Friday 12 October 2012

[CounterAttack] The ComeBack Season

The 2nd edition of the CounterAttack series is here again and my word, the week wheezed past filled with action and drama packed week of footy. Football is an art, forget the naysayers! They are on a long thing!

I was at Apo this weekend to watch all the premiership games at Denis Garden; a small independent local garden outlet to watch a wounded Man United side come back to inflict yet another defeat on the Magpies. Its was a game that would surely have Kevin Keegan proud of the crop of attacking prowess on display for both sides ( Ba, Rooney RVP and the loveable Cisse) even if he would have been dismayed to see his old Foe, Sir Fergie curb Newcastle's resurgence. Odd thing was with the multimillion pounds strikers on display, we managed to see Johnny Evans only his second goal for United ( his first was also against Newcastle) while Evra and the ever improving Cleverly added only his fourth ever senior goal. The result extended Manchester United's impressive results against Newcastle in the Premier League. With an impressive record which reads: P37 W21 D12 L4, ( one can understand why Kevin Keegan saw red and had the famous "Lurrve it" rant against United & Fergie. It was Newcastle's second home defeat of 2012; the other coming against Man City in the penultimate round of games last season.

Sir Alex Ferguson continues to garner accolades and smash records in what looks like been the most successful career football has ever seen, they say it ain't over till the fat man sings, and with Anderson singing Fergie's praises and bringing in statistics to back his chorus as typical of footballers ( Manchester United is Alex Ferguson When he leaves, the club will lose 30 to 40%. So much depends on him. He's a father to all the players) I wonder what percentage the club looses when fair play rules kicks into effect next season. Anderson's sentiments are laudable, but I think most United fans would much rather see Anderson on the thread mill than in the press box, but hey just saying.

Chelsea came from behind at home to Norwich to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points. DiMatteo's boys continued to impress with a string of games showing a different dimension to their play. The resilience shown by new signings to blend with the old has been key, with Oscar continuing to be a pick of the bunch. Zola has a new heir at Stamford Bridge (No Oscar is not the new Zola, but their direct approach to playmaking and attacking is reminiscent of the the pint sized Italian) talking of Zola where is he these days and is he related to Ben Stiller ? Anyway. Grant Holt opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge but a refreshed Fernando Torres suddenly cant stop scoring ( Oi! fernando, u are still a Leg End!) Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic chipped in to secured a 4-1 win.

If it aint broke dont fix it! Please someone write that saying in Italian and send to Mancini aka "El -Loco ". Manchester City are champions and far from broke, but this completely confused man ripped half his championship squad apart and filled it in with a crop of talented youngsters with "Potential". Even Chamakh had potentials ( until we found out hin Sha Wack!) A slow start off finally behind Mancini's men, they closed the gap on the league leaders, as they eased to a comfortable 3-0 win at home to previously unbeaten Sunderland. Goals from Aleksandar Kolarov, Sergio Aguero and James Milner, wrapped up an easy win up for the Citizens

Arsenal licking the wounds from last derby defeat, dispatched the Hammers with minimal fuss. Even Giroud scored.! The comeback weekend Trend was still on and the Gunners came from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park. Olivier Giroud scored his first Premier League goal to cancel out Mohamed Diame's opener before substitute Theo Walcott and the impressive Santi Cazorla added to the scoresheet. The Gunners have a new maestro, He seamlessly replaces Pires from the Invincible team, one wonders if The talented French veteran advices Cazorla on dealing with his embattled country man. Talking of Wenger, the board continues to back his "model" much to the dismay of the fans, but come next season with UEFA fair play rules in place, we would see who laughs last.
Queens Park Rangers manager Mark "Speedy" Hughes is having a torrid time, and I dare say he is a great fotballer and a rubbish manager. His side managed to continue propping up the rest of the table after they were beaten 3-2 at West Bromwich Albion. It's fair to say its Slow, slow times for Speedy.

Early goals from James Morrison and Zoltan Gera left the visitors with an uphill task and although Adel Taarabt pulled one back before the break Youssouf Mulumbu then extended the lead. Esteban Granero reduced the deficit once again but QPR were unable to find an equaliser and remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

QPR might have the rich owners, but sometimes art beguiles finances. Their bloated squad of overpaid, underperforming journey men on Hughes rooster might be his biggest undoing.

Football is art, and El Classico is its premium theatre fixture out in Spain. This played a host to 400 million viewers who tuned in to see what arguably is the greatest sporting rivalry on earth. Like all art is subjective, so is the opinion on who the greatest footballer on earth. Messi and Ronaldo continue to duel to the death. Between them Messi and Ronaldo have now scored exactly 100 club goals in 2012; between them they got all four goals here and still hard to separate them according to fans, journalist and professionals alike.
"I don't know if Ronaldo has done enough [to win the Ballon d'Or]," said José Mourinho. "All I know is that talking about who is the best player in the world should be banned because these two are so good." The result maintains Barcelona's eight-point lead at the top of table.

An odd game at first that reminded me of George Orwells poetic line in his book "Homage to Catalonia" - and the whole huge town was locked in a sort of violent inertia, a nightmare of noise without movement. Describes the first half an hour which Madrid had the ascendancy but not the tools to finish up the opposition. Benzema and Higuain combined would give Madrid one reliable striker, for now picking one of each would remain a beautiful gamble

Tito on the other hand continues to work magic with a rapidly depleting squad, how long will the spell work? With all his first choice back four croaked at the moment remains anyones guess, but at the moment they are 8 points clear and fighting off an opponent who have lost the fear factor.

The Classico ended the weekend on a high, a standing ovation from the Camp Nou faithfuls, in acknowledgement of a great game filled with emotions passions and comebacks.

The internationals are here again and surprise, suprise England manager dedicated a whole day to talk to players and media about social etiquette on twitter, New Media is everyones problem not just David Mark as Betrand the young Chelsea left back found out this week from his twitter rant. What is it about Chelsea left backs and twitter..? I would be taking a break until club football is back on.

So now tell me if Football no be art, why so many teams dey draw?

Man City 3 Sunderland 0

Chelsea 4 Norwich 1

Swansea 2 Reading 2

West Brom 3 QPR 2

Wigan 2 Everton 2

West Ham 1 Arsenal 3

Onimisi Wordsmith is a Poet, Football lover, Media nerd who likes Sliding tackles and despises misplaced passes. Follow on twitter @onimsiwordsmith

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