Poor Old Fisi!

So, everyone slated Luca Badoer for being very very poor. And to be fair to those critics, they were right. I said recently, he shouldn't have been given the race seat and made a fool out of. It is interesting to now note that Fisichella isn't faring much better and had a dismal race last weekend, despite his teammate displaying his usual good form.

I'm not saying that Fischella being poor, in the second Ferrari, is the issue here. I'm saying that the issue is the feedback he has had. In Luca Badoer's only race of 2009, the BBC commentator Janathon Legard was ripping him apart, with every opportunity he had. If the coverage showed the the race order, Legard would say 'guess who is at the back' or if Badoer came off and back on he would say 'any suggestions for who that is, off the track again'.

Now to the issue. Fisichella was far from good this weekend and yet, Legard's (and other people's) feedback was pathetic. From, something along the lines of 'Fisi has gone from a car with a few buttons on the steering wheel to a car with loads of buttons', through 'Fisi just needs a race or two to settle in', to 'The Ferrari has totally different wheels, brakes, callipers, suspension etc...', which is obvious to say the least. But, the big question is: where was Luca Badoer's support and encouragement? where were his justifications (when justifying his performance would have been more justified!)? I mean the poor guy hadn't raced since 1999! Here is Fisichella, a guy who has been racing continuously for years, struggling with a car (if we're honest) not all that different to the Force India car (certainly not as different as a 1999 F1 car!)

So, here's the message to Fisi's critics: Stop making excuses for him and admit he should have stayed at Force India. And, here's the message to Badoer: You didn't do all that badly, some people just don't seem to understand that fact.

Whose shirt is it anyway?

Didn't it get on my nerves at the weekend?.. and many other people I should have thought? 'Which player owns the number one jersey?', 'who owns the leftback jersey?', 'What is the set starting eleven?' These kind of questions seemed to shape the pundits entire analysis on Saturday afternoon and it was irritating, not to mention wrong.



Anybody with a slightly technical footballing mind knows that there is a hell of a lot more to football than just selecting a rigid starting eleven, whose formation doesn't change and who sees out the full 90 minutes. Football is about:

• Flexibility (in terms of individual positioning).
• Changing the formation at half-time.
• Moving backwards and forwards from attacking play to defensive play.
• Substituting players, to change the shape of play and to catch the opposition out.

And yet, watching ITV's coverage on Saturday afternoon, the guys in the studio would not stop going on about; 'who is England's number one shirt' and 'we should know soon', 'Ashley Cole is our one and only leftback' and 'how come Fabio doesn't give Defoe the number 9 shirt?'

And this issue that the team needs to be set in stone is only a recent one. There is nothing wrong (to a logical football analyst's mind) with playing Jermaine Defoe as a super-sub, similar to the likes of Paul Scholes for Manchester United, and putting him on after half-time; evidence as shown that he seems to score in those circumstances. There is nothing wrong with changing the Goalkeeper, depending on his form, and playing the best keeper of the moment. And there is nothing wrong with playing different leftbacks, especially since Ashley Cole continuously makes mistakes and gets himself well out of position.

Let's all hope that Fabio Capello keeps doing his own thing and doesn't listen to the dilluded pundits of the moment.

Racing incidents or cold-hearted cheating?

Why are the FIA still trying to destroy the excitement in Formula One? A lot of people I know turn off the F1 because they believe it is boring. It cannot be denied that many people watch F1, and any other motorsport, for the exhilaration of seeing crashes. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that watchers want to see drivers getting hurt, nobody wants to see that, but a large part of Grand Prix racing is the risk of crashing... and most viewers want to see a reasonable amount of this.

When a race like Spa begins with four or five cars getting a little too intimate and making a close acquaintance with the nearest barrier, viewers are up out of their seats, shouting at the TV. They express to friends and family how great and exciting that moment was and then within minutes find out that the drivers involved are being investigated by the race officials. No penalty was incurred at the weekend, but the fact that investigations begin must make those fans, that enjoy exciting crashes and incidents, wonder whether the threat of a penalty will prevent the likelihood of these kind of incidents in the future.

Maybe, the FIA should turn a bit more of a blind eye to these little coming-togethers (or at least keep their investigations under wraps) and keep the racing spirit alive.

Embarrassment for Ferrari!

First of all, let me start by saying, I have the utmost respect for Luca Badoer. He was a competent racer, who made is debut in 1993 for Lola and, since then, has raced for Minardi and Forti Grand Prix. He retired from racing in 1999, but made his return this year as the test driver for Ferarri.

As many will be aware, Luca Badoer has been placed in to the Ferrari race seat, as second driver, as a substitute for Filipe Massa. Massa appears to be well on the road to recovery, whilst the Ferrari decision makers seem to be suffering with concussion.

It all started with their shock choice of Michael Schumacher as an appropriate replacement for the injured Massa. Fans were quickly made aware that Michael was suffering with a neck injury and soon after this he opted out of his comeback. It wasn't long before Schuey was set to be making a return again, before ruling himself out for the final time.

I, for one, felt that this was very unprofessional, mainly on Ferrari's part. There appeared to be many more obvious and logical choices for Ferrari bosses. Both Tonio Liuzzi and Nelson Piquet Jnr were sat on the sidelines, without a drive this season. Simply from the evidence of Jaime Alguersuari, either of the two young drivers (both with racing experience) would have been decent choices.

Instead, Ferrari's common sense hit a new low, when they chose a driver whose age surpassed even Rubens Barrichello, whose last race (in any Formula was ten years ago) and whose racing experience was far from World Championship standard. Noone can criticise Luca Badoer for his poor performance this weekend; he gave it his best shot and was never likely to turn down another chance in F1 and who would? Over the course of the race Badoer came last (but for Nakajima, who suffered a puncture near the end of the Grand Prix), was seconds off the pace, had two or three spins and crossed the white line on the exit of the pitlane. It was clear that he wasn't up to the standard of Formula One racing we see today.

The fact is this: Ferrari should never have entertained the idea of offering Badoer the race seat and in doing so they have made fools of themselves and - more disgracefully - have made a fool out of a respectable veteran Formula One driver.

Deja vu?

So, the premiership season is only one game in, the Championship is two, and already an age old debate is raging. Why can't football learn from sports like cricket, rugby and tennis? Why is football so afraid to incorporate a little technology (technology as primitive as a television and two way communication) to make the game fairer?

Now I will admit that, in the past, the argument against technology, as an aid to match officials, has been something along the lines of: it would take the excitement away from post match discussions, damage rivalries and deny fans the controversy that is actually desirable. It is clear from at least one incident in particular, that this argument is sometimes totally irrelevant.

Let's go back to a week ago, when in the dying moments of the match between the Championship sides, Crystal Palace and Bristol City, Palace scored an equalising goal to earn themselves a valuable point. It was as they began to celebrate that the referee inexplicably ruled the shot wide and awarded a goal kick to Bristol City. To almost everybody watching the game - and later on, everybody watching the highlights - the ball had struck the back of the net and bounced back out. Never has the comical and popular statement "should have gone to specsavers" been more appropriate.

Now, my point is exactly this: if a fourth official had been sat in front of a televison set, with a microphone projecting a live feed in to the referee's ear, then he could have calmly informed Mr Shoebridge that he had made an error and a huge amount of embarassment and heartache could have been avoided in one moment of logic.

Please will the FA heed mine (and other's) words and incorporate a little inexpensive technology in to professional football, to spare everybody such costly (and unentertaining) mistakes.

Oh no! I've lost my Bloggin' virginity

How has it come to this?! I was always so careful; sticking to soft stuff like Facebook and Myspace, spending more time in the real - rather than virtual - world. But, finally, I could resist the temptation no longer and have dived headlong in to the world of The Blog.



So let me try and grasp a hold of this concept. In the past I have considered Blogs to be a means by which to keep a diary or journal (a relatively boring idea if you happen to be reading a stranger's Blog; I went to the shops today. Bought some peas and fish for dinner. Maybe I'll watch Eastenders etc... etc...)


Now I understand that I can write about anything. All my preconceptions have been banished and I'm glad I waited until I was absolutely ready. I hope that many of my future blogual conquests will be full of adventure and excitement, now that I am more mature and comfortable in my own body.