Guinness “Brilliant” Play of the Day

Oh dear! The “analysts” choosing the Guinness Brilliant Play of the Day for each live game seem to be choosing any play by the bigger of the two clubs involved in the game yet again. First off we had the Liverpool v Reading game that FSC’s Bobby McMahon correctly identified on yesterday’s (15 Mar 08) preview show as being a tougher job for Liverpool to win than many were predicting. This was apparent after the brilliantly-executed first-time rocket shot by Marek Matejovsky put the Royals 1-0 up early on. Mascherano equalised with a similarly powerful shot, but as any player or coach in the world will tell you a first-time shot is much harder to execute correctly than a shot such as that by Mascherano who teed the shot up for himself before striking it.An even worse decision came when FSC decided to award the “Brilliant” Play to Arsenal’s scrappy equalising goal – a header by Kolo Toure that may have been an own goal – rather than to Middlesbrough’s genuinely quality goal: a quick counter-attack by Boro saw Tuncay’s brilliantly struck half-volley cross converted on the volley by Jeremie Aladiere. There can be no excuse for not giving this play to the Middlesbrough pair outside of corruption or complete incompetence.Viewers! Please keep monitoring the number of the so-called “Brilliant” plays awarded by FSC to the big teams. Feel aggrieved? Complain to Guinness or stop buying their beer. 

Wigan better than Milan!

I’ve never thought of Steve Bruce as a genius. It could well be that is not one, but the tactics he used against a cocky Arsenal team worked better than those employed by AC Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti. Or could it be that Wigan’s back line is better than that of Milan? Nesta, once considered the best defender in the world was brushed aside by Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor as if he were a rag-doll. And Maldini was AWOL for Arsenal’s second goal, though let’s not take anything away from the great man who is probably the best left-back most people have ever seen.Back to Wigan though: Hleb was reigned in better by Wigan than he was by the Milan defenders, as was Adebayor and many of the London side’s players. The Sky commentators whinging about the state of the JJB Stadium pitch was a bit much. Surely the players have not forgotten their roots? Perhaps they have never played against Heage Miners’ Welfare ankle-deep in mud on a freezing cold, blustery Derbyshire day. It may be that players have been so mollycoddled with perfect playing conditions that they cannot cope with any adversity pitch-wise. Backpasses to goalkeepers should always be played outside the post-line so that “Robinson-in-Croatia” is an impossibility. Remember Beckham skying his penalty kick over the bar in Istanbul? The penalty spot was probably watered heavily pre-match so that that would happen; Beckham didn’t test the ground for the plant-foot adequately on that occasion. Van Persie should have kept his head down when in the inside left channel – he could have used that bobble to hammer the ball goalward had he been paying more attention.