a quick roundup

if you want to know what is happening, go to the market, go to somewhere where money and people meet. the streets. hear the voices. they give you a rough idea of ground sentiments.

after i watched gamba osaka see off jef united 2-0 yesterday, i dropped by at singapore pools to see if betting on the j-league championship winner is available. i think gamba osaka can push urawa reds all the way, even if there are only 3 games left, and they are 5 points behind. the j-league is a crazy league, with the title often decided only on the last day, and often with at least two teams still in the running. luckily, it isn't available, so i can stick to my policy of abstinence, which seems to work, at least in england and holland.

and urawa reds were crowned asian champions last evening, with a 2-0 win over sepahan and their unique 3-4-3. it is interesting

Horinouchi is really a left-back, while Tulio Tanaka likes to press up, and is an attacking force as well, although he din show much of it last night. but i think japan missed him in the asian cup; nakazawa+ tulio seems very mouthwatering indeed. their formation hinges on suzuki's effectiveness as a sweeper in midfield, as well as his positional play to cover for tulio's forays. yuki abe underlined his versatility by slotting in on the right side of midfield, having played at left-back and centre-back for japan. robson ponte was largely disappointing, although he did conjure up a moment of magic or two to set washington through, who was also disappointing. while he did well as the pivot of the urawa attack, he made selfish decisions, opting to go for goal, rather than pass to teammates in the open. their formation is a little like 4-1-3-2, with the rightback(abe) pushing up into midfield, so it becomes slightly skewed.

i am impressed by tulio's play and attitude. his hairstyle reminds me of a samurai. i wonder if nakazawa can still play at this level in 2010, at 32. otherwise, they have to look for another centre-back to partner tulio. 2010 for many like suzuki, nakazawa, even tulio perhaps, will be the last chance for redemption.

back to market sentiments. how fickle the world is. arsenal are now second favourites behind man united for the epl. there are two kinds of epl pundits: those who gush about arsenal, and those who still think that we are not good enough, despite having outplayed liverpool at anfield. and the market seems to belong to the former. well, i was wondering: where were these people when we sold henry in the summer?

this is hleb's pass for that legitimate goal that was disallowed against reading. wonderful awareness to know that the reading player was coming in on his right to jink to his left and then play a wonderful grounder pass across the width for rosicky. finally could post it; blogger had problems the other day.

you can tell that we have come a long way from the summer debacle over henry, because even carlo ancelotti is talking about our champions' league credentials. champions' league is the only competition he can talk about, because his milan are languishing in serie A.

but when people suddenly talk about foreign imports, under the guise of the waning fortunes of the english national team, you know that they are talking about arsenal. my initial reaction is that they are conspiring against arsenal, because this is probably the only way to stop arsenal quickly. imagine if they can get their legislation in place by next season, we would really be scrambling to assemble a team, depending on the extent of the regulation imposed.

but i think about it, and can't help but feel sorry for gerrard, lampard, joe cole, john terry, rio ferdinand and company. SO, they are not good enough. and by jumping on this protectionistic bandwagon, they are sending out a message to the world: Hey, we are really not good enough.
they seem to be enjoying themselves, pushing the blame onto foreign imports. but they are just laughing at themselves for their own fallacies. and they are giving the wrong idea to their own lads aspiring to play football. how sad is that.

and arsene wenger is right. from 1966 to 1996, did england even get close to winning anything?
but if you ask me to choose between joe cole and robinho, i would choose robinho. robinho will make our attack more complete, but we would still need a colossal defensive midfielder and a good goalkeeper.

this debate is endless, but it sickens me that ferguson can talk so much, as if man united do not have foreign players. why don't he play his chris eagles instead of ronaldo? since he cares so much about english football, why don't he let gerard pique go?

it's a mockery because nobody talks about liverpool because they have got gerrard. nobody talks about chelsea because they have lampard and terry. nobody talks about man u because they have got rooney. how can i dispel the notion that they are attacking the national team to get at arsenal? the national team is being used, and they seem happy about it. they are really the biggest losers, because they are simultaneously being used and criticised.

i am disgusted by this debate. they have got it all wrong. the uk has one of the most open economies in europe, if not the most. why don't their FA take a leaf out of it?

protectionism is never a solution. countries that looked inwards once had suffered. we don't need to look far: china and japan were both once weak because they shut themselves off.

and many man u fans say they were robbed in that game against arsenal. well, if you are proud to be english, you should get your english right: how can you be robbed if the goal was perfectly legitimate? if the linesman had not given the goal, then we can say we were robbed. but when you concede a good goal, how can you be robbed? to be robbed means having a goal disallowed because the officiating was wrong, or conceding from a penalty that isn't a penalty. like how feyenoord scored against ajax from the penalty that shouldn't have been given.