Something of note from Debuchy's deal
So they said Ba goes to Chelsea already? Well, if the powers-that-be somewhere lurking around can be trusted, it's very likely that Debuchy will sign for Newcastle. In fact, I did come across an interesting FB post written by a SGB on how Cabaye might have influenced the deal since the two are considered tu es mon meillieur ami back during their years at Lille. If this is true (and there's not much reason for even a SGB to lie over this kind of thing anyway), then whatever money gained from the Ba deal will go a long way in financing the deal. In fact, I suspect the term "90% there" means just this: Pardew knew that the Ba deal would be a done deal and that whatever $$$ gained as a result will be used for the Debuchy deal. Rumours had it that the Ba will possibly cost Stamford Bridge 5 million quids, but I suspect the haggling will go beyond that mark (read: I swear this will be a repeat of that famous Bennett-gate where the suspected 4 million quids was only outed post-deal). So now what's next for the Burung Hitam-Putih? Nothing much I'm afraid so. You see, Debuchy is a player who should be worth far more than a mere pittance of 5 million plus. No, make that post 15 million at least given the insane $$$ culture not just limited to transfer negotiations (hint: this being something for which Ian Ayre was crucified for last time round). In fact, if Adam Johnson can cost Sunderland 10 million and Steven Fletcher 12 million, then surely players hailing from continental countries should be at least around the 15 million range (greatest proof that local English players suck in general on both the technical and tactical scale by comparison). So what about potential deals like Loic Remy?
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| Famous last words from Chris Hughton: BITCH PLEASE |
Something of note from how the Red Scousers whipped the Barcelona of England
Some loopy admin in the North East football banter page in FB mentioned that Sunderland A.F.C=Barca of England. Another bloke (quite obviously not a Mackem) by the name of *censored alphabet*.*censored alphabet* Karr actually stated Beirut of England in response. Whether this should be termed as "e-racism" shouldn't be entertained here. What I want to say is this: Just after our horrendous defeat at Pride Park, the Smackems are laughing their asses off. Come the Routing of Anfield though, I believe David Moyes has this to say:
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| Don't you all Red Scousers love him? I know Guoxiang will. Wencheng on the other hand though... |
Now while it's extremely easy to say "lol Suarez trollz ftw!", the truth might not be that simple. I took a look at the formation and while it's no-brainer that Rodgers stuck to his famous 4-3-3 made famous at Swansea, what is truly the most insane was the fact that three box-to-box midfielders were utilised. Not that abnormal? Wait till you realised that out of the three midfielders, two of them are more well known as holding/defensive midfielders, i.e. Henderson and Lucas. Of course they could pretty much operate as far more balanced B2B like Stevie G.
Yet after taking a look at the forward three, I got a bit baffled. Suarez at dead centre is a given, but Downing at the right? Of course he might have scored if not for Mignolet.
So what's Rodgers' game plan to be exact? I suspect Downing's role was far towards the forward support rather than going all out to assist/score. His main asset has always been a deadly left foot crossing wise, which is why I used to believe his best role under Rodgers might just be your standard 4-3-3 left back. Ultimately however, I should have taken far more notice on Jose "he's not gay" Enrique. You see, the two do have a certain common ground and it's called going out-and-out. By hugging the touchline, he's actually reducing the opposing fullback 's freedom to help out the two centre-backs.
Sterling on the other hand, is your real killer midget where his technical trickery and pace will cause actual havoc both out wide and cutting inside. If Suarez was to indeed play an identical/similar role on the other end (something which he's truly capable of anyway), then Downing's ability as a decoy will work some real wonders without actual scoring.
An alternate take would be moving Suarez upfront with Sterling and Downing just behind (and this is something Rodgers had tried before with much devastating effect back at Stamford Bridge). Either two could work perfectly fine on the pitch and I won't be surprised if Rodgers' take was to alternate between the two during that match. Barcelona of England? I'm afraid Liverpool is not there yet given the crop of budding/inconsistent players Rodgers has right now. Sunderland? Beirut of England perhaps (no offense intended against any Lebanese viewers though since anyone can just interpret this as a form of satire directed towards Islamphobia ala making fun of negative stereotyping).
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| Neil Warnock's parise towards Hull might not be that off-the-wall given O'Neill's far more adventurous approach. |
Something of note from how Harry "Bung-dini" Redknapp did his own Atomic Wedgie
In case anyone has forgotten this...
Something of note from Utd scoring 4 $$$ shots past Wigan at DW Stadium
Firstly, I'm starting to get a wee bit paranoid due to Sir A.Fergie's backline during the Battle of United Leaks. And it has something to do with how I commented that Wigan could have easily scored five past such a backline at FB. Now it seems that Fergie might have pulled one over such an overstatement of defensive frailty. But seriously, wtf was Martinez thinking????
4-0 might seem like a justified score, but I suspect quite a lot of that has to do with that insane 3-4-3 formation. You do NOT play like that against a team like Utd, Vidic or no Vidic. But then again, I guess Martinez's instruction might be way more simple: Go out there, play some football, and **** the rest. To put it in a far romantic sense, he's telling the lads to pleases the fans rather than to please the score.
Which basically this is what made Fergie's tactics spot on. He knew that Martinez would play this way, no questions asked. A lot has been said on Utd's strength in the face of adversity, but to me, Fergie's strategic nous is the key. He's not someone who can plan beforehand, but rather plan at least one step ahead. The biggest proof perhaps lies in the previous match against WBA where Van Persie ended up starting on the bench and ended up scoring at the correct end. Simply, Utd shouldn't be the team to beat. Rather, it's Fergie the Man.
Note on the middle 4: This is where the battle was won imo. This is an orthodox flat 4-4-2 where the onus is NOT to counter attack, but a counter possession game. The key lies in the two blokes in the middle. Carrick and Cleverly pulling the strings in the middle deep while Giggs would end up moving upfront and Young moving even higher up together with RVP and Chicharito. Again, w're seeing the same ol'game like the Battle of United Leaks. Against a team unable to do a damn in defending the flanks deeply, Young's out-and-out wingplay was arguably the most vital tactical cog, which could free up RVP and Chicharito. In fact, it could be very likely that RVP's role as the centre forward was far towards a free striker up front since we can never discount his all-round tactical game. Don't believe me, go ask Le Arsene.
And lastly, the Collapse of Pride Park
I'll just write about this far more briefly since I've got work tomorrow. Firstly, this is an unforgivable result. Never since that bitch slapping we received at Bloomfield Road had we received such a big ass spanking. Or rather, Blackpool was under Ian "Mad Ian" Holloway back then, i.e. I can actually swallow this defeat far better than that stupid Pride Park episode (weirdly enough, the term "swallow" didn't really have any stupid innuendo N ages ago due to someone stating "but I can't swallow it!" back during me at Sec 2 days because that's actually my first "try" in getting character assassinated).
So did anything went awry apart from the most obvious? Well, we didn't have a stomach flu epidemic (something which will ring a bell in a certain Mr Eric Soh's mind, I'm very sure of that). But do we have a big ass list coming up on the FICU, i.e. Football Intensive Care Unit? Yes, quite obviously. Only until then did I actually realised that a stable defence was the reason why we could go on like an army of Rafael Nadals all the way until now. The key term is "until now", folks. Who do we have on the list then? George "Robocop" Friend, Andre "additional adrenaline pls" Bikey, Justin "black aerodynamics" Hoyte, and Seb "awesome comeback" Hines. The biggest problem we're seeing here is this: out of the 4 red blokes listed, only Seb has nailed in a stable position at the centre back. The other three could easily operate within two positions and that's how Mogga planned his buys this pre-season. You can buy a good player, but you can also nurture a good player. The former is all about $$$, the latter is all about sense (although $$$ sense should be the most ideal situation unless you happen to play anywhere below the top flight). Problem? Hoyte can play at the left back role, Bikey can play right back as well as centre back, while Robo-Friend can operate at the left back and centre back. Going by the basic Minghui-matics, this is a whopping score of 6 playable positions (7 if we are to add in Comeback Seb as well) getting hijacked by the injury gods, not to mention the fact that all of them apart from Aerodynamic Hoyte are able to go centre back mode. And now we have Jonathan "Woody" Woodgate crocked as well. Thankfully, Rhys "Aussie Rolls Royce" Williams is still in the starting picture since we're talking about one player=three positions. If he ends up injured as well, we're seriously ****ed. Period.
Strike force wasn't that quite hunky dory as well post-match since Scott "Big Mac" McDonald was injured halfway through with Marvin "Magnifiek"Emnes was out prior to the match as well. Simply put, Mogga put forth a 4-3-3 in that bloody Fortress of Rams and we got rightfully batter-rammed. It's a gamble truly backfired. And spectacularly as well, if I say so myself due to the level of performance throwing the proverbial spanner into the works. Read: we could have nicked something if we can truly play up to mark. Simply put, if you can see Adam "where shall we play him?" Reach playing at the forward line together with McDonald and Lukas "Pole-axe" Jutkiewicz, any self respecting Boro fan would have known something was terribly amiss.
As for our midfield, I'll call it a grace coming from above. Because we didn't suffer that much. Or rather, most, if not all of our first team midfielders are all okay. Unless we're talking about Josh "Lil'Josh Takumi" McEachran as the most notable casualty.
Thankfully, our next match this weekend is a FA cup tie against Hastings "you probably never heard of us" United. Now at the risk of risking my fellow Boro-thers in-arms raising up in arms, let me just say that winning shouldn't be the top priority. I'd rather we throw this match and march on like a true blue Mogganaut for the rest of our season. Come to think of it, we only have less than five months to make everything count plus less than three months from now before we'll have to start shooting that damned March Hare x 3. I might sound like Ramsay Bolton himself for saying this, but I really prefer us winning the playoffs, so that we can gain extra $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ due to the playoff final at Wembley being rightfully dubbed as the richest match in global club football.
So how should we approach the match? To me, the onus is very simple. Keep our eyes peeled wide open for any perceived failure to convert our chances on a preemptive basis. If the signs are quite positive, then we should just sustain the pressure first. If it's a repeat of Elland-gate/Park-gate, everyone able to hold fort must prepare themselves to.... well, hold fort. There's nothing magic with the formation and tactics. It's all about vaulting over the psychological barrier, a mustering of Ethos 1986 above everything else. Bruce Rioch didn't bring us up merely upon virtues of blood and thunder, I'm pretty sure of that. Our current situation is such that we can't truly do that much in the face of our numbers limited by the injury gods. Simply put, we'll have to create a siege mentality for ourselves in preparation for a possible siege tactic.
To summarise things in a nutshell: Of course will everything work out in the end? It actually depends on whether we can recreate our very own Battle of the Blackwater.
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