Finally some activity on the Villa front?

What seems like a long summer of activity for Villa in the transfer market might finally see some movement? A rumoured 20million pounds bid for Stewart Downing & Tuncay seems to be on the cards. Quite an interesting coup, certainly, an expensive one as well.

Downing has a sweet left foot and plays in the same position as Ashley Young, so does that mean Young gets moved to the right instead? Tuncay could be a shrewd buy because I have always valued him. Certainly a striker which possesses skill, and a goalscoring prowess. Both of them were Boro's stars of their miserable 2008/09 season and it could be a great coup for us.

We seem to be tracking Leeds' Fabian Delph, who I have no information whatsoever of him (in real life or in FM!), so the jury's out there on whether he might be the next 'Walcott' or not. A slight concern for MON's recruitment policy, that though he may favour British talent alot, he might be paying over the odds for English players, when his counterparts like Steve Bruce and Arsene Wenger seem to have a better knack in spotting younger and unknown talents from all over the world.

MON seems reluctant to plunge in the unknown outside of British waters and it could mean losing out on cheaper, better players from all over the world.

And finally, I would like to expose the hoax known as Michael Mancienne. He made his way into the headlines when Fabio Capello called up this relatively unknown youngster from Chelsea (when on loaned to Wolves), having not played a single first-team game for the Blues! The hype was built and suddenly, Mancienne was seen as the second-choice right back behind Bosingwa and was even touted as a strong center-back.

After a few first team matches for Chelsea, he was called up for Stuart Pearce's Euro U-21 England team. The first match was up against the Finns and Mancienne was totally outplayed, outmuscled, and out-classed by the Finnish forwards. He was too slight to be able to defend against the burly strikers, and didn't have the reading ability to anticipate long balls. True enough, he was exposed by a long ball and proceeded to bring a Finnish striker down for a penalty and got a red card for his troubles.

If I could recall, Mancienne never got a game after his sending off. Obviously, he has alot to learn and maybe he shouldn't play as a center-back anymore? It may prove to be too daunting for him. As Chelsea consider loaning him to Wolves for the 2nd season running, you wonder if the hoax known as Michael Mancienne might be exposed soon. Prove me wrong, lad.

Let the madness begin!

And so it's confirmed.

Owen has sealed his move to Man U. As expected, Man U fans all over have voiced their disappointment over his move, surely, they would expect a better striker to come in after the Ronaldo money had come in.

Trust me, I'm sure Sir Alex will get another striker. Who it'll be? It's anyone's guess.

In other news, Rodrigo Possebon, a Man U 'starlet' has been farmed out to Braga for a season's loan. I smirked abit when I read on Soccernet that they think Possebon will have a great future at Man U, but is loaning him out for a season to gain first team experience. From what I see, it's as good as a kiss of death from Sir Alex. Man U is already short-handed in the midfield department, and if Possebon was the starlet he is made out to be, he would be sitting on the bench next season, and making the Carling Cup appearances.

Remember Chris Casper? Chris Eagles? Luke Chadwick? Ben Thornton? Frasier Campbell? No? That is because they, of supposedly immense taleent, all have supposedly gone on loan to other clubs to gain first team experience, only to find themselves flogged off to a Championship club. After all these years of watching Man U, the only great ones will remain and fight in the first-team, else they will be shipped out. Even fringe players like Fletcher and O'Shea didn't have to be loaned out as they proved useful to Sir Alex's plans.

So Possebon, you have been warned. Start plotting a move to Portugal/Italy.

The King of Pop tribute. 1958-2009

I was up and ready for work at around 6am when many FB friends (in the US) updated their statuses with regards to MJ's death. I was shocked and immediately went to CNN.com to confirm this. It felt unreal. I must admit. I'm not a huge fan of MJ, but I really do respect his music. I really do.

Back when he was red-hot famous in his 'Beat It' and 'Black And White' days, it was about the time I was really into music. At that time, I always thought MJ was uncool and I would only force myself to listen to alternative and grunge.

MJ was one of the pop stars I felt compelled to hate. When his million dollar video 'Scream' was played over and over again on mainstream TV, I felt nauseous. But deep inside me, I knew that his music was something special. It was almost as if it is essential during the '90s. Will anyone get through the '90s (and the '80s) without listening to MJ and not liking his music? I find that hard to believe.

As much as his character is to be said, it never clouded my judgement that he indeed IS the undisputed King of Pop. From the beginning with hits like "Rock With You" and "Beat It", we all knew he was something special. I refused to watch MJ's Moonwalker, but yet I played his Sega 16-bit Megadrive's Moonwalker countless times. I can recall how Magic Johnson guest-starred in "Remember The Time", how the everyday people's faces morphed into each other in "Black And White", how Slash played with him in "Give It To Me", the uber-cool "Smooth Criminal" MTV which even had a famous Bollywood spoof, his sister Janet collaborating with him in "Scream"...

On the very day he passed away, I made my way to work and when I shuffled for the very next song just below my block, MJ's "You Are Not Alone" came on. Yes I know, pure coincidence. I had around 5 MJ tracks in my iPod shuffle just for nostalgia. It dawned upon me that he was really gone. The pop icon in my generation is gone for good. No tears on my part, but a really deep respect for his music, as his legacy will surely be lived on long after his death.

R.I.P, Micheal. Thanks for the music and for all the lovely memories.

Time waits for no man

After a couple of weeks of blog inactivity, I have finally found the time to update! The Bishan Park experience has been great and loads of new stuff happening, but first! Back to football transfers!

Barely into July, Real Madrid has stunned the world by signing a slew of 'Galacticos' within a short period of time. Kaka, then Cristiano Ronaldo, Albiol (not a galatico though) and Karim Benzema have all made their way to the Bernabeu, with Franck Ribery yet to come.

How Real has come up with at least 200million Euros for them, continues to confound all of us. If they do not win anything in the forthcoming season, it will be a slap in the face of Florentino Perez for sure.

In other news, Man U is close to a pay-as-you-play deal with Sick Note #2 Owen (Sick Note #1 being Darren Anderton of course!). Now how do you make of this deal? Shrewd? Gamble? Publicity? Sympathy? No one knows. Hull and Stoke City have been apprehensive about signing him, knowing his injury woes and all, yet, Sir Alex has decided to sign him after learning Benzema chose Real as his new club. Desperation? We can only know this coming season. I mean, hasn't Louis Saha and Hargreaves thought him a lesson? Injuries has always played such a big factor in them not reaching their heights. Even the legendary Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could've achieved so much more had he not been injury-prone.

To sign Owen given his age, declining ability, and injury problems is indeed a massive gamble. Look at how a pay-as-you-play deal with Robbie Fowler ended up. Him not playing regularly and moving on to Sydney in a whimper. Sure at age 29, Owen is far from done with football. But ready for a top BPL club, playing a bit part role? I question that gamble.

Taking a lower wage at a mid-table team would suit Owen better. A great season as the club's top-scorer plus a decent showing at WC2010 could yet propel him back to the top. But until then, we will all watch and speculate if this move to Man U will make or break his career.

As for Villa's inactivity in the transfer market, it is rather worrying. Certainly we still need a handful of GREAT players and a couple of back-ups. Sol Campbell is out of contract and he could provide a short-term relief for the backline. What I would like to see is to try our darndest to sign Patrick Vieira, who is leaving Inter, and has recently rejected a move to PSG.

Clearly Vieira will not be able to sign for a top 4 side anymore, given his ties with Arsenal which would mean not signing for Chelsea and Man U. Will be hard to convince Wenger to take him back when Wenger's clearly looking much ahead already. Pool won't be looking for Vieira because a) Vieira's not Spanish (haha) and b) they have Lucas Leiva (bigger joke!) already. So that leaves Man City, Everton, Villa and probably Fulham as his next best English destinations.

I strongly believe we should try our hardest to get Vieira over for even a couple of seasons. Clearly, he is still fit and able to marshall a mean midfield even in his age. He has the leadership qualities to battle on which we clearly lack now. And not to mention we need to fill the enormous gap that Barry has left behind in his departure. So please Martin, I beg you! Patrick Vieira for Villa! We need a skipper!

The Yummy Food of Hong Lim and Maxwell

Due to recent financial constraints, Elayne and I have reduced ourselves to trawling our amazing food centres and hawkers to please our palates, while not busting our budgets.

Penny-pinching outlet #1 - Hong Lim Market

Insanely crowded during lunch hours and dead-ish during the late noons/evenings. There's too many great food stalls to patronise and we had late lunch on a Saturday, when most of the stalls were closed! Thankfully, the really popular Ji Ji Wanton Noodle Specialist stall is still up and running. On weekdays, the queue for the wtm is insanely long, but somehow, worth the wait, as the price is cheap ($2.50) for a great quality wtm with excellent service. The noodles is springy and the taste is great. Value for money: Rating: 8.5/10

We also had Curry Chicken Mee ($3.50) from Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee. We had previously had the one located at Golden Shoe, at the Mei Xin Food Court, which was surprisingly, better than the one at Hong Lim. I don't know if they were running out of chicken, but all I had was 2 measly pieces of chicken breast and the curry was not as tasty as the one I previously had. They were really generous with the tau pok though. Abit of a disappointment to be honest. Rating: 6.5/10


Penny-pinching outlet #1 - Maxwell Food Centre

Rather than go for the usual popular stalls like the Fish Slice Bee Hoon and the Hainanese Curry Rice, I decided to look for something different that day. I came across this unassuming stall, Hock Kee Fu Zhou Fish Ball Noodle and decided to go for it for no particular reason. It was a patient wait for the owner to cook the noodles, even though there was no queue for the food. It was well worth the wait as the Fu Zhou Fish Ball + Wanton Mee ($3.50) was really good! The noodles, springy and has a good bite, the Fu Zhou Fish Ball and Wantons were tasty and fresh. I just love a place which puts such effort into getting fresh ingredients and making them taste good. What's more, it's less hyped than its other famous neighbouring stalls, which would mean a shorter waiting time for food! Rating: 8.5/10

Of course we had to have chicken rice from Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice! I almost forgot how cheap it was at $2.30 a plate, and considering that it's located in the CBD, and how it is being hyped by the likes of Anthony Bourdain and K.F Seetoh, I like that they have not capitalised on that and start charging exorbitantly for their chicken rice. Nothing new to say about it, the usual high standards kept to, great chilli, great tasting rice and tender-fresh chicken. All you can ask for. Probably the best chicken rice in SG? Certainly amongst the top! Rating: 9/10

Not-really-penny-pinching outlet #3 - Pattisserie Glace

Located at the ulu Chinatown Plaza along Neil Road, this Japanese cake shop has become one of my fave haunts, due to its cakes and the close proximity from my house! I usually only can go on the weekends as on weekdays around late noon, the popular cakes will be sold out already! So far, the Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Mille Feuille, Rin Rin Cheese Tarts and the Mont Blanc have not caused us any disappointment. The cakes are light and scrumptious. The creams are just delightfully tasty and surprisingly light! I only have an issue with the Strawberry Souffle, which tasted more like strawberries on a Japanese cheesecake, you know the kind they sell in Japanese confectionaries? It is peculiar since the Japanese lady did say that it tasted like cheesecake, but calling it a Souffle? I'm puzzled as well! Pastry chef I am not! Haha. Not a cheap haunt but a really quaint and cosy place to get some cakes made by a real Japanese pastry chef, and served by a really friendly Japanese lady. Rating: 8/10

Here's another reason to switch to Mac

I dunno if this is corrected in Windows Vista, but one of the most annoying bit about Windows is the Auto-Update feature, which is intrusive and really frustrating. Have you ever left your PC in sleep mode, leaving it on overnight to perform various tasks, and find out to your utter horror, that Windows had rebooted your system without your knowledge?

Sure they have irritating prompts that pop-up to remind you to restart, but after a few minutes of inactivity in which you fail to click 'Restart Later', your system reboots, much to everyone's annoyance. Why is there such a feature in the first place? Why is updating the system so important that it forces a reboot? What's more, Windows XP doesn't restore your previously ran applications, thus it could cause major inconveniences if you were running something important.

With Macbooks getting more and more popular, being able to run Windows, and the cost of them dropping gradually, the days of the Bill Gates monopoly is long gone. Embrace change, for it is competition that makes products improve. And I guarantee this: Once you get the Mac, there is no turning back.

What should Man U do with 100million pounds?

Thanks to the impending sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Man U will have a 100mil war chest! Surely, they would need another striker to supplement Rooney and Berbatov, after Tevez is unlikely to remain with the Red Devils. David Villa was rumoured to be Tevez's replacement, however, the Spaniard is more likely to move to Real Madrid than play in the BPL.

David Silva of Valencia, however, might be tempted to Man U instead, to replace Ronaldo. Franck Ribery seems unlikely to move now that Bayern has slapped such an enormous price tag on him. It would be out of the world if Real does manage to get Ronaldo, Villa, Ribery and Kaka, all for next season.

What players should Sir Alex get then? In defence, he has the least of his worries having a solid back four of Wes Brown/Rafael, Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand. van der Sar, Foster and Kuszczak look solid enough in the goal-keeping position, though Victor Valdes of Barcelona is rumoured to make a move to Old Trafford.

In central midfield, he has the likes of Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, O'Shea and Anderson that is decent enough. The key is getting Hargreaves back to his fittest and that would save Fergie a pile of dough in getting some quality in the centre. They may still lack the playmaker they need in a Ribery or an Iniesta, maybe a cheeky bid for Robinho or Pirlo could really take this team to higher places?

Now the problem lies on the wings now that Ronaldo will certainly be gone next season. Choices, choices all around, not that it is known that Sir Alex has the spending power. Nani, Giggs and Park Ji Sung are decent enough wingers, but none as impactful as they will ever be like Ronaldo. The likes of Robben, van Persie, Walcott and Ribery seem almost out of the question. Will he settle for England players like Aaron Lennon, Bentley or Downing? Certainly not. Man U does not have to worry about the 6+5 rule, since they have Ferdinand, Brown, Carrick, Rooney, Fletcher and Giggs mostly in the first-team already.

He has to spend big on Ronaldo's replacement. Here's my guess: Andres Guardado from Deportivo la Coruna or David Silva from Valencia. You heard it first!




And for the big player coming in upfront to possibly spearhead a 3 pronged attack, would be Karim Benzema, as speculated since a couple of seasons ago. Sir Alex likes him, and they could make Lyon an offer they can't resist anymore. Whether he will fit in Man U or not, will be only known in a manner of time.

P/S: Why am I not watching the seemingly exciting Confed Cup match which just ended 4-3 to Brazil over Egypt? Because Starhub doesn't have the budget to get the broadcast rights to it. Boo-freakin'-hoo