May 03, 2007

you were saying?

Alright, so Manyoo lost. Find me a Manyoo fan who can complain about the result and I'll find you a Scouser who admits they are not a big club. But if you were to read today's papers and blogs, you would think that someone died last night.

Doomsday is approaching as we know it. Boohoo, Manyoo aren’t as awesome when we come up against class opponents. Excuse me, mate, are you referring to the same Manyoo who has a good chance of winning the league title this weekend?

Boohoo, Ronaldo isn’t the best footballer in the world after all. But guess what? He is still pretty darn awesome – the best in the premier league by a good mile. Would you want to swap him for Jermaine Pennant? I bet both my testicles that you would. And yes, Kaka is awesome. I get that point already. Yes, Kaka is better than Ronaldo. Point taken. But he was no where near being the best player on the pitch. No, that accolade should go to Gattuso. Kaka was up against a makeshift Manyoo defence (people still fail to forget that). Vidic just came back from injury and he was the only first choice defender in the team. Any decent player would have been able to rip apart that defence. Heck, it has even been done in recent weeks in the league.

No, Manyoo’s loss was not due to the fact that they conceded goals, they were always going to concede. Manyoo lost because they couldn’t score, and that was large due to that half man-half deranged animal that was Rino Gattuso. Manyoo needed a player like that yesterday – not just someone who could shackle the attackers, but more importantly, someone who could inspire his team mates just by looking at them with the eyes of a psychotic demon possessed. He wanted to win, and he wanted to win more than the entire Manyoo squad combined.

It is easy to put down Chelsea and Manyoo after their defeats, but lest you forget, those were the only two teams whose league title challenge wasn’t over by the first week of October. You may mock Mourinho as being a moaner, but he is right – ‘big’ clubs don’t challenge for one cup a season. ‘Big’ clubs understand the importance of the league – the bread and butter of every football club. Chelsea and Manyoo have both had horrible league games in the last few weeks. Chelsea have dropped points in their last two league outings, and Manyoo nearly the same if not for Everton’s gift on a plate. Challenging stuff, won’t you agree? Liverpool rested 6 players over the weekend and lost. Could Manyoo have even contemplated on doing that? Chasing immortality has caused both Chelsea and Manyoo to fall flat on their faces, and nobody except their fans give credit to them for even trying. But no, despite not mounting a proper league challenge in over a decade, Liverpool fans will keep insisting they are a big team because they have had success in Europe recently. But surely you would be hard pressed to find anybody who would bestow the same accolade upon Porto and Greece, both of whom have triumphed on the big stage in recent years. Big team? Please, you’re having a laugh!

People keep talking about history not remembering losers. True, in a way. The Greeks would have defeated the Trojans with or without Achilles, but his participation, even though irrelevant and inconsequential towards the final result, ensured that we still talk about that war today. The record books note the winner’s names but it is the football on the pitch that will remain on the lips of the fans for years and years to come.

For example, nobody cares about the 1990 World Cup (except the Germans of course), but every decent football fan would know about, and talk about Cryuff’s Dutch team and their total football, even though they never did win the World Cup. Similarly, in recent years, nobody ever talks about Liverpool’s masterful tactical win of Juventus en-route to the final in 2005. It was a great tactical game, but it wasn’t amazing. But people still talk about Juventus vs Manyoo in 1999. And possibly, in many many years time, people would still be talking about Manyoo 7- 1 Roma, or heck, even the fact that Milan blew Manyoo apart yesterday.

Liverpool may just go on and win the Champions League, and they will engrave their name on the trophy, but based on this season’s performance, they will fail to get on the lips of the football fans. It is the same way people will still chatter excitedly about Madrid’s galaticos, but nobody (except Mourinho) cares that Porto won the Champions League a few seasons ago. And the list goes on and on…

That, is football.

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