the season so far
27 December, 2008

so, the boxing day bonanza is here again. the special occasion where the englishmen decided that they are willing to sacrifice their festive season and play two games in the space of three days. all of this just to entertain us, or so i wish.

anyway, boxing day also mark that the season is already halfway through. so, i thought this might be the perfect time to give my review of the current season. it might be a bit late, but still not too late, i believe. so, here goes..

best player: nicholas anelka scoring spree might encourage many to pick him, but i believe the best performer so far this season come from the league leaders, liverpool in the shape of dirk kuyt. with torres injured and keane firing blanks most of the time, kuyt has rediscover his scoring touch and had been contributing some important goals for liverpool. add that with his superhuman work rate, and you got yourself a very excellent player.

best young player: call me biased, but i believe no one deserved this more than rafael da silva. to shunned two more established defenders in your first year of senior football is something not many players has been able to do, and he did just that. while his and his twin fabio rise to prominence is reminiscent of neville brothers, we surely hope that fabio doesn't suffer the same fate as phil had.

best transfer: while wigan's amr zaki will be automatic choice of many, i do feel that martin o'neill made a better deal bringing in steve sidwell and brad fridel to the midlands. sidwell rose from a dreadful season with chelsea, commanding the midfield and disposing reo-coker to the bench in the process, while friedel has been... well, brad friedel.

worst transfer: jo, dossena, robbie keane, berbatov, hadji diouf.. pick anyone you like from a very long list.. you can even pick mark hughes.

biggest surprise: hull city exceeded all expectations by being where they are right now, but the biggest surprise is that come january, liverpool are still contesting the league title.

not-so-surprise: robbie keane becoming another, apart from torres of course, woeful striker bought by benitez.

best debut: hull deserve another mention here, so did amr zaki, but no one could better joe 'f******' kinnear. in his first press conference as newcastle manager, he swears to the press and repeatedly mentioning the word 'c***' to a journalist. what a way to start your new job.

wind of change: long before obama was elected as the first us black president, the premier league introduced their first black manager in the shape of paul ince. he did not fared well though, and was sacked after 17 games. hope obama will do better. a lot better.

rearguard action: after so many shocking results, many believed that the gulf of quality between the big four and the rest of the league are getting narrow, but i see it as more lesser teams elected to play defensively against the bigger team, preventing them from playing the ball and try to hit them on counter attack and set pieces. ala bolton in big sam's time.

old is gold: at the age of 35 and 34, ryan giggs and nick barmby are still strutting their stuffs at the highest level, proving that experience still counts in this era of fast and furious.

biggest letdown: an array of brazillian superstars, led by the 32-million-man, or kid i suppose, robinho at manchester city who are supposed to set the premiership alight with their football. they failed. miserably.

unsolved mystery: how arsenal managed to beat man u and chelsea, but lost to fulham and stoke still baffled everyone, including the scotland yard officers.

biggest confession: william gallas reveals all about arsenal's dressing room unrest and his feud with a certain player to the press, which resulted in him losing the captaincy of arsenal.

best modesty: cristiano ronaldo claiming he should be the no. one, two and three of the fifa best player award. quite humble guy, isn't he?

now, i could rant more and more, but i guess i save them for my end of season review. until then, enjoy football.

Posted bySyafiq Ridhwan at 2:57 AM  

3 comments:

Yat Gunners said... December 28, 2008 at 1:51 AM  

biggest surprise=slamat ko mention kat bpl kan..tp bg aku slain bpl,hoffenhaim la plg power dowh..skang..xtau lps nie ape jd..

tp aku rase,lps smlm,mybe keane akan revive his act form. n man city akan climbing up the table again. or not. aha..

rafael??yup,great choice.i like him. i wonder how wnger ley xspot die dlu.xkan xhntr scout kat brazil kut..

Syafiq Ridhwan said... December 28, 2008 at 3:01 AM  

hoffenheim smart gak, tp still money injection gak yg banyak tolong die.. so, hull lg impressive la..

tak silap aku, rafael dah sign ngan man u lame dah, cume die nyer age tak lepas nak dapat work permit kat uk.. pasal tu die baru je men..

aiman said... December 31, 2008 at 6:43 AM  

gle yap....ko mmg bley ganti uday joshi duh....

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