arsenal finally showed some strength after beating fierce londoners rival totenham hotspur with 3-0. i missed watching the game coz my sis and i had to be somewhere else. and its also the fact, my sis cant stand watching another game after their effortless performance this past few games. i dont know what goes wrong with this team coz as far as im concerned they have not done any major changes in terms of squad list and coaching staffs. however, they slowly losing their integrity and confidence at the same time. this might be caused by the departure of their prolific captain patrick vieira 2 seasons ago. furthermore, henrys performance has been dipped awfully since WC 06 and hasnt found his best form yet. injuries will keep him out for a month or two on the sideline and this is certainly not a good news for arsenal who are struggling to snatch premier league title this season from their rivals chelsea and man united. curious as i am, no logical explanations can be summarized from this case.


a different story for Real Madrid as they have picked crucial 3 points from their last match against atletic bilbao. the rival, of course, have a huge story. they have never been relegated to segunda division in their entire career in la liga. atletic bilbao alongside Real Madrid, barcelona and atletico madrid are strong teams in terms of survival in the league. the match was fantastic, but take note this, on the second half. first half was anything but entertaining. even though the players dont acknowledge boring style of play, i indeed have to agree with ppls comments. unlike last match, robinho was better and created chances for both himself and salgado. it wasnt meant to be, salgado fierce shot was brilliantly saved by the goalkeeper. nothing much i can say bout the first half except clumsiness of reyes over and over again. like his game against a team (i dont remember which team) in la liga match, reyes decided giving away a free kick was a better way to help his team to win the game. he handled the ball easily on his hand and rightfully the punishment served, free kick awarded. it was a routine save for casillas but the story was somethin else. the ball was chested away directly to casillas goal, fair? think again. two players were in the offside position and the one who savagely put the ball behind the net was clearly offside. the linesman must have been high and thought it was another brilliant free kick scored by....dont know who. finally, 2nd half was coming and couldnt wait who would be the saviour this time. capello made the right decision to replace both emerson and ineffective reyes with beckham and ronaldo respectively. the substitutes clearly gave a solid performance and soon after, a goal was scored. ronaldo was the man, sorry ruudtje this time around ronaldo was the man, who i had in mind to start the game instead of reyes. he may not be the old ronnie we know, not just yet, but he showing some signs of recovering his midas touch. he has to work hard day by day in order to uplift Real to a desired level. i see some good passes shared between ronnie and beckham and it is a significant leap for capello to have a team comprises with men who can pass, thank God. beck gave an inch perfect header to ruudtje who did marvelously to go past a defender but he took it slowly so the shot was able to be saved. some minutes later, beck crossed the ball to robinho and he, in turn lob it to ruudtje but they back to square. robinho was offside and of course the goal was disallowed. finally, los blancos showed bernabeu that they are still in the running to become this season title contenders. ronaldo met a pass from sergio ramos and scored from close range with his trademark shot, which was goin to the back of the net. nine minutes before full time (minus added time) roberto carlos put Real in front for the first time after 81 mins. i figured the shot was goin to be deflected or wide from the target, and i reckon the goalkeeper thought the same. he dived in the right direction but it was too little too late, the ball was already at the back of the net. this could be a lesson for capello, even though hes an experienced manager one always needs a lesson to learn to become the greatest, if he indeed wants a win he has to put his best men on the field. when i saw the starting line up, i felt disgusted not only seeing beck wasnt on the field, he played awesomely 1 month ago but still dropped from the starting XI, but also witnessing the same lame formation that probably rivals have noted and easily tackled their movements. ronnie and ruudtje play brilliantly when they are together and combining these two ace strikers could be a way out for Real to keep their sight on la liga title despite strong resistance from sevila and barca.

champs league is around the corner and ive been anxiously waiting whos goin to get a 'go' from capello to play in their probably last champs league game before winter break. 3 points is a must for them in order to be in 2nd place, of course it seems unlikely lyon are goin to let go their lead so Real need to push harder. an away game has always been a tough one esp when it happens in the freezing cold country who dont mind to laugh their heart out seeing ronnie freeze in the center of the field while they running havoc to Reals half. hopefully thats not the case and Real coming home with 3 points in the bag. what concerns me most is the fact cannavaro hasnt back from his injury and helguera isnt the proper sub for him. luckily, mejia did more than enough to secure his place for the next game after his solid performance last sunday. hopefully the match will be aired on local tv stations since, espn and star sport dont give a damn bout other teams except english teams. speaking of which, chelsea was rested by FA in the weekend although other teams playing their games as usual. a question raised here, is this part of the talking that took place few weeks ago after terrys dimissal?. tsk tsk im beginning to ask more questions than i should am i not? well who cares anyway. i thought chelsea will be another great team, but i was totally wrong. i dont blame mourinho for all the controversies. but the blame should be put solely on roman cash machine. they are big team with endless source of financial strength and it affects the market heavily. they can buy any players they think fit into mourinhos army but soon after theyll end up on the bench and a season later out to another team. its hard to compete with romans powerful 'arms' but what can we do? nothin. hopefully his wife gets her rights, roman the cheater we despise you....

resyhafabriSta