Assorted football thoughts

One of English football’s modern mysteries: How Liverpool can get so far in the Champions’ League, yet lose to one of the bottom teams in the Premiership today.
Maybe it’s Everton’s turn to shine next season in Europe – they certainly got a kick out of beating Wayne Rooney’s current team. Ironically, his leaving them for ‘greener pastures’ has done their team spirit a lot of good.

A recent TV interview with Alan Shearer, my all-time favourite English striker, has cemented my respect for him. He’s shown that age isn’t a barrier when you have passion, and he’s stuck with Newcastle even though he could’ve gone to any of the bigger clubs for greater glory and titles. He cited Thierry Henry as another striker he respected – certainly, the Arsenal player is also dedicated to his club and clearly loves the game.
Why do English commentators keep on saying ‘Jo-say’ when talking about Chelsea’s manager? Isn’t the ‘J’ supposed to be silent, or take on a ‘H’?
Even as a Gunner fan, I think Chelsea fully deserve to win the title. Every player is committed and talented and a good number of them can score goals in any situation. Arsenal will have to wait a while to catch up with them in terms of funding. Things will get more exciting after their Emirates Stadium is built and they have more money to buy better players. They must also figure out how to stop Man U from cramping their free-flowing style of play, which has resulted in too many defeats by them. It would be a shame to finish second in the Premier League and have the teams above and below them, winning other Cups while they remain empty-handed.
It’s been said in the papers before, but I’ll say it this time: Manchester United, former treble-cup champions, are going down. How they lost to Norwich (by two goals) is baffling – and their behaviour in the Everton game surprised even me. It is not the mindset of a winning team. As an English tabloid reported, it has cost Man U 3.5 million pounds per goal for each of their 4 strikers. To be fair, a couple of them were injured for a while, and Smithy wasn’t in the starting lineup after the first few months.
Somehow, now that Smithy’s playing for Man U, I’ve totally lost interest in him. I’d much rather wear a Leeds 17 shirt any time, thank you very much.
But even though I don’t support Man United (Singapore has too many fans already – let’s balance things out a little!) I am also disturbed at Malcom Glazer’s takeover plans. Ugh. He may not be to Man U, what Abramovich is to Chelsea.
Kudos to the teams in the relegation zone for fighting so hard. Certainly, with Chelsea’s imminent victory, and Everton’s likely qualification to the Champions’ League, the real excitement lies at the bottom of the table. I particularly like Norwich and Crystal Palace’s attitude. Well done.
I never thought Southampton would face relegation, but it looks like it might just happen. What a shame. And Sunderland will be back in the top tier soon.