World Leader Pretend
******. Anyway, Chelsea are victorious after dodging a thousand Barcelona and Bayern Munich shots and springing the odd random goal JUST when it was needed. Assuming that Roman Abramovich hasn’t … Continue reading →
Sometimes there’s a man…
I don’t care if there’s no ‘end product’. I’ve honestly never seen a footballer who’s as fun to watch as Mousa Dembele. We sit in what I used to think … Continue reading →
Jammin’ (or not): England in the Euros
Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix pay football. Hat tip to Adam Spangler via Bruce McGuire. Here’s a guest post from Shaz Rahman, who wonders how England might set up now … Continue reading →
Hodgson/England/Euro 2012
The big news, which I’ve heretofore ignored as it made my head spin, is Roy Hodgson’s appointment as England manager. Never mind the Redknapp or speech impediment or press idiocy angles, what does this actually mean for England at Euro 2012? I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how Roy’s early career directly influenced Sven-Göran Eriksson so...
Even flow
I was recently watching a documentary about Pearl Jam, the American rock band (still on iPlayer if you’re interested). It was strange: the first time you hear Eddie Vedder’s voice you do a sort of aural double take. *Christ*. But in the end Pearl Jam lack a certain something and while there’s nothing inherently wrong...
Fulham 2-1 Sunderland
How about that then, eh? Fulham were absolutely fabulous, and deserved to score more than two against a good Sunderland side. More than anything it was a win that confirmed Martin Jol’s nous for teambuilding, taking Roy Hodgson’s stalwarts and making them thrilling. Everywhere you looked was someone at the top of their game and...
Liverpool 0-1 Fulham (not yet a report)
All of which goes to prove that goals change games: on Saturday the early goal was conceded; this time we scored it.
Full report in the morning.
Hodgson for England?
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms further… And one fine morning- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby...
Everton 4-0 Fulham
I’m reading Simon Reynolds’ “Retromania”, the thrust of which seems to be that modern music has effectively ground to a halt because we’re all so enamoured with the past. I have only just started the book so can’t expand on the theory, but it sounds about right: music from the past has never been so...
Odds and ends
Did you enjoy the Champions League semis? Hard not to I reckon. Some thoughts: People have been very quick to write Barcelona off, but they’re still about as good as it gets. We all know that anything can happen in football, and the semi-final played out almost perfectly for Chelsea, scoring at just the right...
Readers write: the myth of the Olympics
The following is a fantastic diatribe by Simon Shaw. Simon’s not a big fan of the Olympics. Readers who don’t like politics on a football message board are advised to not read on. The Myth of the Olympics/the Great Olympic Swindle. We are continually peddled a myth that professional sport exists in a rarefied atmosphere...
Dempsey joins the elite?
One thing we don’t seem to do very much of in football is look at a player’s career arc. So when people talk about Robin van Persie scoring all these goals it’s hard to know whether it’s a monumental fluke or something he’s been building up to. I confess to having assumed the former, but...
