How do you spell relief? D-e-a-d l-e-g
Relief. Much relief. That's what TDH felt today.
And you may well ask, loyal readers, why didn't TDH write something yesterday after the second fixture of the season? It was just too much. To lose our new 10-million-pound striker in his first game - to say nothing of losing 2-0 to Villa - made TDH physically ill.
But now comes news that Oba just had a bad dead leg, and Roeder may even have another striker in his plans. So TDH will wait and see, with the perennial tortured hope so familiar to other Toon supporters.
---
Ah yes, there were a few other matches at the weekend. Notably, Man City showed that yes, The Goon Show's pretty triangles can still be disrupted with a committed effort, as TDH repeatedly pointed out last season. And Drogba actually scored with a beautiful shot, rather pounding in one of his usual tank-smashes-through-brick-wall goals.
---
TDH made it back to Independiente on Sunday, enjoying the gorgeous sun and the continuous stream of Spanish invective that poured onto the incompetent referee, Daniel Gimenez, in one of the dirtiest matches in memory. Usually these affairs involve misdeeds on both sides, and indeed both squads received four yellow cards and two reds.
Yet Gimenez had it in for Independiente - that red was direct, apparently after Diaz said something not very favorable about one of the ref's sisters, cousins or eyesight. He made horrible call after horrible call as Banfield used their entire repertoire of foulnesses to slow down a superior team. But he did give Independiente two penalties, enough to make up for our crummy defense and allow Rolfi to win the day.
And you may well ask, loyal readers, why didn't TDH write something yesterday after the second fixture of the season? It was just too much. To lose our new 10-million-pound striker in his first game - to say nothing of losing 2-0 to Villa - made TDH physically ill.
But now comes news that Oba just had a bad dead leg, and Roeder may even have another striker in his plans. So TDH will wait and see, with the perennial tortured hope so familiar to other Toon supporters.
---
Ah yes, there were a few other matches at the weekend. Notably, Man City showed that yes, The Goon Show's pretty triangles can still be disrupted with a committed effort, as TDH repeatedly pointed out last season. And Drogba actually scored with a beautiful shot, rather pounding in one of his usual tank-smashes-through-brick-wall goals.
---
TDH made it back to Independiente on Sunday, enjoying the gorgeous sun and the continuous stream of Spanish invective that poured onto the incompetent referee, Daniel Gimenez, in one of the dirtiest matches in memory. Usually these affairs involve misdeeds on both sides, and indeed both squads received four yellow cards and two reds.
Yet Gimenez had it in for Independiente - that red was direct, apparently after Diaz said something not very favorable about one of the ref's sisters, cousins or eyesight. He made horrible call after horrible call as Banfield used their entire repertoire of foulnesses to slow down a superior team. But he did give Independiente two penalties, enough to make up for our crummy defense and allow Rolfi to win the day.
posted by Daniel Altman at 11:09 PM
5 Comments:
the height of paranoia there, Dan - the referee had it in for you, but still gave you a pair of pens?! Sounds like the kind of ref Juve would love to have as an enemy.
Still not watched a bean of football this season, excepting 25 minutes of Barca-Sevilla when I was in the gym. (Eidiego Marajohnson looked good).
Has football lost its lustre? I think Milan need to sign Messi to raise me out of this torpor.
Yes I haven't quite got into the swing of the Premiership yet either.. while over on the other side of the world TDH is putting me to shame with his habitual levels of commitment to the black-and-white cause.
I was relieved to learn that our new number nine's injury was not as serious as had been feared.. although I must say I'm not sure that £10 million strikers should be going down with school playground injuries such as dead legs in the first place. What next? A chinese burn? Stung by a hornet? A note from his mother excusing him from games on account of a slight migraine? Roeder wants to have a word.
You know, riddled, it's like economists always say, you have to look at the counterfactual. If Gimenez hadn't been such a muppet, we would have had four penalties! Yes!
Meanwhile, Diaz is claiming he was insulting another player, rather than the ref (who'd just happened to miss a horror tackle that was captured on camera moments earlier), yet he may still face a four-match ban. Can you imagine?
'The counterfactual', I like that. Now that this phrase has been given a run-out on these esteemed pages I think we can look forward to it featuring prominently on post-match interviews on Match of the Day. My money is on Sam Allardyce to be the first Premiership supremo to offer this curious neologism with a straight face in an attempt to liven up an interview with Garth Crooks, although a side bet on our own ecletically-read Glenn Roeder could yet pay handsome dividends.
Meanwhile I can report that up here in Manchester the United contingent are up in arms about the loss (albeit temporary) of young Rossi, in what the local paper hoardings are calling a 'Magpies swoop for Red Starlet'. You know I think we may have played a smart eleventh-hour card there...
Rossi is definitely quality. I've seen him play four or five times, and he's a massive prospect. I remember when he was fifteen or so, he and Arturo Lupoli (Arsenal) were both at Napoli and widely regarded to be the finest striking prospects since Del Piero's early days. Rossi is mobile, quick and a beautiful finisher, while Lupoli was an Inzaghi clone, but with skills Pippo never had. and balance.
but it's all been overtaken by West Ham. MY GOD. Tevez? Mascherano?
TDH - what's the story in Argentina? I'm dying here. is it just a stopover before Chelsea?
Post a Comment
<< Home