1) What has Dani Alves taught us?
While there were so many other ways Barcelona’s Dani Alves could have reacted after that (tasty) banana landed beside him during the La Liga match at Villarreal, picking it up and eating it before proceeding to take a cornerkick broke through a very negative barrier.
Having the banana in the manner he did was a great mental return in an environment that has witnessed players get (rightly) emotional and eventually fall into the entrapment of the racist offender.
Unlike former Barça teammate Samuel Eto’o or Ghanaian attacker Kevin Prince Boateng during his time at AC Milan, Alves’s reaction (or lack of more like) to the thrown banana showed us it is not how others see you but how you see yourself that matters.
One could either be so affected by the abuse and get the authorities to impose heavy sanctions on the abuser or one could make the abuse feel irrelevant and gain a mental advantage on the abuser.
And the latter, personified by Alves who showed that he is above such classless behaviour, sits very well with me.
2) Who and who should and shouldn’t be in the PFA Team of the Year?
There was little to no drama generated from the choice of Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard as this season’s PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year respectively.
One selection in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, Vincent Kompany’s, however sparked debate with many other names suggested as deserving the place instead of the Man. City captain.
Indeed, one could arguably state that the likes of Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal, Chelsea’s John Terry or Southampton’s Dejan Lovren deserved the recognition more, not to forget Martin Skrtel of league leaders Liverpool.
Even Daniel Sturridge’s place alongside Luis Suarez in the PFA TOTY, although deserved as he has had a very good season, could arguably have gone to any one of Man. City duo Sergio Agüero and Edin Dzeko or Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez.
3) Who would make a Premier League Flop Squad of the Year?
In similar way as there is the Razzies ‘alongside’ Oscar awards, it is only appropriate that a collection of this season’s Flop Squad in the Premier League should be celebrated as well.
Obviously a lot of players from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United would easily make the list, such as record signings Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela coupled with Man. United’s Marouane Fellaini.
Soldado and Lamela would be joined by Tottenham mates Jan Vertonghen, Étienne Capoue and Andros Townsend while Ashley Young, Nani and perhaps Patrice Evra seem like no brainer choices to join Fellaini.
Other players who have arguably earned a place in the Flop Squad include Kompany (this season he’s been much unlike his previous seasons) and Man. City mate Gael Clichy, Norwich strikers Ricky Van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper as well as Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa who flatters to deceive.
Other names worth a mention include goalkeepers Hugo Lloris (it’s been quite a season at White Hart Lane) and Fulham’s Maarten Stekelenburg who left AS Roma yet can’t command a starting shirt at Craven Cottage, Nacho Monreal of Arsenal, Newcastle duo Yoann Gourcuff and Sylvain Marveaux as well as Southampton’s Pablo Osvaldo.
4) Is Balotelli still worth the hype?
A hot head, an eventful career in which he has played for both Milan clubs and even famously pissed off Manchester United mana times… not to mention his training ground bust-ups and what not.
Amidst all that, Balotelli was hailed as a peculiar talent with great potential. He had great skill and scored a number of eye-catching goals. In fact, he still has skill and scores those goals too.
But his temperament looks set to outshine his talent, with the latest incident coming in his outburst at the post-match conference off the 2-0 loss at AS Roma, where he was criticised for not making his presence felt in the match.
He is no Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic but if he ever hopes to attain a certain level in the football hall of fame, he’ll need to take such criticisms in his stride and give critics their response on the field of play.
5) What is it with Mourinho’s bus?
Manchester United complained about it very early this season when Chelsea came to Old Trafford simply for a goalless draw. Arsenal complained about it when Chelsea came away from the Emirates with a goalless draw as well.
Among many more instances, Manchester City fell to a first home defeat to it and Atletico Madrid’s relentless play was quelled by this bus in a goalless draw in last week’s UEFA Champions League match at the Calderon.
While Chelsea ironically tend to suffer shock losses at times against ‘weaker’ teams, the tactic is brutally boring to watch in the big matches yet the results it has helped get for Chelsea this season have been more than enough to justify Mourinho’s sustained use of the tactic.
And with the second leg against Atletico to come, Mourinho decided to employ the tactic in a most brutal deployment, fielding a midfield of Nemanja Matic, John Mikel Obi and Frank Lampard in front of a makeshift defence in the match at Liverpool.
Not only did it frustrate the Reds, the Blues went further to score two goals and win a crucial match in the EPL title race, even if Mourinho still insists his team is not in the race.
What’s worse? While joining the queue of managers expressing their frustration at the tactic (Diego Simeone the classy exception), Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers made it known that in fact, Chelsea parked two buses at Anfield.
Bad enough when we had to ‘endure’ one, now two? Oh Mourinho!
While there were so many other ways Barcelona’s Dani Alves could have reacted after that (tasty) banana landed beside him during the La Liga match at Villarreal, picking it up and eating it before proceeding to take a cornerkick broke through a very negative barrier.
Having the banana in the manner he did was a great mental return in an environment that has witnessed players get (rightly) emotional and eventually fall into the entrapment of the racist offender.
Unlike former Barça teammate Samuel Eto’o or Ghanaian attacker Kevin Prince Boateng during his time at AC Milan, Alves’s reaction (or lack of more like) to the thrown banana showed us it is not how others see you but how you see yourself that matters.
One could either be so affected by the abuse and get the authorities to impose heavy sanctions on the abuser or one could make the abuse feel irrelevant and gain a mental advantage on the abuser.
And the latter, personified by Alves who showed that he is above such classless behaviour, sits very well with me.
2) Who and who should and shouldn’t be in the PFA Team of the Year?
There was little to no drama generated from the choice of Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard as this season’s PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year respectively.
One selection in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, Vincent Kompany’s, however sparked debate with many other names suggested as deserving the place instead of the Man. City captain.
Indeed, one could arguably state that the likes of Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal, Chelsea’s John Terry or Southampton’s Dejan Lovren deserved the recognition more, not to forget Martin Skrtel of league leaders Liverpool.
Even Daniel Sturridge’s place alongside Luis Suarez in the PFA TOTY, although deserved as he has had a very good season, could arguably have gone to any one of Man. City duo Sergio Agüero and Edin Dzeko or Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez.
3) Who would make a Premier League Flop Squad of the Year?
In similar way as there is the Razzies ‘alongside’ Oscar awards, it is only appropriate that a collection of this season’s Flop Squad in the Premier League should be celebrated as well.
Obviously a lot of players from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United would easily make the list, such as record signings Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela coupled with Man. United’s Marouane Fellaini.
Soldado and Lamela would be joined by Tottenham mates Jan Vertonghen, Étienne Capoue and Andros Townsend while Ashley Young, Nani and perhaps Patrice Evra seem like no brainer choices to join Fellaini.
Other players who have arguably earned a place in the Flop Squad include Kompany (this season he’s been much unlike his previous seasons) and Man. City mate Gael Clichy, Norwich strikers Ricky Van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper as well as Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa who flatters to deceive.
Other names worth a mention include goalkeepers Hugo Lloris (it’s been quite a season at White Hart Lane) and Fulham’s Maarten Stekelenburg who left AS Roma yet can’t command a starting shirt at Craven Cottage, Nacho Monreal of Arsenal, Newcastle duo Yoann Gourcuff and Sylvain Marveaux as well as Southampton’s Pablo Osvaldo.
4) Is Balotelli still worth the hype?
A hot head, an eventful career in which he has played for both Milan clubs and even famously pissed off Manchester United mana times… not to mention his training ground bust-ups and what not.
Amidst all that, Balotelli was hailed as a peculiar talent with great potential. He had great skill and scored a number of eye-catching goals. In fact, he still has skill and scores those goals too.
But his temperament looks set to outshine his talent, with the latest incident coming in his outburst at the post-match conference off the 2-0 loss at AS Roma, where he was criticised for not making his presence felt in the match.
He is no Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic but if he ever hopes to attain a certain level in the football hall of fame, he’ll need to take such criticisms in his stride and give critics their response on the field of play.
5) What is it with Mourinho’s bus?
Manchester United complained about it very early this season when Chelsea came to Old Trafford simply for a goalless draw. Arsenal complained about it when Chelsea came away from the Emirates with a goalless draw as well.
Among many more instances, Manchester City fell to a first home defeat to it and Atletico Madrid’s relentless play was quelled by this bus in a goalless draw in last week’s UEFA Champions League match at the Calderon.
While Chelsea ironically tend to suffer shock losses at times against ‘weaker’ teams, the tactic is brutally boring to watch in the big matches yet the results it has helped get for Chelsea this season have been more than enough to justify Mourinho’s sustained use of the tactic.
And with the second leg against Atletico to come, Mourinho decided to employ the tactic in a most brutal deployment, fielding a midfield of Nemanja Matic, John Mikel Obi and Frank Lampard in front of a makeshift defence in the match at Liverpool.
Not only did it frustrate the Reds, the Blues went further to score two goals and win a crucial match in the EPL title race, even if Mourinho still insists his team is not in the race.
What’s worse? While joining the queue of managers expressing their frustration at the tactic (Diego Simeone the classy exception), Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers made it known that in fact, Chelsea parked two buses at Anfield.
Bad enough when we had to ‘endure’ one, now two? Oh Mourinho!
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