Monday Morning Pitch Talk

Liverpool took out Chelsea yesterday in the second biggest match-up of Super Bowl Sunday. Plus, in a highlight of my morning, a Guardian reporter used "gimp" to describe the tussle: "The slight difference in the set-up of their central midfields, with Liverpool playing 4-2-3-1 and Chelsea 4-1-4-1, means that the two mould into each other. These sides fit like a gimp mask, restricting each others' oxygen and movement."


Wow. But with i5hooligans on the putz, I'll post my football ramblings in the Lodge, much to the predictable dismay of Goose and Casey, if Casey takes off his Spock ears and actually logs on. Sunday's brace from Torres hopefully is a sign of things to come and that the Spaniard is rounding into last season's blistering form that saw him net 30 goals.

I'm curious on Jimbo's take on the Premier League action through the transfer window (which end today, apparently extended due to the snowstorms in England). And Champions League thoughts from Train (since his Blues did not look good & Scolari looks like a much lesser version of the Special One.


Spurs bought back Robbie Keane from Liverpool at the deadline. His style of play obviously doesn't suit a style of play like a manager like Benitez establishes. I wish him luck at Tottenham. Kuyt is just better and the same type of player. I do wish we would have signed at least one speedy winger for the second half of the league fixtures, but apparently it twas not to be. Andrei Arshavin to Seatown's Arsenal squad? Let's get this thing rolling again!

Champions League Semi-Final

WTF!


I promised a post on it. But yesterday as I was watching the game I felt fairly confident in the outcome. Chelsea had played like shite and Liverpool appeared to have the advantage going to Stamford Bridge in the 2nd leg. And then Riise made possibly the worst play of the year, my heart sank, screamed the phrase above, and stared at the screen for a long while. It's not over... but the stat that "Liverpool hasn't scored at Chelsea in the last 8 matches" doesn't exude confidence. [sigh]

Monday Pitch Talk

ALTHOUGH Shawn claims that I only post when Liverpool wins, that is completely untrue. I only post when I have time. And when I'm procrastinating. I have two 12 page papers due by Friday that I only have an outline on one done so far... yet I'm caught up on football. No, Goose... not the NFL combine. We are talking the football the world knows. And it being the A.M., I'm busting out a late night Monday Pitch Talk for ya Wilco style.

By taking out a scrappy Reading club, Liverpool is now set up for a tough five-game stretch that will define their season in the EPL and in Europe. Manchester United are next at Old Trafford, then Everton, followed by three clashes with Arsenal, including both legs of the Champions League quarter-finals. We will see if they have it in them.

Arsenal again drew to an inferior club, beginning to look like my Reds during a winless January. With the aforementioned Champions League draw and a mighty tough league schedule the remainder of the 2nd half of the season, the Gunners might have just fallen from the top of the table for good. Train's Chelsea squad is quietly lurking within striking distance in 3rd. With all the chanting for Grant's head, I think the Blues' fans are missing a great season here.

America's team in Fulham pulled off a shocker versus Everton, which leads me to bring up that Jimbo is going to have a Pitch Talk on Tuesday with all of the regulation worries that must be discussed with 8 matches remaining. Can Fulham pull out of the zone with upcoming consecutive matches versus also-ran struggling clubs in Newcastle United, Derby, Sunderland and Reading? Jimbo will bring the details tomorrow. Stay tuned...

ESLEWHERE in the world, with my brother by my side [Mike was down in La-La land on business], I witnessed PSV completing the knocking off of Spurs in UEFA this past week. I was pleased to see the Dutch squad with a ton of noticeable young talent finally pull through in a big [well, kinda big] match against a quality opponent. Spurs were the butt of a joke again. [Sidenote: Speaking of jokes about Tottenham... the movie In Bruges is worth your 10 bucks at the movie theater, and it includes a great quip about Spurs. The film altogether was very good, with quality acting, clever writing, and it is very well edited. Taking on the subject of death is a tough one, and they pulled it off.]

IN SERIE A, Inter bounced back from losing domestically and in the CL with a 2-1 win over Polermo. While Roma kept chase with a decision over Milan under the same score. Roma have a chance to overtake Inter. A small chance. But still a chance. Milan on the other hand, needed those 3 points versus Roma, and are now 4 points back from non-Champions League play next season. Personally, I think Fiorentina is going to blow it versus Napoli and Lyon in these next two weeks.

Sid Lowe believes this is the worst LA LIGA in history. Barca sh!t the bed in an attempt to gain points on Real. After the league leaders lost on Saturday, the Messi-less Barcelona squad only could managed a draw. They are done, put a fork in them. Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkaard will be looking for a job in six weeks time. I'll celebrate St. Patty's right now by pouring one out for the doomed Dutchman, than making another and drinking it down slowly.

Monday Pitch Talk

AND WE'RE BACK! With both Chelsea and United winning their Champions League matches then subsequently falling to second rate clubs in England's FA Cup, the importance of the FA Cup has now reached a new low... regardless of SAF's tirade against the referees. Although it would be tragic because of the rich history of the Cup's, the FA should think about removing the Premier League from one of the competitions and letting the Championship and lower divisions battle it out for alleged glory.

In league play in England, we saw Arsenal draw against the much weaker Wigan... and Liverpool continue their improved form versus the seemingly regulation bound Newcastle side to regain fourth place. Torres is on fire, simply a force of nature. Moving on, a hiccuping Spurs club got over their Carling Cup hangover with a 4-0 Premier League thrashing of West Ham at White Hart Lane. Now we'll see if they can beat the Dutch side PSV in Eindhoven to continue on in the UEFA Cup.

I don't have any updates from Serie A, La Liga or the Bundesliga, since I didn't watch any non-Premiership matches over the weekend. As always, I recommend listening to the Guardian Unlimited's Sid in Spain to get the low down. Or Jimbo and his sidekick Train can chime in with an update from his viewings. Sorry, Train. But you're the sidekick... at least that's just the way I'm writing it.


Lastly, it was looking like half of the Gillet/Hicks ownership debacle at Anfield was going to come to an end with DIC in Dubia buying out Gillet for 49% of the holdings of L'pool. That, until today's news that Hicks is pulling out of the talks. Not good news for the Reds. The faster the better for those Texans to get out of the owners box as far as I'm concerned. After talking to a couple of new Facebook friends [that I randomly met playing poker on Facebook] from Liverpool about the team, they are convinced the two will eventually sell all of their shares. Apparently the papers over there are going crazy over the possibility.

Monday Pitch Talk

Up late writing on my school blog, before I hit the hay, I wanted to bust out some quick thoughts from yesterdays matches in the Premier League to get everybody's week started. On a oddly busy Sunday, I was only able to catch United's disappointing form in the Manchester Derby without the suspended Wayne Rooney & Chelsea drew against L'pool. I'm pretty happy with the result for my Reds, especially considering Torres was out thanks to a hamstring injury sustained during the midweeks effing friendlies. Although Liverpool needs some wins instead of these friggin' draws. I'm just holding out hope that we will pull together some wins and claim that 4th Champions League spot during this second half of the season...

• I'm not trying to be mean or anything, because he's a gifted player... but Tevez kinda looks like the main Orc from LOTR. Check it. Hey, I'm just sayin'...
• City just seemed to have waaay more quality opportunities than United throughout the match, with Giggs showing why he's a step too slow to play on the front line on more than one occasion.
  
• The throwback kits in the Derby were awesome.
  
• Speaking of kits, I love that there were countless Chelsea supporters sporting the yellow bumble-bee kits. What would motivate a fan to buy that kit!?! A dare or lost bet are the only things I could come up with.
  
• Alex is a friggin' beast in the back for the Blues.
  
• Similarly, Skrtel has looked very strong for Liverpool. Only 23, he has played very well so far since his transfer.
  
• I think Malouda is French for "disappears for long spells."
• You have to love that Pizarro continues to rock the mullet. That's the best picture I could find, but the party was definitely going on in the back.
  
• And look, I know everybody praised Chelsea for the Anelka signing during the January transfer window, but he doesn't strike fear into the opponent like Drogba. It's just a shame that Kalou will probably be headed to the bench once the Elephants are back from the ACN.
  

Aloha

UW: For those of you that don't know, "aloha" means hello and goodbye. And I'm fairly certain Husky Head Ball Coach Tyrone Willingham will be saying goodbye to the Husky program after the Dawgs came up short to the Rainbows on the Island of Oahu late Saturday night. Yes, Udub finished the season with more wins than the last 2 years combined, but when that total comes to 4, it's still not enough.

Thinking Tyrone will get canned is the truth. Don't hate on me for thinking it. No, it's not a good thing for Tyrone, for more than a few reasons. First, he got fired after only three years at Notre Dame, only to get the same treatment in Montlake. In addition, it's never a good thing when a great guy, recruiter and top-shelf motivator like Willingham gets pointed the door. But quality character doesn't equal wins in this instance. And the program needs some new energy and new coordinators, and I'm afraid Tyrone is loyal to a fault and won't fire his staff.


But the most important reason the time is now is down the road in the form of the Seahawks assistant head coach and defensive backs coach Jim Mora Jr. It's his dream job, he's proven successful in the NFL, and he'd be coming back as an alumnus. Not unlike the background of Lorenzo Romar. Make it happen, UW.

IN OTHER NEWS: Nice work by the Seahawks closing out a feisty Philly Eagles team on Sunday. Also, kudos to Liverpool for moving into 3rd in the table and six points out of Seatown's first place Arsenal squad. SAF's keeping Ronaldo and Vidic out of the match last week really hurt them in the standings. Especially considering the Champions League match didn't matter after already qualifying. Usually SAF makes the right moves, but that was sketchy. Your thoughts?

I'll leave you with this amazing video of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". Not sure why it's on ESPN's video page, but anything this quality for free, the Lodge will gladly accept.

Ohio Players, Coolant and a Devil's Revenge

This past Saturday the wife and I went with some friends to Magic Mountain. Only 30-40 minutes north of Pasadena, it’s a short drive from our home – and with “free” tickets from our friends, Jenny wanted to go. I, on the other hand, did not. In the middle of writing 4 different 10-page papers for my Fall classes, wasting a Saturday waiting in lines for the chance to ride a half a dozen roller-coasters wasn’t something I was looking forward to. But since the wife was excited to go and it was “free” – we went.


It was pretty fun. We did have a good time overall (although the girls, Jenny and Jaye, both got sick and skipped out on most of the second half of the day)… but the ride home turned out to be the biggest “adventure” of the trip. Jenny’s Mazda broke down in the middle of nowhere on the 210 Highway back to Pasadena. No cell coverage, our car overheating, the coolant boiling dry… we were in dire straights. It took me 15 minutes to get someone to pull over (the lady who finally did was on her way home from visiting her husband in the hospital, who had just had surgery on his legs after being hit on his motorcycle), then 2 minutes after a cop showed up and helped us call a tow-truck. Cutting to the chase…


2 hours later, our car is at our mechanic, and we are home licking our wounds (and feeding Nate Newton, who was confused why it took us so long to get home). Yesterday, I picked up the car from the mechanic (a die-hard ManU fan, who has FSC and Setana on while he works) who threatened to double my bill after I admitted I followed Liverpool. Only after citing that one of my closest friends “Jimbo” was a Devils fan did he calm down. Good guy, that Avo… just don’t hate on his Devils. In the end, nothing in life is "free."