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Showing posts from June, 2012

Germany 1-2 Italy - a few notes

A few points of notice: * Germany lacked cohesion from the very beginning; Schweinsteiger's role was rather obscure in that, rather than working in tandem with Khedira to control the game, he was constantly being forced into a wide position by the formation of Italy's midfield: -------------------------------------- Khedira ------------ ----- Schweinsteiger ---- Montolivo -------------------------- -------------------------------- Marchisio ----------------- --------- Kroos -- De Rossi --- Ozil ------------- Podolski ------ ------------------------- Pirlo ------------------------------ Montolivo was sent out with the task of barracking and unsettling any possession Germany held in central midfield, with Marchisio and often De Rossi, shadowing his pressure from a few yards behind. To find space and time on the ball, and in an attempt to orchestrate German offensive play, Schweinsteiger was forced to find pockets of space to either side of the central-midfield zone, w

From The Stone Roses to Gramsci: How mainstream music was purged of intellectualism

From the anti-war lyrics of Lennon, to the fierce, rasping attacks on Western institutions of The Clash, the rhythm of Britain's musical mainstream was ostensibly upheld by a cemented chord of politically radical, anti-establishment artists, who coupled the mass sale of records with popular anthems in disgust at the misuse of authority - be it the Vietnam War, or the ideological scope of the Thatcher government, for instance. Yet what appeared to be a vital string in the instrumentals of British music, appears to have vanished; bands and artists that actively engage, through musical and other, social means, in explicitly political protest, have simply disappeared. The UK singles chart only this week, was headed by Gary Barlow's song in celebration of the British Monarchy, and elsewhere, remains peppered by tunes of a typically 'misogynistic', individualistic, 'racially stereotyping', 'sexist' lyrical construct as rapper Akala describes , rather than in