Fads in January 07

1. Tonight, the National Stadium at Kallang will host probably her last competitive football match, Singapore vs Thailand….next, reduced to rubbles after 33 years.

2. Singapore swimmer, Joscelin Yeo is quitting competitive swimming. This lady got 40 SEA Games medals under her belt. She always remind me of another Great, Junie Sng.

3. The Beautiful One got trounced at the Australian Open.

4. Michel Platini, the French football legend is the new UEFA president.

5. Indonesia bans sand exports to Singapore. The timing is excellent just as our local construction industry starts to look sunny again.

6. Having body odour might / could hamper one’s job promotion chances.

7. This month seems like Chelsea’s “darkest moments” since Mourinho took over from Ranieri.

8. Trials of the old-NKF and One-Eye Dragon begins…

9. On Day 3 of the old-NKF trial, T T Durai concedes.

10. Korean Superstar, Rain was here for a concert. Tickets range from $188, $488 to $888. I reckon his priciest ticket costs more than Slowhand. He was here too.

11. An Adam Air jetliner vanished without a trace with 102 people on board.

12. Man Utd did not land Owen Hargreaves.

13. David Beckham is off to LA. Goldenballs is off to the Hollywood jetset. A staggering US$250 million 5-year deal. That is a rate of US$125 a minute.

Blame it on the Bogey

Oh my… coming from behind to salvage a draw at the Emirates again. Thank God, the unbeaten record at home is intact.

Kevin Nolan drew first blood with a well placed shot after some neat passing by the Sulk. With 13 minutes to go, Kolo Toure dived low to plant a weak header past Jaaskenlainen to force a draw and a trip to the Reebok.

Only one win out of seven visits to the Reebok. I really worry… would our FA Cup march be halted there? Sigh.. if only Henry’s back heel in the first half had gone in… the course of the game would have taken a new twist. Overall, not a convincing performance by the Gunners. I felt that Bolton were the hungrier lot.

I reckon this draw tie would create a pile-up of fixtures for the Gunners. It would be a problem when players are unavailable through injury and choice of players wears thin. Blame it on the bogey.

Beastie "Hattrick"

The Beast was sensational once again.... Facing a two goal deficit... he single-handedly put paid to Tottenham's opportunity for a rare win against Arsenal.

Cometh the 20th minute, the Gunners were already reeling from two goals down. The first one from a Berbatov’s header and a Julio Baptista own goal.

A team with a never-say-die attitude, the Gunners came storming back in the second half. The second 45 minutes was a better showing and The Beast blasted in two more Carling Cup goals to level the score.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Baptista came back strongly and powered through with a muscular goal in the 63rd minute and then did a simple tap-in with 13 minutes to go. With Van Persie out, the next few weeks could set the stage for the Beast to shine.

A total reversal of fortunes and the comeback is complete. May the young Gunners destroy stuttering Spurs at the Emirates on the return leg.

If they play true to their form next Wednesday night at the Emirates, the young Gunners would surely meet Chelsea in the final at the Millennium Stadium come 25 February 2007.

From Copenhagen, with love

Winning the now-defunct European Cup Winners Cup was perhaps Arsenal's greatest Euro glory. I recall that night when the Gunners took on the holders, Parma in Copenhagen. There was no doubt that the Italians were favourites.

What I saw was a classic Arsenal performance full of resolute, robust defending and relying on the occasional sucker punch counter-attacks. Alan Smith hit the winner in the first half.

Tony "Mr Arsenal" Adams was magnificent that night... so was the back four. They were the rock. The ridiculous Tomas Brolin played for Parma... he's the one who does that insane jumping swivel turn everytime he scores.... Thank God, he didn't get the chance to do so. He's such an eyesore.

The winning scoreline probably holds true as fans sung, "One nil to the Arsenal".

What a jolly good Double!

How memorable…coming from behind to level the match and then to snatch all three points with a beautifully executed winner in injury time. What a revival!

Oh dear… after Patrice Evra had race across the turf and sent a cross for Rooney to head in at the far post…I was like, not again... falling behind at the Emirates again.

The hunt for the equaliser was on. The match swung from one end to another till Robin Van Persie fired the equaliser with seven minutes remaining. It came from a pass from Henry. It could have been either a miscue shot or an ingenious deliberate back flick for Van Persie to slam the ball home.

Then the moment came… deep into injury time, Eboue whipped over an accurate pin-point cross from the right and captain Henry rose so majestically to bullet his stunning header past lanky Van der Sar. I rank this goal as high and crucial as the one he lobbed over Barthez in a Arsenal-Man Utd encounter quite sometime back.

What a night! Grand Slam Weekend ended according to my wish list…big spending Chelsea losing and the Gunners beating the Red Devils and in so, doing a Double over them this season. On a sad note, Van Persie broke his fifth metatarsal.

London Bridge is falling down

Quite oddly, I punched the air with delight when Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0 last night. I felt good…it took a long time coming. It was such a nice feeling to see a team bankrolled by russian roubles…crumbling. I am not sure what it’s like come May. It sure feel good to see them shambling at Anfield.

All along we knew they had millions of pounds of talents rotting in their reserves, right now, they are exposed as a one-man team. Without their talisman captain, John Terry, this Chelsea team looked pretty lost at Anfield.

Well, the partnership of Ferreira and Essien looked uncomfortable. A pairing doomed to fail. Or was it the unhappiness of Mourinho affecting his players? With his defensive crisis looming over his head…was it right to let Gallas and Huth go at the start of the season? Who cares.

To top it off, Ballack and Drogba make a mess of a freekick. Drogba passes the ball to the sleepy German, anticipating he would stop it. Off guard, the German let the ball slip through his legs. It was comical. Oktoberfest was just a couple of months ago… shambolic, I thought.

After the two defeats by Arsenal, Benitez is praised once great again for his tactics. Did he saw the weakness in Chelsea and put in Crouch to deal with the air and let Kuyt run the ground ragged?

Is Jose Mourinho still a wily football tactician that brought in two Premiership titles in succession? Let’s not get too euphoric with this Liverpool win… only in May would we know the answer.

The Swedish Maestro

When he first step into the English game, many gooners, myself included, was wondering how is this Swedish player looking like Donny Osmond could be? Well, this swedish maestro was to give Arsenal and Gooners, pure artistic joy from 1990 to 1994.

Not long after, many of us would agree that this gem of a player was heaven sent. He was the entertainer who brought with him, a new dimension to a then Arsenal side which is ruthlessly efficient, but lacking flair and audacity. His impact then was huge.

This expert ball juggler was terrific while operating on the left flanks. There was everything…. great goals, mouth watering skills and mesmerising charm. He gave the Highbury faithful zest, dash and of course, lethal wing play. Back then, there was always moments of magic from Limpar… those superb long range strikes from him.

He was indeed, rapier-like with his many incursions on enemy line. His uncanny ball control posed many bewildering problems to defenders. It must have been sheer twist and torment for most opposing sides.

Summing it up, Anders Limpar was the ball wizard who can bring a dour game to life, passes the ball with great incisiveness, creates confusion with his sudden change of direction and creates openings when none seems to exist. My only quarrel is that he falls down too easily like a granny.

Well, enough said. He was indeed, exhilarating. Another of my Highbury heroes.

Bye bye... Bisan or Pisang???

It was with great sadness to learnt that Lauren is leaving the Gunners. It was just so recent that he had recovered from long-term injury. Many gooners would have thought he would be challenging for that right back spot again. Well, the exuberence and talents of youth…what with Ebuoue and Hoyte waiting under his wings. It became clear that an exit was imminent.

It seems not so long ago that Lauren came from Mallorca in May 2000. I remember he had that ridiculous pineapple crop of a hairstyle…the one similar to wrestler, Booker T.

Whatever it is… Lauren’s name in Arsenal folklore is assured. It may seems like hard won eminence, however, this Cameroon international had season after season of excellence as the right-back. Not too bad for someone who was originally a right-sided midfielder and filling in Lee Dixon’s shoes. Lauren has risen above all and perform with consummate professionalism.

Lauren’s steady and calm resolution was evident throughout his unerringly rise as the right-sided defender. His instinct to go forward dovetailed perfectly with the fantastic attacking profile that Arsenal demands from their full-backs. He was quick off the pace, in sharp bursts coupled with the quickness of thought. My word… his well placed accurate early crosses to Henry and the other forwards was countless, among many telling Arsenal raids on opposition territories.

He was the right full-back who discharge his defensive duties so efficiently. A tough tackler… an excellent player most compelling when surging forward. He is, to me, one of the most accomplished exponents of a creative full-back in today’s modern game. I am sure he would strike a wonderful partnership with Sol Campbell at Portsmouth.

Players come and go…it might be distant memory that great ones like Overmars, Petit, Vieira were sold…trust Wenger to put in able replacements, as always.

Grand Slam Weekend

This weekend… another bumper crop of high profile Premiership matches. Liverpool vs Chelsea and Arsenal vs Manchester United. Nothing gets bigger than this. Grand Slam Weekend.

Whenever there is an Arsenal vs Man Utd match… it always bring bad memories of the six goals drubbing by the Red Devils at Old Trafford many seasons ago. I remember I was at Man Utd Café that night watching Igor Stepanovs chasing shadows as Dwight Yorke ran riot. Thank God… that scoreline hadn’t been repeated since then.

I’ve always felt that the backline under Wenger’s tenure hadn’t been in particular, strong. Since Seaman, Adams, Bould, Keown, Dixon and Winterburn left… the Arsenal defence wasn’t as miserly as before. In recent memory, Stepanovs, Luzhny and Cygan were like the weakest link.

Hope the current young backline could emulate their predecessors. It is also on a sad note that Lauren would be allowed to leave. I thought he was gonna challenge the right back spot with Ebuoue and Hoyte.

The resilience of 10 men

I remember… Arsene Wenger’s first game in-charge was at Ewood Park. Couldn’t quite recall the score that day. However, I can remember that Blackburn’s Chris Sutton did an ungentlemanly act sometime back.

Well, coming back to last night’s match…the Gunners won with a gritty display…and with 10 men. There was determination, class and authority from that display. Despite the sending off of Gilberto after 12 minutes.

Defender Toure sent a superb glancing header to the net 9 minutes before the interval. Captain Marvel secure all 3 points with a clever hook in the second half. Well, it wasn’t just some ordinary shot. It was breathtaking quality stuff from Henry.

Henry raced down the left flank, played the ball inside to Fabregas, continue his run to receive Cesc's return pass… without breaking one stride, the skipper hooked a marvellous shot towards the Blackburn goal.

To end this piece…Sutton and Savage are not very much my cup of tea.

The win took the Gunners to fourth spot. Quite within reach for a automatic Champions League spot…but nowhere near to winning the Premiership. Well, the price for starting the season poorly.

The dirt less unearthed...

My buddy called me on Wednesday evening, and exclaimed “He conceded… he conceded…”. I was pretty nonchalant about the matter. Well, largely... my confidence with donations, charities, so on and so forth… have hit rock bottom. Scandalous, I thought. He complained that through conceding, he was robbed of filth, dirt and some decent amount of scandal that would, otherwise be dugged out in the open on a daily basis for his reading pleasure.I sort of agreed. He was robbed of an otherwise, a grandslam finale in a juicy soap opera.

Que sera sera… whatever the outcome is … the continual faith of ex-donors like myself... is gone forever. At the end of the hearing, the truth must prevail because confidence cannot be simply restored if the filth and dirt beneath which skeletons of the unresolved past remains in the old-NKF closet.

America’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band

Besides the Rolling Stones, I really like Aerosmith very much. Their glam rock swaggering style was really cool. I didn’t hear much of them untill their collaboration with Run DMC on “Walk This Way”. I was like… wow. What group is that or rather, what have I been listening to all this while. That tune was really smashing, man.

The first Aerosmith album I bought was “Permanent Vacation”. Man, it was great. “Pump” was even better. I personally find “Pump” as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. “Pump” was rock glory at her finest. These guys are bad boys…in fact, they are widely touted as "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". No mean feat.

This Boston quintet is made up of singer Steven Tyler, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer. This combination of musical talents have carried them through around three decades where they had swung wildly from hits to hits, glam rock loudness, shotgun blues raunchiness with melodic blues-based riffs and bawdiness.

I guess “Pump” relaunched their careers and in the process, they pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock history… thereafter, they carried on with the winning formula with power rock ballads and the usual sleazy, raunchy rock numbers with dirty guitar licks thrown in.

“Janie’s got a Gun” is such a rock classic. It is such a great rock ballad and superb song, a great showcase of Tyler’s vocals. He slides, glides, mumbles, wails and screeches like a wild gutter rat resurrected in rock and roll-pantheon heaven. I also fancy their other hits like “Dream On”, “What it Takes”, “Angel”, “Amazing” and ”Jaded”. They are pretty like my enduring hard rock anthems. It is probably conventional wisdom that Aerosmith’s heady metal too had gloriously extrapolated folk and blues.

Don’t we just love the energy that Aerosmith oozes, Tyler’s stage antics and gyration, Perry’s muscular solos, the band’s energetic concert performances and not forgetting those scarves tied to Tyler’s microphone stand. With them, I reached Rock & Roll Nirvana. Many times over.

The rise of the Beast

As expected, Wenger fielded a team of youngsters for this Carling Cup match. These days… one could gauge the importance of a Cup match through the team selection. What an incredible match it turns out to be for the young Gunners.... it was the coming of age for the youngsters and the rise of the Beast.

The Beast scored four times at Anfield. How remarkable. The other scorers were Jeremie Aliadiere and Alex Song. In total, Arsenal hit six past hapless Liverpool. The scoreline reads 3-6! I’ve been a supporter since 1980…never seen such a scoreline against Liverpool before. The previous euphoria was probably Tony Woodcock scoring 5 times in a match. That was the First Division then. Can’t recall which opponents, though.

Among the superb showing, we also saw the return of Abou Diaby. This young midfielder is promising… his strides, movements and commanding display always reminds me of the great Patrick Vieira.

An absorbing semi-final match against old-time foe, Tottenham Hotspurs beckons. May the class of the Arsenal youth shine all the way to the final.

The Voice of Led Zeppelin

I’ve written a fair bit about my guitar heroes. Today, I am paying tribute to another of my fav axemen…He is Jimmy Page, one of the greatest guitarists and the founding member of one of my all-time favourite rock bands, Led Zeppelin.

I could safely conclude that Jimmy Page is one of the forefathers of heavy metal. He probably electrified the audience then with his fantastic guitar solos, the heavier sounding type. His guitar mastery, prowess, stage magnetism and innovative guitarwork….was a work of art and truly, excellent.

Led Zep classics like “Whole Lotta Love”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “Heartbreaker”, “Black Dog”, “Kashmir”amongst other will always mesmerised me. His name is synonymous with Led Zeppelin, I guess it’s a little known fact that he played with the Yardbirds for awhile.

Actually, who came up with the name for Led Zeppelin? Till today… I’m unsure. Was it John Entwistle or Keith Moon? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Jimmy Page rocks…as the composer and guitarist for Led Zeppelin, he was the main driving forces behind the rock sound of that era, the 70s. His Gibson Les Paul guitars and Marshall amplifiers complete the set.

It’s a real toss between the greatest ever guitar solo. Is it Jimmy Page’s “Stairway to Heaven” or Keith Richards’s “Satisfaction”? I can’t decide… I guess that just about every rock guitarist from the late '60s till the present day would have listened to Page and has been influenced by the master's work with Led Zeppelin. Back to Richards and Page, all I can say is that the former's guitar wailing screams bitch and Page's tells one - "I wanna give you my love, a whole lotta of love".

It’s so sad that Led Zeppelin called it quit back in late 1980. To me always, Jimmy Page is truly one of the all-time most versatile guitarist and songwriter in rock history. The voice of Led Zeppelin turns 63 today. Remarkable.

Fortress Anfield? I think not!

Quite a daunting task…facing the Cup holders and at Fortress Anfield.

Well, two moments of brilliance from Rosicky and a typical Henry wonder goal sealed the match and sent the Gunners to the Fourth Round. The two Rosicky goals are surely to be one of his many classics in the years to come….

Rosicky’s first was a perfectly crafted curler into the top corner and the Czech’s second was a low shot after an incredible mazy run. The 3-1 scoreline was flattering, but the Gunners didn’t really dominate, they just took their chances well. Liverpool hold the lion’s share of ball possession. Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos held the defence superbly.

Dirk Kuyt pulled one back around the 70th minute. It sort of set up a grandstand finish as the Anfield faithful urged the home team on….However, seven minutes from time, Thierry Henry scored the decisive third goal to kill the game.

With Van Persie substituted and playing as a lone striker, the moment of magic came… the Arsenal captain snatched possession, knocked the ball on to the left flank, robbed the ball past ever-reliable Carragher, raced towards goal, cut inside and fired home!

Fortress Anfield? I think not.

Va va vrooming….Charlton away

Wow! What a start to the New Year. Beating Charlton 4-0. Well, Captain Marvel was well rested and he’s back…. feeling fresh and rejuvenated. Time for our opponents to start worrying.

A great turnout of 60, 057 saw the Gunners slaughtered the Addicks 4-0. The man of the hour was Captain Marvel. He was all over them. This guy sure looks fresh and can’t wait to set things right. He was at the heart of every great Arsenal moves and goals. He was the great motivator, the precise passer, or quite superbly, the Architect.

He scored from the spot after Van Persie got hauled down. After leading 1-0, and with Charlton playing with 10 men, the game was effectively over. The great Arsenal show was in overdrive….

Young Justin Hoyte received Henry's pass to notch his first ever goal just before half-time. In-form Robin Van Persie sent Arsenal to a 3-0 lead with a well-taken penalty around 15 minutes from time. The Dutchman scored his second and Arsenal’s fourth near the end of the match.

In fact, the entire Arsenal team were on fire and keeper Scott Carson was in fine form to keep the scoreline respectable for the Addicks. To be honest, Charlton hardly put up a fight after they were down to 10 men. It is quite a case of the opponents were so bad that made the Gunners looked so pretty good.

Not to take any thing away from the Gunners… it was a good performance. All well ends well. Pardew and Wenger even shook hands. No more the wild shove that Wenger gave him the other time at Upton Park.

The fox in the box

Hey... this Brazilian is potent stuff. He is the current stand-in skipper for Arsenal. Quiet, under-rated, a tough tackler, the brickwall before the Arsenal defence. The holding midfielder. He is Gilberto Silva.

He should earn the title as the "fox in the box". He is the one that Francis Jeffers fails to live up to.

His striking rate this season is awesome. His goals either got the Gunners out of jail, force a hard-fought draw, a comeback or launch a hail of goals. I guess the captaincy has something to do with it. He even takes cool penalties.

C'mon, Baptista, snap out of your "not enough matches to be sharp" talk and start scoring too!

Excuse me, we are actually… normal

I read with great interest to an article appearing on the Forum page, The Straits Times on 28 December 2006. It was by a Mr Tan Wei Zhi, a Tourette’s Syndrome sufferer. I am also a Tourette’s tics sufferer since young.

He highlighted of people at the public getting frightened when they see him. It would be natural for people who are ignorant of Tourette’s Syndrome to think that that we are mentally ill. In fact, we are not. It is a neurology disorder.

Wei Zhi also mentioned of his fears on holding a job, amidst other concerns. Quite similarly, back then, I had those fears too. I’ve since overcame them. I am also pretty used to people staring at me curiously. Not a problem. There are people out there who are aware of Tourette’s Syndrome too. I have had countless strangers who came to me, offering help and kind words to me before. Of course, there are still many who don’t. There would be people who would shun us. I have even seen frightened mothers who grabbed their kids and run. No joke.

Likewise as suggested by Wei Zhi, I too would like more programmes, public education and media exposure about Tourette’s Syndrome. No worries…we sure can lead normal lives. One such local hero is artist, Raymond Lau, a fellow Tourette’s sufferer. He just quite recently, held an art exhibition overseas. His paintings were great.

Quite concidentally, Wei Zhi started having tics when he was 13. I also suffered from tics at that age. It is odd…I’ve been suffering for 23 years since… medical science has yet to find a cure to this disorder. A medical cure for Tourette’s Syndrome is surely my New Year wish… this year and every year…. till it is found.