McClaren Sacked

No surprises really. Not at all. After the Croatia game, you are either a hero or a villain. 1 goal made McClaren the Villain.

As a manager, McClaren did not do that many mistakes, at least when he did them, he had the guts to correct them. But with everything going on with the squad right now, can anyone actually save the Nation's pride?

Lets face it, the reason why McClaren was hired in the first place is because of his nationality. He's English. I know it punctures the local's ego to see a foreign coach coaching your national side especially if that sport itself is such a tradition in the nation. Imagine an Australian training the Japanese Karate team, or a Russian coaching the national Sepak Takraw team of Malaysia. Same deal.

As thing stands now, think 18 months back, was McClaren the wrong choice?

Could have big Sam done any better? Could Harry Redknapp helped? How about Pearce? McClaren's record exceeds his 'English' counterparts. Had the other English managers been elected then, the outcome would be still the same.

The not qualifying for Euro 2008 part was a total embarrassment. To the point that it doesnt matter who is coming in next, as long as he can save the team.

At a crisis like this one, I mentioned it before, and I will mention it again. When the safe choice does not work, its time to gamble. If Alan Shearer is interested, give him the job. The English game as of now is filled with predictability and routine. Its about time to change things and take a risk. I don't know Alan's coaching credentials but I believe if there is anything he can offer to the English game is motivation. Thats what they need right now anyways.

England Vs Croatia

With so many injuries and a possible change of Goalkeeper, 1 point is all England need after the weirdest week of football where the Unfairness of football gods got it right for the Universe, giving England a donno how many chances and kicking out Scotland for doing too well. Taking 6 points out of 6 against France is really something.

Another ironic moment is where, by right, England does not need to score tonight. The job is as simple as keeping a clean sheet and thats it. With injuries to Owen and Rooney, maybe this is a smart move. Why risk a partnership that would most likely not work (Crouch, Defoe, Bent, Smith??) than to let Crouch go solo up front and have a pack of midfield to feed him high balls and ensure that their defenders got the simplest of jobs.

Besides, England boast a talented midfield that consist of flair, drive, consistency, and strength. On paper, this is a good combination of doing what a midfield does best, taking the ball from the opponent and feeding it upwards(supposedly where if should belong)

After all that talk, they are going to just make it. Thats what I feel anyways.

Israel did beat Russia

Looks like the 9 year old did beat up the 14 year old. Next task is to either beat up or make peace with a 15 year old.

Buahahahah!

The Israeli Hope.

England fans will be supporting Israel tonight, hoping that they will beat Russia so England can qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. Is this funny or what?

Edit:

Its like when you are a 17 year old, and you are hoping that a 9 year old will beat up a 14 year old who was going to beat you up.

Where are the goals?

Today we attack Steve Howard from Derby County.

I would excuse you if you don't know who he is, but this man was Derby's top goal scorer last season and voted as player of the season for Derby County by his fans.

This season, in the EPL, Mr Steve Howard has played a total of 13 games scoring 0 goals having just 6 shots on target.

If you want to score, you need to get more than 0.4615 shots on target a game. No excuses if you are with Derby, busy facing your own goal. No excuses.

Where are the goals Howie?

The Torres Difference

Liverpool won 2-0 in last night's game. For the second time, Benitez names a unchange side, the side that gave Besiktas a good whipping lastWednesday, and it looked like it was going to be another 8-0 victory the way Liverpool was threatening Fulham from all angles.

I have to admit, this weaken Liverpool side looked so strong and yet so entertaining, we are once again seeing the best in Voronin playing up front(effectively), but deeper than I expected, and Benayoun being faster than what most people think. Aberloa and Fabio Aruilleo is proving to be strong wing backs themselves. Hopefully they will develop into world class players.

There were so many Shots and Niemi and the Fulham post was on course to win the man of the match award. Fulham's defense kept it tight, and with all the missed chances, it looked like another home draw for Liverpool. Looked like a game where people are going to watch Liverpool throwing away valuable points away by not scoring against a relatively weaker opponent, no offense to Fulham.

Then on came a striker who can create chances out of nothing. A Quick Reina kick that looked so harmless, was well controlled by the 20 million pound fella, and some slick moves and a tap, suddenly made Niemi's heroics seem like yesterday's news. For years, Liverpool were in need of a striker of this caliber and I'm glad we got one at last.

Crouch was brought down in a goal scoring chance just outside the penalty box but karma works its wonders. Liverpool's been punished by penalties they did not deserve to concede, and this time it goes in their favour(not like it would change the outcome of the match in a significant way anyways) and Captain Gerrard slots it right in the bottom corner, a place where you want to put your penalties in.

Liverpool vs Fulham

The match is going to start in 1 hour and 15 minutes, but the dying question that no one other than the team itself knows, is that who is going to be in the starting 11 tonight.

After a 8-0 win, it might not be a win against a strong opponent, but I believe the confidence level has built up in Anfield. The team is going to walk into todays game starting to believe their abilities and hopefully this will convert their chances into goals.

The truth is that Pool hasn't done well in the Premiership in terms of winning lately, their record of being unbeaten is often ignored as they lost too many points rather too easily from games they should excel. Its a shame really.

But it is still rather early in the season, and things can change starting from today's Fulham fixture. I really do hope that they dont disappoint me this time.

Greatest ever Players

A factual list of the Greatest ever players is out! Its a factual list because the criteria judged to get into this list is points based. Points are given to number of games started, goals scored, assists made, cups won, clean sheets, honours won and what not.

Here is the funny part, there are players in the list or are in positions where we find questionable. We are talking about a list of players to be the greatest ever of all time!

Factor no 1, you will notice that most of the players played in the 90s or later. Due to the amount of games played compared to 2 decades ago, it is a bias way to compare but it is what it is.

Questionable players on their positions in the list includes Diego Maradona. We thought he was the best Player of the century. Well, some of us think that he is 2nd only to Pele. But in this list, Maradona is ranked 6. After the likes of Ronaldo, Romario, Luis Figo and Zidane.

We are also talking about no.26, Ali Daei from Iran, no.42 Hakan Sukur, no.44 David Beckham, no.58 Silvian Wiltord, no.61 Davor Suker, no.86 Gary Neville, no.95 Fabian Barthez and no.99 Robert Pires. Yes these are good players, but if you make a list of the top 100 greatest players, will you even consider Ali Daei? Forget the fact that he is the 26th greatest player ever! And you know what, more players in that list other than these mention don't deserve to be in that list either.

Here have a look.

GREATEST EVER PLAYERS

1.Pele (Brazil)
2.Ronaldo (Brazil)
3.Romario (Brazil)
4.Luis Figo (Portugal)
5.Zinedine Zidane (France)
6.Diego Maradona (Argentina)
7.Lothar Matthaus (Germany)
8.Gerd Muller (Germany)
9.Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
10.Cafu (Brazil)
11.Roberto Carlos (Brazil)
12.Marco van Basten (Holland)
13.Michel Platini (France)
14.Rivaldo (Brazil)
15.Paolo Maldini (Italy)
16.Zico (Brazil)
17.Raul (Spain)
18.Ruud Gullit (Holland)
19.Eusebio (Portugal)
20.Ferenc Puskas (Hungary)
21.Johan Cruyff (Holland)
22.Alfredo di Stefano(Argentina)
23.Bobby Charlton (England)
24.Jurgen Klinsmann (Ger)
25.Kenny Dalglish (Scotland)
26.Ali Daei (Iran)
27.Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger)
28.Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina)
29.Michael Laudrup (Denmark)
30.Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)
31.Dennis Bergkamp (Holland)
32.Frank Rijkaard (Holland)
33.Thierry Henry (France)
34.Pavel Nedved (Czech Rep)
35.Gheorghe Hagi (Romania)
36.Peter Schmeichel(Denmark)
37.Andrei Shevchenko (Ukraine)
38.Sepp Maier (Germany)
39.Didier Deschamps (France)
40.Lilian Thuram (France)
41.Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay)
42.Hakan Sukur (Turkey)
43.Paolo Rossi (Italy)
44.David Beckham (England)
45.Jean-Pierre Papin (France)
46.Kevin Keegan (England)
47.Marcel Desailly (France)
48.Oliver Kahn (Germany)
49.Alessandro Costacurta (Ita)
50.Clarence Seedorf (Holland)
51.Dino Zoff (Italy)
52.Patrick Kluivert (Holland)
53.Jari Litmanen (Finland)
54.Daniel Passarella (Arg)
55.Bixente Lizarazu (France)
56.Gary Lineker (England)
57.Ronaldhino (Brazil)
58.Sylvain Wiltord (France)
59.Bebeto (Brazil)
60.Alessandro Del Piero (Italy)
61.Davor Suker (Croatia)
62.Ryan Giggs (Wales)
63.David Trezeguet (France)
64.Demetrio Albertini (Italy)
65.Patrick Vieira (France)
66.Jurgen Kohler (Germany)
67.Laurent Blanc (France)
68.Michael Owen (England)
69.Youri Djorkaeff (France)
70.Frank De Boer (Holland)
71.Emilio Butragueno (Spain)
72.Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)
73.Rudi Voller (Germany)
74.Djalma Santos (Brazil)
75.Giacinto Facchetti (Italy)
76.Kanu (Nigeria)
77.Franco Baresi (Italy)
78.Gianni Rivera (Italy)
79.Roberto Baggio (Italy)
80.Oscar Ruggeri (Argentina)
81.Gheorghe Popescu(Romania)
82.Jon D. Tomasson (Denmark)
83.Raymond Kopa (France)
84.Carlos Valderrama (Colombia)
85.Rui Costa (Portugal)
86.Gary Neville (England)
87.Edgar Davids (Holland)
88.Claudio Taffarel (Brazil)
89.Paul Scholes (England)
90.Diego Simeone (Argentina)
91.Bryan Robson (England)
92.Roy Keane (Rep of Ireland)
93.Brian Laudrup (Denmark)
94.Henrik Larsson (Sweden)
95.Fabien Barthez (France)
96.Michael Ballack (Germany)
97.Jan Koller (Czech Republic)
98.Edwin van der Sar (Holland)
99.Robert Pires (France)
100.Johan Neeskens (Holland)

Can you count to 8?

My question to you today is simple. Can you count to 8?

Liverpool-Besiktas-LdC-031107
Uploaded by rory_cabt_die

=D

I know I can!

Liverpool's Judgement day

Its hard to imagine Liverpool Knocked out by Match Day 4 for the Uefa Champions League. It is true that Liverpool did not get an easy group for this competition, but it is not the hardest either. The group is just filled with pricks and problems that the current Liverpool squad should have no problem overcoming.

Somehow, things just don't go as the universe is meant to be. Its unfortunate, but on the bright side, the next 3 European fixtures will test Liverpool's true strengths. Teams faced might not be modern day European Champions material, but they will be tough obstacles.

Tonight, Besiktas will be making a trip to Anfield, supposedly a fortress when it comes to European nights. The last time a Champions League game was played here, pool lost though.

Things certainly does not look good. With injuries of Torres, Alonso and Agger, conveniently one of each position, it affects Liverpool's game. I hope Benitez does not make silly judgements tonight like he has recently.

He is either a tactical genius or a Soccer *inserts negative word here*. Lets hope he's a genius tonight.