Friday

The alarm clock wakes me up at 6 in the morning in the hotel room. Time to prepare for the day, prepare instructions for my staff, get my administrative professionals in order, overview my client binder to see what we have to take care of as a team today. Then hit the coffee pot, restroom, put on the morning news, and boot up the ol’ laptop. Once I get on the computer, I should immediately review my calendar and emails. But not this week. Every day this week, the first thing I do is load up no less than eleven browsers. Three forums, daily mail, telegraph, manutd.com, goal.com, tribal football, soccernet, blue moon, and red wednesday. 

The general sentiment of both camps are quite different. 

For the City fans, its all confidence. They are certain that they will win, and by some distance. Its not a matter of talking about whether it will be a win, draw or loss. They are betting each other what the winning margin will be. 3-0? 4-0? 5-1? City fans are not arrogant people. So its interesting to see that they are so certain of dominating United on Monday. I suppose its not unreasonable considering that they are in flying form, they will be at home, and they have momentum. Certainly having dominated us at Old Trafford helps their confidence. I wonder if any football match should garner that much forgone conclusion though. The ball is round after all. Just as managers and players act from experience, I feel fans do as well. I think that City fans are new to being a big team in this league, and don’t know that caution is best exercised when all is going well.

On the other hand, the mood on the United side is somber. Supporters are cautious, even pessimistic. United forums are full of discussing what lineups should be used in this unique fixture, as though we are trying to figure out how to defeat a better opponent. I think that’s the appropriate position to take on our end, and i’m glad other United fans are seeing the fixture as a great challenge rather than a match of two teams in equal standing. We are not on equal standing, we are genuine underdogs in this one. And we will need to pull out every stop to make secure a good score line.

If its possible to be both optimistic and pessimistic, I am both. My heart tells me we will win, my brain tells me we will not. I suppose its the act of having faith. I have absolute faith in the never-die attitude of Manchester United, and know that we will not lose easily. After all, that attitude which has won us trophies in the past has served this season as simply making us difficult to defeat. In any case, it goes a very long way. As long as Paul Scholes starts, we won’t lose. Of that I’m absolutely sure. Both my heart and brain agree on that one. 

Before City counts their chickens, they should be cautious of the two below. They have some really amazing players, whether it be Aguero, Tevez, Balotelli and Silva. These virtuosos of attack against Evans and Rio make us underdogs automatically. But if these two pictured below play at their best, its over for City. There are world class players, but above them are the a different echelon, and these two are in it. I can only pray that they will be at their finest. 

 

As FSC says: TITLE WEEK

Brian Fantana: Panda Watch. The mood is tense; I have been on some serious, serious reports but nothing quite like this.

Manchester Derby Mind Barf pt. 1 (Wednesday)

The lead up to THE GAME (YES, ALL CAPS) on monday thus far has been strange. From the City camp, almost all the players have spoken as to their confidence and determination going into this game, in unilateral disagreement with wily Roberto Mancini who has spent the last four weeks playing a highly successful mind game of stating that the title race is over.

On our side, everyone is dead silent. Not a peep. Other than Sir Alex saying that now the derby is greatest of his life, there has not been a single utterance on our attitude or prospects going to the Etihad.

I’m not quite sure what to make of it. A couple things are clear. City does not handle pressure very well. Roberto did a brilliant job of relieving his squad of that pressure and now they are back in the race after a series of wins reminiscent of their first half of the season massacres. On the other hand, United deals with pressure too well for our good, whereby a consistent theme of complacency has led us to playing poorly pretty much all season. Complacency is the league, complacency in europe, complacency is cups, and pretty much complacency in literally every game other than Villa two rounds ago. Complacency with no logical basis, considering the squad is no where near amazing enough to be complacent against European or premier league teams.

So here we stand, at the season’s title defining moment. Position against position, if we were to throw out a best XI, we are at a disadvantage. We are equal at the GK position. Joe Hart is better in the air without question, but De Gea’s is ahead on shot stopping. City’s backline is more reliable than ours. Evans is solid but gangly and clumsy, a trait which Aguero will take advantage of at some point. Rio is adequate at the highest level, but no longer has the physical attributes to recover from a missed tackle. Evra is good as ever going forward, but his defensive tracking back has been on the decline this season. Rafa is a fantastic one-on-one marker, but is prone to lapses of concentration and discipline. The midfield is comparable if Scholes starts. Despite his age, he is still the best midfielder in this league. Unfortunately, our attack is less consistent than City’s because of the day-by-day fluctuating forms of Welbeck, Nani and Rooney. Only Valencia shows any sort of consistency, while Young seems to be out of the running for the time being while Sir Alex disciplines him for his diving antics. So best XI against best XI, City is the better bet. And they are at home. All this is reflected in the betting books as City head into the fixture as favorites by quite some margin.

So for United, it really comes down to the mental state of the players. Go to the Etihad with the same mindset as we have done all season, and it might be a 10-0 loss this time. Go there with a healthy dose of nerves and genuine sense of urgency, and we just might get a win in a very harsh away environment. That mental state alone is the difference between terrible form and excellent form for our key players. It is just the way that they are, and I fucking hate it, but its true. When Rooney is at his best, he is unplayable. Unfortunately, his best has not come out of him this season due to his complacent nature. Nani at his best, is better than any of City’s wingers at their best. But again, his mental state largely determines his game. Welbeck has no rhyme or reason to his consistency, but that’s often the curse of a young player. If these three can come into this game as nervous players, they can win the game for us. But if they approach it like they have approached all other games this season, United will lose the title at the Etihad.

A couple things will happen. Sir Alex will talk up this game. He has to know about our mentality issue. So he will try to do his best to get the squad up on their toes. This game being our biggest of the season, bar none, Park will play some part. A sturdier, more disciplined defender like Phil Jones or Chris Smalling may be preferred at right back to Rafael.

My preferred lineup, if City maintains their recent lineup at the Etihad.

4-4-2, Rooney withdrawn role.

——————-Rooney———–Welbeck——————

Young———–Carrick———–Scholes————-Nani

Evra—————-Rio—————Evans———-Valencia

——————————De Gea——————————–

Subs: Smalling, Jones, Amos, Giggs, Hernandez, Park, Rafa

More brain farts, venting, anxiety outbursts to come soon.

YES! Chelsea

(above) Torres clarifies to the press that he has deliberately missed open goals just to throw off Barcelona’s scouts.

On an unrelated note, heartfelt, joyous congratulations to Chelsea FC. Karma hasn’t truly reached the Nou Camp yet as Chelsea won fair and square without the help of a referee. That has yet to come around. Only when Chelsea beats Barcelona again next year with the help of some atrocious calls, will then justice truly have been served for the injustices of 08/09. But for this year, they have deservedly beaten Barca and given us an amazing two legs of football.  Chelsea’s old guard (John Terry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, and Petr Cech) are a generation of world class, premier league footballers that deserve some form of European success. Despite coaching changes, despite instability, they have stayed loyal as a group to the Blue shirt. And that loyalty deserves recognition. As a collective, they are too good to not get a single European trophy in their long careers. So full, deserved respect to the old guard of Chelsea football club. God speed in the finals, and thank you for representing the   strength of the barclays premier league so well.

In a season where many uneducated, article-reading, highlight watching, non-match watching football fans have been obviously to quick to suggest a decline of the English game, Chelsea has just  massive favor by beating World’s best team of the past four years, as only the sixth best team in England. La Liga’s biggest proponents have just lost the fundamental basis of their argument. England is still the home and standard of football.

(above) Lampard gets a sugar high from a jelly donut provided at half time.

The Dilemma of Pep and I, documented.

Feeling once again guilty of having to witch hunt Pep Guardiola, I’m relieved that I don’t have to do so on this occasion. Fortunately for me, he showed his tactical weaknesses as a coach to the world in a definitive, indisputable manner last night.

Having to point out, what is to me, a clear lack of tactical nous in comparison to other top managers of our time has been a very difficult ordeal, particularly because many fans on the forums that I battle on don’t really the see the tactical side of the game. Because he has a fantastic trophy case, because his teams maintain possession and play one touch, and consistently against a variety of teams, it is easy to assume to the layman that he must be a genius. Whereas I would beg to differ, whereas I have long maintained, (despite being branded as villainous), that some day that very weakness that I have observed for years will show blatantly, painfully, and in an extremely taxing manner to Barcelona football club. Not just that Barcelona will lose, but that they will lose in a manner specifically where his tactical decisions are the reasons for their downfall. This season was it. At long last, teams finally figured it out. It showed in Barca’s league form, it showed at the Nou Camp in both El Clasico, and against Chelsea. It is without question that I am being snooty about this tactical blabber. I am 150% being snooty. But my position that Pep lags in comparison to Sir Alex, Mourinho, Hiddink, Bielsa, Unai, Cuper, or Pellegrini or any other tactically astute managers that I’ve admired and appreciated over the years, is a position that has found agreement even among some very loyal Barca fans, and that shows me that I am an educated minority. Again snooty, but unless these fools who oppose me can prove that they know more about the game than I do, I’m going to have a right to be. Anyway – sword wagging aside, I have been, and always will be unequivocally confident in my position, but I lament the fact that it is seen by many, both online and offline, as an attack on Pep. I resent that because all I’m doing is deflating the overrating of Pep by idiotic fans who only see the surface of the game. I resent it because I actually genuinely like and am excited by the young, energetic, decorated coach that is Pep. Sir Alex likes him, and that’s more than enough for me. I’m not attacking him in the slightest, but rather the blithering idiots who don’t see a single inch further into a Barcelona match than Messi’s dribbles or a possession stat at the end of a game.

In my mind, like any other coach I follow on a consistent basis, I have Pep judged at a certain level. I’ve ranked him as a manager in different categories, whether it be eye for talent, tactician, and man management. And it is a good level for his age, but more importantly, it is fair. These fucking idiots put him at a much, artificially higher level most often on the amateurish bases of possession, shots on target, and trophy wins. This careless overrating act by these fans is what makes me angry –  because them doing so unjustly and unfairly gives Pep a higher, widespread (as there are more uneducated fans and educated supporters of the game) reputation over other coaches in the world. And I will not have simpleton fans, however numerous, create this unfair perception that Pep is better than those gentlemen who I so admire, based on shallow, uneducated knowledge of the game. It’s unfair, and its wrong, and I will gladly be snooty and obnoxious to educate numbskulls who would think lower of greater managers due to their own ignorance of the game.

On my part, I wish he leaves Barcelona at the end of this season. I want him to come to England. A team where he doesn’t benefit from having possibly the best player of all time, certainly the best player of our generation. I want to see him implement fresh tactics, customize a system, and showcase what he’s got in a country and team where the football is different. He once said that he would be coaching in the third division of Spanish football if he didn’t have Lionel Messi. For the sake of those idiots I mentioned, and for my own hopes for this talented young coach, I hope that that is not the case. Everyone knows that I love a good footballing prospect.