On The Ball with Mark Wheat: Much Merriment on Merseyside!
by Mark Wheat
April 07, 2014
On the Ball with Mark Wheat is a Monday feature (Note: we're publishing on Tuesday this week) on The Current that celebrates the connections between music and soccer, with an eye to the past weekend's results. Listen Mondays at 7 p.m. as Mark plays the music selection of the week.
Liverpool — the city is on the river Mersey — and the Reds remained league leaders after all three of the title contenders won convincingly. But Merseyside's "second" team (that I mentioned last week as being on form vying for a Champions League space) produced the best win of the weekend, 3-0 against Arsenal.
Time to break out another soccer cliché: This was definitely a 6-point game! Meaning that because the teams are so close in the table, it's the equivalent of your close rivals losing and you winning, a combo that you can only assure when you're playing against them of course. Now Everton are one point behind Arsenal with a game in hand. Their remaining games look the harder of the two schedules but form means everything, and The Toffees have it right now and Arsenal don't.
But managers make a difference, too. This brings me to an issue I've so far diplomatically stayed away from this season: Was David Moyes the right choice for Man Utd's new manager? I'd trusted that Sir Alex had made the right decision, impressed by what Moyes had achieved with Everton. Although Everton hadn't won anything, they perennially over-performed. Perhaps because expectations were always low — Everton weren't one of the big glamorous, wealthy clubs that challenged for titles — routinely finishing in the Top 10 was seen as genius in some circles.
Whether Moyes is considered a success might rest on the game this week with Bayern, or next season if he's allowed to stay to re-build United in the summer. But surely someone will write the book about how a team that won the title so convincingly last year is virtually the same except for the manager and is now struggling to get into the much-maligned Europa League this year. (Actually I find myself hoping they finish 7th so they don't waste their time next year in that competition — how crazy is that!?) That book will also have to ask, what happened at Everton, Moyes' old club after he left? Well, they got better without him! They've the most points they've ever won in the Prem already, and if they get into The Champions League, it will be by far their best season. Damning evidence, especially when you read articles like this.
Suggesting that the new Everton manager Roberto Martinez bamboozled the great Arsene Wenger tactically. That's how much difference a manager can make, which explains the routine sackings that happen at clubs who are struggling. My beloved Canaries finally had to sack Chris Hughton yesterday after they lost in Norwich to fellow lower-table laggards W.B.A. It might be too late to save them. Unless they can get a result against Fulham this weekend — a massive 6 pointer (q.v.) — their role will be reduced to spoilers as they slip toward relegation: they play Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal! Yes, Can you believe some teams only have 5 games left!
In Leicester the season is already over; they secured promotion to The Premier League this week. They haven't been in the top flight for 10 years, and part of their success story seems to be an ownership group that, after having 9 managers in as many years, let one have a little more time to build his team — and in his second year, Nigel Pearson has rewarded their faith.
Unlike the Norwich supporters who apparently finally lost patience this week singing anti-Houghton songs, and those at Man United who rented a plane to fly by with an anti-Moyes statement attached last week, the vast majority of the Leicester City fans also stuck with the manager through tricky times last season and have made the most of the 27 league wins they have already racked up this time around. They regularly travel in large numbers to away games; there were 3,000 at Burnley last week, 2,200 at Wigan on a Tuesday night, 3,600 at Blackburn Rovers and more than 3,500 travelled to see the 3-0 win over Barnsley in a midweek game last month.
It's Pearson's second stint as Leicester boss and it looked almost certain to be coming to an end at some point in late 2012, just 12 months after his reappointment. The speculation was so intense that the club's Thai owners even took the unusual step of eventually issuing a statement defending their man after a mixed start to the season. Since then, Leicester have scored more goals, 76, than any other Championship team. Congrats to The Foxes!!
Perhaps we should take this chance to play Sweet's "Fox on the Run", but I couldn't resist this new commercial that starts the run-up to the World Cup; I'm a Coca Cola man through and through, and so it doesn't surprise me that Robin Van Persie has lined up with Pepsi! (I was never down with his move to United from Arsenal) along with Mesi, Wiltshire and Luiz?!?! They do show more taste in singers however, getting Janelle Monae to be a busker in this clip:
The Guardian's Paul Lester asked Monae some soccer-related questions last week when the clip was unveiled; here's an excerpt:
Have you ever played soccer?
I have. I wasn't on a team. But I do value soccer, and sports in general, because it deals with teamwork. I have my own label, I have my band, and we're a team, and in order for me to succeed I have to work with other people. I love sharing my experiences and my successes with so many people. I see it in soccer players, how we can all work together to reach a goal and make each other happy once that goal is reached.
Are you an accurate passer of the ball?
I will always be. I'm a pretty straight shooter.
Have you ever done a nutmeg*?
No. I usually kick people in the eye. Or the groin area.
*Manoeuver involving a kick of the ball through your opponent's legs and a subsequent swerve round their body.
So Janelle Monae may be a great dancer, but on the pitch, she sounds like a clogger!