Swimming with the sharks.

The BPL is one of the toughest leagues in the world... and it is so for a reason. There is no learning curve, you get thrown in with the sharks and you are expected to swim faster.

The BPL also showcases the gulf between the naive managers from the wily old ones. Zola of West Ham and Roberto Martinez of Wigan reminds us why it took Sir Alex so many years to establish his reign at the top of the pile. It is great to play pretty football but when the rubber hits the road, you've got to play ugly to survive. That is what Sam Allardyce, Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis know and that has seen their teams win crucial matches for relegation battle's survival of the fittest. Portsmouth and Burnley are going down.

With a shrewd and battle hardened manager like Iain Dowie now in charge at Hull City, you will feel that they always have a fighting chance.

Will West Ham get relegated? I fear so. Will Wigan get dragged in as well. I think so. There is no place for naive management in the BPL. A certain Rafa Benitez at Merseyside should also take note of that.

Old School Pepsi-Soccer Commercials.

Remember these funny soccer commercials sponsored by Pepsi? I'm sure it'll bring back some fond memories about the game and the commercial itself.

Confidence brings out the best in you.

Confidence brings out the best in you.

Liverpool definitely showed that, as they played with confidence, playing the best as they ever should against Sunderland.

Kudos to Liverpool. 3-0 against Sunderland is no easy feat.

Daylight savings end today, 28/03/10.

Dear readers of TST,

Please do note that daylight savings (DST) ends today in the U.K. and thus the time difference between Singapore and the U.K. will be reduced to 7 hours, i.e. GMT+7.


Courtesy of TST editors.

TST Pundits.

Date	GMT(+8)	Match	N.	Fisheye	Gut
27.03.10	2300hrs	Birmingham vs Arsenal	Arsenal	Draw	Arsenal
27.03.10	2300hrs	Chelsea vs Aston Villa	Draw	Chelsea	Chelsea
27.03.10	2300hrs	Hull City vs Fulham	Draw	Draw	Draw
27.03.10	2300hrs	West Ham vs Stoke City	West Ham	West Ham	West Ham
27.03.10	2300hrs	Wolves vs Everton	Everton	Draw	Everton
28.03.10	0130hrs	Bolton vs Man Utd	Draw	Man Utd	Man Utd
28.03.10	2000hrs	Burnely vs Blackburn	Blackburn	Draw	Burnley
29.03.10	0000hrs	Liverpool vs Sunderland	Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool
30.03.10	0400hrs	Man city vs Wigan	Draw	Man City	Man City
31.03.10	0345hrs	Bayern Munich vs Man Utd	Draw	Draw	Man Utd
31.03.10	0345hrs	Lyon vs Bordeaux	Draw	Lyon	Bordeaux
01.04.10	0345hrs	Arsenal vs Barcelona	Draw	Arsenal	Arsenal
01.04.2010	0345hrs	Inter Milan vs CSKA Moscow	Inter	Inter	Inter
02.04.10	0405hrs	Benfica vs Liverpool	Liverpool	Benfica	Benfica
02.04.10	0405hrs	Fulham vs Wolfsburg	Fulham	Fulham	FUlham
02.04.10	0405hrs	Hamburg vs Standard Liege	Hamburg	Hamburg	Hamburg
02.04.10	0405hrs	Valencia vs Atletico Madrid	Valencia	Draw	Atletico Madrid

All the best to everyone!

No World Cup in Singapore, Still.

There are but a handful of countries who will not be airing the World Cup 2010. Guess what. Singapore is one of them. A developed country, looking to be unique. Our regulators have sure done a good job delivering to their promise of "Uniquely Singapore". A country with the likes of Somalia to not air the World Cup 2010.

To our regulators: I suppose Singapore has not made it to the dream of World Cup 2010. But there's no need to punish the entire country for your incapability!

Just you and Carlton Palmer, taking a bath!

Sick of Carlton Palmer on the Football Channel, offering the wildest match analysis and playing with his favourite telestrator? You might find him in your bath tub too!!!

TST Pundits.

Date	GMT(+8)	Match	N.	Fisheye	Gut
20.03.10	2045hrs	Aston Villa vs Wolves	Aston Villa	Aston Villa	Aston Villa
20.03.10	2300hrs	Everton vs Bolton	Everton	Everton	Everton
20.03.10	2300hrs	Portsmouth vs Hull City	Portsmouth	Draw	Portsmouth
20.03.10	2300hrs	Stoke City vs Tottenham	Draw	Draw	Draw
20.03.10	2300hrs	Sunderland vs Birmingham	Sunderland	Draw	Draw
20.03.10	2300hrs	Wigan vs Burnley	Wigan	Wigan	Wigan
21.03.10	0130hrs	Arsenal vs West Ham	Arsenal	Arsenal	Arsenal
21.03.10	2130hrs	Man Utd vs Liverpool	Liverpool	Man Utd	Man Utd
21.03.10	2300hrs	Fulham vs Man city	Man City	Fulham	Fulham
21.03.10	0000hrs	Blackburn vs Chelsea	Chelsea	Chelsea	Blackburn
24.03.10	0400hrs	West Ham vs Wolves	West Ham	Draw	Draw
25.03.10	0345hrs	Man City vs Everton	Everton	Man City	Man City
25.03.2010	0345hrs	Aston Villa vs Sunderland	Draw	Draw	Aston Villa
25.03.10	0345hrs	Portsmouth vs Chelsea	Draw	Chelsea	Chelsea
25.03.10	0400hrs	Blackburn vs Birmingham	Draw	Draw	Draw
25.03.10	0345hrs	Tottenham vs Fulham	Draw	Tottenham	Tottenham

All the best to everyone!

Jose wins.

In the battle of Jose vs Chelsea, note that I used Jose, not Inter, Jose won. The game was clearly the old boss against his old team.

And of course, the expensively assembled team at Chelsea can never outsmart their commander and chief, whom I presume with certainty knows them inside out. He set out to deny the Blues a win, and he did one better, he won at Stamford Bridge. This is proof that Jose Mourinho is one of the best tacticians there is in football if you want to win a match and a tournament for the matter. He is a brilliant tactician and more so, an incredible motivator. How else do you expect Inter to come to Stamford Bridge, the stronghold of Chelsea and bring them to their knees.

Sure, there were controversial moments and Drogba will complain about mistreatment again, but the Ivorian only has his own reputation to blame. He is a pathological diver, referees think twice about awarding him penalties and free kicks.

Looks like Roman Abramovich will have to take drastic measures next season to seal himself a Champions League trophy. Not only does he need to rid himself of the team which Jose built, he will need to give Carlo Ancelotti financial muscle to build a team worthy of doing just that. The Chelsea of today is too familiar to their nearest opponents and as long as Jose is around, they will never outdo him with his own team.

Sorry Roman, I still think you made the biggest mistake by letting Jose go. If all I wanted was to win a Champs League trophy, Jose Mourinho will have to be my top man for the job.

Calderon is a pighead.

You think Real Madrid being dumped out of the Champions League will make some people shut up and take notice that their strategy of buying to win is a bad strategy. Wrong.

Calderon, the epitome of loudmouth at Real Madrid is clearly rubbing himself in the wrong direction again, hoping to sign Wayne Rooney as you would have it... to Real Madrid. Join the circus that is Real Madrid... pfft.

Dumped out by a modest team like Lyon. Pooooor Karim Benzema who went to Real thinking he was joining a club that could at least beat his old club. He will be better off sending in a transfer request now to consider rejoining his old club. At least he gets to start games, not sit on benches.

Wayne Rooney I think will never do a Ronaldo. I mean... he just needs to look at Ronaldo's plight to understand that simple truth. The world's best player when he was with Man Utd is already out of the top competition at club level with a star-studded team behind him. Tells you everything eh. There is no such thing as a dream team. And Real Madrid is a bunch of Harlem Globetrotters with a coach that is too small to lead them to great things. Too much ego in the dressing room. And a coach like Jose Mourinho going to Real will be anti-football, because Jose is famed for his cagey tactics, not the free-flowing, joga bonito football the Real fans demand. They work for good wins and trohy laden seasons, but things aren't always the same at Madrid.

So I can only conlude one thing, Calderon is a pighead for constantly spewing rubbish to the media. And the owner Perez is a pighead with money. The circus is spectacular but lacks substance in reality.

Note to David Beckham who just tore his Achilles tendon, likely to keep him out of the World Cup. Get well soon Becks. The World Cup will not be a lesser competition without you, but the England team will be less off without your charisma.

Torres leaving Liverpool?

It was recently reported that Fernando Torres, the start striker for Liverpool, is considering a switch away from Liverpool in the summer if Liverpool fails to present itself as a serious title and trophy contender through recruitment of top quality players.

Top quality seems to be rather subjective especially in the world of Benitez. After all, he seems to believe that Aquiliani and Glen Johnson are pretty top quality players.

It is getting quite tiring to read about players wanting to leave the club because the club is not a title contender and thus would affect their future. I am not personally in the industry and thus, I suppose players have objectives to play for their country and maybe secure commercial deals? To achieve these goals, players may feel a need to be exposed to high profile competitions, in order to represent top brands and thus allow their agents to negotiate a good deal for all parties.

I can't help but think about all those inspirational movies revolving around sports. Movies such as "Cool Runnings", "The Mighty Ducks", "The Titans" and many more. These movies are usually based on a true story, depicting how "heart" can change things in a game, how passion and effort means more than just talent. It seems that in reality, talent, hard work and passion do exist but in a different manner. Talented players seek higher grounds, players work hard towards transferring to a better club, players are filled with passion for a club who serve them well, i.e. win win situation. I know I'm making a lot of generalisation here but reality seems to be so.

What might make a good movie would be a story about Portsmouth, if they manage to stay up in the Premiership despite all the odds against them. Maybe they can instill some fantasy back into my world, back into the world.

Torres did say these though:

"It's too soon to talk, I honestly think that we're going to be fourth, but for me Champions League qualification isn't so important."

"I've left my home and it's clear that I owe Liverpool many things, and I'm very happy here. The fans have treated my like one of their own, but I'm going to think about my future and hopefully it will be here. I think these fans deserve to win."

"Beyond thinking about me, I think the club deserve to get back to winning (trophies), but they know themselves that right now that it's far off."

I'll be keeping my hopes up, believing in passion, talent and hard work. Hopefully I won't be disappointed. It doesn't hurt to dream a little, sometimes?

TST Pundits.

Date	GMT(+8)	Match	N.	Fisheye	Gut
13.03.10	2045hrs	Tottenham vs Blackburn	Draw	Tottenham	Tottenham
13.03.10	2300hrs	Birmingham vs Everton	Everton	Birmingham	Birmingham
13.03.10	2300hrs	Bolton vs Wigan	Draw	Draw	Draw
13.03.10	2300hrs	Burnley vs Wolves	Draw	Draw	Burnley
13.03.10	2300hrs	Chelsea vs West Ham	Chelsea	Chelsea	Chelsea
13.03.10	2300hrs	Stoke City vs Aston Villa	Aston Villa	Draw	Stoke City
14.03.10	0130hrs	Hull City vs Arsenal	Arsenal	Arsenal	Arsenal
14.03.10	2130hrs	Man Utd vs Fulham	Man Utd	Man Utd	Man Utd
15.03.10	0000hrs	Sunderland vs Man city	Sunderland	Draw	Draw
16.03.10	0400hrs	Liverpool vs Portsmouth	Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool
17.03.10	0345hrs	Wigan vs Aston Villa	Draw	Aston Villa	Wigan
17.03.10	0345hrs	Chelsea vs Inter Milan	Chelsea	Draw	Chelsea
17.03.2010	0345hrs	Sevilla vs CSKA Moscow	Draw	Sevilla	Sevilla
18.03.10	0345hrs	Barcelona vs Stuttgart	Barcelona	Barcelona	Barcelona
18.03.10	0345hrs	Bordeaux vs Olympiakos	Draw	Bordeaux	Draw
19.03.10	0200hrs	Fulham vs Juventus	Juventus	Draw	Draw
19.03.10	0200hrs	Liverpool vs Lille	Liverpool	Draw	Liverpool

All the best to everyone!

TST Pundits.

Date	GMT(+8)	Match	N.	Fisheye	Gut
06.03.2010	2300hrs	Arsenal vs Burnley	Arsenal	Arsenal	-
06.032010	2300hrs	West Ham vs Bolton	West Ham	West Ham	-
07.03.2010	0130hrs	Wolves vs Man Utd	Man Utd	Man Utd	-
08.03.2010	0000hrs	Everton vs Hull City	Everton	Everton	-
09.03.2010	0400hrs	Wigan vs Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool
10.03.2010	0345hrs	Sunderland vs Bolton	Sunderland	Sunderland	Draw
10.03.2010	0345hrs	Portsmouth vs Birmingham	Birmingham	Draw	Birmingham
11.03.2010	0345hrs	Burnley vs Stoke City	Stoke City	Draw	Stoke City
06.03.2010	2030hrs	Portsmouth vs Birmingham	Birmingham	Birmingham	-
07.03.2010	0120hrs	Fulham vs Tottenham	Tottenham	Draw	-
07.03.2010	2145hrs	Reading vs Aston Villa	Aston Villa	Draw	-
08.03.2010	0000hrs	Chelsea vs Stoke City	Chelsea	Chelsea	-
10.03.2010	0345hrs	Arsenal vs FC Porto	Arsenal	Draw	Arsenal
10.03.2010	0345hrs	Fiorentina vs Bayern Munich	Draw	Fiorentina	Fiorentina
11.03.2010	0345hrs	Man Utd vs AC Milan	Draw	Draw	Man Utd
11.03.2010	0345hrs	Real Madrid vs Lyon	Real Madrid	Real Madrid	Real Madrid
12.03.2010	0200hrs	Juventus vs Fulham	Juventus	Juventus	Juventus
12.03.2010	0200hrs	Lille vs Liverpool	Liverpool	Draw	Draw

All the best to everyone!

Guest Pundit.

TST Pundits is proud to welcome a guest pundit "Gut". We are honoured to have a third pundit join us in our cause to provide our readers with some fun and interesting match predictions.

Do look forward to what Gut has predicted for the upcoming matches!

As the knights go marching in.

The Red Knights prepare themselves for a takeover of the board at Manchester United.

And garnering wholesome support from fans, incuding some mega rich ones, Man Utd might be set for a take by the group, mysteriously called the Red Knights.

Whether or not the Red Knights are supported, they sure hold water in many of the claims they have made so far. An established economist, a few investment bankers, rich businessmen, the Red Knights look like an organized consortium ready to wrest control from the Glazer family.

Ask me for an opinion? Who cares so long as Man Utd continues to win matches. I just hope these rumors and unsettling news do not put the season's plans i.e to win everything into jeopardy. Not that in any scenario Man Utd will be less off, but I expect Man Utd to be just as competitive in the transfer market in year 2011 whomever is sitting in the boardroom.

Take note though. The Red Knights might just pull off what I think is the biggest supporter coup in footballing history. And trust me, the global fanbase of Man Utd is capable of anything.

Tribute to Keith Alexander. 14/11/1956 to 03/03/2010.

A relatively unknown manager (Macclesfield Town) compared to the big boys in the Premier League, Keith Alexander nonetheless was a good man and a professional. Having been diagnosed with cerebral aneurysm in 2003, he went on to have his operations and returned to work since the operations. He had been struggling with his health and took some time off. Despite this, he was present for the game against Notts County just on Tuesday night, before passing away at the age of 53.

Cerebal aneurysm in simple terms refer to the bursting of blood vessels in your brain and could be due to high bloood pressure, atherosclerosis or genetic reasons. For all our readers who may be interested to lower their risk towards cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, you may find more information about a product named, Monacol.

I guess this only goes to show the magnitude of pressure managers are in while in charge of a football team. These days, managers do not simply have to worry about the game but also about many other aspects of the club. This includes culture, tradition and in some cases, personal or familial problems of their players.

The editors at TST offer our sympathy and condolences to his Keith Alexander's family and to the people at Macclesfield Town. To all managers and professionals out there, do remember to take time to relax and take it easy from time to time. Do not allow it to affect your work and level of professionalism, but at the same time, do not let your work overly affect your health and body.