new blog!

shall not be posting here anymore, but will leave it on for the time being.  visit my new blog at

http://www.laymon1983.blogspot.com

newcastle sack big sam

sam allardyce is gone from newcastle.  a lot of people will no doubt bemoan the state of the english game that managers are sacked so quickly.  while that is true in some cases, i think big sams departure fits exactly what i have said in my previous post. 

the thing about some managers not having the footballing philosophy to control a big club.  allardyce is famous for his bolton style long ball tactics, managing has been stars who are over the hill and playing for one last hurrah at bolton.  while it was good for that club, its not going to be good enough for newcastle fans. 

in the end i think it is not so much about results but what the fans and ownership want the club to be, the philosophy for it to have, and whether the manager can bring about that change.  in the case of man city and aston villa, you wun see sven or martin o neill being under pressure because people can see they are taking the club forward to where it should be, although i have doubts about sven still.  but big sam is clearly not the right man in the eyes of newcastle who see themselves as a powerhouse. 

likewise the same for rafa benitez.  its time to go....

one of my last posts?

i've got a good mind to close down my blog and maybe start a new one next time.  i think, this blog has grown stale, and fresh styles and ideas are needed.  problem, is i wonder when exactly will i get down to doing it.  anyway, in what has got to be one of my last few posts, i can't resist taking a dig at liverpool once again.  but of course, it will be a constructive dig. 

to begin with, there is something wrong with liverpool's entire footballing philosophy and culture.  lets start with the manager.  rafa benitez preaches stifling, cautious football, with rigid adherence to a tactical game plan and a reluctance to take calculated risks.  he is also skeptical in allowing players to express themselves fully and explore their capabilities, hence his much criticized rotation policy.  the players of course, do themselves no justice.  some are definitely not up to par, guys like arbeloa and aurelio, others take turns to put in poor performances.  in the end, the team is a two man team dependent on gerrard and torres. 

so how do you explain istanbul 2005? simple.  without taking anything away from the champions league as europes most prestigious competition, it is now a cup that can be won be a 3rd or 4th place team in a country.  and thats what liverpool are.  to be more specific, they are a glorified cup team.  liverpool fans will kill you if you say this, but the fact is, former european champions like barcelona, real madrid, ac milan and juventus were all conquering sides who dominated europe with their own brand of football.  what liverpool did in 2005 was to go on a fantastic "cup run", in which all their players played out of their skins in crucial games.  they were thoroughly outplayed against ac milan but managed to find enough courage and luck to get back into the game. 

but how long does that happen? a flash in the pan achievement? that is not what liverpool need.  liverpool should be going the way of all big clubs, and by that i mean a dominating style of play unique to them, a youth academy system that regular produces promising talent, and a squad of players who are able to challenge on all fronts, year after year.  they are no where near that now. 

i am getting sick of hearing liverpool fans go on and on about their "you'll never walk alone" bullshit and "in rafa we trust" crap.  those things are not going to make you champions.  all liverpool have now is their history, cos their future for the moment does look bleak.  do you want an all conquering liverpool side, or do you want a glorified cup team? its time to wake up.  "controlling the game" and " having 20 shots on goal" as rafa likes to boast of, does not win you trophies.  rafa may have won many trophies in his career and may still continue to do so, but his is not the mentality of a truly big club.  its time for a change. 

Don Fabio

it will be interesting to see what miracles fabio capello achieves with england.  i think english managers and players alike should stop complaining about having to appoint a foreign manager.  because seriously, just as the players have not been good enough, so have the managers. 

steve mclaren was considered the best young english manager back then.  managed middlesborough to carling cup glory, then the uefa cup final.  but we soon found out what happened to him.  and people are talking about putting another englishman in charge of england? who? sam allardcye? alan curbishley? harry redknapp or steve coppell? men who have only managed mid table sides albeit with reasonable success.  putting together a team of scrappers and bringing out the best in over-the-hill players at clubs like portsmouth and bolton is a totally different story from managing the overpaid megastars of the national team. 

incidentally, the likes of coppell and allardyce were quick to rule themselves out of the england job, and now they deem fit to complain about fabio capellos appointment.  its not that i am pro-capello, i just think these englishmen should accept they are not good enough and watch the new england manager, and hope to learn something from him. 

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It was another great day at anfield for united.  this was probably liverpools strongest team in years, and it will no doubt be their strongest challenge for the premiership title.  however, there might still be some way to go for them yet. 

after watching liverpool for so long, i've never been impressed with them but find it hard to explain why.  why a good set of players with a trophy winning manager can continue to disappoint so often.  to me rafa benitez has a good but flawed philosophy on football.  his philosophy is to select a fit, tough and hardworking team, able to close down the opposition.  not unlike mourinho, he very often bases his game plan on nullifying the oppositions strengths.  why does he rotate? thats because he believes that some of his players are only good for certain jobs.  thats why he can play them in certain games but not others.  he does not think about gelling a team that has various ways of hurting the opposition.  to him its like, oh against team A i'll put crouch and torres, against B i think i have to put kuyt and voronin. 

liverpool are fantastic at dominating play, but outside the penalty box.  as a result of rafas philosophy they are great at having the lions share of possession but have no idea how to use the ball well, especially when it comes to the penalty area.  united and alex ferguson must have realised this.  let liverpool dominate but stop them outside the penalty area, and all they will be able to create will be long range shots, or in sundays game, half chances from blunders by the united keeper van der sar.  in contrast, while united expected to be on the backfoot most of the time, they looked far more dangerous when they did go forward, and took their chance well. 

unless this mentality towards the game, liverpool will always be the bridesmaid.  chelsea under jose mourinho could be faulted for being negative and bland, but his team always always knew how to find the killer blow to defeat their opponents.  benitez needs to know that statistics do not win trophies.  it is best to score 1 goal than take 20 shots.  and four 2-0 victories is better than a single 8-0 win followed by 2 goaless draws. 

the warlords

i think the last really big chinese movie i watched as curse of the golden flowers.  i wun call a battle of wits a blockbuster.  however, it has more in similarity to the show i watched today, the warlords. 

one good thing is some chinese filmmakers have stopped trying to impress the west by having lavish costumes, ridiculous fighting scenes with poor storylines.  and some have proved that you dun necessarily need jackie chan in order to make a show with a good plot.  ( incidentally, most of his shows have predictable plots except for a few )

warlords is about a fallen general, pang qing yun, whose army was routed after a betrayal by a fellow general.  he seeks refuge in a gang of bandits led by zhao er hu and jiang wu yang, becoming sworn brothers with the two.  he convinces the bandits that the way to a better life is to join the army and to fight against the taiping rebels who were then fighting against the Qing government in china.  as the former general he becomes the de facto leader of the group, although the bandits respect for zhao still remains.  "there is only one leader on the battlefield", according to pang, and inevitably, conflict arises between differences in ideals and policy between him and zhao, eventually leading to betrayal and bloodshed. 

the movie does make you think, and it is a very real reflection of life.  in this world many people are steadfast and noble towards certain ideals, but totally unfeeling towards others.  pang is one such character.  he stops his troops from raping and pillaging the cities they have conquered.  he begs the empress dowager for mercy to lift the taxes of the townspeople so they can rebuild their homes after the war.  yet he is willing to massacre surrendered soldiers and to betray his brother zhao in return for complete control.  jiang wu yang, on the other hand, places the brotherhood above anything else and is willing to kill any other to preserve it.  is there a greater good beyond trust, loyalty and preservation of life? the movie does not attempt to give an answer as all three brothers die at the end. 

jet li is absolutely fantastic.  again he proves himself to be multidimensional in acting ( as compared to jackie chan ), if you liked him in Fearless, you will love him in this show.  and it is not as though the fighting and battle scenes leave much to be desired, they are one of the best in any chinese movie so far, especially when compared to curse of the golden flowers. 

go watch it man....