Liverpool 0 Chelsea 2

Wow. After that Man City game I was really convinced that the title was Liverpool's. But last night Chelsea and Mourinho used the perfect tactics to blow the title race wide open.

1) Tactical Masterstroke I: Parking The Bus
That ol'chestnut. No one does it better than Mourinho. And when he has the right players to execute those tactics well, the results come. Basically Chelsea had 9 men behind the ball all the time, with 5 defenders and 2 defensive mids to shackle, clear and head away just about anything that came into their box. Impressive if he were trying not to concede.


2) Tactical Masterstroke II: Counterattack Ruthlessness
There arn't many players better than a Willian/Shurle + Demba Ba combo if left alone to take on an entire defence on their own (maybe Sturridge and Suarez or RVP and Rooney). Ba holds the ball really well and especially when Willian came on, they were very potent.

3) Tactical Masterstroke III: Frustrating Opponents
No one does it better than Mou. From poking opposing managers in the eye (RIP Tito Vilanova), time-wasting, diving, getting players to get deliberate yellow cards and playing very negative football. He sure knows how to set his team out to frustrate opponents.

4) Poor Steven Gerrard
Even from a Man United fan, I have to say that I respect the guy. Primarily for his unwaivering loyalty, he is one helluva mean midfielder as well, even at his current age (35?). Probably Liverpool's version of our very own Ryan Giggs. His slip was the reason Chelsea managed to score, with Demba Ba able to outpace him and then slip the ball past Mignolet. Considering he's won almost every other club trophy available, if he still doesn't win the league this year (he's never won before), even the neutrals will feel really sorry for him. Or perhaps it's just not meant to be?

5) Title Race Wide Open
This is where it gets really exciting. With Chelsea's win over Liverpool and Man City's win over Crystal Palace last night, the title race is blown wide open yet again. Assuming all three teams win their final remaining two or three games, Man City will win the league on goal difference. However, Man City needs to play one extra game and their next one is against Everton, which is probably the toughest opponents left of all remaining games of those three teams. I have a feeling there will be far more drama to come in the coming weeks.

From a Man United perspective, with Giggsy making a dream start as interim manager and then the reopened wide open title race, this has been a really good weekend.

GGMU!!!

2048 II

A new record!

But still unable to beat the wifey :(

Manchester United 4 Norwich 0

So it was just Norwich. Yet this was probably the most anticipated game of the season. The only one that comes close was maybe Moyes first league game (4-1 against Swansea).

1) Good Riddance David Moyes

With him finally sacked after that crap performance at Everton last week, as with the whole lousy season we've had, Manchester United was finally allowed to play with swag and aplomb again. Embracing attacking as our best form of defence truly is the United way. Boy did we miss that. Last night's performance really made us think about what might have been if we have a more competent manager at the start.

2) Enter Ryan Giggs

This is the stuff dreams are made of. Every fan's respected player, having watched him journey through the youth academy since he was 12, to tearing teams apart since 1991, to winning almost every trophy imaginable, and now interim manager. Some day he will be full time manager, every fan wants that. Add to that the rest of his Class of '92 backroom staff, Butt, Scholes, Neville, makes things all the more romantic. The mere sight of the four of them walking abreast on the field makes my hair stand with emotion.

3) The Players Are Different

Maybe it was the occasion, maybe there was too much pent up emotions, maybe everyone just wanted to show up finally. Whatever their personal reasons, everyone played with so much more zest and commitment. Players were willing to fight for each other and commitment to let the football flow. I can't even name a handful because the whole team was just playing out of its skin. Even when the team had nerves in the first half and the football wasn't as slick, everyone was still far more committed than any time this season. And once the goals came, the play became more relaxed and our tiki-taka free flow football became such a joy to watch. Even the poor performers IMHO, Cleverley and Young really played with far more commitment.

4) The Star Performers

With our free flowing game, many of our flair players finally got the chance to put in their slick moves. Kagawa and Welbeck were particularly impressive in the first half. Valencia looke rusty but seemed to be back to his bullish ways. He's just so strong. Mata coming on was also very impressive and Evra always does well in attack when he feels it. The back four of Jones, Rio, Vidic and Evra were also very settled, unlike in earlier games where there was so much nerves. Jones is such a monster when he's not playing CB. The one touch passing out of danger was cool as ice. Unlike most games this season, even when we let Norwich come at us, I never felt nervous that they would score. That's how confident the back four were performing.

5) The Manchester United Way

It took Moyes' 10mth tenure to show us fans that there was truly quantifiable in the Manchester United way. We have taken it so much for granted that nobody appreciated it until it was lost. The art of free flowing football, transitioning defence to attack, adopting a philosophy of 'attack, attack, attack', and channeling home grown youths into our teams with the right mindset. It was all summed up by last night's performance that Giggs brought back - 25(11) shots on goal was the most in any MU game this season. Nuff said. Long may this continue.

There may not be anything left to play for this season. We very well will miss out on Europe as well. Louis van Gaal will very likely be the next manager next season. But with the sacking of Moyes and allowing Giggs to take the interim reins, every fan feels alive once more. It's as good a feeling you can get, yesterday was certainly the best game I've watched this season and I'm so excite for our next game against Sunderland.

GGMU!!!

Class Of '92: From Players To Managers II

Scott from The Republik Of Mancunia really says it all.

Abit sentimental, partly cheesy, but just the way I like it.

There is really a feeling like no other.

Even if we lose today, no one will really blame Giggs, Butt, Scholes or Neville.

I hope we thrash Norwich 7-0!

So excited!

GGMU!!!

Class Of '92: From Players To Managers

Wow. Can't help but smile at the recent developments in Manchester United.

Ryan Giggs is manager. Nicky Butt is no.2. Paul Scholes is back helping out. Phil Neville is still around.

Just left with Beckham and Gary Neville to join the fray that's all.

Really excited for the Norwich game this weekend.

No matter how they perform, they already cannot do worse that all our performances under David Moyes. So glad he is out, although I still wish him all the best in another club.

GGMU!!!

S. E. A. Aquarium

Was there last weekend with the whole family. Very impressed. Here're some takeaways.

1) Truly World Class
This was my first time there and by golly it really was very impressive. From the opening Shipwreck tank, to the famous underwater observatory in all of Southeast Asia at the halfway mark, to the sheer size, variety and amount of living exhibits, and then the general layout of the aquarium. All too impressive. I generally left the place feeling proud of this being situated in Singapore.

2) Underwater Observatory
This was supposedly one of the largest in the world and true enough, it was impressive. With a huge variety of underwater creatures including barracuda, manta rays and sharks, this alone has become a must-see when coming to Singapore. So big it has it's own Aqua Dome for further viewing, it is indeed something to take time out to marvel at. I think it's called the Open Ocean exhibit.

3) The Little Things
With very impressive living creature exhibits arrange by the different Seas, there came a myriad of sea creatures that looked different even if they were of similar species. There were many interactive stops like touchpools, children arts and crafts stations, video presentations and various information decks to cater to different types of visitors from tourists, couples, locals, families, et al. There was also a typhoon or hurricane simulator which RWSInvites members go in for free with up to 5 guests. Amenities were adequate, staff were friendly, walkways were wide, and had appropriate stairs and ramps for prams.

4) Stacking Up I
From a local perspective, the only competitor the SEA Aquarium has is the Sentosa Underwater World. Before I visited, I had always wondered firstly, what the point was to have two supposedly huge-ass aquariums as tourist destinations in Singapore, much less on Sentosa Island. This was some form of cannibalization wasn't it? Secondly, having visited the Underwater World multiple times since it first opened to much fanfare in the 90s, I didn't think the SEAA could have been far better. Boy I couldn't have been more wrong.

Firstly, the SEAA is far, far, really far, better than the Underwater World. See point 3. Also based on layout and exhibits, the SEAA trumphs its competitor very comprehensively. Secondly, the Underwater World is old. Really. And it looks like it's going out of business, being unable to stand up to the SEAA's competition.

5) Stacking Up II
From a more global or regional perspective, I've been to New Zealand's Kelly Tartan's Underwater World, Australia's Seaworld, Hong Kong's. And I can firmly say that the SEAA stands on its own here. Not because it is definitely the best of the lot, since the other places offer slightly different things as well but it is the most impressive by far in terms of entertainment value.

I will definitely recommend anyone to make a trip down.

David Moyes Finally Sacked

Such a dream come true!

With all due respect, he really was on borrowed time since that Fulham game.

It feels like we've won the league!

Ryan Giggs to take over as interim manager!

Wonder who the next manager will be. My personal preference is Dortmund's Jurgen Klopp. But odds are that Louis Van Gaal will get the job.

I love that this latest development is taking away all the attention from Liverpool being on the brink of winning their first title in 24yrs, or Chelsea and their UCL pursuits.

Can't wait for Norwich at OT this weekend!

GGMU!!!

2048

The next addictive game after Candy Crush Saga.

Oh my.

Everton 2 Manchester United 0

Sigh. 

How many times this season have I said it was the worst performance I've ever seen in a game? Lost count. Add last night's game to the tally.

1) Moyes Is Useless

As I've said almost every game, this guy is useless and clueless. The team doesn't know what it's doing and no one on the pitch or in the dugout knows what kind of tactics are deployed. It all boils down to one incompetent manager. Worse yet his soundbites after the game illustrates our worst fears: he's deluded too. He actually said he thought we played well. Wonder what game was he watching?

2) Players Not Accounting For Themselves Anymore

Almost the entire team didn't look like tey wanted to play for this Moyes team. Or they haven't a clue perhaps. One would think that with the fat paychecks they've got, the players would put shit tactics aside and try harder for the team. Ain't gonna happen. The team looks like they want Moyes out too and they're showing it on the pitch. Can things get even more awful? Quite possibly so.

3) Fletcher Leads By Example

If there's one player I felt made the only effort in the game, it was Darren Fletcher. He wasn't super effective nor was he showing sublime skill or what not, but he really tried his best to get the whole team going. At least he should deserve the captaib's armband.

4) Rooney The Captain

Speaking of the captaib's armband. Wayne Rooney, earner of £300,000/week sure didn't look like he wanted to play. Very off form and unenthusiastic, he must've been leading by example in the zero enthusiasm and communication department

5) Moyes The Inept Team Selector

Yet again, the poor performances boil down to this guy. This time in the department of team selection. Nani hasn't started for half a year and he gets to start such a big game? Someone's desperate to put him on the shop window. Alex Buttner is so shit at LB that it is no wonder Evra has looked complacent over the last few seasons. The guy plays with the same mentality as his current boss - midtable mentality. And don't tell me there are no other options, not when we have such a splendid youth setup and nothin to play for. Phil Jones is my hero at times last season. An absolute monster in tenacity. But now you know why SAF was reluctant to play him at CB. He's too much of a hothead and a tiling time bomb. Too bad Moyes cannot see that. Chris Smalling, another perennial first name on this season's team sheet, plays ok at CB, terribly error prone at RB. Rooney even with his shit performance, gets guaranteed football. Zero communication throughout. Moyes just doesn't get it. Maybe he travels too much watching other players rather than his own.

Ok rant over. Bring on the next game, while I won't mind if we lose, as long as Moyes comes closer to the sack!

#moyesout

GGMU!!!

Fatherhood - Reflections II

Continuing where I last left off.

My kids are 18mths apart. That's very close in age. The boy was born in the month of September, while the girl was born in the month of March. Now, if like me, you're a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, then you know where I'm getting at with this blogpost. In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm writes about "accumulative advantage", where he asserts that success depends on the idiosyncrasies of the selection process used to identify talent just as much as it does on the athletes' natural abilities.

In my case, the boy, who's older, was born on the tail-end of Singapore's academic school year, while the girl, is in the front-end. As such, I can already see that even though they are academically two years apart, their learning curves are vastly different.

The boy is in a class where all his peers are bigger, stronger, maybe smarter, and faster than he is, as they've got quite a few months on him. Does this affect his confidence? Does it affect the way he reacts to challenges? I'm afraid so. If everyday in school he's made to think that compared to his general cohort, he's slower, weaker and smaller, then this will not be good for his future well-being. As such, I constantly debate with myself over how best to constantly compensate for this (up to 9 month) differential against his peers. Since kids are going to keep growing till their early 20s, the early years are the most crucial in getting them the confidence to grow up with greater ambition, confidence and assertion. It is a challenge that I constantly think about.

The girl, in direct contrast, is in a class where, even with a slight lag to allow her to be in a class where her peers are around her age, she's the one who's bigger, stronger and louder than her peers. In fact compared to many of the boys, my girl is almost gargantuan (I love this bit). Does this affect her confidence? Does it make her more assertive and decisive? You bet so. She's louder, braver and fiercer than almost all her peers (we celebrated her last birthday in school). Heck, even compared to her older brother, she's maybe smaller, but far more confident, assertive and brave. She's not afraid to take risks, get into gung-ho situations, or tell any older kid or adult off ("NO MUMMY FOR YOU!"). So I don't worry about her development so much. I just want to make sure that I'm there with her every step of the way as she grows so that she can be properly guided and to use her confidence and exuberance wisely. It is such a gift to have.

For the boy, I do worry more on a consistent basis. Despite being older and bigger, he can be timid, unambitious, and fearful. One who rather shuns away from a problem or an intimidation than face it head on. One who remembers his fears and restricts himself from trying new things. One who is easily content with little achievements. But he, like his sister, is a very smart child, and I am so blessed for it. I want to make a difference in how he grows up, how his life is shaped, and how he reacts to his own life experiences, both the good and the bad. I want to do all the stuff that rips away all his fearful inhibitions and instill into him a confidence I know he is capable of.

I must make it clear that I am not disappointed one bit. In fact I'm so proud of both my kids. Every little bit they achieve is like a game treasure unlocked, every success in their life is celebrated as much or even more so by me. But while I still can, I want to make a difference in how they grow up, and how they choose to live their lives. Hopefully it will be a long and fulfilling one.

God bless them both. I love you so much!!!