The Beautiful Game

Beat City's mid field and Beat City

2011-10-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

The ‘noisy neighbors’ have indeed come a long way, as Sir Alex himself would agree. Any United fan, as much as he/she would hate to admit it, City are now potential rivals. While the derby has always been fiercely fought, made no less vitriolic by the incessant ‘Munich’ chants by the City supporters, the fixture has never been an important one for United to look forward to since the Premier League has begun.

United’s fans looked forward to the game purely for the bagging rights. And, who could blame them? Kiki Musampa and Antoine Sibierski were City’s most potent attacking threats not long ago. Fast forward five years from then and you have the likes of Dzeko, Tevez, and Nasri warming those Eastland benches. Of course, they have a long way to go; United’s achievements dwarfs City’s; and they are not even very popular as the empty seats on a big European night at the Etihad suggest. But, they must be recognized, along with Chelsea, as the hurdles in United’s path to their 20^th title.

Contrary to the self proclaimed tag of ‘Barcelona of England’, City’s strength lies not in its attacking flair but rather in their defensive rigidity. The 4-2-3-1 system that Mancini relishes almost ensures that City play with a back six when they defend. The deep lying mid-fielders – Barry’s and De Jong’s job description is essentially to man mark and stop the opponents’ playmaker. In the last year’s derby De Jong was like an incessant pest in Rooney’s park, and his job this time would be no different. So, how would United line up to combat that formation given their reliance on Rooney’s brilliance to cut open the opponents?

Two players that could really make a difference and throw a spanner into City’s works are Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck. Carrick, the much maligned player by the fans, is what Sir Alex turns to almost every time he looks to a game plan where possession football becomes the name of the game. What usually goes unnoticed is Carrick’s ability to originate most of United’s attacks and in turn to maintain United’s shape. Carrick’s cultured ability to retain the ball pulls the opponent’s mid fielders into United’s half and that allows space for the likes of Rooney and Nani to operate. Though United-City matches have had that Kamikaze streak in them for the last few years, I do not think we would witness matches of that intensity this time around. City are at the top of the table and they would want to be so after they walk away from Old Trafford.

But, what If City sit back and defend deep with no intention to take three points from the game? United’s possession in the mid field would be rendered redundant. Danny Welbeck then provides another lethal option to unlock City’s defense. Welbeck’s ability to fall deep, collect the ball and beat a man or two provides him an edge over Hernandez. Welbeck has come a long way since making his debut in the league against Stoke and scoring a cracker of a goal. Welbeck must have learnt from the likes of Darren Bent, whose primary strength is his movement of the ball, when at Sunderland and more so from Michael Owen. His combination with Nani and Young has been terrific this season where he has constantly exchanged positions with those two. That ability of his ensures that the center backs are drawn all over the place and that might be the key to allow Rooney have the freedom and the space to make an impact on the match.

For all the hype that the derbies generate, they tend to disappoint us with the sober, dull games. The Manchester derby though, going by the previous encounters, promises to be different.

Sport for Peace

2010-03-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is not a football rant. It does not really belong on this blog but there is a slight relevance.

This is a rant about a couple of recent events that deeply moved me.

It started off on a lazy afternoon at work when I found a colleague nervously looking at his laptop screen and frantically refreshing the browser. I asked him what was going on, and he said - "Dude, I'm really excited. Sachin's on fire today. He's already hit 150, and I have a strong feeling he's going to get 200 today!"

I replied, "What the hell are we doing here then? Let's head to the Cafeteria!" So we went and got ourselves good seats in front of the TV in the Cafeteria. There was already a small crowd there that included amongst others, the CIO of our company. Looking at him, I thought, 'If he's here, no one's going to question us about not being at work!'

Slowly the crowd built up as Sachin inched closer to the magic figure, the excitement in the air was growing. Our small cafeteria was already bulging with over 60 people watching earnestly. Every Sachin run was cheered and one of the loudest cheers was when he crossed 194, offering redemption for a lot of us who still have nightmares of that day when Saeed Anwar went ballistic. No surprise when every Dhoni six was booed, I'm sure the Indian captain was having a little fun being the footnote of one of the greatest innings ever.

As Sachin knocked a single to reach his 200, the collective cheer in our little cafeteria was echoed around the country as millions of people celebrated this occasion. I am not a big fan of cricket nowadays but I was proud to have witnessed this great innings by the one of the greatest sportsmen of our generation.

Fast forward a few days, I was at the Dhyanchand stadium for the Hockey world cup. I watched 3 matches - Australia vs Spain, Pakistan vs South Africa, and finally India vs England. After an entertaining couple of matches, we all waited eagerly for the Indian match to start.

The stadium which was half empty half an hour before the match quickly filled up and more than 20000 fans eagerly waited for the match to commence. The line-ups were announced, and the players strode on to the pitch for the pre-match ceremony. First the English anthem was played as all the fans stood up to pay respect. Then, one of the most goose-bumpy (if that's a word!) incidents happened to me that day.

As the Indian national anthem was played, 20000 fans sang along creating one of the memorable experiences I've ever had. Singing along to the national anthem with full pride in our great nation and total support for our boys on the field, I felt a thrill that I have experienced very few times before. As the national anthem ended and we all took our seats, I could not stop smiling at the fantastic moment that I had just experienced.

The downside to the match was that India lost, but that day, I'm sure that every one of the 20000 fans in the stadium were fully behind the Indian team cheering every play of the match.

The point to this rant is that Sport gives you such moments, when despite all the differences in our nation - religion, language, caste, creed - we get behind our national team. We cheer whole-heartedly for our nation. We celebrate sporting greatness no matter which background or from where the person playing the sport belongs to.

We love Leander Paes, a Christian, for all his grand slams. We cheer Sania Mirza, a Muslim, every time she steps on to the tennis court. We celebrated Harbhajan Singh, a Sikh's hat-trick because he is an Indian. The little master, Sachin is loved by every person in the country, be it a Hindu, Muslim, Punjabi, Telugu, Brahmin, or any of the other castes in the country.

Recently when Sachin Tendulkar had the gall to take on the MNS and say that Mumbai belongs to everyone, he had to face the ire of these ill-informed activists. But little did they realize that as much as Sachin thinks Mumbai belongs to everyone in the country, the country believes that Sachin belongs to us all. If you take on Sachin, we will take you on. You better be prepared to face our wrath!

A lot of people worry about the differences of the nation hampering our growth. But I ask, what differences? When India plays any sport, do we not support every person of the team? Aren't we all behind the team no matter if a Hindu/Muslim/Christian is the captain?

I recently told a friend that although I am not a big fan of cricket, I am grateful for it. It plays a great role in doing what the best of politicians have struggled to do.

Sport has this effect. It unites people.

If I had a say in this government, I would greatly increase the budget for all sports in the country. Not just cricket, but football, hockey, tennis, badminton.... heck, even croquet and logrolling!

It'll definitely do our nation a world of good :-)

United on top, Scholes remains top dog

2009-09-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

Manchester United have climbed to the top of the table by beating Stoke City at the Britannia stadium. United dominated the match and most of the play was played in the final third United’s pitch. The old guards, Giggs and Scholes, once again tunred on the screws, rolled back the years and helped their side gain three points after Chelsea lost their first game of the season, rather unexpectedly, against Wigan.

Highlights of Man United vs Stoke City

Highlights of Chelsea vs Wigan Athletic

Tony Pulis in the post match interview quipped that Scholes was the best player on the pitch by a country mile and the latest premier league statistics back that up revealing the astronomical passing percentage that Scholes has. Times ran an article stating how Scholes still remains the premier mid-field maestro in the league

Scholes remains top dog

Quote of the Day

2009-09-23T13:22:00.001-07:00

"Is it unkind to point out that since Phil Neville got injured, Everton have scored 11 goals and conceded none?"

Added time, bedlam,Guardian strip themselves

2009-09-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

There has been hue and cry about the added time given to Manchester United in their derby game. Manchester City have complained that they were robbed of a point. But let us just put the talk about added time aside. Complaining because your team had to play for a minute extra is all baloney to me. It is not as if one team is tied by the ropes and the other is asked to play. Both the teams are asked to play in the added time and both the teams have the chance to win the game. If one team loses, then they have only themselves to blame, not the clock.

This was exactly what happened in the derby game. Both the teams played for 5 minutes and 27 seconds going into injury time. During this time, both the teams had the chance to win the game; in City’s case, they had the chance to see out the game but instead kept giving the ball away to United and they were made to pay.

Manchester City’s and some of the media outlets’ complaints look even more ridiculous when you actually break down the time and see that the referee infact played only a second extra. Bellamy’s celebrations in added time took 56 seconds and 30 seconds are added for every substitution. So, that adds up to 5 mins 26 secs into extra time and Owen scored when the clock ticked 5mins 27 secs in added time. United complained about the time wasting tactics employed by Given in the added time and there is a possibility that the referee noted down that as well. So, all in all, City don’t have a case to complain against the added time.

Guardian ran a post to highlight the liberty given to United in added time in their home games. What Guardian fails to mention in their so called ‘revealing post’ is the reason for the additional time in the actual time added by the fourth official. It is really shameful that people working for a national newspaper aren’t aware of the rules themselves. The added time declared by the fourth official is the minimum time that would be played additional to the normal time. Guardian complained that in the last three years United have got 1.9 seconds additional in the added time when they were either losing or drawing. How silly of Guardian to come up with such a myopic point of view? Most of the teams coming to Old Trafford celebrate if they can take a point from the game, let alone winning it and in such circumstances it is only natural for the opposing teams to waste some time which go down in the referee’s watch as time to be added. Sports fans like to absorb as much as they can from the gazettes but it would do good if the papers can avoid printing such garbage.

Derby Delight for United

2009-09-23T01:58:00.000-07:00

Goals and Highlights of Manchester Derby

It was not just a game of three points, it was not just any other derby game between the Manchester teams, this was a game to show intent, to gain an upper hand, bragging rights in Manchester. For all the hype created prior to the fixture, it did not disappoint one bit, did it?There were heated pre-match exchanges between both the camps, one trying to dismiss another, the other trying to stand up to be counted. Whilst Sir Alex called City ‘noisy neighbours’, Mark Hughes warned Sir Alex that he would help City knock United off their perch.

United started brightly, opened the scoring within the first two minutes. Evra caught City’s defense unaware and Rooney showed his strength to brush of two challenges to slot home his sixth goal of the season. After that, it was all about United and really looked up for it until a Ben Foster howler which allowed City to get back in the game. Foster has the talent to challenge for United’s and England’s No.1 jersey but he isn’t doing himself any favours by committing such school boy errors. He has the tendency to make a howler for every three good saves. City were gifted a goal and their three man mid-field started to get a hold of the mid-field. De-Jong and Barry were able to influence the flow of the game from there on in the first half. Chances were fluffed at both ends and the easiest undoubtedly fell to Tevez. He had a full view of the goal but could not find the target as he hit the post. That was a moment that vindicated Sir Alex’s decision to let him go, for all the terrier like attributes that he possess, he lacks real quality in front of the goal to demand such high fees and wages.

United started the second half as they did in the first, scored through a Darren Fletcher header. But United’s lax defending once more allowed City back into the game. To Bellamy’s credit, it was a screamer but a shot which should have been blocked in the first place. Bellamy is a right-footed player and O’shea should have closed him down and allowed him to run down the left. United got right back at City and the introduction of Valencia brought more directness to their play. Valencia pinned back Bridge and this stretched Man City’s mid-field as Ireland and De-Jong had to venture on the wide positions. Evra and Giggs, who was outstanding, created havoc on the left side. United played through the middle in the first half and were over run by City’s mid-field. Giggs started to hug the touch line in the second half and that stretched City which inturn allowed Fletcher and Anderson to boss the mid-field. Giggs bombarded City’s defense with cross after cross and United should have wraped up the match but for Given’s saves from Berbatov. Fletcher found the net again thanks to a pin-point cross from Giggs. That should have sealed all the three points for United. Rio Ferdinand, this time, made the howler which were associated with his West-Ham days and presented Bellamy with a chance to equalize. City were delighted with the equalizer and decided to settle for a point, they kept hoofing the ball into United’s half. Inexperience and cowardice cost them. Giggs brilliantly found Owen at the edge of the box in injury time and Owen duly obliged coming up with a wonderful finish in a nervy situation. He was bought to finish off matches under such situations and that is any player’s true worth not the transfer fee that they demand.

As Sir Alex described, it definitely was the best derby ever and one to savour for the United fans.

Owen stole the headlines but the stars of the day were undoubtedly Fletcher and Giggs. Giggs was by far the best player on the pitch that day. He rolled back the years and delighted the fans with his mazy runs. He skinned Richards, fourteen years junior to Giggs, time and again. If Giggs continues the season the way he started it, one wonders if he might win the player of the year award again this year.

Quote of The Day

2009-08-30T13:24:00.001-07:00

"Were it not for another inspired performance by keeper Brian Jensen, Chelsea could have become the first team in Premier League history to score ten goals in one match." --- Kevin Palmer , ESPN
soccer Correspondent

Vintage Rivalry Review - Manchester United vs Arsenal, 29th August 2009

2009-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

1990 – The Beginning
In reaction to a late challenge, McClair kicked Winterburn repeatedly, as he lay prone on the ground, igniting a 21 man fracas. FA docked Manchester United a point and recouped two points from Arsenal (who went on to win the 1990-91 league title). The Arsenal-Manchester United Rivalry was officially inaugurated!.

1996-2001 – The War of Words
The war of words started between Arsene and Fergie. Some of the exchanged verbal attacks included:

“I’ve got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast, he speaks five languages.” – Fergie, on arrival of Arsene in England in 1996.

“It’s wrong the league programme is extended so United can rest up and win everything.” – Arsene complaining about Manchester United’s fixture list in 1997.

“They wouldn’t have waited for three months if it was a United player…….our disciplinary record is tremendous. I’m very proud of it.” – Fergie on the delay of disciplinary hearings on Patrick Viera and Thierry Henry.

“One thing I will say is that he doesn’t disturb my nights at all. We didn’t do anything, but if we are clever, that’s a compliment.” – Arsene responded.

2001-2005 - The Tiffs, The Kicks and The Pizzas
10 years later after the first official kick, came the most fiercest period of rivalry between the two clubs. In the course of 2001-2005, EPL witnessed Kanu leaping over Wiltord to claim the title for Arsenal in 2001-02 at Old Trafford; Van NistelRooy missing the penalty and antics of Lauren and Keown; much-yearned battleground tiffs and the famous tunnel incident between Vieira and Keane before the kick-off; Neville’s frolics to kick every Arsenal player in the midfield, Rooney’s dive to break the gunners’ 49 unbeaten in league record and pizza chucked at Fergie after United 2004 victory at O.T.(In his autobiography, Ashley Cole made us yawn by giving the hint that the arsenal player behind the pizzagate incident was neither english nor french. Loser! i just can’t avoid him) and the list goes on.

Champions League Semi-Final 2009
After defeating Arsenal on aggregate 4-1, Evra declared “We were 11 men and they were 11 children.”. And these words are still alive in the heart of every gooner

Today - 29th August, 2009

Arsenal and Manchester United are back again today to lock their horns at Old Trafford. And, God and I yearn once again for a footclassical clash of the titans and the march of two clubs to the warpath of old rivalry.

Both the clubs have been weekend in the summer. As a tradition for both the clubs – Heroes came, Heroes Left.

But clubs will continue!

Today’s tie is just not just Arsenal against Manchester United for 3 points. Its beyond that.

Today’s tie could give a massive boost to Arsenal squad to firmly set on 2009-10 title challenge.

Today’s result may bring back the old days of Arsenal’s premier league authority.

Today’s tie may rekindle the old but subdued rivalry.

Today’s tie can prove it once again that Arsenal Manchester United Rivalry is indeed a Vintage Affair to cherish about.

Come on Gunnersssssssssss, Show them what you’ve got!
Roll on 9:45 pm !

Here is a preview video compiled by Comp-Art using latest clips.

Ciao.

God is a Gooner. Cheers!

Follow God is a Gooner on Twitter

Carling Cup Third Round Draw: Arsenal Got Baggies

2009-08-29T05:22:00.000-07:00

Arsenal (Kids) have drawn West Bromwich Albion in third round of Carling Cup draw. Arsenal were the first team to be drawn out of the hat and will play at home to advance to fourth round of the carling cup. The tie will be played in the week commencing September 21. For the record, Arsenal will start their 12th consecutive Champions league quest in Belgium against Standard Liege on September 16.

The full list of carling cup third round fixtures is given below:

Arsenal News: Fabregas to miss Manchester United Clash and Arsene is set to defend Dudu

2009-08-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

I”ll start with the bad news first. Cesc Fabregas’ hamstring injury will keep him out of Saturday’s clash with Manchester United.

In an interview with Arsenal Online, Arsene confirmed Cesc’s absence and said,

“Fabregas is out and his test was not conclusive this morning.“Therefore he will not travel.

Ideally you want him to travel and to play but he would not be 100 per cent.

Everybody else who played on Wednesday is ok.”

Issues:
Will Arsene continue with 4-3-3 at Old Trafford?
I guess, he will. We should go roaring into this fanastic tie.

Now, the expected news. Arsene has called UEFA’s decision to charge Dudu illogical and is ready to defend the striker. Dudu has been accused to dive in Arsenal’s 3-1 Champions League Play-off round victory over Celtic when Bhoys’ keeper Boruc appeared to bring down the striker. The referee awarded the penalty to Arsenal and the croatian converted it in 28′ minute

Speaking in Friday’s pre-match conference, Arsene was vocal and vowed to fight against the decision. He said,

“He’s been charged, not charged guilty. We’ll defend our player.
It is completely [a] lack of logic in this case. Why? Because people have reacted emotionally, which I can understand.

Secondly, because this case has been rule by the media.”

Now, to me, I don't care much if Eduardo dived or not. Probably, boys have learnt the hard or dirty way of playing football. Hell, yeah! But, surely I won’t like any gunner doing that again on the pitch (unless you tell me its Champions league final and arsenal trailing 1-0 in 90′ min)

Singling out a single player and charging him for diving doesn’t make sense. It has to be a football-associations-wide movement. There have been obvious cases of diving (Did i say ronaldo? When did i say Drogba?) and English FA didn’t raise its eye-brows. They might have seen that too as a busineess opportunity in some way. But i guess Scottish FA is furious over Celtic’s elimination and Platini of course needs a reason against Premier League.

Expecting a debate.

Anyways, God is a Gooner. Come on you Red and Whites! Cheers!

Quote Of The Day

2009-08-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

We'll take what we discovered, as best we can, into the weekend's fixture at home to Burnley. Every season, there's a club of whom little is expected who steam away at the start of the season and hoist themselves to the top of the table, in a glorious, but inevitably short, burst of flames. Last year it was Hull. This year it looks like it's going to be Tottenham. Tottenham are this year's Hull.

Giles Smith

Bet Of the Day: First Premier Manager to Leave in 2009/10 – Rafa 7/1

2009-08-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Quote Of The Day

2009-08-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

"Didier Drogba's downward header goes over the bar"

- BBC Live Text

Pic Of The Day

2009-08-17T15:51:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Day

2009-08-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

"The more you watch it, the better that save was."--- Alex Ferguson fooling no one on Owen's miss against Birmingham.

GameWeek 1: Carlo Wins First Test With Drogba scoring a Drogger

2009-08-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Chelsea 2-1 Hull city.

The EPL kicked off with Carlo Ancelotti making his EPL debut.The blues started off well and maintained lions share of possession in a new diamond formation, but it was Hull who got the lead via Hunt scoring the first goal of the season. The unexpected goal gave one of the favourites a kick in the back with Drogba delivering his 'Drogger'.( You dont miss ronaldo ! Ain't it ) .

The second half substitution of Ballack for Mikel and Essien moving into the holding role gave Chelsea the much needed bite and Chelsea moved the ball a lot quicker creating loads of chances, thanks to the marauding runs from Bosingwa on the right flank.Nonetheless Hull city put on a brave fight like their usual selves . Anelka had an off day sulking on last defender's shoulder for the day, But his strike partner who got the three points for the blues with his delightful cross-shot( guy was honest to accept that).

Contrary to what most have expected, the blues played well and moved the ball with intent and pace despite Hull's Bus-park in front of their goal. Its true that fullbacks gave the required width especially on the right side of the field due to the absence of a genuine right sided player. Malouda got into wide left positions posing a goal threat. It will be interesting to see what Ancelotti does when teams neutralize the wing backs' attacking threat and whether Joe cole will be played behind the strikers or on the right side of the diamond when he is available.

Why Chelsea are the favorites and why they aren't

2009-08-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

Chelsea seem to be almost everyone’s favourite to win the league title,but people seem to have looked over an important fact.

I can understand why Chelsea are the favourites.Firstly,Chelsea haven't sold anyone yet,which means they have a settled squad. Manutd have lost the world's best player in Ronaldo and that does make them considerably weaker. Tevez too was instrumental in the past two campaigns,scoring some important match winning goals.Liverpool too have lost their most consistent player from last season in Alonso, a player who seemed to be at his peak.Arsenal have lost big players in Adebayor and Toure.Looking at the additions to the squads,Chelsea have bought Zirkhov and Strurridge.The former is acclaimed to be one of the best left sided player around in the world right now and the latter is still untried at Premiership level, albiet having a few substitute appearances while he was at Man City. Manutd haven’t really set the world alight with surprisingly low key transfers.Pool meanwhile,or I should say Rafael Benitez meanwhile keeps surprising people with uninspiring transfers.Glen Johnson for 17m pounds?!!How much better is he than Arbeloa? Aquilani one the other hand might be a shrewd addition,only time will tell.

Chelsea also have an edge in the midfield scoring department.This in my opinion has made them the favourites for the league title. Every deck chair pundit knows that for a team to win the league you need midfielders who can score as well or the forwards should have one hell of a season.Manutd have had Giggs, Scholes, Beckham and even Keane scoring goals for them

on a regular basis when they were in prime.Ronaldo did so for the past 3 seasons.Arsenal had Pires,Ljunberg and Vieira ,Chelsea had Lampard, Robben and Duff

In the defense and striking department the top four are pretty much even.But what people seem to have missed out is the fact that,a diamond formation never works in the Premier League.Mourinho was unsuccessful with a squad arguably even better than the current Chelsea squad. The most experienced and successful managers in the premier league Sir Alex,Wenger and Harry Redknapp have never deployed a team with a diamond formation,simply because you need width to break down teams who just park the bus in front of goal and defend for the whole 90 mins. You need wingers who can stretch defences and pull defenders out of position.If Ancelotti sticks to his slow passing game, which almost bored the opposition into sleep, that he used at Milan then Chelsea can forget about winning the league.

And even for the diamond to be successful,they need a world class holding midfielder like Pirlo.Mikel is nowhere close,and Ancelotti knows it. No wonder he tried to sign Pirlo,a player who is on the wrong side of 30.So that is yet another problem for Chelsea. Oh,and then there is the small matter of the African Nations Cup.I guess the likes of Drogba,Essien and Kalou are going to miss a few games.In any case,this season promises to be as exciting as ever and I think the fight for the title will go down to the wire.

P.S.-History says favorites rarely go on to win the title

2009-08-13T03:43:00.001-07:00

Forbes has released their analysis on the football clubs’ valuations, revenue and their debts.

League Predictions

2009-08-13T03:27:00.000-07:00

‘Never ever make predictions’ is one famous man’s saying but it is that time of the year when you hardly adhere to such maxims. Predictions about this season’s English Premier League have come out left, right and center. The ‘Pundits’ who, I believe, belong to the most over-rated profession in the world have come out with their predictions; some smacking against logic, some giving us a good laugh and some actually worthy to have blogs on them.

The famous choice this season seems to be Liverpool with many pundits claiming them to be stronger than last season. Really? Do they think Glen Johnson is the final link as they go searching for their league title? By the looks of it, they don’t seem any stronger and minus Alonso they might as well have to sign up Indy Jones to trace their missing title. Alonso played a huge part in Liverpool’s quest for trophies last season. He was excellent in the center of the park and provided the creativity to free up Gerrard and Torres. Torres himself admitted a couple of weeks back that the sale of Alonso would seriously dent their title chances.

I believe Chelsea are a bigger threat to United this season. United, yes, will still be fighting for the honours sans their most prolific goal scorer for the last three seasons because they have a manager who is the best in building a side and if pre-season games are anything to go by, Owen and Valencia are already exciting the crowd.

Chelsea have failed to get a ‘marquee signing’ but have enough experience and quality in the squad to win the league. Most importantly, Chelsea and United have the players who have done it before and know what it takes to win the league. That could go against Liverpool.

People have written off Arsenal as easily as fans have written off Paris Hilton the actor. But unlike the latter, the former has quality upfront, pardon the pun, to showcase.A front line of Van-Persie, Nasri, Eduardo,Walcott,Arshavin,Rosicky and ably supported by Fabregas is worthy of a punt. If Arsene Wenger manages to get in a couple of signings as defensive cover, Arsenal should be streets ahead of City in the league table.

David Moyes has been hailed as one of the best managers in the league for quite some time now and that doesn’t defy logic. He has time and again proved that when it comes to extracting the best out of the players, he is a top dog. Everton finished fifth last season with having to do with limited resources. They’ll definitely be the ones to watch out for, if there is a chance of shaking up things at the top four of the table.

On paper, Man City’s squad looks good enough to be challenging for the top honours but with greedy mercenaries in the team, would they have the spirit and the stomach for a fight?

Tottenham haven’t added any one noticeable as they do every season. For a Spurs fan though, that might be a good omen as they deviate from their usual summer transfer antics, may be a sign that they would deviate from their abysmal starts.

The lower end of the table is always fought as closely and more as the higher end of the table. Of the teams that have managed to survive the drop last season, Hull City and Portsmouth look the most likely to go down. Of course that would hugely depend on what the new boys, Burnley, Wolves and Birmingham have to offer or rather not offer.

There are 250 people who admire Nicklas Bendtner!

2009-08-13T02:08:00.000-07:00

What a romantic, our Dany Boy is!

Yes! Nicklas Bendtner is actually following club's 'Be a Gooner. Be a Giver.' cancer campaign. The young Dane has changed his jersey numer 26 to 52. And, he is reimbursing the gooners for the cost of the jersey , who showed faith in him by buying his replica shirt adorned with number 26 on the back. I am pretty much confident that those are not dying gooners whose last wish was to buy his jersey.

Bendtner is reportedly facing a £10,000 bill from Arsenal for his generosity. The average price of home replica shirt is £40. So, there are around 250 people (10,000/40) who actually bought original bendtner's jersey. I mean 250 people !!

For those who admire him...Where are you guys? ..errr..Hello? anyone? Come on.. you bought his jersey!

For those who hate him, i had told you! Stop moaning about him. You just lost a jersey.

Anyways, does doubling up the number (26X2=52) mean he is hoping to score 30 goals this season (15, overall last season)? Good, if he thinks like that. Awesome, if he will come any near to that figure.

But i like one thing about him. He keeps his head down and works for the team. He may not be a glamorous striker, but he wasn't bad last seaon. And he can perform much better. Lets all (gooners) hope and dream!

"Bendtnerrrrrrrrrr and he is the top goal scorer of BPL 20010-11!"

Amen!

P.S. Anyone knows of any example of footballer with such a high jersey number. No one comes to my mind.

.

Funny Quote of the Day

2009-08-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

"Any of those guys that say they would rather have Arsenal's sexy football and not be winning titles must be lying especially if you compare it to making love with a beautiful woman. Arsenal are, as many have said a bit like Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry or other such stunners. The problem with it is that everything is going great the sex is brilliant but just when it coming to the really good part, the climax, what you are been working up to, Angelina stops, gets up and says "sorry mate have to go" and just walks out while leaving you to finish off alone whilst dreaming of what could have been. However you dress it up, however much you tell your mates it was brilliant and what a stud you are, you'll always have that nagging at the back of your mind saying "yeah but you didn't quite go all the way did you".

- Nick M, Madrid

23 Reasons why no one can wait for the Premier League to start.

2009-08-12T02:59:00.000-07:00

1.ManCity will be the new circus following Newcastle's relegation.
2.Liverpool supporter's claim yet again that this is their year.
3.Carragher will add to his tally of own goals and become the leading own-goal scorer.
4.Fellaini will scores more goals with his bush.
5.Berbatov will get lazier(if that is possible).
6.Van der Sar will go 10,986.5 mins without conceding a goal.
7.Chelsea will concede a 100 goals as opposition strikers wont be facing a huge fluorescent orange gay goal keeper charging at them.
8.Tevez will cry more.
9.Aquilani's wife is a great new addition.(not sure about Aquilani though)
10.Ballack will continue to lose cup finals.
11.Arsenal will continue to be in the transition period.
12.Adebayor will miss more number of open goals.
13.Eboue wont have anyone to dance with IF he scores a goal.(Adebayor and Toure aren't around)
14.Rafa Benitez will dig up more facts to show that Liverpool play better football than Hull City.
15.Crouch will move to Man City in January.
16.Tevez will cry more.
17.ManCity will make a bid of 500m pounds for Torres.
18.Tevez will stop crying.(realises no ones bothered)
19.Rooney will lose his other ear too in a car crash.
20.Saha,Hargreaves and Rosicky remain close friends with the treatment table.Mickey Owen will join them soon.
21.Rafa Benitez talks up more facts claiming he is the best manager ever at Liverpool.
22.Sheva,Voronin and Pizarro are back to excite the fans.
23.Gareth Bale will finally win a premier league match.

Starting the blog fantasy league

2009-08-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

I have created a league for the people participating in or following our blog in the fantasy premier league. Here's the code for joining the same...115927-172317.

For the uninitiated, fantasy premier league is a fantasy team management game where you pick 2 goal keepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 strikers out of your kitty of 100 fantasy money. Each player has a predefined value hence one has to have a good balance of promising less expensive players and expensive star players with guaranteed point return. The total points earned by the playing eleven after every gameweek is what you earn as points. Needless to say, the manager with the highest points at the end of the season wins.

Here is link to register your teams. After registering simply click leagues at the right hand side of your home page and enter the code given above in the private leagues section. You will be all set. Any further queries, the comment section is there for you.

Let the fun begin!

Cheers

Rahul

Funny made up quote of the day

2009-08-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

At Manchester United, Nani is the man tasked with filling Ronaldo's shoes, but with limited success. "The boy works his socks off, and he's trying everything he can, make no mistake," says Sir Alex Ferguson. "He's always the first onto the training ground, diving and rolling around, and the last one off, cheating, faking injury and trying to get people in trouble. But he's still got a long way to go: there's a few little bits of likeability and selflessness to iron out yet."

Community Shield Review

2009-08-10T04:51:00.001-07:00

Chelsea clinch this season’s community shield in a nervy and controversial contest at the New Wembley and also get their first victory against United in a penalty shoot out. Though the Shield has always been viewed as a glorified friendly, it gives a good indication as to how the teams would shape up for the following season.

Manchester United started the proceedings well and dominated Chelsea for the better of the first half. Losing Ronaldo did not take the sharpness in their attacking play as they could get behind Chelsea’s defence repeatedly and would have wrapped up the match bar the profligacy of the United players and the superb saves from Cech. Nani looked like a man possessed and was out there to stake his claim as the ‘New Ronaldo’. He put United into lead with a blistering drive after beating his man Ivanovic who had a torrid time dealing the Nani-Evra axis before being substituted at half time. United dominated the mid-field rendering Lampard to be a peripheral figure for Chelsea. Rooney- Berba partnership looked promising and linked well with Nani and Park.

Chelsea got into the game in the second half with retaining possession and controlling the mid-field. Ancelotti replaced Ivanovic with Bosingwa and that mitigated the threat caused down the left flank by Nani and Evra. Lampard got more involved as the clock ticked by and Anelka found himself in good positions down the left flank. Chelsea got their first goal courtesy to a number of reasons, Drogba’s presence in the box, Foster’s inability to punch out the ball clear and Nani’s lax defending in not following Carvalho’s run into the box. Chelsea got a hold of the match after their first goal and controlled the proceedings until a controversial incident which marred an otherwise fair game. Moments before Lampard celebrated the second goal, Ballack had gown down from an innocuous shoulder barge from Evra and Chris Foy stopped play when Evra found himself in a dangerous position. Chris Foy, comically though, decided to let the play continue when Ballack intentionally elbowed Evra in his face moments later which in turn led to Chelsea attackers finding themselves 3 against 2 at the edge of United’s box. The decision looks even more controversial when the replays show that the incident happened right in front of Chris Foy. So much for the referees’ consistency and so much for the ‘Respect Campaign’.

That sparked some of the United players who were mediocre at best until then in the second half. Rooney came up with a fine finish in injury time after being put clear by a superb through ball from Giggs. That equalizer took the match to the penalty shoot outs and sub par kicks from Giggs and Evra had ensured that Chelsea lifted the Community Shield for the 09/10 season.

Community Shield goals and penalties

Funny Quoite of the Day

2009-08-09T09:24:00.001-07:00

"Anyone who plays Champ Manager could figure this out, Ivanovic off, he's not fast enough to deal with Nani and Evra. Bosingwa on. Essien back into a central role."

Championship Manager player who thinks he is better manager than Ancelotti

Community Shield Preview

2009-08-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

So the curtain raiser for the season begins today with arguably England’s best representation in Europe at action today. Both the sides Manchester United and Chelsea are beginning a new chapter in their respective club histories, for United it is without their most prolific talisman Ronaldo and for Chelsea it is the dawn of a new era under Ancelotti if he manages to survive long unlike his predecessors.

Today’s match would be a good indication as to how both these would shape up for the coming season and would be quite intriguing to see the tactics employed by either.

Any club for David Bentley? He is (un)done at Roflham Lolspurz!

2009-08-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Words of a £15 M signing at Spurs in 2008, the footballer who couldn't wait to rise through Arsenal youth ranks before he moved to Ewood Park, Blackburn in 2006, rung around London.

"We can do anything we want, anything we put our minds to."

Quite exactly, Spurs want to sign everyone at the moment!

Once hailed as "The New Beckham", the former Arsenal trainee is a miserable figure to be seen at the White Hart Lane these days (if at all, he is at the bench). Leave aside the chance to showoff his boots embossed with DB7 slogan, he is even struggling to get a chance to kick a ball. He has been stripped off his number 7 to give it to Lennon and the icing on the cake, few days back, he was punched on the face by some unknown lad (must be a gooner) while he was dining at a north London restaurant.

You are out, Bentley! Where will you go? Stoke? Join Larsson at Birmingham, Bentley? or would like to play under another like-minded bulldog with a headset at Hull?

I even doubt that. And forget it, that City will come for you. You are not even going to earn bucks.

Being at the most confused club of the EPL at the moment, what more can you expect!
Presenting to you, The Roflham Lolspurz!:

Sold Defoe to Pompey in for £9 M only to bring him back after an year for £15 M

Bought Giovani Dos Santo from Barcelona for around £5 M and ultimately loaned him out to Ipswich Town to avoid the further payments to Barcelona. According to the transfer clause, Spurs may have to pay Barcelona as much as £8.6 M for Giovani, depending upon his appearances for the club. When they didn't know what to do with him, they loaned him out.

Pascal Chimbonda resigned for Spurs in Jan09 having lasted only 6 months at Sunderland

In Jan09, Robbie Keane was back to White Hart Lane after 7 disappointing months at anfield

And now, they want to sign Patrick Vieira, the cult figure among Gunners - their fierce and arguably the most intense rivalry in the Premier League at the moment.

What can i say Levy? Its not real estate business. Why don't you just make some use of your Land Economy degree to find a better place for your fans to sit and watch your players?

Salgaocar to Carrington

2009-08-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

Manchester United host a tournament every year, the Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) for U-15 teams across the world. This year the MUPC finals are to be played at Carrington, United’s training ground. The tournament is held over a period of five days from Aug 4^th to 9^th August.

Indian U-15 team Salgaocar, Goan club, got selected this year from the Asia – Oceania region.

East Bengal and Mohan Bagan were the teams which got selected earlier for the MUPC finals but the format of the tournament ensured that those teams never had the chance to face teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, AS Roma etc.

We’ll keep updating the status of the team representing India in this tournament

Funny Interview

2009-08-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

Interviewer : Your goal today, on your wrong foot I guess. Well, it's a great finish !

James Beattie : I haven't got a wrong foot...... What are you laughing at?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nfGppd3tSM

Ronaldo in a friendly jibe

2009-08-03T05:20:00.001-07:00

Continuing the quote section for the day, this is what Ronaldo quipped when Noel Gallagher questioned if he could afford the Oasis doing a private gig for him. He also took a dig at Manchester City.

"If Noel or Liam want to let me know what they charge for a private gig, they can give me a call or let you guys know and you can pass the message on."

"I mean it can’t be that expensive can it? They’re no Ricky Martin."

"The lads here don’t mind spending their money. If I explained to the boys how good Oasis are, I think we could get a whip round going and come up with the fee pretty easily."

“I think Kaka would love them. He has very good taste.

"You can let them know that I won’t be coming to their beloved City as well.I love it here in Madrid and there will only ever be one club in Manchester for me.”

Quote of the day

2009-08-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

“Seriously getting pissed off now. Why can’t anything be simple. It’s so frustrating hanging round doing jack shit. Do I want to go to Hull City, no. Do I want to go to Stoke, no. Do I want to go to Sunderland, yes. So stop fucking around, Levy.”
Darren Bent
His rant on Twitter cost him £80k. Funny though

Funny Quote of the Day

2009-08-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

"Apparently Michael Owen had a choice between joining the mancs or Hull City, which shouldn’t have been any choice at all. One club tries to play good football with honesty and integrity in the finest traditions of the game, the other one plays at Old Trafford!"-- Srujan Gottemokala on Manchester United's new Freebie Micheal Owen.

Funny quote of the Day

2009-08-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

Anonymous on Pirlo's possible transfer to Chelsea

"Still not sure if I want this deal to happen or not, but losing Pizarro is a plus I think - throw in Sheva too! "

Funny quote of the day

2009-07-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

"Players joining City for medals not for money" -- Mark Hughes; Manchester City Football Club Manager.

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Have a good one, Sir Bobby

2009-07-31T03:35:00.001-07:00

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...

Manchester United Player Ratings

2009-07-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Manchester United player ratings for their match against Boca Juniors in the Audi Cup at Allianz Arena:

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.

Reads of the Week

2009-07-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

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

Redefining Football Terminology

2009-07-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

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

Sup"porter"

2009-07-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Pre-Season Results

2009-07-23T22:17:00.001-07:00

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

Summer Competition

2009-07-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

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

Its a mad mad world

2009-07-21T12:24:00.001-07:00

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.

British Invasion

2009-03-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

The last five years have seen an immense improvement in the performance of English teams in Europe. Five of the last eight champion league finalists were English teams (Arsenal - 1, Chelsea - 1, Liverpool - 2, United - 1). The most notable feature of last season's champions league was, no English team was eliminated by a non-English team. Arsenal lost to Liverpool, Liverpool were eliminated by Chelsea and Chelsea were defeated by Manchester United. A similar pattern seems to be developing this season.

Football history shows, domination of a club or a set of clubs from a particular country often coincides with the domination of that country at the World/Europe level. For example, consider the Ajax team of the early 70's. They were the European champions in '71,'72 and '73. The Dutch international team were World-cup runners-up in '74 and '78 (thanks to Johan Cruijff). Bayern Munich were champions from '74 to '76. The German National team won Euro in '72 and the World Cup in '74. Another example, Juventus were European champions in '83 and runners-up in '85. Italian national team won the '82 world cup. In spite of the indomitable performance of English clubs over the last few years, England national team hardly showed any domination at the world level. Forget domination, they haven't even managed to qualify for Euro '08.

Thanks to the global transfer market, over the last two decades, the correlation between Club domination and National team domination reduced significantly. One, very obvious reason for the current English domination is their wealth. United, Chelsea and Liverpool all owned by billionaires can afford to buy the cream of footballers in the world. Though Arsenal does not have any rich owners, it has a stadium that makes more money than any other stadium in the entire world. Another gargantuan source of income for english clubs is the global TV rights. Putting the economic advantage aside, do English teams have the advantage of playing a more competitive breed of football week-in and week-out? Does this help them at the European stage? It sure is more physically demanding than other leagues (not including the Socttish and Irish leagues). It is quicker than other leagues - one of the main reasons for long adaptation time of immigrant players.
It would be very interesting to see the trend at European level, if FIFA and UEFA seek to impose a quota system on the immigrant players in a club.

Is the Quintuple dream on ?

2009-03-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

The biggest question of all as the season approaches its finish line is not if Man Utd can retain the league title but it is if they can complete the historic quintuple.

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to point out to the readers that if at all Man Utd go onto achieve the ‘ Quintuple’ it wouldn’t be an unprecedented achievement but just a historic one. The famous Ajax team of ‘74/’75 won eight titles in a span of two years , so surely ,which ever way one looks at it , they either won the quintuple in an year or achieved the quadruple for two consecutive years.

Is Man Utd actually capable of realizing the almost impossible dream of achieving the quintuple? I, personally, don’t think so. I don’t think any Man Utd fan would be extremely upset if they don’t finish tops in all the competitions as it is like asking a normal human being to be a superman for a day.

As Sir Alex, himself, put it Man Utd should ride their luck for way too long to come out triumphs in all the competitions. If the premier league is an indication of a team’s consistency and ruthlessness, the cup competitions always require a slice of luck. A wrongly judged offside goal, a wrongly adjudged penalty, there are way too many things that can change a match in a flash. Last years FA cup tie with Portsmouth can always be used as a good case study when trying to illustrate the kind of luck that is needed to win the cup competitions.

Secondly, if Man Utd actually complete the quintuple this year, I would be as amazed at their success as any other neutral fan. I wouldn’t be awe struck at their achievement but rather I would be amazed at the opponents’ incapability to stop them from achieving that feat. Any honest assessment of Manchester United’s season so far will have one believe that they have been far from their best and have nowhere attained the devastating form that they displayed in abundance last season. They have been having a rollercoaster season by their footballing standards, brilliant in one, subdued in the next. While some players haven’t hit strides yet such as Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov some, notably Anderson and Nani, are suffering from the proverbial second season syndrome. To simply put, Manchester United haven’t yet hit fifth gear this season and look unlikely to do so.

Is The League Title All United's?

2009-03-06T03:06:00.000-08:00

First of all I'd like to apologize for not completing my previous post due to certain unforeseen circumstances. And now that its been a long time since, I wont complete it either. It wont make sense.

Moving on to today's post, I'd first like to say.....Its good to be back!

The other day I was having this conversation with a friend of mine who is a Pool fan. Well with these Pool fans my conversations generally spiral out of control, especially the football ones! This time it was a bit of a bringing her back to earth time.(Yes its a girl pool fan!! Can you believe that?)

With a good comfortable victory over Sunderland after the heartache of Middlesborough defeat, Liverpool are joint second on points in the table along with Chelsea. Her argument was that maybe there is still time for United to slip up and one of us to finally win the thing. I said its possible but not probable. Then I went on to put things into perspective. So I did some research and following are the findings.

Manu............P27....Pts65...GD36
Chelsea.........P28...Pts58...GD32
Liverpool......P28...Pts58...GD25

Therefore, United have 11 games to play whereas Chelsea and Liverpool have 10 each. The point difference is 7. The odds are stacked heavily against either of the chasing pack.

Now let us assume(make an ass of u and me). Here is how it goes for Chelsea and Liverpool. If either of them win all their remaining games(highly unlikely), they will be at 88 points. With United having 11 games to play, they will have to do either of the following.....

Lose 4 Win 7 (total 86) [extremely unlikely]
Lose 3 Draw 1 Win 7 (total 87) [highly unlikely]
Lose 2 Draw 2 Win 7 (total 88) [unlikely]
Lose 1 Draw 4 Win 6 (total 87) [highly unlikely]

for Chelsea or Liverpool to have any chance. The most promising is the third scenario. The unlikely one. In that scenario, goal difference comes into picture. So lets put that too into perspective....

United have lost 2 games all season both 2-1 losses so the avg goal difference when they lose is 1/game. While when they win the avg goal difference is 1.9/game. Hence in the above scenario, the goal difference tally will see a rise of 11.3 goals, lets say 11 for convenience. (Overall GD at the end of the season...47!)

Compare this to Chelsea's record. When they lose, they lose by an avg GD of 1.8/game. When they win, they win by an avg GD of 2.3/game. Since Chelsea have to win all 10 games, that makes it 23 GD in 10 games(Overall......55!!!) Chelsea will win the thing :)

Now for Liverpool's chances. When Pool lose, they do by an avg of 1.5 but when they win they do it by an average GD of 1.7/game. That takes their tally to 17 GD in next 10 games(Overall 42!) Liverpool will still be third :P

So there you have it. Chelsea are the only team in a position to challenge United for the title, and that position is on a tightrope tied between Mt Everest and Mt K2. Still enjoying the good times under Hiddink. Hope we do better in the UCL.

Have a nice day folks!

Arsenal desperate for Arshavin?

2009-01-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Lets talk from Arsenal point of view. Why are we behind him ?

1. Russian league Player
2. That too 27 years old
3. Arsenal's record breaking transfer fee
4. High salary demand - for what?
5. Totally desperate and would surely sulk in future

And compare Nasri at 21 who came for around 11 miilion. Thats Wenger. Then why Arshavin?

Because
1. For fabregas, who might think of leaving this summer (quite likely)
2. To increase the atendance and restore the fans' faith (unlikely)
3. In Arsene's words, just to add the creative spark in midfield (I doubt it, why didnt he move for him in last summer then?)

Please enlighten me with any other reason or argument in favor of this transfer. I am sick of reading, he is in... no, he is not.. he will come.. he refused..his gay agent wants more money..his mood changed..he will talk on monday..he wants a cradle too

Half Term Report Card (Part 3)

2009-01-08T01:35:00.000-08:00

Now coming to the top half of the table, we have a couple of interesting ones here. A small club venturing in the unknown arena and Hull City to name just two!

West Ham

Zola has been the only rather inexperienced manager to be doing a decent job with his club. Paul Ince and Tony Adams are the others in the category and both have struggled, the former losing his job before the turn of the year. Zola's assistant Steve Clarke's hand in the whole picture cannot be doubted. The latter's experience as an assistant coach in the top flight is second to none. Its ironical that two of Chelsea's biggest legends are working for one of Chelsea's rivals and doing a good job. Hammers are destined for mid table anonymity at best, at worst they could lose a couple of key players in the Jan transfer window due to the financial crisis the club is going through, and their season could fall apart.

Verdict : 9th

Fulham

Roy Hodgson was one of the best managers of last year. When he took over, Fulham were in deep mire with relegation looking directly in their faces. He not only turned it around in the last game of last season, but has also managed to take them to 9th place by the end of the same calender year, a remarkable achievement by all means. Fulham are pushing for UEFA cup places but with Wigan, Everton and Aston Villa apart from the four usual suspects definitely better than them, it will be a near impossible task.

Verdict: 13th

Hull City

Hull City have been one of the stories of the season. With almost everyone predicting struggle in the club's first ever adventure in the top flight, they have not only defied the odds but also done it in style. Last couple of months have seen them struggle a bit and they've slipped a couple of places but another run of good results is long due and that could well see them in a UEFA cup spot....icing on the cake one has to say! But whatever the tigers achieve this season, they can hold their heads high and look forward to avaoiding the second season syndrome for promoted clubs next season.

Verdict : 8th

Wigan

Another club which has achieved an overturn of fortunes in a calendar year is Wigan. Struggling in the relegation zone at the start of 2008, they have their sights on UEFA cup at the end. Enjoying an excellent form of late(5 wins in last 6 games), the FA cup break might have come at hte wrong time for them. Still they should be good enough to give the likes of Everton and Hull a run for their money in the battle for UEFA cup spot.

Verdict: 6th

Everton

Without a recognized striker for a good few weeks, toffees have tremendously well to be where they are now. David Moyes should be in the look out for a recognized striker in the transfer window if only on loan, but recent form suggests he can as well manage without one. Hull, Liverpool and Arsenal are their next three opponents and 3 points or above is what they should be aiming at to put pressure on Arsenal and Aston Villa for the automatic UEFA cup place.

Verdict : 7th

the final bit to follow soon...

Half Term Report Card (Part 2)

2009-01-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

Sunderland

Roy Keane showed some ambition in the transfer market when he bought the likes of Cisse, Chimbonda, Malbranque and Anton Ferdinand. Yet spending huge amounts of money did not guarantee a smooth sailing in the mid table. With an awful away form continuing from last season, Keane saw his team faltering at home too. A relegation scrap was all but certain and Keane took the responsibility and resigned. His assistant, replacing him temporarily, had a good couple of games with comfortable victories but that was what is called the honeymoon period. Currently sitting at 15th, future does not look to bright for the Stadium of Light(love the name!) outfit. A decent run until the end of the season is too much to ask for from the inconsistent black cats, hence a relegation is more likely this season.

Verdict: Relegation

Newcastle United

Joe Kinnear has done wonders at Newcastle since taking over the troubled club. He's getting results and more importantly the confidence is back in the team which looked doomed a couple of months back. The form and most importantly fitness of Michael Owen is a crucial factor for Kinnear to keep them away from relegation scrap and if the current form is anything to go by, they will stay clear comfortably. Still as I said before, with the bottom half of the table so tight, a couple of games can change it all around.

Verdict: 12th

Manchester City

The cliche 'Money can't buy success' goes around a lot in football. And Sparky is learning it the hard way. Inconsistency coupled with an abysmal away form has seen them in the bottom half of the table. The only positive for the richest club in the world has been the forms of Robinho and Ireland. Defensively City still remain fragile, but the January acquisition of Bridge should add some steel. There could be a lot more ins and outs in the blue half of Manchester before the window closes shut on Feb 2nd. There is still a lot to play for and a good second half of the season could see City in reckoning for European places, but much will depend on the wheelings and dealings of the current transfer window.

Verdict : 10th

Portsmouth

We've seen this so many times in the past. A manager takes a below average team and over achieves with them year after after, then as he leaves, the club goes back to where it belonged. It happened with Bolton a season back, Blackburn at the start of this season and now the same with Pompey. The on field woes coupled with financial mini crisis has let to the fear of a mass exodus of the most talented of Pompey players. Diarra left for Real before the window even opened. The futures of Defoe, Glen Johnson, Kranjcar, Distin are far from certain. And if most of them leave, it could spell big trouble at Fratton Park. Relegation scrap is most likely.

Verdict: 16th

Bolton Wanderers

With a difficult start to the season, Bolton looked in trouble but Gary Megson has pulled it together somewhat and collected a lot of points of late, especially away from home. They've been rising steadily in the league table and currently top the bottom half of the table. Mid table is what Gary should be content with, but a European place is not out of question. A good run of form and a bad one for those above can see them push for UEFA cup spot. But thats too many ifs and buts right? Right!

Verdict: 11th

still more to follow...

Half Term Report Card (Part 1)

2008-12-31T00:20:00.000-08:00

With 2008 kissing good bye tonight, it is a good time to look back at the season that has come half way through...a season which many have described as the most competitive and packed with more surprises than any we've seen in recent years.

Here I've drawn a report card of all the 20 teams fighting it out there. I'd start from the bottom of the league as of today.

West Brom

Many pundits described them as the best of the promoted side, and not without a logic. Not only were the baggies last year's Championship champions, but the way they achieved promotion was remarkable. The kind of flowing football which is slightly out of place in a league like the Championship, they won many hearts. Life in the top tier, however, has not been as rosy. Although they've kept the style of play, the end result has been eluding them for most of the season. Yet they are no Derby! With a couple of wins in last three games, confidence is back and they could well stay in the top flight if they could capitalize on the current form.

Verdict: relegation

Blackburn Rovers

Paul Ince was a gamble Rovers took at the start of the season, and it has certainly come off badly for them. Half way through the season they have only managed as many points as West Brom. Only the goal difference keeps them from the bottom position. An indifferent form of last year's sensation Roque Santa Cruz has not helped and suggestions are that his mind could be elsewhere. With a proven PL manager now at the helm, there is hope but it could soon wane if they keep throwing away two goal leads in the last seven minutes as seen against ManCity last weekend. A string of good results is what Blackburn need and soon. With Fulham away and Newcastle and Bolton at home as their next three fixtures, it doesn't look a particularly easy ride but one they would expect to get a few points from if they have to stay up.

Verdict: 17th

Stoke City

Only goal difference separate Stoke from 16th and 17th placed Spurs and Middlesbrough resp. Their physical style and Rory Delap's throw ins have given us a few surprise results like victory over Arsenal and Aston Villa but that apart, Stoke have been found wanting in many areas vital to stay in the top flight. Pundits described them as one of the candidates for relegation and I would not bet a fortune against it.

Verdict: relegation

Middlesbrough

Gareth Southgate's men over the past couple of years have done just enough to stay clear of the relegation dog fight. This season its different with the league being so competitive, they are just goal difference away from relegation zone while just 2 points away from their last season's 13th place finish. If the current form is anything to go by, they could well be in the mire this season. Sunderland and West Brom are the next two games and their chance to get points on board before they travel to Stamford Bridge.

Verdict: 15th

Tottenham Hotspurs

With their worst ever start to a season, Spurs have steadied the ship a little with the help of Harry Redknapp. But the results still do not guarantee survival. With Harry's honeymoon period long over, they have mustered just one win from their last six league games. Still the feeling remains that Spurs are just too big to go down. That said, they should act soon to get some results in the next few games because this season there is no guarantee. As little as 5 points separate the bottom half of the league and a couple of games here and there could turn it all around.

Verdict: 14th

more to follow...

Can Arsenal turn it around?

2008-12-29T02:37:00.000-08:00

Arsenal have always had a consistent approach to the way they play their football. They have never differed from their footballing philosophy but consistency is something that hardly goes in conjunction with Arsenal FC nowadays. Results and performances such as the wins against Manchester United and Chelsea and matching Liverpool brilliantly after being a man down would have every football fan believe that they are having a great season. But a quick look at the points table reveals the other half of the story when you see them fighting for the fourth place with Aston Villa.
Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s talismanic manager and probably the manager with the least pressure to perform in this world of pressure cooker sports has always maintained that his side is good enough to mount a serious title challenge and his belief in his team was almost justified last season. Arsenal might be tempted to cite the recurrent injuries to their team as a reason for their derailed campaign but it is no secret that champion teams are not made by the starting eleven alone but by having an excellent squad. Wenger doesn’t have to look beyond his team to justify that cliché. Arsenal led the table in the premier league last season until the last third of the season and it was their trophy to lose from there. Injuries, lack of form, lack of a leader allowed Manchester United and Chelsea to cruise past them in the last third of the season. Wenger surely should have brought in a couple of more players in the summer, even more so, considering the departure of two his best players last season, Flamini and Hleb.

Arsenal had a great chance on the Boxing Day to remind Villa that they still have a long way to go before considering themselves as a potential team in the Champions league. But as we have come to know them this season, they squandered a two goal lead and have instead given Villa a huge boost. There was a sense of purpose from both the teams
as the match started but only one team had actually issued a statement of intent. Aston Villa had to show the world that they are no mere flash in the pan and are actually capable of achieving a top four finish. They could have finished the match within the first half an hour when they were denied thrice by the woodwork. But like any other good team, Arsenal, stayed in the match, displayed their mental fortitude and took the lead against the run of play. Diaby added to the first one within ten minutes of the second half and that surely should have wrapped up three points for them.

Amidst the amazing come back by Aston Villa, people have forgotten the generosity displayed by Arsenal after they bagged the two goals. With the kind of experience they have at the back, they surely, more than anyone else on the pitch, should have known how to defend the two goal lead. Mind you, none of the goals scored by the Villains belonged to the bracket of outstanding or to the level of unstoppable football. Both the goals were conceded largely due to the lax and callous defending by Arsenal. Arsenal on that day had most of their experienced players, Almunia, Gallas, Toure and Silvestre playing in the defence yet they would have conceded many more goals if not for the heroics of the outstanding Sagna. Lee Dixon, Arsenal’s former defender and great had been reiterating all week the need to defend deep when a team does not have the required personnel in the mid-field to pressurize the opposition. Arsenal, clearly, should have defended deep that day especially when they were up against Agbonlahor, the quickest in the league. As a manager one can only work out the tactics and the game plan but what goes on in a players mind on the pitch is widely out of a manager’s control. Gallas, should have learnt from his mistakes from the game against Liverpool when they conceded a goal to Robbie Keane from a similar set of play. They allowed him to run behind the defence, collect the long ball and dispatch it home. Gallas should have definitely had that in mind as he was up against a player who is quicker and in better form than Keane. Such naivety from an experienced defender led to a desperate plunge which in turn into a goal and a ray of hope for Villa.
If the first goal was a mistake in the game plan of the defence, the blunder committed for the second was even more elementary. Aston Villa gave their all, pulled all stops to get the equalizer and they had four players in the box, rightly so, when Zat Knight received the ball. To everyone’s amazement there were only three Arsenal defenders defending against those four Villa players and this was in the final few minutes of the match when they were sucking in the Villa attack. One is tempted to ask where the other defenders were when the ball was being whipped into the box. Arsenal had five established defenders at that point of time and along with Denilson and Diaby they had enough numbers to deal with any sort of threat. If only they had a clear game plan and answers for these questions.

Villa have certainly showed us this season that they are good enough to be in the top four one day. It might not happen this season, as I, for one, believe Arsenal have too much quality to let that happen. Neither are good teams made in a fortnight nor the good ones become bad overnight and Arsenal certainly is a good team.

Mid-Season thoughts on United

2008-12-23T03:53:00.000-08:00

Manchester United have clinched another trophy this week to make 2008 as amazing a year if not more as 1999 which witnessed vintage United. Surely the year of the 50th anniversary of the Munich disaster will go down in the history books of football as Manchester United’s year and a feat which pundits across the world will use as a benchmark to compare any team’s achievements.
Manchester United are currently 7 points behind the Liverpool, the league leaders, with two games in hand and all their remaining fixtures against the top teams are at Old Trafford. That certainly is a situation which will not worry a United fan unduly and it is something that Sir Alex and United fans would have accepted before the start of the season. However, that is not to be so. There is something missing which is distinctly highlighting the gulf in the ruthlessness of this team to the one that won the double. On paper, this team looks even more menacing than the previous one with the addition of Berbatov and the Da Siva twins. United have earned the tag of being slow starters over the years but they have never taken so long to hit top gear and neither have they been this inconsistent. Many a times this season fans and Sir Alex himself have predicted that United had actually top gear only to be let down by their performance in the next game. To be fair to the players, they have been handed out a really cruel fixture list pitting them against all the top teams, in their respective backyards, very early in the season. They missed players and lost players through injuries at crucial times of the season but with the squad strength that United possesses that can no longer be used as a valid excuse for the lack of momentum. To put it plainly, United have been slow on the pitch this year and the interchanging of positions and the lightning counter attacks are not coming to the fore.

Let me list down the things that United need to address in the winter break :
Berbatov: Untied have an embarrassment of riches in the striking department but they haven’t been able to get the best out of the various strike partnerships. Berbatov has taken time to adjust to United’s style of play and the fans are still waiting to see vintage Berba’s displays. Nevertheless, he already has around 6 assists to his name and his magical flicks and touches always leave the crowd enchanted. Sir Alex needs to find a way to get the best out of the Bulgarian without sacrificing the talents of the other players because right now Berbatov has not done much to become an automatic first starter.
Tevez and the formation: Though the Rooney- Berbatov partnership is being preferred to the rest, Tevez still plays a huge role if United are to win anything. A terrier by nature, the skillful Argentine has the uncanny knack of getting important goals. Will Fergie devise a system to accommodate all the big four players of Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez and Ronaldo?
Rooney and Ronaldo : Sir Alex was just not ready to sell Ronaldo , his most prized asset , not just because of his influence on the pitch but also because United were not equipped to deal with the sale of Ronaldo as Fergie built this great team revolving around Ronaldo’s talents. Any football fan who has been watching United for the 3-4 years would have realized by now that the team has been built to get the best out of Ronny. Two strikers who work their socks off, who move to the middle to collect the ball and who keep drifting off to the wings to provide space to Ronaldo to cut in, two deep lying centre mid fields who got themselves into positions to put forward a ball to Ronaldo running behind the defenders, all these tactics have been well documented over the years. Ronaldo is not being given this kind of freedom this season as Fergie wants the attack to revolve around Berbatov as the focal point. This system invariably gets the best out of Rooney and has been adopted to do just so. Rooney has been outstanding in some of the games so far and every United fan right now just wish he stays healthy for the rest of the season because when on song there is no better player in United who can influence a match as much as he can. The plain truth is Fergie needs to get the best out of Ronaldo without sacrifing Rooney in the centre of the pitch. The solution to this problem will probably go a long way in deciding where United end up this season.
Centre Mid-field: The injury to Hargreaves has been a big blow to United and with Scholes showing signs of his age, suddenly United look a little light weight in the centre of the mid field. Carrick has picked up from where he left off last season and he has been superb in the centre of the mid-field for the last ten games or so bagging four consecutive man of the match performances. Fletcher has complimented him well in the mid-field so far and it remains to be seen if Anderson is beginning to find his touch again after an indifferent start to the season. What Fergie needs to address here is he needs to come out with his best and most balanced mid-field combination and the most capable mid-field to battle it out against teams which play through the centre such as Inter. The plain truth is this has to be done without Scholes in the mix of the things. As much as a world class technician he is and he is still arguably the best passer in the league , he sadly does not have the legs anymore to last for 90 minutes of a tight game.
Right-Back: The only problem or the possible debate has revolved around this position; the rest of the defense picks itself up. I, for one, believe that Fergie has to give Rafael an extended run and should start with him in the big games as well. Clearly the boy is not just the future but also the present.

Emirites || Arsnl-Pool || Ref

2008-12-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

The Emirites would’ve produced a definite result yesterday but for the intervention of the Ref Howard Webb. The game started off well, with both sides settling down well. Liverpool settled down faster than Arsenal. But, Gunners were the first to get the break through at 24" with a splendid finish by Van Persie. A perfect pass from Nasri and a great first touch and control by VanPersie. He’s sometimes criticized for hitting the ball too hard when not really necessary. But yesterday, he shot the ball so hard that it was virtually impossible for Reina to react so fast. Any football fan would standup and clap for that finish.

Then came the complacency in Arsenal. They started sitting back when they should’ve gone for it and looked to extend the lead. Anyways, thanks to the inexperience of Djourou and clinical finish by Robbie Keane, Pool managed to get the equalizer.

Until then, Howard Webb was doing OK…making some bad decisions once in a while. By now, he should’ve realized that it wasn’t his day and he should’ve atleast tried to stay put and do his best. The first yellow card of Adebayor was a total crap. And the second one was surely a yellow card. But it could never be a second yellow that could lead to a red. But yet, Webb chose to make a difference. He didn’t want the match to take it’s shape in due course of time. Probably he was bored…so, he wanted to add a twist in the tale. Like the reality shows that bring in the wild card entries when the show is getting boring.

But it didn’t go any good either. Atleast, he didn’t make it a point to maintain consistency in whatever he doing. When there was a heavy tackle on Gerrard just outside the penalty box, it wasn’t given. Anyone with a pair of eyes (and glasses if required :-P) would’ve agreed that it was a foul. But, Webb chose to be different yet again !

Arsenal lost its front guns and Liverpool were sitting back and planning to settle for a draw. Right from the beginning, Andy Gray has been telling that Rafa would go for a draw. He would be defensive and stick to a draw and would try to stay in Top2 of the table and look for some luck from Gods at the end of the season. Interestingly, the cup eludes anyone who don’t GO for it. At times, too much strategy kills the spirit of the game.

As a Gooner, I would’ve been happier if Arsenal had managed to win the game. I was pretty happy that they atleast managed to get a point out of it. But, as a football fan, I was very disappointed that the game didn’t give us a true result. The game was never going for a draw….there was a definite result all over it…could be on anyone’s favour. But, Ref intervened and spoiled the game. Infact, I would’ve been happier if the game produced a result (even if it was against Arsenal). I’m a football fan first and then a Gooner.(thnx kuyil)

Btw, Arsenal are going nowhere this season. I think they would settle down for a 4th position. I don’t think Aston Villa has the consistency to hold on to the 4th place. Arsenal has a great team only when (Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy) do the defending, (Walcott-Febregas-Denilson-Nasri) play in the midfield and (Adebayor/Eduardo-VanPersie) play up front. Anything other than this would spoil the rhythm of the game. A passing game needs rhythm. Without that, there’s no meaning to that kind of game. Rest of the players like Song, Eboue and Diaby are not natural passers of the ball. Song and Eboue are not footballers in my point of view. Diaby would fit into more attacking positions, similar to Babel. So, Wenger should look to expand his team in proper direction rather than getting dummies like Eboue and Song. He should get true replacements. I hope he doesn’t some Christmas shopping this time.

League ON or GONE for Arsenal

2008-12-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

At least third time in season, its on or gone aka do or die situation for Arsenal. First up against ManU, we stood up to challenge and got the result in style. Second time, away against chelsea wasn't very comfortable but persie's brace within 6 minutes got us the result.
But we are arsenal and we never learn and if we will, i don't know when. After drawing with Boro, when we should have castrated ourselves for dropping ponts against second half of table, we are in a desperate position to make a come back again, otherwise it will be surely too late for
this season.

The result of this match is going to be important for all the top four (or top five?). Currently, the top 5 standings are as follows:

Teams Played Points
Liverpool 17 38
Chelsea 17 37
Aston Villa 18 34
Man United 16 32
Arsenal 17 30

The Chelsea (and fans) would be surely watching this one. If its a win for Arsenal today, gooners cant even rest after that. Given the fact, chelsea is playing on monday, the lead could still stretch to 7 points. But if they draw with toffees, 5 teams within 6 points!
It could potentially be a nail-biting rest of the season for all the top 4 teams fans. Isn't it? I believe Villa would hang around but would surely drop enough points to stay at fifth.

Liverpool is missing Torres. So, Rafa would surely start with keane. And Arsenal is without Walcott. Nasri is back and Eboue is there too. Who Arsene will go for on right flank - Denilson or Eboue ? I guess Arsene will stick to Denilson.

None of the gooners have forgotten the Champions League Q/F exit against Liverpool. Its still as livid in every gooner's memory as sun is in the sky. The match is also an occasion to celebrate 20th year anniversary of 1989 famous night at Anfield. So we would be seeing a lot of yellow gooners.
Moreover, God who was a Gunner, would be glued to TV. His name is Thierry Henry !

My prediction: 2-1 to Arsenal (with Nasri and Persie on scoresheet)

So, its do-or-die, chance to rake revenge, anniversary and God's blessings - WHAT ELSE YOU NEED GUNNERS ?

A Statician's View on the race

2008-12-16T03:13:00.000-08:00

With United trailing behind Chelsea and Liverpool this season, there is the argument that United have played much more difficult fixtures this season. This is not a whiny excuse, rather a pretty reasonable explanation. United’s performances haven’t been anything special, but then, neither have Chelsea’s nor Liverpool’s. When you look at the fixtures a bit more logically, you can see our position in relation to Chelsea is pretty decent.

Well, comparison of the stats of one season to the previous season might not be helpful in determining the course of the title race but they might give a fan a rough idea as to what to expect from one’s team for the rest of the season.

This season’s results against the some of the teams looks like this:
Portsmouth: 1-0 win
Liverpool: 2-1 loss.
Chelsea: 1-1 draw
Blackburn: 2-0 win.
Everton: 1-1 draw.
Arsenal: 2-1 loss.
Aston Villa: 0-0 draw
City: 1-0 win

That’s 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, giving United 12 points of a possible 24. Last season they also picked up 12 of the possible 24:
Portsmouth: 1-1 draw
Liverpool: 1-0 win
Chelsea: 2-1 loss.
Blackburn: 1-1 draw.
Everton: 1-0 win.
Arsenal: 2-2 draw.
Aston Villa: 4-1 win.
City: 1-0 loss.

If we were to compare this to their main title rivals, Chelsea, it is more difficult to do so. Last season they continued their brilliant unbeaten record at home, but only won 12 games out of 19 (in contrast to the 17 United won at home). This season, their home form is not at all desirable, yet they are doing the business away from home.

Instead, I will compare like for like, their results this season compared to last, showing first their result this season, then their result last. (There obviously will be some fixtures missing, allowing for the teams that have been promoted/relegated since last season).

Chelsea
Portsmouth (home) won WON
Wigan (away) won WON
Tottenham (home) draw WON - worse
City (away) won WON
United (home) draw WON - worse
Villa (home) won DRAW - better
Boro away won WON
Liverpool (home) lost DRAW - worse
Sunderland (home) won WON
Blackburn (away) won WON
Newcastle (home) draw WON - worse
Arsenal (home) lost WON - worse
Bolton (away) won WON
West Ham (home) draw WON - worse

When comparing their results this season against those same games last season, Chelsea are 10 points worse off. They collected 38 points from these fixtures last season, yet just 28 from the same games this season. On just one occasion they’ve bettered their result from last season and on five occasions they have done worse.

United
Newcastle (home) draw WON - worse
Portsmouth (away) won DRAW - better
Liverpool (away) lost WON - worse
Chelsea (away) draw LOSS - better
Bolton (home) won WON
Blackburn (away) won DRAW - better
Everton (away) draw WON - worse
West Ham (home) won WON
Arsenal (away) lost DRAW - worse
Villa (away) draw WON - worse
City (away) won LOST - better
Sunderland (home) won WON
Spurs (away) draw DRAW

Last season United picked up 25 points from the games we have played so far this season, meaning this year we are worse off by 2 points. We have bettered last season’s result on four occasions and have done worse on five occasions.

In Chelsea’s past seven games in all competitions, they have won two (Sunderland and Cluj), drawn two (West Ham and Newcastle) and lost three (Liverpool, Arsenal and Burnley).

Consistency has been a problem for both the sides so far this season. Neither seem to have hit the top gear as of yet. However, despite United’s position in the table, istics are anything to go by then they are in the strongest position given the games they’ve yet to play and those they’ve got out of the way already. It’s a mixed bag for United, improving on some of last year’s results, whilst doing worse in others. For Chelsea though, they are worse off, in terms of results, in plenty of games in comparison to last season.

No wonder people expect this to be the tightest of title races, Who would eventually go onto win the title? It’s a guess as good as anyone’s

What happened and what next for Arsenal??

2008-12-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

After a long break, owing to my professional and educational demands, I am back. I thought I would summarize the feelings going on in an arsenal fan’s mind(at least mine), given the roller coaster ride that arsenal is going through and how confused and irritated we are with the recent results and incidents . Also I will try to come up with solution(s) from a fan’s perspective and leave the door open for more discussion.

Firstly I am not that optimistic as I was at the start of the season regarding the chances of arsenal winning any silverware. Inconsistency brought out of lack of motivation and failing to learn from mistakes, contributed to the recent lackluster performances, and has seriously undermined Arsenal in becoming a serious title contender. I still don’t write them off, as we are still in the first half of the season and there is ample time to make amendments (if at all Wenger wishes to make any).

Now coming to my musings, though many pundits are of the opinion that the defense is the major culprit (came across explanations like fragile, leaky, clueless, feeble defense) for the current disappointing situation. I would like to differ. The midfield and the striking departments also should share the blame equally. I have never seen Arsenal with such a weak midfield in the recent past. Even at the start of last season I had the same feeling, but the formidable combination of Fabregas and Flamini proved me wrong. Hleb, Rosicky (for whatever less time he played), Gilberto played their supporting roles well and Arsenal was never found short in creating ample opportunities for the strikers. The midfield was always energetic and was fighting till the last minute of the game. And thanks to that, Arsenal was the team which scored the highest number of goals in the final 15 minutes. They were out of steam in the last quarter of the season but that is another issue. Now, this year, they already look tired and lack the sharpness to compete in the toughest league. I think part of it is because of lack of motivation and part due to inexperience.

Players like Song, Diaby and Bendtner will be strolling around the ground leisurely as if they were invited to witness the match from close quarters on the pitch, rather than being involved in it. Talented they are, but I feel that they are far less committed to the cause than others. There is no energy in their play and their nonchalant nature pisses me to the max. Denilson is one of the most talented among the Arsenal’s youngsters. He plays his heart out and tries to contribute as much as he can. Though very good his intentions and determination are, he is not ready for the biggest stage and it is evident in the innumerable errors he commits and such an inconsistent form he enjoys. He could not carry his early season form and has been quiet mediocre (forget about him replacing Flamini).

Coming to the striking department Persie has been good(though I don’t know for how long he will stay injury free), Adebayor has been in and out of the team and can’t really find any fault with his performances. That leaves us with Bendtner who has played most number of matches as a striker, either by starting or by being substituted. But he had done less than vela or Wilshere or Ramsey who were far better in creating some impact. I am not being harsh on him just because he didn’t score many goals, but because he is so inept at creating chances or taking them and doesn’t show any signs of improvement, and as I mentioned before his lack of commitment.

Defense, lot of people had spoken about it and I don’t want to dwell on that for long. Toure has been out of form ever since the African nations cup, Gallas inconsistent, Silvestre by no means great but has been doing a decent job, Djourou chipping in well when required. The thing is that the two of the best defenders we have had indifferent form and that affected us the most. And nothing has been sorted out regarding the long ball threat and the set pieces. The full backs have been great till now, but this year they are frequently getting injured than in last year, which is a bit of concern.

So What should Wenger do now. Though I agree with him about the fact that this team has enough talent to beat any other top flight team, the question is how consistently they can do that. As we have witnessed they are not able to do that on a regular basis. And there is not enough bench strength to give rest to some players and make them regain their sharpness. The only solution i can think of is to buy one experienced person in the defense and mid field departments. If not both, then at the least in the midfield. I feel that with one experienced, energetic CDM, Fabregas will get the necessary freedom to go forward and create more chances. And the defense will also feel more secure.

I think with the return of Eduardo, which will be like a new signing according to wenger, we will have enough fire power in the striking department. Also his finishing prowess should reduce the wastefulness in front of the goal. So no need of any additional purchases here.

The lack of motivation is still a big worry. The captaincy change surely should have great impact on that, given that Gallas has never been a natural leader. But there is a need for some more experienced players in dressing room for the younger ones to look up to. Keeping all the responsibility on Fabregas is unfair.

Sometimes I feel Wenger is expecting that most of his youngsters can do a ‘Fabregas’ (break into the first team at very young age and become a consistent and key member of the team). Fabregas is one in a million and Wenger is completely wrong if he is thinking so. Also the club should show enough ambition, so that players like Fabregas will be motivated and in turn bring out the best among the rest. And right now I can’t see a better solution than bringing in a fresh face and give an impetus to this beleaguered team. But given that the toughest part of the season happens to be in December, I am a bit worried if the signing would be too late. Nevertheless it will improve our chances in the Cup competitions.

It's a crazy game!

2008-12-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

So what was Ronaldo thinking back there? We all know the chap is on a high with all the awards and the cups that he won last season. He was always, and still is the cocky son of a gun that everyone loves to hate. He knows that everyone grudgingly acknowledges that he might be the best player on the planet right now- there is, after all, nothing he cannot do with a ball. Right leg, left leg, header, freekick... you name it, and he's got it.

So what the hell was he thinking when he decided to play in goal for Manchester City last week?! Even hard core Man Utd fans like myself cannot think of a way to defend him from this incident! The ridiculous post match explanations- he was pushed.. he heard a whistle.. he wanted to protect his beautiful face!! -nonetheless, it did provide for some entertainment to the Man Utd fans, especially when Citeh could muster hardly a chance even with a man advantage. Especially heartwarming was the fact that Robinho (more about him, later) was totally shackled by his 18 year old counterpart.

A fine moment of madness, is what I say. I tried to put myself into Ronaldo's position as he went up to perform this act, and this is what I was thinking:

"I'm the best in the world, I've got everything and a beautiful face. But damn that Kaka, being voted the most handsome! That prick, I'll show him at the Ballon D'Or whose better! Now, wait, I think I can get this ball if I jump high enough... here I go!! CR7, up, up and away!! Oh no, wait! I got that award to win tomorrow!! I can't break my nose now!!! Quick, avert! Oops, no time for that... do something!! Damn, not that thing!! I'm so stupid! Hope the ref won't give me a card! No, I'm sure he will! Wait, is it Graham Poll there? Maybe I'll be lucky... nah, I'm done for :( I think I'll just wait here on the pitch a couple of minutes though, millions around the world are watching me right now. This is probably the best chance to show them I'm more beautiful than Kaka! Well, time to go, hope the old geezer doesn't fry me!"

Coming to Robinho, is it just me or is he the biggest moron on the planet? Okay, so Citeh have got all the money, but who in their right mind can imagine that Kaka, Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Maradona, Pele and every other great on this planet will take up lodgings in Manchester in January! Mark Hughes hopefully is more sensible than that (he did play for United, and before you mention it, Ronaldo is an aberration, he is after all the second most beautiful player on the planet.. as the adage goes, beauty and brains don't go together!). Anyways, Hughes better tell Robinho to shut his fat mouth and get on with the stepovers that he is better at, and find ways to go past his younger Brazilian teammates!

If you think there's not enough craziness to go around in football, check this out (Hat tip to Rahul for the link)

Another matter that I do not entirely attribute to craziness is Drogba's throws. I mean, if the lad thinks he's got enough money, and is not a beggar to receive coins on his head from the crowd, he has all the right to chuck it back at the crowd. Of course, next time he might have to consider the matter that it is very difficult to hit the guy who throw the coin at you in the first place. He would do much better following the example of Eric Cantona, or for that matter, Inzamam Ul Haq.

That's all for now, have a crazy week!

The Mighty Blues?

2008-12-03T03:28:00.000-08:00

No, not about Chelsea! There wouldn't be a question mark there in that case. But Manchester City!

Browsing through SkySports, I came across this funny bit....Man City fail in a massive bid for Casillas. There were talks of buying out his contract which stands at a staggering 128M and paying 230K per week in wages to the Real keeper. Its funny, part because of all these figures quoted, but mostly because you still cannot imagine Casillas or Kaka going to Manchester City, can you? True that most footballers today are mercenaries with all the Matt le Tissiers and Maldinis of the world either extinct or on the verge but what these players still have in them is some amount of pride. Ambitions of the club still count at least on equal footing to their weekly wages.

'Money can't buy success' is a cliche floating around in footballing world like mist on Himalayas. But in City's case, money will not be enough to buy the first step towards success - big players. (Robinho is not a big player!) We often compare them to the Blues from west London and say that City can emulate what Chelsea did five years back. There are marked differences between the two and here I am to point all of those out...

Chelsea were already there or thereabouts the top when Roman took over. They were already a Champions league team which is a big factor for top players to join. It was easier to lure good players than it would be for City for foreseeable future. Also being in London helped Chelsea's cause.

One thing Hughes should refrain from at this moment is talking about the biggest players right away. Kaka, Casillas, Buffon, Torres will not come to City for whatever money you offer them. Period. What they can look for in the market are very good, but still not star, players. Much like Ranieri and Mourinho did. They bought the best from Porto, Renne, Lyon, Marsielle, PSV et al rather than trying from Real, Milan or Juventus. What this does is, at least, it doesn't make you a laughing stock in the market. Make a brand quite like Chelsea did, perform on the pitch, and become a top club before trying to sign galacticos.

I am quite sure success will eventually come to Man City if their owners are serious. It will, however, be a question of when. Is Sparky the right man for the job? I would like to think so, but I have my doubts.

Weekend Preview

2008-11-28T00:46:00.000-08:00

I'll be concentrating entirely on the two big games coming up this weekend (for want of spare time to do justice to the rest of the bunch, sorry about that!).

The Manchester Derby

The Red and the Blue sections of Manchester come face to face this weekend in what has become a much anticipated derby clash. What used to be a regular run-of-the-mill huge vs small derby, where the small, over the last few years, unusually came better off on more occasions than not, has now taken a completely different complexion since City's takeover by the Arab behemoths. Its no more seen as huge vs small but as huge vs potential juggernauts. The recent form of both teams have been pretty indifferent, going by their usual standards....but a derby always brings something special as they say!

Not only is the game a derby between two bitter local rivals but it also has a small battle within the battle. Robinho epitomizes Man City as Ronaldo does Man Utd. The former has great potential and wants to be the best in the world one day, the latter is the reigning best. Robinho will take this chance with both hands to show the world and Real in particular that his former employers made a mistake by continuously pursuing Ronaldo and ignoring the gem they already had in their ranks. It would be unfair to say that its Ronaldo vs Robinho out and out, far from it...but this will be an interesting little battle to watch out for.

We have to go all the way back to May last year when Man Utd failed to score on two consecutive games, hence Sir Alex would be hoping their attack devoid of Berba through injury doesn't fail on a third occassion in a row. We might have to dig history books to find that kind of a record. Man City are good too going forward with Robinho and especially Ireland in a great goal scoring nick, but to face Rio and Vidic is a totally different prospect.

Verdict: I will go for an away win with plenty of goals......4-2 to Man Utd.

The London Derby

We are looking at a strange game here. At the start of the season, this fixture would have been dubbed as a tug-of-war between two genuine title contenders...what it has now become is a game where credentials are at stake(at least partially) , not for Arsenal, who are well and truly out of the race after five defeats and the problems going on at the Emirates, but for Chelsea.This season again, they have an appalling home record compared to their fantastic away one. Three draws and a loss at home out of seven is hardly a championship winning form, and if not for the away results, they'd be quite far away from the top. Scolari's argument that on away days, the home teams attack more and hence leave gaps for the Blues to exploit...while at The Bridge they come to park the bus and get a draw, maybe a valid one, but that also reveals the one dimension-ness of the Chelsea attacks. They fail to break down packed defenses because they lack one player, like Ronaldo or Robinho, who can draw defenders and create space for others. They depend heavily on passing the ball around the final third hoping for the defense to make a mistake and leave a space for Anelka, Lampard or Malouda to get into. Comparisons are made between Mourinho's and Scolari's Chelsea, but I have to bitterly concede.....however beautiful the football's being played under Felipe, Jose had an edge in big games.

Arsenal pose a different prospect though. They will come as a not so well organizes defensive unti with great attacking ability. Arsenal's display agianst Man utd showed that if the gunners have the right kind of motivation, they are good enough to beat anyone on their day, except for Stoke and Hull, of course! Needless to say, they would be highly motivated for this one too and the threat they pose will not be overlooked by anyone inside Stamford Bridge. Whether they hang on to fourth(or even come better off) or let Aston Villa take that hallowed spot for once, this game has little bearing on that. What a bad result for Chelsea would do for their title credentials, on the other hand, is something completely different.

Verdict: A fairly open game with lots of goal-mouth action. An uncomfortable home win 2-1.

Enjoy the weekend ahead!

Champions League Round Up

2008-11-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

Arsenal 1-0 Dynamo Kiev

Arsenal finally put an end to their crisis by winning it late against Dynamo Kiev. Fabregas promised the Arsenal fans that he would take the team as far as he can under his reign. The win bodes well for Arsenal’s future and now it would be very interesting to see their duel against Chelsea next weekend. Though Arsenal were not at their artistic best , they did probe Dynamo and found a winner through a late Nikola Bendtner goal. Will Arsenal finally start to win games when things don’t go their way? A game against Chelsea might be the best test to such credentials.

Manchester United 0-0 Villareal

Manchester United have once again entered those tortoise zone , where they turn up at a game leaving their shooting boots at Carrington. They created many chances only to be denied by the Villareal goal keeper Lopez. Villareal started with only one upfront, Rossi playing as the lone man against his former team-mates. The tricky forward showed glimpses of his class again but was kept quiet for most parts of the game by the ever impressive Johnny Evans. Villareal never showed any intent to win the game and played for a draw, this one being the fourth consecutive draw between these two clubs. Man United too started with 4-5-1 with Rooney as the lone striker flanked by Nani and Ronaldo and with Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson completing the mid-field. Ronaldo came closest when he hit the woodwork and Rooney had a few shots saved and a goal disallowed but then again this game looked like a repeat of the last weekend game against Aston Villa.

Should we have 11 leaders ?

2008-11-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

How important is it to have a captain in your side? Does a captain in a football team have as many responsibilities as a captain in any other sport, say cricket, does?

Are the Captain’s responsibilities just restricted to motivating his team mates?

These have been some of the many questions asked this weekend when Arsene Wenger finally decided to strip Gallas of his captaincy. The newly appointed Captain, Cesc Fabregas, is not as vocal as his predecessor but certainly more calm and relaxed then any other Arsenal player. So how exactly will Cesc manage to inspire his team mates when he is not getting under the skin of his team-mates?

Do football captains not only have to lead by example but also be vocal on the pitch?

The Mid-Field Connundrum

2008-11-21T04:06:00.000-08:00

Much has been made about England’s International football abilities over the last decade so and even more so now since they have strung together five successive wins. Fabio Cappello has instilled the discipline in his team that is often seen on his rather phlegmatic face. Probably Cappello has promised the FA to flash a smile on his face only after he gets England to WC 2010. Assessing England from the performances so far under ‘Don Fab’ they might as well end up being the first team to book their hotels in South Africa.

The major difference between Cappello and his predecessors has been that Cappello is not afraid to give a kick up the butts to some of his so called ‘untouchables’. Under McLaren and Sven these untouchables were guaranteed a place in the side, all they just had to do was come out in public and support their manager. Fabio Cappello on the other hand has not only changed the team ethics but changed the way England plays its game. One can associate a more continental approach to their game now. It is in stark contrast to the huff-puff, end to end stuff seen in the EPL. They are more firm with the ball, they are decisive and they now believe in possession play.

This brings us to the topic that I would like to discuss. England have a plethora of mid-fielders but the problem lies in selecting the most balance combination. Each of the mid fielders who are in contention of a starting berth such as Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Barry and Hargreaves are different from one another and different set of attributes to the team.

While Gerrard comes across as the all action mid-fielder who can play anywhere across the mid-field , Lampard comes off as the more disciplined of the two and a promise of translating his goal scoring form for Chelsea onto the International stage.

Hargreaves is the no nonsense traditional style of central defensive mid-fielder who’ll get stuck in the tackles and will never give opponent players an ounce of space. But unfortunately for him and England he has had persistent injury problems. Hopefully the surgery on his knee which will keep him out of the entire season will come back a stronger player. Barry on the other hand is a different type of defensive mid-fielder who keeps things simple, he is more of an anchor man someone who doesn’t try to do anything flashy. He also possesses an excellent left foot and can bend a few.

But one man whom I always thought of as the perfect mid-fielder for the International set up is Michael Carrick especially even more when Cappello wants one of his mid-fielders to slow down things and keep the ball moving in the mid-field. Carrick and Barry were excellent against Germany and England mid-field never looked so balanced. The advantage and different set of skills that England will have when Carrick is on the pitch is that he is a naturally gifted passer , some one who has an eye for a pass and who can shift flanks with consummate ease. Carrick is not an all action mid- fielder like Gerrard , he is not a natural goal scorer like Lampard , he is not a ferocious tackler , but he offers something different from them. He provides an assured presence in the middle , someone who is very good in slowing down the tempo of the game and someone who has always been touted as a good reader of the game.

The best Combination : I would personally pick Lampard and Carrick, Carrick for the above mentioned reasons and Lampard for his superior tactical sense than Gerrard. Gerrard is quick , direct but is not a natural playmaker and for me personally Lampard is better at dictating the tempo of the game better than Gerrard .

I'm ending the post a little rather abruptly due to some issues at work and I would even incur the wrath from a few of you as some might accuse me of looking at things through my red tinted glasses but I would really like to hear about the mid-field combination that you would prefer.

PS : Not that I care about England

Too long a break

2008-11-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. We let the blog seep through to a dormant state for the last two weeks or so as we had to occupy our minds with work in the office.

Now we vow to turn around the defunct state of the blog and spring life into it again. We would be back with our weekend predictions, ‘big games’ previews and review, players’ ratings and many more articles.

To bring to you some recent news and events that occurred last week, you must have enjoyed the weekend action which had plenty of goals in the ‘big four’ matches only if you are not an Arsenal fan.

Titles are not won in November but they can so easily be lost. I wonder if Arsenal fans are beginning to worry about their team’s prospects this season. They have lost close to one-third of their matches so far losing 4 out of 13. What must be worrying Arsenal fans more (they must have been used to their team not winning anything by now) is that the team has been woefully inconsistent. While everyone has been singing praises for Arsenal’s fledglings, much deeper cracks seem to have appeared in their first team set up. Arsene Wenger got a fantastic response from his team after the loss against Stoke when they beat Man United but the performance against the ‘Villains’ according to him was lackluster, lack of enthusiasm and energy. Arsenal is dropping far too many points at home and if you come to think of it they have played just one of the other teams in the ‘Big Four’. They still have to travel to Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge and also entertain the latter two at Emirates.

On the subject of big games, Manchester United should be well placed in the title race come March as they have played all the big away games of the season bar the one at Eastlands. If the performance against Stoke is anything to go by then they are also discovering their goal scoring touch.

Liverpool has been the surprise package this season. Over the years one has got used to hearing Liverpool’s false promises of doing better and winning the league the next season during this time of the season. But they seemed to have that around this season; they are coming out unscathed in tough away games though it will be interesting to see if they can sustain that for the entire season.

Chelsea has started well as they have always done since they go the taste of fine Russian vodka. They are also hitting top gear this season and have an excellent goal difference which might actually decide the outcome of the title race. Chelsea loses very few matches but draws a bigger proportion of matches and it will be interesting to see if the form of some of their goal scorers like Anelka and Lampard ensure otherwise.

We had another boring week of International friendlies, they are the worst that can happen to a club at this point of the season when there is usually a hectic schedule for the top teams. Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex can testify this as they will be without the services of Walcott and Berbatov respectively thanks to the meaningless friendlies.

Turn On The Style

2008-11-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

"The team is experienced with most of the players above and around 30. We cannot expect a drastic improvement from them."

These are the quotes made by Sir Alex Fergusan(may not be the exact words but almost means the same) at the start of the season about Chelsea's credentials this season. Not only have these old legs defied Sir's logic, but also in style. The team which was ridiculed for grinding out results after results is suddenly the team catching the eye worldwide. The same bunch of players who were written off as not capable of playing beautiful football together by a large section of the football fraternity have proved everyone wrong. Although, we've had one of the best summers in recent times with respect to transfers this season,getting what could be said as the two most important pieces of the zig saw namely Bosingwa (the most important transfer since Frank Lampard in my opinion) and Deco, one cannot discount the one most important capture of the summer, Luis Felipe Scolari. He's the man behind the face lift of the team, unarguably. What impact the gaffer can have on a team is not something too covert in todays footballing world. Its a true saying that a team clearly reflects the personality of its coach. Mourinho's Chelsea was resilient, strong, never-say-die, Scolari's Chelsea is very Brazil-like. I'm not saying we've suddenly become Barca or Arsenal for that matter, but we certainly are a joy to watch unlike the last couple of seasons.

The first couple of games of the season, I had a feeling that all the change is due to Deco. His touch and vision allow us to be more capable of unlocking defenses, which is true, but later on even without him we were as good. We gave two of the best performances against Villa and Boro without him. It was clear then that it was Deco but it is the belief in each player shown by the gaffer to express themselves is what has brought about all the change. It would be an understatement to say that Mourinho did not allow showboating, which would be the wrong word to use for this Chelsea, but certainly the confidence is there to show off some skills without having the boss at the back of your mind. When I compare Mourinho's Chelsea to Scolari's, one thing that is apparant is that the players are more comfortable on the ball than they used to. That could be attributed the movement of the players aound the guy who has the ball. He always knows where the players are moving which makes passing and controlling the ball easier.

The tactical nous of Mourinho cannot be questioned but the difference lies in the mentality of the team. The former boss gave much importance to being solid at the back. The full backs did not bomb as much forward and as frequently as they do now. The mentality was to go up and then shut shop, which is also a very good tactic given the personel he had at his disposal to do just the same. But the style was not eye catching to say the least. It was much result oriented than aesthetics oriented and that is why he was so successful. In his first year at Chelsea, we were a great force going forward too, with the width we had in the form of Duff, Robben and Joe Cole and fast paced counter attacks. That somehow went astray as we offloaded Robben and Duff. We became very one dimensional in our approach and that became easier for teams to defend against. With Makelele a constant presense in the heart of midfield, as good a defensive midfielder as he was, he lacked those move starting passes especially as he got older. With next no width on the flanks, the obvious way was to go direct. Drogba is undoubtably one of the best center forwards for that approach which helped us get results but not in so much style.

Scolari has changed that mentality. He gives much importance to retaining the ball and making it work. As in his own words 'you must have the ball at your feet to make it work'. Ball retention can only be possible if the players move intelligently around the pitch, find spaces. The cliche 'passing and movement' with which Manchester United and Arsenal were showered week in week out before, is now being linked to us too. And it has not come overnight. Any mentality needs time time to change, and the amount of work being done on the training grounds for exactly the same is mind blowing. Players perform sessions after sessions of just passing the ball and moving off the ball, which is clear on the playing field. Players like Lampard and Mikel are revelling in Scolari's system as they have the licence to create. The full backs spend most of the time in opposite half and dare I say, Ashley Cole finally looks like the player he was at Arsenal.

There are a few drawbacks too. Since we're a bit new to the system, and most importantly since we dont have a world class wide man of the likes of Robinho and Ronaldo, who can beat defenders, we struggle to create much when the opposition hunts down all the spaces and close the gaps quickly. For example the games against Liverpool, Roma and Spurs. They crowded the midfield and put their wide men to close down our full backs. Malouda is clearly appalling and looks out of sorts. Sorry to say, but he has to be the worst player since Asier del Horno to get a continuos run of games despite being poor. We certainly missed Joe Cole, who has such a great record against Liverpool. We suddenly looked like we're clueless in these games, especially without Drogba, as Anelka is hardly the man to go with route number one approach.

If most players could remain fit for the rest of the season, I think we're on course for big things this term....and in style!

Champions League Round Up

2008-10-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

English clubs have started well in the Champions league this season not losing a single game. It would be interesting to see if the ‘Big Four’ can make it to the semifinals this time. That would definitely be the talking point as the season wears down.

While Arsenal and Manchester United had emphatic victories, Chelsea earned 3 points courtesy to their captain while Liverpool earned hard fought out draw.

In a match that was billed as the ‘Battle of Britain’ Manchester United turned on the style against their Scottish rivals in the second half. Berbatov added two more goals, which were contentious as they looked offside, to his short United career while Rooney who is currently enjoying a rich vein of form added another after he was denied a perfectly legitimate goal.

Manchester United 3- 0 Celtic

Elsewhere Arsenal and Fenerbache played if they didn’t know what defending was all about. Arsenal got goals from Song and Diaby which would make them and Wenger feel good while Fenerbache got one thanks to an own goal by Silvestre. It was not as if the Man Utd fans didn’t warn their Arsenal compatriots about that.

Arsenal 5-2 Fenerbache

Reports suggest Chelsea were far from their best and John Terry grabbed the winner from a set piece in a match that lacked any sort of tempo and both the teams were below par.

Chelsea 1-0 Roma

Robbie Keane scored for Lievrpool after opening his account against PSV Eindhoven earlier in the competition. Immediately after the first half Aguero was introduced for Athletico and it changed the complexion of the game as Athletico dominated the game in the second half andhad more than a couple of chances to level before Simao scored an equalizer seven minutes from time.

Liverpool 1-1 Athletico Madrid.

Finally to end the round up with a joke on Tottenham as that seems to be the latest fad in footballing circles .

Q. What is the difference between Tottenham and a triangle?

A. A triangle has three points.

Spurs Down and Out ?

2008-10-20T03:13:00.001-07:00

The world no more makes sense to the Tottenham Hotspur fans. If they were granted just one wish by a genie right now they would wish to wake up from a nightmare that they had been sleeping through over the last few months. Unfortunately for them the man who was touted to be their genie, Juande Ramos, is failing to deliver after promising a lot.

Tottenham has been perennially tagged as ‘Pretenders’ or ‘Fools Gold’ and Ramos and his ambitious Chief executive at the club vowed to finally throw those tags in the bins. Ramos showed the right intent when he came to the club as he immediately snatched up a defender that the club was missing so much. Woodgate suddenly got rid of the demons inside him and he was no more a regular visitor to the team physio. He started brightly, scored a goal in the Carling Cup which they won and played like a general for the second half of last season. Probably Woodgate promised a bit too much that Ramos blissfully and totally wrongly ignored the lack of quality defensive cover in the team. Ledley King when fit is an excellent and inspirational defender but one gets to see him as sporadically as one gets to see the sun in northern part of England.

If defense has always been their undermining their attack this season too falls way short of the quality that they have had for quite a few years. Ramos’ transfer activity will once again under the microscope and not without a reason. Ramos went for young bright talents in Bentley, Dos Santos, Corluka and Modric when he could have done with a couple of experienced players more so considering the departure of their two most talismanic players Berbatov and Keane.

Daniel Levy will really have to put his hand up for Spurs’ dismal start to their season. It is actually baffling to even think how he hung onto Berbatov until the last day of the season trying to increase his sale value rather than selling him and giving Ramos some time to find his replacements. It is always an excellent strategy to change the way your team plays after a season as Sir Alex will have you know but sometimes it is always safe and prudent to go for like-for-like replacements. Ramos brought in a couple of wingers and he has Darrent Bent and Pavlyuchenko leading their line and if you watch a s Spurs game this season it is quite astonishing to see the number of crosses that they are putting into the box now. To be fair to Ramos Bent and Pavlyuchenko have neither the skill or finesse to play one touch football as their predecessors but you buy replacements according to the way you want to play the game not always play the game according to the players you have. Ramos had the whole summer to plan and be prepared for the departure of his strike force and he failed to strengthen that area in particular. One gets a feeling that Tottenham’s board members have failed to learn from their mistakes. They have failed to fill the mid-field void left by Carrick ever since his departure to Man Utd and now they seem to be treading on a similar path. Ramos will have to come up with a solution , a quick solution or else ass the table suggests right now Tottenham’s fans would be cheering their club in another league.

These transfers below sum up the transfer activity of Tottenham this season:

IN:

Vedran Corluka; from Manchester City; £8.5m

Roman Pavlyuchenko; from Spartak Moscowl; £14m

Cesar Sanchez; from Real Zaragoza

David Bentley; from Blackburn Rovers; £17m

Giovani Dos Santos; from Barcelona; £4.7million fee rising to £8.6million depending on appearances

Luka Modric; from Dinamo Zagreb; £8.75(subject to granting of a work permit)

John Bostock; from Crystal Palace; £700,000

Heurelho Gomes; from PSV; £7.8m

Paul-Jose Mpoku; from Standard Liege

OUT:

Dimitar Berbatov; to Manchester United £30m

Lee Young-Pyo; to Borussia Dortmund

Anthony Gardner; to Hull; £2.5m

Younes Kaboul; to Portsmouth

Steed Malbranque; to Sunderland

Robbie Keane; to Liverpool; £20.3m

Pascal Chimbonda; to Sunderland

Paul Robinson; to Blackburn; £3.5million

Teemu Tainio; to Sunderland

Tommy Forecast; to Southampton

Radek Cerny; to QPR; free

Joe Martin; to Blackpool.

Weekend EPL Predicitons

2008-10-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

Weekend Predicitons

# Middlesbrough v Chelsea
Boro are not an easy place to go to,especially for the "BIG FOUR".Chelsea know they have a tough game on their hands.Chelsea's quality should eventually win them the game.
Prediction:1-3

# Arsenal v Everton
Arsenal have lost some important players to injuries in the international break.Everton will combative as usual as we know they usually are under Moyes,though they been under performing of late.
Prediction:2-0

# Aston Villa v Portsmouth
Will be an interesting match.Villa have started well this season with Young,their star player so far.Pompey havent hit their stride yet,but Defoe and Crouch are starting to combine well.Expect a few goals here.
Prediction:2-2

# Bolton v Blackburn
Bolton have 7 points out of 7 and are struggling.Rovers have been OK under Ince so far.We can expect them to do better when Santa Cruz starts firing.
Prediction:1-2

# Fulham v Sunderland
Expect home advantage to count here.Not much difference to pick out between the teams in terms of quality or form.
Prediction:2-1

# Liverpool v Wigan
Liverpool have been in good form and we can expect them to run out easy winners in this game.Zaki is scoring for fun.I dont see him scoring here, though I would be quite happy to see him proving me wrong.
Prediction:3-0

# Man Utd v West Brom
ManUtd are on a good run and so is Rooney for both club and country in front of goal.I dont expect the Baggies to hold on for long.
Prediction:2-0

# Hull City v West Ham
Hull have been the surprise package so far this season,lying 3rd in the table with an impressive 14 points from 7 games,2 more than the Hammers who have 12.Expect a close contest between these two.
Prediction:2-1

# Stoke City v Tottenham
Its the bottom two against each other.Spurs have made their worst start in 96 years.It might get worse as Stoke will give them a tough time but Spurs' quality should help them get their first win of the season.
Prediction:0-2

# Newcastle v Man City
Robinho's a major doubt for this game after picking up an injury while playing for Brazil in their WC qualifier against Colombia.But they do have SWP who seems to be back playing at his best after a couple of forgettable seasons at Stamford Bridge.Have Newcastle turned a corner under Kinnear after their well earned draw at Goodison Park in their last match?
Prediction:1-1

Ban the clubs in debts ?

2008-10-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

Amidst all the doom and gloom in the Wall Street right now because of the financial turmoil FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Platini have talked about banning teams which are in debts from the champions league competition. Teams such as Man Utd , Liverpool and Chelsea would find themselves relegated to playing UEFA cup if the voice for banning these clubs becomes strong. Some on one hand might say there is nothing wrong if a business can be started by taking loans and debts and they would be fine if they can repay back the loans or clear the debts with the revenue that they generate for themselves. Some on the other hand are seriously worried about the escalating number of clubs which are landing themselves in financial debts.

I happened to come across a post by a passionate Man Utd supporter airing his views on the aforementioned topic. One can find a few good points in the post and I would request the ABU(anything but United) fans to realize that the poster is a Man Utd fan and hence neglect the negative insinuations about the other clubs in the post.

When will the game wake up to these problem and when will governments like the EU realize that they have contributed to this lunacy by not allowing football to govern itself accordingly. Instead stringent and reformist changes are not allowed to happen because they break EU labor laws. What a load of total rubbish. We are dealing with a game and leagues where the main employees are all millionaires. My heart really bleeds for poor Johnny Bosman. Please, bring back some sanity to this game somebody. The problem is a European problem because that is where the money is. To cure the problem you have to inject sanity in Europe before it spreads to the rest of the world.

Two things have to stop for things to improve in the game. Letting anybody with a briefcase and a bank account buy a team especially with loans or credit of other types, and allowing unlimited players from foreign lands to come and play in a given country and then paying them 80 times what their market value is. The game has to become more domesticated and it must cater and service it’s domestic market first and foremost. Honestly, where are the Italians on Inter Milan? That’s Argentina’s practice roster over there. Arsenal has done wonders for French and African players but other than Theo Walcott, what has Wneger done for the British in developing the game? Chelsea are a joke and Roman Abramovich is the Antichrist in this debate. He may not have started the insanity but he has certainly fueled it with his wasteful and irresponsible spending and total disregard for the league and the game he is slowly but surely destroying.

Then you have greedy oil consortium’s like the Man City group and the infamous Dubai group who want to flash around their billions yet I seriously doubt they give a damn about the game, it’s history in England and what this temporary hobby will do to the city of Manchester and to the league that allows them to get away with bloody murder. And what about United? Can we just sit back and wait for the clubs possible or is it imminent collapse due to the fact we allowed an American investor to come and buy the team with bloody loans that are so astronomical that they could have bailed out Wall Street with just the interest payments alone. OK the last comment was major exaggeration but I think most of you are smart enough to get my jest there. Bottom line is the game is setting itself up and structuring itself in the same manner the banks in America did when they started loaning too much money and giving out high mortgages to people who could not afford them.

Right off the top of my head I can think of teams like Liverpool, Man Utd, West Ham, Newcastle, Man City (before the recent buyer), Valencia in Spain and others who have leveraged their future in massive debt just so that they can play with the big teams who have the capital to play the game with ugly greed disregard and carelessness.

One shouldn’t worry too much about Man Utd. They are the biggest club in the world not because of their wealth (remember the massive debt), but because of their popularity and great potential to always make money. Their world popularity will ensure that even if the Glazer’s lose it all and default on their loans, someone like the Dubai Group will come out of the fog to buy the team, save it and probably make it even wealthier than before. But what about the teams less fortunate like Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Everton etc? What happens to them? They don’t have such great world appeal and their licensing isn’t big enough to draw a lot of interest from billionaires. And lets remember, there are only so many of those supposed footy loving billionaires out there. How many teams will be so lucky that when they crash, somebody will be there to build them back up again? Where have all the rich English investors and owners gone? Why does Corporate England not give a damn about there beloved sport enough to invest in it and keep the bloody foreigners out of it? Easy answer to that really. The game has with it’s greed and delusions of grandeur priced these prospective owners out of the picture. Business people are in a business to make money. I’m sure if one looks at the Chelsea books over the past five years they will see a substantial loss in revenue. The have lost a ton of money but Mafia Moneybags has so much money that he considers Chelsea nothing more than a hobby. When will he finally get bored with the hobby? Who knows, but when he does, the Grim Reaper will be knocking on the gates at Stamford Bridge because Roman will find it very difficult to sell a team unless he eats the massive debt. And then I seriously doubt the new owners will be as interested in throwing away money on players who don’t perform or who sit on the bench while Chelsea fans will still be crying for the days of the Special One.

Honestly, what does the FA, The Premier League and FIFA think is going to happen in the future? All teams will be owned by billionaires and the price of tickets for fans will only cost 5 quid? These foreign owners don’t give a damn about a team’s heritage, history or responsibility to it’s fan base. They only care about the team label and licensing the team around the world. Thats where they make money. The game is selling out to tv, marketing and kit sales abroad. They are more concerned about making sure United jersey’s sell for three times the going price in a special boutique in a Dubai hotel. That’s what it’s all about. It’s an ego trip for these foreign owners and it eventually wears off as do all trivial things with very rich people. They have no religious connection with the team they have bought, the city or the footballing community they are raping. And nobody cares enough to see what is happening and try to nip it in the bud before it becomes an incurable cancer.

Sorry for this doom and gloom mega post but I am so pissed off with all this. Ethics, reason and common sense have been flushed down the toilet and replaced by greed, payola and corruption. Just look at where the next World Cup and next EUROS are supposed to be held. None of these countries have the money or proper infrastructure to deal with holding these tournaments but FIFA in it’s cold stupid and ridiculous manner, continues to do nothing and I feel certain that those tournaments are heading for disaster. Can you imagine what the market crashes have done to an already troubled problem with these countries? And then we expect Blatter and his muppets to give a damn about unethical ownership, player movement and escalating transfer fees and wages?

The changing face of the game

2008-10-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

I find it quite apt now to discuss about the changing face of the modern football. Is it any longer the all beautiful game? Or is the beautiful game on the descend and the pure physical play on the ascend?

Football has gone through many changes since its inception into the hearts of millions of lovers all over the world. Football was started by the blue collar people as a brute contact sport which required loads of athleticism and then it captured the imagination of the more privileged classes much later on when people around the world started to take up the game as a profession to earn their daily bread.

Football is a religion in Brazil and it is often said that a Brazilian infant is actually introduced to a football before being handed over to its parents. Brazil and the way it played its football in the 20^th century must be the best thing that has ever happened to the game. Watching Pele and Garrincha at their peaks must surely have been one of the best sights of football ever. Their imagination and pure genius captured the hearts of many and the game soon started to grow in Europe. When Cryuff and his Dutch team played ‘total football’ it looked like the second coming of the beautiful game. But the loss of that extraordinary team in the final of 1974 world cup will surely be registered as one of the worst things to have happened to modern football for it exposed the deficiencies that might creep in when playing the game as it should be. Pundits around the world argued that an intricate pass and move kind of play can get you as far as being second best and that teams needed to have a mental and a physical edge over the rest to be regarded as the best. They suggested that football was always not as much about the beautiful artistry like a lovely Van Gogh painting but also it was a game of hard battle hungry players.

The late 70’s and early 80’s saw the emergence of a pragmatic approach to the game with teams like Italy, Liverpool and Everton mastering that art or rather the lack of it. Football started to change its face during this period; it was like a Da Vinci painting being tampered with and dabbled with colours by an amateur artist. This kind of style brought success to the game; teams started winning using tactics which emphasized more on the shape of the team than on the imagination of its players.

Football has also witnessed a change in the style of its exponents. There is almost no room for a player who is slow or rather sluggish. Tim Vickery, a columnist for the BBC, recently mentioned in his blog that players like Riquelme are a dying breed. The game has completely changed its face and is no longer a game of the skilful artists with the ball at their feet. But if the game has taught us a lesson then that is it never losses its capacity to attract viewers. That is the reason we should actually take our hats of and celebrate players such as Zidane, Riquelme, Scholes, Fabregas, Deco, Iniesta and as a matter of fact Berbatov who still continue to make the game look so simple and easy on the eye. There are a few managers around the world who like their players to express themselves on the pitch and it is really a testament to their managerial ability and footballing acumen to keep these kind of players perform what they are best at yet have players around them who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the team.

As a football fan the last thing I would want to see is a dying tradition of playing the game the way it should be. Long may it continue.

Amen

Done with Porto, Next is Sunderland

2008-10-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

A brief analysis on the mid-week game before we discuss about the Sunderland fixture. Well we(arsenal fans) got the response expected from the team after the ignominy of losing to Hull City at home. It was a good team effort and everybody looked sharper(including Gallas) this time compared to the previous match. Though responding well is a sign of any good team, as i told time and again arsenal needs to be more consistent to win any trophies. They were consistent until the last quarter of the previous season and lost the title because of taking the foot off the gas after that. So imagine what it would be like to lose matches in such early part of the season.

Moving on to more cheerful things, apart from the goal scorers (Adebayor and Persie) Theo Walcott did really well, playing with a lot of confidence and pace. That one incident where he starts well behind the defender, kicks the ball to ahead of the defender, overtakes him and passes will stay in my memory for long time. He would have been credited for two assists had his team mates been more accurate. Certainly he deserved a goal or an assist from the match apart from the thunderous reception he received every time he got onto the ball. Also we need to appreciate the hard work done by fabregas in orchestrating the midfield so well. He looked tired by the end of the match with the extra defensive work he had to do. I feel that Denilson should be the guy who should trace back and win the ball rather than Fabregas, as it will take a lot out of Cesc and he is the best midfielder we got. We need to exploit a player in his area of expertise and certainly defending is not fabregas’ cup of tea.

Rest all played their roles perfectly. Even the defence looked better except for a couple of incidents (one on the counter and one corner). The partnership of Adebayor and Persie upfront worked really well and hopefully it will get even better with time. Same time last season they had a really good partnership blossoming between them but then Persie got injured and after that he never played for more than two matches at a time to develop that telepathic understanding with Adebayor. Lets see if they can do it this time. Forgot to mention about Almunia. He made a couple of good saves and was critical in keeping a clean sheet. He has been going with his work silently without much fuss and i have no complaints. He is confident during the corners and has that assured presence at the back which Lehmann lacked at the last phase of his arsenal career. Overall it was an entertaining match and after the Hull disaster it was a good confidence booster, which the team can carry forward to the weekend fixture.

Now coming to that match, RoyKeane has always been a tough nut to crack for Arsenal and his team was no different last season. Nevertheless Arsenal won against them in both the legs after lot of struggle. In the first leg at the emirates, after leading them by 2-0, arsenal conceded the advantage and was on level terms before Van Persie’s strike restored the lead and arsenal won 3-2 at the end. Even at the stadium of light on the very last day of the season,it was a hard fought victory and we came out with a 1-0 win , though i would like to mention that many of the first team players didn’t play in that match. I can’t see it to be any different this time and Arsenal need to be at their best to return with all the three points.

Sunderland didn’t have a bright start to the season (losing to Liverpool at home) but had mixed feelings after that(WLDWL). They have good attackers like Cisse, Jones, Diouf etc and with the addition of Anton Ferdinand and Chimbonda they have a good balance in the defence too. Especially Diouf was a tormentor of Arsenal when he was at Bolton and i hope keane has put some sense into him and make him play proper football, else arsenal need to deal with his antics too.

So it is going to be tough with Sunderland, which as many teams do will try to be more direct and frustrate Arsenal. Arsenal has to be sharp in their counters and has to finish whatever opportunities they get. Being wasteful as against Hull will be disastrous.

Prediction: My prediction is that Arsenal will continue their impressive form away from home and come out as the winners. But the score line may not look as exciting as that in Bolton and Blackburn. Sunderland 1-2 Arsenal.

Talking about the Arsenal line up Wenger will stick to his winning combination, without any changes. Though Song is back i can’t see denilson or nasri being sacrificed for him. Eboue would have been in the starting eleven but for Arsene’s feeling that Arsenal will have more penetration and right mix with Walcott in the team instead of Eboue, away from home.
Line up: Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Walcott-Fabregas-Denilson-Nasri
Persie-Adebayor

Men to Watch: Theo Walcott was the person who set up the winner at the emirates and who scored the only goal at Sunderland last season. Even this time he would be the person who will unlock their defense. For Sunderland Cisse would be the man to watch out for.

Crisis at the Bridge

2008-10-02T04:49:00.000-07:00

Its getting insane now. When Essien got injured and was facing a lengthy period on the treatment table, it was a setback but then I thought we have depth in the midfield area and the likes of Mikel can step up and take his place. Even Ballack was back by that time, though not fully fit. Then it was time for the influential Portuguese pair to follow suit. Although for not such a long period but Carvalho and Deco were going to be missed. We had trouble to break down packed defenses last season without a creative spark in the center of the park. That spark was added to our game in the guise of our number 20. Just a couple of games later, however, he was lost to a small injury. So was our best defender, Carvalho, in the same game. I still thought, ok! We have Alex and Ivanovic, two very good replacements in the squad for Carvalho and since Drogba was back from injury, for the time Deco is out we could take route one if the need be and still get results.

Joe Cole was then lost to injury before the Stoke game and Kalou took a knock in the same game and was taken off at half time. By this time things were getting slightly insane, and had it not been for the depth of our squad, loud alarm bells would already have started ringing from Fulham Street. With the squad already stretched, Scolari would have done without Drogba taking another blow on his knee and not only that, 3/4th of the back line also took knocks in the CL game against Cluj. Fingers crossed for JT and Alex to make the important game at the weekend against high flying Aston Villa. Ashley Cole too got a sore back after the game but he should be fit.

I can only have sympathy with Scolari, who got rid of some dead wood in the summer market to keep the squad small and handsome, but he wouldn't even have dreamt of this scenario. In fact, no one can. It will be interesting to see the line up he puts on the pitch in the weekend but one thing is for sure, it would by no means be what he'd have planned for while trimming his squad for this kind of game. Let me get into Scholari's shoes for once and pick eleven fit players from the squad. Following could well be the line up at the weekend:

Cech

Bosingwa Ivanovic Ferriera Cole

Lamps Mikel Ballack

Kalou(if fit!) Anelka Malouda

Bench: Cudicini, Bridge, Mancienne, Miniero, Di Santo, Sinclair, Woods

Lets hope Deco and Carvalho are back soon!

Match Preview:Aab vs ManUtd

2008-09-30T04:04:00.000-07:00

Firstly let me introduce myself to the bloggers,that is for those who do not know me already.I am Vasa and I am a Red Devil.A proud one,you can guess.This is my first post here.
I will go ahead with the match preview.Hopefully this kick starts my blogging career ;)

Aalborg,managed by Rioch,are the defending Superliga champions of Denmark.Honestly, even though I have been following football for such a long time I dont remember to have come across this club before and i guess its the same with most of you guys too.They are definitely unknown material when it comes to the Champions League.
AaB, as they are called in short, have won the their league championship for 2 years in a row,like ManUtd.

By no means i expect this to be a cake walk for us especially considering our present form,which is still nowhere near our best, and the result we had in this country not long ago.We lost to a decent Kobenhavn,aka Copenhagen FC 1-0 on their home soil.
A win is must for us to kick start our UCL campaign and top the table.AaB will be on a high though, with the draw at celtic park which is no mean result if you take the home form of Celtic.
I do not expect SAF to experiment much with the starting lineup.He will go for a strong one as a win is imperative.
The choice of the strike pair will interest me the most and i guess thats what most fans will be looking forward to.

Squads
ManUtd have nearly reached full strength.Though OH is out yet again nursing his knee.We seem to have found another Mr.Glass in him after the perennially injured Saha has been sold this summer.Neville has been left out.He deserves a rest after coming back really strong and surprising the boss himself, let alone the fans.

No idea about the AaB team though.Did not have enough time to find out about their team.

Predicted Starting line up
ManUtd: VDS: Brown,Rio,Vida,Evra; Park,Scholes,Fletch,Ron;Roon,Tevez

Score Prediction
1-2

Looking forward to the Matchday.

Cheers,
Vasa.
United Forever!

Salute to Hull, But Arsenal will bounce back

2008-09-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

If I would have given everything to be at Emirates in mid-week when Arsenal ripped-apart Sheffield United , my commitment was same for the loss, which broke the 25 games unbeaten at home streak, in last game against Hull City. I guess its same for all the matches anyways.

They say arsenal needs to win even when they dont play well? Yes they should. If you ask me I want arsenal to win every hell of a game against any tom-and-jerry club in any penny-used-for-toss competition with our yet-to-pass-middle-school kids !

But why can't Arsenal do that? They do, but rarely. Not as frequently as Chelsea or lets say, Manchester United manages the same. Majority of the current Arsenal squad is shaped and dressed up in last 3 years. They are young, they have grown together and share the same metality on pitch. It forms the basis for their link-up and free-flowing football on pitch. So when they play good, they do it in team and when they suck, they suck together. All teams have
their bad days in offices. But if we see Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, they always have someone on the field who can change the course of the game on his own, when the rest of the team's performance is below par. Ronaldo for Manchester Unite; Gerrard, Torres for Liverpool and Lampard or may be Ballack for Chelsea. I see no one like that in Arsenal. Not even Fabregas, not even Adebayor. The reason is their playing style. HOw many times we have seen a goal from Arsenal as a result of totally one man's presence? Not many instances are there, as Wenger's play is purely a team-play.

I give full credit to Hull City for showing their courage and play at Emirates on Saturday. They have showcased what other mid-table and low-table English Primier League teams haven't dared to do at Emirates. They followed their system of play and scored 2 wonderful goals and just not dedededededefendeing (its defending with 10 men out of 11 on pitch) and banking on catching Arsenal at counter-attack. Where the first goal by Giovanni was a typical example of flamboyant long-range curl, the second inch-perfect header by Cousins (sadly hasnt received as much appreciation as the first goal got) was equally commendable. Now Arsenal or any other top team couldn't have done anything about the first goal. And the second goal came so soon (Gallas waited for 4 minutes to spectate that) after the first, like some cast was spelled which turned the match upside down within no time.

Unlike last season when Arsenal mastered scoring in last 15 minutes and everybody expected them to level-up atleast, they failed to do so. Arsene Wenger brought on Vela and Bendtner and i guess, i was seeing Arsenal playing with four strikers for the first time in my football fan life. It was bizarre atleast for me. I guess Arsene Wenger should have stuck to his system and might have brought one striker instead of two. You just cant put all 4 in or around the box and expect a goal. But he is the boss and boss knows. They came close when the captain hit the bar and Vela failed to guide it inside. Interestingly, he was smiling afterwards.

So, one shocking result and should the fans demand an explanation? (as this article suggests http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/steven-beacom/steven-beacom-arsenal-fans-need-answers-from-wenger-13987492.html - somebody please kick him).
Should Arsene Wenger be forced to make considerable changes? I dont guess so. I understand that. Fans understand that. And Boss understands that. Nasri is back and he will certainly play a part. Lets see. But I am fully confident our guns will be loaded enough to bounce back and bounce back beautifully against Porto.

Come On Gunners..You want to go to Rome or not ??

Man City brought back to earth

2008-09-26T00:00:00.001-07:00

The richest club in the world was knocked out by Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carling Cup third round. Would this result go onto haunt Mark Hughes? Would this defeat against a league one side take the piss out of Man City’s owners? Would its ridiculously rich Arab owners bid 200 million for every young star to take them to the next level?

Surely by now the Arab sheiks must have realised that money doesn’t buy everything. It might give you short success but a club needs much more than that to truly be considered as a great club.

To quote from Sir Alex Fergusson’s latest interview when asked about Man City, this was what he said:

"Back in the 1950's Sunderland were called 'The Bank of England Team' - and they got relegated. There are no guarantees.

"You can buy 11 individuals - you can buy 11 Robinhos but it wouldn't be a team would it?

"The art of management is building a team with balance, with certain characteristics that blend with each other - that's the most important thing."

The defeat against Brighton might have greater implications that what one might expect. Has Manchester City actually lost the hope of any silverware this season? Because this was certainly their best shot at boasting of silverware this time.

Being a fan of football in India

2008-09-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Here’s the context: India with a population of 1.1 billion people from various backgrounds and cultures, can consider itself to be competitive in the world stage on a regular basis in only one sport: Cricket! Over the last 60 odd years, Indian sport apart from cricket has seen a few highs: The hockey era, brief flashes of brilliance in tennis, some great athletes, a gold medal in Olympics (:P); but ask any Indian to name the sporting moment that he considers the greatest in Indian history, and inevitably the answer would be the 1983 victory in the Cricket world cup.

Cricket dominates Indian sport with its glamour and money so much that almost every Indian school child dreams of playing for the national team. Almost all the other sports are ignored or are considered not worthwhile to pursue. So where does someone like me fit in, in such an environment? For starters, I have been watching football since 1998 and have been a fan of Manchester United ever since. Why Manchester United? Well, they were the only team playing on TV at the time, they were winning all the time, and they wore a classy red!

Mind you, I still loved watching cricket and dreamt, like any other boy in India, that with a bat in my hand, I could weave the magic that Sachin and Sourav did. But there were a few problems – I had as much chance of succeeding on the cricket pitch as Liverpool have of winning the Premier League (which is probably an odds of 100:1; bring it on, you Scouse Bas****s!). Secondly, my father regularly advised me not to watch cricket as it was a huge waste of time: wise words which I understood and followed only years later. Seriously, what a momentous waste of time to watch a sport that people play all day or for 5 days continuously!

Anyway, before I begin to get pilloried by cricket fans, let me get back to the point! The above mentioned were the reasons for me beginning to watch football regularly, sometimes sneaking up to the TV at home way past my bed time to watch the 1998 world cup. (I was caught doing it eventually and didn’t watch the final, and was really disappointed at the events that took place around Ronaldo and how Brazil lost out to France). I even began to start playing football at school with hardly 5% of the class interested in the game, my usual position being, of course the Goal Keeper owing to my slightly rotund frame back then.

These events were the origin of the football fan in me, and how the passion for watching football and Manchester United grew in me. I celebrated along with millions of other fans the Treble of 1999, numerous league victories over the years, great signings like van the Man. I was plunged into sorrow at cup exits, a four year barren period in the Premiership, the departure of greats like Keano and Beckham from the club. More importantly, I had great fun arguing and criticizing Man Utd’s Rivals and their fans.

Now, compare me with a fan from England or Spain or Italy or one of the numerous nations that have efficient football setups in the country. More often than not, you find the people from these places supporting their local clubs, be it Manchester United, Liverpool, Leeds or Northampton! There are fans who are very passionate in supporting their clubs even if they are facing relegation from the Third division of the country! This, I am certain, would never happen to fans like me as we have no kind of exposure to these clubs and no way to follow their exploits regularly. I can say with full confidence that a football fan from India, who supports a European club, would be a fan of only if that club was highly successful in the past or when he started supporting the club.

Take a survey of fans in India who support an English Club: 99% of them would answer that they support Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United, that too only in the televised era. Frankly, how many Manchester United fans know that Leeds is one of United’s greatest rivals and United hates Liverpool much more than Arsenal or Chelsea!

Probably, if Manchester City manages to turn its new found fortunes to trophies in the coming year or two, we will have a new band of City fans joining the Elite 4.

Such a phenomenon again raises the question: Are fans in India and countries other than the home country not ‘True Fans’? Do those so called ‘True Fans’ have the right to criticize fans like us as many of us are part of the ‘Glory Hunters’ party?

Say what you want, but the clubs still love us! Real Madrid, United, Arsenal and Chelsea cannot be among the richest clubs in the world without fans like us. It is we who bring in the Moolah through their T shirt sales and TV rights, and most importantly, improve the Global image for the club! The debate will always go on about the so called ‘True fan’ but whatever they say, they cannot question our passion! Take the case of one particular Chelsea fan I know who knows everything about the club from the wages of its top players to the pre-season scorelines of the club’s under-15 team. This is the same guy who one assaulted and nearly murdered me when we argued over which match we should watch on the tell, the Man Utd one or the Chelsea one J. If I ever met a fanatic to match the ones in London, this was the guy!

We all love Football, and we are TRUE FANS in every manner of the word!

The boss knows

2008-09-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

It feels so apt to refer to Arsene as "The Professor". Often we hear Arsenal fans say "the boss knows" - man, he sure does.

I remember having a discussion with Harsha (co - gunner) few months before the start of 2007 season. All we thought was Arsenal badly need a central midfielder - gilberto was too old, flamini was inexperienced and may be not good enough. I was trying to spot players who could potentially partner the magical Cesc in the center of the field. But Wenger had different thoughts. He decided to stay away from the transfer market. The 2007 season started, with no other options in the mid, Wenger went with flamini. And what did flamini do ? He gave no chance for gilberto to get back into the starting 11, He established himself as the best central defensive midfielder in the EPL, He became a part of the French national team, He moved to Milan for a lucartive 5.6 million euros a year deal.

Over the last few months I had similar discussions with Harsha. We dont have a central midfielder to support cesc - Diaby is always injured, Gilberto is gone to Olympicos or Panathanaikos or something like that, Ramsey is a kid and Denilson is inexperienced and may be not good enough. Once again Wenger's ideas were different. He decided to use the transfer market for young and costly teenagers. Those teenage transfers seem to be paying off (Vela, Walcott and many more to come). With hardly any options he decided to go for Denilson. 5 starts - 2 goals and 3 assists in the premier league. That is better than what flamini did in the entire season. The young brazilian seems ready to give cesc a run for money. I dont want to jinx it, but he is destined for some good times this season and eventually, may be a transfer to Real or Juventus or Barca or, who knows may be even Chelsea. I hope they make some good money selling Denilson, unlike Flamini.

Em'mental' Eboue

2008-09-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Well Well Well... Is it me here ?? AMAN... AMAN...!

1 year ago

Aman: Hey Harsha, what would you say if i tell you i want to start a football-based website?
Harsha: See, you cant start anything like that. You need to have proper planning.
Aman: Hmm

6 months ago

Aman: Hey Harsha, lets start a website man. Lets do something interesting.
Harsha: See, you cant start anything like that. Have you planned anything like what will be it all about?
Aman: No...

2 months ago

Aman: Hey Harsha, lets start a website man. We can have goal videos there at least.
Harsha: See, you cant start anything like that. Have you planned how will you manage to put all the goal videos there before anyone does? Have you consider finacial issues and do you have so much time?
Aman: No...

Yesterday

Harsha: Hey Aman, i have an interesting proposition for you.
Aman: Hmm..What is it?
Harsha: I and my friends have started a blog on English Premier League Football. It is actually about....
Aman: Can I write?
Harsha: Yes. Its actually about..
Aman: Yessssssssssss...

SeeHarsha, my fellow gooner (yeah Manures, Scousers and Chelshits, I am from Arsenal camp), I am on my way.

After three years (yeah, yeah i missed Bergkamp..shut up!) of arsenal-till-i-die, arsenal-i-can-die-to-see-you, arsenal-i-will-die-before-you-win-the-league, arsenal-i-need -not-die-to-watch-heaven's football...... I am writing this hypothetical humorous conversation between a 'Fan' and 'Lord Wenger'. The aim is to highlight the importance of our "Tricky Winger—Eboue" (courtesy: Harsha) in arsenal team. Its not an ideal start to my writing career and i never dreamed of ridiculing my club. But this space seriosuly needs a bit of fun.

Fan: Le Professor, you sold Hoyte, u sent Senderos and Traore on loan, would you mind buying one center-back and one left-back?
Wenger: Not really. But yes, if see a bargain. But we are mentally strong enough.

Fan: What if Clichy and Toure gets injured? who will cover them up?
Wenger: We have Djourou. We have song who is an excellent center-back. Our mentality is strong

Fan: We supposed song will is a cover for Denilson.
Wenger: Yes he is. He is mentally strong.

Fan: Who is he? some superman's kid?
Wenger: No he is an excellent mid-fielder with strong mentality.

Fan: You just said he is a defender
Wenger: He is both. he is versatile. he has great mental strength.

Fan: Can't u just spend some money to bolster our defense?
Wenger: We don't need to. I can also play if song goes out too. I will add to the mental strength of the team

Fan: When are u going to sell Eboue?
Wenger: He is our mind. And nobody sells the mind of the team.

Fan: Are you going to try this "mind" on all the postions in the pitch?
Wenger: Yes, I can. It all depends on the mentality of the team.

Fan: But your "mind" never scores.
Wenger: Thats not true. He scores in his mind. He has scored many hat-tricks mentally. And the goal at bolton was the result of same mental strength. Soon more goals will come out of his mind.

Wenger: How much does your sheep cost?
Fan: 100 pounds. Why?

Wenger: I can give you 75 !

P.S.
1. Thanks Vivek for the Welcome
2. I made up some things Harsha. Dont mind.
3. Can I call Manchester United - Manure, Liverpool - Scousers and a Chelsea -Chelshit ?
4. I dont aspire to become a humor writer. Pardon me for my contribution. But i couldn't control.

Are they or are they not ?

2008-09-25T04:03:00.000-07:00

Every new season the Premiership introduces many new faces, some of them are young stars coming from another league and some young players rising through the ranks of the club academies. These young players are going to be the face of the premiership for years to come and big things are expected from them. Here is a look at some of the new young stars who have made a switch to the premier league and some youth reserves players who would represent the club for years to come.

1. Samir Nasri: Carried the burden of being dubbed as the ‘new Zidane’ ever since he broke through the youth ranks at Marseille. He made his Ligue 1 debut in France at the age of 17 and has always been touted as the next big thing for France. Wenger could not let this young talent go when he could be snatched up at a bargain 12 million pounds. Got a goal on his premiership debut and with the kind of technical ability and vision he possesses he fits in the Arsenal system very smoothly.

2. Luka Modric: Signed for a hefty 16.5 million pounds by Tottenham, he is the man picked up by Ramos to fill the glaring void that was left behind in the mid-field for Tottenham following the departure of Michael Carrick. Though he hasn’t had the greatest of starts to his premier league career, he is one player who would go a long way in deciding Spurs’ fortunes. Weather Spurs can eventually break into the top four is purely dependant on Modric’s services to the cause of the team.

3. Robinho: Though has been in International Football for quite some time now, he is still a young player who will get some samba flair along with him to the Premiership. If Clint Eastwood ever decides to make a remake of ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’ he should cast Robinho in all the three roles.

4. Giovani Dos Santos: Once tipped as the next ‘Ronaldinho’ he made the world sit up and take notice of his abilities when broke through Barcelona’s first team. Ramos has been looking for a left sided player for quite some time now and he couldn’t have got a better youngster for 5 million pounds.

5. Rodrigo Possebon: Joined Manchester United from Internacional in January 2008 and already fans expect big things from him. He looks very composed on the ball and is a classy mid-fielder. He looks like a young Michael Carrick but has a pretty venomous shot too. Impressed everyone in the Carling Cup match with his distribution before he got replaced following the horrendous tackle by Pogatez on him.

6. Franco Di Santo: This young striker joined Chelsea from Audax Italiano in Jan 2008. Touted as a prolific goal scorer he was immediately given the No.9 shirt. He represents Argentina for the Under 20’s and finally we find a young Argentinean player who is not compared to Maradona but to the more recent Hernan Crespo.

7. Aaron Ramsey: A highly rated Welshman and was highly sought after by Manchester United and Arsenal before he signed for the latter. He is already touted as the next big thing in Wales after his idol Ryan Giggs. Dave Jones his former boss said Ramsey was so talented that they couldn’t find the perfect position for him. But the biggest compliment he must have received would have to by Arsene Wenger when he recently stated that he expects Ramsey to become a great player for the Gunners one day.

8. Rafael/Fabio Da Silva: ‘The Twins’ as they are more famously called already have chants dedicated to them having barely joined Manchester United. The just turned 18 year old twins are tipped to be the new ‘Cafu and Roberto Carlos’ of Brazilian football. Fabio already has a couple of Roberto Carlos kind of strikes to his name in the United reserves. Though he joined United as the better player, he captained Brazil in U17 World cup where he was the top scorer, it is his twin brother Rafael who is making all the headlines. Rafael impressed one and all in the pre season friendlies with his energy and flair. He followed them up with equally impressive performances in the reserves and more recently in the Carling Cup. Sir Alex has never been spotted so excited about a young talent since Wayne Rooney.

9. Carlos Vela: He had the Arsenal fans drooling after his hat-trick against Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. He is definitely the next best thing to happen in Mexico right now since Salma Hayek. A player of great technical ability matched by some great finishing, big things are expected from this Golden boot winner in the Fifa U-17 World Cup championships. He is already a regular for Mexico national team and with the ability he has got it won’t be too long before he becomes one of the first names to be on the team sheet for Arsenal senior team.

10. Jack Wilshire: At 16 years of age he became the youngest player to make his debut for Arsenal senior team when he came on for Van Persie in their match against Blackburn rovers. He even scored his first senior level goal against Sheffield United in the Carling Cup this week. He is a left footed player who plays on the right wing and has such good close control on the ball that he is already called as England’s Lionel Messi. Arsenal fans will forever be grateful to him if he eventually turns out to be that good as they have been missing an out and out winger since Pires’ departure.

Young Guns....

2008-09-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

How many times have you heard of this phrase this week? Well before you even try to estimate I can assure you that you would be hearing this for years to come. Whether you are an Arsenal fan or not it doesn’t matter, the way Arsenal play the game makes any one sit back and admire their exciting football. And this match (Carling Cup- 3rd Round) was no different and to make this even more special, this was the youngest ever Arsenal team (Avg: 19 years). Interestingly at Arsenal you can sometimes call 20 year-olds as experienced players ala our talismanic mid-fielder Cesc.

Carlos Vela, a nineteen year old Mexican, scored a hat trick on his first competitive start for Arsenal. The way he controls the ball, his touch, his pace and finish are just moth watering. We just can’t fathom our thoughts right now and find words to describe him. His second goal in the match was a treat to watch, to some it may remind them of Henry or Bergy. More of Vela is surely yet to come!!!! .

He adds to a long list of success stories at the Arsenal academy. He is the youngest ever league debutant for Arsenal. He is also the second youngest goal scorer for Arsenal after Francesc Fabregas. He is Jack Wilshere – Surely and almost certainly he is a star in the Making.

Aaron Ramsey I think is the second best capture in the summer for Arsenal. Though he may take some more time adjusting to the Arsenal style there is no doubting his prodigious talent.

With other youngsters like Randall, Gibbs, Hoyte, Merida, Lansbury being groomed by Arsene and throw players like Cesc, Theo and Bendtner into the mix we, Arsenal, are indeed a Soccer Special team.

Rohan.

Let me introduce my self. I am Rohan, Vivek's colleague. I passed out from IIT-G.

And, I am a Gunner-4-Life

Glory Hunters???

2008-09-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

When taunting the fans of rival football clubs (especially Chelsea), terms like ‘Glory hunters’, ‘Jumping into the bandwagon’ float in the air occasionally. But are we justified in calling somebody so?

Let me elaborate on it by considering the ways in which a person becomes a football fan.

Style: The style in which a team plays. Most of the fans of Arsenal. Barcelona and may be Manu fans also fall into this category. And if you are a bit retarded you may even like Liverpool and Chelsea.

Titles: Winning trebles or doubles creates a lot of interest among non-followers, who tend to start following from then. Or even domination for that matter generates new followers. Fans of Manu, Real and to some extent Chelsea fall in this category

Players: Stars like Henry, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo command lot of attention and attract viewers easily. And once you like them you automatically start supporting the teams they play for. Arsenal, Barcelona and Manu fans again fall into this category

Bizarre: I call it bizarre, not that I disapprove any of the ways but just because I had to name it something. Some people tend to support the underdogs, because they feel that nobody else appreciate those teams’ performances. Some say that when they started following football only Manu matches were being telecasted in their country. It may also be the case that some of your close friends or relatives follow a particular team and listening to them talk so much about their favorites you too will get curious.

These are all the mutually exclusive reasons I could think of. Also more than one reason can be responsible for a person to become a fan of a particular football club.

Now coming back to the actual issue, in my opinion the first three are all equally effective in generating fans and cant find fault with any of them. So ‘Glory hunters’ who fall in the second category are not so different from most other fans.

Taking Chelsea for example, we can hate the club for supersaturating the game with money, creating inflationary pressure during the player transfers etc, but not its fans for following the club after it started winning.

The ‘converts’ who change loyalties whenever they see a better team or prospective winners deserve to be called ‘Glory hunters’ but not those who stick to the same club even during the rough patches and follow it passionately, after they started following it during a purple patch.

Is respect a one way relationship ?

2008-09-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

Respect as we know or have often seen is a mutual relationship. One gains respect from others when one shows the same gratitude to others. But this seems to have been blissfully ignored by the Referee’s chief Keith Hackett. Respect as it appears seems to be a one way thing in modern football.

FA tried to come down hard on the highly reputed players such as Terry, Rooney, and Ashley Cole to name a few who keep mouthing off the referees. Chelsea’s attack on the referee when a decision went against them last season spurred the FA into action who then announced that they wouldn’t in future tolerate any kind of a verbal attack on the referees. That following week Mascherano saw red and everyone expected that incident to set a kind of a precedent.

The FA announced recently that referees would in future have to talk to the club captain first before cautioning a player. It is kind of funny to find out that we have seen more yellow cards at this point of the season than last one. Probably referees are finding it very tiring to talk to the club captain every time a player commits a serious foul and they would rather just dish out a yellow card and get done with it.

Mike ‘Crystal Skull’ Riley who officiated the match on the weekend at Stamford Bridge certainly wanted to just offload the yellow card he had in his pocket. He probably must have promised his daughter to show how a red coloured card looks on their TV.Or did he go to a pub the previous night with Graham Poll? Because surely that day he thought three yellow cards make a red. The 8 yellow cards shown in the game was just ridiculous and it was by no means a dirty game. It did not have Liverpool or Boltonplaying. Expecting Riley not to show a yellow card that day was like expecting a stripper not to strip. Does he deserve to be respected by the United players after the atrocious show? Isn’t respect mutual?

Sir Alex Fergusson had the right idea, but chose the wrong time and the wrong tone, when he said referees have to be assessed too. After all the players are assessed and a totally not deserving yellow card for a player might actually lead to his suspension for an important match.

It is very surprising to know that Keith Hackett was an excellent referee in his heydays. He was the youngest to referee in a cup match. It seems like he has different standards for referees now and he certainly has made the Referees association a big joke.

You can read the analysis of the 7 yellow cards dished out to the United players in this forum

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/7-yellow-cards-you-having-a-laugh-riley/

Cheers

Vivek

85 Unbeaten!

2008-09-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

We just about saved our monumental home record in yesterday's 1-1 draw against Manchester United. I along with millions of Chelsea fans(I hope there are so many!), were fearing the worst, an anticipated agony compounded by the fact that Deco and Carvalho had joined the treatment table so recently vacated by Drogba and Ballack even before the Stamford Bridge faithful had found their full voice. Trailing by a goal and then missing sitters like the one missed by Anelka is not something that goes down too well with any football fan. I jumped off my seat in anticipation of an equalizer so many times during the match and then landed flat on my bum that its still sore. But that was much before the equalizer....when I thought we had enough time to get all three points rather than just one. And finally when it arrived I was satisfied but also a little agitated. I knew there was precious little time left to get a winner. Kalou came off the bench and slotted home the equalizer which I'm sure meant a lot to everyone and everything Chelsea but a winning goal seemed to be a far fetched hope at that point. This made me think...was it an equalizer we could do without? If the visiting team had been Arsenal or Aston Villa or perhaps even Wigan, my answer would definitely have been 'yes', (I know you're probably thinking I'm nuts but stay with me) but for Man United, I was not so sure simply because they're the biggest to Chelsea's title hopes in my opinion and any point taken off them is a plus.

However, I said we could do without that equalizer not because I was exasperated with our display on the day, in fact I thought we coped really well without two of our most important players this season, but because I think maintaining the unbeaten home record is becoming a notoriously demanding task for us. We tend to start thinking more about salvaging the record rather than go for the kill when we go down to the visiting team. To me this record seems like a huge bag full of gold that a man is trying to carry with all his might, a man who's tired and hungry. If he gets rid of the load he can hurry up and find a piece of bread before dusk but his reluctance to let go of the gold is draining him out completely.

To put things into perspective, let me show you some hard facts here. Chelsea have drawn four of their last six home games in Premier League, all with a scoreline of 1-1. Last season when we had an unbeaten home run, we drew seven games out of nineteen at home...that is 14 points lost(If only we'd won any two of them!). Here is last season's home league table for the top four:

P W D L Pts
1 Man Utd 19 17 1 1 52
2 Arsenal 19 14 5 0 47
3 Chelsea 19 12 7 0 43
4 Liverpool 19 12 6 1 42

We had by far the best away record last season. Here's the away league table for the top four:

P W D L Pts
1 Chelsea 19 13 3 3 42
2 Arsenal 19 10 6 3 36
3 Man Utd 19 10 5 4 35
4 Liverpool 19 9 7 3 34

Do you see now what I was taking about? Was the home record actually a bottle neck when Chelsea played at home? Was it the reason we drew so many times last season? And is the pattern continuing this season? Answer to all of them, in my humble opinion, is yes.

This season we have already drawn two out of three home games, both 1-1. Away we've won two out of two. Once we lose at home in the league, it'll certainly free up that bottle neck. When the prestigious record is no longer at stake, we can go out and play with more freedom at home. Its an irony that a record we take so much pride in is fast becoming a nuiscance and a luxury we can no longer afford. When we happen to take an early lead, we control the game quite with ease. However, when we go a goal or two down and the opposition starts frustrating us, we start looking to save the record. The thought of losing the record so much overshadows the broader picture, that an equalizer is treated almost as a winning goal. The celebration we saw when Kalou scored that equalizer in the 80th minute was less about getting a goal back but about that of a relief at salvaging the record. Though we pressed again to get a winner, that intensity which lead to the equalizer had gone.

I'd love the record to continue going as long as we make sure we're winning most of those games at home. If the record comes at a cost of 7-8 draws? No, thank you! I'd rather lose and then start afresh!

Rahul

ManUtd vs Chelsea Review

2008-09-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

Was it a case of points lost or a point gained for Manchester United?

Manchester United was 10 minutes away from breaking the seemingly invincible record that Chelsea have at home. The record in a way reminds me of the fortress that Old Trafford was when Keane was in his pomp. Though that United team lost a few matches at home they hardly drew any, Chelsea on the other hand has drawn a few but has remained unbeaten.

Manchester United

The intent was right from Sir Alex, he played players in their preferred positions or rather players who can provide an attacking impetus from their positions ala Hargreaves. He took a bold decision by playing Rooney behind Berbatov and benching Tevez who has been one of the better performers this season. He even played the young Evans who was actually quite impressive. Playing Gary Neville was always going to be a gamble and it didn’t back fire though he didn’t exactly show glimpses of his old which suggest Brown would regain his place in the side. Manchester United started brilliantly, they surprised Chelsea with their speed and they showed more desire than they did at Anfield. It certainly was the reaction that Sir Alex was looking from his team. They created many chances going forward and Chelsea took their time to settle into the game. Manchester United used the width really well in the first 20-25 minutes thus pushing back Bosingwa and Cole. Park buzzed around on the left flank and he even covered for Evra a couple of times. Rooney got the license to orchestrate things in the middle and played a delightful ball to Evra which resulted in the goal. Scholes slowed down the proceedings in the middle using his experience and Flethcer did all the running yesterday. He is actually turning into pretty decent box to box player.United in the second half tried to attack on the break and introduced Ronaldo who injected some speed but there were clear evidences that he is not fully fit yet.Though Sir Alex would be gutted to see his team concede a late goal , he would be happy with a point as Manchester United can only get strong from here on.

Chelsea

They were put on the back foot even before the ball was kicked by the news of Deco’s injury. But if there is anything which separates Chelsea’s squad from others then it is there depth in the squad. They had Deco going out but could afford to put in another world class midfielder there like Ballack. Ballack certainly showed rustiness as one would have expected but played a couple of very good passes. He and Lampard struggled early on to control the mid but once they started to do that Chelsea created a few chances. Lampard had a quite first half and many of Chelsea’s moves in the second half went through him. Mikel suggested little that he has the capacity or maturity to step into Makelele’s shoes or is he not exactly the player who can sit in front of the back four and just shield them?

Joe Cole tried to create things,was a threat, but he needs to blame himself as he had two easy chances to put Chelsea ahead. Anelka was pretty disappointing for Chelsea yesterday, he was wonderfully picked up by Joe Cole but he just couldn’t manage to put the ball into an open goal. For me the stand out performer was Alex. He really put in a couple of brave challenges and he did not make Chelsea miss Carvalho. Chelsea might feel disappointed with the result as they might feel they had done enough in the second half to win the game but on the other hand they might feel satisfied as well as they were staring at their first defeat at home for God knows how long.

I thought the referee had an awful game. As the pundits on ESPN suggested, it was not a dirty game by any stretch of imagination and the referee had actually shown 8 yellow cards and some of them totally not deserving. He stopped the play on plenty of occasions in the first half and I must admit that suited Chelsea. Those interruptions not only broke the flow of the game but they also gave Chelsea the time to settle down into the game.

But all in all this easily was one of the most entertaining games that the two teams played against each other in the last 3-4 years.

Cheers

Vivek

The' Roomania Curve'

2008-09-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

Caution: As I write this, the unusually lackluster Manchester United is taking on the resurrected Chelsea hence the opinion expressed here needs to be viewed ignoring the performances of players and the result of the match.

Manchester United are struggling at the start of the season as they always do but this season the lackluster performances have given rise to more theories than Einstein could have come up in his entire life. All the theories have been centered on of course the phenomena called Cristiano Ronaldo. Is Manchester United really a one man team as some ABU fans (Anything But United) believe? I personally think they are not, the reason being there is another player in the United colours who can carry the team on his shoulders. He might not get as many goals as his more celebrated team mate but on his day he is more influential than Ronaldo himself. That player is of course England’s boy wonder Wayne Rooney.

When Rooney scored that scorcher of a goal against Arsenal wearing the blue of Everton FC people around England started to take notice of him. When he finally arrived onto the international stage in Euro ’04 the world started to take notice of him. The English fans hailed the then prodigious 18 year old as the ‘White Pele’ as he carried the hopes of an entire nation before he got injured in the tournament. Some dismissed him as a mere flash in the pan, some did not and one amongst those was Sir Alex Fergusson. Anyone who has followed Rooney throughout his career can hardly disagree with Sir Alex. But those who have followed him for the last one year or so would start wondering if he has gone backwards in his development.

Nowadays one hardly gets to see the explosive Wayne that we are so used to. Whilst he looks like a more disciplined player now, there seems to be a sense of paucity when it comes to his spontaneity. He looks like a player who is a little short of confidence and he seems to be reluctant to be taking on defenders. We hardly get to see those slick one touch flick passes or him bulldozing his way through the defense line. But I do still believe that he is the best support striker in the world right now, I can’t think of another striker who has the vision and awareness of Rooney. He almost has the vision of a centre mid who pulls the strings for his team. For all those fluffed chances , his goal ratio isn’t bad either, someone recently quoted statistics in a Manchester United blog which showed that he has a better goal ratio than Zola or Bergkamp had. Then where is the worlds best support striker now when his team is struggling, one might ask, which brings me to the main point.

Has Ronaldo been an impediment in his development or has Sir Alex Fergusson sacrificed too much of the guy’s talents for the sake of his team?

Rooney as we all know loves to have the ball at his feet all the time, he likes to be involved in the play of the team through the middle and when he is not getting enough possession he tends to get frustrated much like how Sachin Tendulkar used to, in his early days, when he used to not get much of the strike. This frustration leads him to desperation which results in wandering about the pitch like a nomad. Ronaldo is so outrageously and ridiculously talented that Sir Alex had no other ideas but to revolve his team’s attack around him. Ronaldo being a winger has a gift for scoring goals. Manchester United lacked a no.9 for the last few years before the recent acquisition of Berbatov. Sir Alex had to get a goal scorer out of one of his players and that player happened to be Ronaldo. Hence Ronaldo was given a free role; he could cut in, go wide and get in to the box. This often left Rooney doing the dirty work for him, covering for him in the wings, going wide when Ronaldo cuts in. He often played like a mid-fielder trying to pull the strings. He had to be the more disciplined player of the two, not giving away ball while trying to dribble. Rooney being such a team player did not mind this , he was just happy to be there on the pitch representing United, for this reason Rooney lacks the attitude of a striker , someone who is so unselfish is always bound to get more assists than goals. Rooney was often pushed out wide in the European games away games to give Ronaldo the free role for example the Barcelona match. Sir Alex could have instead gone with a defender but he was happy to have Rooney on the pitch expecting him to produce one moment of magic. This by far I feel has diminished Rooney’s presence on the pitch, he has lost some of the attacking potency and it in a way has been a retrograde step.

Rooney in his defense has never played in his preferred position since Van Nisterlooy left Old Trafford. He either played up top or on the flanks. The only time Rooney has been played behind a proper front man who can hold the ball has been against the Croats recently and we know the havoc he caused in the Croation defense. The signing of Berbatov might get the best out of him but only if he is played in his preferred position

I close off with a rather rhetorical question, will Ronaldo’s departure be a blessing in disguise for Rooney or does Rooney not give a damn about his individual career as long his team is winning ?

Cheers

Vivek

Weekend Previews And Predictions - GW 5

2008-09-19T04:33:00.001-07:00

We're starting a weekly feature where one of the mods will take up the responsibility of giving an insight into the coming gameweek with predictions for each game.

Gameweek 5 previews and preditions

Sunderland v Middlesbrough
Having had a mixed bag of a start to the new season, The Black Cats would want to put their home record straight having lost two of the first two. Boro's start to the season has been impressive. Southgate won the manager of the month in August while his team seems to be a balanced unit in all fronts, especially going forward with the likes of Tuncay, Alfonso Alves, Mido, Downing and Aliadiere all in great nick. Tuncay is out with injury which means Mido will start up front along with Alves.
prediction: a hugely entertaining game with plenty of goals , 3-2 to home side

Blackburn v Fulham
Paul Ince has found life difficult in Premiership after an impressive opening game at Goodison Park. Having shipped in the maximum number of goals by any side(which makes me wonder more about their decision to sell Friedel and replace him with Paul Robinson) and with no victories in two matches at home, he is under pressure to get a good result against Fulham, who have started well considering they were tipped to be in relegation dog fight this season. Fulham have a great manager in Roy Hodgson and I can see them easily negotiating relegation and sitting mid table come next May.
prediciton: a tight game , 1-0 to the home side

Liverpool v Stoke City
They say its champions stuff to win when not playing well. Liverpool having done exactly the same so far, apart from their last game against Man Utd where they thoroughly deserved their victory, will hope for an easy outing against one of the relegation scrape bound Stoke City. One to watch in this one is Rory Delap with his deadly throw ins which almost turned the game around last week against Everton. Torres should be fit to feature in this game and I can see him getting on the score sheet.
prediction: easy victory for the home side, 2-0

West Ham v Newcastle
Newcastle made a dream start to the season earning a 1-1 draw against champions Man Utd at Old Trafford on the opening day. It has been a steep decline for them ever since. With off the field uncertainty, the club are in a real mess. West Ham have installed Zola as their new first team coach following the resignation of Alan Curbishley while Kevin Keegan has not yet been replaced. With Ashton out for three weeks, Carlton Cole will have the pressure of scoring goals on his shoulders. Newcastle lost to Hull City at St James' Park last week and a better performance seems far from being on the cards here.
prediction: 2-0 victory for the home side

Bolton v Arsenal
Bolton were tipped to be in a relegation fight at the start of the season and their start to the season fails to suggest differently. Having to entertain Arsenal at this point would be the last thing on their wish list. With 7 goals in last 2 league games, Arsenal are in impressive form scoring four at Ewood Park last weekend thanks to some sloppy defending by the home team. Bolton could make life tough for themselves with a similar defensive display but Arsenal having played on Wednesday in CL would not be as fresh and this is where Bolton have a slight ray of hope.
prediciton: a 3-1 away victory with a typical arsenal display

West Brom v Aston Villa
Baggies finally got their first victory in their return to top flight last weekend in a game that could have yet again slipped from their hands. West brom were favourites for survival among the promoted clubs at the start of the season but their current form does not suggest the same. Martin O'Niel has assembled a great squad at Villa with an exciting attack and an astute defense. Gabby and Young are lightning quick on the flanks and in Carew they have a potent goalscorer and an effective target man. Although Carew is doubtful to start the game, I still fancy Villa to nick this one.
prediciton: away victory with a 1-2 scoreline

Hull City v Everton
Hull are off to a flier and are currently sitting at 5th in the table. 40 points are enough to avoid relegation going by previous few seasons and they have already amassed almost 20% of them. Everton have started badly for their standard having lost two home games to Blackburn and Portsmouth but the return of Cahill, with whom they seem to do much better than without, is a boost and with Yakubu and Arteta in fine form, they could easily come out victorious from this one.
prediction: a close match with a 3-1 away victory

Man City v Portsmouth
City might have the financial muscle bigger than Chelsea now but it will take some time to build a team that could challenge the big boys. Mark Hughes would like to be there or there abouts to challenge for the top four until January when he can further strengthen the squad to have a real go for it, although I doubt if any big names would arrive at Eastlands in January. Pompey have come back well after losing the first two games of the season to Chelsea and Man United. Defoe is in deadly form and could well be a good bet for the golden boot if he continues in similar fashion. Diarra is certainly a big team material playing superbly at the heart of Pompey midfield.
prediction: good entertainment is guaranteed, a 2-1 home win

Tottenham v Wigan
Having had the worst start to the season in years, Spurs are under immense pressure and Ramos already in hot waters. With all the talent at his disposal, Ramos has failed to find the right mix and Spurs the right form. Midweek victory might lift the spirits at WHL and the team could finally get going but Wigan are no whipping boys having had a good start to the season. Zaki is in sublime goal scoring form and with Valencia and Palacios in their ranks, Wigan can be a real pain in the neck for any team.
prediction: a scrappy home victory, 3-2

Chelsea v Man Utd
Game of the weekend by all means and probably the game of the season. Chelsea boast a 6 point lead against their title rivals with just 4 games into the season, though Untited have a game in hand. A victory for the home side could take the difference to 9 points which could arguably be decisive in the long run. The game could mark the return of Ronaldo and Drogba, both could have a telling effect in the final result though both not fully fit yet. Vidic's suspension means either Evans or Brown would have to partner Rio Ferdinand in the heart of United defense while the right back position being taken by Brown or Phil Neville accordingly. While Chelsea will have Terry available after his red card was rescinded by the FA. Scholari plays in a system where the full backs have the freedom to go forward while the defensive midfielder and the two center backs make up a defensive three. Sir Alex would be looking to exploit the hole created behind the full backs and they have pacey forwards to do just the same. Rooney and Ronaldo might take up the flanks with Berba(if fit) and Tevez up front. Man United might get outplayed in the midfield and this is where I see the home side winning the game.
prediction: a tight game with plenty of chances for both sides: 2-1 to the home side

Have a great weekend ahead!

Rahul

A Tribute To Stevie Clarke

2008-09-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

Steve Clarke is one of the truest legends of Chelsea FC and any club would be proud to have a Steve Clarke in their books. Having served Chelsea for more than 20 years as a player and coach, he's given his all to us. We can't thank him enough.

Here's a little history of Clarke from Wikipedia for the curious ones:

Clarke started his professional football career with St Mirren F.C. before transferring to Chelsea for £422,000 in February 1987. He stayed at Chelsea until 1998, making 421 appearances (the fifth highest total in the club's history) and winning the club's Player of the Year award in 1994. He was a part of the Chelsea sides which won the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup in the late 1990s. The Cup Winners' Cup final, against VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm, was Clarke's final appearance for the club. In 2005 he was voted into Chelsea's centenary XI, occupying the right-back berth.

Now that he has left us for West Ham, I'm a bit taken aback but I think he's made the right choice. With another of Chelsea legends, Gianfranco Zola as coach, Stevie is going to get a lot more exposure as an assistant to him than he would have got under Scholari for many reasons. Scholari has his own assistant for one. Clarke's job was that of a bridge between the English and the foriegners so to say. His great nous of the English game was the reason Scholari was so upset when Clarke handed in his resignation. Zola's relative inexperience as a coach means Clarke would be more involved in team affairs, tactical desicions etc than he could ever be at Chelsea. His ambitions to become the first team coach one day has more chance of fruition at West Ham than Chelsea. That is the reason I'm happy for him, though a little disappointed too.

His replacement is already in place in Ray Wilkins. Another great servant for the club who not only served us with his football but also bailed us out of financial crisis in the alte 70's when he was sold to ManU for a club record fee which helped the club immensely. He was made captain of Chelsea at 18, our youngest ever. Ray went on to play for Milan among others and was also assistant coach under Vialli. He was sacked following the arrival of Ranieri. His credentials are similar to Clarke's but we'd have to wait and watch his work.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Clarke once again for all his services over the years and wish him all the best for the future. Hope he's back with us one day as our first team coach.

So We Kick Off

2008-09-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

I welcome you all to our very own football blog. We wanted to call it kickoff but due to some reason and a few errors on my system and not to mention frustration we ended up naming it earlykickoff. Nevertheless as the name suggests we’ll try our best to be ahead of our peers and present to you our views about clubs, matches and our predictions before the kick off. We would vow to be as unbiased as possible be it our posts or our comments.We started of this blog in the blogspot but would shift this to another site wherein we would have a web page of our own.

We would welcome participation from you all irrespective of the club that you support.

I would like to clearly highlight our comments policy:

Please do not login into our blog using the blog’s id to either view the blog or to post a comment. Please login into the blog only to publish a post of your’s.
Please do not indulge in mud slinging of any sort. We believe this blog to be for the sane ones and we would like to stick to that policy.
A member indulged in any kind of mud slinging or abuses would be warned first and thereafter banned if he/she continues to deny the policies of this blog.
Please avoid using the chat/sms lingo. It would help the readers immensely if you resort to plain simple English.
Avoid using Caps for conveying your message. Sentences with caps lock on suggest that you are shouting at the reader.
Avoid using bold font for your posts unless you really want to emphasize.

So wishing you all once again happy blogging and seriously hoping for some stimulating football discussions .

PS : We would take great pleasure if you the spread the word about this blog to as many friends as possible.

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"Players joining City for medals not for money" -- Mark Hughes; Manchester City Football Club Manager.

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