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Thank you, Shelvy
Without Jonjo Shelvy, Manchester United would have made Hillsborough look like a joke. That is how bad they were in the first 45. Suarez had his guns loaded, Gerrard had his sight set, and Sterling was the old Torres. For the first 30 minutes, United were like Stoke City in disguise. They were all long balls as if there was a Dutch Peter Crouch leading the line. And then, Shelvey became Gandhi. He walked away in peace, from the battlefield, with more than half the war to be won. And then, RVP and co. took over. They stooped, they won a penalty in the process and they conquered.
And the Oscar goes to…
We have all heard about Eastern-European underground movies and the talents that are hidden from mainstream cinema due to Hollywood and Karan Johar. Football at Chelsea is one such, and Branislav Ivanovic is your uncut diamond. The dive he produced against Stoke pushed the crowd/Chelsea-favouring-commentator favourite Antonia Valenica to the second place while leaping down/up/ahead to the first place. He is now in the same league as Kournikova and Dracula. Well, almost.
Hollywood Ending
How do they do it? Time and again? It is as if Hollywood has leased out their writer to the Football Association in England. They do it, without fail. Henry did it for Arsenal on his comeback. Torres never did it on his Anfield return. And then there was Scholes . And now, it is Rodallega. Not only did the prolific Wigan striker fail to find the net in his previous games, he chose the match against his former club to open the scoresheet. Take another 9 years Mr. Cameron, your Avatar will be never as exciting as this.
Professor Speaks…
“In Wenger we trust”, reads the banner at the Emirates, and at times even at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium (And did you know that Etihad loosely translates to ‘United’ in English? Anyway, that is another 2-part post.). The professor got it right again, this time, against the cribbing billionaire as Arsenal held City to a draw despite the protest of the tooth fairy, Aladdin’s genie and their colleagues. For a club that spent millions on a squad against a club that has made millions of its squad, this was indeed a battle of philosophies. And guess what, football won.
FYI, this article made its first appearance on http://www.fansonstands.com.
