Category: The Fairy Tale Cup

Verbal Memo | Bale, Suarez & Rooney…

Manchester United may have an abundance of talent, but are they that good or are they being gifted the title by their rivals in the Premier League? Is this season an average season for English football?

What about Liverpool? Is Luis Suarez finally living on Planet World Class? Is Suarez the frontrunner for Player of the Year? Also, if we point the finger at Suarez for diving, shouldn’t Gareth Bale be vilified for the same? And can the scouse house challenge for a top four spot next season?

What about the lauding of Gareth Bale? Can he save Tottenham from their annual mental meltdown? Or has Andre Villas Boas added that extra edge to ensure Tottenham are playing Champions League football come next season?

He was once known as the Boy Wonder. Now we all just wonder about Wayne Rooney and what his legacy will be if his career continues to evolve as it has over the last few seasons. Rooney has been at times nothing short of sensational for Manchester United. What has lacked is consistency. Can he live in the shadow of great players like Ronaldo or Robin van Persie? Should he leave the Theater of Dreams to re-ignite his career?

This week’s Red Card goes to the Premier League. When two giants like Manchester United and Chelsea are battling it out in the people’s cup, don’t schedule a league match between exciting teams like Liverpool and Tottenham. Let the F.A.Cup have its moment in the sun. Let it have the spotlight for about half-an-hour. We know you are the beast of football, so stop flexing your schedule muscles. Rant over!

Football, soccer, call it what you want. It’s just like being down the pub with your mates! Lob or volley me @soccerdiva.

Soccerdiva | Footy Show | Average Premier League

Red Card…Arsene Wenger

In this week’s verbal memo to fellow football fans we talk Arsene Wenger and we’re handing out a red card.

The Arsenal empire is crumbling before our very eyes. Gone are the victorious days and glorious moments of lifting trophies. The winning culture at the Gunners has long past and the once dominant and beautiful north London team continue to spiral out of football form.

Arsenal and Wenger have been extremely stubborn with their transfer policy. The ramifications of this philosophy is now evident on the pitch. Something has to change. The red card and criticism is deserved.

Oldham Athletic is our team of the week. We give them lots of football cuddles and love for bringing the F.A. Cup to life this season. Oldham have provided typical F.A. Cup drama and good old fashioned football. And they are doing it against Premier League teams. We tip our hats to you.

Player of the week goes to Barcelona babe Lionel Messi. He can’t stop scoring. He breaks records every weekend! If you haven’t heard about his latest achievement, have a listen and see what the wee magic man has done now.

If you adore what you hear or if you find it completely annoying, have your voice heard and lob us a tweet @soccerdiva. Football, soccer, call it what you want. It’s just like being down the pub with your mates! Get the drinks in.

Soccerdiva | Footy Show | Red Card to Wenger

Verbal Memo | F.A. Cup & more…

This weekend was a vintage one in the F.A. Cup. Giant killings. Upsets. Call them what you want. The small guns came out fighting and crushed the big guns hearts. The Fairy Tale Cup is alive and well.

Brentford, MK Dons, Luton Town, Leeds United and Oldham played a little throwback F.A. Cup football, much to the delight of fans across the football universe. This is exactly what the F.A. Cup needed. An exciting, thrilling weekend peppered with results as shocking as the ending of The Crying Game!

Our verbal memo congratulates the so-called small fry teams and their incredible achievements. We all dissect Brendan Rodgers decision to make Luis Suarez captain of Liverpool in the game against Oldham. And there’s even time for a few quick fire football thoughts at the end.

Kick back. Put your hard working feet up. Grab a brew and enjoy the listen. Feel free to laud or abuse me on Twitter with your thoughts. @soccerdiva.

Soccerdiva | Footy Show | Magic of Cup

Chelski win the Fairy Tale Cup…

guus_hiddink_350x47_815282aChelski won the F.A. Cup. It’s a painful result for every neutral fan as the world wanted to see Everton win! And after Louis Saha scored the fastest goal in the history of an F.A. Cup Final, it seemed Everton were ready to derail Chelsea from their mission to win their first major trophy since the departure of Jose Mourinho. But it wasn’t to be for the Toffees. 

I really thought Everton had this one in the bag. It seemed like their year, but unlike the way Manchester United folded like cheap lawn chairs after giving away an early goal in the Champions League Final, Chelsea dug deep and minute-by-minute they fought back to win. Drogba’s powerful header equalized to make it 1-1 and then Lampard saved the Blues once again with a lovely effort outside the box. Should Tim Howard have saved that shot?  Maybe. But there was definitely nothing Howard could have done about Malouda’s incredible strike that  definitely went over the line. The score should have been 3-1. And how similar was Malouda’s shot to Roberto de Matteo’s for Chelsea in the 1997 F.A. Cup Final? By the way, Di Matteo’s goal was the fastest scored at 43 seconds before Saha’s effort in this year’s final.

The season is now well and truly over and for Chelsea it was certainly a topsy-turvy one. This win will give them every confidence going into next season. Their players and fans must be gutted Guus Hiddink will not be returning as manger of the club. He really did help turn it around and it seems he’s receiving all the credit for Chelsea’s resurgence. But let’s also give some credit to the players (well everyone except Ashley Cole that is)!!! I guess I should mention that he has now won the most F.A. Cup medals of any player since 118 years ago! For us neutrals, that’s a really painful way to end a long but beautiful season…

Red card…

baldrefwithredcardArsene Wenger gets a red card for not playing Nasri and Arshavin in the F.A. Cup Semi-Final against Chelsea. Even though the Gunners started the first 20 minutes well, the manager’s team selection caught up with him eventually.

There was no creativity. There was no danger. There was no width. There was no Arsenal. Fabregas went missing and Walcott just couldn’t make things happen for the team. Diaby and Song are not the answer in midfield. Arshavin and Nasri could have dictated that game given the chance but Wenger chose to be negative when he loves playing positive football. Instead it was Chelsea playing the delicious football.

Arshavin would have relished the stage of Wembley. He has been a sensation since arriving at Arsenal. He has truly lived up to the value of his transfer. If only he could play in the Champions League…Nasri has started to show his ability in midfield and he’s grown in confidence over the last few months. They are both such talents with the ability to change the game and Mr.Wenger had them sitting on the bench.

It’s a straight red I’m afraid sir…