Monday, October 22, 2012

Riots, Racism and More

We managed to watch two matches this weekend. Chelsea look good. Their defense is suspect without, dare we say it, John Terry organizing things, but they more than make up for it with the craft and guile of Mata, Hazard, and Oscar. Tottenham looked good as well. They just didn't have enough. And a special thought for Adebayor who came on at the end and played like the wanker he is by fouling and generally assisting Chelsea to see out the win. As always, Henry Winter has a good assessment.

Arsenal went to Norwich. At least, there were some human beings in Arsenal kits running around at Carrow Road. Abject? Uninspired? Pathetic? Yes, yes, and yes. Credit to Norwich, but really, it's becoming all to familiar for the Gooners out there expecting some sort of change in fortune. The movie Groundhog Day comes to mind. At least Wenger got angry and actually blamed the players. 

Elsewhere in the EPL there were few surprises as the top clubs went about their business. Man City in particular pulling another one out of the hat at The Hawthorns.

You read something about racism in the title of this post. Rio refused to wear a t-shirt. Fergie got upset. There were claims of racist language used at the Sunderland/Newcastle match. Terry will wear an armband. Ugh.

You read something about riots in the title of this post. Over in the Ruhr Valley, bitter rivals Schalke and Dortmund clashed. And their fans freaked out. And we decided to bring out favorite Schalke fan back for a little fun. (At left.)

Monday MLS Breakdown? Yes, here it is. D.C. United are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Over in Spain, Barcelona won a thriller in Coruña, 4-5. It went from 0-3 to 2-3 to 2-4 to 3-4 to 3-5 to 4-5. The match had nine goals and nine yellow cards. Cesc was sublime. Also, Falcao scored his tenth goal in ten matches. He won't be at Atletico Madrid for much longer, we're afraid. We'll catch up with everything over there tomorrow via Phil Ball and Sid Lowe.

Some idiot in Cyprus threw an explosive device on the field.

In Serie A, Pirlo continues to be forever young by leading Juve to a win over Napoli. The Old Lady is now top of the league. Lazio beat Milan and suddenly Inter are in third place thanks to everyone's favorite insane footballer, Signor Cassano.

Finally, The Fifth Official is a Monday tradition. And he/she loves it when Arsenal shit the bed.

-SSN

1 comment:

Bartholomew said...

A pathetic performance by the Arsenal. Tis one thing to have a bad first half and concede a stupid goal. The lack of anything in the second half was unacceptable. Narwich are not a good football team and 3 points could have taken us to 4th. Yet, Ruddy was bored. Le Boss can point to the players, but he failed to see that Giroud was useless and that some speed up the middle was required. Le Boss put Jack in the squad yet used someone I've never heard of instead as a sub. Le Boss pulled Podolski despite him having our only shot on goal. Le Boss failed to prepare his team 'our moment of truth'. Le Boss sold RVP and Song before the season and so both could have made the difference on Saturday.