Robbie Savage peddles a great line in self deprecation, John Terry doesn’t, and the best dead-ball specialist in England plays in the Championship
John Terry just doesn’t get it
Having stated emphatically after the recent England match that he wanted to draw a line under the negative publicity surrounding his off-field shenanigans, John Terry unscrewed a big metaphorical bottle of Tipp-Ex and erased it after scoring for Chelsea against Stoke City. Charging over to his fawning acolytes in the corner of the East and Matthew Harding stands, the Chelsea captain yanked up his sleeve as if preparing for a BCG vaccination, before pointing to his armband. It got worse: in his post-match interview he appeared topless, all the better to show off the black and white skipper’s stripes on his biceps. At best, Terry’s increasingly imbecilic displays of self-pity show a disturbing lack of grey matter in an individual who clearly needs an arm around the shoulder and some wise counsel from a good friend, as opposed to hanger-on. At worst, they demonstrate a jaw-dropping lack of humility and self-awareness. Whatever one’s thoughts on the importance of the England captaincy, Terry’s latest bout of tomfoolery makes it increasingly difficult to disagree with Fabio Capello’s decision to remove it from him.
The best dead-ball specialist in England plays in the Championship
The large number of top-flight professional footballers who suffer from a chronic inability to clear the first man (or chronic ability to clear nearby advertising hoardings) with free-kicks and corners – yes, you Steven Gerrard – is, quite frankly, depressing. Most of them could learn a thing or two from the Reading midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson. One of the hallmarks of, and reasons for, the Berkshire club’s impressive Cup run was the 20-year-old Icelandic international’s unerring ability to pick out team-mates from dead-ball situations, whether whipping the ball across the edge of the six-yard box from a corner or arrowing or lofting it towards the corridor of uncertainty between goalkeeper and central defenders from free-kicks. His added-time equaliser against Liverpool in the third round proved he’s equally adept under pressure from the penalty spot, while his pass to help set up Reading’s second yesterday demonstrated that his vision, awareness and technical savvy isn’t restricted to dead-ball situations. Reading will do well to hold on to him this summer; the boy, as they say, is a bit special.
It was a good weekend for unsung heroes
OK, not so much unsung heroes as club stalwarts who shun the limelight, avoid tawdry tabloid headlines and consistently play the kind of game self-aggrandising blowhards like Nicklas Bendtner can only talk. While the confident young Arsenal striker was presenting a comical master class in how not to score at the Emirates over the weekend, Paul Scholes spared Manchester United’s blushes with a well-taken goal that catapulted him into the Premier League’s exclusive 100 club. “I’m very pleased with that, to score goals is what you need to do to win big games,” he mumbled afterwards, with all the swagger of an errant schoolboy who’s been caught mitching class. Meanwhile, at Upton Park, Kevin Davies continued what seems like a personal vendetta against West Ham, scoring his eighth goal in his last 10 appearances against the club, while Everton’s equally uncapped Spaniard Mikel Arteta rediscovered his scintillating pre-injury best at Goodison Park, scoring two and a half goals and generally conducted the orchestra as Hull City were dismantled.
Robbie Savage is fast becoming the BBC’s best pundit
There will always be those who let their personal dislike of Robbie Savage the footballer and man cloud their judgment of his abilities as a pundit, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that in a world of bland and asinine incoherence, the Derby midfielder is a welcome breath of hot air. Eloquent, insightful and unafraid to offer contentious opinions, Robbie added another string to his bow on Match Of The Day 2 last night, mining a hitherto undiscovered, seam of genuine self-deprecation. Speaking in praise of Paul Scholes, Savage reminded viewers that he “was lucky enough to play with him in the Man Utd youth team, but there the similarities end unfortunately.” And why is that? “He’s an unassuming character who’s won a lot of trophies,” declared Savage. “While I talk a lot of nonsense and haven’t won a thing.” More please.
Fifa’s decision to never, ever as much as countenance the notion of using goalline technology should be lauded
There is something increasingly heroic about the Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s steely determination to fly in the face of all logic by constantly reinforcing his obdurate refusal to budge on the thorny issue of goal-line technology. Coincidentally, karmically and poetically, Sepp’s latest act of Luddism was made public at the exact moment Birmingham City’s Liam Ridgewell had a perfectly good and potentially match-saving goal disallowed for reasons that would have been rendered moot by the very technology with which Fifa will have no truck. The comments section under blogs such as this show that football fans are a fatalistic bunch of miserablists who are never happier than when they have something to complain about. Eradicating the errors of officialdom would leave a gaping hole in all our lives.
FA CupJohn TerryReadingPremier LeagueEvertonFifaBarry Glendenningguardian.co.uk
