Sunday, May 06, 2007

all is...not so well

This may well be an unpopular post, but I've never been keen on popularity.
This is not a good day and I'll tell you why:

a) Nicholas Sarkozy has won the french elections. Thousands of people in the streets celebrating - all of them white and, most likely, wealthy, from what I could see on TV. I don't know much about him and his ideas - the pundits are saying he'll probably be softer as a President than he was as a candidate and I bloody well hope so. I know that he will put a stamp on immigration in France, which will probably be negative on all the foreign communities that live there, including the portuguese - and that's rich coming from someone that is an immigrant himself.

b) There was another (quite smaller) election in the portuguese island of Madeira, won by some kind of "democratic dictator" that has been ruling the island for almost 30 years. No good can come from such a long government, in any circumstance. But almost everyone loves him over there, so you can't argue with that. What you can argue with is the fact that all his opponents and their respective campaigns have been neglected and even impaired, in ways that may not be entirely democratic. Someone from the central government should check it out, everyone knows there must be some dodgy things going around there, but I suspect everyone in Lisbon is afraid of the mighty Alberto João.

c) Manchester United are the champions in England, after Chelsea drew with Arsenal. There's nothing wrong with that per se, I think Man Utd were a great team throughout the season, with a few ups and downs, but I've really enjoyed watching them play, particularly at the time when Larson was there, it was exciting all that attacking force! It was a bit ironic to watch how Ronaldo became enemy no.1 and then the most admired player...and after a while, the most hated man was Mourinho, particularly after he insulted...who? Ronaldo! Funny, it was funny.

So, in a week, Chelsea lost both the Champions' League and the Premiership. It wasn't surprising since their season has been a lot more shaky that the previous two. I understand why no-one would want to see Chelsea being champions again, their style of playing has been duller and duller throughout the seasons. Those long balls to Drogba...arghh, it's exasperating. Mourinho and attractive football don't often match but I wouldn't blame him (despite all of his infinite faults) for losing the quadruple. The injuries, particularly in the defense, but also Joe Cole and Robben...and a really limited squad for a team with such finantial capacity. And despite all of that, still the big Russian wouldn't get any player in January when it was obvious that they didn't have what it took to follow United. I was watching the match today and thinking that Mourinho must've been bitterly laughing inside when he saw that ludicrous penalty from Boulahrouz (it is said that he wasn't responsible for getting the player to Chelsea, but probably that guy Arnesend, or whatever...) - clearly he wasn't the man to substitute neither Terry nor Carvalho.

I don't know what will follow. It'll be hard for Mourinho to stay, either because they'll sack him and because he isn't the person to stay too long anywhere. People will be glad to see the back of them, but then will miss all the commotion. Some people are starting to talk about a curse that will never let Mourinho win the Champions' League with another team apart from Porto. (Meanwhile, and if you care, Porto are steadily heading for the second title in a row, but they're not doing any more than their duty).

12 comments:

Niall young said...

I am feeling rather cynical about the French decision..I can't see it being an era of peace..the streets will see troubled times I feel.

As for Chelsea..Mourinho should stay..I don't see any one else to take that role at the moment. But more importantly by far is:...Derby County are in the playoffs to reach the premiership.!!!!...what do you mean you've never heard of them?

Devil Mood said...

Of course I've heard of Derby, Niall! I know that they're in the playoffs (since you say that was your club, I've been paying attention) - shame they didn't join the Premiership directly, but best of luck now! :)

Preeti Shenoy said...

Dont follow much football, therefore cannot comment.French election sounds depressing.But in Poltics, one never knows--have to wait and watch.

Cathy said...

We can't always have positive things to say, and it's really important to get things that annoy us off our chests. I am in an annoyed mood today as well (and posted as such).
I appreciated your thoughts on these elections, as I haven't read much about either. As for the football, I used to be a fan, but haven't kept up in decades. When my father and Mr. C were talking about it yesterday, I found my eyes glazing over, unfortunately!
I do enjoy Formula 1 car racing, though. Do you follow that at all?

fb said...

Ah, the irony of calling Liverpool a 'long ball team' except it didn't cost £300 million to become one.
Is there a saying for egg on your face in Portugese? Effectively Chelski are a 'cup team' now
just like the 'small club' who wear red and are going to Athens.

Ok, granted Chelski had many key injuries Cech, Terry, Joe Cole but you also have to look at the signings Shevchenko and Ballack stick out as the most disappointing. Essien was effectively shackled by having to play at centre back.

In the Champions League both Manure and Chelski got unstuck by having two mangers who didn't have a Plan B...Ferguson didn't change tactics for 70 minutes, Maureen despite saying the team in blue tried to win didn't have much of a case.

Also I think Manure were hindered by Scholes and Ronaldo not playing 100% in case they got another yellow card and missed the finals, it was that arrogance and the 7-1 victory that proved to be their downfall.

Whatever people may think of C Ronaldo his football has been exceptional and probably most fans even begrudgingly would like to see him playing for their team. I still think they should have given him the Young Players award and the Players Award to Dogba(deliberate typo!)

UEFA have decided to have a 3rd and 4th Place match for The Champions League this year. It's called the FA Cup. ;)

Devil Mood said...

PS: I don't know, politics seem really predictable sometimes, that's why they're so boring ;)

Cathy: lol don't blame yourself for your lack of interest. Obviously, you're interested in other things in the meantime. I really hate Formula 1 and all things with cars, rallys...everything. We can't like everything.

Finn: Oh boy, you have names for everyone, don't you? heheh
Despite Crouch being there, I wouldn't call Liverpool a long-ball team. The games I've watched this season were very entertaining! But why can't they keep a consistent level throughout the season? Well, it's a lot of games, I know.
Incidentally, yesterday I heard a portuguese commentator talking about Benitez's methods, the way he uses a software to see the home games in twelve parts or something. It's all high-tech - the commentator is a huge fan of Mourinho but he praised Benitez highly!
I don't know what 'egg on your face' is, never heard that! But I think I grasp the meaning.
I felt sorry for Essien yesterday, if it wasn't for that stupid dutch...I really hated seeing Sheva and Ballack going to Chelsea but never imagined they could be such a flop. I don't think Mourinho wanted them either...
Isn't that funny - the FA Cup? hahha And I'm curious to see the training game on Wednesday - how are they going to approach that. I see Mourinho presenting a B-team.

Admin said...

those things do make for a sad day. let's hope nothing too bad comes of all that.

dharmabum said...

if u haven't already, u've gotta read up about the circle of concern and circle of influence

Devil Mood said...

Vesper: I wasn't exactly sad, just a little concerned. ihihi

Dharmabum: Where do I read that?

dharmabum said...

eh? what a silly question!

are we forgetting the one stop shop for all your needs - google of course!

Devil Mood said...

Dharmabum: You're right. I thought of Google but I was too lazy. Can you imagine being too lazy to google? :P

dharmabum said...

it is rather difficult to imagine such a thing devil, coz i am usually not lazy. in fact, i have so much energy at times i think i wil go mad :)