Casey Stoner and Honda - An Unbeatable combination?

When a young Casey Stoner was first signed by Ducati, many were wondering how the young Australian would deliver the goods. He replied by winning the Moto GP title, and he did it and spectacular fashion, winning by a margin of 125 points from 2nd-placed man, Dani Pedrosa. That 125-point margin is actually equivalent to 5 victories. The power of the Ducati allowed him to power past his rivals on long straights, and Casey just seemed to gel really well with the 2007 bike. In the whole year, he scored 10 race wins and 6 pole positions. Such was his dominance, that his worst placed finish that season was a 6th place finish in Motegi, the result which actually allowed him to take the title several races early.
In 2008, the defense of his crown, he was partnered by Marco Melandri. Whilst Casey was fighting for the wins and the championship, in which he eventually lost out to Valentino Rossi, Melandri was bogged down at the back of the grid constantly. Critics began to say that Casey was the only one who could ride the Ducati to it's full potential. These stories were backed up y the fact that in 2007, Loris Capirossi didn't really fair much better when Stoner was dominating the season. In fact, Melandri scored a mediocre score of 51 points, compared to 280 by Stoner.

2009, and former world champion Nicky Hayden was signed from Repsol Honda. This year was much much harder and it appeared that Casey was constantly pushing the bike, riding it like crazy to keep in with the front runners. He had to adapt to the Ducati, and his signs of frustration showed when he crashed out of GP's. The season wasn't helped by the fact he was struck down by anemia, so also missed 3 races. Next season he come back healthy, and finished 4th in the standings, behind the dominant Yamahas of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

We are currently in April 2011, two races into the season and already Stoner has laid his mark down. After storming to pole position on his new ride, the factory works Repsol Honda, he then completed the feat by winning, start to finish without even being challenged. All he had to do was pass team-mate Dani Pedrosa in the first few corners and off he went into the distance. He seemed so comfortable when riding, not having to push hard to get anywhere like he did with the Ducati. To prove that he was so comfortable, he was actually fastest in all of the practice sessions before qualifying and race day. Completing a perfect weekend, in the following race he took pole again and lead the race, only to be knocked of his bike by Ducati replacement Valentino Rossi. 

After this, critics called the Stoner/Honda unstoppable after only two races, and described it to that of Rossi's reign with Yamaha. Whether Casey continues this speed and form remains to be seen, but he really does look like a force once again. Teamed with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovisioso, this 3-man team will surely at one point be fighting each other for wins. Stoner seems to have excelled even more as a rider, faced with the challenge of a new, but extremely welcoming team, he seems to be more comfortable than his days at Ducati. Unlike his Ducati days, he also now has team-mates who are more than capable of challenging him, and most probably will do constantly thrughout the season, especially Pedrosa. But for now, he will be concentrating on the forthcoming aces, and developing the Honda bike even further.

Fernando Torres - Has he already peaked at 27?

Big things were expected of the young Spanish international when he first signed for Liverpool FC in March 2008, and he certainly delivered, scoring 65 times in 102 appearances. Becoming a popular figure to the Liverpool, faithful, it was even recorded that his surname was the most popular to feature on the back of a Premier League shirt in the world in the year 09-10. In the run up to the World Cup 2010, Torres was not to play another game of the season as, on the 8th April he would undergo surgery on a knee injury which had been troubling him for most of the second part of the season. This meant that his first game back was Spain's first game in the group stages of the World Cup, and it's all gone downhill from there...
His group stage games were regarded at "below-par" by the Spanish manager, but was backed as he had only just started playing again after exactly 2 months out. He started  the rest of the games but was regularly out-performed by his strike partner and top scorer, David Villa. This meant that in the Final against Holland, Torres was only a 105-minute substitute in the victory, which saw Andres Iniesta score the winner. Critics described his performances as poor, claiming that Fernando had shown disinterest and laziness.
Despite this, the then-new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson insisted that the club would not sell their star striker, who had played such an important part of the team for the past 2 seasons. Shortly after, Torres pledged his support and committed himself to a future at Anfield. After returning to club action in a substitute appearance against Arsenal, he then scored only 5 more goals going into the New Year. Going into New Year he was seriously linked with a move away, but the question was, who would buy a totally out-of-form player. A player who had been out of sorts since the very start of the World Cup. Turns out that that club would be bitter rivals Chelsea,  who were linked with a £50 million deal since the very start of the January transfer window, The deal was finally done on deadline day, and he became a Chelsea player. After signing, he then released a statement saying that he was "proud to be joining one of the top clubs in England", a cruel blow to Liverpool who had brought him up to the speeds of English football.

We are currently in March 2011, and after almost 2 months being a Chelsea player and many of chances, he still hasn't scored for his new club, and still is playing with a disinterested attitude. Some critics say that he'll never play the way he used to at Liverpool after his knee surgery. For me, the main part of his play was his speed, and the ability to terror even the best defenses, whist also being impressive in the air. Whether he will be able to regain the speedy part of his game remains to be seen, but at the moment he is being outperformed still by both Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. His commitment in passing the ball has dropped, and now I feel that he is trying to hard to score and prove himself to Chelsea fans. He is trying too hard to live up to his incredibly high price tag, which is having a negative effect on both his play, and the team-mates around him. Maybe he'll be back being one fo the worlds best strikers, but for now it looks like his knee injury is still playing on his mind. He was one of, if not arguably still, the worlds most exciting striker and I for one hope he recaptured his form shown in his Liverpool days.

Dani Pedrosa - Will he ever win the coveted Moto GP Crown?

Dani Pedrosa is regarded as one of Spain's hottest talents when it comes to motorsport. He has won the 125CC Moto GP championship, and then went on to become the youngest ever 250CC champion when it won consecutive titles in 2004 and 2005. The Repsol Honda factory team quiclky snapped him up to race along side American Nicky Hayden, and big things were expected of him. Inevitably, he delivered, scoring his first premier class victory in his forth outing in China and then going on to win the British GP before finishing his debut season an impressive fifth. Since then, he is now in his fifth season with the Repsol Honda team, and despite constantly being up there, fighting for victories, he has somehow failed to secure the title...So what's going wrong?

Dani is know for his lightening starts, and every time the race gets going, you can put your money on the Spaniard going into the first corner, leading. But then after a few laps, his pace starts to lay off. The Honda is the fastest bike in a straight line by far, as seen last season when Pedrosa made mincemeat of Rossi's Yamaha on the home straight in China. However, he has had troubles in the past with the handling of the bike, and more importantly, the tyre degrading situation.

In the 2008 and 2009 pre-season sessions, Pedrosa crashed heavily thus handicapping his ability to get to grips with the new bike. This meant that in both years, he missed developmental testing. 2008 wasn't so bad as he scored a podium in the first round, but in 2009 he finished a mediocre 11th place. Dani is only 5ft 2" in height, so is a light rider which may be seen as an advantage to some, but to others it's easier to be thrown off the bike. This has been proved in many rounds, where he has been in a high position, only to crash the bike. Prime example was last year(2010) when, in leading by a country mile in the heavily wet Japanese GP, he dropped the bike into turn one and it eventually turned out that he had suffered a Four-fragment chip fracture of the left collarbone and a Grade 1 ankle sprain. In fact, over the course of his whole Moto GP career(including 125 & 250cc classes), he has picked up 10 injuries whilst racing on track, including pre-season. That's far too much for a young lad who wants to win the championship one year. Pedrosa just can't seem to be consistent enought to win races and finish inside the top 4-5 each season, he always seems to have a fall/crash which will knock his confidence.

Saying that though, there is no question that he has the ability to do it, and when he's on it, there is no stopping him. Has he got the talent? Of course!

Has he got the motivation? Undoubtedly

Can he win the Moto GP championship? Yes, I think so. As long as the Repsol Honda factory keep producing a fast reliable competitor, he is more than capable of it. He just needs to stay focused from start to end. This season also, he has the helpful hand of Casey Stoner(2007 World Champion) alongside him along with last years partner, Andrea Dovisioso as Honda run a 3-man team. This will pressure Dani a little as Stoner knows what it takes to win a championship, but it'll be in a good way and having Casey in the garage will only further thier talents more.

Owen Hargreaves-Will he ever Play Again?

Sine being by far Englands best player at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, many thought he would excel from there. When he signed for Manchester United from Bayern Munich in 2007 for £18 million, many pundits predicted big things for both the player and his new club. How wrong could they have been...

We are currently in November 2010, and since his transfer to his home country, he has made just 39 appearences for the Red Devils. In fact, his last proper competitive premier league match was in September 2008 againt Chelsea. Yet, his first year in a Manchester United shirt was on for success, seeing him pair up a formidable midfield alliance with fellow englishmen, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, and was instrumental in the Champions League final in Moscow over Chelsea in 2008 in which he helped The Reds to thier 3rd European Crown. So what happened?

Nearly 2 years have past now since Hargreaves first got the knee injuury which would turn out to plague his career. He has been under numerous surgury operations to try and control the injury, but has been hampered by pain and tendonitis. He even stayed at home during United's pre-season tour trip to America in order to consult specialists in a bid to find the bottom of the problem. The England man started light training a year ago and excelled from there, coming back to play in United's treserves game, at first only playing one half. Time passed and his fitness got better and he soon was managed to complete a full game. A comeback was mentioned at the start of the 2010 season, but was setback by another knee muscle pull, but was soon back in training. So after what turned out to be 2 years of hell, most, if not all United fans would have been shocked at Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to start Hargreaves in the preimier league game against Wolves. Was it time for the midfield anchorman to finally get back to fitness? Was it time to get his first team place back? Maybe, but unfortunatly it all ended in disaster.

He lasted just 6 minutes when, after crossing a ball into the box, he pulled up in what appeared to be him clutching his left hamstring. Due to this, Ferguson admitted this morning that Hargreaves is going to be sidelined for yet another 4-5 weeks, and the consequences of this fresh injusy could be severe for a player who has now entered his final year of his Man United contract. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted it was a huge gamble to start Hargreaves, also claiming the gamble turned out to be "a disaster" and "unbelievable" after seeing Hargreaves mope off the pitch in pain. Many fans will have sympathy for Hargreaves, but is it now too late for the player to make a return?

Review of Aston Villa vs Birmingham City

I recently went to the Aston Villa vs Birmingham City game at Villa Park on 31st October, incidently on Halloween. Fired up for the game, as I took my seat in the Holte, anticipation grew, and Kick-Off edged closer to reality. This is the big Birmingham derby, of course this is going to be a cracker...I wish I could have thought the same sort of thoughts at the end of the game.

Villa, with out the raw pace of injured striker Gabby Agbonlahor, looked too one-dimensional. Starting with a 5-man midfield with Emile Heskey as lone striker was just asking too much of the big front-man. Time after time the long ball was hoofed up to the former England international, and more often than not the plan failed miserably. Heskey had the chance to put Villa into a somewhat underserved lead in the 35th minute when Stuart Downing's low cross found Heskey's feet but the shot was scuffed. Having took complete control in the first 15-20 minutes, Villa went backwards and it was Birminghams game from then, and they will all be angry for not getting more than just a 1 pointed 0-0 draw.

The second half continued wheree the first had left off, with Birmingham dominating proceding and having the better of the play. Thier passing was much more sleek and fluent, whereas Villa were scrappy in play, thats when they actually managed to get the ball off the Blues. Stand-in captain Nigel Reo-Coker was fiery in the second and should be thanking referee Howard Webb that he didn't get sent off. After a few rash challenges he then started pushing around Liam Ridgewell. The introduction of little man Barry Bannan injected more pace into the team and pushed Ashley Young upfront to partner the struggling Heskey. Bannan nearly broke the deadlock as his shot from just inside the box just just about pushed over the bar by England goalkeeper Ben Foster. Still though, Birmingham were having the better of the play and if it wasn't for the quality safe hands of American Brad Friedel, would have gone ahead when, in the 79th minute , Nikola Zigic's powerful header was palmed over the bar by the Villa No.1. John Carew was brought on in the 82nd minute but it was just too late for him to make an impact, and apart from a saved header, didn't have time to do much else.

Birmingham derbys are hyped up, and almost never fail to deliver, but this game was one to forget, more for the Villa fans. Birmingham fans will be impressed with thier teams performance, but will be dissapointed to only come away with a point, such was the Blues dominence over the home team throughout the 90 minutes.