Right Back In The Big Time

Liverpool have finally completed their first summer signing and it is without any shadow of a doubt a good one.

Glen Johnson comes in as England's first choice right back moving past Wes Brown,a vastly improved player since he left Chelsea for Pompy and a player how can provide more of a threat going forward,having just won Match of the Day's goal of the season for 2008/09

The fee has come as a surprise to some people but 7million of the fee is wrote off as Portsmouth owe Liverpool for Peter Crouch and as soon as a player gets an England cap 5million is added to their fee.

This will make an already strong Liverpool back four even stronger with Johnson having more pace and power than Alvaro Arbeloa plus he will become another member of that defensive union that it is the right side of 25 along with Agger, Srktel and Insua

Arbeloa was the first choice right back all season, a season which was the team's best league finish under Benitez, but he didn't have any kind of competition thanks to Phillip Degan having only not injuried his dog all season and is now a target for his former club Real Madrid.

The Spanish defender is a good player but that is as good as it can be for him, at International level he has the over but highly rated Sergio Ramos ahead of him and the problem will pop up again if he moves to Madrid.

It is understandable if Arbeloa's head was turned by Real, but Benitez needs to try and keep him as he could have the same problem of a right back knowing he is untouchable like he had this season.

Forza Italia

So the current Confederations Cup has brought along its first real upset with Eygpt defeating reigning World Champions Italy.

Was this just a plucky underdog overcoming their more well known opponents or was it the end of a era for that super power, unfortunantly the second option seems to fit the bill.

When Italy won the World Cup in Germany back in 2006 everyone knows they didn't win it with flair, with quick tempo football or a wonderful passing game, they won it doing what they know how to stopping the oppositions scoring.

However that was three years ago and the old limbs that carried Italy through are still there and have yet to be replaced.

Throughout the years Italy have had both a world class number 9 and 10, Totti/Del Piero and Vieri/Inzaghi. That is the recent past you can go as far back as Gigi Riva, Gianni Rivera, Giuseppe Meazza the list goes on, but this current side seems to be lacking the thing their country has produced time and time again.

Luca Toni is not a great striker by any means nor is Alberto Gilardino, Giuseppe Rossi has youth on his side but there hasn't been many players Fergie lets go that become superstars, Mario Balotelli is hailed as the second coming well why doesn't Lippi call him up.

Italy will always produce the world's best defenders, but once again against Eygpt three of the back four were over 30 and the main leader Cannavaro is approaching 36.

The problem seems to come from the club game in Italy with places like Milan and Juventus been seen almost as retirment homes to the the other two big league in Europe. Maybe an Arsene Wenger approach to management is what Italy needs with youth being their main focus.

But lets hope the lessons are learnt from the Eygpt defeated both in the short and long term and this great footballing nation doesn't become a laughing stock

Magic Formula

So Kobe finally got his fourth ring, he got he without Shaq and Shaq even said on his Twitter page that he was happy Kobe had won it all.

However having only lost one game in this series and never really playing at 100%, apart from maybe game one, were the Lakers even under any real pressure.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was bullish after game four even though his Orlando team had blown a 12 point lead at half time and ended up losing in over time. He talked about how his team would fight and believed they could still win the series, star centre Dwight Howard said lets make LA win it in LA. Unfortunatly neither happened for the Magic.

After a strong first quarter it was looking good but after they were blizted 30 - 18 by the Lakers in the second it was all but over. It seemed that as soon as the Lakers took a lead of five points or more over the Magic were not going to crawl it back.

Once again Kobe was scoring, Gasol was doing his usual job, Trevor Ariza finished up with 15 and Odom with 17, and this all tallied up to 99 and a Laker championship.

The Magic coming into this series were known as a three point shooting team apart from game three, their only win, it didn't happen, there seemed to be more talk about Rafer Alston VS Jameer Nelson than anything else and Superman didn't turn up.

The Orlando Magic will be in the mix again next year without question but they need to make some changes and key decision as players like Turkogul can opt out of their contract. So it could be a massive summer for coach Stan Van Gundy.

But at least we don't have to see Kobe's tough guy face anymore.

Wish I Hadn't Bothered

So last night I finally decided to part with money (anyone who knows me knows that's a big thing) and went to see terminator salvation and from the title you can probably guess what I thought of it.

I was full of excitment even asked for a ticket for terminator salvation giving it its full title is was that excited and then after a small mix up with screens I was in.

The first ten minutes were all action as the human resistance mounted an attack on a Skynet communcations station and an actually quite good fight between a T 600 and John Connor (Christian Bale) took place and I was on the edge of my seat. Then it all went wrong. After the resistance found human bodies and also captives they realised something was wrong and Skynet had something planned. And so did McG, the director, he let Bale talk too much.

Don't get me wrong I like Christian Bale but I'm probably not the only person that hates the deep voices he puts on in his action movies.

So the movie continues with a few scenes that would get fans excited but not much else. The best scene is when Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) and the young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) escape from a T 600 on the destroyed streets of L.A.

Throughtout the film John Connor listens to tapes his mother, Sarah Connor, left him warning about the future and yet again there are more long dialogue from Bale.

Trying not to give too much away from the actual movie the ending is somewhat of a saving grace and a CGI Arnie (T 800) did bring a smile to my face.

Overall the action scenes are quite good (look out for the terminator bikes) but there doesn't seem to be enough of them. Every terminator fan has been looking forward to seeing what the war was like, but am sorry it looked like they were holding back, and for me the war scenes at the start of T2 and even Connor's dream in T3 are a lot more sinster thus leading this fourth installment to dissappoint

The Silly Season In Full Swing

Its not even July yet and the silly season is well and truely under way.

This week we have seen the world transfer record smashed with Kaka's move the Real Madrid, reports of AC Milan using that money to rival Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo and then Pato thinking he might jump ship to Chelsea.

Here we go again. It's the one time in the year that I kind of wish football wasn't around but the agents think it's Christmas, their birthday and Easter rolled into one.

First of all the Kaka transfer has both confused and worried me (with my Barcelona sympathies) as the what drew him to Madrid. I have always respected Kaka as a player ever since he first went to Milan and my respected grew for him even more when he turned down Man City's oil soaked notes in January, but what has drawn him to Madrid besides money. Real Madrid of last season were a joke, destroyed by Liverpool at Anfield and then kicked while they were down by a 6-2 defeat to Barcelona that made the once great team look like a pub team.

Perez has promised a new era of superstars at Real to rival the Zidane, Figo team, but the only one of that long list of superstars to win the league was David Beckham and then they sacked the coach that got them it.

Kaka could turn Madrid into a power again, but what Real fans have to remember is that Barca are already miles ahead of them and they also won't have a quiet summer.

Next is the Ronaldo to Milan rumours. No chance of this happening all the best players are looking to leave Italy so why would the world's "best" player go there. Milan may have the money but they and all of Italy at the minute is a work in progress and lets hope they get back to they once where.

So to complete this little merry go round Pato is interested in a move to Chelsea. Now this I can see happening due to the simple fact the man himself said he will speak to Ancellotti after the Confederations Cup and before he speaks to the Milan board, so what does he expect Carlo to say, stay where you are lad no point coming to Chelsea.

Pato has bags and bags of potential and he has begun slowly to realise it, but there are some big defenders in England so if the move does happen it will be a huge step for him.

NBA Finals; Over and done with?

Tonight (2am start) sees the third game of the 2009 NBA Finals and with the Lakers leading the best of seven series 2-0 is there any way back for the Eastern Conference champs the Orlando Magic?

Simple answer YES

Having lost the first game by twenty five points the Magic did what they have done all season and that is come back from a bad display. They raise their game and forced the Lakers into overtime even blowing a chance to win at the death but rookie Countney Lee's lay up came back off the rim.

After having a poor game by his own huge standards in the first match, Dwight "Superman" Howard showed everyone that is he more than most a strong dunker and high points scorer. Rather than trying to do it all on his own Howard took the Lakers double team under the rim and when the time was right kicked the ball out to one of the Magics free shooters, simple but effective, and unlike the first game the Magics shots were finding their mark.

Magic forward Rashard Lewis particulary took advantage of the new found freedom by leading the scoring for the game with 34 points, including a new of impressive threes when he caught fire in the 2nd quarter.

Superman also was on top of his game on the boards picking up 16 rebounds and also a sneaky goal tend block that went unnoticed by the officals.

However even with Dwight's better team play and Lewis' shooting the best player for the Magic on the night was the consistant Hedo Turkoglu who as well as his usual sound ball handling skills preformed a more than decent job on guarding Kobe when Mickael Pietrus fouled out.

With game three being the first of the series in Orlando the magic will need to take advanatge of it and get a win whatever way it comes, or Kobe might be wearing a smile rather than his usual growl sooner than he would have thought.