Sport

Arsenal and Liverpool’s lessons in humility; there’s never a permanent curve
BY GEORGE KAGAME

Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger had built a fortress around their teams this season, 17 games in the league; their teams had only conceded fewer goals but they did not know the taste of a loss.
But watching Liverpool against Reading and Arsenal loosing to Middlesborough was too much a lesson about humility for both managers.

With their unbeaten league record in tatters, the two teams now have lost their biggest aces before facing crucial fixtures this afternoon-Arsenal against Chelsea, Liverpool hoping to stop Manchester United’s excellent run.
Both had built a certain air of invincibility around themselves that in Arsenal’s case opponents would be frightened by their prospect of playing the Gunners even before kicking a ball.
But by the time Arsenal face Chelsea today, the game will be Chelsea’s to lose rather than Arsenal’s to win. Chelsea has steadily regained their confidence which was suspected to have disappeared with Jose Mourinho.

Unlike Arsenal, Liverpool’s unbeaten record was always stuttering along the way, drawing six games out of 14, even though by hook or by crook, they have always taken at least a point. However unlike Liverpool Arsenal’s loss was due to misfortune. Benitez either because of the luxury of a big squad or simply pushing his luck too much has put himself under intense pressure by changing his team too often too unnecessarily, along the way making irrelevant purchases-like Ryan Babbel.
It is now up to Rafa and his chosen team to lower that pressure and devote all their attentions to securing a place in the last 16 of the Champions League-by the time of writing this- Before the equally hard encounter with Manchester United.
The defeat of Arsenal and Liverpool exposed that both teams have players who are far below the standards of the clubs. Adebayor (even if he is leading scorer in the premiership) does not certainly qualify to lead Arsenal’s attack-he simply throws away too many chances. While Babbel like Theo Walcott as Arsenal needs to go back to the reserve teams and learn a lot more about running in the right directions-he just runs around-to nowhere in particular.

If Liverpool’s loss at Reading was humbling enough, Arsenal’s battering at Middlesborough was ridiculous. Devoid of their usual vivacious personality, Arsène Wenger's young team succumbed to a first defeat in 24 Premier League games stretching back to 7 April. That hardly represents a crisis of identity – Arsenal remains top of the table – but this was a pale imitation of the vibrant form that took them there.

Arsenal lacked creativity". An indication of that came when Tomas Rosicky drilled in a low shot from 16 yards in the fifth minute of injury time – it was literally Arsenal's first serious effort on target.
The defeat at Middlesborough and the manner in which it administered will enhance confidence in those who think Wenger's squad is too small, too lightweight and too inexperienced.


The fairytale of boxing today
Greedy promoters, rape charges and the next wannabe Tyson, Foreman or even Mohamed Ali have brought boxing to its knees.
Such is the dilemma in boxing circles that the recent welter weight contest between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather could only be promoted on the claim that both fighters had not lost a fight in their careers.
Now that Hatton lost, it remains to be seen what the next big boxing match will be marketed!

Mayweather who beat Hatton by a knock out in the 10th round had said prior to the fight– “I respect what Robinson and Ali did for the sport. But I am the greatest, and this is my time,” he told the world in reference to a world welterweight showdown.

In the fight itself, (which one journalist described as a fight between the black and white races, the disparity in class between the two became blatantly apparent and the supreme ring intelligence of Floyd Mayweather left Hatton with too much to learn.
Mayweather and the world media exploited the current vacuum in the boxing arena to fire up interest in a fight that back in the days would have been an under card.