Liverpool at loss

Looks like its going to be another season of empty promises from Liverpool. This time even before the season starts, signs of another empty season is all but showing. Liverpool's holding company - Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd announced a substantial lost of £42.6m although the football club itself made a meagre £10.2m profit. Club accountants (KPMG) filed warning notes in their statement of accounts - indicating 'going concern', as the owners Hicks and Gillett (pics above) struggles to refinance £350m worth of debt before the June 24 deadline. Hicks already defaulted the loan he took to finance his American baseball team - Texas Rangers.

So what will happen if the creditors take over. First, they will appoint an accounting firm to act as receiver. Second, when the appointed receiver is in, they will start looking for valuable assets to sell in order for the club to repay its debt. So, what's valuable in Liverpool Football Club? Certainly not its trophy cabinet! Torres and Gerrard? Yeah you're right! These stars will probably be offloaded if and only if the owners cannot do anything about it.

Liverpool fans, start praying..

Barry Beautiful

So, Gareth Barry becomes the second star player to join Manchester City - the other one being Robinho (all else considered insignificant signings for City haha). The thing I like bout this guy is the way he handled his tranfer. Right after he signed a £100k-a-week deal with City, he immediately wrote a letter of apology to his fans - probably afraid that they might hurl rocks into his direction. The letter is damn good man! So cleverly hides his love for moolah. There's no shame Barry, just admit it - you're 28, getting older, and just want more moolah before you retire. Don't treat your fans like kids and give the crap about wanting new challenge. This guy told everyone that he wanted champion's league football - that's why he almost left for Liverpool. Now that City doesn't even have Europa Cup football, he starts singing to a different tune - saying he wants challenge - bla bla bla.

Common, don't treat people like kids. Everyone knows its about the money - so just say it. You should be brave enough to admit it - and guess what - everyone else would have done it as well.
The shame is when you're trying to hide it!

Barry, I've got to give it to you and your pathetic letter.. all the best in City.

Barry's lame sorry letter:-

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=652236&sec=transfers&cc=4716

New man in-charge

Chelsea announced their new manager today and it came as a surprise to me. Not because I didn't know that Carlo Ancelotti was going to be their manager but the fact that Roman Abramovich hired him after the things he revealed in his biography about their meeting! Describing the scene of their meeting (Ancelotti and Abramovich) to the likes of meeting a hitman - isn't exactly the way to impress your future employer. But he got the job anyway! Which leads me to believe that maybe Kaka is on the way to Chelsea? What do you think?

HE'S OUT

Finally,

after a huge string of consecutive unbeaten run on clay court,

NADAL WAS BEATEN!





A jaded-looking Nadal


Time to pack his bags home!

The best team won

I set my alarm to 2.30am and actually woke up to see Thursday morning's Champion's League final. After which couldn't sleep and was left in drowsy state when meeting my clients for the rest of the day - sigh. Depressed and sleepy - what a combination.

Few things I've observed:

1. Barca was the better team that night. United's effort, however valiant we might want to think it is, fell short.

2. Ferguson is a gracious in defeat - Something for Liverpool's manager to note. He said and I quote - "In fairness we were beaten by the best team. We weren't at our best. The first goal was a killer, it was a bad start to the game. If you give them the ball they will keep it all night." - http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=650241&cc=4716 . Now that's class ok.

3. United's defence - something that was the cornerstone for United's success so far - wasn't effective for the game.

4. United should take heart knowing that this season was a fantastic one - regardless of the outcome of last night's game. English premier league champions, Carling Cup winner and Club World Cup winner. Something that most EPL pretenders have not achieved since the formation of the Premier League (I think we all know who).

Before I end my post, I would like to note that strangely - I feel sorry for Newcastle United's Manager - Alan Shearer. The day Newcastle was relegated, Shearer said -

''I spoke to them (the players) in the dressing room and said 'you can make all the excuses you like."

''But I wasn't good enough, Mike Ashley is not good enough, the same with Chris Hughton, Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear (who have all managed Newcastle this season), people in the dressing room, all of us."

This is the mark of a great manager in the making. He first shoulder the blame - admitting that he wasn't good enough - often making you feel so sorry for him although he tookover when the club was already in dire straits. Maybe and just maybe, with him in-charge of the club next season, and given a free hand to manage Newcastle - they might just be able to climb back up to top flite football again. As for now, Scunthorpe United awaits..

BARCELONA - UEFA Champs 08/09!

I think the rest of the SportsMate team are too depressed to write about this, EXCEPT me!
Hahaha..

But everyone in the world, including the ManU manager, players and the fans agree that this win was a very well-deserved one by Barca.
They dominated the entire match, their passings were accurate, their midfielders were so strong and the goals were just perfect! =)

ManU started out strong. Had pretty good chances in fact. With the free kick and such.
Barca didn even have one.
and that very first shot they have was converted to a goal by Samuel Eto'



and *that goal* broke ManU's confidence and the rest were history.
ManU barely had possesion, and when they finally got it, they could barely pass the midfield.
They were simply outclassed!

Barca's way of playing is way way different compared to the EPL's style.
For a while, I was getting so restless and bored bcuz of the continous passing and slow attack.
But that's how the Spanish teams play.

and it was amazing! I might just probably watch more of LaLiga matches now! =D



Barca had a total of 12 shots, with 7 shots on target.
and one that was completely awesome - Lionel Messi's goal!

Crazyyy!
They only had ONE (1) person - Messi in the penalty box and they just need the very one to score the goal!
It was such an awesome header!

Credits to VanDerSar too, not bcuz of Him, I think ManU would be down by 3-4 goals.
Xavi and Iniesta were just too good!

There was this particular attempt by Barca that I loved so much.
Their tactic was something like Iniesta passing to Eto, then he passed back to Iniesta and he passed the ball to the right with Puyol running towards the front to shoot a attempt.
It was close!
It would be the best goal if it went behind the net!! Hahaha...

Btw, Messi is like the total opposite of Ronaldo. Unlike Ronaldo, Messie doesnt dive when defenders get near him. Instead, when he fell down with two other ManU players, he just got up and STILL HOLD POSSESSION OF THE BALL and just keep running!
How awesome is that!

Barcelona - You truly deserve to hold the trophy once again! Well-deserved victory!
Congrats on getting your treble in Spain! It's undeniably the best team on earth as of now! =)

p.s. At least you humbled ManU!! So much for the greatest team on earth and being the undestructable! One team just beat you! Hahaha. Always remember that there will be someone greater than you! Everyone hates ManU so much that they support Barca!
GO BARCAAAAAAAA!

p.p.s I was just suppose to write a paragraph of this thing, look what I end up to! Super gg.com for my assignment! =/

Manchester United vs Barcelona

I walked in to the library today and saw 4 of my friends talking in group. Obviously, one of them saw me and the first thing he asked me was..

Are you going to be there this Thursday?
Here in Adelaide, the live telecast starts at 4am. So he was wondering whether I would sacrifice my precious sleep just to watch this game. Of course man!!
This game is our last game of the season. And what a wonderful season we are having!!
Its a massive game for us and also for all football fans out there.

Later, leaving them behind i searched for a computer. What a irony, another MU fan was sitting in front of me. He asked the same thing as well. But with different accent and words since he is from Thailand. He is a Punjabi. Well I am not trying to be racist here since he like to call me the Indian friend.

The point is, this game is so big and being anticipated by a lot of people out there. Football is like the mother of all games in Malaysia. Same goes with other countries like Thailand, England and other Asian countries.

But this is so different compare to America and Australia. They prefer American football and for Australian would be their footy.

Wherever you are, please do not miss out this game. I am a Manchester United supporter. But i am not asking you to watch because of that. Its a great game with 2 big giants are clashing. If you ask me what would be the game of the season, this would be.




Who will win? Well this depends on who you ask. Barcelona looks stronger but without most of their defenders, it going to be a tight game.
Manchester United on the other hand are on form. So hopefully we can see a fair attacking game from both sides.





This will be my first post here as a writer. Hope you guys enjoyed reading!