Comments on: A Weekend of Slouching Toward Bethlehem

By: A.

A. — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:29:06 +0000

On the evidence of some of the last two weekend’s matches, the Serie A this season is the best league in Europe in terms of depth in skill and imagination on show.

Inter-Siena, Milan-Napoli, Udinese-Milan and Inter-Parma was technically of a very high order and also big on excitement and drama. I have not witnessed that standard in either of Spain or England yet this season.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:03:50 +0000

Ghana are punishing the woodwork in the African Cup of Nations opener. It’s 0-0 at halftime, but Ghana have hit the post three times and made Guinea look like a video-game team whose player has just turned up the difficulty level. And yet, no score, which makes Guinea keeper Kemoko Camara rival the guy who just proposed to his girlfriend as the luckiest man on Earth.

Daryl is liveblogging the game at the World Cup Blog, and there’s a good discussion going in comments, so stop by if you’re looking to chat about the match. And I’d be very curious to read your thoughts here as well, of course—about this game or any other. Anyone know what’s happing in the Madrid derby?

EDIT: Ghana 2 – 1 Guinea is the final. What a match! Ghana easily outclassed their opponents and clearly deserved the win, but Guinea played with a lot of spirit and won me over just by not giving up. Even Camara, who was saved by the post three times in the first half, made some gutsy saves in the second.

Brutally, I missed the last 15 minutes of the match and didn’t see Muntari’s goal. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank YouTube in advance.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:41:08 +0000

“It finished nowt-nowt, and they were lucky to get nowt,” as they say in the vicinity of Newcastle.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:20:03 +0000

To be fair, at least Bolton weren’t trying to score.

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:00:17 +0000

Ashley’s replica shirt allegedly sports “King Kev” and the number 1.

The Sky Italia commentator has used the word “ugly” to describe the match at least once every ten minutes, and has now moved on to “seriously ugly”.

Didn’t Keegan say that he hadn’t seen a match since he left Man City? Owen, Duff, Carr, Amoebi, etc were all half decent then, weren’t they?

Bolton are worse, though.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:57:33 +0000

I have to think there are message boards out there where he’s known as Michael Pwnd.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:43:52 +0000

(and he doesn’t even deserve the ‘e’ in his surname any longer, either.)

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:43:11 +0000

Michael Own isn’t even a pale shadow of his former self right now, is he? It’s sad to watch.

Great shot of Ashley in the stands just now, though, sipping on his Newcastle branded mug of tea.

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:38:18 +0000

We didn’t make it to Bergamo (Albinoleffe won 2-0), and have made the mistake of watching Newcastle.

If Christ’s first 60 minutes out of the tomb had been this tedious, the history of Western Civilisation would be dramatically different.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:43:21 +0000

Rooney did look sluggish, but the touch on his goal reminded us why he’s great. Though the pass from Tevez was even better.

Are Newcastle winning 6-0 yet or has Keegan quit already?