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Thursday Football
27 December2007
by Jerrad Peters

Lampard crocked
It’s deja vu at Stamford Bridge. Exactly twelve months ago, Chelsea were in the midst of an injury crisis which eventually derailed their title challenge. Both captain John Terry and goalkeeper Petr Cech missed extended periods of time over the condensed, holiday schedule – allowing Manchester United to assume a nine-point lead in the standings and eventually win the league.

Fast-forward one year. With Terry already sidelined and striker Didier Drogba also on the injury pile, Frank Lampard limped off the pitch against Aston Villa on Wednesday. If you’re a Chelsea supporter, it was a gut-wrenching sight. After Thursday’s scan revealed a tear in the 29-year-old’s thigh, the most optimistic prognostications had the England midfielder returning to the lineup around mid-January.

And then there is Ricardo Carvalho. The Portuguese defender disgraced himself with a horrific, two-footed challenge on Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor – earning himself a sending-off and three-game suspension. Ashley Cole’s automatic red card for intentional hand-ball only further complicates Avram Grant’s defensive crisis. If Cole remains unavailable for Saturday’s match against Newcastle, the Israeli manager will use a backline of Paolo Ferreira, Tal Ben Haim, Alex, and Wayne Bridge. Not exactly the sort of personnel which wins Premier League titles. Already, however, Chelsea are seven points off the pace.

Ronaldo set to join Flamengo
Let’s get one thing straight right off the hop. Ronaldo is not fleeing Europe with his tail between his legs. Enigmatic though he may be, the 31-year-old two-time World Cup winner has nothing left to prove across the pond. Although he has not won a Champions’ League crown, he was won silverware at each club to which he has been professionally associated over the course of his career. And who knows? Like countryman and Inter Milan forward Adriano, he may use a stint in Brazil to reignite his European prospects.

Having said that, Ronaldo has always left both admirers and detractors scratching their heads. From the mysterious fit ahead of the World Cup final against France in 1998 to his desertion of Inter Milan and, most recently, a series of puzzling leg injuries, observers have always wondered if they actually saw the player that Ronaldo might have been. He is, in a very Canadian context, the Frank Mahovlich of world football.

Flamengo is an intriguing fit for Ronaldo. Born in the Bento Ribeiro neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, it will offer a sort of homecoming for him. And with the club having enjoyed some success in the Campeonato, it will offer him the opportunity to compete in the Copa Libertadores in 2008.

Nevertheless, natural goalscorers such as Ronaldo are curious specimens. Age often creeps in pilfers the knack of it before the player is even pondering retirement. Frustrated, he becomes a mere shadow of himself. After all, not everyone is a Teddy Sherringham – or a Felippo Inzaghi, for that matter.

But if Ronaldo, pace and fitness aside, manages to score goals for Flamengo, it will rejuvenate him. The adulation of 95,000 onlookers at the Maracana can have that effect.

Wenger blasts Pompey
Arsene Wenger is a difficult man to understand. When Arsenal are winning, and doing so with style and flair, he is the embodiment of modesty – the quiet genius, beholding the work of art which he has fashioned. When Arsenal are not winning, however, he is another man entirely. Defensive, spiteful, and full of excuses, the Frenchman is very difficult to like. Unless, of course, you’re a Gunner.

The fallout from Wednesday’s 0-0 draw at Fratton Park is point in case.

“I was surprised to see their tactics,” stated the 58-year-old. “Portsmouth didn’t play at all in the second half.”

Strange; because over 20,000 spectators on the south coast watched their team not only play, but deliver a fine result.

Harry Redknapp will be the first to admit that his players were on the defensive throughout the 90-minutes – clogging-up the midfield and keeping ten men behind the ball at all times. What was he supposed to do? He did exactly what was required in order to get a result. In other words, he did his job. Wenger did not. And his complaints were hardly becoming of a man supposedly among the brightest in English football.

After all, Arsenal are hardly the only side which faces a defensive setup week-in, week-out. Manchester United see it; Liverpool see it; Chelsea see it. It’s nothing new. And the Invincibles of 2004, about which we’ve been hearing so much of late, saw it. Wenger’s comments were high-profile pouting. Nothing more.