Liverpool - Arsenal , my commentary lol

Had a lot going through my mind during the first few mins. No one to talk to. So here goes ... My thoughts throughout the Liverpool-Arsenal match:

From the 1st 20 mins:

Liverpool is dominating! They seem surprisingly quicker than Arsenal. Moving the ball faster, more accurate passes, and had a couple of shots already! Arsenal had none. I have to be honest, the current Arsenal side on the pitch seem to lack discipline/determination! We need a "Roy Keane" type of player to steel up our team, especially in midlfield. A role model.We have been playing sloppily.. Comeon guys! You're facing Liverpool!! You should know what's at stake! Wake up! Liverpool has Gerrard, Chelsea has Terry & Lampard, Man Utd had Keane and Cantona, and now Rooney.. You know such players who put play with their heart in every game.

28th Min: Why no one in the box during each Arsenal attack?! Its been a couple of times already.. Why cross if such is the case?

33th Min: Mascherano kissed Arsharvin's forehead! LOL

40th Min: Scrappy goal by Liverpool! Crappy defending by Arsenal. Almunia is definitely not at his best today. A couple of poor clearances already. Now, didnt even punched the ball out of the box, which led to the goal. It was a great Aurelio freekick nonetheless.

44th Min: Sad, we really do need taller players. Only Vermaelen could really head the ball atm.

Half-time: Poor poor display by Arsenal. No proper shots on target. Beh$$ind ball for most of second part of first half. We do not deserve to win with such a performance. :( I hope Wenger would do something to wake the team up..

47th Min: Arshavin nearly headed the ball goal-bound. Fabregas managed to get one weak shot on target.

49th Min: Great pass by Arshavin led to an Arsenal attack. Ended with Johnson sending the ball into his own net! Yes, its one-all for now. I think this match is only gonna get better from here.

52th Min: Torres makes dribbling look so effortless. Look at how he easily went passed Sagna. Its like Sagna wasn't even there!

57th Min: Saw Aquillani on the bench. Would like to see what this 20 million pound man could do.

58th Min: ARSHARVIN!!! SUPER GOAL! Sweet turn, great first touch, deadly accuracy on his shot. We're up 2 -1 !!! Woo!


64h Min: Torres seems really agitated/frustrated. Oh oh, here comes the 20 million pounds man, Aquillani.

67th Min: Abou Diaby getting ready to come on. I nearly didn't recognize him, as he has more hair now. I thought it was a new youth player.

69th Min: Diaby comes on for Walcott. Walcott was almost unseen in the second half, thus I reckon its a good move by Wenger.

72th Min: Great move by Arshavin, led to another shot on goal.

77th Min: Lots of bad passes, headers, lack of clear cut chances from both teams. Its a bit disappointing so far, entertainment-wise. I hope it changes during the final 10 mins.

78th Min: Yellow card for Arshavin. It ain't right, Agger was exaggerating the effects from challenges by Arshavin, ref!

81th Min: Another Aurelio freekick. He's had a number of them already. I think he's a good setpiece taker. Just like Baines of Everton from last night. Deadly.

85th Min: 5 mins left, seems like not much urgency shown from the Reds.

86th Min: Traore coming off for Silvestre. I think he has did a great job playing left-back today. Wenger's gonna have a headache once Clichy and Gibbs are back, considering how well Traore is playing atm.

89th Min: Another sweet turn by Arshavin, shot deflected. What's worrying is that he is limping right now. Signalling to be subbed. I hope its not anything serious.

91st Min: Ramsey on for Arshavin. Arshavin jogged to the byline. Looks fine to me. Final 3 mins!

93rd Min: LOL. Wenger intruded Benitez's area! I just realised the close proximity of the home and away teams' benches in Anfield.

94th Min: Game ends. Arsenal with 3 points! Not very convincing display though. Wasn't a great match. Guess Liverpool were a bit unlucky. lol. Anyways, what matters is the result in the end

Winter Holidays - pt 3 : Old Trafford, Manchester

If I am gonna keep up with the current rate that I am doing my posts on my recent winter trip, I guess it would most likely be only be fully completed by next year!! Hahaha.. One thing that slows things down is the image upload facility which only accepts 5 images max. Maybe there is a more efficient way to upload photos to Blogger. Well, if there is, tell me!! LOL.. Uploading of pics now is a major pain!

Well anyways, the story continues.. :D

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Old Trafford is one of the many significant places that I had managed to step foot on in this trip.
As I roughly can predict who my readers are, and as I know, most are mostly non-footballholics, thus Q of the Day:

What is Old Trafford?

Hahaha.. Well, simple simple. Maybe a potential must-know general knowledge.
Its the legendary home ground of Manchester United.

Ohh no.. Don't you dare go "Huh? What's Manchester United?"
You're officially not an Earthling if that's the case!

My initial plans when I was still at Trafford Centre, was to go back, have dinner and possibly have a very short nap, in order to put me in the mood to enjoy the match. However, all these failed to happen. Why? Its coz of the stupid bus system they had at that Centre. We managed to hop on a bus at around 4+ pm at that time, if I ain't wrong. The match starts at around 7.45 - 8 pm. I thought "ahh.. Ample time".

Well, what happened was the bus brought us to a bus hub which was just behind the Centre. It was a service change or something. We had to wait for another bus to pick us up. Thus, we waited..

And waited..

And waited..

..

15 mins passed... No signs..
And heck the weather that time was crazily cold somemore! Somehow time passed so damn slow!

Eventually after around 45 mins, the other bus came. WALAO! That certainly dampened my mood. Not only was the weather cold, I was also tired, hungry and was resisting to go to the loo ( as I was in front of the queue during the wait). If I were to miss this bus, and if the next bus took that long to arrive, I'd risk missing out on the match! HELL NO! The bus brought us to a tram stop where we'd use the tram to head home. However, due that damn bus, it'd be a risk to go back home already. It was already 6+ at that time. Thus, after another 15 mins wait in the cold, then only a tram came about and brought us directly to Old Trafford. I remembering not being in the most joyous of mood at that moment. Seems like the public transport system had a problem with me that evening.

I remember hordes and hordes of people all around the streets leading to the stadium. There were police everywhere, even police on horses (which is a very common police 'transport' here). I guess horses are used coz, sitting on a horse allows you to see everything. Second, horses can vary in speed. Hahaha..

Littered alongside the streets leading to the stadium are stalls like the above
selling merchandise, food, drinks and whatnot.

We could actually already hear the singing from inside the stadium from the outside already! OO.. Excitement!

This is how the stadium looks like at night. The stadium is divided into 4 areas, i.e. North, South, West and East Stand(which is shown above)

The main facade of the stadium. The ground floor is where the Megastore is.
I remember seeing just tons of people squeezing emselves in that store during that time.

After finishing my hot dog bun, its time!
Masuk stadium!

This is how people enter the stadiums for the North Stand.

The fastfood establishment on the inside which only operates during matchdays.

And then I saw it.. It was so bright, that from the place that
I was standing, I thought it a sunny day!

Ahh.. After finding our seats, a pic of the pitch.

The stadium seems to be still very empty at that moment.

Suddenly, the crowd roard!
The source: Kuszack(however you spell it), the reserve keeper came out for warmup.

Not long later, the real deal, Mr Van Der Sar came out.

Then the loudest of the roars..

The outfield players take to the pitch for their warmups!
I couldn't believe my eyes at that time!

They warmed up very close to our area...

After doing their rounds, the players went back in. Then everyone waited..
Suddenly, the music came on, and this deafening roar engulfed the whole stadium.
Everyone was up from their seats.

Its coz the players were coming out from their tunnels!!

They then did all their regular pre-match rituals, applauded the crowd before running off to their halve (referring to Man Utd), as shown below.

Ball gets lined up in the centre. Kick off time baby!!

It was certainly one hell of an experience. No wonder people call it the "Theatre of Dreams". The fans were really really passionate. They were literally singing the club's songs throughout the whole match. Everytime the ball got into the opponent's half, we had to rise from our seats. Everyone was doing it. Thus, I had no choice but to follow suit. But time after time, it was disappointment as Man Utd just couldn't score!! Hahahaha..

Ronney erm, I meant Rooney, coming over to our area to take a corner kick!

The famous no. 7 shirt!

The stadium was close to full house that day. It was announced that around 76 K people were in for the match. WOW. I was certainly sandwiched in my seat. There was this super huge guy (like 3x of Chee Huat) sitting next to me. I had to be seated with my body aligned to about 45 degrees relative to the back of the chair for most of the match! Hahaha.. You call that the best seats in the house? Heh..

Somehow, Man Utd wasn't on top form that night. I was hoping to see some Ronaldo magic or maybe a rampant United, however, that wasn't the case.

8 mins into the game.. It was scoreless.
It stayed like that for most part of the game..

I thought my first trip to Old Trafford would be marked as a disappointing 0 - 0 game??? No no.. I was praying that at least one of the teams would score.. I wanna feel what it'll be like after a goal.

Then at last it came, as usual, ball in half, standup..Suddenly, another deafening eruption in the stadium from the crowd. Everyone was jumping up and down, doing high-5s to their stranger neighbours. It was stranger no-more when you're in Old Trafford. I felt like I was a part of a unit, a part of this family. Ur neighbours are now ur brothers. Hahaha..

After Berba scored..

Yes, a goal at least!

The crowd was even more energetic after this goal. Their singing got even more louder this time. Hahaha.. What joy for the fans. The atmosphere in the stadium was just awesome. The Ibrox one just seems so mediocre when compared to this one.

The coming on for the legends, Ryan Giggs and Scholesy!!!

There weren't any rocket shots from Scholes during his time in the game thou, but he did launched a few of his trademark ridiculously beautiful passes during that time. Wow..

Besides em 2, Gary Neville also did come on. Wow. Another legend. He did his trademark run to the byline and cross too. Man Utd fans should know what Im talking about.

Our Asian pride, Ji Sung certainly caught my eye that night. He's one hell of a hardworking player. He should have had a goal that night. He missed from about 6 yards out. What came after surprised me. The fans were singing along the lines "Park .. Park.. What the f*ck are you doing?". I thought that was extremely harsh!

On another note, the defenders, Vidic and Rafael were awesome too. The way they attack the ball using their heads is NUTS. They damn sure have lots of guts.

After 90 mins, it was all over..
Final Score : Man Utd 1 - 0 Boro

Surprise surprise, where'd the fans go??
This was taken just abt 15 mins after the game ended!

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The next morning, Old Trafford was again the highlight of the day. Why again you'd ask? Its a bit different this time round. Its for the stadium tour for this time.

Views of the inside of the empty stadium the morning after.

Was told by the guide that this is where the players enter the stadium, the Munich tunnel.

A clock to commemorate the Munich incident.

Displays line up along the Munich Tunnel, depicting that story..

We walked along the tunnel, and entered the stadium once again. This time we're entering the way the players do. I was expecting maybe a glamorous looking door, somewhere along the Munich Tunnel. But wrong, the entry point was only a very unassuming conventional looking door! Surprise surprise!

We were first brought to the players' lounge room. This is where the players hang out and chill a few hours before the game. There's a mini bar in this room too. A few televisions too if I remembered wrongly. This would also be the room where the wives/families of the players would chill at during halftime.

This board comprised of the list of names of internationally-capped players who've played for the club.

Portrait images of the past great players.
If you look properly in this pic, there are 2 of em with crowns.
Those were only on the portraits of Cantona and Keane.
I don't remember why either.

The players' changing room!
Was told by the guide that the jerseys were arranged according to how the players usually sit!
The jerseys were only mere replicas thou, not the actual ones worn by the players.

Ahh.. Ronaldo and Rooney are changing-room seat neighbours.

Next was out to the pitch sidelines.. We had to go through the tunnel
where the players' lineup before heading to the field.

I was ahead of the pack when I took this. Hahaha..

Pitchside views

That was about it for the tour. After the tour, we headed off to the museum, which I think was very large. It had about 2 floors if I ain't wrong. Lots and lots of stuff. You could even get a pic taken with the Premiership trophy inside. (Comes at a price thou')

Pics from the museum..

We then headed to London that evening, which will come in future posts. Hahahaha..

Thus, that's about it this time :D

The night that Becks played in Ibrox!

On the night of 4th Feb 2009, arguably the world's most popular footballer ever to lived, in the form of David Beckham played in Ibrox Stadium, the home of Scottish powerhouse, Glasgow Rangers. Don't agree he is the world's most popular footballer? Even my mum knows who is David Beckham la. Haha.. Although mum doesn't watch football, I think she knows at least 3 players.. Beckham, Ronaldo(the no.9 one) and Michael Owen. Shyt Keong, you better buckle up ur football knowledge soon, else u suck. Hahaha..

Anyways, I was lucky enough to see him play in the very stadium that he was playing in, and breathe the same air as he was breathing. LOL.. Im not the only one who's ecstatic that Beckham was playing. The other 47000++ ppl who attended were too. That was proved when the announcer announced his name, and he got the biggest cheer. Not only that, these 47000 ppl were the ones who braved the crazily freezing temperatures in order to watch him play. Tiny bits of crushed ice were falling from the skies at the time of the match. Well, I wore 4 layers of clothes and 3 layers for the legs plus 2 socks. Pavements and walkways were lathered with ice all over. Not only that, tickets cost 25 pounds, equivalent to 60++ BND! Anyways, not as exp when compared to the Old Trafford one.

Well on arrival at entrance, I was told by the security guard to throw my water bottle away. LOL! Walao.. Uncle, mafan la lu punya Ibrox! Even Old Trafford allowed me to bring my bottles and bags in leh! Oh well, I sat near one of the corner kick spots. Well close but not that close. Seat was in the last row actually, thus couldn't see the other end clearly when the action is over there. Oh well, but not bad actually. Last row means you can exit anytime you want, plus, there was a roof over the last few rows thus, much warmer I guess. Well, honestly it was still cold. My strategy against the cold worked for my body n legs, but not my feet. My feet went numb! I remember the not-very-pleasant-walking back to the subway, how comfortable I felt.

We arrived around 20+ mins before the match started I guess. I remembered "Beckham Beckham" shouts at that time. And there I see, the man in action. Hitting balls around with Ronaldinho. It was warmup time, accompanied by very loud music to pump up the players I guess..

Becks in warmup

Welcome to Ibrox!

View from my sitting area, notice the lowered roof/ceiling..

Not long after, the players disappear into the locker rooms. Suddenly, the chorus of the popular Tina Turner "Simply the best" song was played and the crowd erupted. Thought what happened, well, it was the cue for the players to come out!

Players lineup

The home team's starting 11 -- I onlyrecognize 2 players! HAHAHA

The away team's starting 11 -- Here, loudest cheer went to who else?

Ready?

The players went to their own halves. Ball in the middle, whistle blew, music stopped. Start of match..

More Becks in action..

To be honest, the first half was disappointing. I was certainly expecting more from a side like AC Milan. Their starting 11 was very strong somemore.

Ronaldinho tried to entertain the crowd with a bit of his trademark 'Make-the-defender-look-silly' passes and flicks to partial success at most. Its a bit sad to be honest. I am sensing the downfall of the once-very-awesome Ronaldinho. He seemed to make his passes a bit more slowly then ideal, from what I see. What happens is, defenders regroup, and then its back to square one, i.e. Reset play or defend. He played for around nearly 70 minutes before being substituted by Seedorf. He had some bright spots from the game thou which included a on-target freekick and a wonderful pass which set up Inzaghi in the first half (He missed thou)

Beckham, whoa.. performed okay at most. He did do some of his trademark pinpoint long passes to the oos and aahhs of the crowd (me included). But I thought he looked a bit tired. You could see him panting, hands on his waist and not running as much. But of course, once again, he got the loudest cheer, I remember when he took the first corner for AC Milan. The Rangers supporters certainly loved him. But, he was substituted abruptly during halftime. I was a bit disappointed to not see him in the starting 11 during the 2nd half.

Sheva was very mediocre. Ever since he went to Chelsea, I think he went downhill from there on. Tonight was no different. Inzaghi, the Italian legend, was mediocre too. There were a no. of passes threaded to him from Becks and the others, setting him up in front of goal, but he either missed the ball completely or had a poor first touch. 2 of the Ex-Gooners featured too.. Senderos was not bad. Another ex-Gooner, Flamini, was not bad too.. Had a couple of good tackles. Pirlo the captain of the night, was kinda mediocre too. In all, Milan weren't playing up to their potential in the first half.

Rangers kept counter-attacking in the first half. Edu was playing well, and so was Mendes. Rangers were actually missing some of their regulars in the starting 11 , in Ferguson and Boyd..

The Rangers Mascot dancing and posing for the cams during halftime..

The second half started with the coming on of Seedorf, Jantuslovki(I dunno how to spell his name) and also Ferguson(the Scottish legend for Rangers).. Seedorf certainly looked bright. He did a couple of good tricks, n damn does he has super fast reaction. He's quick! But that ain't all the substitutions. The night was not over yet. The whole place was still anticipating for that one man to come on. That one man who is rated to be over 100-million pounds in transfer value. None other than..

A lil hard to spot eh.. Kaka! The Rangers fans were
shouting his name, wanting him to come on..

Around 70 mins( if I ain't wrong) Kaka and Pato came on. Oh Oh..
The whole complexion of the game changed from there on.. Sheva and Ronaldinho out.. An influx of pace now.

But suddenly, after a minor mixup from the Milan defenders...

Rangers scored!!
As expected, the fans went nuts!

I was really wondering whether a major major MAJOR upset was in the balance with over 20++ mins left on the clock. Milan weren't doing well so far somemore.. How how?

No worries, a few mins later.. A through pass from a Milan player set no.22 aka Kaka free. Kaka slashes into the box, does a quick pass. After some deflection, Pato strikes n ball ends up in the back of the net. I actually let out a small shout, when they scored! LOL.. I have certainly forgotten where was I sitting at. The home crowd area! My gawd! If I was in the middle rows, I might certainly have been bashed by em already. LOL.. Phew.. hahhaa.. It was sad actually. Milan's support was so lil! When the goal was scored, the whole stadium stayed quiet. No shouting or whatever. Walao..

Action begins..

Now Milan seems to have step up a gear or two. Better passes and movement. But then, ball finds itself on the feet of Kaka.. Hoho.. What else, he runs, holds off the challenge of a defender, strike from the edge of the box. GOAL.. LOL.. Its amazing how he did it. The Rangers defenders were certainly no match for him. Now I know why ppl rate him so highly. He single-handedly changed the course of the game that night!

Milan up!

Kaka taking a corner..

Well, since there was around 10 mins left on the clock. I thought nah, it is over! Rangers gonna lose this one. Suddenly, the crowd seemed to get excited over something. Everyone was looking over at the players bench area. LOL.. What is happening oh? I wondered.. LOL.. I looked properly, ah.. a player coming on. So what? I see the No.9. Oh.. Kris Boyd. Rangers top scorer! Should be an utterly popular player for the club. The support of the crowd for him was whoa! Everyone was standing cheering.. Lol..

Something is bound to happen, I feel. Then from a Rangers attack, after some nice technique by one of the Rangers players, a through ball threaded, a beautiful sidefoot shot by a Rangers player, GOAL! Crowd erupted! However it wasnt their hero, Kris Boyd thou'. It was a leftback if I aint wrong in the form of Sasa Papac..

That was the last goal of the match, thus the match ended at 2 -2..

The final result

The long queue to the subway station. Its nuts!
We ended up walking to the next nearby subway station

Rangers Megastore located outside the stadium

Overall, it was just an average match, in terms of entertainment. The atmosphere was kinda lacking to be honest. Definitely, cannot be compared to Old Trafford one. The fans there sing nearly every club song throughout the match plus there is no needfor speakers to initiate them to sing, like this one. They know when to start singing and all that. But, of course, Old Trafford is nearly twice as big as this place, so certainly understood. Btw, I am still an Arsenal fan. I am just talking about the wonderful atmosphere that Old Trafford has. It was a good experience nonetheless.. =)