter-final stage.

It's quite amazing that how English clubs has finally taken over the Europe's dominant forces from Spain and Italy such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and of course the holder of Champions League, AC Milan.

To tell the truth, football clubs in England such as Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool wouldn't have achieved this by relying on local talents from their respective youth system as more and more foreign players coming into EPL. Yes, those top 4 clubs in England relies on foreign players to achieve these kind of success. Heck, not only foreign players but as well as foreign managers and coaches.

Sir Alex Ferguson is from Scotland, he is not an Englishmen.

It's a cruel and very sad fact for local English youngsters who dreamt to play for their favourite clubs because those top 4 clubs tend to overlook their local talents for talented young foreign players. Those clubs would pay crazy money for them to buy their way to success.

Take Manchester United as an example. This club was very famous for producing local talents that turned into World Class players for the past 50 years. They have produced player such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, and damn, even the primadonna David Beckham are one of the best product came out of the Red Devil's successful youth system. Don't even get me started to mention those legends from back then.

But look, Sir Alex realised that depending on local talents aren't always successful to bring them up to World Class quality. For example, Kieran Richardson was a failure. Chris Eagles, what the hell he is a joke! All he has got to do is dreaming to be the next David Beckham, dream on!

Paul Scholes is aging and he won't be able to play forever and Fergie had headache looking for his replacement. Therefore, he made a move that surprised everyone in the summer of 2007.

He freaking bought a 19 years old Brazilian from Porto named, Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira for £18 million. That is a huge amount of money to spend on a youngster. FYI, most Brazilians who came to the the Premiership has little success to cheer about. But Fergie took the risk and so far, it's paying off. Anderson sparkled in the middle of the park, tackling hard like Roy Keane, run with the ball challenging defender like Ryan Giggs. He's a workaholic that anyone would love to have in their team.

There, a replacement for the Red Head Ginger, Scholes but how about Ryan Giggs? Of course, Anderson can't split into two. SO, about the same time when Fergie bought Anderson, he snapped up his long term target from Sporting Lisbon named, Nani who he believed to be able to replace Ryan Giggs as well as immitate Cristiano Ronaldo's success ( C.Ronaldo was from Sporting Lisbon as well). He came to United and showed everyone he's capable to cope with the pressure to succeed the great Ryan Giggs and he possesed tremendous skills. The scariest part is, he's like Ronaldo's clone.

Man Utd has made a move they believed could prolonged them as a dominant club in the world but the other 3 top clubs in England has done their part as well to keep pace on United.

Arsenal's youth system consist alot of foreigners and I personally think they have the talents to grow into World Class quality. One of them has succeed, Spain borned Cesc Fabregas has become from an unknown kid to a World Class player.

Expected to fill the boot of influential ex-Gunner Captain, Patrick Vieira who left a huge gap in the middle of the park for Arsenal but since then, Fabregas has been able to mature steadily and make a name for himself in the world of football. His passing are World Class. His visions are peerless. His determination is unbelievable. He has done more than enough to fill Vieira's boot.

But not only Fabregas is maturing. Look at Gael Clichy, Denilson, Eboue, Bendtner, Diaby and one more to look out for, Mexican wonderkid, Carlos Vela.

Now, most youngsters I mentioned up there appeared in recent Arsenal matches except for Carlos Vela. Who is this fella? He is a predator, a prodigy, a winger that will strike fear on defenders. He may not be able to play for Arsenal yet due to working permit restriction but he was loaned to several clubs and now he's at Osasuna, Spain. He shone and appear under the limelight during his time there and received high praise as the next big thing. Do look out for him Gunner's fans.

As for Chelsea, a club that famed in recent years for spending crazy amount of money to buy players. Some of them worth it, some of them not. But they have been able to secure 2 Premiership in a row before Man Utd snapped their streak. So, it wasn't a bad idea to buy your way to the title actually.

Yes, they bought players that are growing older such Nic Anelka, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack (Chelsea snapped him up for free as his contract with Bayern Munich expired), Claude Makelele and Juliano Belletti. But those players are the ones that could bring priceless experience into the club and they are the mentors for Chelsea's younger players.

One of those younger players who benefited alot by learning from them is John Obi Mikel.

He is a Nigerian central midfielder and has caused alot of controversy when he came to Chelsea. At first, Manchester United announced that they have agreed with Lyn Oslo (Mikel's previous club) to sign Obi Mikel. He went to Old Trafford, signed the contract and hold the number 21 shirt in a press conference to announced his arrival. But soon after that, he went dissapeared after rumours of him receiving threats from phone calls. IN FACT, he was at London negotiating with Chelsea and announced that he was forced to join United and he supposedly wanted to join Chelsea. It caused alot of controversy but still he was finally transferred to Chelsea after they agreed to pay Lyn Oslo £4 million and pay Man Utd as well for £12 million.

In spite of all those controversy, he was able to settle down and played well for Chelsea. He is one of Chelsea's main engine this season as he produced great strength and tackling all over the place that has kept Chelsea midfield as tight as possible. His good form has restricted playing time of veterans, Makelele and Ballack.

For the past 15 odd years, Liverpool has been living in the shadow of Man Utd, Arsenal, and now, Chelsea. They tried to revive their dominance in the league by purchasing foreign players as well but each of them has gone down the drain such as Djibril Cisse. But during the summer, they have finally bought someone with tremendous talent and ability to take them back to the Premiership summit. His name is Fernando Torres aka El Nino. Dispite his good looks, he showed everyone that he is a here for real business. On his debut season he has scored goals for fun, 2 hat tricks in a row was the clear evidence of his ability and as well sending out warnings to United, Arsenal and Chelsea that he's here to change Liverpool for good.

All the players that I've mentioned here are all young guns and surely they are the future of their respective clubs. Next post, I will predict what they could do for their clubs and analyse more young guns, stay tuned :)