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Westdrop

Listed below are comments made by Westdrop between Tuesday, 3rd March 2009 and Tuesday, 11th August 2009.

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How will the Premier League unfold? 10:56am on 11 Aug 2009 I've got to say that this is possibly the hardest title race to predict in a long while. With Utd having weakened their squad and Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal pretty much standing still I can see only 10 points separating the top 4, with Man City very close behind in 5th. No one is talking about City challenging (rightly so) but I have a feeling that if they get a couple of wins early on that they will be near the top of the table until February-ish, before class finally tells and the big 4 pull away.

If you were putting me on the spot I would have to go with Chelsea. I don't think Ancelotti was the best appointment for them, but he is a pragmatist and a populist who I think will just allow the players to tick over and give them a fair amount of leeway, which I think the likes of Drogba, Terry and Lampard will respond to well. For me they would have won the title last season if Essien had stayed fit and they'd had a less maverick personality than Scolari in charge. Essien is the best box-to-box midfielder in world football - put simply he is a beast who dominates midfields single-handedly. He gives amazing balance to their side, something that Liverpool don't have (with Gerrard playing the number 10) and United don't have (their centre mids are good, but don't have the legs). It's also the last big year I think for a lot of their squad - Drogba and Lampard will be past their peak next year, as will Terry and Carvalho arguably.

So - it's Chelsea to shade it for me, so long as Ancelotti plays his cards right and massages the players' egos in the right way.

One variable that you haven't considered though Phil is the African Nations Cup this year. I know this contradicts my prediction, as Chelsea will be hit hardest, but don't underestimate how losing some players for up to a month in arguably the toughest part of the season could make a difference at the top and the bottom.
Success of Sky was never a model for Setanta 1:38pm on 10 Jun 2009 to all those who say that Setanta was good because it covered varied sports, like UFC: UFC is not a sport - it is licenced thuggery where the aim of the game is to beat the living hell out of someone by virtually any means possible.

Personally I'm glad that any channel that thinks UFC is worthwhile television has got its comeuppance
Brilliant Barcelona outclass Man Utd 09:00am on 28 May 2009 United were deservedly beaten last night. No one can argue with that. Fact is that if they played Barca 10 times you'd probably get 4 wins to Barca, 3 to United and 3 draws, such is the closeness of the two teams. But last night, several mistakes contributed to the result:

1. Indivdual performances: obvious to say really, but individually Utd were poor, particularly in midfield.

2. Changing tactics: when Utd lined up with 4-3-3 I thought it was a sensible choice and the selection of Giggs made sense. But half way through the first half it was obvious that Rooney was totally wasted out wide. Almost every time he got the ball it was with his back to goal and Puyol tight up his backside. He must have played more passes towards his own goal than the opposition's last night. The fact that Fergie only gave him ten minutes at the end of the first half through the middle was criminal - he should have been pushed into his rightful position (number 10). Pique was booked early on, Rooney could have got at him running from deep, and thickened the midfield a bit.

3. Half time substitution: Anderson had a disappointing first half. But he was the best of a terrible trio. How Giggs stayed on the field after half time is beyond me. Sentimentality from Fergie? With Anderson gone and Fergie switching to a 4-4-2 Utd lost their numerical equality in midfield and lost all their energy in the centre (Carrick has stamina, but no pace and tenacity and Giggs was a passenger). From that moment on the game was lost. Anderson staying on might have made the difference as he was the only one able to get close to Xavi and Iniesta in the first half.

These three points are why United lost the game.

As an aside, I thought Utd's best player last night was Scholes. Apart from his terrible tackle (where to be fair he did slip a bit) he matched Xavi and Iniesta for touch, vision, coolness under pressure and (most importantly) and ability to attract the ball to him at all times. When he came on it appeared as though Utd suddenly had a foothold in midfield. His was the performance everyone was hoping for from Carrick, but never came. I wonder whether Fergie regrets picking Giggs ahead of him.

Final point: Utd definitely missed the bite, discipline and energy of Fletcher last night. But even more so they missed Owen Hargreaves. The ground that man can cover is remarkable and if anyone could have stifled Iniesta it was him. Take Barca's first goal as an example - Iniesta sauntered past Carrick and Anderson with a brief turn of speed, laying Eto'o in to score. There is no way Hargreaves would have allowed that to happen. I think everyone will see a different Man Utd next season when he is back. I happen to think he is the perfect foil for Carrick in a 4-4-2: energy, forward runs, tenaciousness and tackling aligned to passing, craft, precision and dictation of the tempo. I long for the moment that he is fit and he and Carrick can get a chance together in England's midfield.

For the record I'm not a Man Utd fan and don't really care about last night's result, just trying to show where I think things went wrong for the champions last night.
Coppell runs out of answers at Reading 3:45pm on 13 May 2009 48 - Seannie Price: "I would go so far as to state, a player who wasn't truly replaced in the England team until the emergence of Beckham a good generation afterwards".

Ludicrous! About 3 or 4 years after Coppell retired we had Chris Waddle - possibly the greatest right winger England have had since Sir Stanley Matthews, even if he was left footed!
Man Utd pile on agony for Wenger 07:39am on 06 May 2009 The difference in class between the two teams was obvious over the two legs. Arsenal fans might want to talk about slips and goalkeeping howlers, but United were just too good overall.
Man Utd give Wenger hope 11:36am on 30 Apr 2009 58. boblinc:

"and someone really should tell Denilson what colour shirts his team are wearing"

I'm pretty sure that Denilson was an unused sub last night.
What now for cricket? 09:48am on 05 Mar 2009 Patilputra:

"I would just like to say that I was hearing Andrew Caddick on BBC radio 5 Live where he commented ' the security anywhere on the subcontinent is inadequate'. I felt this to be a very racist comment especially coming from somebody who has not ever toured in the subcontinent."

Couple of points:

1) Caddick has toured the subcontinent: with England he went to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000/2001. Although he was a bit of a fair-weather tourer when it came to tours in Asia I think you need to make sure of your facts first.

2) I think you need to make a better distinction between racist and inaccurate, or disrespectful. His comment is either true (in which case it is none of the above), or it's false, in which case he is both wrong and disrepsectful, but racist? He's not questioning the capability of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka to provide security for cricketers based on the colour of their skin is he. He's passing an opinion on quality based on experience, not based on colour, or creed. I don't really think race is being brought into it, even if he is being critical of three very different countries in one sweeping statement. It could be akin to someone saying that security at airports is poor in Europe compared to the US and the UK, but I don't think this could be construed as racist - instead it could best be described (if proved false) as an ill-judged, sweeping statement that uses laziness to generalise instead of presenting facts and statistics.

Cheers.
Warming the bench is a pain in the backside! 08:10am on 05 Mar 2009 First post?

Back of the net!
What now for cricket? 08:10am on 04 Mar 2009 Hmmmmmmmmm..................some have made the (I'm sure valid) point that people in the sub-continent, or South Asia, might be a bit more reckless when it comes to health and safety than we in the west are, or that death is so common as to be unnewsworthy. But, if this is true, how does it relate to a "fashionable" view in the WEST that life is cheap in the developing world? I just don't see the connection there at all. The comments made are about the attitude to life in the subcontinent, by people in the subcontinent and have nothing to do with a "fashionable" opinion in the west.

I think unfortunately that Mihir's choice of phrase was just a bit too rash. If he had said something along the lines of "some may consider life in the developing world to be cheap" then I'm not sure it would have stuck so much in people's minds. I think its the "fashionable" comment that doesn't quite sit right, as this suggests popularity, commonly held beliefs, or a trend that has appeared and is becoming more universal, none of which I think is true. A straw poll amongst the UK population (not a reflection of the whole of the west, but a sizeable, representative chunk) would not agree with the view that life in the developing world is cheap, in my opinion. I think that argument is perpetuated by the notion that the British media does not generally focus on issues and problems in the developing world and focuses instead on home affairs. Ultimately, this is not to do with any belief in the cheapness of life, but more to do with the fact the British people are more affected by British news, French people are more affected by French news and Indian people are more affected by Indian news, and so on.........

Unfortunately this whole debate has rather detracted from the entire purpose and content of the blog, which I happen to think is Mihir's best for sometime.
What now for cricket? 5:43pm on 03 Mar 2009 madeiraman57, post 27: unfortunately there has definitely been loss of life

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