www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

This is the halfway mark. It does not mean anything yet but it is a very good indication of what is to come. When the league is so tough, playing through winter and the festive period will take its toll. Its like the walking wounded or even walking dead. The doctors, medics and physios are all to busy. Like a hospital everywhere. The sinews are being stretched and the mind play tricks on you. This is being human.  So when Leicester City hosted Liverpool on Game Week 19, there was hope that they could get something and I believe even Manchester City were hoping for the same. If like me you have awaken at 4am to catch the game, you wouldn't have regretted it. Liverpool dominated and controlled the game from the beginning to the end. They played like proper World Champions! This was an away game and against a very good Leicester team mind you.  Simply put, Liverpool are the masters of the game. They led with a Firmino planted header and then from the 71st to the 78th, they hit thre

Merry Christmas! Peace on earth and goodwill to Man! I could not catch up with the frantic pace of EPL soccer so I took a vacation. Tis the season to be merry and the EPL has thrown out some unexpected results since Game Week 17 and happened again in Game Week 18. There may be more to come. When your body and legs get tired and sinew exhausted, your brain goes bonkers. In this time, Liverpool continued their march to glory - Champions of Europe in June, Champions of Champions in Europe in August and Club World Cup Champions in December!  Question is will Liverpool be the English Champions by May? With a ten point lead over 2nd place Leicester City and a game in hand, they could stretch the lead to 13 points and 14 points over Manchester City. They can't afford to slow down or slip up. It has to be relentless. Klopp said it correctly that his team is not one that can't be beaten but his team is one that will have to work their socks off including their Christmas socks! 

Leaders Liverpool are on target to land their first Premier League title after 30 years. It is still not won bu they are looking the part and looking good. I am convinced that Leicester City will be their main challenger and shall pushed them to the end. Th eir stylish win away win over Villa was a strong message as Jamie Vardy scored twice to lead the scoring chart with an amazing 16 goals and also equal Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record of having scored in 8 consecutive games in the same season. This is his second record achieved.  Manchester City are still playing well but perhaps most teams have adjusted and knew how to cope better with their play. The Champions are now 14 points off the pace and both Liverpool and Leicester have a slightly better goal difference than them. They may yet  bounce back but it is getting harder.  Chelsea showed their human side and weakness as they were stunned by a previously fading Everton but remained 4th. Manchester United made the biggest prog

This is crunch time. The Christmas rush in the EPL is here. It is relentless, fast and furious, jam packed and can make some teams and players suffer, make or break them. We are into Game Week 16 so quickly and just almost immediately after the mid-week games of Game Week 15. From here on it will just be three matches more to half the season. The January transfer window shall be open soon. There may be some big name signings by some clubs and others to address signings as back up or as replacements for injuries. Crystal Palace started with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth which shot them up to 5th position at least temporarily. That was a nice present for Roy Hodgson. Manchester City bounced back with a vengeance and rekindled the kind of form that made them Champions last season. Watch out Liverpool and Leicester! Chelsea retruned to winning ways with Tammy Abraham  and Mason Mount outstanding. Leicester have 7 wins on the trot and are serious challengers. Solskjaer could prolong his j

They play soccer faster than I could write. Its Gegen-pressing. Game Week 15 had several surprises. City lost farther ground when they were held 2-2 by Newcastle and did you see that goal from Kevin De Bruyne? Crystal sprang a surprise at Burnley. Chelsea were stunned at home by West Ham despite their opposite form. Liverpool survived the loss of fabulous Fabinho with two superb Van Dijk headers but again failed to keep a clean sheet as Lewis Dunk scored with a quickly taken free-kick while Adrian (in to replace red-carded Allison) was still organising his defence. Spurs are the new Chelsea and took a 3-0 lead only to allow Bournemouth to score twice later with the resurgence of Dele Alli. Southampton's home win over Watford spelt the end of Sanchez Flores's short reign. Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantweel scored again finally to hold Arsenal to a 2-2 draw. Freddy Lundberg could not improve over Unai Emery who was just sacked before that. Wolves shared the spoils at the Molineux wit

Jose Mourinho is back with a bang as Tottenham for the first time since four league matches ago and have not won away for a long time. Mauricio Pochettino is a great coach and shall succeed elsewhere. He was made for Tottenham and has helped them to over-achieve  but something went amiss. Perhaps he wanted to strengthen his squad but became frustrated and he let it affect his players. He may have lost his team towards the end. It was a much improved display from Spurs as they raced to a 3-0 lead but there must be question marks as they allowed West Ham to nearly complete a comeback. Meanwhile, Pochettino's dismissal has implications at other clubs notably Manchester United and Arsenal. At one time he was much wanted by the Red Devils, so Solskjaer's job be at risk now? Unai Emery is now struggling, will he be a great fit for the Gunners? Other managers in danger are West Ham's Manuel Pelligrini and conspicuously Marco Silva at Everton for their poor performances and resul

We are taking the international break due to EURO 2002 Qualifications. Trouble brewed over from that weekend match between Liverpool and Manchester City and turned into a Sterling/Gomez fracas. Gareth Southgate has chosen to be transparent and also decided to drop Raheem Sterling for England's home match against Montenegro. He has already been accused from both sides - one for being overly harsh and the other for being too lenient. For me, Southgate showed courage and leadership and in doing the right thing. For being transparent and up front, he has prevented more speculation. Do you believe that something happened somewhere and nobody will know? He is too intelligent for that. In fact, every word uttered by him is intelligent. You can read about what he said yourself.  Rio Ferdinand said that in his time, "players got punched, ribs broken, nose busted and heads kicked like a football". Really? He also said that Southgate should have handled it internally. Sterling is