A Week is a Long Time in Football

I wrote a while ago about my disenchantment with professional football but it still has the ability to provide surprise and excitement. This week has been a good example if this. I ended up watching (in a rather half hearted manner) Manchester City's last league game. All they had to do was to win at home against QPR to ensure that they won the league over rivals United. How hard could that be? Well, it must be remembered that this is City that we are talking about and if anyone could cock it up then they could. They didn't disappoint and at 2-1 down with only injury time left it looked like the league title would be heading back to Old Trafford again. At this point many City fans had given up and were leaving the stadium. This is something I've never quite understood but have often seen. When spending good money to watch a team I'm pretty determined to stay until the bitter end and I have seen matches turned around in the dying seconds on more than one occasion. It proved to be the case here with City grabbing two late goals in what must be the most dramatic league title since Arsenal snatched the league from Liverpool in the final seconds of the 1989 campaign. I just wonder whether those City fans discovered their mistake by the time they got home?

That 1989 Liverpool team was managed by Kenny Dalglish and he stayed with them to recover the league the next year (I know, because I was there). His return to the club early last year came as a surprise to me. He did exceptionally well in the next few months to turn around a side that were very much at the wrong end of the table but given his age I did expect him to act as a caretaker until a suitable understudy, presumably Steve Clarke, would take up the reins. The past season, at least the last few months, have been disappointing for Liverpool but they have still won one trophy and reached the final of another with only their league form proving frustrating. However, this has not been enough for the club's American owners and Kenny (as well as Clarke) have both left. This is in addition to many of the other key backroom positions. I can understand that the owners may be concerned that they are not getting enough bangs for the many bucks they have spent on new players but they do now appear to be left in charge of a rudderless ship. I'm not sure what they are planning in the coming months but I suspect that they are trying to apply some sort of Sabermetrics to a football club. Will it work? I think it is possible to produce a decent side with minimal money (Newcastle have done well this season that way) but if that goes wrong it is a long, long way back up.

I think the one football occasion I was really looking forward to recently was the Scottish Cup Final. This had thrown Edinburgh rivals Hearts and Hibs together in the final for the first time in over 100 years - which is somehow far more romantic than the perennial Old Firm hatefest. I was hoping for a decent game but Hibs have been in dreadful form recently and it wasn't long until Hearts had notched up a two goal lead. I did have my hopes raised for a short while as Hibs made a tactical change and scored to make it 2-1 at half time. It wasn't to last. Just after the restart Hearts were awarded a penalty and Hibs had a player sent off. The whole incident highlighted my disgruntlement with football entirely. Kujabi deserved to be sent off for a second yellow card after a cynical bit of shirt pulling. I have no complaints about that. However the incident took place well outside the box and the fouled player managed to take several steps before diving into the penalty box. With the penalty scored and another goal in quick succession many Hibs fans were leaving after only 50 minutes played and one half of Hampden was almost bare by the time the final whistle went. Hearts were well worth their victory and the 5-1 final score was justified but it wasn't quite the spectacle I had hoped for.

At least Saturday offered a double header and the European Cup final provided the sight of Chelsea being pounded repeatedly by Bayern Munich on their home ground. This game did, at least, provide some living room entertainment as my wife decided that she would support Bayern (which is not unknown) so I must, by default, support Chelsea. I went along with it but it started to become clear that it was just a matter of time until Bayern scored. However, as they game progressed this looked like a more remote possibility. Given the number of the German national side that play for Bayern I expected them to pass Chelsea to death and they did proceed to do this but they also appeared to suffer from a lack of finishing which I personally put down to the presence of Mario Gomez. He is a prolific scorer but I really don't rate him much as a player. When he scores it's fine but when he doesn't I actually find he causes the rest of the team to play worse. I'm not sure why but I suspect it is because he is more of a goal poacher and if the ball doesn't go in he loses possession. Not that Bayern needed to worry about that. I think it was telling that it was Thomas Müller that eventually broke the deadlock. It was rather scrappy but with only 8 minutes left it looked like game won for Bayern - which is probably why Müller was promptly substituted for the defensive Van Buyten. Of course it was at this point that Chelsea equalised following their first corner of the game. Bayern missed a gift of a penalty in extra time and it became clear that Chelsea were going to sneak this on penalties. I'm genuinely pleased for the Chelsea players, particularly the likes of Lampard, Drogba and Čech. Many of them have toiled away for years to win this trophy and for many this was the last roll of the dice. Their season seems very similar to the Liverpool team that won in 2005 in that they made a miserable season a memorable one. The best team lost on the night but then it is often that way in football. I think that is why I still keep watching.