Bravo Lyon!

Milan has ageing defenders who use to have trouble with young and fast players.

As soon as I told my friends (either via msn messenger, sms or mobile) that Olympique Lyonnais (better known as Lyon) is paired with Italian giant and six times winner of the Champions League AC Milan, their immediate response was “AC Milan will win! Sure!”

But as for my personal point of view, I do not really agree with them. Heavy weights are no more absolute winners in European competitions.

Last two seasons in Europe, Milan could beat heavy-weights such as Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Manchester United etc… But they had trouble with up and coming teams like Deportivo La Coruna, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven. Milan lacked pace, patient and hunger like them. Especially, they had the tendency to be over-confident whenever they met with them.

Even Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani warned his team that "Lyon is a great side. People shoould not underestimate them just because they do not have a prestigious history. But their recent results are clear: they have won the French league four times in row and they are going to win again this year.”



Milan has an experienced squad. And they have players such as Kaka’ and Shevchenko who could change the course of a match within a minute. But they were “invisible” when they were beaten by Deportivo and Liverpool. It means there are tactics to control them.

Moreover, in Europe, the most important attribute is your defence. The Past two recent winners of the Champions League’s main tactic was “Defensive.” Milan has againg defenders. When they face young, pacey and up coming players, their defence could its lose patience and concentration and be drawn to make mistakes

It is true! In terms of record, Lyon has very good advantage. Although they have never meet before, Milan’s record in France is not good. They lost five out of their eight trips there. And do not forget that Lyon beat Milan’s city rival, Inter Milan, before in Milan (2-1) in 2002/3 Champions League group stage.

I think now is the time for Lyon to follow the footsteps of Deportivo and Liverpool. Milan is beatable! Milan has ageing defenders. They even had big trouble against PSV ducklings last year and with Schalke this year.

I want to watch how Maldini, Cafu, Stam will control Lyon’s fast and creative players like Malouda, Juninho and Carew.



People will argue with me that “Milan beat Bayern 5-2 on aggregate. So why not to Lyon?” My answer is “Yes! Bayern has history. But they are being shadow of themselves. German football is moving downwards. And they do not have exceptional players such as Juninho and Malouda.”

Moreover, Milan had trouble with Schakle and PSV in this year Champions League group stage. Both of teams are not as strong as Lyon.

Being the quarter finalist for past two consecutive seasons, champions in French the League for four consecutive years, reaching, at least, the semi-finals is the exact reward for Lyon. They deserve to be there! I believe they have enough experience and hunger. A lot of football journalists and fans have commented that “this year Lyon is better than last two years.” The team is better prepared and improved defensively. Lyon Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet said, "We still like going forward but these days we also keep it tight at the back.”

I bet Lyon can definitely beat Milan. All they need to do is be patient and keep their feet on ground. I say again “Milan is beatable!” They have an ageing squad. Go! Go! Bravo Lyon! Now its time to reach semi-final.

The Ten Quirks of Fergie

We do not see the articles of his established quirks on the bench.

Sir Alex Ferguson is unarguably one of the greatest managers in the world. Although he is 65 years old now, he still can manage the pressure and demand of the highest level of football.

A lot of people have already appreciated the trophies that Sir A.F won, the standard that he set for Manchester United and the generation that he built for Manchester for past decade yet we do not see much of his established quirks on the bench.

Below are the ten quirks of Fergie that he practised/still practise whenever he is on the bench to watch his team play.

THE TEN QUIRKS OF FERGIE

We all love the old lad but down the years I've noticed some fine quirks:

1: Lobbing chewing gum - Full time whistle goes, Fergie is quick to hurl his used up Wrigley's with contempt at the turf. He then shakes hands with the opposing manager, probably with sticky gum covered fingers. In the past, tourists on the stadium tour used to collect the discarded gum and sell it on Ebay.

2: Retching constantly - Look at when the TV camera cuts to Fergie on the bench or touchline - 9 times out of 10 he's coughing his guts up. Must be the result of standing on a cold dugout for the last 40 odd years.

3: Heading the imaginary ball - When a United player gets a good chance in the box, usually (but not always) a header, Fergie does an involuntary heading motion to an imaginary ball.

4: Twitching of the head - It's subtle and you'll need to watch closely. You'll see a slight turn to the side, usually accompanied by what looks like him muttering "Aye, laddie". Perhaps it's a muscle strain brought on by all the gum being chewed?

5: Saying "well done" - At the end of an post match interview, as in "Well done for nae asking me any stupid fucking questions ye dozy bastard". Cringe worthy stuff, makes the interviewer feel like a dick, which let's face it, he usually is.

6: The uncomfortable Press Conference - In his long years of tedious pre/post match Press Conference's Fergie has grown to loathe them with a passion. The phrase "getting blood out of stone" was made for Fergie media sessions. Peppered with uncomfortable silences, denials and simmering rage, Fergie is like a man with a bus to catch. The Govan-er treats media hacks like a headmaster with a class full of under 7's. This attidude can spill over into the above quirk as well.

7: High profile swearing - All managers swear but they do it behind closed doors or non recorded. Few, if any gaffers in the modern game lash out the obscenities to journos and interviewers the way Sir Alex does. Prime examples include: "Knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch" (2002) "Football. Bloody hell" (Nou Camp 1999), "He's a fucking great player, yous are all fucking idiots" (Veron), "That's absolute bollocks" (after beating Chelsea 1-0, 2005). He has yet to use the word c-word yet but there's still time yet....

8: Looking at his stopwatch - the classic Fergie ritual and though much mocked is a great bit of mind games. No referee will ever diddle United out of time because they know the hair-dyer from hell is on it's way.

9: The small celebratory jump - When United score a goal Fergie will sometimes do a bizarre mini-jump celebration. He jumps with joy, then it's as if he realises mid leap he's went too far and holds back reducing it to little hop. As a goal celebration it is somewhere inbetween the Martin O'Neill full-on mega-jump and the Sven Goran Eriksson "not even getting up off the bench, I'm so lacking in emotion".

10: Boycotting the BBC - They accused him and his son of crooked dealings a while back so he'll never speak to them again. This has allowed us all to witness the inspirational personality of Carlos Queiroz in post match interviews. Fergie is the only manager in the country to snub the Beeb and to be fair he's every right to given Motty, Lineker, Hansen and co the finger as there was no conclusive proof of wrong doing. It doesn't help that BBC football is littered with Liverpool bias anyway and Fergie has had run-ins with Motty and Alan Green in the past.

Acknowledgement : Above articles is taken from http://www.manutdzone.com/viewpoint/viewpoint.htm

It was written by former MU player “Mad-Dog” McMonkey” who played for Mu in the 1970’s and early 80’s. Today he owns a highly successful drain-cleaning and rodent extermination business near Oldham. Never afraid to give his outspoken opinion on Manchester United and topical football issues he writes exclusively for McCleery's Manchester United Zone. McMonkey never pulls his punches, he always follows through.