Monday, April 28, 2008

Monday Randomness

  • In news that surprised absolutely nobody, Cristiano Ronaldo won PFA Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Cesc Fabregas won Young Player of the Year, although Ronaldo was also nominated in that category. (Also, Cesc wants to eat your brains.)

    The team of the year, in full: David James, Bacary Sagna, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gael Clichy, Steven Gerrard, Cesc Fabregas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ashley Young , Emmanuel Adebayor, Fernando Torres. It's an Arsenal-heavy lineup, which probably reflects the fact that they voted back in February -- i.e., before the Gunners' season went to shit. Still there aren't a lot of selections that I'd disagree with. I'm not sure about Sagna, but I can't think of anybody else who's really stood out at right-back. Also, Steven Gerrard apparently is going to get nominated every year, regardless of whether he's really in form, because he runs around and goes "RAAAAAAAR" a lot. I'm okay with that.

  • Toronto FC have now won three games in a row, after a pretty convincing 2-0 victory over league leaders Kansas City on Saturday. Amado Guevara scored both goals -- the first one from a possibly offside position after a scramble in the box, the second a gorgeous free kick curled over the wall and into the corner. Incidentally, my sister and I decided that Guevara looks like a porcupine with his spiky hair -- although that was nothing compared to the amazing range of egregious hair-don'ts displayed by Kansas City.

  • There's a rumour going around that MLSE, the company that owns Toronto FC, is looking into buying an English club. Tottenham is supposedly the most likely possibility, and I've also heard West Ham mentioned -- although this is all pure speculation. Just one word of advice, if they do decide to go through with it: Study what Hicks and Gillett have done with Liverpool, and then do the exact opposite of that.

  • I think I've probably mentioned before how I have a soft spot for teams that play in red. Well, one of those teams happen to be Milan. (Meeeeeeeelan. I have to say it that way in my head every time.) Anyway, after kind of a shitty season, they have managed to drag themselves up the table and are now just two points back of Fiorentina in the race for fourth place and a spot in the Champions League next year. Pippo Inzaghi took a break from being continually offside to score a hat-trick against Livorno on Sunday, while Fiorentina almost pulled out a win against Sampdoria and then threw it away again. Ha.

    I don't want to get too optimistic, because the Milan derby is this weekend, and I'm sure Inter (boooo, hissss) are going to be out for blood. But still, I'm hoping that they'll pull this off somehow, and then they can convince Paolo Maldini to come back for another season. Come on boys, you can do it. You know Paolo's not going to hang around for the fucking UEFA Cup.

3 comments:

jag said...

You know Paolo's not going to hang around for the fucking UEFA Cup.
And at this rate, neither is Kaka.

But, seriously. They can take over fourth, but will they?

Jen said...

And at this rate, neither is Kaka.

Do you think he'd really leave and give up his shot at the captain's armband down the road? Hmm. JUST DON'T GO TO CHELSEA, RICKY. LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO SHEVA.

They can take over fourth, but will they?

Gah. Probably not. Milan probably have a tougher run-in than Fiorentina -- their only hope is that Fiorentina has to play teams that are still fighting relegation, whereas Milan (other than the derby) is going up against teams with nothing left to play for this season.

Anonymous said...

Concerning the PFA player awards, a couple of things to note:

1. Why is the voting for this held in January? Could this be any more ridiculous?

2. The 'Young player award' is also stupid. The current format just doesnt work (i think its anyone 23 or under qualifies for it). Surely if Ronaldo was the best player in the league, then he was the best young player in the league too?! How could he not be?

I think the award should be for best 'rookie' or 'under 19' or something like that. Best newcomer perhaps?

I actually think that Fernando Torres has had a better season that Fabregas (he scored 30 goals in his first PL season...), but he couldn't have won the award because a) he's older than Ronaldo, and b) they voted way back in January, before Torres improved and Cesc went on the decline.

Just thought i'd point out my thoughts!