Ban the clubs in debts ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.