Fast forward to this evening and he really improved a lot. And to think only BG Tan was that designated PR commando 5 yrs ago...
Above vid statement was intended as my way of comparing 5 yrs ago with now. Not necessarily 100% accurate portrayal because I don't want to go too far on my politically incorrect sense of humour.
Disclaimer!
If any part of this post sounds ridiculously S'porean, pls don't blame Der Gwee himself. I may be a bastard, but I'm more of a Ned Stark's bastard rather than Roose Bolton's bastard (wait, should that be Ned Stark's bastard or Rhaegar Targaryen's bastard? Either way, still a Stark bastard). To that beautiful legal housebreaker of mine, pls brace yourself. Your future bf's inane sense of humour is coming.
International break and Pope Francis
I just realised earlier this morning that Señor pulled an atomic wedgie over Signor. Ok, that's technically a lie. 4-3 isn't exactly an atomic wedgie, let alone an atomic bomb made in North Korea. As for Maradona vs Veron...
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| Well, at least Captain America wins this time round... |
Credit goes to the pontiff if it's true that both Argentines decided to make peace instead of continual war. The fact that Pope Francis is another Argentine may have helped. [Pls (don't) mind the *toot!*]
Hopefully the local (S'porean) archbishop doesn't see this part.
Okay, Pt Un done, now onto Pt Deux
Firstly, let me just say a bit on Mega Monday itself. Two teams known for aggression, two teams known for that father-mother gentleman (that Korean Psycho will get the joke provided he understands English) attitude towards dead ppl. Welcome to the aftermath of Munich and Hillsborough, folks.
So what should we expect from the match apart from Gary "not Phil" Neville asking Jamie "not the other Jamie" Carragher whether his dad actually behaves like this?
This will be a battle of aggression as I've implied just now. RoboKlopp had pulled an atomic wedgie over O Especial himself, that was years ago where Old Trafford had yet to embrace Japanese culture unlike SJ50. While one match doesn't define history, it must be stated that both knew each other far better this time round (or at least most likely). RoboKlopp would have known the style of O Especial by now, surely he'll want to pin Utd back by placing pressure on whoever's unlucky enough to play in hole 9. Same goes for O Especial... actually, I don't have an idea on how he's gonna neutralise the gegenpressing beyond moving up the fullbacks.
Expect plenty of running back and forth, it'll be interesting to see how many times Utd will take the fight in the middle 3rd. The moment Utd's attacking 4 fall back, it's advantage Kop. If Liverpool did the same thing... okay, Klopp ain't gonna do that, I'm very sure of that (because we all know generally how his footballing brain works).
Against Watford
I'll have to say this is a must-win game. Make no mistakes abt it, we're under the mental cosh. The West Ham draw would be seen as nothing less than a springboard, there's definitely a gap in quality between the Hammers and the Hornets (no disrespect to our opponents though. After all, you don't expect Pochetinno to say there's not much difference between Spurs and Boro quality-wise).
Watford will be spoiling for a fight (fight not as in what Joey "I have a baton, I have a target" Barton does best despite his exceptional footballing ability). While I'd have no doubt on the chances of Walter "does he drive a Maserati?" Mazzarri doing a 4-4-2 (think he did so for the first few matches or so), it'd be intriguing if he does a 4-3-3 like his past few matches.
In this match, we need to look out for 3 strong, 3 weak rule.
4 vs 5
A brief peek on how Mazzarri construct his Maserati lies in his favoured 3-4-3 formation. He tried that in his homeland of Italy. The thing with 3-4-3 lies in how the midfield is played (duh!). Italian football is far more midfield'centric than we otherwise like to think. Don't believe me, go ask this Signor below.
Problem with English football, however, lies in a different culture. While it's perfectly possible to see English teams bossing the midfield like Barca (case in point: Man City), the football there is more aggressive than being languid. Therefore, one of the main challenges facing the foreign talents lies in striking a balance between what is technical and what should be physical. In fact, there's more than one way to park a bus, Irish or no Irish. Perhaps this is why Spurs are playing like Barca atm, it has got nothing to do with Pochettino's past in Catalonia.
The challenge greeting Mazzarri was nowhere easier. To set things in perspective, Watford isn't exactly the kind of team to stroke the ball all over the pitch. Hence, Mazzarri has to decide where his Maserati engine should be apart from the midfield. Problem with 3-4-3 in Watford's circumstances lies in whether the midfielders are dynamic enough to break up play and counter from the middle 3rd. Holding down the ball is never an option (mainly because the overall level of quality couldn't allow them to do so against higher end teams). Unlike our 4-2-3-1, their 3-4-3 system isn't the best way to play ball from the deep (unless the 2 wingbacks are willing to fall back 7 out of 10 times). Opponents with pacy wingers can easily nullify the offensive width while the central midfield can go box-to-box much easier. Either you play a defensive 3-4-3 where the wingbacks or you go for broke out wide like Wigan last time round under Roberto "not Mancini" Martínez.
However, I noticed an interesting detail. And that is Watford playing a 5-3-2 at least once. The difference between 5 blokes at the back and 4 blokes in the middle (i.e. 3-4-3) lies in one man more/less. However, the fulcrum is still the same. Namely whichever line having the most men deployed. Upon pushing up the fullbacks, there's not much difference between 3-5-2 and 3-4-3. The key lies in breaking up play and bossing the ball. In other words, it's easier to do so via 5 men instead of 4.
Let me do an analogy here. Imagine me doing a 100 metre sprint race with a male radiographer 4 teh lolz (just don't ask me why must be male radiographer). Let's just assume his name is Tiger Wong (only Hokkien ppl will get the joke). If Tiger Wong is faster than me, what it means is that he'll win the race upon the two of us starting off at the same time.
Likewise, no one should expect our attacking 4 to be faster than their 3 老虎强. If you don't understand what is 老虎强, it's fine. Just translate it as strong tigers (albeit translated literally word by word, 老虎强 means tiger strong).
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| This is the first 老虎强 |
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| Second 老虎强 |
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| Third 老虎强 |
Watford will be depending on them to get the goals. With 2 pacy strikers and 1 pacy winger out wide, the key lies in two areas: Troy "not the Trojan horse" Deeney and Odion "he turns 'keepers into igloos" Ighalo. They've been with each other ever since Rudy "Get-in Rudy" Gestede departed from Vicarage Road. The partnership between the two was nothing short of scary while Watford was still at the Championship. It's not a case of one bloke scored more, the other less. Fact is, both of them proved themselves to be goal machines. With Heurelho "Hercules between the sticks" Gomes manning the last line, Watford now has a team which can easily punish teams via a smash and grab. As the skipper, it's only natural for Deeney to play at the centre (which comes to the question of why George "still BFF" Friend as the skipper instead of Ben "Le Prince" Gibson). The thing with having a centre-forward as your skipper means one thing: all the other 9 running men can rally behind him at will. The skipper is not only there to lead by example, the skipper must also have exceptional organising skill (not that he should be the only one anyway). In England, it's very rare to see a skipper playing centre-forward. More oft than not, the armband would go to either a midfielder or defender (preferably anywhere within the team spine).
As for Ighalo, his understanding with Deeney may easily shine this time round. Last time round, he played in a central role. This time round, he's played out wide. Out of position? I douibt so.
Which now comes to Nordin "later he rembat your defence" Amrabat. As an orthodox winger, his job is to whip in crosses. Sounds straightforward? Well, Deeney is the skipper after all. Which means where Deeney holds up the ball will decide whether Amrabat will cut in from the width. In fact, the recent stat count seems to indicate a player more into assists than goals. In order to facilitate the scoring prowess of the Deeney-Ighalo partnership, the ammo has to come from somewhere. Amrabat happens to be the first supplier in the firing line. If he commits himself forward more oft than not, it means something is wrong. Not with the opposition, but Watford. Ofc this is not to say he will remain static, just that he may easily do a "run less, hold down the ball more". Something which Kingsley "the black Cimmerian" Coman has to do if he wants to salvage his future.
After going through the 3 strong, let's go to the 3 weak. Sadly, the 3 weak I'm talking abt is my beloved Boro.
The first weak lies in Cristhian "he's no Arnie" Stuani. By being marooned out wide, Stuani can only afford to either hold down the ball (out wide) or drift towards the centre (off the ball). He's basically half a winger minus the pace, more of a second striker in hole 9. Sadly, Adama "hope he won't change his name" Traoré still leaves much to be desired. In football, a change in pace can reverse the tide. However, reversal without goals is like winning plenty of battles, but losing the war. Traoré's weakness now lies in his final ball. No matter whether it's a pass or shot, his pace means nothing if goals are not scored. Which is why opinions are currently divided over whether he's good enough to start regularly atm. We're not known to have the fastest legs when it comes to the attacking width (only an idiot will assume Downing can turn back the clock by downing some kind of youth potion. Lest we forget, doping is still illegal). Our next best bet in aggression out wide lies in Gastón "El Bestia Bello" Ramírez. Problem though is that his passing game will be limited to diagonal passes and crosses (which is why plenty of ppl still regard the central role as his best position. Not every player can be a Spanish Kokehead). If Amrabat is deployed out wide on Watford's left, Stuani's drifting game will be screwed. I swear he's neither Arnie the striker nor Fujiwara Takumi the drifter.
The second weak lies in our lack of goals. Álvaro "not that negro de mierda" Negredo was supposed to get us goals. Initially, the deal may have resulted in ppl thinking Jordan "ain't a son of Dusty Rhodes" Rhodes' time was over. Which is rubbish. No one offered Negredo a permanent deal, neither did Peter "gotta catch'em all" Lim agree with Gibbo to add in an option for a permanent deal. In other words, Negredo will be going home once his time with us is up. Period. The more interesting question should be where Rhodes will fit in come next season. Before we start worrying about the future, let's worry about whether Negredo will be isolated up front. It's a common tactic to leave a 6 ft Heracles alone by himself. The logic lies in holding up the ball so that his mates can do a zerg (depending on whether it's inside or outside the 20 yrd box). Problem is, the only ones who can do this effectively are the Koreans. And their zerg is not Boro's zerg. As for whether Stuani can assume the lone striker role, only an idiot will mistake him for Edinson "the footballing Edison" Cavani. And let's not assume Mazzarri won't adopt a 5 man backline. All he needs to do is to give one of the central mids the license to drop back at will.
The third weak lies in the bench. More specifically Traoré. I've already said my piece on his final ball. He's our only viable outlet when it comes to pace, yet his lack of skill in the final ball may easily put Señor into a catch 22 situation where both pace and accuracy are needed instead of just the former. Do you want pace without skill or skill without pace? Damned either way, it's like asking swing voters to decide between Clinton and Trump as the president. No bailout option. Period (ofc the bailout option exists since the U.S is all about democracy. Not everyone is insane enough to choose willingly between a hydrogen bomb and a nuclear bomb). Ultimately, we can only keep our fingers crossed on Viktor "the kingfis(c)her?" Fischer. That is provided he doesn't do drugs in the name of increased speed. We alrdy got enough of doping and Putin threatening to be the next 007 after Daniel "what's next on Craig's list?" Craig.
My advice to Señor? Be one step ahead of nearest tiger strong. Expecting the likes of Stuani and Downing to outrun the likes of Deeney and Ighalo is like expecting me to outrun Tiger Wong. I know I'm born in the year of the dog, but that doesn't make me Cú Chulainn. The moment the nearest tiger strong is behind any of our players, we're most likely done for. Our lads need to be one step ahead of the nearest tiger strong (positioning wise). As for Mazzarri's approach, I suspect he won't tell his three tigers to fly off the trap. Quite likely he'll tell his players to suffocate our attacking 3, after which the three tigers will be loosed. It may easily become a game of chess where the chessboard lies solely in the middle third. It's down to who will be faster in covering ground from the midfield to the final 3rd. Sounds a bit like Ferarri vs Maserati minus Top Gear.
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