Rustic v Rational in Gameweek 30

Vincent Kompany (Photo credit: Erik Daniel Drost)

Kompany, central defender and captain of Manchester City (v Hull) was sent off in the 11th minute for a bringing down an opponent. The opponent, just inside the Man City half and close to Kompany, had the ball and there was nobody between him and the Hull goalie.

Kompany turned and got hold of the opponent who fell.  It is a classic situation. As the "last man" Kompany should know he will be sent off for committing the foul. He did and he was.

Kompany decided on the Rustic Solution - planting his opponent on the ground.

Was he right to do this?

What about the Rational Solution? The opponent had 30 to 40 yards to the goal, time for Kompany to catch up running behind, then alongside, etc. There was still a goalie ahead to be evaded or passed with an accurate shot. Any entanglement during the chase might result in a red-card for Kompany so there was that risk. But surely more worthwhile than what he did.

The outcome need not have resulted in a goal for Hull, the opponents, or a sending off for Kompany.

This player is an intelligent and personable character when interviewed on television and well-respected as a player I believe. You would have thought he would have gone through such a situation in his mind as a professional player, and a captain with the duty to set an example, and then decided on the rational solution.

Or is the truth simply that Kompany felt humiliated by the situation and dealt with it by a method easily to hand? The Rustic Solution.

The end

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"Captain, my captain ...."

Deutsch: Vincent Kompany, Abwehrspieler des Hamburger SV (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Steve's team, Little Ted, is now looking vulnerable, keeping his faith in Sturridge as captain - who is reverting to his former arrogance where he thinks that looking good is enough. (Sturridge, that is)

The choice of captain is a real gamble and you cannot get it right every week. Super Rams with a top score of 72 would have been at least one place higher with Gerrard as his captain. The favourite one is, of course, Suarez who many of us choose in order to neutralise his effect.

But will some other player run into form and can you spot him in time to choose him as captain: Lukaku, Benteke, Dzeko, Van Persie, etc? Or could it be a mid-fielder or defender? Hazard has started running around in circles and will soon bump into Torres when they will both fall down. However, Coleman of Everton's amazing season now includes a mishit which went in the net. (mis-hit)
At least he was there in front of goal.
Anybody have him as captain?
Too late, now?

Has anyone ever chosen a goalie as captain?

More comments on 'Red Cards and the Captain' in mid-week. I'd like some Kompany so click in on Thursday. None of us had Kompany as captain but he was the captain of Man City and got sent off ...almost immediately. 

Was his captainship torpedoed ?

Allotments.

A messy result for Foxes - the one point win goes against them. Has it happened to anyone twice? In one season?

More fun next week with 15 matches from 22nd to 26th. This could be a decisive event for the leadership and the lower reaches.

Can anyone finish the quote above - in the heading?


The end

Apropos of nothing at all

1. There are two players in the Premier League who run with their hands higher than their elbows and the non-hairy side of the arm facing forward.

Who are they? (One of them played on Sunday afternoon and the other was on the bench)

2. Then there is a player with very short legs. They flick up and down rapidly as he runs. On film in the old days they may have been a blurr.

He plays for a London team but not today: Sunday 16th March. Who is he?

3. And who are the two men who wore shorts all through the winter on the Arsenal bench?

The end

The Weak Gameweek

With only five matches, Gameweek 29 was nevertheless a bit of fun and brings yet more fame to Ed and his Strollers. The only manager/team to score 0 in a gameweek - so far!

Well done, Ed. It's not easy.

 Toni's Unamazing Wonders had 10 players appearing but 3 were no help - from Crystal Palace who lost 0-1.

I noticed at least two teams had 8 players to score points with. One of the them, Foxes, scored the week's highest, 57 points.

Little Ted came a little nearer to the rest of us with only 30 points scored.

A blip with the choice of captain made thing worse for Gotodobetter (my favourite team name) but the one-eyed wonder didn't blunder and is now third.

And Richard got better in the Allotments where "Wuff, wuff" says BouWow11 as they win 6-0.

The next gameweek, no 30, has 10 matches as usual and then on to Week 31 with 15 matches....
I am really looking forward to it.

I expect the floculante to sink a few teams!

The end

Gameweek 28

Suárez visita a los GREIM (Photo credit: Gobierno de Aragón)

Judging who to make Captain: Sturridge or Suarez was the issue for several managers. Suarez had not scored a goal for a week or three while Sturridge had a run of scoring in his previous 7 matches. Choosing Suarez to return to scoring this week paid off with a score of 30 points with him as captain. (The military men could be 3-star Generals rather than Captains ....but you get the idea?)

The wrong choice here gave Little Ted a blip but the team remains well ahead (61 points) of 2nd place-Florence Dynamos. Gotodobetter has made a big jump from 6th to 3rd in the last three weeks to lie 31 points below Florence.

The irregular pattern of games to come offers hope to 17 of us to improve our standing. Although in the end all PL footballers have the same maximum appearances, namely 38, there is the likelihood  that some regulars players may be missing from the Premier League in the coming period of additional European and International matches. Injury, fatigue, pressure will apply to some popular players much more than to others, as will 'being rested'.

It may be worth bringing in players who have only the Premier League commitment.

In the end though won't most of us just ramble through with a week-by-week plan? Hoping for the best is economical and can produce short term results - are the 10 matches left to us short enough to count as 'short term'? Or long enough to require some kind of plan?

Allotments League

Still the same 3 or 4 in the lead. Another draw at 45 points each for Nick and Joanne's teams. Another narrow defeat for Dynamos, by 2 points!

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