The power of three

No, it has absolutely nothing to do with the so called "charmed ones" that is brought to you every Wednesday night courtesy of your friendly cable television variety channel on Astro, Star World. Actually I havent been getting that many entries in here, thanks to the oh so retarded dialup services being offered by our ISP incumbent, put your hands together to the one, the only, TMNET. I haven't been able to dial up to 1515 for the past few days. And to think i am currently considering applying for their Streamyx services, especially with all the horror stories i have been hearing from certain people. It's like a jackpot. Sometimes you get good service, sometimes you don't. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Anyway, there are actually three areas (hence the power of three title.. get it? No? Okay, maybe not then.. anyway...) in which i have been meaning to write about in these past few days of internet deprivation, first and foremost, it would have, without any shadow of a doubt..

The Derby

I just do not understand how on earth we could have succeeded to not score with all the chances that came begging during the match. If you have not guessed it by now, i am ranting about the Merseyside derby that happened last weekend. I have been complaining about how crap we have been playing these past few years, and then, all of a sudden, we start to play absolutely breathtaking, wonderful football at Anfield last Saturday. And for some reason, we could just not find the net. The fact that Everton's best player on the night by FAR, and when i mean far, i mean miles and miles and miles and MILES far, just shows how dominant we were on the day.

Hats off to Nigel Martyn for, what i would say, giving a Man of the match performance, for single-handedly saving the blue-noses from an ultimate hiding. The 'ol discard from the Yorkshire club shows that he still has what it takes to play at the highest level and the Leeds board must be regretting letting him go, considering the fact that they will definitely be losing their "crown-jewel" of a keeper this coming summer. I have always rated Martyn as i see him as a safer pair of hands compared to the likes of James or Robinson in the England setup. I even think he should have been ahead of David "Porn Star" Seaman these past few year, although i think people have unfairly judged him for one of his blunders, in one of the matches which i don't seem able to remember which one. I think that goal keepers need to reach a certain age before they can fully mature into a world class keeper and reach their potential. This is why i feel that now is still not the time for Kirkland as he still needs years and years of experience before he can be called a world class keeper. I noticed this especially when i watched Jones playing for us in his couple of games, as when he was playing, whenever the keeper collected the ball, i didn't have any spams of panic. Jones looks calm, composed, matured, commanding whenever he receives the ball. Kirkland on the other hand, just doesn't do that to me, YET.

Anyway, my match ratings for the players are:

The Dude - Had a decent game and made a few excellent saves. He is finally starting to show that he is regaining some sort of confidence and form that reminds me of the days when he first joined, the days pre-"Manchester United, ball falling from grasp, going in between legs, Forlan" days. I seriously hope he puts that all behind him as he used to be THE keeper of the premiership. 8/10

Finnies - Solid game from him. Always looking to bring the ball forward. My only complaint from him would be his crossing. If he can improve on that particular area of the game, i would say that we would not need to buy any more right backs for the time being. He even has a very decent backup in Jon Otsemobor, who i hear has been loaned out to Bolton until the end of the season. The only justification i see for that happening would be the comeback of Finnan to the first team, and i see it as a good move to expose Semmy to more first team premiership action. Finnies, though, gets 7/10

Carragher - Now this just shows what we have been missing for the past few months. Absolutely solid at left back, and *gasp* was actually spotted in the opposition penalty box, helping out the attack in the second half!! Amazing! Absolutely amazing. I had to check my eyes first just to confirm. 8/10

Henchoz - This fella again shows, like Carragher, what we have been missing before this. He was seen covering ground and tackling blue-nosed forwards right left and center. Good display. Keep it up. Keep injury free. 8/10

Hyppia - Mr ex-Captain though, didn't have such a good game. Almost (should, some people say, but i support Liverpool, so i have a RIGHT to be biased! Ha ha) got sent off, was caught for pace a few times by Radzinksi and also had some miscommunication with the keeper which could have resulted in a goal if the chance fell to any other decent striker! :P Actually i guess, Radzinksi was a bit suprised that the ball actually came to him, so that's probably why he couldn't fully capitalize on the opening. 6.5/10

Hammann - Nothing much to say about him. Consistently gets his job done and does exactly what it says on the tin. Had one screamer of a shot saved brilliantly by Martyn. 7.5/10

Gerrard - My man of the match (for a Liverpool player). I think the return of Hammann to the team has brought the shackles out of him. He is constantly running forward to link up with the strikers and always has a sense of purpose in him everytime he gets the ball, and always wanting to make things happen. I do not need to write more on his 3 missed chances but i think he should have probably did better on his third one and not drive it straight in the keepers direction. But thats me being a bit too critical already. El-kapitan gets 9/10

Kewell - Looks a bit better, but still doesn't seem to show his true potential on the field. When he gets the ball, everyone expects something to happen, but nothing does. He seems to have lost his form and his confidence, although i am sure its temporarily. I would usually say that he might need to spend a game or two resting on the bench, but who else is there to replace him? No one! Exactly! 6/10

Cheryou - Seems to have finally started to settle in to the team and I can see now what sort of player his is. he seems to me like he seems like a "Scholes" type of player, doing absolutely jack shit during the whole match and suddenly out of nowhere just scores a goal, except Bruno doesn't have the stinging shot that Scholes has. This is highlighted exactly in this game when he was invinsible for most of the game and almost scored the winner but headed the ball a tad bit wide off the mark. He should learn from leTallec and get a bit more involved in the game. 6/10

leTallec - Was heavily involved in the game and showed some neat touches here and there. Seems to have settled well in the team and finally starting to show us glimpses of what we expected of him. He should keep his place in the starting lineup judging from this performance. Pity he left his shooting boots at home, and Tony, if you are reading this, lose the haircut. You look RIDICOLOUS! 7.5/10

Owen - Looks a bit more sharper, but still, it seems to me, he isn't giving his 100%. Sometimes seems not totally bothered and was invisible in patches. He needs to stand up and get everything out in the open with regards to his contract situation. Tell us whether you want to stay or you want to leave, although, again, i do feel like he most likely will be leaving us this summer. 6/10

All in all, it was one of the best performances by the team as far as i can remember and i think based on recent performances and form, the team that played on Saturday would arguably be our strongest team by far. The only player who i could see being replaced would be Cheryou, with a more out and out striker like Baros or Sinama when fit. However, Cheryou seems to be scoring quite regularly nowadays, so if he either keeps scoring or gets more involved in the game and start creating chances for the rest of the lads, he would probably stay there. Houllier, keep with this formation and you won't go wrong. This, however, does not bode well for the fringe players as, according to the "people in the KNOW", Houllier (if he is still with us) is planning a massive Merseyside sale this summer, and from the players that are less involved now, i can see that the likely departees would probably be Traore, Biscan, Diao, and Murphy. Also, if there was a decent offer for Diouf, i wouldn't mind seeing the back of him as well and get us a more dedicated right winger, (unless of course, if Houllier started to play Diouf as as striker, and the player suddenly scores tons of goals.. then i might be willing to reconsider..).

Last Samurai

Watched the Last Samurai night and i must say it has been one of the best movies of the year so far (although that accolade doesn't really sound as good considering that it's only been 1 month into the new year). If you are into the BraveHeart, Last of the Mohicans, Patriot sort of movies, this movie is definitely for you. One thing that i just could not accept is the fact that *spoiler alert.. spoiler alert* at the end of the battle at the very end, only the Tom Cruise character is left alive, and i just feel that is just so absolutely bollocks and just so darned unrealistic considering the whole samurai army got shot dead and he, a samurai trainee for the most of 4-5 months only, managed to survive when the rest, many of whom have been training in the ways of the samurai, failed to. Absolutely amazing, although i guess since it's just a movie, i would let this one slide, for drama's sake. I guess it could also be due to the Samurais facing an unknown enemy, something which they are not used to. The best part of the movie for me would be.. well.. actually i can't really think of any one particular outstanding parts in the movie, but there are a few. One of them would probably be the ending when the Tom Cruise character goes to meet the emperor to hand over Katsumoto's blade, and the emperor told the Omura character to take away his life with the samurai blade if his shame was so unbearable. The Omura fella then sheepishly stood back and kept quiet.

Looks like its going to be a good year for the movies again. Current movies in my radar of to watch list would be Big Fish, Spiderman 2, Shrek 2 and Love Actually.

Caesar Salad

Over the long weekend, i suddenly had the urge to try out some caesar salads at various places around town. Could be my subconcious telling me that i have suddenly gone past the BMI range that people would call normal / healthy and started to creep into the overweight / unhealthy range. Here are some places which i went to.

Sentido's Tapas Star Hill - Actually, me and my family went to this particular place as we were denied entry into Shook since my brother wasn't appropriately dressed (Supposedly!!). After some various servings of absolutely delicious tapas, in which i particularly enjoy those oh so tender and juicy and tasty sauteed mushrooms in olive oil, i decided to go for their Caesar salad with salmon, and it was pretty good. The portions that they served was decent with adequate cheese and dressing, and the salmon came in huge sized rolled ball-shaped. The atmosphere was indeed nice but they were showing videos of bull fighting on the few television sets around. Now, it might be me, but it really did spoil the mood a tad bit when they have videos of bulls being poked on their backs with sharp rods and blood spewing away down their body strutting around. I have nothing against it, but for me, it really isn't a sight i would want to see while i am consuming my food. Also another gripe on the plave is that they have started to charge for the sliced baguettes that they serve with the meal separately per serving, as they used to come with the meal. Anyway, for good tapas in a nice swanky surrounding, although the price is a bit on the steep side, this place gets the thumbs up from me. I wouldn't go there regularly, but definitely an option for those special occassions.

Bayou Restaurant Plaza Mont Kiara - Went to this place since i have heard from some people that it is a nice place to hang out. From the outside, the place seemed like a nice, warm and cosy place to dine. Once inside, that perception of the place, for me at least, changed totally. For one thing, the waitress was rude. When i ordered the caesar salad with salmon from the menu, i guess she thought that would only be a starter for me, and when i told her that was it, she just laughed and walked away! The atmosphere? Well, don't know about other nights but on that night, they decided to play their music out loud that not only i couldn't hear the people i was with talking, i couldn't even hear myself thinking. As for the caesar salad, well, when it first came, it did look impressive, and did taste pretty decent, but after a few bites here and there, you get a bit sick and tired of it. Oh well, don't think i'll be going there again.

Chillis Mid Valley - Ah, one of my favourite places to eat. Not just the Mid Valley outlet, but any one of the Chillis' branches around town. Good food, unlimited drinks, good servings, good service. Well, the atmosphere isn't one that is conducive for speech, but i guess its not supposed to be. It's a talk out loud, laugh out loud, have a good time sort of place. I had the chillies cheese fries as a starter, one of my absolute favourites of all time, to be shared around the table, and ordered the caesar salad with grilled chicken on it. Excellent. One major gripe i had about the salad though was that the chicken that came on the salad, although the portions were of gigantic proportions, weren't pipping hot as they should be, but more lukewarm. Not so good. Also i made a mistake of ordering the green guava juice, which i must say wasn't really all that considering it wasn't of the fresh variety, but more of the cordial-ish types i would think. Mental note to self. No more fruit juices at Chillies. Perios. Will i be going there again? Definitely. Caesar salad again? Maybe the next time i feel like having something light, i should just go for the plain caesar salad without the grilled chicken. Else, should stick to the mushroom swiss and chicken fajitas. Mmm Mmm.

Later.