MSL is getting hotter!

With AFF trophy in the cabinet, I believe everybody is looking forward to a more exciting Malaysian Super League matches kicking off very soon. And Selangor is very optimist it can become the Malaysia Cup's champion this time, with 5 national players in the roaster.

But Selangors strength very much lies in its history, not in the current players. The stronger team next year should be Negeri Sembilan and Kedah. If T-Team and Terengganu combined into one team, then definitely there is where my bet will go, but as a separate entity, T-Team has the materials but Terengganu has the coach, so I believe T-Team will do a slightly better performance.

Top notch is for N9 and Kedah to rumble. N9 has the coach, materials and a better goalkeeper. Looks like they have covered all avenue to ensure they win titles this year. Whether they already prepared replacement for Ching Hong Aik and Idris Karim, two high work rate players who are already aging, will be the key question. Perhaps Wan Jamak should look to Daudsu as a replacement candidate. Kedah also has the materials, with good attacking, defenders as well as a very good goal keeper, but Ahmad Yusof is still trailing behind Wan Jamak and midfield need beefing up.

Kelantan the current champion, with a lot of new players definitely will have to struggle the learning curve for a few years. So perhaps they can fight for 4th or 5th place.

Another interesting point is finding new talents, young and old. Wish to see more talented Young Tigers making waves in the league. I still think MyTeam deserves another shot!

Not almost there yet...

Lucas was not playing and that was a wise one, again you can see how Joe Cole set the pace. Incisive through passes to Torres were the key to both goals, doesnt matter if he didnt even touch the ball, just go chase the ball and let them bring you down and that will lead to goals.

Glen Johnson was terrible, the attacking spoiler. An attacker with a defender mind set, better keep him on the bench. And the worst part was all the defenders didnt challenge for the ball, except for Poulsen. Everybody else was beating around the bush, waiting for the opponent to make mistake. That was why Nani has all the chances to send beautiful balls to Berbatov.

But the dream for top 4 is still far from over. The season still has a long way to go.

Bursting speed

Now we see what Joe Cole can do to Lvpl. His bursting speed can fire up the whole team. This is what Lvpl has been missing since last year, they lack the pace. Moving around slumberly, like you do during window shopping will lead you straight to the wall.

Bursting pace dynamics will create a lot of vertical space that will help penetration and finishing. Add to it Brownian passes, then you'll be playing football like the Harlem Globe Trotters! Nothing difficult about it, just a matter of practice and knowing what you need to do. Else you'll be doing all the stupid things, that again will take you straight to the wall.

Too early to say anything about the match against MU, as MU plays a much faster pace as compared to Steau. But at least, Joe Cole will be fielded and his blazing penetration will help set the pace!

Over staffed?

Continuing from what Benitez left, very much similar to his culture of buying lemons, now Hogdson is doing the same thing. Buying second tier players like Poulsen, Mario Gomez, Konchesky, Meireless and Jovanovic and nobody performs! They are cheap but you are not going to get the result.

Players like Gyan, Soarez and Sneijder who perfectly match Liverpool game plans are doing very well. Imagine if Soarez, Sneijder, Gyan playing along side Torres, Kuyt, Cole, Gerrard, Pacheco & Kelly. What a line up its going to be.

Liverpool still need to do a lot of cleaning up of players who dont match the game plans, like Lucas and of course the some of the newly bought players.

Unless Liverpool pace up their game, breaking the top four barrier is going to be impossible.

Eid Mubarak!

Wishing all muslims all over the world, Eid Mubarak and may Allah let us meet another Ramadan. And today the one month of fasting will be spoilt in just one day!!!

Let's go back to football. When England loss to Germany in South Africa last time, I was very convinced that a few players had sold the team out. Look at the way they won matches agianst Bulgaria and Switzerland with average of 3.5 goals for the 2 matches, and these results convinced me more than ever that somebody took the monies in South Africa.

The penetration was fantastic, very clinical, you dont see anybody playing the ole English game anymore. Go straight into the penalty box, and finish it off! With Joe Hart at his peak, definitely they are going to cruise through these qualifiers with their hands off the wheels!

If you've not watched how Argentina thrashed the World Champion, you will be wondering what the hell happened. The only Spaniards missed the match was Iker Casillas and perhaps Puyol, and the team was upside down! Torres also was not playing but obviously he was in his worse form. Iniesta, Villa, Silva, Xavi, Alonso etc were playing but they just cant stop Messi and his crews from scoring and scoring and scoring and scoring...

That proved that Argentina's knock out in SA was just a terribly bad fluke. The team was nervous because Messi was having flu. And shows how significant the contributions of Casillas to the team.

Lucky this time...

With City gaining pace with Milner's urgency and Tevez working as hard and inspiring as ever, it was a little late for Liverpool to strike the iron. But bouncing back immediately with a relieving win over WBA bought some time for the YWNWAs to review what went wrong that lead to the sloppy win.

Hint no1, penetration was poor. Slowing down during a penetration is never a good option, in any manoevre! Very much like the Argentinians who usually slow down in a penetration, the symptom was clearly seen. And selling of Mascherano and perhaps Lucas would be a good idea. They just cant understand the pace required and it needs to be synchronized. This is where a tactical approach needs to be routined and synchronized so that penetration process can be executed with bursting speed.

Liverpool should learn from Nani and Ji Sung when it comes to penetration. Incision into the penalty box with lightning speed, that's what need to be done. Thats not difficult considering the kind of materials Liverpool has, Kuyt and Cole should be able to do that, just like how Kuyt did it for the goal Torres scored. Dont slow down during penetration, move forward into the penalty box and that dynamic will create a lot of space at the top of penalty box and with good finisher like Torres the chance of scoring a goal will easily be as high as 80%!

Master this trick and Liverpool will be higher up the table.

Strike the iron when its still hot...

Not exactly what it normally means, but if Lvpl were to beat ManCity, perhaps this is the best time, when they are still hot, read when they not hardened yet.

ManCity is still looking for the winning formula and they are still disintegrated, huge gaps in between the players, their pace is still very much like Italians, their moving vectors are still random and Mancini still cant pinpoint the best combination. Beating them tomorrow morning will set Lvpl on the right course towards the league cup.

Just pray for Reyna's focus and stability since I dont think Hodgson going to field Cavalieri. Kuyt can replace Joe Cole and hopefully Torres is match fit.

Tight marking of Tevez is a must, read dont let him strike the ball at all! Cause he can hit the net from 30 meters away with a free shot at goal. Defenders must be decisive read, go for the ball immediately. Dont follow their twist and turn! Like wise 90% winning confidence is at 3 goals, 2 goals would be good enough!