Deco to be signing of the season?
August 21, 2008
Two or three seasons ago I remember people raving on about Deco saying what a superb player he was. He was playing in a Barcelona team that looked like they could beat anyone on their day but from the games I had watched him in, both for his club and country he never did anything that made me sit up and take notice, I never got that WOW! factor from him.
Now, having studied his game in a bit more depth, I can certainly see what all the fuss is about. He can occasionally pull off a bit of magic but much more importantly he doesn’t waste much.
Much like Makele he puts himself about the field, placing himself intelligently, reading the game and constantly aware of the players that surround him. He wastes very little, sensibly opting to play the easy ball whenever it is on in order to keep posession and move the play up the field.
It’s very early days in the premier league but this is just the kind of signing that can pull and additional 9 or so points onto the board over the course of a season and that is why having watched only one game, I am already changing my mind on who will be champions. Unless United get Berbatov and can do the double over Chelsea this year I think the trophy will be heading back down the M6 towards London come May 2009.
Never write the Germans off
June 19, 2008
This afternoon in the office I was talking about how only a fool would write off the Germans.
They always get better as a tournament proceeds.
I have to admit there was a part of me that said Ronaldo, Deco and the other Portuguese stars had too much pace for the Germans to handle at the back, but sitting here now watching Germany lead 3-1 after 66 minutes it’s hard to see how Portugal can pull this one back.
Germany have looked a much improved team tonight. They started the game looking hungry and the first goal cam about from some beautiful football down the left of the field.
Portugal on the other hand seem to want that one pass too many in the opposing half , despite their undeniable talent they just don’t seem willing to try their luck once in a while. Maybe they got of f to such a good start that they became complacent, thinking they would waltz past the Germans as they have some other teams.
What is slightly concerning, seeing as though he is due to arrive to manage Chelsea in a few week is that Big Phil seems to be out of ideas as to how to pull it back.
I wonder what the Chelsea chairman is thinking now?
Actually he is probably still celebrating Russias excellent win last night!
3 days to go and counting!!!!
The opening day of a major tournament is quite often a cagey affair with no teams wanting to be the first to concede in a championship.
The opening games on Saturday are Switzerland vs Czech republic and Portugal vs Turkey.
I can’t see there being too much to get excited about in the opener and expect it to be a 1-1 draw, both teams have a couple of decent players but neither have anything that makes the pulse race and get me jumping off my feet.
The second game on that opening day of Euro 2008 though is a different story. Portugal are many peoples favourites, with the remarkable Christiano Ronaldo lining up to drive his country men on to greatness. Let’s not put them down as a one man team though as they are anything but. They have oodles of talent throughout in the likes of Deco, Nani, Gomes, Postiga and Carvalho and that is why I am thinking that perhaps the best time to play these guys is in the opening game. Hit them before they have a chance to get into their stride. A couple of games in they’re going to be hard to beat as players find their form and the team starts playing a high tempo, smooth passing game. Turkey therefore are in for a difficult opener but not an impossible one.
If they can hit the Portuguese early on and stun them with an early goal I fancy the Turks to cause an upset right there on day one!
Turkey, fresh from a 2-0 win against finland, are quietly fancying themselves to do a job on Portugal an I for one won’t be surprised to see them get that job done. My prediction Turkey 2 – Portugal 1
