3rd Time Lucky, but not Everyday is a Sunday

Perhaps it’s unforgivable to get carried away so early into the match yesterday. Playing at a blistering tempo that was previously not seen in our last 2 matches was vindictive of Jose Mourinho and team’s efforts at hitting back at volleys of criticism that were levelled in their direction. It wouldn’t have been fair to suggest that such criticisms were uncalled for, given the drastic drop in performance levels in the 2^nd half that was reminiscent of the struggles the team faced towards the end of last season and for the past 2 matches.

Alluding to Jonas Olsson’s endorsement of John Terry prior to the match, 2 months does not necessarily turn a defensive rock into a defensive liability, given that he was arguably the standout performer for the team on par with Eden Hazard last season. It certainly did not help his case that Salomon Rondon sought to target him for his lack of pace, a common knowledge by now (equivalent to how you never have to bother with the R1 button with certain players on FIFA/PES).

Playing an absurdly high line of defence yet again for the 3^rd match running is simply suicidal. Perhaps that could be attributed to a failure in striking a balance between an expansive style that Abramovich craves and the pragmatic style that Mou favours. Hopefully, Branislav Ivanovic’s glaring deficiencies at right-back once again would necessitate a switch into the centre defence.  No longer able to bombard up and down the right flank at will, Mou would do well to consider the case of Paolo Maldini and to a lesser degree, Jamie Carragher.

Both were accomplished full-backs (Maldini being absolutely world-class in actual fact) who were moved inward and enjoyed a renaissance in their respective careers. Being a centre-back by trade, it’s high time that Ivanovic reverted back to his natural role so as to serve the team in his best capacity as a player possible. It would be galling to see him omitted from the first team after years of excellent service.

The only positive derived would be that there’s finally a player with the ability to dart into space created by Diego Costa and provide much-needed incision from the flanks. From the disappointment of missing out on Arda Turan and Douglas Costa, I’m glad that we didn’t let this one elude us. Welcome to Stamford Bridge, Pedro!

Without being overly critical of the individual performances and Mou, credit has to be given when it is due, and so, kudos to WBA for the match that they have given us. It’s time to go back to the draw board and sort the tactics out during the international break.

Man City v Chelsea – Battle for Midfield Supremacy

Crunch match. Super Sunday. Yet again, not something to get me riled up at despite being a Chelsea fan for almost all my life. Reasons are pretty much understandable. For all of Jose Mourinho’s tactical nous, he has always struggled to win over neutrals with his approach towards the big games. In particular, it’s been really hard to convince myself to turn on streams to catch matches since the final results would be more or less within expectations.

However, today’s match has a more significant underpinning on the title race as Man City is arguably the only team that is standing in our way en route to retaining our championship trophy come May. The risk of being 5 points behind after the match would be unfathomable even at such an early point of the season. On their day, Man City is a different beast to the rest of the teams in England. Matches against them are always likely to leave me clinging frantically to whatever I could lay my hands on.

Being an armchair critic for the day and armed with over 10 years of management experience (in the virtual world of course), I’ll be throwing in my views on the midfield combination that I would choose to go up against Yaya Toure and co.

Ideal line-up to face City: 4-3-3

Midfield:

Matic – Zouma – Oscar

Considering the plethora of attacking options in City’s half, it would be almost suicidal to pair Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas as a double pivot in this formation. Much has been made of Fabregas’ defensive negligence that marks him out as a defensive liability in such a crucial part of the pitch. For all his undoubted natural talent, it’s been increasingly frustrating to watch a player of his calibre to utterly fail to impose himself on the game ever since his form tailed off spectacularly towards the 2^nd half of last season.

With the luxury of being an armchair critic, I’m opting for Kurt Zouma instead and go for a 3-man midfield in order to establish dominance in the middle of the park, where the match is likely to be fought and won in. In light of the manner in which he had so successfully shackled both Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling last season, Matic could definitely use some help in curtailing barnstorming runs from the revitalized Yaya Toure especially. With both centre backs likely to have their hands full with Sergio Aguero, the presence of Zouma as a 3^rd defensive option to allow Chelsea to revert to a 3-man back-line would alleviate some pressure on the backline. My instruction would predominantly be for Zouma to restrict the space for Toure by sitting deep in front of the defence to anticipate offensive runs, with Matic pressing the opposition a little higher up and given the license to roam forward in a box-to-box manner.

With the inclusion of Oscar in the match day squad, I would expect greater dynamism from both him and Matic by effectively functioning as box-to-box players. I’ve yet to understand Mourinho’s reluctance in deploying Oscar in a deeper role in place of Fabregas. In terms of defensive output, Oscar tackles and presses the opposition almost as ferociously as Edgar Davids (okay I’m pushing things a little but you get my point). Offensive-wise, his set-pieces are miles better than what we have witnessed from Fabregas and he provides a greater threat from distance arguably.

Of course, 2 bad games do not render a player a bad one overnight, but on the basis of current form, Fabregas should be made to work harder for selection rather than just walking straight into the team. This would help supplant us with a greater degree of dynamism from the midfield that was missing ever since the days of Frank Lampard. Time to leapfrog City and get our asses up the league table!

Final score: Man City 1 – 2 Chelsea

Dzegol – Roma’s Messiah

In what nearly ended up as an underwhelming summer transfer window, there was finally some reprieve to be found for a long-suffering Roma fan. After spending almost the entire summer chasing Edin Dzeko, I was glad that we finally landed him in what could potentially be the most important transfer made in recent seasons after the acquisition of full ownership rights to Nainggolan. Despite his more than average stats on FIFA and FM, he was a cornerstone of Roma’s midfield last season, providing leadership in place of the missing de Rossi and important goal contributions, glossing over an utterly deficient attack last season. But the signing of Dzeko could be the most important of yet.

Arriving on back of an impressive goal-scoring pedigree (with the exception of last season), his height masks the fact of his more than decent skills on the ball. One of the main reasons as to explain Mattia Destro’s exclusion from the squad (another player whom I really liked) was the simple plain fact that he is just a one-dimensional player in the mould of Ruud van Nistelrooy who is merely capable of finishing off chances, but unable to partake in the team’s attacking moves.

Despite Totti’s claims that he intends to play for as long as he can, it is growing evident that he can barely last 45 minutes or function effectively as a false 9. With Juan Iturbe and Adem Ljajic both failing to convince as viable alternatives to Totti’s role as the designated false 9 in the team and Gervinho being the poor man’s version of Ronaldo, it is indeed time for the team to return to the formation back when Gabriel Batistuta was spearheading Roma’s attack.

Batistuta’s game was primarily characterized by his penchant for scoring goals by the bucket loads, to the extent that fans eventually christened him “Batigol”. Dzeko, despite hailing from a lesser pedigree as his legendary predecessor, has the ability to provide an immediate panacea to address the team’s impotency in front of goal and being able to play with his back to the goal.

Exciting times lie ahead, with the addition of Mohammad Salah (best Egyptian player in the world mind you) to relieve some of the creative burden from Gervinho on the opposite flank and provide incision from the flanks, hopefully continuing the excellent goal-scoring run he embarked on last season while on loan at Fiorentina. Taking into account that Juventus lost 3 of their key players from last season, this could be a season to mount a serious assault on the Serie A title after years of near misses.

After years of playing second fiddle to Sergio Aguero at Man City, it is time for Dzeko to resume his role as the chief goal scorer just as how he did for Felix Magath’s Wolfsburg in that unlikely Bundesliga title win in 2009.

When Playing with 4 Defenders ain’t enough to win matches

The match with Swansea once again laid our weaknesses bare, leaving me to dread this weekend’s clash with Manchester City. This was strikingly reminiscent of our mid-season slump last season whereby our normally reliable defence was simply ripped to shreds by the opposition attack.

Ivanovic, in spite of his usual buccaneering runs down the right flank, is increasingly becoming a defensive liability against pacey players. Watching Jefferson Montero getting the chance to run at him at almost every available opportunity just makes for uncomfortable seating. As if the adrenaline rush from the early flurry of goals weren’t enough.

I guess most Chelsea fans would also relate to me on the following frustration as well. When presented with the ball in advanced positions, both of our fullbacks are not the ones you would want to see in such positions. For all of their defensive nous, it hardly compensates for the lack of offensive contributions from our fullbacks. With their crosses rarely being able to find their desired target or even clear the first defender, it is little wonder that we’re reliant on focusing much of our offensive play through our wide players like Hazard or Willian.

Personally, I was gutted at Felipe Luis’ departure from Chelsea as despite not playing as much regularly, his offensive contributions would arguably be more crucial in alleviating some attacking burden and provide another alternative to channelling our attacks mainly through our attacking players. Azpilicueta’s penchant for cutting in on his right foot negates his offensive contributions heavily as it just renders our offense down the left flank one-dimensional. Not something you want to see especially when the team is chasing a goal or the situation calls for wide players to stretch opposition defences. An Ashley Cole incarnate would have been better served in that aspect (Ryan Bertrand anyone?). The signing of Baba Rahman would be a positive step in remedying that deficiency in our attack ever since Cole left.

Lizabeth Cohen’s “Segmenting the Masses”

Lizabeth Cohen’s “Segmenting the Masses” brings up the topic of the rise of consumerism after World War II. She talks about how the shift in marketing and advertising during the 1950s away from mass marketing, and is instead moving towards market segmentation. Consumerism is believed to be the ‘antidote’ that would eventually result in widespread prosperity and egalitarian within the American society.

“What resulted was a new commercial culture that reified-at-times even exaggerated social difference in the pursuit of profits, often reincorporating disaffected groups into the commercial marketplace” (pg. 308), which basically highlights the growing role of the dollar in the American society. Spending over saving is encouraged amongst seniors and brand indoctrination of children would hence result in greater economic growth.

Sociology increasingly took on a greater role during America’s shift towards consumerism, as when coupled together with the use of computers, it allowed for more precision in identifying the products to sell to each segment. As such, this further split the division between Americans along racial, class and gender. Such forms of market segmentation eventually paved the way for deeper social and cultural differences amongst most Americans.

Cohen consults a vast range of sources comprising of both primary and secondary, with a few renowned experts namely being: Pierre Martineau (sociologist and marketing director at a leading firm in market research) and Wendell Smith (marketing expert), both of which propagated the idea of how the behavioral patterns of people within the same market segment were the same, and would be different across different market segments.

However, an American historian, David Shi, debunks this theory of having to spend in order to lay the foundations for a better tomorrow. Shi asserts that the idea of “plain living and high thinking” presents itself as an ideal stepping stone for the society to move forward, describing how the concept of the simple but good life “has remained an enduring–and elusive–ideal. . . . Its primary attributes include a hostility toward luxury and a suspicion of riches, a reverence for nature and a preference for rural over urban ways of life and work, a desire for personal self-reliance through frugality and diligence, a nostalgia for the past, a commitment to conscientious rather than conspicuous consumption, a privileging of contemplation and creativity, an aesthetic preference for the plain and functional, and a sense of both religious and ecological responsibility for the just uses of the world’s resources” (Shi, 2007). Hence, Cohen could be perceived to have been one-sided in her argument that consumerism was the “way to go” back then for American policymakers.

In all, the age of consumerism did manage to achieve its primary aim of promoting economic growth by encouraging spending through a myriad of social means, and was so effective that these were later used in politics as well. Despite economic growth, it eventually came at a cost as it had divisive impacts on the Americans due to the segmentation of them according to race, gender and class.

Reference list

1. Shi, D. (2007). “The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture.”

Cecilia Chiang’s Oral History

Chiang’s Oral History by Victor Geraci represents a verbal recollection of the setting up of her restaurant back in the past. This oral recount depicts the portrait of a penniless lady who has set up a Chinese restaurant in America under the most fortuitous of encounters. With her initial intention in coming to America was to visit her sister, it eventually culminated in her setting up the restaurant. Despite the number of obstacles present from the start, she managed to pull through eventually and hence her business became a success.

Oral history is usually regarded as the collection of oral tradition, a summary of personal experiences for us to find out about the past. The effect of presenting the interview in the form of a transcript rather than a biography of her personal recount is to retain the original ‘flavor’ of the interview. Through the use of a transcript, Geraci effectively creates a sense of engagement with the readers, encapsulating the Chinese heritage and culture.

Certain emotions that are shown during the interview at different intervals could be integral in displaying the importance of certain parts of the interview as well. Presenting in the form of written history would be akin to taking the human factor out of the interview as the emotions displayed would not be written down. The use of written history also effectively means that the author is able to input his own personal point of view through the affordance of writing privileges. As such, the reliability of the written history (biography) might be called into question over the possibility that it could have been tainted with the author’s point of views.

Geraci succinctly makes the past real by seemingly putting a human face on the past. This provides readers with a direct access into Chiang’s thoughts, emotions, reactions and etc. By establishing such a focal point of connection with the readers, they are hence able to generate insights into Chiang’s inner thoughts; to understand her better and understand why certain decisions such as tailoring the Chinese menu to suit local American tastes are made.

As mentioned earlier on, Geraci successfully encapsulates the essence of the Chinese heritage and community through the presentation of Chiang’s life story in the form of an oral history. This promotes a sense of community, heritage and how uniqueness of each community can be preserved. This is particularly evident in the part whereby despite dropping dishes such as ‘egg foo yung’, ‘chow mien’ and ‘chop suey’, she still stuck to her Chinese heritage by introducing different flavors such as ‘Sichuan’, ‘Shanghai’ and ‘Hunan’ delicacies, dishes that the local Westerners have never tried before.

To sum it up, Chiang’s Oral History is essential in allowing one to understand the trials and tribulations of a Chinese lady who did not allow her surroundings to bring her down. Instead, she worked her way around it and eventually pulled through. Definitely a success story for one to draw inspiration from.