26 November 2013

Derby Merseyside Terpanas? SaS Klimaks? Yakin?

Laga Derby Merseyside akhir pekan lalu memang berjalan seru, untuk kalangan tertentu. Hal tersebut ditenggarai oleh hal simpel. Enam gol tercipta, permainan keras, kontroversi, semua menjadi cerita tersendiri.



Sayangnya, skor akhir 3-3 tersebut pada akhirnya adalah skor yang tak adil untuk kedua pihak. Mengapa? Everton jelas tampil lebih impresif dengan sepak bola atraktif sejak peluit dibunyikan. Liverpool? mungkin pada laga itu adalah performa paling pragmatis The Reds sepanjang musim ini.

Seru? Ya, ketika tim dengan pragmatisme tinggi ini mampu memimpin dua kali lewat bola mati.

Seru? Ya, ketika Everton secara mengejutkan membalikkan kedudukan ketika waktu hanya bersisa 15 sampai 10 menit lagi (Pun oleh bola mati). Penonton dengan penyakit jantung pun akhirnya memilih memantau TL walaupun sudah berlangganan Orange TV.

Seru? Ya, ketika Daniel Sturridge menyamakan kedudukan (Lagi, lewat bola mati), selebrasi emosional. Assist sang Kapten Fantastik anti hujatan.

Enam gol tercipta dan semuanya berawal dari bola mati. Secara filosofi, kedua tim gagal bermain sepak bola harfiah dengan sempurna. Ingat, kedua manajer adalah pencinta filosofi atraktif, tetapi melihat fakta di atas? Open your Mind.

Untuk saya, laga ini tak ubahnya laga persahabatan yang sudah bisa ditebak skornya dari jauh-jauh hari. Lihat saja rekor imbang Merseyside Derby, terkhusus saat bermain di Goodison. Belum lagi rekor Liverpool yang selalu imbang setelah jeda kompetisi Internasional.

Hanya satu perbedaan The Reds musim ini ketimbang musim-musim sebelumnya, yaitu KEBERUNTUNGAN! Luis Suarez dan Daniel Sturridge seakan-akan menjadi pasangan duet terbaik di Inggris. Ya, mereka kembali mencetak gol ke gawang Everton. Sembilan gol pun telah mereka ciptakan masing-masing. SaS kembali berjaya?

Saya ingin bertanya ada berapa gol yang mereka ciptakan atas assist salah satu diantaranya? satu? dua? Ya, setidaknya mereka tetap mencetak gol berdasarkan egoisme masing-masing. Selama menguntungkan tim, mengapa tidak?

Suarez dan Sturridge adalah pemain yang bisa membuat gol dan peluang dengan kapasitas mereka sendiri. Pengubah laga, skill di atas rata-rata. Assist diantara mereka? Dilansir dari OPTA, hanya terkumpul tiga assist dari keduanya dari total 18 gol keduanya.

Bandingkan dengan Wayne Rooney dan Robin van Persie yang sudah membuat enam assist diantara mereka sendiri dari total 12 gol. Paling hebat jelas Sergio Aguero dan Alvaro Negredo. Dari 21 gol yang dicetak kedua striker Manchester City tersebut, 9 assist sudah dibuat diantara mereka.
(Data dihitung sampai 6 November 2013 pada kompetisi Premier League dan Liga Champions.)

Jika dinilai secara kerjasama akan striker, rasanya Stuarez harus berusaha lebih lagi untuk mengerti satu sama lain dan melepas keegoisan yang sebenarnya bisa tetap digunakan di momen yang tepat. So, Suarez dan Sturridge adalah dua striker dengan hasrat pencetak gol luar biasa, yes. Tapi, Suarez dan Sturridge belum menjadi duet striker yang luar biasa.

Writtern by: @redzkop
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11 November 2013

Is SAS Really That Good? Don't Think So

Liverpool are currently flying high, leave all the mediocrity that has been there since 3 or 4 seasons ago. Red Merseyside have returned to the place they belong at the half-top of the table and sitting just behind Arsenal by two points who just lost to Manchester United last night.




It'll be good if we look at their response on the defeat against The Gunners who looks unbeatable last week. Brendan Rodgers used 3-5-2 at the start to accommodate the double figures that exaggerated as the main reason why Liverpool seen as a team that can beat any team in Europe. And for some Liverpool fans they think Barcelona and Real Madrid, yes, because of that unstoppable partner in front, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.

But both the on fire goal machines just powerless to break The Gunners' defence, the most expected partner they failed to find the net, most desperately they look like a duet that never played together before. Reds went home to the river side city with nil point on hand and a bunch of new issues that came up not only on that match in London but at Anfield when they trashed The Cottagers with dominant scoreline 4-0.

There was a big difference between what happened before Anfield's match three weeks earlier where The Uruguayan scored his superlative hat-trick seen by The Kop and Sturridge added a goal with a beauty lob over Boaz Myhill's reach, with ones that shown at Emirates and last Saturday night. Because I noticed this at first when they beat WBA and when Suarez got his hat-trick, Sturridge was just force himself until that lob finally came. Where I imagining that Sturridge was thinking, "My partner has scored trice in the game and I got nothing yet."

The official Liverpool's website is a boring thing. Because they prohibited to give you anything but a good thing and only that, they don't educate people as well. Since the Joker Suarez return on the pitch, everybody was thinking that they'll form a perfect partnership. Sturridge is a all-around type forwarder that willing to come deeper to get the ball but also an excellent left-footed goal poacher, and so does Suarez. It makes them a better partnership than Carroll-Suarez who has a very different type of duet - an English target man and world class player, it just didn't work. And yes, in the first three matches when they firstly formed none was complaining, they were great.

The problem is it seems that no ego appears between the two, between The Englishman and The Uruguayan. However, the face shown when Sturridge just kicked the ball to no where at Emirates followed by that straight face spoke nothing but bad feelings felt by him for didn't get the ball even though he was in a better position when Suarez picked to shoot the ball out wide Wojciech Szczęsny's goal.

Every strikers need to be egoistic, it's an essential point of being a good striker especially when the manager using a lone striker up front. Instead, when the manager uses two main strikers then it would be a different thing on the pitch. The two needs to work together. The SAS now, at least in the last three matches, can't show the togetherness like what they always say that being a partner of the other is a gift and fantastic etc. How stupid.

It's continuing, I can't remember when Sturridge tried to find a better position Suarez in the last three matches. Sturridge chose to run with the ball more often that in the end will forced him to shoot the ball by his weeker foot. On the other side, Suarez once or twice tried to find Sturridge, but only happen if he has score goal or two. Let alone Sturridge if he has not score yet, it's like saying "Don't you dare to even think you'll get my ball if I haven't score goals".

Sturridge seems like need to be the center of attention, he ambitiously wants to prove himself now a better player etc - you name it, but in fact, he plays more effective and clinical as a lone striker when he became a hero in Liverpool's triple 1-0 win at the beginning of the season where he took away all the headlines. As I remember, I thought he has recovered from an illness that long embedded. He's a selfish striker from Manchester City to Chelsea and I think the disease was not cured at all.  But who cares of him? Jealousy is enveloping, Suarez The Hero scores and everybody's happy bar his own forgotten partner that only can find the target once at Anfield last weekend and failed to score two matches in row. He's prestige has been declining.

The SAS probably stroke the opponents net 16 times in total since Suarez return, but ever since do they really can work together or just possibly an enemy in disguise? The time bomb is ticking for the "Calon Juara Musim Ini" to deal with.

Written by: @MahendraSatya
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