July 31, 2009
Have a good one, Sir Bobby
It is indeed a sad day in the world of football. One of the legends of the sport has passed away leaving behind fans all over the world in shock and in mourning.
Sir Bobby Robson was one of the most loved personalities both among the footballing industry and among the fans. His charisma, his dedication to the sport and his fantastic work ethic made him one of the respected people in his generation. I remember Steve Mcmahon once mention that Sir Bobby played a round of golf (18 holes), immediately came to the studio, worked for 8 straight hours and he looked as fresh as ever. And he was 74. That says it all.
John Travolta's quote about Phoenix in the hit movie Ladder 49 can be compared to the following quote. Sir Bobby loved football and gave his life to football. Let us all celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Robson.
Rest in Peace, Sir Bobby...
Sir Bobby Robson was one of the most loved personalities both among the footballing industry and among the fans. His charisma, his dedication to the sport and his fantastic work ethic made him one of the respected people in his generation. I remember Steve Mcmahon once mention that Sir Bobby played a round of golf (18 holes), immediately came to the studio, worked for 8 straight hours and he looked as fresh as ever. And he was 74. That says it all.
John Travolta's quote about Phoenix in the hit movie Ladder 49 can be compared to the following quote. Sir Bobby loved football and gave his life to football. Let us all celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Robson.
Rest in Peace, Sir Bobby...
July 30, 2009
Manchester United Player Ratings
Manchester United player ratings for their match against Boca Juniors in the Audi Cup at Allianz Arena:
Tomasz Kuszczak - 6 . Excellent shot stopper but terrible with the kicks. Has to improve a long way to stand any chance in dislodging Foster and Van Der Saar.
John O’Shea – 6. Wore the Captain’s armband in the first half. Decent
Wes Brown – 5. Injured in the first half.
Craig Cathcart – 7. Impressive debut performance. Except for an erratic header which could have ended up as own goal, didn’t look lost. Good prospect.
Fabio - 7 . Going from strength to strength. Ever impressive.
Carrick – 7. Kept things tight in the middle. Played an advanced role in the second half.
Anderson – 7. Brilliant first half and bagged his first goal from a wonderful freekick. Pulled the strings but faded in the second half.
Park – 6. Tireless as ever. Helped out Fabio defensively.
Valencia – 8. Excellent debut, bagged a goal as well. Never lost the ball and showed his skill in beating his man every time.
Rooney – 7. Dropped deep to control the flow of the game. Still not at his best.
Macheda- 6. Received little service, looked frustrated. Showed glimpses of his talent.
Ferdinand – 7. As classy as ever.
Evra – 6. Came on for the last ten minutes to tidy up things.
Nani – 7. Had little time to impress but made the most of it. Looking a better player day by day.
Fletcher – 6. Brought on to add some steel to the mid-field late on in the game.
Scholes – 6. Had a job to do, to keep possession. Would do that all day.
Giggs -6. He is getting younger by the day.
Berbatov – 6. A few classy touches here and there. Nothing much to write about.
ManUtd ( *Anderson,Valencia) 2 - 1 Boca Juniors( * Insua)
Tomasz Kuszczak - 6 . Excellent shot stopper but terrible with the kicks. Has to improve a long way to stand any chance in dislodging Foster and Van Der Saar.
John O’Shea – 6. Wore the Captain’s armband in the first half. Decent
Wes Brown – 5. Injured in the first half.
Craig Cathcart – 7. Impressive debut performance. Except for an erratic header which could have ended up as own goal, didn’t look lost. Good prospect.
Fabio - 7 . Going from strength to strength. Ever impressive.
Carrick – 7. Kept things tight in the middle. Played an advanced role in the second half.
Anderson – 7. Brilliant first half and bagged his first goal from a wonderful freekick. Pulled the strings but faded in the second half.
Park – 6. Tireless as ever. Helped out Fabio defensively.
Valencia – 8. Excellent debut, bagged a goal as well. Never lost the ball and showed his skill in beating his man every time.
Rooney – 7. Dropped deep to control the flow of the game. Still not at his best.
Macheda- 6. Received little service, looked frustrated. Showed glimpses of his talent.
Ferdinand – 7. As classy as ever.
Evra – 6. Came on for the last ten minutes to tidy up things.
Nani – 7. Had little time to impress but made the most of it. Looking a better player day by day.
Fletcher – 6. Brought on to add some steel to the mid-field late on in the game.
Scholes – 6. Had a job to do, to keep possession. Would do that all day.
Giggs -6. He is getting younger by the day.
Berbatov – 6. A few classy touches here and there. Nothing much to write about.
July 28, 2009
Reads of the Week
Following the Glazer take over of Manchester United, a certain section of fans felt that they were betrayed by their beloved club and took it in their hands to start a supporter’s club of Manchester United, FC United. Guardian covers their latest Asia pre-season tour where they look to expand their wings
United FC
Sir Alex Ferguson reckons Real Madrid would struggle in the forthcoming season when asked about their chances while on Manchester United’s trip to Munich while back in England, Toure is set to undergo his medical at Eastlands.
Fergie on Real
Toure to undergo Medical
The Republik of Mancunia covers the cloud that surrounded the Terry transfer and questions if Chelsea fans would ever be able to treat him the same.
ROM on Terry
For all the cricket fans out there, Soccerlens takes a dig at cricket and explains why football is the better game.
Football better than Cricket
While Soccerlens also runs an fairly good read on deep-lying midfielders.
Deep-lying Midfielders
United FC
Sir Alex Ferguson reckons Real Madrid would struggle in the forthcoming season when asked about their chances while on Manchester United’s trip to Munich while back in England, Toure is set to undergo his medical at Eastlands.
Fergie on Real
Toure to undergo Medical
The Republik of Mancunia covers the cloud that surrounded the Terry transfer and questions if Chelsea fans would ever be able to treat him the same.
ROM on Terry
For all the cricket fans out there, Soccerlens takes a dig at cricket and explains why football is the better game.
Football better than Cricket
While Soccerlens also runs an fairly good read on deep-lying midfielders.
Deep-lying Midfielders
July 27, 2009
Redefining Football Terminology
Hey guys ...Here I go ..my first post in ..
Off lately this idea came upon me and I ve decided to coin some new terms.
Drogger :-
This term in general is referred to pile drivers and scorchers scored by super hero Didier drogba
who play for ChelseaFc. A typical drogger can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Plsn_8Zf-8.
However the above example will showcase a broader view. An archetypal drogger occurs when drogba's back faces opponent's goal and two opponent defenders are trying to shovel and him and dispose him off the football pitch. But our man holds off these defenders while immediately brings the ball hoofed up in his direction with the help of his chest and makes a 360 degree turn and swivels one of his either feet. Within few moments the opponent goal keeper tries to save himself from the venom of the shot thereby resulting in ball reaching for the top corner.
Note: A few excerpts of such droggers were scored against Barcelona, Liverpool, Everton, Milan etc.
Cya guys . I hope you enjoy the post and I will come up with new terms in my next post.
Duffu talks the show
July 24, 2009
Sup"porter"
Well, enough has been said about the footballing world. The players, the managers, the clubs, UEFA, FIFA et all... It's time to talk about the more important contributors to the sport - The supporters.
Warning : This might NOT please many people...
Undoubtedly, the supporters of a football club/country are the most important ingredients to making football what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow. We all know that. But this post is not about that.
A decade ago, not many people I knew, even considered Chelsea as their club to support, to watch, to pay to watch.Then, Mr. Abramovic arrived and shortly thereafter, Mr. Mourinho arrived. Needless to say, many good players arrived and not surprisingly, Chelsea started winning titles(NOT by playing the best football at most times). Suddenly, there were a whole barrage of people supporting Chelsea. People who knew zilch about football were supporting Chelsea left, right and center. People even switched their support from their own club to Chelsea. Is this what you call a "Die-Hard" supporter? Is not a supporter responsible to support a club through the best and worst of times?
I am not saying, people should not watch the football, admire it etc. Hey I am a Liverpool fan and I admire the way Manchester United play at times(Again, I am a football fan first, then a Liverpool fan). But never in a million years would I "yap" about the football United play oreven think of being an United fan.
These people are definitely contributors to the football world (what with the merchandise, tickets et all). But are such people really good for the world watching football? More importantly, are such people really needed for the watching world?
You may be intrigued by the timing of this post, but, it might just be the right timing after all. What with the Manchester City explosion going on.
P.S. I hope you get the subtle pun in the title.
Warning : This might NOT please many people...
Undoubtedly, the supporters of a football club/country are the most important ingredients to making football what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow. We all know that. But this post is not about that.
A decade ago, not many people I knew, even considered Chelsea as their club to support, to watch, to pay to watch.Then, Mr. Abramovic arrived and shortly thereafter, Mr. Mourinho arrived. Needless to say, many good players arrived and not surprisingly, Chelsea started winning titles(NOT by playing the best football at most times). Suddenly, there were a whole barrage of people supporting Chelsea. People who knew zilch about football were supporting Chelsea left, right and center. People even switched their support from their own club to Chelsea. Is this what you call a "Die-Hard" supporter? Is not a supporter responsible to support a club through the best and worst of times?
I am not saying, people should not watch the football, admire it etc. Hey I am a Liverpool fan and I admire the way Manchester United play at times(Again, I am a football fan first, then a Liverpool fan). But never in a million years would I "yap" about the football United play oreven think of being an United fan.
These people are definitely contributors to the football world (what with the merchandise, tickets et all). But are such people really good for the world watching football? More importantly, are such people really needed for the watching world?
You may be intrigued by the timing of this post, but, it might just be the right timing after all. What with the Manchester City explosion going on.
P.S. I hope you get the subtle pun in the title.
July 23, 2009
Pre-Season Results
Some of the pre-season results and in particular for the Top-four are:
Manchester United:
Man United 3 – 2 Malaysian XI
Man United 2 – 0 Malaysian XI (a rematch because of the Jakarta bombings)
Liverpool:
Liverpool 0 – 0 St Gallen
Liverpool 0 – 1 Rapid Vienna
Liverpool 1 – 1 Thailand
Chelsea:
Chelsea 2 – 0 Seattle
Chelsea 2 – 0 Inter Milan
Arsenal:
Arsenal 2 – 2 Barnet
Arsenal 7 – 1 SC Columbia
Manchester United:
Man United 3 – 2 Malaysian XI
Man United 2 – 0 Malaysian XI (a rematch because of the Jakarta bombings)
Liverpool:
Liverpool 0 – 0 St Gallen
Liverpool 0 – 1 Rapid Vienna
Liverpool 1 – 1 Thailand
Chelsea:
Chelsea 2 – 0 Seattle
Chelsea 2 – 0 Inter Milan
Arsenal:
Arsenal 2 – 2 Barnet
Arsenal 7 – 1 SC Columbia
Summer Competition
To come out of our igloos and shells, I decided to throw you guys a challenge. Yes, a competition, where the winner takes all and in this case a jersey of his/her (hopefully soon) favourite team or player. Which day didn't you look forward to finding your favourite player's jersey at your doorstep?
I'll list down the rules and the regulations of this competition where the stakes are pretty high.
1. All participants are requested to send their articles or their original player/team chants be it brain tickling or funny bone tickling as long as it conforms to the norms of the blog which can be found in the very first post in the blog.
2. The competition would be open till the 15th of August, the first day of the season.
3. Most of you have the author rights and those who don't can just drop in a mail to me asking for the access. I would request you to use those author rights and post your piece in the blog.
4. I and my friend, Rahul, would be the judges and vow to remove the word 'bias' from our dictionary and can safely assure you that judgment will totally be an unbiased one. We’ll go through the posts and others can as well and will announce the winner within a week of the closing period. As it stands we offer to give a jersey to the winner but we might as well come up with some gifts for the 2nd and 3rd place winners.
5. Since the scope of topics is not much we wouldn't discard your post if you are writing on an already written topic as what matters most is the way you put it across and the amount of footballing acumen that you can display in the post. More the number of posts from an author the merrier it is.
Good luck to all
I'll list down the rules and the regulations of this competition where the stakes are pretty high.
1. All participants are requested to send their articles or their original player/team chants be it brain tickling or funny bone tickling as long as it conforms to the norms of the blog which can be found in the very first post in the blog.
2. The competition would be open till the 15th of August, the first day of the season.
3. Most of you have the author rights and those who don't can just drop in a mail to me asking for the access. I would request you to use those author rights and post your piece in the blog.
4. I and my friend, Rahul, would be the judges and vow to remove the word 'bias' from our dictionary and can safely assure you that judgment will totally be an unbiased one. We’ll go through the posts and others can as well and will announce the winner within a week of the closing period. As it stands we offer to give a jersey to the winner but we might as well come up with some gifts for the 2nd and 3rd place winners.
5. Since the scope of topics is not much we wouldn't discard your post if you are writing on an already written topic as what matters most is the way you put it across and the amount of footballing acumen that you can display in the post. More the number of posts from an author the merrier it is.
Good luck to all
July 21, 2009
Its a mad mad world
Football… bloody hell !
Whilst the summer opened up new avenues for corporate giants to reinvent, retool and rethink their investment strategies following the credit crunch, footballing world had literally worn an armour and a shield to protect itself from the credit crisis.
The transfer prices this season would have one believe that capitalism is the best thing to have ever happened on Earth. The biggest perpetrators of inflating the market are Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Real Madrid has always been a club hugely favoured and amply supported by the Spanish government since the rule of Franco. It cringes one to see the poverty and the penury of this world on one side and 200 million pounds (an interest free loan) being spent on a handful of supreme athletes on the other side.
Every liter of fuel consumed around the world culminates in Manchester City having a bigger transfer chest. If only the credit crunch affected them, it was in making them bid for Ronaldo for a reported 100 million pounds as opposed to the previously proposed 140 million pounds.
Amidst the mad spending of the two clubs, managers like Sir Alex, Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho haven’t been dragged into any kind of bidding war and have bided their time without flaunting their cash.
I’ll leave you to debate on the choice of the above managers to be skinflints this season. Were they right in not splashing the cash and getting the best possible players or have they missed a trick in trying to be prudent and might actually end up paying more next year as it happens to be a World Cup year.
Whilst the summer opened up new avenues for corporate giants to reinvent, retool and rethink their investment strategies following the credit crunch, footballing world had literally worn an armour and a shield to protect itself from the credit crisis.
The transfer prices this season would have one believe that capitalism is the best thing to have ever happened on Earth. The biggest perpetrators of inflating the market are Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Real Madrid has always been a club hugely favoured and amply supported by the Spanish government since the rule of Franco. It cringes one to see the poverty and the penury of this world on one side and 200 million pounds (an interest free loan) being spent on a handful of supreme athletes on the other side.
Every liter of fuel consumed around the world culminates in Manchester City having a bigger transfer chest. If only the credit crunch affected them, it was in making them bid for Ronaldo for a reported 100 million pounds as opposed to the previously proposed 140 million pounds.
Amidst the mad spending of the two clubs, managers like Sir Alex, Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho haven’t been dragged into any kind of bidding war and have bided their time without flaunting their cash.
I’ll leave you to debate on the choice of the above managers to be skinflints this season. Were they right in not splashing the cash and getting the best possible players or have they missed a trick in trying to be prudent and might actually end up paying more next year as it happens to be a World Cup year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
