The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Individual class — the winning link Posted: 07 Nov 2011 03:57 PM PST NOV 8 — At halftime of the Wolves versus Wigan Athletic match on Sunday night, while on the set of the Super Sunday studio at ESPN, I had my own analysis ready but unfortunately, the first question was not directed at me by the host. However, my thoughts were that it had been a scrappy, unimaginative and shapeless first 45 minutes. Then I sat through 90 minutes of scrappy, unimaginative, shapeless and schoolboy error-strewn football in the Singapore versus Malaysia match at the SEA Games 2011 yesterday evening. It was hard to believe that this was in fact an Under-23 game of football. Both teams seemed to be involved in a "who can kick it furthest" contest. It really was a difficult-to-watch match with maybe the only positive being the fitness levels of both teams. By that, I mean both sets of players relentlessly pursued the strategy all through the game. If not for our skipper Baddrol Bakhtiar's freekicks, this game could really have been a coma-inducing prescription. This is our first game of the campaign but already it shows that we have regressed from the efforts of Laos 2009, when we won the gold medal for the first time in 20 years. I do wonder how our lads will do when they face Thailand in their next match tomorrow. It is the Thais' first match and given the advantage of watching Malaysia play first, not to mention having fresh legs for the game, Ong Kim Swee's charges will find it an uphill battle to begin with. Anyway, when teamwork fails, it is the ability of highly-talented individuals who can and will decide a game as Queen's Park Rangers found out at the weekend. Truly, this was a monumental effort by the Hoops and boy, did they play really well. However, they still could not beat Manchester City. The men from the Etihad Stadium struggled for fluency with Kun Aguero having a nightmare but yet, the team had enough individual quality among its world-class stars to successfully find the net three times. Manchester United though are struggling for that same star quality since Cristiano Ronaldo left and perhaps this is what Alex Ferguson needs to address in the shortest possible time. The Red Devils need world-class talent to reign supreme but unlike last season when they won the league with some pretty average football, this season needs either some "breathtaking football" or "breathtaking performances." Meanwhile, my Tottenham Hotspur scored two breathtaking goals and then seemed to have suddenly turned breathtakingly rubbish in the second half against Fulham. This has got to be down to attitude and it seemed all wrong to see Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart being so "chummy chummy" with Fulham manager Martin Jol at halftime. The Welshman obviously knew Jol as the former manager of Spurs, while Van der Vaart is a fellow Dutchman. But no matter what, this is a professional game of football and the time for handshakes and cuddles is after 90 minutes. To Spurs' benefit though, Van der Vaart quite perhaps brings arrogance into the dressing room. The lack of focus in the second half was too glaring not to want to question the swagger of certain players. Meanwhile, Stoke City's Europa League hangover continued to weigh heavily on their Premiership form as they were walloped 5-0 by a weak Bolton team that had not won at home all season. Just three days after beating Maccabi Haifa 2-1 in Israel — a great result for this usually mid-table English Premier League (EPL) team — Stoke lose by a big margin. This was almost identical to how their travels caused them to lose 4-0 at Sunderland just three days after their last long-distance trip — a 1-1 draw with Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev — back in September. Understandably, Tony Pulis' side doesn't have the squad depth of the more prominent clubs in the EPL and so are suffering the effects of the tough-going schedule, playing in two major competitions But no such problems face the mighty Reds, who seemed to have taken the foot off the pedal at the end of last season just to avoid the Europa League distraction in Kenny Dalglish's first full season back in charge at Anfield. So, Liverpool only have to focus on the EPL and the domestic cup competitions. You wouldn't think that though, if you watched Liverpool's home match against newly-promoted Swansea City. They struggled and delivered a performance of almost embarrassing proportions, as the visitors could easily have taken all three points. This is no different to the Liverpool of recent seasons, choking against some of the smaller teams but putting on the game of their lives when playing the big boys. It is still early days yet, and any team who needs a lift just need look to the Emirates for some inspiration as Arsenal won their fifth Premiership game in a row, mostly thanks to the prolific scoring and individual master-class performances of Robin Van Persie. Yes, one man, or better yet, two, can make a huge difference. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 07 Nov 2011 03:50 PM PST NOV 8 — Tottenham continued their excellent run of form with a hard-fought 3-1 victory at Fulham on Sunday, and they appear set for another productive campaign. Harry Redknapp's attractive and attack-minded team lost their first two games of the season, suffering heavy defeats against the two Manchester clubs following the postponement of their opening day fixture against Everton. Since then, though, they've put together an eight-match unbeaten run, including seven victories, to propel them into fifth place in the Premier League table, level on points with Chelsea and with a game in hand. Although Spurs are one of the most entertaining and creative teams in the country, their victory at Fulham was not, for once, primarily earned by the silky attacking skills of Rafael van der Vaart, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon or Emmanuel Adebayor. Instead, on this occasion the main man was veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who pulled off a string of superlative saves — including some spectacular injury-time heroics with the score precariously poised at 2-1 before Jermain Defoe's last-second clincher. Multi-capped American international Friedel has been one of the best goalkeepers in the country ever since he escaped the understudy role at Liverpool, where he played second fiddle to David James and then Sander Westerveld, to join Blackburn Rovers in 2000, and he's showing no sign of deterioration despite celebrating his 40th birthday in May. Over the course of 11 years, Friedel has made more than 400 Premier League appearances for Blackburn, Aston Villa and now Tottenham, and has a remarkable record-breaking streak of starting every single league game since the start of the 2004/5 season — Sunday's fixture at Fulham was his 285th consecutive game, and it would be a big surprise if he doesn't reach the 300 figure a couple of months from now. Despite his omnipresence for the last seven years and the extremely high esteem that he commands among his fellow professionals, Friedel's unfussy, businesslike manner has allowed him to maintain a relatively low profile, and his summer move to White Hart Lane on a free transfer from Villa generated few headlines. But his capture could prove to be one of Harry Redknapp's best signings — and that's saying something for a manager who has made a career out of wheeling and dealing with shrewd intelligence in the transfer market. Redknapp had grown frustrated with the occasionally brilliant but always erratic Brazilian Heurelho Gomes, and didn't hold too much faith in his understudy Carlo Cudicini after the Italian's recovery from a serious motorbike accident. The Spurs boss needed a safe pair of hands, and it's fair to say that he has found them with Friedel, whose most impressive quality over the last decade has been his metronomic consistency. In addition to the stunning saves of which he's clearly capable, Friedel just doesn't make many big mistakes — and that, in general terms, is the mark of a good goalkeeper. Someone who can be relied upon to not drop simple crosses, fumble tame shots or race needlessly off his line is an enormous advantage to a team, giving the defenders in front of him an enormous sense of reassurance. Unfortunately, Friedel's decision-making off the pitch doesn't appear to have been quite so flawless; he was reportedly declared bankrupt earlier in the year after investing in an American youth football development scheme that went badly wrong. Perhaps that's why he's still playing at the age of 40, and playing so well; if you're bankrupt, every signing-on bonus, every appearance bonus, every clean-sheet bonus and every win bonus makes a big difference. Whatever Friedel's motivation, the United States seems to possess the knack of producing goalkeepers, with the Spurs stopper just the most distinguished of an impressive recent batch of Yankee keepers. Tim Howard, Kasey Keller and Marcus Hahnemann have also enjoyed excellent Premier League careers in the last decade or so, giving the US one of the strongest groups of goalkeepers of any nation in the world. Hahnemann, my former colleague at Reading, had a plausible theory that his country's goalkeeping excellence can be explained by the fact that most talented young Americans grow up playing basketball and American football — sports that require the essential goalkeeping skills of ball handling, athleticism, power, bravery and hand-to-eye co-ordination. I can't think of any better explanation — other than pure coincidence — and it's provided the US with a better group of keepers than anything English football has produced since David Seaman (although Joe Hart looks very promising). None of them have been better than Friedel, and his reliable excellence in goal could be enough to secure his club a return to Champions League football at the end of the season — and if that happens, don't bank on him retiring. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan