Monday, January 12, 2009

Open Letter to the Bai

What a fooking terrible weekend. Fer those of you who read me previous posting or know me pessimistic nature, you'll know that me thinks our title challenge has been dealt a fatal blow on Saturday with our stalemate at the Brittania. Kudos to Stoke fer putting us to the sword.

Am seriously fooking depressed. We threw it away again. Last season, we finished fourth due to 13 draws. At the halfway point, we have already drawn 8 fooking times. While we may not finish fourth, me can certainly tell you we ain't finishing first.

Sad but fooking true.

So me was (still is) under a cloud on Sunday when me heard the venerated Shebby Singh make some comments regarding Rafa's tirade against "Mr Ferguson" during the build-up to Super Sunday.

Me has never written to Football Focus, but Shebby's moronic statements compelled me to (see below). Feel free to add yer comments . . .

Dear Mr John Dykes,

Although I have watched Football Focus for a few years now, I have never felt compelled to write in . . .until now.

This email is not with regards to anything said during Football Focus but rather Shebby's comments in the run-up to Sunday's games. When discussing Rafa Benitez's tirade against Fergie, Shebby had this to say:

"What Rafa does not understand is Fergie is an institution in English football . . . In fact he's an institution in world football . . . He has earned the right to question the FA & the fixture list . . ."

The mind absolutely boggles. Although I am a Kopite who feels Rafa should NOT have been sucked into playing Fergie's mind games, I am utterly at a lost for Shebby's sycophantic views. Is this why Shebby is an "honorary" manc in Malaysia?

Fergie complained about having to play away domestically after away European games. Can Fergie or Shebby explain how is it possible to come up with a anti-united fixture list when the Premier League fixtures were done quite a few weeks AHEAD of the Champions League group draw?

C'mon, NO ONE earns the right to be a hypocrite. Did Fergie complain when his team got an extra day's rest during the X'mas period when everyone else (besides mu & villa) had to play two games in 48 hours?

Somewhat myopic to suggest a conspiracy in the face of that FACT, don't you think?

Mind games? No matter who you are, you CANNOT insinuate that certain teams are THROWING matches, like he did when claiming teams were taking it easy against Keegan's Newcastle. If its okay to intimate your rivals of MATCH FIXING just because you are an old war horse like Fergie, then it should be okay for Rafa to speak his mind (he was spot on by the way).

This is not a personal attack on Shebby. But as a well-paid pundit on ESPN, he owes us viewers the decency to engage his brain when giving his opinions & NOT spout such bollocks.

Regards,
Anfield Devotee
http://anfielddevotee.blogspot.com/

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

well...stoke is tough for the big teams...

although liverpool didn't pull away...the season is shaping up to the way i predicted before it began...it might now be a down to the wire fight between Liverpool and Man Utd...it will be great if both teams will keep winning and keep within one point of each other till the end...

it's very tense...i thought i would enjoy a a battle which will be determined on the final day...now...i am just packed with nerves and want Liverpool to pull as far as possible!!!

About Shebby, yeah he's crap!...Benitez has been questioning the fixtures about away games after the CL for years and got no response.

If FA had listened to him, Ferguson would not need to open his mouth...


I love the BPL more now and just look forward to the next match every time!!!

Tinesh said...

OMFG!!! He said that? How did this fler ever become a pundit la? I mean his post and pre match commentary arnt that great compared to reeves and the rest, but to say something like that?

Ridzzy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ridzzy said...

Am depressed yes, but am not giving up yet. Dont be so pessimistic la bro.

I just looked at the table this morning, it still looks ok for a title challenge.

2nd placed chelsea has equal amount of games, but are 4 points behind us. Our biggest challenge will come from the Manc scums who are 5 points behind us with 2 games in hand.

Well heres the thing, points in hand is always better than games in hand as the points for the latter is not guaranteed. They will need nothing less of 2 wins to over take us on the top, and they are not up against easy opponents. Wigan has been hard to beat this season and are working hard to make the UEFA cup qualification this season. A draw or a loss for them is almost unacceptable in the manc title charge too. Pressure is on them.

I know I have said in my own words that real champions do not rely on the results of other teams, but it does help to get a little boost from lady luck.

It aint over bro. I still feel good about this season.

As for Shebbs..dont take him seriously lah. No one in FF does anyways.. lol

Unknown said...

rafa was spot on bro, but think he should just keep his mouth shut and not got into the whole, 'united will be fearful of liverpool' (or somethin' to that effect) crap..

when we are 10 points ahead, with equal match played, then you can talk..

when you've won the premier league, then you can talk..

when you're team impresses consistently, then you can talk..

yes, totally frustrated with the performance against stoke. more so, because we had over 40 million pounds warmin' the bench!

a hardworker he is, but a prolific striker he is not. kuyt needs to dropped when we have torres (and even keano) fit. we also have better wingers..

irrespective, you're never one to share my optimism, but i'll reiterate as usual.. "make no mistake, we're winnin' it this season! yes siree".. wooO hooO!!

anfield devotee said...

@dam: Am unsure whether to waste valuable sleeping time next Tues morning to catch the Merseyside derby. Can't believe me just said that. But me is truly in the fooking dumps rite now. Seriously depressed at us wasting chance after chance to put some daylight between us & rivals.

tinesh: Yes, really, he opened his mouth & out spewed all that shite. Langsung takde logic. Earned the right it seems . . .

Ridzzy: Like me said, the numbers in the draw column of our stats makes unpleasant reading. Not quite championship-winning material.
As fer Shebby, am sorry. But as paying customers we shouldn't have to put up with that kind of fooking bollocks. What a wanker.

Les: Wow. Never thought me see the day u & albertus critisize Rafa the Great. But as you pointed out, his team selection left much to be desired. Note that we only came close when Torres came on. Before that, we hardly mustered an attempt on goal.

Immortal Warrior said...

We're in a shit situation, let's not deny that. Right now, we have to expect the Mancs to drop points (something they're not good at doing) while we cannot drop points (something we've been good at doing).

I like to be optimistic and say we still have a good chance, but being realistic, I'd say we have to match (or better) all of their results and beat them at Old Trafford. Matching or getting better results than them is already a problem, and we haven't beat them at Old Trafford since that Danny Murphy penalty years and years ago.

It's gonna be a long 4 months till the end of the season.

Azer Mantessa said...

hehe

yep, stoke did well and according to matches played and points ... MU is top.

MU VS chelsea ... the corner taken by rooney to giggs is something i have not seen b4 ... what a way to play football ... lol

ferguson is a good manager but took him 12 years to be at where he is today ... i think shebby has given an over statement. ferguson shud not complain about the fixtures ... this is what happen when you become euro champ ... more games waiting onwards.

anfield devotee said...

gost rider: Four months? Er . . . might be all over by the end of Jan as we do an Arsenal-like implosion. Only diff between Arsenal & us is that everyone including the bookies have been expecting us to stumble. So no big surprises there.

Azer: Chelsea pulak bloody crapola.

Immortal Warrior said...

Bala, Redza here btw.

And I've been going over the fixtures, yup, we've got Everton and Chelsea at home this month. Tough matches. The Mancs have easier fixtures, so you're right, it could be over by the end of the month for us.

And you know the best part, the Mancs are where they are with the winker being in crap from. Imagine what will happen when he gets his form back and starts scoring goals for fun.

anfield devotee said...

Redza: What is frustrating fer many of us Kopites is Rafa's decision to rest Torres & Keane. Wasn't the huge outlay fer the latter meant that Torres had a attacking foil?

Why rest them in the Stoke game when 3 points was absolutely imperative?

Anyways, the scum will be above us in less than five days time. They've got Wigan esok & Bolton on Sat, both home games. So we'll be staring down their backsides on Sinday morning.

Fooked up to the max.

Immortal Warrior said...

Yeah, leaving Torres on the bench I can accept coz he's not all that match fit yet, but Keane?? Granted he was crap against Preston, but at least he was in the right position to score.

And Lucas?? Dammit, he has potential, but he still needs lotsa work. And Benayoun has shown time and time again why he's not an automatic starter, the Stoke game was a classic example. Skertal? Yeah, he's good, but he's not on form yet, why is Rafa unsettling Agger further? Agger's hungry to show that he deserves to be on the team. Don't even get me started on Masch. Someone of his caliber should be playing better.

Anba said...

Balaji
;-
i nvr did pay much attention to Shebby Bai normally i just shut my ear tight..hehehe..or change the channel....
But i agree Alex ferguson is an institution..albeit a mental institution...sudah nanyuk...

Jon-C said...

Shebby is a pundek not pundit lah. Enuff said.

anfield devotee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
anfield devotee said...

Redza: Me can understand him giving Skrtel a run out as his big physical presence was required to deal with Stoke's set pieces.

But if Rafa was willing to gamble on Skrtel's fitness, why not Torres's. As fer Masch, bit unfair to blame him as he had to pick up the slack fer Lucas.

As fer Lucas himself, he is just not good enough or unsuited to English footie.

Yossi - again, me thought he didn't see enough of the ball. Our midfield was starngely out of sync.

Anba: Yes, me also ignore but that was really too much to stomach la. Utter fooking rubbish from the bloody Bai . . .

JonC: precisely . . .

SLACKER said...

hey... it was a bad weekend... very dissapointing indeed... especially after how mancs destroyed chelski in what i felt was an amazing 2nd half display by them. i do agree with the commentator that if they dint score in the first half, it could very well have been a different 2nd half...

as for us getting stoked again... like all of you, i don't understand why torres or keane didn't get a start... i suppose rafa felt stoke were pushovers and that we were a team in form with 10 goals in the last 3 games.... so i suppose he felt the team selected was good enough...

i agree with lester that rafa's spot on with his words but shd've kept his mouth shut... there's no point playing mindgames with fergie..

i agree with ridzz that points in hand is better than games in hand...

i still feel that we have what it takes to win the title this season.. but its left to be seen... we must beat the mancs away... i think that's on march 14.. and we still have the other 2 to play... so fingers crossed!

Kopite78 said...

Hahahha!!!! Shebby is a wanker. I have always said this. Everytime it is his turn to speak, I put my tv on mute.

Anyway FFS, the fat lady has not sung yet. MU like us has known to drop points against lesser opposition. Come on Wigan!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe you me when the dust settles come mid May, LFC will be standing at the top.

Sing it with me.....

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through
(And we mean to go on and on and on and on)

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -

Jonno said...

AD:
First of all, could you expand that letter into a proper article that we could put it on the MyRAWK site? Much much appreciated, since you haven't contribute much, it would be a good start, hehehe...

On the game, insipid is an understatement of the display we dished out, but to be fair, Stoke were up for a game and looked really pumped up. I think the main point in the game was that the midfield was too congested with us basically 5 in there and their 4 (sometimes 6 when their strikers drop back) keeping us to play our flowing game. It's their game plan to stifle us and they did it, well too. Credit to them.

Trying to understand why he did it, I reckoned the plan was for Kuyt to run at the defenders, to drag them away for Gerrard and the other 2 on the wings to capitalise, but one thing that sticks out was that we could not get the ball to the forward line or this to happen at all. Which means he should switch to a 4 - 4 - 2 or even 4 - 3 - 3. Stoke are only dangerous with their set pieces, we would've done better with a 4 - 3 - 3 that pushes them back, with players running at them all the time, getting through or not is another story, but at least you peg them back.

The most disappointing thing is that we HAD TO BATTLE for a draw, in this sense it is one point gained rather than 2 points drop as it could easily been 3 points dropped.

On the points and possibility of them topping the table, I think it could be a blessing in disguise, if they do lead by a point, we will be right behind them, to be honest, I would prefer us chasing than leading, which is what we are normally better at. Having said that, there's no guarantee that they would pick up 6 points in the next 2 games, it could very well been 2 only, and they would be only 3 points behind with same number of games. It's harder this season because the top teams are more crap this season (contrary to what everyone has been saying about all the others have improve), only exception is us which is mediocre, which makes us a little above crap. It's still early in the season, only half way there, right now, I still have hopes for the title although the performance suggests that we have a mighty fight in our hands. Just typical us isn't it? Think all the wonderful comebacks we have achieve this season and the CL & FA Cup triumphs, it's just typical of us, so don't get too down hearted folks, we'll be there in May.

ISA said...

chill people...

dont behave like all the others who have just bowed down and let the scums walk away with the title..rafa was absolutely fooking right to raise the issues against the scum boss and their CEO. not impromptu mind u, but just check out the press conference which he gave...he had notes AND FACTS.dont give scums too much respect.

sure, we screwed up against stoke...but what guarantee is there that the scums wont drop points soon? even if they win the next two games, so what? season is still long...with the champions league games coming, who knows?

I dont support rafa..i dont support the players..but da CLUB!! Fook...i even hated souness when he was in charge of the club..Thats the crux of my faith to the REDS...this negativity aint doing us much good.

As for Shebby, fook him...what does he know about football management? he may have been a player, not that decent, slightly above average, but not that bright up there...for someone who's played the beautiful game, he subsribes to the view that one dickhead is entitled to have more weight to his opinions just because he's been a prick for such a long time??? where's the level playing field?? Fook OFF Shebby..

relax..all is not lost...yet...

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

shebby is a double scummer, if you get what i mean. sorry Mozz but even the local spuds must NOT be proud of mr Serbegeth. He's an official member of manc local fan club.

mozHASturnedINTOaMartian said...

&%^#$#*@@(@*(@
beladhi disgrace to the
spurs kamnatis...erk..
i meant the spurs
community..if there ever was
one..if there ever will be..
if EVER.

how about this for blaring torture i.e.:
a)one mr.C.Barnes one shebby's right ear goin "BLEUARRAGHGHGHGH";
AND
b) the right demonable mr.G.DANZIG on his left yelling..depending on his "Mood" of choice:
b1) "..hack the head..of whinyyy pundditss..and...PUTT 'EMMMM UP ON MA' WALLLLLL" - I WANTTT YER SKULLLLL.. ; OR
b2) "dieee dieeeee dieee my darlinnnn'...dont tryyyy to beee my baaayiiiii."

a double whammy fitting for
the ultimate "suwey" bringer
before every spurs game, the moment the word "i think they're gonna win" is uttered *sighh*


appreciatively,
moz

mozHASturnedINTOaMartian said...

p.s. kerp - another word for ya burgeoning tamil vocabulary:
"kamnatis"..its nothing to do with panties though. :)))

Tinesh said...

I'm seriously hoping this season Liverpool puts up a strong fight for the title. It's been years and years (even before I knew how to kick a ball) since MU and Liverpool properly fought for a title.

I need to relish all the cock talking I'll have to do with Liverpool fans. All these years of cock talking would finally pay off if MU and Liverpool finish top two. (of course, I'd prefer if we were the champs la hehe)

kevo said...

Firstly - bloody brilliant, Stoke City! Mr Pulis' 'Strays' were just that. Apart from wantin to tear me hair out, me had to just admire City. Had the Reds on the backfoot most of the game. Whatever the game plan, the players worked their fookin socks off! And should've won it as well. Great stuff...

Ok there. Dissapointed just like you and the rest of the billions. What was RB thinkin with the line-up? Fook, 3 precious points! C'mon, Kuyt on his own up front? Even a saggy-eyed-FIFA09gamer-punk would know that! Fook off! LFC were playin like they were mentally fooked. As if in fear of The Potters. Don't understand why LFC have to set up so defensive all the fookin time. Masch and Lucas were so deep, Ms. Jacqueline Bisset would've been goin WTF! Crap Red performance.

Didn't really think them good fer the Holy Grail this season but still after the 1st half, anticipating anxiously just the same. Oh well fook that, takin it exhaustingly as it is. The fook of it all is... the pain of knowin if not fer some divine intervention, come Sunday LFC're droppin.

Well, just got to suck it up and trust LFC'll start grindin again. Shite! Anyways, me believes AF has every right to rant on whatever gets him off. And so does Rafa. And we know RB wasn't shittin around with his statements unlike - a regular ol geezer pundit countryman - who me respects fer his footie knowledge but not his game (what game) - and who me thinks his fookin pompous comments quite shabby!

"Yeah John... You Know John... Well John...", oh fookin shut yer gob!

theALBERTUS said...

For all intentions and purposes, Shebby Singh is a disgrace to Malaysian football media pundits. His lack of poise and constant irritating stuttering seems to give away the impression that all Asians speak english like that. Heck, even the pundits from Singapore (i remember an exSingapore football team captain) speaks better than him.

This the same guy that says SG should be rightback? Eh? No offense to the Spurs fans but this is one fan you guys can do without. ESPN/ Star has no other choice is it? Either that or it must be that easy to con a gwailo aah! ...(ahahhahaha! Petaling Street style!!) Then again, the same can be said with the rest of the Malaysian football pundits. Embarrasing shame.

AD, you know what! You should be a pundit laa..your'e much better but I think you might scare them gwailos a bit with your mean IRON MAIDEN look and tats. Like crap....really like crap. This goes to show the quality of english is getting shite. Then again that's another story.

Let's not pay attention to Shebby because I know the rest of Football Focus do not anyway. As for this season, well this is going to be nail biting, hair pulling and nerver wracking moments but somehow, I have faith and hope. I too have been waiting for 18 years since I last watched them boys in red lift the title way back when. Have faith and keep up the hope for that's all we have.

This will be the defining moment in Liverpool FC football history. YNWA!

Jon-C said...

Hmmm more rant from the gaffer? The scum's CEO pulak kena this round!

theALBERTUS said...

Why not? I agree with him what. How is it that the CEO of a football club sits on the FA Executive board? eh? wtf? Why not have the other big four as well?

anfield devotee said...

Kopite78: Me has known you long enough to know your wild mood swings. One day its 'We R Champions of the World', the next 'fook it, don't want to watch footie anymore'. . .

Jonno: Just reproduce the letter verbatim la. Me thinks it speaks fer itself . . . And one of the main reasons why me doesn't ontribute anything to My RAWK is coz me will probably piss everyone off with me pessimistic outlook, ok.

Tinesh: Ya rite . . . just waiting to shove our noses in it again, aren't you?

Kevo: That's the thing, Rafa canna afford to be outfoxed by the likes of Pulis.

Isa: You know as well as me that scum very rarely slip up when presented with this kind of opportunity. We'll have to put this down as a valuable lesson learnt. Hope Rafa doesn't do a Houllier & struggles fer fourth the season after challenging fer title . . .

Albertus: Sorry la, me thinks the scum have too much talent to squander this chance. Lest we forget, they are on course fer a quad . . .

JonC: This time trying to divert attention from his tactics.

Jorji said...

shebby is a wanker..same with kopite78,i mute my TV everytime shebby want to speak..and i feel good about it.

i'm so in the good mood now.
cant wait to see Man U on the top of the table again.

:)

theALBERTUS said...

naysayers, saynayers...i wouldn't blame you if you were right if we lost out again but there comes a time when we can believe and that belief is so strong that we can knock off Man Utd off its perch and send fooking fergie to early retirement!

and its that same belief be it rain or dry that keeps us KOPites going.

I believe even if it was me last day on earth tomorrow and I bet so do the greats of Anfield.

mark said...

Listening to Shebby speaks brings images of someone drilling my head into focus. "Yes John", "No John" arghh... "indeed". I seriously think that as a football pundit, he really needs to increase the range of his vocabulary.

Sometimes I get the feeling he disagrees for the sake of it.

anfield devotee said...

Mark: The guy was just talking shite . . .

Jon-C said...

AD, no reply from the pundek for your "hate mail" kah? Wahahahaha, had a good laugh last night when ya text me bout it. I missed the telecast.

anfield devotee said...

JonC: Sounds like the rest of the pundits had a good laff as well . . .

mark said...

So what did Shebby say in response to your vicious attack? Don't play mind games with mancs!

anfield devotee said...

Mark: Dykesy just said Shebby is well aware of the contents of me email.

Shebby didn't say anything . . . unfortunately.

Hee hee

Kopite78 said...

AD: Shebby is a true mancs. No balls to reply to your Rafalike attack on him....

Maybe Shebby thinks you are "disturbed"....

anfield devotee said...

Kopited78: Disturbed? No. Angry? Most fooking definitely!

Jon-C said...

He might say you "missed the boat." Wahahahahaha.