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The Celibate Spaniard
Forget Rafa Benitez, today’s Torres could walk into a ‘Girls Gone Wild’ party with a bag full of the date rape drug and still walk out without scoring. That is the kind of form the ‘once-prolific-under-the-very-same-manager’ Spaniard is in. And everyone except Abrahamovic and his circle of insightful football pundits seem to know it. That includes the fans, giving them all the more reason to hate Rafa’s appointment. So when Kolarov walked up to the corner flag, the blues’ fans weren’t holding up placards telling the cameras how they loved their new manager or how they’d also like to see William Gallas back in the squad – the latter just to lift the spirits in the dressing room. They were all subtle messages of disapproval. ‘Rafa Out’ was one of them. Fact.
The Traditionalist
Lock a young kid up in a room and cut off his contact with all things football except clips of Chicharito in action, scoring goal after goal for Manchester United. Give the kid a few good years. Release him. Ask him what sport the young Mexican was playing. I wouldn’t rule out the chance of that kid saying – “Shoulderball.” The way the Mexican fumbles around and scores those goals with every other body part except the foot, why would you blame the kid? It is precisely why the couch hooligan is not entirely convinced of Hernandez. But the latest he scored against Queens Park Rangers, with a clever run and actually with his foot, has given me a ray of hope. Hopefully, the next kid you lock up will have a different answer.
Eye of the Lamb
Michael Owen insists he is close to making his first Premier League start for Stoke — after getting the ‘Rocky’ treatment from club medics. Going by his injury record, let us not be surprised if he picks up an injury from some heavy sea breeze, running down the beach with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ playing in the background.
For once
Joey Barton made history the other night when he made his debut for French side Marseille. The remarkable achievement however was not his debut. Neither was it the customary yellow card he picked up just 22 minutes into the match. It was the fact that he wasn’t the first player to earn a red card during the match that will go down in golden letters of history books – Small step for Barton, giant leap for football thugs around the globe. Keep it up, Joey.
The Gift of Mignolet
At the Stadium of Light on Saturday, we witnessed an act of kindness – the kind of benevolence that has become something of a rarity in football these days. The man in the spotlight was Simon Mignolet. The way he grabbed the ball and gifted it to Shane Long to score the easiest of goals would’ve even put the master of them all, Santa Claus, to shame. Christmas, I guess, came early for the visiting West Bromwich side.
The Left Winger
Jose Enrique gave the term ‘left winger’ a whole new meaning against Swansea and turned it on its head. Teamed with the invisible Stewart downing on the left, the Spanish left back seemed to be the only player operating on the left – making him, the only ‘winger left’.
This piece made its first appearance here – http://fansonstands.com
