Will we become the Spanish Arsenal?

It would now seem most likely that Liverpool will be losing our own Mickey Owen to the "Galacticos". Although he would be sorely missed, considering he has been our top goal getter for the past 5 seasons or so, I would still wish him all the best as he has been a good servant to the club. However, I still think that he is making a wrong move considering the fact that Real already have a first choice pairing up front of Raul and Ronaldo, and also Morientes (who, sad to say will not be on his way here since he has already played in Europe yesterday, those bast*rds). So i guess it would seem pretty difficult for him to stake a claim for a starting eleven spot, much like what Macca found out a few years back.

Anyway, with (actually if) the departure of Owen to Madrid, we have already been linked to three Spanish midfielders to come over and join us, namely Xabi Alonso from Real Sociedad, supposedly the Spanish Gerrard as they say, Antiono Nunez, a right winger as part of the Owen deal as a part exchange, and also Luis Garcia, a right winger from Barcelona who once played under Rafa at Tenerife.

All in all, they all look pretty reasonable signings as we are looking pretty darn thin in the midfield area, so it would seem Rafa does indeed realize that. However, it is also quite worrying the fact that at the start of the season, *if* all of these players do sign for us, we would have a total of 4 Spanish players, who have never played in the Premiership before, most likely starting for us. Now, don't get me wrong, I trust Rafa's judgement on players, and he probably has had plenty of time to judge these players playing in La Liga. However, it is worrying that I just cannot think of ANY player from La Liga who has come to the Premiership and actually made a huge impact. Anyone? Arsenal did wonders bringing in French players to the Premiership ( a feat Houllier tried, but failed ), so can we expect more of the same by Rafa with his Spanish "Armada" or will it prove to be more Houllieresque?

Liverpool's happenings

It was a really good weekend, considering the fact that for once I managed to not get myself into the office and spent some quality time reacquainting myself with my bed, duvet covers and two pillows. Amidst some hoo hah from my sister and her friends in the areas of Akademi Fantasia where Mas got voted out and also Astro doing a "quick" one by getting Linda reinstated into the competition, there were actually several news items relating to Liverpool that particularly caught my eye.

The first would be the, some would say, shocking revelation that Rafa had accepted an offer of a measly 3 million quid to let Spurs speak to Super Dan in view of letting him go to play for the Spurs. Now, we all know what happened to that piece of transfer activity, once all the comments being splurt out, questioning Rafa and also asking "Who is going to score for us against Manchester United then?" I admit I was indeed puzzled myself hearing this, considering the midfield area is where we seem to be in short supply of able bodies (a category which Salif Diao does NOT fall under). Why would he be selling off one of our more creative players when we are desperately short of them? (OK, the fact that Danny Murphy is being labelled as one of our more creative players just serves to show how very desperate we are in that area). Would this mean that he would be giving more chances to our youngsters like Welsh and Potter? Those are two very young players and chucking them straight to the deep end would not be one of the wisest courses of action, unless Rafa sees something in the youngsters that us mere mortals don't. Another blatantly obvious question would be to question who Rafa has in line? Does Rafa have some magic card up his sleeve? A signing that would leave us "at the edge of our seats"?

Which brings us to all the transfer speculation that has been running around the planet. Liverpool have been linked to the MOST number of midfielders this summer. Trust me. I have lost count. Xabi Alonso, Tomas Rosicky, Scott Parker, Damien Duff (why of course we would want a left sided winger when the position that's vacant is in right midfield !! :P), Simon Davies, Owen Hargreaves, Garcia what's his name (from Barcelona), heck even Tomas freaking bluenose Gravesen was linked to us a few days back. I do however admit that all this speculation and rumours i do somewhat look forward to reading everyday since some of them are pretty juicy and keep me entertained for hours during the day. Say so and so a player is linked to us, then I would spent countless hours searching the net for more information to verify this news, and also, that doesn't take into account the countless hours spent figuring out what sort of formation should be played to accomodate this new player. It seems now though, that it is pretty clear that Rafa is looking to sign Xabi Alonso, a central midfield player, who i guess will be played as a partner for Gerrard in the center of midfield, and hence demoting Hamann to a more bit part role. Either that, or he could play alongside Biscan in the center of midfield and put Gerrard on the right wing, and hence sorting out our right midfield problems. Biscan as a potential first teamer? Who would have thought? Me, a few months ago wouldn't have believed myself saying that, but after some decent pre-season games he does look like a good prospect in the center of midfield, the position where he was originally playing. But then again, as what some would say, and myself as well, it's only pre-season. Cheryou and Smicer looked like world beaters during pre-season last year, so that shows how reliable performances during pre-season are as gauges to actual form in the Premiership.

One last piece of news, would be the never ending saga of the Michael Owen contract. Oh my god. Would you please just sign the god damned thing and get on with it? Yes, I want Owen to stay, but from the way that I see it, his heart isn't really 110% into Liverpool now. Could it be that now he isn't guaranteed his customary starting eleven spot anymore? Would it mean he would now have to WORK to actually deserve his place in the starting line up? Does the idea of playing for Real Madrid actually come as an enticing proposition for him? I have said this so many times before, but to regain some amount of respect that he used to have from the supporters, well actually from me, don't know about the rest, he should actually come out and say exactly whether he wants to leave or whether he wants to stay. I will respect his decision no matter what as I have already come to the conclusion that there is just no more loyalty in the football world anymore. I came to that after learning about how Gerrard actually contemplated moving to Chelsea and had to be persuaded by friends and family (and supporters, if you believe some of the death threat rumours) to stay at Anfield where a few weeks before that he was openly admitting that he was Red true and true and the red of Liverpool was flowing through his veins, yada yada yada.. I do still have a lot of respect for him though, and i do support him as the captain of the club and I would still jump around like a monkey when he scores another screamer into the top corner against Manchester United, but those events just changed my perception of him slightly and also my perception of loyalty among footballers. I'm sure that there still are loyal footballers plying their trade out there, but they would not be the majority anymore. Back to Michael Owen. I think that whether he plays or not tonight / tomorrow morning would give us a better idea as to whether he would be moving or not since if he does play, that would leave him cup tied, and hence declining his attractiveness to most, if not all, of the clubs that are actually interested in him.

So, at the end of the day, am I still looking forward to the new season? Hell yeah I am. Who wouldn't be? Any respectable person who calls himself a football fan would be looking forward to the start of the season no matter what happens during the summer. In Liverpool's case, there are plenty of reasons to feel optimistic. Rafa is one of them, since as a new coach, all the players would give their extra bit to impress him at the start of the season as everyone starts off with a clean slate. Also, I am quietly optimistic that Rafa will bring some much needed change to the tactics and make us more organized, much in the mould of his team at Valencia, and also get us playing more attractive, attacking football. Another reason would be Djibril Cisse. I have not seen him play before, so just the opportunity to see what he has to offer is just enticing enough to actually count down to this Saturday. Probably there are other reasons as well, however one other reason that I would want to add in would be Igor Biscan. Why you would ask? Well, because everyone loves an underdog, and in Igor Biscan, we have the ultimate underdog. Ridiculed for the whole of last season by everyone, including yours truly, when he was played out of position as a central defender, he has shown what he can do as a central midfielder during pre-season and from the reviews that I have been reading, it is a valid cause for optimism. Igor Biscan winning the ball in midfield, then side stepping two defenders before unleashing a thunderbolt of a shot into the top corner of the goal? Who knows? It might just happen? If not, we can still look forward to spending hours at the mamak stalls having intelectually stimulating discussions on how much of a Donkey he is anyway. Bring on the season!

This entry can also be found at Chit Chat Bola [idlanzakaria.com]

Transformers ROCK!!

Was going through Sashi's blog entry and comments about the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and it quickly reminded me of my child hood years and the cartoons that i used to watch, and the most outstanding memory of cartoons that i can remember would be Transformers the Movie which is THE definitive cartoon movie of my childhood years. Scenes of Optimus Prime dying, which i would readily admit (at that time) almost brought me to tears, then passing over the matrix to Ultra Magnus (was that his name) only for it to accidentally fall and get caught by Hot Rod. Also the scene where Hot Rod harnesses the power of the matrix to transform himself (a Transformer transforming himself??!!) into Rodimus Prime. I can still remember myself trying to immitate the sound of the transformers transforming when i was playing with my Autobots. *Sigh* those were the days. Waking up on Saturday mornings to spend hours in front of the TV getting my weekly Saturday cartoon fix, or even those dodgy Malay dubbed Japanese action serials on weekdays at 5pm.

Transformers... More than meets the eye.

* Britney courtesy of usemycomputer

The Ginger One Quits

After 66 caps, Paul Scholes has decided to call it quits [football365], and put an end to his international career. Actually I am just shocked to hear this news, considering he is only 29 years old and probably has a least 2-3 years more of service left in him.

However, in my opinion, Scholes has always failed to deliver when it came to the international stage. I mean, no doubt, he is a pretty good player and is one of the players that Ferguson would put on his starting lineup whenever possible, but he has just never brought over his club from whenever he plays for England. Some say that the quality of players that he plays with for England are just not of the same quality as what he is used to for Manchester United, while others say that he has never been able to play his "prefered" role for England.

Funny though that he decided to retire quite early. Could it possibly be that he has had enough of all the criticism that has been thrown his way, or could it be that he has realized that with Gerrard and Lampard being the most likely choices for central midfield, his chances of playing in his preferred central midfield role limited, or could it really be as what he said, that he would want to concentrate more on his club football?

All in all, he has now opened up the possibilities in the England midfield, where Sven (how long will he be there?) does not have to mix and match anymore to cater for his (arguably) best 4 midfield players, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes. Will this mean more pitch time for Joe Cole? Or would this mean more pitch time of my personal favoured combo of Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge on the left hand side? Time will only tell.

One of those word lists thingy

OK, i am bored. Waiting for some people to come back and have a discussion with them, but they aren't anywhere in sight. I got this in my inbox, and thought to myself, oh well, why not. Here goes.

Write the first thing that comes into ur mind when u take the first glance of 'words' that are listed below...

Coffee - Steaming hot, freshly brewed, without sugar, no creamer... i need one of those NOW. Wouldn't mind a nice cold kopi-o ais as well.

Vanilla - Ice cream. Like the one you put on the brownies at rasta, or the one they put on your waffles at A&W, or a nice vanilla ice cream cone from McDonalds

Pink - I have a pink shirt that i had tailor made. Thought I'd be a bit daring and different. At the end of the day, I think me and pink shirts just don't mix, so i am back to my drab white, light blue tops and grey or black slacks colour combinations at work.

Josh hartnett - Who the f*ck is he / she? Is he the fella from Pearl Harbour? Oh my god, that movie just brings back bad BAD memories. Sitting a whole 3 hours plus having to watch through THAT melodramatic dross. At least Kate Beckinsale was hot.

Popcorn - Movies. Cinema. Which reminds me, i haven't been to the cinema in ages. Haven't watched I, robot and King Arthur yet. Did you know that pawagam is actually "Panggung Wayang Gambar" in short? Again, interesting, but useless information.

Summer - We dont have summers in Malaysia. However, summer was the time I looked forward to the most when I was in London, especially those time spent walking through and just hanging around Hyde Park watching the "sites" in my shorts and t-shirts. I miss that.

Moon - Werewolf, when it's full, that is.

Memories - Funny, the first thing that comes to mind for this is the musical CATS which i watched in London and also at Istana Budaya when it came to KL. One of the better musicals that I've been to.

Sushi - Saisaki, a place which I sadly have not been to in a while. I remember the days when i used to go there and just perpetually camp myself in front of the sashimi stall. Sashimi.. mmm..

Sorry - Seem's to be the hardest word? The song by Elton John. Blue as well.

Enemy - Everyone's got them. It's just a matter of how you handle them.

Dog - Lassie!! Lassie!!

Country - Malaysia

Cameras - I've been meaning to get a digital camera for a while already, but haven't gotten around to actually going around and, how shall we say it, "survey-ing" the shops.

Liars - Liar liar pants on fire. I try my best not to lie. Seriously.

Sean Paul - F*cking annoying. Can't stand listening to him mumbling out his stuff. Not my cup of tea.

WWF - The first thing that came to mind was wrestling. All that phony play acting and drama. I used to watch a lot of Hulk Hogan during my younger years. I just can't be bothered with it anymore nowadays. "WWF" also reminds me of a panda, from the World Wildlife Federation logo.

Jealousy - A trait that one of my ex-es had in abundance. Would prefer not to have it in future relationships. One question that girls ALWAYS like to ask is, "Would you be jealous if (insert action that would normally bring up some feelings of jealousy in a normal person, eg, started to go out with this guy "friend" of mine who tries to be nice in front of me but in actual fact the first thing on his mind is to get in my pants?)".

Bed - Sleep, which I wouldn't mind getting some now.

LOTR - The best trilogy I've watched in the cinema EVER, better than the Matrix trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy (Episodes 4,5 and 6, not the dross that we've been getting in Episodes 1 and 2)

aloha - Don't know why, but the first thing that comes to mind here is Jasmine Trias from American Idol fame. I know. Sounds dodgy. I am scared myself.

March - A month of the year which I don't seem to remember what I did through out it this year. It's been a relatively uneventful year so far.

Friendster - I have an account. Probably have like around 30 friends in my list and haven't checked there for a few months already. Some people on them are just plain sad, since they go around getting as many people added to their list as possible just for bragging rights. Sad.

Movies - Love 'Em. Especially watching them in cinemas. Malaysia make crap ones though, but I am sort of looking forward to watching Puteri Gunung Ledang. It has been hyped up so much that I have a funny feeling that it might just tank. I hope not.

Chocolate - Reese's peanut butter pieces.

Car - Need a new one. Have been driving mine for a while already and the thing seems to be falling apart. Just over the weekend, my front left signal light fell off out of the blue. Good 'ol Malaysian quality.

Raves - Not much of a rave fan. During my "hey days", used to hang out more at the R&B-ish sort of joints. Now, come to think of it, I still have no idea why on earth I spent so much time (and money) at those places. Sigh. I was one confused little boy then. No regrets though, since I did have a lot of fun there with my friends, and I have some of the best memories from that period of my life (and also some of the most gruesome ones as well).

Ok, actually there are probably around 20 more words in the list, but I just could not be bothered to write more, and some of them are just so darn lame as well. So i'll just stop here for now.