From Russia, With Love
"Aw, Poor Liverpool...Did I Ruin Your Chances Of Winning The EPL?"
I mean who didn’t use that saying after Andrey Arshavin lit up Anfield yesterday? And since my creativity matches the size of the check Mark sends me every month, I’m jumping on the bandwagon.
If you didn’t see the game -- and since it was on Setanta, I’m guessing you didn’t -- the second half was a thriller. Arshavin’s second goal was dynamite, a perfectly hit ball on the run with the outside of his foot. You won’t see many better than that. Almost even more amazing is that Arsenal had just four shots on goal. Talk about taking advantage of your chances!
By the way, highlights are here. But even better, watch the FanZone video after for reactions to all eight goals.
Liverpool, if my David Beckham-esque math is correct, have seen 39 goals scored in their last eight games, including back-to-back 4-4 draws and three straight games in which the Reds have scored four goals. That 1-0 win at Craven Cottage was a snoozer in hindsight.
How Liverpool has done this without their talisman, Steven Gerrard, is beyond me. The captain is generally their offense’s key cog, but I wonder if this showing knocks his importance down a peg or two. It’s the opposite of how Steve Nash showed how valuable he was to the Suns’ “seven seconds or less” when he missed a handful of games and Phoenix struggled. Of course this is a bit of hyperbole, because you know if Stevie G was on the pitch he would have hit soccer’s equivalent of buzzer beaters to knock Chelsea out of Champions League last Tuesday and given Liverpool the full three points yesterday.
Back to Arshavin, the star of the day. The diminutive Russian -- who I always thought looked like one of the small Russian nested dolls with his rosy cheeks -- hasn’t taken long to adapt to the more physical Premier League. It makes you wonder how he would have flourished in the more stylistic La Liga. Can you imagine if Barcelona had somehow signed him? Not that they need more attacking prowess with their embarrassment of offensive options, but add him to the mix of Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, and Krkic and even training would be worth paying for.
One last note: remember that the CEO of Arsenal, who surely had a hand in the final phases of bringing in Arshavin, is Ivan Gazidis, former right hand man to MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
Other stuff
- Staying in the EPL, Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed is calling for a salary cap from the English FA after his expenses rose 17% last year. The Egyptian, who also owns Harrods and is worth an estimated £900 Million, also claimed “the FA are run by donkeys.” He definitely has a point -- about the salary cap, I won’t comment on the lot that hired Steve McClaren -- but there’s no way it will ever happen. Even if it would make Clint Dempsey feel more at home.
I think my favorite quote from Al Fayed, and the one that makes me think of Chevy Chase in “Funny Farm,” was: “In fact, [the other clubs’ chairmen] can come and have lunch with me at Harrods, where I can serve them stags’ testicles from my Scottish estate, Balnagown. We all need big balls in this business.”
- Over in La Liga, ginormous Real Madrid defender Pepe completely went off the deep end. He deserved the red for first knocking the guy down as the last defender. But then to kick him twice while he’s down is going to put him on the shelf for a while. It did make me laugh that he tried to help up the fallen forward when the red mist cleared. I wonder if Dema Kovalenko lists Pepe as a hero?
- D.C. United kinda sorta begins their defense of the Dewar Cup. Of course they aren’t in the U.S. Open Cup proper, instead they’re in the pigtails for MLS teams that weren’t in the top six from last season. Not only does it not make sense that the defending champs aren’t in the tournament proper, I still don’t understand why all MLS teams aren’t in. I know most teams don’t care as much about the tournament -- though this might be as close to reserve games as they get these days -- so maybe that has something to do with it. Though that’s just pure speculation.
Our buddy Craig Stouffer has quotes from the team and a look at tonight’s game on his blog, The Pitch. (Hey Craig, where’s the picture of you that doesn’t really look like you that every other big blog has?)
- Couple of midweek games in MLS league action. After last week the confidence is growing, though it seems like I’m in the “go big or go home” mode of either being exactly right or completely wrong. But, hey, it’s my two cents, so what do you expect?
Toronto FC v. Chivas USA: TFC without De Ro against a better-than-expected Chivas side who stay undefeated even though Preki has his players turn around to remember what their names are. Chivas 1-0
Kansas City v. New York: It’s Jimmy Conrad Bobblehead night! Plus, I hear The Cauldron has some good stuff prepared for Jon Conway. How can the ‘Zards not win at home? Kansas City 2-1
- By the way, if you have time to kill, it’s always enjoyable perusing the MLS bios for personal info. This used to kill time during lulls in D.C. United games for my boy Kevin and I. It gives you insight on guys like finding out Mac Kandji (which brought this back to light while talking to Mark the other day) enjoys Will Smith and playing mini golf. Not so Earth shattering.
But seeing that Khano Smith’s favorite movie is “Dancing With Wolves”? What would the Vegas odds have been on that movie: 1,000,000 to 1? I don’t even know that I would have put money on it.
Or that Kansas City reserve keeper Eric Kronberg “enjoys playing dodgeball, shuffleboard, watching movies, looking for new music to download and shopping at Costco.” I just imagine him playing dodgeball in Costco with 5 gallon jugs of mayonnaise.
One last one from the Wizards comes from midfielder Kevin Souter. My favorite bit: he has never seen the Loch Ness Monster, he does not play the bagpipes, but he does own a kilt and he enjoys one of Scotland's fine delicacies: Haggis.
You just can’t make that stuff up.
I’ll be back on Friday, possibly after checking in with Jimmy Conrad about his big night on Thursday. But, again, that’s a prediction from me so take it with a grain of salt. Look for Mark’s USL2 preview tomorrow. Let’s see what kinda predictions he can make!
- Pat Walsh
If you didn’t see the game -- and since it was on Setanta, I’m guessing you didn’t -- the second half was a thriller. Arshavin’s second goal was dynamite, a perfectly hit ball on the run with the outside of his foot. You won’t see many better than that. Almost even more amazing is that Arsenal had just four shots on goal. Talk about taking advantage of your chances!
By the way, highlights are here. But even better, watch the FanZone video after for reactions to all eight goals.
Liverpool, if my David Beckham-esque math is correct, have seen 39 goals scored in their last eight games, including back-to-back 4-4 draws and three straight games in which the Reds have scored four goals. That 1-0 win at Craven Cottage was a snoozer in hindsight.
How Liverpool has done this without their talisman, Steven Gerrard, is beyond me. The captain is generally their offense’s key cog, but I wonder if this showing knocks his importance down a peg or two. It’s the opposite of how Steve Nash showed how valuable he was to the Suns’ “seven seconds or less” when he missed a handful of games and Phoenix struggled. Of course this is a bit of hyperbole, because you know if Stevie G was on the pitch he would have hit soccer’s equivalent of buzzer beaters to knock Chelsea out of Champions League last Tuesday and given Liverpool the full three points yesterday.
Back to Arshavin, the star of the day. The diminutive Russian -- who I always thought looked like one of the small Russian nested dolls with his rosy cheeks -- hasn’t taken long to adapt to the more physical Premier League. It makes you wonder how he would have flourished in the more stylistic La Liga. Can you imagine if Barcelona had somehow signed him? Not that they need more attacking prowess with their embarrassment of offensive options, but add him to the mix of Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, and Krkic and even training would be worth paying for.
One last note: remember that the CEO of Arsenal, who surely had a hand in the final phases of bringing in Arshavin, is Ivan Gazidis, former right hand man to MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
Other stuff
- Staying in the EPL, Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed is calling for a salary cap from the English FA after his expenses rose 17% last year. The Egyptian, who also owns Harrods and is worth an estimated £900 Million, also claimed “the FA are run by donkeys.” He definitely has a point -- about the salary cap, I won’t comment on the lot that hired Steve McClaren -- but there’s no way it will ever happen. Even if it would make Clint Dempsey feel more at home.
I think my favorite quote from Al Fayed, and the one that makes me think of Chevy Chase in “Funny Farm,” was: “In fact, [the other clubs’ chairmen] can come and have lunch with me at Harrods, where I can serve them stags’ testicles from my Scottish estate, Balnagown. We all need big balls in this business.”
- Over in La Liga, ginormous Real Madrid defender Pepe completely went off the deep end. He deserved the red for first knocking the guy down as the last defender. But then to kick him twice while he’s down is going to put him on the shelf for a while. It did make me laugh that he tried to help up the fallen forward when the red mist cleared. I wonder if Dema Kovalenko lists Pepe as a hero?
- D.C. United kinda sorta begins their defense of the Dewar Cup. Of course they aren’t in the U.S. Open Cup proper, instead they’re in the pigtails for MLS teams that weren’t in the top six from last season. Not only does it not make sense that the defending champs aren’t in the tournament proper, I still don’t understand why all MLS teams aren’t in. I know most teams don’t care as much about the tournament -- though this might be as close to reserve games as they get these days -- so maybe that has something to do with it. Though that’s just pure speculation.
Our buddy Craig Stouffer has quotes from the team and a look at tonight’s game on his blog, The Pitch. (Hey Craig, where’s the picture of you that doesn’t really look like you that every other big blog has?)
- Couple of midweek games in MLS league action. After last week the confidence is growing, though it seems like I’m in the “go big or go home” mode of either being exactly right or completely wrong. But, hey, it’s my two cents, so what do you expect?
Toronto FC v. Chivas USA: TFC without De Ro against a better-than-expected Chivas side who stay undefeated even though Preki has his players turn around to remember what their names are. Chivas 1-0
Kansas City v. New York: It’s Jimmy Conrad Bobblehead night! Plus, I hear The Cauldron has some good stuff prepared for Jon Conway. How can the ‘Zards not win at home? Kansas City 2-1
- By the way, if you have time to kill, it’s always enjoyable perusing the MLS bios for personal info. This used to kill time during lulls in D.C. United games for my boy Kevin and I. It gives you insight on guys like finding out Mac Kandji (which brought this back to light while talking to Mark the other day) enjoys Will Smith and playing mini golf. Not so Earth shattering.
But seeing that Khano Smith’s favorite movie is “Dancing With Wolves”? What would the Vegas odds have been on that movie: 1,000,000 to 1? I don’t even know that I would have put money on it.
Or that Kansas City reserve keeper Eric Kronberg “enjoys playing dodgeball, shuffleboard, watching movies, looking for new music to download and shopping at Costco.” I just imagine him playing dodgeball in Costco with 5 gallon jugs of mayonnaise.
One last one from the Wizards comes from midfielder Kevin Souter. My favorite bit: he has never seen the Loch Ness Monster, he does not play the bagpipes, but he does own a kilt and he enjoys one of Scotland's fine delicacies: Haggis.
You just can’t make that stuff up.
I’ll be back on Friday, possibly after checking in with Jimmy Conrad about his big night on Thursday. But, again, that’s a prediction from me so take it with a grain of salt. Look for Mark’s USL2 preview tomorrow. Let’s see what kinda predictions he can make!
- Pat Walsh
Labels: Walsh
posted by Bushman @ 11:55 AM
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