Beef Bagel

Now, I don’t like the Daily Star at the best if times. Who reads this bastard child of the Mirror and the Daily Sport anyway? Fine read the big two tabloids for the football and nice warm glow when you turn to page 3 - actually I’ve taken to putting on a rather prolonged, considered stare, like I’m some sort of mammary philosopher looking for deeper meaning in 22-year-old Vicki from Croydon and her 36 DDs - and fine, read the Daily Sport if you just want a paper full of page 3 girls and a chuckle at such stories as “Pope gives birth to Alsation triplets, but what is the Star is just pretentiousness; people who think they’re better than the readers of the Sport.

Now I have another reason to dislike this novelty chip paper: Brian Woolnough. This poor excuse for a journalist wrote and article after Saturday’s game entitled Ramos Poser Over Berba the Sulk. The story presents the case of Dimitar the Great and his tendency to look less than enamoured with proceedings when a game is not going to plan. We all know it and Brian’s description of all this is fair enough but what he then goes on to do is come up with his own explanation of exactly why this is and pass it off as fact. Firstly, it’s a terrible piece of one sided journalism and, far more dangerously, that’s the kind of crap that starts the pot stirring, the rumours flying and causes imbalance to the player and the team. Fair comment is one thing Mr. Woolnough but imputing improper motives is another altogether.

“One minute scoring a superb angled goal and then earning his side their missed penalty, the next publicly showing what he felt about the lack of class around him,” says Woolnough.

“His was the reaction of a frustrated star that wants to play with better players.”

That’s absolute nonsense. His reaction was that of a player who doesn’t like to lose, nothing more nothing less. Sure the man did not look happy but what indication is there that he is frustrated at the lack of class around him? Are you telling me that he is pissed off with Keano’s penalty miss and feels that his strike partner is good enough? Bullshit. That Berbatov is the best player in the squad is debatable itself but if the papers start spreading that message to the world then people are going to start to believe it and that only makes things worse.

Woolnough then goes to say:

“Clearly, Berbatov is the best Ramos has inherited from Martin Jol. Most of the rest of this Tottenham side are below the required standard to win English football’s main trophies.”

I suppose by “main trophies” he’s taking FA Cups and Premiership titles and I’m positive we’re not good enough to win the league and we’d have to get lucky to life the cup - a doable one though - but to say most of the rest of the side are below required standard is plain misguided, short-sighted and I’d hazard a guess at biased as well. The Big Four sides do not have superstars in every position, with perhaps Chelsea the exception here. The likes of Darren Fletcher, Flamini, Hleb and Peter Crouch to name a few are not the most electrifying of players and this is meant as no insult to either them or the fans of their clubs. They are all good players but the fact is that they are playing in good, organised, well-managed settled teams. Their coaches, Wenger particularly, get the best out of them. To say that Lennon, Keane, Bale, Ledley and Chimbonda could not fit into top sides is farcical and God knows how many others in our squad would make journeymen/utility players in the Champions League teams?

This article angers me. It’s just such a poor piece of reporting and it’s damaging as well. There are so many on sided phrases that Woolnough uses to paint his surrealist picture…

“Over recent years they they have spent a lot of money on average players.”

We have spent a lot of money on average players but we’ve also spent money on some very good players too.

“Lennon played on the edge of the game.”

Well spotted, it’s called “the wing”.

“The others are middle-of-the-range players who have been organised and improved by the canny Ramos.”

Yeah, Gareth Bale, distinctly average player. He can only beat most players for pace and strength down the flank and then bang then in from free kicks in over 50% of attemtps. Totally middle-of-the-range, and as for canny Ramos and the improvements - we’ve barely begun to see them.

The subject matter that Brian Woolnough writes about, his observation of Berbatov and his behaviour is absolutely fair enough but his inferences his opinions are unfounded, inaccurate and, worst of all, unprofessional. If you want to see how it’s supposed to be done, take a look at the Telegraph instead.

Of course the real story behind Dimitar the Great is as fascinating as Woolnough’s account is disappointing. He’s not going to leave over January. He’s said as much and if nothing else, he is a man of his word. As for the future, well he simply can’t be as moody as he is. No, I’ll rephrase that. He can be as moody as he likes but he can’t give up on the field, which sometimes he appears to do. He’s got to get back and do the work even if he feels the chips are down. Try that in any Big Four club and you’ll soon find yourself out on your ear, but this isn’t something that bothers me. Whether or not Dimi is the star man, there’s no way Ramos will but up with that kind of crap either.

But the man with the granite mask has recognised the importance of Berbatov to Tottenham and everyone else and slapped a £20m price tag square on his forehead as if he’s shouted “Spam!” and then run away before our striker has realised what has happened, let alone have the time to retaliate. Ramos said:

“It will be very difficult, very complicated for anyone to take him.”

And that’s a beautifully put piece of football language that says “No way Jose,” Mourinho or otherwise.

I’ll give the final word on the matter to Wenger though, who puts it just right. Impressed after Berba’s performance against his won side, he said:

“Berbatov is a bit like Thierry. He doesn’t turn up where you want him to be. Left, right, centre, he goes everywhere. He has the same temperament as Thierry, too. He shows his emotions. He was outstanding today.”

It took a two and a half years of a trophyless existence at arsenal for Henry to pack his bags. How long before Dimitar is consulting his travel agent as well as his football one?

Plenty to chat about tomorrow, so do tune in for the Bumper Bagel at Christmas, focusing on what presents we can expect form Uncle Levy for the next month to come, including full details on our new, confirmerd signing, Chris Gunter. I might be bumping into him in Cardiff in a minute.

Niagra Falls Frankie Angel

The Bagel.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Bagel News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.