A few thoughts...

So, after a good run of results, we are finally beginning to fulfill some of our potential... We have a week and a half off or so now, which is good news because we would have struggled to field a coherent side next week, although with excellent strength in depth, any team we put out has a chance this season. What is important though is that we do not take our eye off the ball in this short break...

What has struck me in recent games, apart from a greater confident and fluidity right through the team, from defence to attack, has been our ability to really turn it on when it has been needed, and, the ability of certain experienced and key players to make the difference when we have needed it. Just look at our goalscorers from the last five games: Irial, Manolo, Dave H, Luis, Leo, Luke, Dave M - we have been able to combine excellent teamwork with a heightened sense of personal responsibility. It has been great that our strikers have been getting lots of goals - 11 between them in those five matches, because it shows that the team is working, especially as so many of the goals result from moves that have started deep in our own half.

We have to come back with the determination and discipline to continue this run. We owe it to ourselves and each other. Buona Pasqua a tutti!

WWWWW Speranza 3-6 IUE

Cerreti, Tuesday 18th March, 2008. Scorers: Dave H, Irial (2), Dave M (2), Luke

Now, there are some bad haircuts in the world. Just go to Spain. Or Germany. I remember being terrified of getting my haircut when I lived in Spain, that I put it off for so long that I couldn't see through my fringe any more. Then when I did finally get it cut they confirmed all my fears by telling me that he had left my hair 'just a little bit longer at the back'. I was at risk of looking like Chris Waddle in 1990. Google it. Anyway, the ref from last night, an incompetent of the highest calibre, also obviously goes to Spain to get his hair cut. The moments of hilarity shared with Speranza between their chiama and ours were at risk of putting us off the match: there is a great lyric from a great song, by a group I have cited several times on this blog, which goes: 'First of all, who's your A&R?/A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar'. (Name the song anyone? Without googling it, Jen!). I always imagined that A&R to look just like the man reffing our game last night, with a wisp of hair left on the top of his head, long abandoned by the rest of his hair, and flowing but greasy locks of numerous shades of grey (gray for the American readers, Hi Frat Buddies), tied together beautifully in a dank ponytail.

He also had no clue how to ref. No clue. Abysmal. Truly incompetent. Four deliberate violent fouls on our men who were through. Only two bookings. One when Irial was right in front of goal about 10 yards out with no-one else within 20 yards. It was a foul in a fifty-fifty he said. He also sent Davie Horan off after Dave was hacked down and got up and slightly pushed their wanker of a number 7. At least he sent their man off too, though it wasn't quite clear why. Great. He also booked one of theirs for diving, which I have never seen in our league before. Seemed a touch harsh, but there you go.

Anyway, fifth successive victory. Wow. In newspapers in the UK there is often a current form chart of teams, showing the results of the past five games. Ours now reads WWWWW. Let's keep it up, and keep eating away at Romito's lead. Apart from two minutes of incompetence on our part and some slight over-confidence and lack of discipline that occasionally crept in we did quite well in this game. We scored a few cracking goals, including a real beauty by Irial, and ground out the result when we needed to, having almost thrown it away when we had seemingly already won.

Ernesto came back in for the missing Luis, and David returned in goal. The rest of the team stayed the same. We started off nervously, misplacing passes and on the backfoot, but scored a great goal from our first attack: across the back, down the left across and in. Irial got a second from a Leo corner, and we missed two great chances from two more corners. They should have gone in. They scored after Simon was clearly fouled by their striker. The balls dropped for their nuimber 10 who belted it into the top corner on the volley. We were doing well on the ball but they had some intelligent players with good movement, and we failed to pick their men too often. We got another goal after Dave M nicked the ball off their keeper after I had whacked it upfield. 3-1 at half-time, a deserved lead, but with some negative aspects to our performance.

We had the worst of starts to the second half with them scoring an even better goal than their first -- a volley from 25 yards into the top corner. A terrible goal from our point of view though, as was their equaliser one minute later, where we let the ball bounce in our area, with it then bouncing over me and into into their striker's path. Tap in. 3-3. To be fair, we then started playing again, and dominated for the next five minutes. Irial went through after I dinked into his path. I was already purring at the idea of having two assists from sweeper, as Irial was about to pull the trigger. He was then up-ended in the most blatant of manners. How this is top a red card I have no idea. Fortunately I buried the penalty. 4-3. We then dominated for the rest of the game in all honesty, getting in behind numerous times, with them reduced to hacking us down. How their players stayed on the pitch is beyond me. Dave H became our third player to be sent off in six games. Wow, we are turning into proper bad boys. I blame Leo. We came close a couple of times from crosses from free kicks, but somehow the ball stayed out. Irial then scored a fantastic goal, something between a lob and a curler, over their pink keeper. Excellent. Dave M ran through right at the end and stuck it under the keeper to make it six. I had said I wanted minimum six goals earlier in the day. We showed we could hold firm and grind a result out when it seemed to be getting away from us. Well done. More of the same needed in two weeks, after a one-week easter break.

Team: (1-3-4-1-1): David - Luke - Mate, Simon, Dom (Charles) - Leo (Joel), Ernesto, France (Nate) - Dave H - Irial (Johnny)

What a pile of crap. IUE 4-3 S Ambrogio

Cerreti, Tuesday 11th March, 2008. Scorers: Irial (2), Dave H, Leo

Some of you may have noticed that Naples is struggling at the moment under piles and piles of rubbish. Well, if you looked to the horizon from Piazza del Plebescito last night you could see one pile of stinking crap towering higher than all the rest. It was the EUI's performance, as we repeatedly tried to shoot ourselves in the foot, only failing to do that because we were so crap that we couldn't even manage to do that. Now, there is an old saying where I am from: if it ain't broke don't get a sledgehammer and smash it into smithereens.

Fortunately we were about 2927391723092 million times better than Sant'Ambrogio, and twenty minutes either side of half time of excellent play on our part had secured us 4 goals, meaning the three absolutely pathetic goals we let in when there was no danger (two shots from over 30 yards and a tap in after an unmarked man tapped in a dropped cross) didn't stop us from securing our fourth consecutive win. Unlike last week, when we played against probably the best team we have ever played in this league (they got kicked out of the FIGC championship a couple of years ago for fighting), and fought like lions for the last 15 minutes as they laid siege to our goal, yesterday our midfield decided to have a twenty minute rest at the end of the game and let Sant'Ambrogio's crap old men try their best to break us down. Booting the ball as hard as I could onto the next pitch four minutes into injury time to waste time and regroup just about summed it up really. It shows how far we have come as a team though when we are bitterly disappointed with game in which we are clearly superior, score four great goals, and win. It also shows how far we have not come that we can almost throw away a game that we should have won, literally, with no exaggeration, about 8-0.

Okay, in synthesis, the game went like this. A patient start, and solid performance in the first half, where we were at times nervous but growing in confidence. We conceded two stupid stupid stupid goals, but got a good first one through Irial who opened his body up well to finish after a croos from the left. Our second goal was probably the easiest goal you could probably ever score, as I passed it about 70 yards from the edge of our box into Davie Horan's path, miles onside, who flicked it over the keeper and walked it into an open goal. Okay... things are going well. Dom got in after a great move down the right and could have scored, if only he'd shot! Mate started off a great move down the left which ended with a good goal from Leo. We were starting to look good. Dom and Mate were having great games at full back, and McCourt was starting to work well as a pivot in the middle. Luis was pulling the strings well, and Horan and Irial complimented each other well with the former dropping deep to pick up the ball as the latter showed some great improvisational play as prima punta.

Okay, second half. Good first twenty minutes. We got another goal through Irial from a header from a corner. Classic Glynn. We just had to hold onto the ball. Did we? Of course not. Our midfielders got pulled out of position all over the place, too high and too wide. They got their third with a shot from thirty yards that should have been 1. blocked and 2. saved. No problem. We just had to keep doing what we do best: play. Ha. Irial hit the post with a great shot on the turn, and Francesco had a couple of good moments down the right, but overall we looked terrible for those last few minutes, with them being 5 on 4 against us a couple of times. Ridiculous. They hit the top of the bar twice (although one was a cross), an we were ill disciplined (again!) as we gave a away countless freekicks. Their number 10 was unbelievable, having already crocked France in the first half, he set out to maim our entire team. Booking for Irial then, obviously. I had a word with the ref after a tried to elbow Luis in the head. 'Lo so,' says the ref. 'Ma la partita e' finita'. Oh, that's alright then. Magari fosse finita, as we had to defend a couple of corners in the last minute. Some old school headers and clearances over the fence did the trick. The relief at the end was unbelievable. What a pile of crap.

Team: (1-3-4-1-1) Charles - Luke - Mate, Simon, Dom - Leo (Nate), Luis, Dave M, France - Dave H - Irial.

Leotards and segregated labour markets. San Frediano 1-2 IUE!

Monday, 3rd March, 2008, La Trave. Scorer: Manolo (2 pens)

Now, as everyone knows, the processes and phenomena collectively and loosely known by the loaded term globalisation are multifarious. However, one of the effects of deregulated trade, the lack of trade barriers and liberalised inward investment rules is the emergence of nationality- and region-based labour market segregation. Now, as everyone has clearly guessed, I am a firm believer in the ameliorative social impact and general contribution to welfare and social justice of rampant, corporation-driven capitalism, in particular when it produces such wonders as the divison of labour along lines of nationality and ethnicity, making peoples chances and welfare dependent on a fantastic combination of the whims of multinational corporations, variables of the international economy, and most of all, where they come from.

To prove that I'm only joking when I say that I'm a communist, I displayed my support for this brilliant outcome of the the neo-liberalism constellation by putting installing ethnic divisions of labour in practice on the huge dust bowl of a pitch at La Trave last night vs San Fredano. An Spanish goalkeeper, an English defence (with pseudo-Englishman Mate), a Spanish midfield (with their mediterranean cousin Leo), and an Irish strikeforce. Now, just because I am writing a PhD on the inability of labour to see beyond its constitutive pre-work-based identities in order to pursue their collective interests and extract more profit from capital does not mean I actually believe it - My thesis was proved gloriously wrong last night as we fought like Spartans for each other to pull of a heroic, and much deserved victory.

Okay, sorry, long introduction. More importantly, we learned someone interesting about David Baez - that he has a penchant for wearing leotards. Obviously, in the amazing world of the web 2.0 wikipedia has some kind of constitutive ontological quality, so what it says goes. Therefore this link will tell you what a leotard is if you don't know. Honestly, that's what he was wearing under his classy and sexy black goalie kit. He apparently hopes to be the first Spanish WWF wrestler.

Right, the match. With Simon deciding Celtic are more important than IUE Calcio and fucking off to Barcelona Dave M came in at the back to fret about how to play in a sweeper system, and Dave H came in up front. Leo started on the right in place of Francesco, who got stuck on a train. Ernesto started the match as captain, but didn't finish it as captain, or indeed finish it at all... This was always going to a be a tough game, with S Frediano easily the best side in our league, and this was made tougher by the match being played on a pitch that looks like it has been in the middle of some scorched earth retreat. We started excellently, but looked nervous and rushed on the ball, perhaps worried about the impact of the pitch on the ability to pass the thing around, as we have been doing so well recently. Still, we got in behind a fair few times, and when we turned it on we shifted to ball quickly and with purpose, with Irial doing a great job as a pivot, flicking, passing and blocking the ball into the path of oncoming teammates. A little more belief and conviction would have seen us get in more times than we actually did. Eventually we won a penalty, which Manolo buried in an eerily Jones-like fashion. 1-0 up and playing well. They had a lot of joy exploiting the wings as the doubled up on our full backs, as their strikers engaged in intelligent and selfless running that we rarely see in this league. We got ourselves into trouble when we played a loose ball from midfield and they got into our left-back channel, Their boy twisted his ankle on the bumpy surface and fell over in a heap. Unfortunately the ref thought I had fouled him (even though I was a metre and a half away), and gave a free kick. After making a brilliant save a couple of minutes earlier from a freekick of theirs, David was unable to keep this one out, and we went in at half time at 1-1, playing well on a difficult pitch against an excellent opposition who were beginning to lose their cool, knowing that they were being outplayed. We had had a series of great attacks, and went close on a few occasions, and could easily have been winning by a couple of goals.

The second half ended up being a titanic effort of determination, teamwork and old fashioned backs to the wall defending, in which we could have scored a fair few goals on the break, and they failed to really make any clear chances, although they attacked for the last 20 minutes. This all came from the fact that we had gone 2-1 up with a brilliant second penalty from Manolo, after Irial was assaulted several times in their box as he ran clean through. They made such a racket about the penalty and the red card for their boy, but there's not much they could really argue about. Perez's effort was sheer class. His reward was to immediately come off for Nate who went up front to try and exploit the spaces in behind the S Frediano defence off Irial's flicks. We played very well for the next half an hour or so, defending resolutely, and keeping our cool against an opposition who were, to put it mildly, a bunch a cheating, violent, moaning bastards. The ref absolutely bottled it at one point as he sent off their number 1o for assaulting Luis, and then retracted it after the guy looked like he was going to hit the ref. Crazy. We missed some good chances to put the game beyond doubt on the counter attack. As our defenders kept their cool, our attack lacked the composure that they have displayed so brilliantly in recent weeks. Then, unbeliavably, the ref awarded S Frediano a penalty for no-one knows what, as there was no tackle or challenge, the boy just knocking the ball forward in our box and falling over. Crazy. The ref couldn't even say who had committed a foul. They missed it anyway. The leotard put them off. For the next 10 minutes or so, plus FIVE minutes of stoppage time, we failed miserably to keep the ball, and the ref went mental awarding them free kick after free kick in our half. Ernesto was sent off ridiculously for a second yellow, and we were backs to the wall. This was a gargantuan performance lads - the defending for that quarter of an hour was exceptional. Sorry for all the shouting. 2-1 final score!

The buzz after the game in Finnegan's was tangible - more than after any other game. This was the most satisfying victory I've been involved in at the EUI, more than any 8-1s or 5-0s or similar goleadas. This was a victory won by teamwork, sweat, determination and sacrifice against a quality opposition who knew they had been outplayed. Congratulations everyone! We also had about 20 fans at an away game in the middle of nowhere. Brilliant.

Team: (1-3-4-1-1) David - Luke - Mate, Dave M, Dom - Manolo (Nate), Luis, Ernesto, Leo (Johnny) - Dave H (Norberto)- Irial.