It hasn't felt like a Cup Final day today. Not in any way, shape or form. I could not have given a flying fuck whether Chelsea won or Pompey lost (I know, I have a heart of stone. I just don't buy all that fairytale shit, I'm sorry to say) and have felt nothing since finding out the result a few minutes ago.
I read a tweet earlier (from Tim Lovejoy) which was lamenting the lack of TV build up, though that has been the case for many a long year. The last one I enjoyed featured the erstwhile manager of Bettabuys (ashamed that I can't recall his name now) carrying out a draw for the two teams who would be playing and also involved the usual QoS special. Since then, in all honesty, there hasn't been too much to get excited about, though that might have been different if City had been involved.
Now, as ever, the febrile excitement of the approaching World Cup is slightly tempered by the masses of injuries which have befallen the players. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw Capello's squad of 30 and immediately thought I could do better - until I started to look into some of the other possible players and realised that there really isn't much of an option other than Emile Heskey. God help us.
Last night in the pub, I got into a conversation with a couple of blokes, and one made me laugh uproariously with stories of his dad banging the side of the TV to make Big Emile fall over. It worked every time.
At least there are the play-offs to look forward to.
Showing posts with label pompey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pompey. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Sunday, 11 April 2010
SUPER Sunday
While it's still fresh. Got to love the moment. Fourteen goals in 3 games. Onuoha doing his chances of appearing for Nigeria in June a power of good by getting a brace, and 4th spot looking good, especially with Spuds providing the final fantasy for the Pompey losers (I don't have a heart of stone, and I can appreciate the amazing-ness of their being in a Cup Final after blah blah blah, but I never liked those bastards, chimes and drummers and shitty little place down there. Sorry.) softening them up for the visit of the Gooners in midweek and inflicting the expected psychological damage which will probably lead to the usual end of term choke-up. On top of that, Scousers unable to put the Gentleman's Club to bed, and the most excellent Mr Allardyce keeping the Rags at bay. All in all, what one might describe as a good day at the office.
With the exception of the goal, Brum were surprisingly meek today. Not on a par with Burnley, by any means, but hardly the street fighters we've come to expect under the tutelage of the Hun Big Eck. They got a lot of bodies in the way in the opening 20 minutes, but never looked as if they would pose a threat, and most definitely melted away when we started to attack them. I have to say that Adebayor had a good game, and I felt sorry for him on two occasions when Carlos could have fed him an easy tap-in, but chose instead to try himself. Never mind. He got his own brace, and it was a definitely pleasing team performance. Thankfully, Kolo Toure was not called on once that I can remember to make a saving tackle.
Now, to my previous statement on the end of season placings. Based on current form, I still expect Chelsea to finish top. Two key games yet to come will decide the position beneath them. Should Arsenal do the Spuds on Wednesday night (which is now a stronger possibility than it was. It's a tough one to call, but I feel that Arsene's boys might just have it in them) then the pressure on SAF will be just that little bit more intensified. Again, however, it's a tough one to call, and City are just as likely to implode as they are to win. I'll stick to my guns and say that the result doesn't really matter as long as it's a decent game, like the one at the Sty all those aeons ago.
For the moment then, I reckon it's going to be as follows:
1. Chelsea
2. Arsenal
3. Rags
4. City
5. Spuds
A lovely day.
Friday, 12 February 2010
The Only Living Team
We are in the middle of the bursting of the Southsea bubble. Sorry...
After what can only be described as a routine victory over the Trotters, what more is there to say about the state of the game? On a day when Portsmouth were thrown a temporary lifeline before what appears to be certain doom, I remember a commentator saying at the Pompey game recently that City could be described as perhaps the only club in the Premier League who are not facing financial crisis. One could have reasonably riposted the 'prudent' Arsenal, I suppose, but with mine own eyes I have seen the pitiful state of affairs at Stadium Developments. I will say no more.
Poor Chester City, as we have heard, are on their last legs, having been docked 25 points for going into administration, sitting rank bottom of the Blue Square, and now suffering their players refusing to get on the team coach for an away game because they haven't been paid for months. Casting aside the fact that they might possibly fare better without their players, it's sobering to think that things have come to this pass. Having been out of work myself for a while now, I can only begin to imagine how the lads at such an outfit could possibly survive for any period of time. Neither are they (Chester City, I mean) alone. Cardiff and Southend have both been up before the money beak, and both granted a short-term stay of execution. We are all painfully aware of the situation at Liverpool, and even the mighty Rags - with all their successes (and this is surely what all the money is about?) of recent years - are but a hop and a skip away from melt-down. City are cocooned for the nonce of course, shielded by the money of the only solvent sovereign state (China has a good credit rating, which is not quite the same thing) in the world, but - for how long?
On the pitch, there's not a huge amount to cheer about - Adam Johnson excepted - and a team less toothless than Bolton (say, Hull City, for example) would certainly have turned us over. His goal aside, Adebayor looked fairly ordinary. No touch, little understanding of space around him, and far too easily dispossessed. Toure is a liability, far too slow and poor distribution. Zabaleta looked OK (for once) and De Jong was as determined as ever. Tevez continues to win my respect, but got just a touch lucky with the penalty. Bridge - very poor; Kompany - solid but lumpen; Barry - disappointing (as always - solid enough, but woefully lacking in imagination); SWP - kicked off the park; Given (unusually) - shaky; Vieira - poor (as expected) and inexplicable as to why he has been signed. Sylvinho didn't get enough of the game to be able to judge (especially from my vantage point of Iraq Goals, which kept freezing every 10 minutes - most notably, just before Tevez took the penalty and about 5 minutes before the final whistle, from where I couldn't be arsed trying to restart the stream) and the overall performance was something of a disappointment. But, a win's a win for all that, and it looks as if we should just about avoid relegation.
So, as they say up at the Deva, could be worse, eh?
After what can only be described as a routine victory over the Trotters, what more is there to say about the state of the game? On a day when Portsmouth were thrown a temporary lifeline before what appears to be certain doom, I remember a commentator saying at the Pompey game recently that City could be described as perhaps the only club in the Premier League who are not facing financial crisis. One could have reasonably riposted the 'prudent' Arsenal, I suppose, but with mine own eyes I have seen the pitiful state of affairs at Stadium Developments. I will say no more.
Poor Chester City, as we have heard, are on their last legs, having been docked 25 points for going into administration, sitting rank bottom of the Blue Square, and now suffering their players refusing to get on the team coach for an away game because they haven't been paid for months. Casting aside the fact that they might possibly fare better without their players, it's sobering to think that things have come to this pass. Having been out of work myself for a while now, I can only begin to imagine how the lads at such an outfit could possibly survive for any period of time. Neither are they (Chester City, I mean) alone. Cardiff and Southend have both been up before the money beak, and both granted a short-term stay of execution. We are all painfully aware of the situation at Liverpool, and even the mighty Rags - with all their successes (and this is surely what all the money is about?) of recent years - are but a hop and a skip away from melt-down. City are cocooned for the nonce of course, shielded by the money of the only solvent sovereign state (China has a good credit rating, which is not quite the same thing) in the world, but - for how long?
On the pitch, there's not a huge amount to cheer about - Adam Johnson excepted - and a team less toothless than Bolton (say, Hull City, for example) would certainly have turned us over. His goal aside, Adebayor looked fairly ordinary. No touch, little understanding of space around him, and far too easily dispossessed. Toure is a liability, far too slow and poor distribution. Zabaleta looked OK (for once) and De Jong was as determined as ever. Tevez continues to win my respect, but got just a touch lucky with the penalty. Bridge - very poor; Kompany - solid but lumpen; Barry - disappointing (as always - solid enough, but woefully lacking in imagination); SWP - kicked off the park; Given (unusually) - shaky; Vieira - poor (as expected) and inexplicable as to why he has been signed. Sylvinho didn't get enough of the game to be able to judge (especially from my vantage point of Iraq Goals, which kept freezing every 10 minutes - most notably, just before Tevez took the penalty and about 5 minutes before the final whistle, from where I couldn't be arsed trying to restart the stream) and the overall performance was something of a disappointment. But, a win's a win for all that, and it looks as if we should just about avoid relegation.
So, as they say up at the Deva, could be worse, eh?
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