Monday 28 October 2013

VETTEL & RED BULL UNBEATABLE AGAIN.

There can be no doubt that Sebastian Vettel is a very good driver but just how good is difficult to determine.
 
Vettel's fourth Formula One world championship, won in India on Sunday, puts him into an elite group; only Juan Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher have previously won 4 titles and none of them was anywhere as young as Vettel who is still only 26. However, while Fangio drove in a bygone era of derring-do and Prost was active well before the modern 'safety first' era, Vettel has the benefit of all manner of computer generated design and analysis which even Schumacher only partly experienced, and it can be very difficult to determine where the real excellence lies - in the car, the driver or a bit of both.
 
Vettel's 'Red Bull' car is the best of its day and Vettel is easily the better of the 2 drivers in the team. His team mate, Mark Webber, with the same car and support, simply hasn't been able to keep up with his younger partner so it's clear that Vettel is better than him, but is he really better than the other top drivers such as Alonso, Raikonnen and Hamilton ? Unfortunately, we're not likely to find out any time soon, as Vettel's team mate for 2014 will be the relatively unknown Daniel Ricciardo rather than one of the big names.
 
However, putting all of this aside, Sebastian Vettel is undoubtedly the World Champion driver and 'Red Bull' have won the 'Constructor's' championship again as well; both driver and car have left their competition far behind. Well done to both.

Sunday 6 October 2013

SPURS CRASH TO WEST HAM AND GO BACK TO NORMAL.

Today's result from White Hart Lane surely bursts the Spurs' bubble.
 
After spending huge amounts of money in the summer and bringing in numerous supposedly very good players, today they lost 3-0 at home to lowly West Ham. Last year, Spurs had 2 problems; firstly they leaked goals whenever the opposition got around their rather static defence, and secondly, they had trouble finding the net themselves. This term, they appeared to have resolved the leaky defence issue but still find it almost impossible to score goals against any but the poorest opposition; today's result shows that the defence is every bit as dodgy as before.
 
Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear :-(  The premature talk of a top 4 finish and Champions' League spot now seems very, very fanciful indeed; the madness of them being title challengers can be forgotten for at least another year. They may have several better players but they still lack the penetration necessary to score more than the occasional goal against top sides. Come the January transfer window expect some more frantic activity as they search desperately for someone who can create those missing goal scoring opportunities on a regular basis. Oh, and a decent left full back, cover for Walker and a winger or 2 might be useful as well.