The Occasional Rant 10.28.09: Surprises, Disappointments, and other things.

I once listened to Reading manager Steve Coppell (or is he former Reading manager, since Reading isn't that relevant anymore I lost track) say that after the first 10 games or so you have a good indication of how your team will be for the season. Well, this far in, my blog sucks, but you read anyway so I have to press on.

Milan defender Alessandro Nesta defended with all his might, but the midfielder Pinzi for Chievo finished so quickly. Chin up, Nesta, you're still our hero.



http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5657228,00.html
Question for Stormer, Zac, Ike, Silky Pete, Brandon, Mooney, and Karol: were you guys at a Carling Cup match yesterday that none of us was aware of?

Milan defender Alessandro Nesta rises from the ashes in the 82nd minute to head home Borriello's header which ricocheted off the woodwork. Milan are level.

At the death of the game, and unmarked Milan defender Alessandro Nesta heads home a corner to give Milan a vital three points on the road in a win over Chievo in Verona.



"Whenever someone says they believe the earth was created in 7 days, I grab a fossil and say, "Fossil." And if they keep talking, I throw it just over their heads." .............................. I am as guilty of this as the next football fan in which I stone my team for poor performances, lack of goalscoring, mismanagement in the early part of the season/preseason to the point where I think my favorite team is doomed. Why do we continue to struggle with the concept that the league/cup/club season runs from August through May? Some talking heads on their call-in shows act on the immediacy of what's happening and carry these topics as if what happened in the space of a week is what's going to happen for the rest of the season. As an AC Milan supporter, I should know better. The Fall of 1994 could have potentially been the worst time to be a Milan fan during the Berlusconi era, when the team was slumping through the Champions League (actually had points deducted thanks to a bottle being thrown at an opposing goalkeeper from the crowd) and losing to teams like Cremonese and Padova (Alexi Lalas' Padova, and to make things more depressing, he scored the winner). When the new year turned in 1995, the Rossoneri won the European Supercup over Arsenal (back when they played it over two legs in February), upset Benfica and Paris St. Germain before losing to Ajax in a tightly contested Champions League final (and I'm still convinced that if Dejan Savicevic would have been fit for the final Milan would have 8 European Cups).
We ride the roller coaster of emotions when we support our teams. Everyone, except '08-'09 Barcelona, will endure a dip in form at some point during the season. Injuries will play a part, managers will get tactics wrong (whether the players struggle to understand them or if the manager is just nuts) and sometimes teams are just victim to dumb luck. On the flipside, we'll also enjoy it when our team goes out and exceeds expectations, and during that time we'll live in the undying denial that they will be found out and we're back to the spell of "we'll never win, we'll never get it right."
So where does this leave me? Well obviously on a high as Milan have won three straight in all competitions heading into tonight's interesting match at Napoli, but I have found a two-word adjective that I will do everything I can to live by, even if something as tragic as a 1-0 loss at home to FC Zurich should happen again, "cautiously optimistic." The season is long, more highs and lows are going to happen, and if silverware can be achieved, so be it!

Before he left Verona to return to Milanello, Milan defender Alessandro Nesta was seen saving a cat from a tree.

The game ended a few days ago, and Barcelona is still scoring on Real Zaragoza.


"I'm always amazed when I hear people saying; "That George Bush, he's a great leader". And I wonder, where can one find a drug that would make one so delusional? "............................................. What did we learn from the Liverpool- Manchester United game? Well if you want to use my rant I just finished a few seconds ago, we're learning that Rafa Benitez gets many things horribly wrong, but he's at least treating Sir Alex (or if you asked the Fat Spaniard, Mr. Ferguson) like his older red-headed stepchild. The last three times these two rivals have met, all three Liverpool wins, by a combined 8-2. The fact that even on 15 points and in fifth place in the Premier League, I can't take Liverpool's title challenge seriously, yet.
Now if there were more Scousers reading this blog, they would probably threaten my life. The fact remains that the body of work to date is still unimpressive. This was Liverpool's first really relevant win this season. The next most impressive win after that appears to be the 1-0 home win over Debrecen in the Champions League.
So here's what will get me all geeked up about Liverpool's chances again. 1. Blast Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, I mean really get them good. 2. Go to Stade Gerland next Wednesday and beat Lyon. Just beat them, Rafa just needs the tactics to work to that effect. I don't need to see 4-0, 1-0 will do. Those two things happen, then I would say your campaign has gotten some traction. Beat Manchester City at home on November 21st, and all will be well on Merseyside again.

And one other thing to throw a rant about Liverpool fan, where would you be this season without Yossi Benayoun?

Before reporting for training at Milanello, Milan defender Alessandro Nesta risked his life saving orphans from a burning building.

Chelsea just scored another goal on Blackburn Rovers.

"After I failed my second test, I grabbed my teacher by the front of the shirt and said "Are you *trying* to keep this sh!t a secret?"........................... that's now the 2nd howler that Nemanja Vidic has put up against Liverpool in as many games. Quick, Manyoo fans, tell me the really big game where your Serbian defender hasn't sucked. I'm waiting........... still waiting................ As you're coming up with an answer, I'll also remind you of the 2009 final where Eto'o cruised past him for the 1st goal, and the 2007 Champions League Semifinal 2nd Leg where Kaka and Seedorf toyed with him all game.

Werder Bremen has scored again on Bochum

But the 60 million plus can be used to get Marco Materazzi more tattoos............ Last season, Samuel Eto'o scored 30 for Barcelona and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored 25 for Inter Milan. I argued that after they swapped teams, Ibra would break the 30 goal mark in La Liga and Eto'o would not reach 25 in Serie A. Here's the latest on that:

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace in the 6-1 win over Zaragoza, giving him 7 goals in 8 league matches, and putting him on pace for 33 goals for the season.
• Samuel Eto'o did not score in Inter's 2-1 win over Catania, leaving him with 3 goals in 9 league matches, and putting him on pace for about 13 goals for the season.

By the way, they are also in the same Champions League group where Barcelona is top and Inter is bottom, so exactly how was this a better deal for Inter?

Frankly Football's Five Surprises of the first quarter of the season. Here's a nice little countdown of the pleasant surprises for the first couple months or so of this marathon of a football season:

1. Rubin Kazan. The Russian Champions are a team I am crushing on at the moment because as I asked in my rankings, find me another team that drew with Inter and beat Barcelona. Those who watched that stunner at the Nou Camp would tell you that it was a masterclass on individual and team defending.
2. Bari. The newly promoted Serie A side are giving opponents fits this season with a very young and energetic squad. Ask Inter and Milan, as Bari drew each of them. They sit 7th in the Serie A table at the moment and through 9 games have scored 10 and conceded 5, suggesting they have a very tight game plan that their team believes in.
3. Sunderland and Darren Bent. Up until last week's oopsie at Birmingham, Steve Bruce looks like he has righted the ship at the Stadium of Light with a win over Liverpool and a draw with Manchester United. Bruce has the Black Cats sitting 8th at the moment and with the way this team is made up, may still have some surprises down the road. Darren Bent is having a career season, and he is on pace to score 30 goals in the Premier League.
4. Montpellier. Last season we had two newly-promoted teams surprise us (Hull and Hoffenheim), and now we have Montpellier challenging for a Champions League place through 10 matches. It's an adventure though as they are scoring 17 and conceding 13 during this run, but a draw with Paris St. Germain is proof that they can put up decent results. Still yet to play Bordeaux and Lyon, so we'll see if they can keep this run up.
5. Bayer Leverkusen. It might not surprise anyone that they are currently top of Bundesliga on goal difference, but the fact that they have only conceded 6 goals through their first 10 is perhaps the surprise. Last season, they conceded 46 goals (only Hamburg and Hoffenheim conceded more than them in the top 8). If they continue to be this stingy, they'll only concede 20 this season. High scoring sides like Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim are among their clean sheets to date.

Franly football's five most disappointing teams through the first quarter of the season. Now to look at the five teams that need to get on with it, or else.

1. Atletico Madrid. What the hell happened to this team? A trendy dark horse to make life miserable in Spain this season, they have only made life miserable on their fans. So much promise after beating a talented Panathinaikos side in the Champions League preliminaries, they have fallen flat. The goals are shockingly in short supply for a team that boasts talents like Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero, and they have yet to score in the league stage of the Champions League. Young, up and coming goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo was brought in from Valladolid to help shore the defense, but it hasn't worked, to the tune of 18 against through 10 matches in Spain. The 4-0 pantsing from Chelsea was enough for manager Abel Rosina to be shown the door. Quique Sanchez Flores has a tough task on his hands building the morale of this team, and the top brass at the Calderon aren't very patient people. Flores is what seems to be their 100th manager in the last 20 years.
2. VFB Stuttgart. Maybe they do miss Mario Gomez after all. The replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak, has not lived up to expectations since arriving from Zenit. Nor have any of the other players really picked up the slack. With losses at home already to Koln, Schalke and Werder Bremen, as well as a home defeat to Sevilla in the Champions League, winning at home has become optional. They still have to play joint leaders Leverkusen and Hamburg twice, as well as two meetings with Bayern Munich. The way the season has gone to date, it looks like tough times ahead for Markus Babbel's men. Not sure this was the expectations of a team that finished 3rd in the Bundesliga last season.
3. Villarreal CF. Has losing Manuel Pellegrini as a manger made that big a difference? The Yellow Submarines were a Champions League quarterfinalist a season ago, and now they sit 18th in La Liga. Guiseppe Rossi, Marcos Senna, Eguren, Joan Capdevila, and Santi Cazorla are all still at El Madrigal, so why has it not worked so far? Well, Joseba Llorente has been off the pace with only one goal in Europa League (he had 19 in all competitions last season), and overall they are just not finishing. In addition to their troubles in Spain, they may not make it our of their Europa League group, as defeat at FC Salzurg and Lazio have them struggling there.
4. AS Roma. Already changing managers after the 2nd game of the Serie A season, the Giallorossi are sitting 12th domestically. They enjoyed a brief surge under new boss Claudio Ranieri, but they find themselves picking up the pieces after back to back losses to Milan and Livorno (ugh). Last year at this time, though, they were 16th. The same thing contributing to both slow starts: conceding goals. Through 9 games this season Roma have allowed 16 goals. Somehow Doni still gets to be the goalkeeper. Losing Panucci's experience in the back has also hurt. Now last year they rallied to finish 6th, but a team with this kind of talent shouldn't be struggling so much.
5. Hertha Berlin. Although this was somewhat expected. A title contender a season ago in Germany, the team was gutted in the summer as Pantelic and Voronin were among people that left the club. Still, there is enough talent where they shouldn't be sitting at the foot of the Bundesliga table. They've been awful, only getting 4 points in their first 10 matches in the Bundesliga and their only point in the Europa league is an ugly 1-1 draw against Ventspils (I know you don't, they're from Latvia). They drew Wolfsburg at the weekend, and changed managers, so maybe they are on the upswing.

That's about all I have for today. Ever since Fergie said I'm not fit to blog at this level, I keep going to English stadiums and putting up with fans chanting "you're too fat to blog."

What were your surprises and disappointments? Hit me up with your thoughts.