The Damned United

As usual up early for my saturday morning walk. Rainy and windy but i am not detered, i have already decided to move up from walker to jogger. 5 minutes walking  to get the body warmed up and then i raise the pace. Feels ok, no great speed but a steady jog. 250 yards and i pass a couple of walkers then i feel a twinge in the left hamstring i slow down and return to a walk. I obviously overestimated my progress and am not yet ready to join the joggers club. Hopefully the twinge is no more than just a twinge and i am back on track monday.

15.45 and i am getting ready to go to Fredriksskans to watch Kalmar FF – GAIS all of a sudden its starts pouring down. I open the balcony door and get blown back into the kitchen i feel the hamstring again and decide Sunderland - Liverpool on Canal Plus is probably a better bet.

Sunderland were the better side and won 1-0. I think everyone would agree that they won fair and square even the hard core Liverpool fans. They were without Gerrard, Torres and Macherano had a 3-5-1-1 line up and no real idea what they were doing. Spearing who took Gerrards place is nowhere near ready, Babel is a great sub, Carragher is struggling, Lucas and Benayoun dont contribute enough and a on top of that Sunderlands goal came via a deflection off a beach ball that a Liverpool fan had just thrown onto the pitch. Benitez will do well to survive this time. A defeat in the Champions League next week will probably find him looking for a new club.

Aston Villa beat Chelsea and are definately good enough to give all the top clubs a match. Tottenham won at Portsmouth were Defoe scored the winner and was then sent off. Man City play tomorrow and can move even closer to the top with a win. Expected home wins for both Arsenal and Man Utd.

I spoke to Biggy Wiggy after the Kalmar FF match and in his opinion 2-2 was a fair result. Petter Wastå was apparently outstanding in Kalmars goal and 17 year old debutant Mattias Johansson was given man of the match and rightly so. 

Lansdowne´s film tips.

The Damned United. A film for football lovers. Its about the 44 days Brian Clough spent in charge at Leeds United in 1974. Clough had lead arch rivals Derby County to the championship the previous year and after he had resigned at Derby he was asked to take over at Leeds United replacing their manager Don Revie who had been made England manager. He hated both Leeds United and Don Revie and this is the inside story as to why!! Some great acting and brilliant Cloughesque one liners.

Enjoy !!