SUPER TUESDAYS ON SWOOSH0018.COM

Whats a Tuesday without our PUNDITS Laal Chavel and Ejaz Khan

Inside the Theatre

By LAAL CHAVEL (RED RICE) - Question Mark: Gary Neville
Terrible luck for Neville dis owe is injured again, he made a comeback in a reserves match
& got injured in training before the Arsenal Game. The question is, are we really missing him? The youngsters Simpson & Pique recently made impressive debuts in defence. They both look like they will mature well in the United defence. Evra's overlapping runs provides ample diversity in attacking threat & he is starting to make the left back position his own. Brown & O'Shea are very versatile players both having the capability to effectively cover in central defence & occasionally in midfield. More importantly do we really miss Neville as a captain? Giggs has been standing in as captain for the last year if not longer & thoroughly deserves the captaincy on a full time basis. Giggs has matured & evolved his game in midfield, his versatility is priceless. Sometimes being used as a playmaker behind the front two or wide left or right swapping with Ron THE DON to bamboozle opponents. Coupled with his 18 years of experience & being a mentor to the lity’s. Giggs is the perfect captain soon to be the most capped Man United Player of all time and already the most decorated player in English Football history - meaning more titles and medals than anyone. His recent master class performances make him a pivotal cog in the works. His intelligent build up play & pin point crossing has steered the attack this season. I could go on till da F$cken cows come home about Ryan Giggs. Neville though is a born Mancunian who hates scousers, remember the McManaman head butt & the way he confronted KOP fans after Uniteds last gasp 1 nil win over the misery siders a couple seasons ago. At 32 will he be able to return with the same sharpness & defensive steel? Talk to me red army shouldn’t Giggs be full time captain?
Prospects
Ryan Giggs was recently handed an extension to his contract keeping in at OT till the end of 2009. Chasing down Bobby Charltons all time appearance record of 759 appearances seems very likely with his current 732 appearances. The man deserves it for remaining a one club player.
Wes brown (28) & John O’Shea (26) were also handed a 4 year extensions to their contracts. The pair have remained consistent versatile performers for United. Evra has also signed a 2 year contract extension to his contract. Another prospect is John Cofie only 14 years of age & signed to the youth academy. The German born Ghanaian striker was bought for 250 K from Burnley.

Last Games – United Players involved in Euro 2008
Uniteds English players hope to seal their fate on Wednesday night, England need to at least get a draw at home against Croatia. Hargreaves returns to the England setup with Carrick also involved. With key players Ferdinand & Rooney absent. In Rooney’s absence second choice striker Crouch will lead the route 1 style attack. Cos that’s all Crouch is good for really waiting for the long ball to his head. Most attempts to control the ball he trips over due to the physics which affect the balance of the fluid in his ears, such is the distance between the ground and his head. Portugal captained by Ronaldo strolled to a 1-0 victory over Armenia and also only need draw against Finland with Nani also involved. I noticed Ronaldo picked up an award before the Armenia game from Eusebio, anyone know about this? Vidic and Serbia are almost out & United are pressuring the Serbs to release Vidic for the weekend match vs Bolton. As for France Evra could feature in their Wednesday game against Ukraine which is just formality as the French have already qualified. Van De Sar will make his last tournament appearance for Holland as the Dutch booked their final spot with 1-0 win over Luxembourg. The Dutchman will quit international football after Euro 2008.

THE LAAL CHAVIL

HEROES ARE REMEMBERED, LEGENDS NEVER DIE

By Swoosh

"I must have mentioned this story told to me by Hoosain Mayet a thousand times on the blog.But I love it. It epitomises the POWER MAN UTD had between the sticks....It goes something like this. ......

We all remember the Becks sending off and the Euphoria surrounding that incident. Anyways Man Utd traveled to the San Siro ,quarter final ,Champions League. Now we all know the swearing and sledging that takes place in sport. According to Sir ALEX his young lads found themselves in possibly the most intimidating stadium and atmosphere in European football today. The San Siro. It turns out that Diego Simeone was running around the tunnel as the players were about to enter the field and doing a war dance of some sort,screaming and according to Sir Alex intimidating the young MANC lads and Becks. Sir Alex's words were to this effect. "The stadium atmosphere was intimidating, my lads were young and this Argentine wasnt making it easy. At this point I seen Peter Shmeichel suddenly appear from the back. The great dane protected the young lads with his voice.And at this point THE WALLS OF THE SAN SIRO STARTED TO RUMBLE....................................."Now thats a man you want behind your line of defense..............

I thought let me also get in on the act involving Super Tuesdays. Thought I will start a post that links to LEGENDS THAT SHOOK THE BLOG.

Il start with Best Goalkeepers of All Time. So heres my post on Super Tuesdays.After All I am the host.

So when we speak goalkeepers, obviously for me there is only one goalkeeper that comes to mind. And Once again Im not being biased, Gigi Buffon is currently the best stopper of all time and well so is his price Tag. When Italy were playing a vital playoff for France 98 in the sub zero and misty temperatures of Russia, a skinny 17 year old had to take the sticks when Pagliuca got injured. He hasnt looked back ever since and in Germany 2006 kept Italy in the tournament with some outstanding saves, particularly the one off the Zidane header in extra time. And well we all see Buffon in action.

If we go back a decade then perhaps names like Shmeichel, Oliver Khan, Ike Cassias, Barthez whom I never rated and thought was more of a clown,Seaman and a host of names stand out.

In the 80's well guys like Peter Shilton,Gary Baily, Zubizaretta, Zenga, Dasaev from Russia were cult fugures. Theres no safer feeling when you have someone in the sticks thats safe and solid. Oh and how could we forget Ray Clemence.

If we go back an era then names like Yashin,Gordon Banks come to the fray

Now on the same token If you have someone thats a MUGG in the poles ,like our brothers MAN UTD had,then goalkeeping is another story. Now before these baS@#rds start slating me. Lets have a look. 1. Barthez, 2. Jim Leighton. 3. Massimo Taibi, 4. Marc Bosnich. All Sellers to the highest degree and couldnt fill a void left by the great DANE. I rememeber their clowning and soft goals.

Although one must not forget David Calamity James. This MUGG f#4ken sold us time and time again. Especially against the MANCS. And on a local scene how could we forget our very own Bryan Spiderman Baloi.

So behind great defenders lies a harem for perhaps the most important player on the field. The Goalkeeper.Perhaps looked by many as the easiest position, coming up against the best attacking players of all Time is a mean feat. One error of judgement can lay to rest their claim in the quest for ultimate legendry status.

FROM THE KOP END

BY EJAZ KHAN

Liverpool have been plagued by injuries to key players in Recent times , which has been one of the reasons that they haven’t managed to get off to the flyer everyone expected of them. There is no real replacement in the Red Ranks to fill the gap that Daniel Agger’s injury has opened up, and Liverpool have done well to reamin unbeaten this eason so far, alongside Arsenal they are the only two teams unbeaten as yet. Carragher suffered a punctured lung and has done well to get back (excuse the pun) to help the struggling defense. Come January Transfer window, Benitez should be looking for cover to his backline

Our midfield has suffered as well, Xabi Alonso’s metatarsal Injury ( similar to that of Agger’s) has also kept us back in terms of the fluent passing game fans so desperately want to see.In his autobiography Gerrard has heaped special praise for the Spanish pass master, and his absence is rather transparent, with Masherano not able to ping through balls in the way, as only the Spaniard can. Mohamed Sissoko has also not enjoyed any real good form this season, and should be happy that Didi “The Kaiser” Hamann has backed him to come back strong when he gets his chance, and lets hope he does return to his best , as we saw in his 1st tenure in the premiership. Steven Gerrard has returned to his formidable best, and I think its safe to say he has come out of that bad spell and really been maing an impact on games since then. Three goals in three games, keep it up Captain Fantastic! Harry Kewell has been sidelined for long periods so our left flank has been going though a dry period. He has since managed a few cameo appearances and played a full 90 minutes for the socceroos this weekend and this will lift the team as well. Jermaine Pennant has also sustained an injury so its been a rough few months for Rafa’s plans in terms of width on either side. Pennant’s replacement on the right flank Benayoun, has also suffered an adductor injury now, so General Benitez is certainly fighting a war filled with battered and broken troops, yet it just doesn’t end there …

In attack, super signing Fernando Torres adductor injury has also been a huge contributor to our lack of goals. His all important goal to hand Liverpool the lead against Fulham only further emphasizes his importance and lets hope “El Nino” keeps storming forward and bagging the goals for Benitez and the fans, validating his price tag and keeping Liverpool close to the Mancs’ and Arses’. Hey what about the other three strikers, Kuyt suffers from goal mouth blindness,so I guess that counts as an injury ! Injury is one thing a coach can never foresee and Rafa Benitez has done really well to keep his side unbeaten regardless of the injury “crisis” that has plagued his team, and fans sometimes oversee his achievements in managing to hold equilibrium and always remaining positive through whatever has come his way.Now with the imminent arrival to full fitness of most of the players mentioned above, and the international break coming at a time which has helped to bring the players closer to full match fitness, its going to be a more enjoyable few months for the Reds. And lets hope those Reds on international duty like Gerrard, Crouch Mascherano, Babel,Kuyt, Hyppia, Kewell, oh and Riise as well (?) will all be fit for the match up against Newcastle and indeed Porto in the coming 7 days.
More injury times goals, but hopefully, no more injuries !!!