English Community Shield: Post Match Analysis

So, The Writer got it all wrong. Arsenal proved The Writer was wrong. Turn out, Arsenal won the English Community Shield comfortably against Manchester City. Both teams used mixture of first team players and their youth. And nobody can accused either teams to be weaker or stronger. Arsenal shown that they had the better chemistry. 3-0 scoreline was a surprise one because the goals scored were true class. Goals from Santi Cazorla and particularly from Olivier Giroud were out of this world. Giroud is a great player but Arsene Wenger must buy another great striker to supplement Arsenal's attack when Giroud is injured or not available. Manchester City on the other hand was subdued in their performance. They lacked desire and looked very complacent. And Bacary Sagna was not selected for the match. He must be salivating to see his former clubs won another trophy and join them in the celebrations if he was still an Arsenal player.

English Community Shield: Professor vs Engineer

Pre-Match Analysis

Sunday's showdown will see last season winner of the FA cup, Arsenal meets Manchester City, the winner of the English Premier League. Although it is only a charity match which will bring no point to either team, this match serves as a statement of intent for the winning team. Neither team will want to lose this game and most importantly neither team want their stars to get injured in this game, just only a week before the real battle of English Premier League kicks-off. Over the years, there will always be transfers of players from Arsenal to ManCity. Some call those players as greedy but whatever it is, ManCity manage to prove that they are becoming a bigger temptation for players to join them over Arsenal by winning several important trophies. The likes of Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Nasri, Clichy, and the latest of all, Bacary Sagna have decided to join the blue side of Manchester in search of trophies and a fresher air of new challenges.

Arsenal's Player to Watch

The Writer is excited to see how Alexis Sanchez makes his first mark in the English game. He is a great football player, in the mould of Luis Suarez but with less temperament and no 'BITING'. His stay at Barcelona hindered his career development as he often was overshadowed by Lionel Messi. The recent World Cup saw him able to show his true colour by performing well in most matches for an average but hardworking Chilean team. Expect him to score in the Sunday's match at least by one goal.

ManCity's Player to Watch

The Writer is even more excited to see new ManCity's signings, Bacary Sagna to meet his former employer. Sagna epitomizes everything great for Arsenal footbal club for the past 7 years. It will be very weird to see Sagna in a blue jersey apart from the French national team jersey. He has been a permanent fixture on the right side of Arsenal and has supplied numerous amount of assists from the back. His loss is a huge loss for Arsenal. But Sagna may well start Sunday's game from the bench as ManCity will prefer the ever reliable Zabaleta over Sagna. Such was the strength in depth of ManCity where they have two great players for each position.

Prediction?

ManCity to win this game comfortably. They are more stable and almost all their players of last season title winning team are fit and raring to go. Meanwhile Arsenal has many first team players out injured and not yet reach full fitness. However this will be an open game which means no clean sheet will be achieved by either goalkeeper. Expect at least one goal each by Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero. It is also interesting to see whether Frank Lampard will be selected for this match. Just wait and enjoy the game!  

P/S: The Professor is a nickname for Arsene Wenger and The Engineer is a nickname for Manuel Pellegrini 

Lady Boss

Men, beware! Women are entering our territory. They rule little by little. The football world which has been monopolized by men all the entire human history, will be penetrated by women. And those women don't just join for the sake of slotting in, they want to take control.

In France, a little known Portuguese woman named Helena Costa made history by becoming the first ever female manager to manage a professional football club in the top two divisions of major European leagues. Helena was appointed as the manager of Clermont Foot 63 in May 2014. In the women's football scene, Helena was a no stranger. She has an impressive record in football management. People even nicknamed her as 'Mourinho in the petticoat'.

However Helena only lasts for 49 days at the helm before she decided to walk away from the post amidst speculations that she was not allowed to make big decisions within the football club. Helena didn't manage to get a single game for the club before she resigned. If the readers think that Helena's appointment was such a big surprise, just wait a second. The bigger surprise came from the fact that Clermont Foot 63 then decided to replace Helena with another female manager! Corinne Diacre, a french former footballer, was appointed to be the new manager of Clermont Foot 63 later in June 2014. Most of football experts thought that this move by Clermont Foot 63 is just a gimmick to attract cheap publicity. Whatever it is, if Corinne manages to be a success at the club later this season, more clubs will start to take notice of the suitability of a female manager to manage their clubs. Helena and Corinne could be a revolution in football history. 

The presence of women in men's football is not new. Several seasons ago, a small population of female professionals have began their career adventure in this men dominated sport. Most football followers will be familiar with the sight of a female physiotherapist at Chelsea named Eva Carneiro and a female assistant referee in English football name Sian Massey. Both of them showed that they can also do the men's job.

The Writer thinks that this wave of women's influx into football is a positive note that will only bring a healthier competition. However, The Writer has a little doubt on the suitability of female managers to be a success in men's football management. Great football managers have a special characteristic and aura that enable them to gain control of the dressing room. These kind of managers get the players play in the way that they want them to play. And it is rather painful to say that female manager will have a very very difficult task to gain control of a dressing room containing stubborn and egoistic male football players. There is no way that those male will feel that their supposed female manager to have a better decision making than themselves. They are all too big for that...

Nazmi Faiz & Wan Zack: What Really Hapenned?

Not so long ago, all Malaysian football followers were in cloud nine to see two local players got the chance to play overseas. Nazmi Faiz (left) managed to become the first ever Malaysian to sign a contract with a club in the top division of major European leagues. He signed for Beira Mar, a Portugese club in the same league with European giants, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon. Meanwhile, Wan Zack (right) got the chance to join FC Ryukyu, a third division Japanese club. All of a sudden, Malaysians were all brimming with hope that both players can be the catalyst of Malaysian national team development and all locals had already been dreaming of Malaysia to one day qualified for the World Cup.

However, all those hope and dreams were short lifted by the heart breaking news of both players returning to Malaysia to continue their career with the local teams. Nazmi joined PKNS and then Selangor with quick succession. Meanwhile Wan Zack decided to join football-obsessed Kelantan as his next destination. So what really happened to them? Why so soon? Below are their stories...

What happened to Nazmi Faiz?

According to reliable sources, Beira Mar was having a problem with their own financial. Unfortunately, Nazmi was among several Beira Mar players who didn't received any salary payment for three months in a row. That really hit Nazmi as he was kicked out from his rented house as the result of unpaid rent and had to stay at one of his teammate's house. His agent also began to neglect him and then finally Nazmi decided enough was enough. The contract with Beira Mar was canceled and the next thing he knew, he was on the plane back to Malaysia.

What happened to Wan Zack?

Wan Zack's case was different. At Japan, he was one of the star performers during the early stage. However, a persistent injury sidelined him for majority of his time there. Soon, he was behind the pecking order. Frequent traveling for treatment really took its toll. Wan Zack also finally decided to end his stay at Japan to come back to Malaysia to get uninterrupted full recovery. Then came the calling from Kelantan and the rest was history.

What The Writer thinks?

In the case of Nazmi, the FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) should take every action required to help him solved the financial problem. That was a small problem. It was incomparable with the harder situations that other poorer footballers from African region were facing. The African did all by themselves and they managed to succeed to become legends of the game. Just ask Didier Drogba and Nwankwo Kanu. The FAM should prepared and supplied Nazmi for everything during his stint at overseas, because he is a true star in the making. Nazmi should really be given every chance to succeed.

On the other hand, Wan Zack had an unfortunate experience. No one can really blame him. Malaysian footballers should be prepared with a complete rigorous training regime to better equipped them with the demand of overseas' football. Injuries are normal but a high fitness level can avoid persistent injury problems and expedite players' recovery process. The Writer is hopeful to see other Malaysian footballers given the chance to shine at overseas in the future and also praying for longer and more fruitful career for them...