Feliz Ano Nuevo. Or Happy New Year in Chilean-Spanish. 😉
Been a bit.
One month has again proven to be a long time in football. Last time I was here, Sparky was still a Premier League manager, Alexis Sanchez was most definitely going to City, same team had the most expensive defender in the world who was valued at a
Since then, City beat us at home (again) ending our unbeaten run (again) , there was a string of alarmingly awful performances including a loss to Championship side, Bristol City in the Quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, Rashford lost his head along the way, Mkhitaryan, his heart, me, my voice (albeit temporarily) and Mourinho, seemingly all sense of objectivity. Again, that last one is debatable.
Based on the events from the immediate aftermath of the loss to City, what I immediately penned down was "Are We Now Becoming The Noisy Neighbours?" and for good reason too. While the scoreline and the United near misses/City incredible saves would suggest a close contest, the technical ease with which the United team was constantly dissected suggested a far more pronounced and bulging gap between both teams. But that was just one game. Additionally damning facts are that United has not finished above City since the great Sir Alex left. About 5 years ago. Nobody becomes depraved in a day...recurring actions form to become habits which further crystallise to become culture. Drops of water make a mighty ocean. United have mostly over the years been playing laboured one-dimensional predictable football while some of City's football over that period was so beautiful, you'd wanted to settle down with it and start a family. This was what I further wrote:
"There's sometimes a dangerous comfort an illustrious history brings. There's a tendency to believe that the status quo would remain the same for an infinite number of years particularly when the relevant indices portend as much. It would be inconceivable, for instance, for those who have enjoyed the patronage of royalty for several centuries to think that they may one day be regarded as plebeians. Nopes. Not likely to happen, they would understandably believe.
But if history is indeed a product of the actions and choices of humans and the resultant cause and effect then perhaps one shouldn't sit so comfortably on the perfumed purple satin pillows no matter how rosy . Kings have become slaves. The rich have become poor. The powerful have pleaded for mercy from the hitherto weak.
This may be happening to my boyhood club right before my very eyes..."
But pause.
With City's first league loss to Liverpool at Anfield last week (in what must now surely be the game of the season), United's last three comfortable and straightforward wins against Everton, Derby County (in the FA Cup) and most recently Stoke City, the imminent arrival of Alexis (Do the needful, Mikki, your rent's due, m@£%&?!!), Yeovil Town in the next round of the FA Cup and just 12 points behind the league leaders, things are suddenly looking somewhat brighter that they were on 31st December, aren't they?
It really is amazing the difference a month or so can make.
As the Yoruba proverb says and I loosely interpret, "Opinions are subject to the fickleness of people and are at best fleeting. People are wont to change their minds about anything at the drop of the hat". Have I suddenly changed mine about the fundamental issues that still persist with the team (e.g Darmian, Blind, Young as a contemporary left full-back, the predictable 'go-tall' wheneverything else the often predictable Plan A fails' Plan B strategy, profligacy etc)?
No.
But I know I definitely feel better than I did 3 or so weeks ago. Even as I gradually learn to treat alike the twin impostors of triumph and disaster, wouldn't it be...inhuman not to celebrate small victories and baby-step advancements? 😊
Pursuant to Raiola, Ed Wood, the psychiatrists, the accountants and the suits finalising possibly the hottest winter transfer deal (regardless of which hemisphere you belong), an attacking trident of Martial - Lukaku - Sanchez is nothing to be sniffed at. Not exactly a Benzema-Bale-Cristiano or Neymar-Cavani-Mbappe but it has the potential of being just as destructive. Extrapolating from that popular Abraham Lincoln quote, two of the three can lose form some of the time but all three cannot (afford to) lose form all at the same time *crosses fingers*. And if all three (with a hopefully hungry and not depressed Rashford waiting in the wings) are in sync and firing on all cylinders...
(re: this picture as captured by vavel.com was used in the last blog but has been re-captioned)
An up-coming Carrington training session...
The last time we made a purchase this costly (in all ramifications) from North London, that one-man trident, a certain RVP, spectacularly led us to No. 20.
12 points.
Impossible is nothing.
One game at a time.
There shall be bumps along the way. Not every performance is going to spectacular. Not every match is going to be won. I may have to give a scathing review before long. May. But there must be heart. It's one thing I know that the new signing (?) (Mikki, better don't make a fool of me! Sign already!) has in spades. And I'm fine with that.
Let's start with the 'pound of flesh' Burnley has to return on Saturday...
Signing In,
B.L...
Your Answers Are:
* Is longest-serving Premier League manager and renowned oculist Arsene Wenger going to see out his tenure at the Emirates?
* Tower of Babel to show our fallibility, penalties to prove Messi is human?
* Chelsea v Liverpool. The Scousers lead 1-2. 92nd minute. Corner kick to Chelsea. Alvaro Morata has missed 3 sitters and has been replaced by Andy Carroll. The sub squares up with Virgil van Dijk. Who wins the header?
* How much do you speculate Neymar's transfer fees (including Agency Fees which seem to suddenly be a 'thing' in contemporary transactions) would be to Real Madrid after the World Cup?
* Cleveland Cavaliers are that student who performs averagely in continuous assessment tests but is still guaranteed to come out top of the class after the final exams. Is the Eastern Conference woke to this?
* Another Federer v Nadal final Down Under?
* At what point would the Hague be able to pursue football mercenaries ?
This may be happening to my boyhood club right before my very eyes..."
But pause.
With City's first league loss to Liverpool at Anfield last week (in what must now surely be the game of the season), United's last three comfortable and straightforward wins against Everton, Derby County (in the FA Cup) and most recently Stoke City, the imminent arrival of Alexis (Do the needful, Mikki, your rent's due, m@£%&?!!), Yeovil Town in the next round of the FA Cup and just 12 points behind the league leaders, things are suddenly looking somewhat brighter that they were on 31st December, aren't they?
It really is amazing the difference a month or so can make.
As the Yoruba proverb says and I loosely interpret, "Opinions are subject to the fickleness of people and are at best fleeting. People are wont to change their minds about anything at the drop of the hat". Have I suddenly changed mine about the fundamental issues that still persist with the team (e.g Darmian, Blind, Young as a contemporary left full-back, the predictable 'go-tall' when
No.
But I know I definitely feel better than I did 3 or so weeks ago. Even as I gradually learn to treat alike the twin impostors of triumph and disaster, wouldn't it be...inhuman not to celebrate small victories and baby-step advancements? 😊
Pursuant to Raiola, Ed Wood, the psychiatrists, the accountants and the suits finalising possibly the hottest winter transfer deal (regardless of which hemisphere you belong), an attacking trident of Martial - Lukaku - Sanchez is nothing to be sniffed at. Not exactly a Benzema-Bale-Cristiano or Neymar-Cavani-Mbappe but it has the potential of being just as destructive. Extrapolating from that popular Abraham Lincoln quote, two of the three can lose form some of the time but all three cannot (afford to) lose form all at the same time *crosses fingers*. And if all three (with a hopefully hungry and not depressed Rashford waiting in the wings) are in sync and firing on all cylinders...
An up-coming Carrington training session...
The last time we made a purchase this costly (in all ramifications) from North London, that one-man trident, a certain RVP, spectacularly led us to No. 20.
12 points.
Impossible is nothing.
One game at a time.
There shall be bumps along the way. Not every performance is going to spectacular. Not every match is going to be won. I may have to give a scathing review before long. May. But there must be heart. It's one thing I know that the new signing (?) (Mikki, better don't make a fool of me! Sign already!) has in spades. And I'm fine with that.
Let's start with the 'pound of flesh' Burnley has to return on Saturday...
Signing In,
B.L...
Your Answers Are:
* Is longest-serving Premier League manager and renowned oculist Arsene Wenger going to see out his tenure at the Emirates?
* Tower of Babel to show our fallibility, penalties to prove Messi is human?
* Chelsea v Liverpool. The Scousers lead 1-2. 92nd minute. Corner kick to Chelsea. Alvaro Morata has missed 3 sitters and has been replaced by Andy Carroll. The sub squares up with Virgil van Dijk. Who wins the header?
* How much do you speculate Neymar's transfer fees (including Agency Fees which seem to suddenly be a 'thing' in contemporary transactions) would be to Real Madrid after the World Cup?
* Cleveland Cavaliers are that student who performs averagely in continuous assessment tests but is still guaranteed to come out top of the class after the final exams. Is the Eastern Conference woke to this?
* Another Federer v Nadal final Down Under?
* At what point would the Hague be able to pursue football mercenaries ?
