The Grapevine 9/27

By: Corey | September 27th, 2007

There has been a lively debate on whether or not Fabio Cannavaro is worth his weight in beans in a previous post. I welcome the debate, its why I post everyday, I want to hear your guys opinions. Using the word jaded for me was a let off, but im glad it sparked some debate on the subject. To clarify my stance on Cannavaro, he is a good defender, but he is not playing well enough for me to say he was the Ballon de Or winner. Nor has he ever stood out to me as our best defender. Sergio Ramos is by far out best defender, and even though neither Pepe or Metzelder have shown what they can do just yet, because of Cannavaro’s age and his less then perfect form, he may end up on the bench eventually.

If you want to further debate Cannavaro’s merits feel free, just dont be a duesch about it, thats all I ask. Heres your daily Grapevine:

- Fernando Hierro will not have undue influence on Luis Aragones with the intent of winning Raul a recall to the Spain squad. That seems fair enough, but I dont like this for one thing. No one should have to influence Aragones but Raul. And this is why I can not stand Aragones, the man is to old and set in his ways to make proper changes and he will stick to what he wants to until he gets fired.

- Real Madrid bought its on jet. This surprises me, as most NBA, NFL and MLB teams have their own jets and buses. Obviously Real has its own bus, but why not a jet already? According to the article I read, no European teams own their own jet to date, Real is the first. i doubt that, but if its true, then why is that?

- Ramon Calderon is not a fugitive, he is a man who wants to see the opera with his wife.

- Royston Drenthe admitted that Edgar Davids was the player he looked up to as a youngin. Well duh, the dreads make that rather obvious. My question is, why did all the black players of Ajax 94 and 95 sport the dreads? Davids, Melchiot, Kanu, Seedorf, and im sure another one or two, why did they all rock the dreads? Ive always been curious about that, if anyone knows then please enlighten me.

- Sacchi tried to sign Totti for Real when they realized Zidane needed to be replaced, but obviously he failed. Chris, your lucky bud.

- Speak of the devil:
“Here in Spain, people think defenders aren’t proper football players. Spaniards like strikers like Ronaldinho, who are capable of giving spectacle,” Cannavaro said.

“That’s why people didn’t like me getting so many awards last year; Spaniards don’t think a defender should win the Ballon d’Or. Italy is different; defenders and goalkeepers can be more important than strikers there.

“Some of our most famous players are Maldini, Costacurta, Baresi, and Facchetti and Gentile before them. I come from Naples, so I always wanted to be like Ferrara. A defender has to defend and he must be valued for that.

“It is more important for a defender to be focused than to be fast because there are many strikers out there that hardly touch a ball in an entire match and managed to suddenly score. That’s what happened to me with Shevchenko.

“It is harder to defend in Spain because we have to cover our men in the box, also keeping an eye on midfielders who approach in the attack.”

Cannavaro also thinks that the Spanish national team could learn from Italy how to play as a team, so that any out-of-form players will not be caught out.

“It is only possible for niggled or tired players to perform well when the entire team is united. Italy won the World Cup with hardly any strikers because Totti and Luca Toni weren’t in good shape,” he continued.

“How did this happen? Because we worked very hard and had great spirit.

“Whenever people asked me who I thought was going to win the World Cup before the competition started I always said Spain would. I swear. They had it all: technique, speed… But they always seem to lose when things get difficult.

“We, on the other hand, grow stronger with adversity. We feel similar pressure too: as soon as the competition starts the local press always criticises the national coach.”

Finally, Cannavaro stated that he believes the not much has changed under Bernd Schuster but the communication is better as the German talks more to the players.

The German coach is being credited with playing a more attractive and open style of game, but the veteran Italian thinks that is because of the recent summer signings.

“Schuster likes discipline, hard work and people with a winning attitude,” he explained.

“He is different to Capello. Those who didn’t know Fabio were afraid of talking to him. Schuster is more relaxed and talks to everyone. Change has really come with the new signings.

“We work more like a team now. We all attack and defend. It’s important for all of us to do a bit of everything because some players are sometimes 110 per cent in shape and others only 50 per cent.”

Im not going to comment, honestly

- Wesley Sneijder said to AS “We may be leaders and Betis may be in the relegation zone, but it’s no walkover: they’re going to test us. We cannot neglect that, or it will cost us.

“That said, the Bernabeu need not worry. We’re going to play well, and we’re going to produce a spectacle that pleases the fans.”

“The best is yet to come from Real Madrid. I believe that this team has incredible potential, and all the players are hungry for silverware.”

Kid has his head on his shoulders, I am glad he has done well for us so far.

- Real Madrid were put off by Micheal Ballack’s agent who demanded 1 million just to do business, while they were also scared as to why Chelsea were making things so easy for Real to sign Ballack. Im glad this did not go through, we dont need to buy the aging European campaigners anymore, that train has left the station.

- Roberto Soldado is probably gonna ask out of Real in the winter market. I dont blame him, Schuster is shafting the young local lads right now.

- Schuster had this to say about Raul: “I do not understand why people say Raul should rest when a player is in such good form,” said Schuster. “He is the one that needs least rest, because he is the one who is in the best form.

“He has no injuries, he is training hard, he is perfect and he is playing very good games.

“So, I am not going to let him rest.”

- Iker Casillas has taken a policy out with Groupama to insure his hands this season for £5 million. The deal is tied to a publicity campaign where Casillas will help promote the insurance group. I insured something of mine for a couple hundred but the insurance company said that was lewd.

- Enjoy the game today, ill try and get a stream in class.