Random Rambling Rants on a Sunday

With Chelsea losing again yesterday, their seventh loss of the season, talk swirled around this being the end of the line for Jose Mourinho. But I have a feeling that this isn't going to play out the way most expect it to.

Elsewhere, Manchester United are still within touching distance of the top spot despite many of their fans being disgusted with the turgid brand of football they've been serving up.

Finally why do football matches often have a violent edge to them?

Just a few of my random thoughts for a Sunday.

Special Times at the Bridge

It's an interesting time at Stamford Bridge this season as Jose Mourinho's side continues to struggle. Because if the man in their dugout wasn't the self styled "Special One" he would already be long gone at this point. Ask Messrs Luiz Felipe Scolari, André Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo and several other managers who haven't delivered the kind of results that owner Roman Abramovich requires about the Russian oligarch's patience.

But this time it feels a bit different in that it is Mourinho on the bubble, a man who clearly loves the club, has a connection with most of the fans and has delivered success in the past. The other point is that it's heavily rumoured that the Chelsea dressing room, that has proven the undoing of a few of managers over the years, might have grievances with Mourinho but the fans, and more importantly the owner, don't appear to be bending to player power this time.

Nor should player power see a manager out of a job. Despite the ridiculous wages earned by Premier League players these days, the manager is still the boss and disgruntled footballers shouldn't undermine him and, in my opinion, cheat their own supporters by not concentrating on their actual play.

Boring for a While

Either people have short memories or winning cures all, but one thing that has been overlooked about Manchester United's dull football this season is that the club weren't exactly romancing our eyeballs back in their 2012-2013 title winning season either.

In fact, they turned in many flat turd performances in the last campaign under Sir Alex Ferguson, but the difference was that they had an extremely motivated striker in Robin van Persie, who was playing some of the football of his life while dragging the team along, particularly in the first half of the season.

Besides the Dutch striker, players like Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick turned in great performances that season, but the football wasn't thrilling. In fact, you could argue that United hasn't had a side that was great to watch since Cristiano Ronaldo and the hated Carlos Tevez left the club in 2009.

Despite the less than thrilling football, the team was full of serial winners and was driven by the imperious Ferguson so even if they didn't set the pulses racing they brought home the silverware.

Although this current United side have literally had me dozing off on the couch a few times this season, if Louis van Gaal can lead them to some silverware will the views of the disgruntled Reds change?

Violence Under the Surface

At a fun kickabout recently, that was organized to celebrate a friend's birthday, two players nearly came to blows after an attacking player was wildly scythed down by a defender. It was a fun 6-a-side for someone's birthday and there was almost a fight, which seems batshit crazy, but this seems to happen nearly every time I play.

And no before you ask, I wasn't one of the two guys involved. But it did lead me to question why there's always an edge to football matches, whether they're just a bunch of old duffers like us or professionals taking part.

In sports like Rugby or NFL football you rarely see fights break out and yet it happens quite often with our brand of football.

I think in those sports your aggressions is taken out within the laws of the game, but football is a game of physicality that borders on the edge of violence, but then you have to draw back.

You can go shoulder to shoulder with someone, but not hammer them like you would in hockey. You can dive in and knock the ball away, even taking a tiny piece of their leg accidently or not, but you're not kicking their legs out like you would in karate.

It's like you're going into battle, but just stopping short of harming your opponent.

So I've concluded that playing football is like tantric sex. You have all the build up, but there's no end result, so you're left with frustration and this leads to violence.


Post a Comment