Arsenal v. Fenerbahce 0-0 5/Nov/08

A dull and and boring draw was the result of today's match against a visiting side who was almost as boring as Mexican football. Several changes in the line-up did not attract as much attention as it "should" but even with absences the home side looked strong enough to equal the potential reached in the previous visit to Turkey.





In the first half a rather dull and boring Arsenal side expected the visiting side to make a move but neither made one! Stupid as that any Gooner had to chew the dulliest forty five minutes of the current campaign when everybody was focused on the clash against Utd on Saturday. Even with all the possession that Arsenal enjoyed during the first half and the ammount of arrivals to Volkan's goal the game was far from having the intensity of the previous tie. Van Persie's wide side-net shot, at 8', or Ramsey's inbox play, at 12', were proof of that. Rossetti managed the match to be smooth and without pauses. That did not help in any way the quality of the game. There were several knocks on the door by the home side like Denilson wide shot or van Persie shot on the cross bar, in 32'. By the 35' the only important Turkish attack was lead by the brilliant Colin Kazim Richards.





Second period started with a curled shot by Touré at 48'. Much for the surprise of the home fans the Arsenal did not offer anything spectacular. The first ten minutes Fenerbahce tried to oppose against a dull and permissive Arsenal. Cesc was playing one of the worst matches of his season with wide passes. Wenger began to exasperate. Above all was the "enthusiasm" of the Gunner side who was reluctant to make an impression on every aspect of the match. The game moved through the left side mostly with Bendtner, Nasri and Clichy's attempts. The poor level showed by both sides suggested that this was a Carling cup match rather than a competitive one. In the freekicks there was nothing to be alarmed. At 70' dull attemps kept coming. Reaching the 80' mark it was by far Arsenal's worst match in UCL. I kept aware of the Turkish Euro comebacks but it did not appear.
The final grasp of the match was that everybody was waiting for something. The final four minutes were wothlesss due to the absence of emotion even with Nasri's side change. In the end Arsenal did not even want to get the lead.

Stoke City v. Arsenal 2-1 1/Nov/08

Misery still surrounds Gunners, after the ignominious draw against Spurs on Wednesday, now on the travel to Stoke with a horrid loss against promoted Potters. Missery is the perfect word for describing the feelings the current Gunner squad, this missery is the result of a horrible performance and the fact that the "fake Arsenal" still looms in all the matches. Richard Jolly depicts our misery in clear way. With this pace, we will never get to title race. Even with the midweek game against the Turkish side all the pressure was put on the English Derby at Saturday.





In the first ten minutes the Arsenal pushed with the typical touching, arriving in several opportunities, with the most notable in Cesc's shot at 5'. Strangely enough Captaincy rolled now to the one that was in the "Unnamable" times the third captain, Ivorian Toure. It was a mistake by the African that costed Arsenal the lead. One of those famous and record-breaking throwings by Rory Delap went into the goal. I think it was not deflected by Fuller. In any case the FA attributed the goal to the latter in a tremendous throw-in. I ignore if the IFFHS would consider Delap's pass as an assistance, because it is a pass outside the pitch, unlike freekicks. Anyway the Arsenal was confused and Stoke progressively gained possession and confidence while a couple of more Delap's rockets dangerously reached the box.
Even with time passing Arsenal's efforts were the delight for the Stoke crowd, such as Diaby WIDE shot at 25'.
All defensive situations for Stoke were stopped in Arsenal's counters. Cetainly many Arsenal players underestimated the situation an waited until the equalizer arrived. The visiting squad was speculating and Stoke fans kept their party going with all the wide opportunities by the opposition.





But actually the second half did not looked that promising as the first for the visiting side: Stoke rose above level with several nice opportunities. Two injuries attended infield at 55', Adebayor and Sagana, gave a far unlucky promising run for Arsenal. Still Arsenal's wide attempts showed a lack of training in practice sessions. As the game progressed and with Theo's entrance on Sagna's injury, the travelling Londoners roared on the visiting stand for the Dutchman van Persie. Arrivals from Arsenal to mention were Kolo Toure's over-the-bar shot and a wide Theo shot, all at 60'. Finally fans request was granted when the Durchamn came on for Denilson. By 70' Arsenal's signs of desperation did not appear until Adebayor got replaced by Mexican Vela. The swaying 3-2, 3-3 again was used by Wenger. Immediately after the substitution Delap took another throw that managed to get inside the net after a strange two-chest stroke by Olofiniana. Stoke had the time of its life, beating two-nil one of the Big Four. Just when the missery was beginning to pile up for the visiting squad the required Dutchamn featured another one of his baby riots, after innecesarily pushed Sorenssen. Two-nil down and with ten men the Arsenal hoped for the miracle to come. Walcott's old and niggling shoulder injury came off when Delap made him fall badly. Even when every supporter expected one of that famous late shows in which the Arsenal could tie or win the late goal came at 94' when a surprise shot from Clichy entered the net after several deflections by Stoke defenders. The dissapointing result could not have been worse for the upcoming decisive fixture against Utd.

Arsenal v. Tottenham 4-4 29/Oct/08

An eight goal thriller today occurred when the Arsenal FC faced Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby. The Gunners permissively gave the lead and later the equalizer in the last gasp of the match. Spurs fans must have been gliding with zest as their team did not produce the ammount of game the home side did. But in Football the one who scores the most wins. Three of the four away goals were circumstancial; two rebounds and a long shot. Arsenal again showed the two faces of the team which has been discussed in previous posts; a relentless and effective attack against a mere holding permissive defense. It may have been the end of League title contention for the Gunners as Liverpool and Chelsea soar above all others in quality and quanitity.





The match was high on emotion with all the crowd booing that bastard Bentley. Spurs situation could not have been better, with a struggling side that had not win until the arrival of Redknapp. Giovani dos Santos was left out of the squad as well as Vela, and the Mexican media frenzy over a "Mexicanized North London Derby" was left out. Immediately Spurs began the match aggressively with a shot on the side-netting by Bale at 3'.
A parenthesis should be made in order to mention the Spanish commentators (Mexican) in the match. I counted the minutes they left silent the screen and in 45 it reached 2 minutes! They spoke through forty three minutes! It is really incredible the ammount of stupidity Fox Sports Mexico is bringing with these two stupids who, not just do not shut up, but talk pure nonsense. Anyway if you hear the names of Gustavo Mendoza and Juan Carlos Gabriel de Anda run from your transmission.

Just after the game began to settle that old bastard Bentley scored a tremendous volley. The shot took completely offguard Almunia and Spurs were one-nil up. The Arsenal began to quicken its attacks and through the middle three chances were created. At 22' Nasri took its first corner for Arsenal, while the unsure home side defense was merely holding it up. Mendoza made one comment, that left him completely unguarded towards criticism, about Gallas: "[Gallas] completed eight games for France in the EURO 2008." The first part of this utterance was clearly a fallacy, but the second is a lack of preparation and of knowledge. You may know dear reader, that Gallas only played three games in the EURO. This is obviosly due to the fact that; first in the group stage there can only be three games, and second that the maximun ammount a squad can have in that tournament is six. Certainly nonsense and stupidity. The home side growed permissive within minutes and by the 32' with an inbox shot by Theo the match turned from being completely owned by the Gunners to an equal possession. Tottenham zonal marking could only be broken with a spot kick. Twice at 37'and 46' the Gunners rose from the bad marking made by the Spurs defense.





The second half brought us the early lead through dreadful captain William Gallas. The Arsenal went for the match and several arrivals ended either on wide shots, such as Denilson's 51' and Adebayor's 60', or on good plays by the sides. The third goal came through a brilliant van Persie midfield long ball which was flicked on by Nasri and pushed by Adebayor at 65'. Things could not have went more than good for the home side. But Bent immediate replied the net after Almunia's rookie bounce on a Huddlestone shot at 67'. Van Persie fulminated Gomes nearly forty seconds after leaving the score line 4-2. The happy crowd overwhelmed the chorus of songs by the visiting fans and the ambient was spectacular for the Gunners. As far as 88' the match seemed a complete practice and on the way to the end Arsenal lost their way. Possession and will was the effort made by Tottenham. Spurs solid performance gave them their two points but the news was the Arsenal deception, far from being heroical it was dismal. Jenas finishing in the 90' and Lennon's goal were far from being a real result for the Arsenal. Arsenal's confidence doomed the aspirations of the team, and against Tottenham you cannot allow that.

West Ham Utd v. Arsenal 0-2 26/Oct/08

One of the London derbies took place today at Boleyn Ground when a late show of Manu Adebayor close the score two-nil on the visiting side. The Hammers took on the first half defensively and the pressure was on the Gunners due to the early won of Liverpool on Chelsea.





First half went really passive. The attack of the visiting side was based, as usual, in possession but this time United's defense was different. Zola has been working on a deep defense based on a mixed zonal marking. This is the terror for the Gunner attack due to the style of passing; the game is not interrupted when attacking but the defending block has the advantage of covering all spaces, thus leading to less maneouvering from the attacking part. The Arsenal was uneffective while attacking; the left and right backs were not overlapping and French prodige Nasri completely dissapeared. Theo wide shot at crossbar at 21' and a deflection on Green's goal were the only attractives near the 30' mark. At 32' some hints of hte "Permisive Arsenal" appeared. The same mistakes that permited Hull and Everton to equalize were being made by the North London side. Fortunately for the Arsenal Cesc corrected the mistakes by applying immediate changes in rhythm on the pitch. Arsenal touching out of the box was meek and the first half ended with a shot by Bendtner.





Second half went quite impressive for the Hammers since the attempts by them were nearly on goal. Pressure and desperation for the Gunners became evident and by the 60', Wenger had made at least two substitutions. Robin van Persies twice shots, one at woodwork, were not enough to beat goalie Green. The pressure was so intense that after and Adebayor shot, the goal came, on a deflection by Faubert. The Gunnesrs deserved the goal for the pressure and resilence of the attacks rather than the talent displayed by the team. Faubert suffered with Clichy throughout the match and the second goal came on a counter commanded by Cesc. A long pass to Adebayor broke the offside trap and in a crazy exit by Green Adebayor dribbled and scored. In the end missery piled up for the Hammers due to the sent off of Cole.

Good times never change

Some say that the Cold War never ended. Others that there is a "New" Cold War coming and others that it did not exist at all, that it was WWIII. In any case the old chase between cat and mouse is still going on with major military forces and certainly will never end. I refer to the Cold War due to the recent (well a year ago) deployement of the F-22 to Alaska in response to Tu-22 long range exercises in both the Pacific and in the Northern seas. The old game of the chaser versus the chased is as old as war itself.
What impressed me today was an old news actually, but has to do with this topic. It was a from Strategy Page and it talks anbout the newest Russian ATG system, the PG-30. The article refers to the purpose of this missile. It has a primary warhead that intends to hit the target seocnds before the main missile, thus making either ERA or APS systems vulnerable. As many have noted several flaws in the intended hit of one surface, as many modern APS have a multiple thret choice system. My question is; should not be more intelligent to fire two or three RPG-7 instead of a coaxial missile as in the case of the PG-30?

For example information sources do not agree abput the capability of the HEAT round penetration in RHa, in the last link someone says 600 mm and in other stance 1000 mm. It may never be cleared since many of these systems have either not being proved or will go through revision. I ignore the case of the PG-30.
Again the old game of the missile, that is intercepted, and that the attacking missile has another measure to counter the interception of the latter is a typical war measure, but not the return of a military age, as someone would put. It is the old game of the cat versus the mouse.

"I drink much more..."

There has been a resurgence for Jeff Buckley in the last few months and I thank George for introducing him to me nearly year and a half ago. But even when Grace was released in 1994 it still has the same power, intensity and energy of its original date release.
What stroke me the most of Buckley's lyrycs was their "Poetic" aspect. But what nonsense am I talking about!? Does this term exists? Well it has its roots on the primal definition of Poetry and the Poetic. If we take Jakobson' definition of poetry it would seem too simplistic, but I would agree in the definition of Conceit for this case and particularly for Buckley's work; that what means something else with one or several intentions in one statement/utterance. So, in a wide and loose definition of "Poetic" in Buckley's lyrics I shall start the discussion.





I do not intend to make a full and deep analysis of the lyric because, unlike many others, it has its elements well "Explained" and it also has a metaphorical sense. It would seem as a paradox but actually it is very evident. Here the definition of Conceit for Buckley fits perfectly. The wine can be taken as the harvest of the mind or the love or simply as the fruit of the tree. Many metaphors containing harvesting occur in Latin literature and the transcendance can be traced as far as "Lycidas." The rhymes, although a bit forced, establish a clear pattern to follow and the musicality of the text, as if it were treated as a poem, fits perfectly. The "meaning" of the lyric along with its prosody could make perfect sense regarding it as a poem. Although the musicality of the pattern in the lyric fits as in a poem several conjunctions and commas could be added in order to make it as close as possible to verse, and to give a fluent reading. Repetition also could be avoided or rearranged. In any case if we treat Buckley's lyric as a poem following my definition of Conceit we could easily talk of "Formal" poetry in Jeff Buckley's lyric, and not only in this song but in others that share these elements. Try to read it out loud, dear reader, and tell me of you agree with me, or disagree in any case.


"Lilac Wine"

I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see
and be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because (it) brings me back you...

Lilac wine is sweet and heady, like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, like my love
Listen to me... I cannot see clearly
Isn't that she coming to me nearly here?
Lilac wine is sweet and heady where's my love?
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, where's my love?
Listen to me, why is everything so hazy?
Isn't that she, or am I just going crazy, dear?
Lilac Wine, I feel unready for my love...

Fenerbahce v. Arsenal 2-5 21/Oct/08

Arsenal cruised on a slow and dull Turkish side after several drops in game in Premier League. Even though the visit to Fenerbahce with stars such as Güiza, Roberto Carlos and Senturk the home squad failed to prove their difficult star among Europe's finest. The tough visit to Turkey was as struggling as any visit to any top flight team in Europe. Certainly the hostile crowd helped the Arsenal to bring their best. With Fenerbahce showing many international players who featured in the last EURO 2008, one would have expected at least a come-back, such as the Epic ones against Croatia, Germany and Switzerland.





Right at the beginning of the first half Arsenal showed resilence and above all will towards the three points. Adebayor's fine shot went over the bar at 5'. But misery fell rapidly over the shoulders of Volkan and the Turkish defense when the visiting side scored two goals in two minutes. By 12' the lead was on two for the Gunners. The first, created by Diaby, through a Cesc' pass, that Adebayor finished neatly on 10'. The second another Cesc pass to Walcott, who broke the offside trap and scored passed Volkan. The problem with the offside trap was that three defenders gave wide spaces bewteen them, thus enabling deep through-passes to overhaul the Turkish side. Two arrivals from Fenerbahce and a bummer from Nasri before the fifteem minute mark made this match completly dynamic. Even though the Arsenal was the visiting side, they played with such pace that the fact that they were visiting was in doubt. The pace of the game could not go faster when Güiza netted his first goal of the night in a rambling situation after an indirect free-kick by the Turkish side, at 19'. A minute and a half later Diaby went through a disastrous defense and gave the two-goal lead the Arsenal had at 20'. The defense missed him in position and when they tried to rectify it was too late. Four goals in twenty minutes.
Even with the lead Arsenal's defense showed a lack of form, both physical and technical. Song and Silvestre couple did play like they had never met each other. Boral, Turkish left back, was a complete disaster. By 35' the Arsenal began swaping the ball around the box, as usual, with no repercussion at all. Diaby pulled the strings of the team along with Cesc, and he grew confident after his goal. Near the end of the half, Güiza's shot went inches away from goal, showing several flaws in Arsenal's defense.





As the game advanced, second half looked promising for the Turkish prospects. But Alex Song gave the visiting side a three goal advantage after a freekick by Cesc, which was deflected on the Turkish defence, all that at 49'. The match went on with several dispossesssions by both teams with a struggling home side and a now tranquil visiting one. By 67' a rampage maneouver was made by Güiza on a through Semih pass, followed by several defelection-shots in the 5 yard box. Miraculously the Arsenal was saved from the second. Aaron Ramsey made his European debut at 73', replacing Diaby. Following his debut, he rapidly adapted the game, and in the remaining fifteen minutes each attacking play passed through his feet. Even the Welshman enjoyed more freedom in midfield than Cesc. At 79' Güiza narrowed the lead on offside trap that saw the spanish striker eluding his markers and scored on top of Almunia. Even with this goal and with all the wide spaces given by the visiting defense the game went calmly for Arsenal when Ramsey netted a crossed shot, in his debut at 93'. He showed abilities he is capable of. We hope that he keeps improving them.

"One year have passed"

Colin White departed one year ago, on Saturday.
If you remember well last year I posted something concerning the death of our dear teacher.

I remembered him the other day I was writing my paper on "The Cold Heaven" by Yeats. I am afraid I have nothing more to say but to quote the poem.

I have already stated that in Mexico people do not have memory. Nobody remembered it, even in my faculty. Nobody mentioned anything or at least I did not hear of it. I am sure that there are persons who did remember but the moarners that "wept" last year are not doing so now. Even in the site that was so popular in the previous months did not mention anything. I am not fighting against anyone, just mentioning what happened. Argel mentioned the subject but aside from him no body remembered.

Memory is an important topic on a paper I am writing on Atonement and which will be for the next Colloquium. I promise post will be regularized from Thursday, it has been a tough period.


Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting Heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
So wild that every casual thought of that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,
Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
By the injustice of the skies for punishment?


Yeats, W. B. Yeats Poetry, Drama and Prose. Jame Pethica, ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000.

A lecture on Milton

Last week, from the 29th through the 31st, we celebrated the 400th birthday of John Milton at my Faculty. Dr. Mario Murgia was the organizer. There were 5 discussion tables and two Master conferences, one lead by Dr. Alfredo Michel and the other by Dr. Gordon Teskey from Harvard University. George was among the participants, rather unlucky by the way. Besides the conference of Dr. Teskey, he gave a brief four-hour course on Paradise Lost.


The first table was good but with no particularly interesting topics. The second was the one I was expecting the most. First was Alan Page who did an outstanding, but messy, elaboration of the concept of the personification of Milton in William Blake to develop an Epic writing. Dr. Murgia made a resume of his doctoral thesis, with no offense to him ofcourse, on the subject of influence of Milton in the "second" English Romantic poets particularly on Keats.
The third table promised a good insight. Dr. Linares made a good exegesis on the relation of Borges and Milton but it was Mtra. Charlotte Broad who impressed me the most. She gave a Modernist lecture on Milton's food description mentioning several times my two favorite authors, W. B. Yeats and Virginia Woolf. I was amused, impressed and excited by her work, and I even approached her later to ask her about the Modernist contribution to the Epic genre, particularly with the Epic conventions which are a one of my main topics of interest. I did not attend the fourth table.
Next day, the 30th, I arrived very late, just in time to hear the wrecked exposition of George. He made several statements regarding this, ones which I will limit to quote directly via links. Next there was another exposition regarding the "Sublime" in Disney's Fantasia. I think it was a biassed reading of Milton's work, the movie and the concepts which were treated. Last it was the a guy who exposed the Italian sonnets in Milton's career. It was one of the best concerning my litte knowledge on Italian sonnets from the period.

Dr. Teskey's conference was improvised, and even though he talked us down at the beginning he then changed his discourse at the latter stages of the brief course. I liked above all the second part of the course in which we discussed the ninth book of Paradise Lost.

I recorded some of the lectures. Available are the two master conferences, tables one, two and three and the four-hour course of Teskey, in two parts. The quality of the recordings is not as I liked to but they are unserstandable and in some ways clear enough. I apologize since I hav no mp3 tool for editing them.

First Master Conference

Second Master Conference

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

First Part of Teskey's Course

Second Part of Teskey's Course

My favorite expos were Charlotte's, Alan's and Mario's respectively.

It is a good thing that this type of events are being offered, but I think they should be given more often than yearly. Finally I have to say that some of the expos were really awful. The quality developed in some cases were even below standard of university students. In some cases were interpreations, misreadings and over-interpretatiosn. I hope that with this kind of readings this particular cases should be avoided and corrected.

What a laugh!

Today Mexico lost against Honduras. Ten months ago we saw a similar occasion with Mr. Sanchez. Here some footage to remember and, why not, LAUGH!
I will be posting the remaining Arsenal review, forgive me dear reader, final exams.











By the way "sensitive video," if you do not want to hear any stupid stuff or lose your time do not play this one.

"For those few, those the brave"

Last week we were celebrating "Deviations" first birthday and there was no place for morn in our celebration. I say this because of the 90th anniversary of the death of Wilfred Owen. And today is the 90th anniversary of what Americans know as the "Veterans Day" or the end of WWI with the armistice that took place at the eleventh hour of the elevnth day of the eleventh month.


WWI has been forgotten. Even when this event triggered in all ways the twentieth century history. The warfare is remembered occassionally by few English historians. Just in these occasions Prime Ministers and Persidents show themselves at Verdun to pledge the dead.





Wilfred Owen is not read in Mexico. And I dare to say in Spanish speaking countries. Even though several proffesional attempts have bene made, which are three in all Mexico over ninety years, Wilfred Owen's poetry is still ignored and in some cases outnumbered in English poetry antologies by Robert Graves or Sigfried Sassoon, to name some contemporary War poets. Antologizing Wilferd Owen is in some cases strange; either you ignore him (as in Yeats' case, receiving many criticism) or put it among Rupert Brooke, which will be the common thing.
The attempts to study Owen's poetry in my country are biassed in dull and vain comparissons with Brooke's vision of the world.


I take this quote from CNN.com to validate the presence of Owen's speech today:"In his 2007 autobiography, "The Last Fighting Tommy," written with Richard van Emden, he said 'war is organized murder' before adding at a memorial event last month: 'It was not worth it. It was not worth one, let alone all the millions.'" I urge people to read Owen because of his vision of poetry; that it is still valid unlike the case of Brooke's.





Anyway this post honour each and every man and woman, dead and alive, who served for his/her country in the most brutal war in the twentieth century. A pledge to them. And a remembrance for Owen, who we, or at least I, owe so much.

A Yeatsian Moment

I had another of my famous "Modernist Moments." This time it was a Yeatsian Moment." Today as I was going out of my Augustan literature class, I saw a girl, whom I have been thinking all day long. It was really funny and after she passed I sardonically smiled. When I was heading towards the entrance of the faculty I remembered this poem, one of my favorites and strangely not an early Yeats' poem. I took a vow a few weeks ago, I broke it and this happened:

"A Deep-sworn Vow"

Others because you did not keep
That deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine;
Yet always when I look death in the face,
When I clamber to the heights of sleep,
Or when I grow excited with wine,
Suddenly I meet your face.

Finneran, Richard J. ed. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. New York: Scribner, 1996.

Arsenal v. Everton 3-1 18/Oct/08

After the international break that brough us the perfect record Spain and England, while some other dreadful performances, Brazil and Mexico, the actions returns to the Grove with the Toffees travelling south again. The match was tough in the first stances but the home side managed to come from behind as in many late shows in the Ashburton Grove era. Everton gave a solid performance that was diminished by tha main players of the Arsenal squal, especially youngster Nasri.





Big news were Touré as skipper, Michael Silvestre's debut and Eboué return. Trying to apply the offside trap the Arsenal was taken by surprise and an instinctful Osman gave the early lead to Everton. Following the lead the Arsenal side became passive, dull and uncommited to the game while Toure's injury became a concern for the home side. Wide attempts by Cesc, van Persie and Adebayor made clear the home status for the Arsenal, but the capitalization of these opportunities was unimportant for the players. Clichy saved Arsenal from a header on a corner at 41'. The pull by the home side increased with the ending of the first forty five minutes.





Second half brought Theo from the bench. Eboué was relocated as a rgiht back and Song as center back. The early equalizer was brough by a Nasri shot, which entered in tha far post slot to level things. Certainly Mr. Wenger motivated his younstersin the midtime due to the recurrence on van Persie's arrivals. The attitude was different, and it the Frenchman should have considered cesc in the captaincy rather than Almunia. The seventh pass of the season by Cesc was made while Clichy's attempts towards goal were solid. The fancy touches began to appear and the second goal was a brilliant consecution of passes by Adebayor, a Cesc shot and the header-deflection by van Persie., at 70'. The match went with the Gunner control until the the third goal came, courtesy of a Diaby-Theo combination, at 90'.
The match showed the capabilities of the young squad to overcome such dangers, the ones that threaten the top-flight teams.

Sunderland v. Arsenal 1-1 4/Oct/08

Again the London side struggled, in its tradition, to give a very late tie against an extremely dangerous home side. The Black Cats showed resilence against a permissive young Arsenal side. Roy Keane's boys managed to strain the visiting squad and for five minutes nearly win. Cesc again showed his power to bring the team from the "deep tract of hell." The previously mentioned dichotomy between "Fake Arsenal" against the "True Arsenal" become more and more apparent throughout the matches. It is evident that any away match is a tough callenge but there are ways of loosing and ways of leveling.





Cesc position was strangely forwarded and as some have noticed it, the difference between 4-5-1 and the current 4-4-2 to 3-3 is of a huge importance. Wenger had tried several times to forward Cesc in order to bring his old attacking abilities from the grave. The point that Mr. Wenger has not noticed is that he converted the young attacking midfielder into a creative CENTRAL midfielder. Trying to reconvert a cemented personality will dissapear him from the pitch. Thus Denilson and Song occupied central midfield with Cesc behind the striker and van Persie and Walcott wide on the sides. After some mistakes by the defense Cissé managed to scare the visiting side with two shots, especially one saved by Almunia at 17'. The Arsenal had a few shots, one with Cesc and another with Walcott, but the action for the Gunners in the first forty five minutes was null. The lack of possession by the visiting squad was a remembrance of the games against Hull and Fulham. The first half finished with a lack of depth and attack by the Gunners.





At 56' in the second half, a goal was disallowed by the line referee. Apparently Theo's cross was on the pitch but the narrowness of the play gave the benefit of the doubt to the ref. The deperation began to arise for the visiting side with the first fifteen minutes of game on. With the desperation arising, at 73' Nasri was brought in and "Robosaur" Bendtner was playing as a right winger, provoding balls that Cesc cannot give. In 81' a Bendtner flicked pass found van Persie inside the box, but Gordon's deviation evitated the equalizer. The stunner came at 84' with a tremendous goal by Sunderland. Song was the artifice of that mistake and the Gunners suffered for ten minutes to get a glorious equalizer through Cesc Fabregas. The terrible exit by the Scottish keeper permited Cesc's header to get in. Apparently Cesc is the only one that can save the wretched guns far from Gallas objective. Thus in this way the painful leveler came with Nasri revolutionizing the midfield.


Finally a renowned voice has risen against the monopoly of opinions for the Gunners. Martin Keown has told the problem in the Arsenal defense; Gallas. Although this remark is more than obvious (and the clear attacks made here in more than one post) the point is that a well known figure has stand against the common utterances madde by ex-Arsenal players. This stances can be as Ian Wright's: "The young side will achieve something this year." Or Henry's "Major Silverware will be at Emirates next year." Keown softened his opinions later in order to not being caught later with the board. The point is that he made his voice and that is more than a step forward.

Choosing oneway or the other

"Cuando el barco de hunda, las ratas saltan"
[When the boat's sinking, the rats jump]





I am enraged at Cesc Fabrgas. His recent declarations have always take place in transfer windows since his inclussion to the first tema but this time he has crossed the line. While being a favorite amongst many posts of this blog he is the best player the Arsenal has produced in the ten years. Even though the critical approach in this space is fomented the fact that this statement was made has irritated me. Cesc has proved to be amongst the best performers of the team, really forming himself in the raanks of the London side. Winning the hearts and minds of the fans, Cesc has become the most cherised and loved player from the squad. His geniality has derived directly form the Wengerian philosophy, showing himself to be the best and the excellent practical examle of this style.

In Spain Cesc is ignored. The game he has been developing for the Arsenal side was ignored until players like Xavi and company understood that slow football is not the way out. Even with Euto victory Cesc was rested in favour of slower and less talented players such as Xavi, Iniesta or Senna. Dynamic players such as De la Red, Silva and Cesc were ignored, due to the latter being in the spotlight of the "otherness," The long and dull argument of Catalunya. Let my words be clear; I am not undermining any circumstsance of rebellion nor the blood shed of the heroes of Catalunya but I am tired of the role of victims that the Barcelona players and board members express, even in on the pitch.
Cesc wants to return to its roots, to play where he was refused to and also where is not admired by people. In Spain even Catalunyans who live in the outskirts of the city are called Spaniards and not Catalunyans. Cesc is regarded by Spaniards as a foreginer, a denizen who did not play nor did something for the country of Catalunya.


In this space I have shown my worst affections to all what Barcelona represents. The only thing that I respect from this club is my main inspiration, Johann Cruyff. Even when this sounds paradoxicall and contradictory whoever has read many posts or at least a considerable amount of them knows my support to his figure, which does not strive in the Barcelonism. I hate above all the teams in the world the FCB and what it represents. I hate all its player (even the pair of traitors in their starting XI), their institution and their history and whatever and whoever supports that team without any fundamented reason gains my despise. Far from being objective, these players from FCB are mediocre and untalented. This has ever happened since my youthful days of player as far as 1993.





Whether he wants to win titles or money is less important. He knows that he eventually will gain something at Arsenal and become captain of the aquad but it is true that the FCB is far more popular world wide in Arsenal. That does not matter at this moment, but what matters is how the team plays. Barcelona is "famous" for its style of play. But lets face it slow players like Xavi or Iniesta are so overwhelmelingly enlarged that, when everyone can make a deconstruction of a football match of them the values, individual, of this type of players diminishes to the minimum percentaje.
My theory concerning the victory of the Spanish side on the last EURO is not the game of Spain itself but the feedback brought to it. The resurgence of the EPL as the most importatn league in the world and the level-drop in Spain brought the ways of the world to look for some of this talent to the Isle. Cesc, at the early teenage, was brought at the ranks of the London side and players like Xabi Alonso, Reyes, Luis Garcia paved the way for Torres and Arbeloa. Spanish football since the last European Liverpool victory was taken seriously, but not by the Spanish. When this experience was capitalized and the feedback across the cannel was completed the Spanish game evolved.


I have been ignoring and evading the subject but it is time to face it. He is a talented player but today, today he has gained at least dome depise by yout humble writer, that will erventually disappear if he stays at Arsenal. Of course he is the heart of the team and the fact that his presence on the pitch changes the team is different from my despise to FCB, or is it the same?

3rd Contemporary English Literature Colloquium

http://coloquiodeliteratura20.blogspot.com/

For anyone interested in Contemporary literature (from 50's on), we are organizing a Colloquium on the subject. the convocatory is open for English literature students. Any dount you can mail me but I think the link is very clear. The event will take place at Salon A y B from 21st of April to the 23th. Please join and comment.

Here

Arsenal v. Porto 4-0 30/Sep/08

A dangerous win at home was the Gunners antidote to the wave of criticism against the previosu EPL loss. This is dangerous I repeat, beacause this tell us that we are not seeing the Gunners, either at full strength or the real Gunners which I think are not the winning behemoths, but the meak fourth-spot contenders. This can be misinterpreted. The Invincible were mentioned this week by Wenger with the sole purpose of halt even more criticism against the London side. Obviously the current squad is far from that title-giant.
Defensive difficulties have been reviwed here at "Deviations" but Hubbard makes the distinction of why is the "Fake" Arsenal loosing when not suppossed to.
The danger of this win remains a question; which Arsenal is the true team? Against Hull or against Porto? We have seen both faces throughout this seaosn; Fulham, Kiev and Twente, Blackburn. This question will be answered next April and hopefully for all of us favorably and with silverware in our hands.





First half was really moving by both teams and a side-netting at 8' by Walcott, on a swaying movement around the box and another curled van Persie shot at 12', were amongst Arsenal occasions. Rodriguez over-bar header was a shy attempt by the visiting side, that was nullified from more than the first part of the first forty five minutes. Pacy Theo on the right side created inumerable chances for the home squad. A doubleshot by Lisandro at 28' troubled Arsenal for a few minutes when the "Permissive Arsenal" rose from dullnes. In a brilliant play by Cesc, followed by an Adebayor cross, van Persie gave Arsenal the lead at 31'. Certainly it was the Porto defense reluctance and later failed to mark the Dutchman on the entry through the box. Porto tried during the remaining ten minutes to compose their form but the fact it was the presence of Arsenal midfield that dissapeared the visiting squad. Adebayor headed the second for Arsenal at 39'. Cruising with no resistance the home side went on a fine definition after the first half.





Second half arrivals came with a very early goal. Robin van Persie managed to pass through Bruno Alves' mistake and with the outer part of the boot scored for the third mark in the score-sheet. A clear chance was missed by Nasri on a delightful run by Theo on 58'. And the game went calmly for the London side and approaching 70' Bendtner controlled the ball on the lingers of the box and fell by a foul. Adebayor capitalizaed for the Gunners and the four goal quota was covered. A shot on the bench of Arsenal after a play by Vela inbox showed no preocupation for the current state of the team by Mr Wenger. Arsenal won due to the terrible defending rather than a solid attacking display. There is no other way round. Bendtner at least had three chances but he was not as precise as in other cases. The mobile "Lanchero" Vela seemed established in the left winger position while undestanding really good with "Robosaur" Bendtner. The inertia of the game saw Porto pull more than in the previous eighty minutes but in the end the result was more than resolved.

One Year

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU


First and foremost, Thank you. Whether you are a casual visitor, a Google arrival, a loyal friend, a dear reader or an enemy I want to thank each person who has contributed to the creation of this space. Today "Deviations" has accomplished one year of birth. Accordign to Shynistat it had been 2,884 page views and 2,252 visits since the creation of this blog exactly one year ago. Among the relevant things presented in this site are the Arsenal drop in the last half season the EURO coronation of Spain and several reviews of my literature readings

I know it can be painful and annoying to the reader sometimes, when the blog is not uptdated but I have tried my best and currently I am posting each and every game of Arsenal's new season. I promise to bring more literature posts and military also. I promise also to post more frequently to keep you updated.

I would like to thank especially to George, Rodrigo, my brother and my dad who are amog many readers.

I also would like to ask the audience to contribute with comments; feed back is necessary and I would gladly receive them even if its positive or negative.

Once again THANK YOU fot the support and for keeping my dream; to write about the things I love.

Arsenal v. Hull City 1-2 27/Sep/08

Tigers made history today at the Grove, inspired and undervaluated, Hull came from behind score-sheet to record the second home defeat for the Gunners and beat nearly one hundred years of no-winning against the North Londoners. The Gunners were permissive to the utmost level of perdition, while the defensive aparatus simply did not work. With this defeat, the Londoners gave the lead to Chelsea at the top of the league. Reports from press conference by Mr. Wenger blames defense, at last. The truth is that William Gallas again in his old costume, made the difference, but for the Tigers!





First half saw the Arsenal had most of its chances through midfield. The Hull wreckage at 20' was evident, with the Arsenal having at least 10 crosses with a goal disallowed. Arsenal's leitmotiv was present again this time when the main question was the minute of the arrival of goal. This game style became predicive at 27' with the overlappings and crosses being the only approach to goal. Robin van Persie did not work as the 'link' as in previous matches but rather as a lost striker. The Tigers regained position by the minute and by 35' it was obvious that the game was leveled in both quality and quantity. Although Nasri couls have made the difference it was the Hull defenders who proved their resilence. The first half ended with the Gunners showing themselves as a joke.





If the first half saw the suffering of the Arsenal the next forty five minutes were a unnecessary suffering. Even though the lead for the Arsenal came at 50', with an own goal by McShane on a deflected Cesc shot, the home side could not made difference even with possession. Robin van Persie's play inbox at 55' showed some glimpses of will but the tatter was just beginning. At 62' Geovani stunned everyone with a tremendous strike that defeated Almunia in a ridiculous way. An incredible volley, a shot outside box gave Hull the push they needed to complete their transition to an attacking visiting side. Four minutes after a mistake by Gallas (no, him? Really?) gave Cousin a perfect chance to head the ball past Almunia's mark. Hull was winning the match at 70'. It is evident that throughout the season we will encounter performances such as this one. The lack of talent and professionalism of Gallas was shown with the control of a long ball in four touches. Yes, four touches. Something that for Cruyff would seem a impossible happened. Wenger desperation reached orbital dimensions with the substitution of Walcott for Vela. A shot but Cesc was saved as well as the enormous ammount of crosses in the remaining minutes of the match. As the time kept its way the missery for the London side came evident with the final whistle.

Arsenal v. Sheffield 6-0 23/Sep/08

The young Guns overwhelmed and destroyed in the most relentless way, as expected, the most ancient club in the history of England. Particularly fellow countryman Carlos Vela scored a hat-trick, raising different opinions among each side of the Atlantic. The Arsenal youngsters faced nearly no opposition and among the best were the mentioned Mexican, the "Robosaur," and Ramsey. Next round promises even more actions from the reserves and U-17 squads, in a move imitated by several top-flight teams inland and abroad.





Ramsey appropiated the ball in the first thirty minutes. With more possession in him rather than talent there were several orchestrating abilities that overpass Cesc's. Certainly his eagerness for the ball control is more noticeable than in Cesc's. Crosses from Randall in set up pieces and Ramsey's control were the average dominion of the London side. Nearly no attacks from the flanks came in the first half but the flamboyant Wilshere deployed an extremely excellent amount of ductibility against defenders. Two shots by Djorou and a fine shot by Wilshere, who took it a bit longer, were the Arsenal arrivals as far as the 29'. The first of the six goals came from Bendtner. Merida set Vela who made space for the Dane who finished right in the far corner. Certainly Vela managed to get the mark off from "Robosaur" who shot with the posts already in his mind. The defense had no real troubles and Fabianski had the luck to watch his team mates enjoying the game at the other end of the pitch. The two-nil came from the "Manipulator" Ramsey who did a brilliant pass to an on-side Bendtner who finished it neatly. Again Vela opened the field into the right side towards Ramsey who, after dribbling inbox passed Bednter to give him his second score of the match. The final minute gave the London side the third goal through Vela who finished classy in the far post.







Second half brought us the three remaining goals and the same unworried London side against the poor and meek United side. The team showed even more flexibility and freedom to sway between sides of the pitch. If the team could nor enter left, quickly it turned right or trhough the middle. Carlos Vela provoded us a jewel of agoal at 50'. He finished over the keeper in a subtle way. The brilliantness of his definition resided in the choice of the keeper rather than the peek of the ball. Vela knew that from the angle he was entering the box there was no other posibility of scoring a goal than that but the keeper hesitated and the goal was in the back of the net. The fifth came at 58' with a good Wilshere shot off the box. Kenny had a lot of participation in this goal but the last bounce helped him. At 63' Bendtner missed his hat-trick opportunity with a through pass by Merida. I found even more quick and elaborated the style of the youngsters than the one used by the first team. Maybe it is due of the desperation of the young mind but Ramsey, for example, is very quick and if he cannot find an accurate pass immedaitely searches for the other player. At 70' Landsbury, Simpson and Cocquelin replaced Song, Bendtner and Merida respectively. The final punch came from a Ramsey pass that completed the hattrick from my fellow countryman. The game went on in the final stages of the match until the final whistle put the Gunners on the next round of the Carling Cup.

Bolton v. Arsenal 1-3 20/Sep/08

A "perfect" performance today at the wanderers ground gave Arsenal the lead of the league. Ninety seconds were enough for the London side to secure a comfortable victory against an oportunous home side. This time the neglected efforts of the Wanderes were not as effective as the previous physiscall challenges and dirty tactics developed by Allardyce. It appears that Bolton can not struggle as far as a UEFA contending site. Still the remainder of last season's miraculous comeback had the traveling Gooners concerned with the always tough visit at Reebook Stadium.





The First half went on with the pressure of a determinate Bolton that managed to scare Almunia twice through Nolan. The difficulty of gaining possession by the defense and the overwhelming superiority of the home side gave them the lead at 15' through Kevin Davies. The Englishman got ahead of , yes Gallas again, and headed to the near post. The main problem of the Gunners was actually the absence of a "true midfield." Cesc was too forward while Denilson and Song too backwards. Near the 25' mark the visiting side turned the game favouring possession and above all, chances. Song and Adebayor prove the woodwork while Bendtner was near the equalizer that came at 26' through one of his brilliant passes. Although Eboué appeared to be offside the point was that the ball was not for him. 65'' later the lead by Arsenal came through Bendtner who capitalized a good reception by Manu followed by a nice cross of Denilson. The match went on until Davies criminally fouled Clichy nearing the half whistle.





Djorou entered for the injured Gaël and the most relevant happening was the third failed pass by Cesc at 48'. Although the superiority of Arsenal was clear, the ammount of uncertainty by the defense was clearly shown. Several attemtps by Davies at goal reminded Almunia to organize his wretched defensive block. In the other side Bedntner and Eboue clicked like Pires and Cole in the old days at Highbury. The physical prowness of Bolton was shown in the remaining parts of the match. The famous swaying formation 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 kept his rigidness allowing Theo more freedom that that with the English team. Ramsey entered at 85' fro Eboue nearly when reching the final whistle. The third goal came through a thunderous run by Theo which was set up by Manu and finished beautifully by Denilson.

Remaining uncertainty is on the Sheffield match which will prove one of Arsenal's most young sides ever.

Dynamo Kiev v. Arsenal 1-1 17/Sep/08

It was as if a foreteller was at the press conference in the Rovers house last Saturday, and not Mr. Wenger, when stated that a draw will not be sufferingas we did today at Kiev. And indeed the forecast was that of a late draw, but a late draw anyway. Either it was the difficult first away trip in any European draw or the current form of his team, but Mr. Wenger seem to see the future in all the ways possible, even when scouting.





When the match promised rather more actioned football, the nervous away Arsenal and the undecisive Ukranian side fought each for possession (yes for possession) in the first quarter-hour of first half. Nevertheless Ade had a clear shot in the 15' and the game went relentlessly dull until 30' without any interesting to comment. Spanish referee Medina Cantalejo was invisible, as any good referee has to do, yet up to this half. Rather than keeping ball, distributing it and basing game on possession the relaxed Arsenal faced a nervous home side. Cesc was being ignored rather than nullified. And so forth the first half went calmly with a glooming visiting side hoping to weave some possesion or touching rather than an overwhelming presence in the area without any response from Kiev side.





As near as the 50' the London side proved its inneficiency to pass the third quarter of the pitch. The reluctance was by far more present in the home side, but it was supposed that the visiting one should do the effort to score rather than make futile attempts towards possession. The media threw an impressive amount of flak against Medina Cantalejo, the spanish referee, who reluctantly conceaded different fouls that in some cases should have or should have not been given. Thus the game turned harder by the minute, with Kiev Captain Nesmachnyi punishing Walcott in his weakest point (and for rapid players) the heel. The late lead came, after a robbery by Median Cantalejo, with the conversion by Bangoura in the penalty spot. If the match turn from favorable to despicable, this moment was the turning point in the performance of the Spaniard. First, the man in the cross was offside and it did not appear a penalty at first sight.
The Londoners appeared quite relaxed, following the early statement of the visiting manager, and carried on through the futile attemtps through Cesc's long balls and corners. The last fifteen minutes became a complete continuous rampage by the London side with the usual counters by the Ukranian team. Finally the late equalizar was on the hands, or in the head, of William Gallas. Yes William Gallas. At 88' a melee in the 6-yard protagonized mainly by Bendtner gave the Arsenal the strange deal of one point and a safe return to London.

Zakumi

Th cliché that the WC has started is far from being thruth. But the step made yesterday was a hge one.

Zakumi, according to some sources, is the conjunction of South Africa (SA or ZA) and 'kumi' which represents the number 10. This phenomenological approach give us the formal institution of the football; the 11 players. According to Jerome Valcke, FIFA's General Secretary, Zakumi is truly African and was born in the emblematic year of 1994, the independence of South Africa.


The mascot in the football industry is a doble entity. In Saussurean terms it would be a linguistic sign. It has the responsability of including both the local supporters and the club's identity into 'one being.' To fancy this has a great deal of para-textual aids, such as the common usage of language, the environment and even club's history. The 'Goonersaurus' is a very special charactr which I will not mention in order to not deviate ourselves from the theme.

Take 'Goleo' for example. The Germany's 2006 WC mascot was a complete disaster. Mainly unpopular with kids and the fact that had as companion a ball that speak was annoying to many fans. Another thing to consider with the unpopularity of Goleo was the fact that he was "naked" from waist downwards.



With Zakumi we have the return of the mascot after the wreckage of the last two world cups, and two EURO.

Finally somebody who THINKS has brought us a good mascot. A truly defined mascot with identity.

Football Language

Yesterday Beniamin Chalupinski, MA and pursuing his Doctor degree at the University of Birmingham, went to my faculty to make a lecture regarding the Sport language in Italy. The title, "La lengua actual del deporte en Italia" [Current Sport language in Italy] was a temptation, and when football is mentioned your humble server went to check the thing.

The lecture was based on a Power point presentation and for administrative purposes the lecturer had to improvise. He made several statements regarding the nature of the foreign "invasion" of words to common usage, in this case sport. Words such as 'corner,' 'offside,' 'playmaker' and 'pole position' to name a few, invade the "specialized" journalist langugae. This is due, according to Chalupinski to several reasons; the lack of the mother tongue to produce several terms and the overwhelming presence of the English language in sports, specially football. He made clear statements based on linguistic studies based on Syntactical Structures by Chomski regarding the basis of this problem.

His lecture made me think abouth the way we approach certain things, most commonly in literature and football. In literature the equivalent would be Dante. But in Sport langugage this inclussions seem completely different. He mentioned the case of 'politically induced words' such as diporte that had a different connotation in the Second World War. He concluded his presentation with the current state of inclussion in other languages and the media-induced rejections such as France's and Germany's case.

I did understand sixty percent of the lecture due to the affinity of Italian to Spanish but even so, I could not figur out many things. This was because of the nervousness of the presentator and the quickness and my ignorance of the Italian language.

I uploaded the lecture. I recorded it, but between 1' to 10' it is the usual delay in process of reading. So if any knows Italian (Rodrigo) and would be gently of making a transcription t would be nice to share it here to the community. A translation would be very helpful also(too much to ask I know). The recording is in WAV and it lasts about 1' 14''.

Here the full lecture

Blackburn v. Arsenal 0-4 13/Sep/08

After the thirteen-day international break the Gunners returned with a torment visit to Paul Ince's side. Arsenal smashed their opposition when needed and even had the luxury of debuting the youngest of the young guns; Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere. Although the peculiar hat-trick by Adebayor stole the day, there were several arrivals by the home side that through the first half deserved the equalizer. Jolly, as always, delivers a quality account of the match, mostly fixed on Theo's deliveries.


First half began with a tremendous rhythm by both sides. Van Persie's wide free kick and Roque Santa Cruz's headers were amongst the many arrivals both teams had. But the early lead arrived when Theo, in a very Brazilian play, got rid of three players and put a thorough pass on van Persie who neatly finished on Robinson's goal. Walcott was a pacy demon in the left side creating opportunities, and it may seem that Arsene's words in the beginning of pre-season encourage him to make the final step. As minutes passed the Rovers pushed, with the help of our clumsy captain ofcourse, against a permissive midfield. This type of pressure is the one that Arsenal is most likely to face throughout the season. Nasri's absence was noted particularly in the right side, although Eboue's performance have rose above level.
Van Persie's arrival only went to the side-netting while at 30' a very troubled Arsenal managed to cope with the overwhelming crosses in search of "Ich Roque." Another opportunity came to the Dutchman at 41' when the match was almost at the equalizer. Then when the Londoners could not find any solutions, Fabregas understood what was happening. Then leaded by them a 26-touch play ended in the head of the Togolese earning his first goal of the season.





The following 45 minutes saw a rather dismal Rover side, and the troubles that the put in the first half were fancies of another age. Until the 70' Blackburn did not pose any threat although the match still moved fast. In one of his attack rampages Eboue was knocked by the mediocre Warnock. At first sight it did not seem like a penalty but he arrived too late for the ball. Adebayor finished it perfectly and the Gunners had a comfortable lead. The Ivorian left the pitch and Ramsey came in.
Then it happened. Jack Wilshere substituted Theo Walcott. The 16 year-old kid made his debut, being the youngest Gunner in the history. He proposed several crosses and made some runs, but he can not expect more than that. HE IS SIXTEEN FOR CHRIST SAKE! Cesc seemed an old captain against this youngies and the match ended with the hat-trick of Manu Adebayor.
One thing that I have noted is the current way of corner-taking by the Gunners. Surely this order is given from the bench but one characteristic of the two-touch corner is the slow bend and high pull it takes.

Croatia v. England 1-4 10/Sep/08

Young Gunner Theo Walcott made an impressive performance with a hat-trick, after his second international cap, against what appeared to be the revenge of the EURO elimination. The Croatians looked far beyond the level showed in the previous tournament when a nervous England side arrived the hostile Zagreb located stadium. Here is a review of the "overtalented England" by Brewin. The English side suffered to get the score-sheet to four, nonetheless the suffering against Andorra and the Catenaccio reminiscence in any Capello's team means that although it was an impressive display, Capello has to work really hard to get his team play with such regularity. Brewin might have a little to emotional about this aspect but the fact that the English side gained fairly is undoubtful.





The First half began with an unprecedent aggressive Croatian side. As stated before the English side was entirely nervous with the home side dominating the first twenty minutes. Naturally the push was slowed, and calm came back to English possession through Lampard's effort. After the 25' Corluka's runs began to slow and in the opposite side, Walcott began his show. In that same minute he found himself on-side to finish crossed-post after a complete disaster in the Croatian center back. Still the English side earned possession throughout the entire half, leading to several chances. Fernando Palomo, quoted several times in this blog, put the final word on Graham Poll's World Cup controversy. The Agentinian assured that due to the Australian accent of Simunic he mistook it with the Australian number 3 rather than Croatian. If you remember well Mr. Poll booked three times, yes three times, Simunic before showing him the red card. Funny facts about footy.

Regarding Wayne Rooney Frank Lampard quoted:"Wayne is not a scorer, is a creator." If we take this quote literally the sentence would not go far from a compliment but applied to the game this was entierly true in another sense. Wayne has become an accurate passer, the player that assists the scorer, the talented man than can turn the game with a single flip. His new position was re-acquired in Utd's last season. Ronaldo and Tevez appeared regularly in the score-sheet while Rooney sacrificed himself for the team throughout the season. This is one of the reasons behind Ronaldo 40 goal toll. In this sense he could become the "European link" something that here in America call "Enganche." We will have to wait until the development of the season if he could assure this tag, although he has made the two steps acquiring his new position; thinking in this new role, and having the number '10'.





Second half began with with the threat of Lampard free kick and also some nice overlappings by Rakitic. At 59' Theo scored a copycat goal after an elegant Rooney pass. England kept the pace and possession with Heskey support until Wayne scored with a rather common finish at 63'. If the Croatian side showed any signs of living there was one goal. At 81' the dream became true to the young gun when after a pass , who else but Rooney, and finished neatly with his left foot after a Pletikosa excellent exit.


In other news Tomas Rosicky' injury has extended. The current spell will keep him sidelined until early October. According to Cazech's coach he might not be available for some qualification rounds but I even doubt he could play until November. In any case is more likely that Eduardo reaches full match fitness rather than Rosicky. At least he would be out according to my prediction, ten months out, longer than an ACL/PCL injury. This situation must have take its toll at the Board, but as many Gooners this situation is turning from annoying and distressing to exasperating and abusive. I will forget to name him,in any case, in the 'if' list that tend to occur with Gunners each season.

Regarding Conmebol qualification neither Argentina nor Brazil can pull through according to what is expected in the early stages. Dunga's head may roll before he thinks due to the lack of performance by his side since the las Copa America. Mexico did not had a difficult time beating Canadians and the highlight of the match was the retirement of National side of Cuauhtemoc Blanco. The fact that Mr. Eriksson did not pull him earlier is a national debate around this place. That is for another post in which this blog will render tribute to Mexic0's most brilliant player since Manuel Negrete.

In other results an explosive performance from the Finnish gave Germany a 3 goal draw with an impressive hat-trick by Klose. Wales could have done better against a poorly attacking Russian side and Scotland grasped another late victory to wrap up major events on the International brake.

On Casual Football

Chivas and Pachuca delivered yesterday one of the most incredible matches in the current Mexican league. An outstanding match that gave us seven goals, makes me think about the actual state of the Mexican football. It is irregular like the population itself, as anything in Mexico really. Even Octavio Paz was an irregular "poet." But sometimes there is a light of hope that just, and just, makes us think about a good bright future ahead.





Real Madrid and Numancia gave us today a hell of a match. Also in seven goals, the match was on favor of the capitalines, while the Numancians did everything they had to not give the lead. I do not know what is up with Numancia. Last week they displayed a match full of intensity against FCB (that scum-bags lost hehe) and this week they gave more than one scare in Bernabeu. The difference between a Greece style and the New Numancian style is that the Spaniards can cope with tremendous amounts of pressure and still construct game to equalize or lead. I hope it is not a week thing and that they can keep up with that pace.





Día Siete article today about football and monopoly was something attractive but frustrating. This article was focused in the monopoly industry of FIFA and the discrimination of other sports subdued to our footy, specially in Mexico. José Pérez-Espino made a beautiful and promising introduction questioning the role of the media, local authorities and popularity in general. Then he fell in the dull message of corruption and complacency that many Mexican journalist do. His most idiotic line, clearly knowing that everything can happen in football, was :"Pero ningún deporte es de milagros, [refiriéndose al hecho de que la selección mexicana nunca va a ganar un Mundial]" [No sports is from miracles, [referring to the fact that the Mexican side will never win a WC]]. He then referred to the business of the WC (as if no one knew it) and made a horrific final statement about Mexico's fatal ending WC. Everybody knows hat we are never going to win it, but that does not have to do at any moment with the industry of monopoly. He did not made the clear distinction. So Mr. Pérez-Espino, if you make bright introduction but bad essays just advise us in the same introduction!!!!!

Beautiful Prose

I am happy today. And for me to be happy is found something interesting to be for. In some cases it can "Family Guy," a good footy match, a good poem or a good book, a glass of beer or any news from my uncle.
And today I found this article in La Jornada Semanal. It is not THE LITERARY SUPLEMENT but it floats. Sometimes they write shitty stuff but sometimes, like today, they put up very good things. This article talks about an aspect in particular, it enlightens Barico's prose but something peculiar about it is this definition of prose by the author. The author is Jorge Alberto Gudiño, and in this breve essay he formally delivers with parts of the prose, and the structure of the essay is completely ordered, not a common thing in Mexican literature reviewers.

"Siendo simplista, tendría que decir que su narrativa es “bonita”; pocos adjetivos se acercan más a esa prosa suave, rítmica y llena de emociones. Una prosa que es evocadora y exacta, suficiente a la hora de llevar al lector a los intersticios de la trama. Una prosa que permea las emociones y atrapa de inmediato… una prosa “bonita”.

Y es ese epíteto facilista el que sirve de impulso para liberar al lector de cualquier complejidad, al permitirle que se identifique con los personajes, con sus avatares, que se abandone."

[Being simplistic I would have to say that his narrative is "pretty"; few adjective could approach a softer, rhythmic and emotional prose. A prose that is evocative and precise, enough to take the readers in the details of the plot. A prose that deepens emotions and catches them immediately... a "pretty prose."
And in this simplistic epithet that serves as impulse to liberate the reader from any complexity, to allow him/her identify with the characters, with their avatars, to abandon. ]


He later proposes, although unnoticed, comparative literature methods for Barico's novels. I have also wanted to read "Mutaciones" which includes essays on football, but I have not got the time to do it, but when I read it I will comment on it.
A good day after all.

Arsenal v. Newcastle 3-0 30/Aug/08

The Magpies suffered a massive defeat today at the Grove when the Arsenal FC smashed their aspirations of earning an away win. The Gunners showed a far more better display after the horrid Fulham defeat. This response was hailed by the media but if we take a more deeper consideration this can cause a tricky series of expectations. Even though an overwhelming superiority was proven in the pitch, the visiting team was able to scare more than one in the home stands. There were three breve times when the Magpies had the chance to score but the solid defense by the Arsenal proved that the Newcastle will not be able to produce an effective performance in the following games. The problem was not that the Gunners could recover themselves, the problem was how often can the team produce performances of that quality in a more regular basis or even as often as weekly, as the last season.




The good news for the home side were the reappearance of Cesc and the tie in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United. The first half began with an uncontrollable pace by the home side. The touching and the intention became clear as early as the 2' when van Persie was clearly fouled in the box by Coloccini. Gallas incredibly missed a clear chance (ie. Rosicky against Hamburg last season) in the open box, sending the ball to the last row of the stadium. The Gunners attacked with six players, inflicting damage through the left side and having the overwhelming statistic of 65% of possession. The home side could have been easily one nil up on the score sheet due to the strength of the attacks.
The goal came after a cross from the right that derived in the hand of a Toon defender. Styles awarded the home side a Penalty kick which was converted nicely by Robin van Persie. By the 30' the Tyneside regained control of the ball in the midfield which was actually diminished in each stance. The home side could have widened the difference due to the absence of play by the Northern team. Michael Owen was invisible throughout the whole match and Rob Styles' doubtful decisions put the game in contrast. Robin van Persie's contribution to the match was outstanding, producing two goals and a wide varied array of chances. His role as supportive striker or the "European link" style according to Cruyff, was the finishing touch to a memorable performance. But as usual and following his tradition as the leader of the "Crystal Dutch Club" he left injured in the late second half. The second goal came after a fine play by Denilson and Eboué which was finished by the Dutchman. This definition proved again what the Gunners are capable regarding touch. The first half ended with the picture of a defeated Tyneside against a renewed London one.





The second half was merely a bureaucratic tramit. The Arsenal defense was enough tough to make all types of rebounds and clears towards an undecided and childish away effort. Diego Latorre, as always, clearly depicted the lack of possession of the home side before the third goal arrived: "[El Arsenal] No sabe defender sin la pelota"[The Arsenal does not know how to defend without the ball]. Although this point is apparently easy to grasp, the fact that a team philosophy is completely based in the possession issue clearly reveals the lack of defensive training and basic defending concepts. In the Cruyffean sense everybody should fight for the ball, thus regaining possesion but the Arsenal did not pressure the away side when needed.
Denilson scored the third goal to sum a good overall performance at the Grove. This goal proved Nasri's ability to be when needed, and Adebayor's support. This talks, at least good of him as any other Gooner would not believe after the transfer saga. Then at 62' the Mexican media dream finally capitalized when fellow countryman Carlos Vela made his first appearance with the Red and White shirt. Also Song entered and since the game was finished the youngsters were given an opportunity. Vela proved to be a good supportive striker and connected with Theo Walcott the promising run is put. The final minutes of the match obliged Newcastle to attack but nothing happened. The game finalized with Joey Barton rambles which are so futile and dull that I will not trouble to comment.

In other news I am thrilled to the fact that earlier today the Spurs signed Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moskva. The talented Russian striker was scouted by Mr. Wenger and it is a shame that the talented European will dress the awful white. The international WC qualifier break should rest some players until the 13th. Some of these encounters will be reviewed according to TV schedules.

Rodrigo has returned to give us a full insight of Italian football. It was indeed a good wait regarding the update that took more than three months. That is something that we are used to here at "Deviations." Good luck to him again.

Finally, courtesy of Carlos Vela news, a picture of the Mexican EPL debutant in action at the grove.

Arsenal v. FC Twente 4-0 27/Aug/08

The important thing about the match yesterday clearly was not either the result or the individual performance but the Friday draw, which actually brought us to a "difficult" group, a tradition in the Arsenal UCL history. Neither FC Porto nor Dynamo Kiev will result easy. We know that from previous experiences. What actually enrages me is that FC Barcelona got the most easiest of groups in the history of the tournament! This is not a coincidence but I will not enter a discussion against the myriad of "fanatics" that the Barca attracts.

Most importantly Cesc's return brought calm and thought to the troubled team. Again the switch from 4-2 to 3-3 was relied on the back of Cesc who beared the weight of the Grove, thankfully, once again. The Dutch side could not got even far from the midfield due to the lack of creative football. Bendtner support and Cesc notice were evident in the first minutes, as well as the lack of fitness by the Dutchman van Persie. The touching became much more practical when the home side arrived to the box.
The lead came on 28' after a fine Nasri play in the box. One of Nasri's many talents is cutting through the middle to either widen the pitch to open space or shot. Denilson tried the goal as well as van Persie, when failed to score in a very good position at 37'. Cesc failed his second pass of the season, with another in pre-season.




The second goal came after a rampage from Gallas deflected by a Bendtner' previous shot. Bendtner had an outstanding performance, accepting his role as supportive striker. Meanwhile the Dutch side earned their only opposition through a Jansen free-kick. At 66' something strange happened. Theo Walcott scored a beautiful goal from the left side with a world class finishing. Thierry Henry scored a beautiful goal from the left side with a world class finishing. No! But what did I just wrote? Yes indeed was the Englishman but the awkward remembrance of such a finishing brought to my mind many goals from that exact position, with that exact foot, with that exact resilience, even with that same pair of boots (same brand, new model).




Time passed as the Gunners assured a fine win against no opposition. As the game reached the end I was wondering on the strange technique of Bendtner. He seems to have a uncomfort with the left side. This is pictured mainly on his way of receiving the ball. He does not make that movement naturally as Cesc or Zidane but he does it forced. And this way was that the definition of the fourth goal ended when the "Robosaur" finished with the help of the defender against a bad exit from the keeper.

The tie against a Portuguese side always brings troubles to English teams and in this way this will not be an exception. Groups ended like this:

Fulham v. Arsenal 1-0 23/Aug/08

Today misery surrounded Craven Cottage for Arsenal supporters. Certainly the train trip will not be as cheering as it should be from the last couple decades due to the miserable loss. Surely pundits will be applauding themselves after such early overcome in Arsenal's season, showing in the past two games the worst of their worst. Despite this unpromising start many believe that the Gunners should rise to earn their "common" fourth place in the title contention, but the truth is that by the way the side has been playing a fourth place would be rather welcome. Player's ratings are available here, which I agree in some.

One of the questions was how can Wenger's side cope without the presence of EURO champion Cesc? This question was solved within the first minutes of the match; Ebou'e still had his ominous deeds of complaining as well has his Disappearance in the pitch. Manu Adebayor shot wide at 11' on a set by van Persie. The visiting side indeed came out of the tunnel very confused but in the first fifteen minutes the team could not grasp a loose ball neither progress in possession. The absence of midfield work was utterly balanced by the full-backs, who delivered a decorous role in the remaining part of the game. An interesting opportunity arrived at 20' with a tandem by Sagna and Walcott, finishing in a van Persie shot just wide.



The misery began when the Arsenal conceded a corner which was well taken by the home side. Hageland managed pretty easily to get rid off Gallas' marking, thus earning the lead at 21'. Gallas showed no future and if it were for him the score could have broaden to the Whites. The lack of a midfield in the Arsenal prevailed through the first half and resided only in the hands of the overwhelmed Brazilian Denilson. The mistakes in the clearances nearly had the Fulham going two up, but still the home side did not managed to grasp any play. The first half ended with the horrific picture of a fractured team that retained the possession for two seconds without any idea of playing.

The issue concerning the summer market bring us to a good discussion issue. Names such as Torsten Frings or Loric Cana were mentioned in the storm of the transfer window. But the inclusion of Mikael Silvestre in the London side was more of a surprise rather than relief. I really did not consider him a good buy, since that place is "covered". Traore has been recently put on loan so Wenger may not foresee what is coming.



The second half was an array of pull, disposition and desperation for the visiting side. With open plays in wide spaces, Clichy and Nasri managed to keep some idea of how it should be played a match in such difficult conditions. Bobby Zamora'a shot went over the bar when a Gallas (weird isn't it?) bad marking gave him plenty of time to finish. By the 60' the Gunners created three chances; all from wide shots. The attempts to equalize by the Arsenal became futile and a substitution would be a relief in terms of offering another possibility. But through Bendtner this possibility did not arrived. A good point was the runs of Eboué on the right flank. He looked as in his old days and managed to make at least three of the four free-kicks in the match. These free-kicks, all taken by the Dutchman, were well over the bar keeping home fans more entertained.

The final minutes saw a desperate and idle Arsenal seek the equalizer in the most horrible ways possible. The loss against a side that the previous season was struggling to keep the category is a shock, not for title contendency, but for the things to come, that at first hand look more than horrible.

Arsenal v. West Bromwich Albion 1-0 16/Aug/08

The new season began and new signing Samir Nasri won the game for the Gunners, as in his official EPL debut scored an early winner to bring calm and ease to the troubled London side. For moments West Brom could have brought problems to the home side but the Londoners slowed the pace and held tight in the back. Certainly the absence of EURO King Skipper Cesc had some weight but the lads could cope with such terrible absence. The Insider, through soccer net does well in revise the failures of our team.





The match had not even started, figuratively, when the newcomer was fed by Denilson in the box after a play that the Frenchman had started. A typical Arsenal play gave the one-nil lead at 4'. Nasri tried the goal in two occasions, both ineffectively. Gallas shot went just wide at 10'. Things passed quite calmly as West Brom had wished no more goals. Apart from that, some chances were given in the first thirty minutes, but they did not took much relevance due to the intention by the home side. The Arsenal threatened the away side several times between 25' to 37' but rested in clouds as a comfortable win was been achieved. The pace was controlled by Nasri, either from the left or right with a swaying attitude, always ubicuous. The center back handled the game comfortably and Manu Eboué did a fine performance against the shred picture of last season. Denilson found himself quite confused due to the scenario but in the worst of cases he could have done it better. The first half ended as it started; an initiative but mediocre home side against a visiting side that apparently did not even knew how the first goal entered the net.





The beginning of the second half, at 50', saw two clear chances to the away team which luckily did not enter Almunias goal. Afterwards Gallas moans and reproaches were ridiculous, this due to his bad marking and not team mates. Adebayor could have extended the lead in the 52' after a brilliant ball by Nasri. In the 61' Arsenal's left side seemed the only solution towards a functional approach to the goal. By the 70' things calmed so much that first-team choices who were not match fit jumped off the bench: Robin van Persie and Kolo Touré. An interesting thing to note was the substitution of Theo and Kolo, they switched positions, instead of arranging another player as Wenger usually does. This might be an interesting issue concerning rotation and Ebaums position. Remaining minutes were a usual training day, with the Albion decided and a resting Arsenal facing Twenty on Wednesday.

The "New-new" Zidane

The "New-new" category is something that has to do with archetypes and archetype-rebuilding. Thus Phil Ball, in this article, refers to Kun Agüero I will take that equivalence to make a chain, with this talented French child. But in this case if we follow Ball's path we are witnesssing the New-new Zidane. I ussually do no write in Spanish but this time:
NO MAMEN!!!

Forget...

"I don't wanna be your friend, I just wanna be your lover...
Denial...
Get swept under
Infrastructure will collapse
I'll do mine
Precious"




It is strange how someone can fall off immediately. Tomorrow I will post the three matches left. WISH ME LUCK!

Mexico v. Honduras 2-1 20/Aug/08

A dull and lucky Mexican side grasped their first win in what will be another rocky and troubled qualification stage to the World Cup in two-years time. Eriksson managed somehow to keep the expectations concerning the qualification but the way the National side played, is far from grace, especially with all the media talk. Although announced even in the food, this match attracted a lot of people but the thoughts of the Mexican psyche were with the gold medal winner Guillermo Perez early in the day. Something that has to be considered is the so-called "Best Generation" of Mexican footballers. The fact that a talented array of youg players in Europe arose from the common standard does not mean that the "Best" concept of football in Mexico is about to arouse.

And it was through the best promising young star, Andrés Guardado, that the first poisonous cross came at 1'. This tempestuous beginning was followed by several plays by the home side, overwhelming from one end to another the visiting side. Vela and Guardado were amongst the finest creating opportunites in both flanks. But it was the other youngster in English football who failed to surprise, again. The Spur dos Santos was invisible all the game, and nearly not mentioned in the comments. The Central-American side was overwhelmed by the possesion of the home side that only through a chance such as a free-kick could harm the National team. The set piece was perfectly executed leaving all the stadium quite for some seconds. After this incident,in 36', the charm that the Mexican side produced nearly dissapeared leaving the Mexicans with a different taste of what would be in another match.



In the second half, with Giovani already replaced and the stands waving for Cuauhtemoc, Eriksson made his second move in order to appeal an offensive style. A save by Oswaldo gave the home side hope. But the things changed when a tremedous rebound strike entered the box from Pardo at 73'. Right after it in the 75' another goal by the Stuttgart player, this one due to a deficit in marking, came from a free-kick. Mexico needed more luck to lead the game in just four minutes, but the visiting side came off at 83' with some respectable pressure concerning the previous games.

In the end Mexico lacked brilliancy and finish in the final third part of the field. The glimpses of talent provide the National side a transcendent win against a sturdy and overwhelmed Hondurean side.