Goals Galore !

What a week of English football ! Free flow of goals , upsets and some controversial decisions spiced up the weekend. Man Utd had their winning streak broken by Wolves but other teams (except for Man City) failed to make ground with the leaders.A very disappointing day at the office for Arsenal who lead by 4 goals in half time only to let Newcastle fight back for a dramatic draw. I for one, thought the game was wrapped up at half time and fearing the worst for the Geordies. Never would I have expected a 8 goal thriller ! As usual, Wenger pointed his fingers at the officials instead of questioning the team's mentality. The red card for Diaby was truly deserved after he stupidly threw Barton to the ground. No doubt about that. Even with 10 men, I thought Arsenal is good for the win. Heck even with 9 men, they should know how to hang on. No disrespect to Newcastle but they're not Barcelona.

Man Utd lost to Wolves was rather surprising but then again the relegation threaten team has already beaten the likes of Liverpool & Chelsea this season. Most satisfying for me is the hard fought victory of Liverpool over Chelsea. All the hype surrounding Torres fulfilling his "destiny" of scoring against his old team did not materialized and he was taken off in the 66th min after a quiet game. Soon, Liverpool scored thanks to Meireles who is proving to be quite a good striker of the ball.

All in all, it was a good weekend of football. Looking forward to more surprises and entertainment.

Walk on Torres....Walk On .

The manner Torres walked out of Liverpool left much to be desired. He publicly spat in the faces of the club and its supporters who loved and worshiped him. A club who took the chance to sign him from Spain amidst his questionable goal scoring record (despite a huge potential) and turned him into a world class player he is today. The supporters who sang his name and accepted him as one of their own. I wonder how would Rafa feel about his departure?

Judas ?

Sights of fans burning his jersey outside Anfield sums up their disappointment & frustrations. He left the club in a lurch with no choice and desperation. The least he could do is wait till the summer. No one will blame him for leaving then but it's the manner in which he chose to leave that left a bad taste in the mouth of Liverpool and its fans. Having said that, 50 million pound for a player who hasn't performed in the last year or so is a very handsome sum. It's hard to say no for many clubs with that kind of money.

So in came Suarez & Carroll with the money. A strikeforce paid by Chelsea for Liverpool. Perhaps it's not a bad deal after all - trading a striker for a strikeforce. Only time will tell. On the other hand, Newcastle probably ended up with the worst part of the bargain - losing their top striker to Liverpool and not able to replace him in time.

Future of Liverpool ?

So everything is set up for a cracker of a game this Sunday ! Expect a fiesty match and in the words of Torres - "It's destiny to score against Liverpool" . Will there be more burning of jerseys by the Liverpool supporters? Remember Torres, they hate you so much because they loved you even more.

The Great Wall of China

Choong Wei once again came short to beating Lin Dan in the Korea Open 2011. Lin Dan was there for the taking after being stretched by Taufik Hidayat & Simon Santoso in earlier rounds. He was clearly not at his best in this tournament and it was a good opportunity for Choong Wei to finally beat him in a major tournament. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Could this be an indication that Choong Wei will never beat Lin Dan in major competitions ?

A Step Too Far ?

Congratulations Malaysia for winning the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010. I must admit, I've not expected them to reach the semi-finals more so winning the tournament after a being convincingly defeated by Indonesia in the first match. Kudos to the our young guns. They deserve it after showing hard work and dedication on the pitch.

However, the move by our government by awarding a public holiday to celebrate the victory is something up for debate. No harm in celebrating the win for arguably the most popular sports in Malaysia but surely awarding a public holiday is going a step too far...at least for me. I'm still puzzled at the decision and find it hard to justify the extra day off. Not to undermine the victory, but I don't remember a public holiday being declared after Nicol won her first World Championship or Lee Choong Wei winning the All-England ?

Perhaps celebrations and rewards using good sense in this case is suffice to spur the team to greater heights?

Champions of SEA