Time to express

Defeat makes you stronger

2017-01-13T07:48:00.001-08:00

After Chelsea's winning run was halted by a clinical performance from arch rivals Tottenham, fans are up in arms about what all needs to be changed in the team. Fans have a short memory (let's say modern fans, the internet trailblazer types) and this has led to them conveniently forgetting that Conte has so far dealt with the challenges of:
1. Finding a system (3-4-3) that he could make work for players who were drilled in playing various versions of another system (4-3-3)
2. Emerging stronger from heart-breaking and hugely disappointing defeats vs. Liverpool and Arsenal
3. Beaten the Spurs team only a month back in a come from behind 2-1 home win
4. Competing with modern super coaches like Pep, Jose, Klopp while also dealing with very strong coaches like Poch, Koeman and wily old managers like Ranieri and Wenger.

The key thing to notice in the defeat vs. Spurs was that the tools were downed only after minute 85, till then the intensity from the team was great. During the 13 game winning run, we had our fair share of luck in tricky fixtures like West Brom at home where we nicked it by a goal. There were some exhilarating performances like the ones against Everton and Manchester United.

Overall, there is every reason to be happy with the way this squad has adapted to the new philosophy. The togetherness in the squad and the friendly atmosphere have had a direct consequence i.e. the strong belief in their abilities and the toughness of mind to beat all odds. Like all work-places, a football club like Chelsea thrives on diversity and the whole team getting along. I am hopeful of a strong finish to the season and Chelsea being back to where they belong and challenging for the top trophy in Europe next season.

A key to the future of the club lies in how it deals with its young academy graduates. So far the signs have been more encouraging than they have ever been in the last 15 years. Conte seems intent on giving these boys a fair shot at the big time and the precious minutes that someone like Chalobah is getting even in late stages in important games can be the difference between him turning out to be a Paul Pogba or whoever that squad player uncle Harry chose to compare our legend, Super Frank to at the insistence of the "Hammer fan".

Keep the blue flag flying high!

The art of Footballing Philosophy

2016-02-02T06:36:00.001-08:00

As a keen follower of the game, I am perennially intrigued by the choices made by the people who run the game and also by those who play the game. When looking at the people who run the game, I am more intrigued by the clubs and less by federations as federations (like FIFA, The English FA) seem more bureaucratic and archaic than clubs especially the European elite. To me, this is one of the biggest reasons why modern day genius managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho have stayed away from managing a national team. There is also the thrill of being able to mold a club side in a shorter frame of time and there is more obvious excitement in managing a club team due to the level of competition it offers and can be a more level playing field aided by investment.

Now, focusing on how clubs have shaped their histories and are plan to shape their futures. There were giants of the past like AC Milan, Ajax, Roma, Inter Milan who were competing with the best clubs for talent and trophies regularly but mismanagement, a lack of planning at club and broader league level, corruption in the league and poor marketing are relegated to the 2nd tier of European clubs. Some clubs have emerged in the more recent past not necessarily rising from the ashes with investment in all cases but building something with the future in mind and a plan to back it all up. Clubs who could be classified as ones who have seen recent successes and thereby nudged up towards the Tier 1 would be Chelsea, Manchester City, PSG, Atletico Madrid. Of all these clubs, the most interesting in terms of evolution have to be Manchester City as they have risen against a very formidable local rival in Manchester United who over the years with spectacular success have an enormous fanbase globally which has been leveraged by the current owners to literally execute a "leveraged" buyout and then take the company public as well. I want to pick on Manchester City as I am not their fan but admire how they are building towards something that could last for a long time.
As happens with any team, the stars on the pitch are what you see but the mechanics and the engineers in the background are the ones who build it all up. (Case in point: Formula 1 had Michael Schumacher as the face of Ferrari winning world title after world title but it was the brains of Jean Todt and Ross Brawn who engineered the most marvelous car of the time with their able team).
Now taking a turn towards the philosophy of the club and how that can shape the future, how City have done it is impressive and the just announced hiring of Pep Guardiola is when the music they have been playing reached its crescendo. Pep was desirable for every English club but Arsenal as Wenger is no mood to retire yet but it is so evident that no one had done the ground work to attract the genius of Pep. City though had laid the groundwork by hiring Pep's old buddies from Barcelona with Ferran Soriano appointed CEO in 2012 along with Txiki Begiristain as Director of Football. What they have done in the intervening period is to establish firmly the ethos of the club and a philosophy that can last beyond the current manager (whoever be in charge). The powers that be realize that money is not always enough to entice the biggest egos and in modern world, plenty of clubs would be willing to outbid you (Cue: Chelsea with Roman's chequebook and PSG with the Qatari chequebook and probably Manchester United too). What then attracts someone like Pep to City is the working atmosphere, he does not need to fear about the directors doing something behind his back to get him fired once the bad run starts. Giving him full control on the philosophy of the club (much like SAF enjoyed at Manchester United) which is driven by training methods across all levels at the club and a free hand in the transfer market. As they say, half hearted measures leave to half hearted results, the situation at my beloved Chelsea Football Club seems to be running opposite to this with the board being full of people who have little to no clue about how to run a football club (as a business where footballers are like goods and services sold for a profit or build a legacy).

Some good examples of a strong philosophy behind a business that can lead to success have to be Elon Musk running Tesla now and Steve Jobs driving Apple back in the day.Tesla is a for profit organization with a strong philosophy and same can be said of a well run football club. Businesses do have philosophy too. Closer to my home, in India, Jamshetji Tata started the Taj Group of hotels with an idea of attracting people to India and to improve Bombay. Therefore, I do firmly believe that a good football club is a very well run business with a philosophy.

Back to the football clubs argument, many have laid a foundation for everlasting greatness. Johan Cryuff did that for Barcelona and Pep has only fine tuned that and even after Pep leaving, the club have gone on to be immensely successful. Real Madrid on the other hand have a philosophy around entertaining football aided by prized money spinning acquisitions. That is the brand Real sells to the world and that is what their fans buy into. In the English league, Sir Alex Ferguson created a legacy that will last for decades but the succession planning was poor and the club are paying for it now because while Fergie chose his moment to leave, he did not quite plan for life after him while he was there. Arsene Wenger has created a unique legacy for himself by making Arsenal the best financially managed club in England and changed them from a physically strong side (Keown and Adams making the backbone of that) to a more nimble, free flowing football team. Arsenal might be in danger of enduring a similar plight as United unless they are already planning for the future but only Arsene knows if they are. Now coming to my favorite and beloved club, Chelsea. Things started well at the turn of the century, Chelsea were the fashionable London club with a plethora of foreign talent in its lineup including World Cup winners, Desailly, Deschamps, Lebouef and the little magician, Zola. They had qualified for the Champions League nicking out Liverpool which led to Roman's decision to choose them ahead of Tottenham as the club he would buy to disrupt the European footballing landscape. Things started well and the backroom staff was poached from Manchester United symbolised by the hiring of Peter Kenyon as CEO in 2003. History was created in subsequent years and a philosophy was established firmly upon arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2004 of a club that could beat the best teams with players who as a team could overcome any adversity. Somehow, after the repeat successes a natural deviation occurred towards wanting more expansive football, along the way the backroom staff was churned and the current staff are an entirely new team compared to where it all started 12 years back.

It would be interesting if City can further build on where they are heading as they seem to have less knee jerk owners who are shrewd businessmen in their own right and seem to be planning for the future in the right away. Interesting to see if they pull away from the chasing pack under Pep in the near future with smart investments in the club and success on the field or if others have got something up their sleeve to challenge them from dominating the European football landscape.

Let's stick with the facts

2015-04-27T13:28:00.001-07:00

While the Arsenal fanboys this week and even some United fanboys were crying last week about how Chelsea are "parking the bus" when they weren't and came out with very important 4 points in a title race which is not over till its over. Would you rather get some points playing well defensively or lose 2 matches 3-2 playing attractive football. Of course for teams that have nothing to show, the only thing left to cling on to is the "attractive" and "beautiful" good for nothing football they were playing. The Arsenal fans especially are really annoying as they have a similar template every season:
Start of season: "Damn, Wenger needs to buy players for 3 positions and we will win the league"...they go behind by 5-8 points within the first 8 weeks by when the window is closed. Come January, they are out of the top 4 and a lot of them ask for it being time that "Wenger should move on"..Then by March by some turn or fate they are now looking good for finishing in the "Top 4" which is the Annual "Arsene Wenger Achievement beyond compare" trophy. By some twist of fate (read City blowing up, Liverpool not putting together a run) and good form (credit where its due), Arsenal are 2nd this season...

Remember this is the season where some "Arsenal fans" booed Arsene after the Stoke game or something and they are hailing him again as if he is going to win them the title next year. I can guarantee he would not win it next year and at some point the Arsenal fans will want him out :)

Now, just some facts from the recent seasons where teams had a good lead and still lost the title in the last few games:

2012 (Source: BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17853469)

APRIL
Manchester United's lead at the top of the standings increased further as wins over Blackburn and QPR combined with a damaging 1-0 defeat for Manchester City at Arsenal looked to have effectively secured them the title, with the gap between the two sides an intimidating eight points.

Manchester United suffered a shock 1-0 defeat by fast-improving Wigan, and though they responded with a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa, they twice threw away two-goal leads to draw 4-4 with Everton.

A mouth-watering match between the two sides at Etihad Stadium on 30 April had City needing victory, while Ferguson knew a draw would suit his purposes.

That permutation perhaps proved Ferguson's undoing as his team selection suggested he was erring on the side of caution, and a Vincent Kompany header just before half-time was enough to hand City the win they needed to go top on goal difference (Its not easy to Get a DRAW when you look for one)

Some other notable failures from positions of great strength:

Manchester United - 1992

Leeds turned on the style in the run-in as they landed the First Division trophy after Sir Alex's side suffered a dire dip in form.

With a first title in 25 years within their grasp, United won just three of their last 12, but Leeds held their nerve with four wins in the last five to clinch the title by four points.

Newcastle United - 1996

The most famous of all meltdowns saw Kevin Keegan's reborn Newcastle toss away the 12-point lead they had built by January.

The dynamic attacking flair which had entertained the nation all season was replaced by some insipid results. They won just five of their last 13 games, losing six - including the 4-3 classic with Liverpool.

Liverpool - 2009

Rafa Benitez delivered his sermon of 'facts', arguing Manchester United were the beneficiaries of referees' decisions and a fixture list loaded in their favour.

The fact of the matter was the Reds led by eight points in January but finished second, four points behind Fergie's boys.

There is an agenda against Mourinho (driven by some people in the press) and fanned up by mindless fans of other clubs. The above instances of failure of winning from positions of strength are clear proof that if you are playing in a competitive league, the only ways to stay ahead are by either beating your competitors or ensuring you are in a relative position of strength.

Some more information that might be helpful as I tried to look at Chelsea (unfairly branded boring by Arsenal fanboys) vs Arsenal (considered the best attacking force by Arsenal fanboys). What I looked at was number of goals scored by Chelsea and Arsenal in their games against their closest rivals and some of the tough defensively organized teams in the league this season. The teams considered being the current top 10 in the league: Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Everton, Spurs, Liverpool, Stoke, Southampton, Swansea

Chelsea

Games played: 17

Goals scored: 36

Goals / game: 2.1

Arsenal

Games played: 16

Goals scored: 24

Goals / game: 1.5

I think this just proves what needs to be known. Football is not literature and pure art as some people like to make it out to be. It is a sport and the best prepared and most organized teams will win and shall deserve the trophies they earned.

The SPECIAL ONE & his SPECIAL Quotes

2010-04-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

“I am absolutely sure that we will be champions next season.” – having just moved to FC Porto, January 2002
"We have top players here and, I'm sorry if it seems a bit arrogant, but we have a top manager."

“Would you phone the president of Ghana?” – Jose Mourinho when asked by a Ghanaian journalist if he ever phoned Roman Abramovich to see how he was.

“When you have a father, ex-top player, and your dream is to be like him but you feel you couldn’t do it, your motivation comes from that point. I want to be really big in football. I feel I have some conditions to be a coach and manager. I start doing. I start loving it. I go to university and study sports science. This is a real passion and methodology.” – On his motivation for becoming a manager.

"I can say to him in the next 10 years we will compare trophies at Chelsea and at Liverpool. And he will lose." [On Steven Gerrard]

“Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains. Sometimes you have ugly people who are intelligent, like scientists.” – On the state of the Stamford Bridge pitch prior to their home Champions League game against Barcelona in 2006

"They say I don't have freedom of speech on my team... they do. If you speak up you have freedom from playing on my team."

“Ricardo Carvalho seems to have problems understanding things, maybe he should have an IQ test, or go to a mental hospital or something” – After Carvalho blasted Mourinho for not picking him to play
"Only stupid people can think a team like Chelsea, with our quality of players, can be happy to have this pitch. Barcelona can think what they want. Do we have no technical players? No skilful players? Just players who kick the ball and run. Arjen Robben, Damien Duff, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Frank Lampard. We have no technical players so we need a potato field, so we play in a potato field! Maybe you should ask Barcelona why they have so many injuries. They have a lot of knee problems. Maybe their pitch is too good." [On reports that Barca's players think Chelsea's pitch is deliberately rough]

"I put myself in the firing line straight away by saying things that some people understand and some don't," he added.

"Like, for example, 'I'm special', 'I want to win in the first season', 'I don't care about the power of Manchester United and Arsenal', and 'I don't care that no-one in English football was champion in the first season'."

"The biggest ambition I have is to win the first Premiership match on 14 August. The second ambition is to win the second Premiership match on 21 August and we will keep going like this."“Look, we’re not entertaining? I don’t care; we win.” – on Chelsea’s performance at the start of the 2006-07 season

"The situation is he has two more years of contract with Chelsea. He is one of the players we consider non-negotiable so he has no chance to leave. He has to play for Chelsea. If he plays with happiness, fantastic - we get the best of him. If he doesn't play with happiness, he doesn't play - so it's his problem." [On reports that Didier Drogba wants to leave the club]
"You look at my haircut and you can see that. I'm ready for the war."

“It is like having a blanket that is too small for the bed. You pull the blanket up to keep your chest warm and your feet stick out. I cannot buy a bigger blanket becuase the supermarket is closed. But I am content because the blanket is cashmere. It is no ordinary blanket.” – on Chelsea’s injury crisis and the end of January transfer window after Ashley Cole was injured in a 3-0 win over Blackburn, 31 January 2007
"I don't like being the villain, but the good ones are normally losers. I don't care too much about image. I don't think it's possible to be loved by everyone. Not in life - and especially not in football."

“We are on top at the moment but not because of the club’s financial power. We are in contention for a lot of trophies because of my hard work.”

“If Roman Abramovich helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt!”

“I am very happy because the club is beating records with the sales of new shirts. I don’t sell shirts but there a relation between shirt sales and the performance of the team. If we perform well they sell more shirts.”

“I am not concerned about how Chelsea are viewed morally. What does concern me is that we are treated in a different way to other clubs. Some clubs are treated as devils, some are treated as angels. I don’t think we are so ugly that we should be seen as the devil and I don’t think Arsene Wenger and David Dein are so beautiful that they should be viewed as angels.”

“Everybody was waiting for Chelsea not to win every game and one day, when we lose, there will be a holiday in the country. But we are ready for that.”

"I'm still the special one, for sure. You want to try and succeed in your job like I have done in mine inside three years? You have no chance."

“After all that has happened this season – and that is a lot – I’ve reached the conclusion that I am a good loser.” – after losing the Premiership title to Manchester United in the 2006/2007 season.

Pavel Nedved, Paul Scholes, Luís Figo have all retired from international football. With the Czechs, England and Portugal it is ok, but France? They don’t have liberty. It is unbelievable. Makélélé is not a footballer, he is a slave. He has no human rights, no right to choice or liberty, so he is a slave. But the rules are there, so what can we do?” – criticizing France coach Raymond Domenech for calling up Claude Makélélé for Euro 2008 qualifiers, after Makélélé announced his retirement from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, rules by FIFA state that players who refuse a selection on their national team could be suspended from their professional clubs. The use of “slave” in Mourinho’s press release was criticized by Domenech and France captain Patrick Vieira

"Something is happening with the English press in relation to Frank Lampard. I spoke to him about it - and for me, he is guilty. He is guilty because you never had a player like him in the last 10 years - and because you never had a player like him in 10 years, you are having a go at him. He is guilty because he scores so many goals, because he plays so many matches, because he plays game after game for Chelsea and England with 100% effort. He is guilty because he beats an unbelievable record of consecutive matches. He is guilty because he is such a good player - but you should respect him a little bit more."

“I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you.” – on Manchester United

“How do you say cheating in Catalan?” – after Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona in a match where Mourinho accused Lionel Messi of getting Asier del Horno sent off"

“Barcelona is a cultural city with many great theatres and this boy [Lionel Messi] has learned very well. He’s learned play-acting.” – After Messi got Asier Del Horno sent off in their defeat against Barcelona in February 2006

“Look at the blond boy in midfield, Robbie Savage, who commits 20 fouls during the game and never gets a booking. We came here to play football and it was not a football game, it was a fight and we fought and I think we fought fantastically.”

“The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face. It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United and it is not possible to have penalties in favour of Chelsea. It is not a conspiracy, it is fact. I speak facts. If not, I need big glasses”

Jose Mourinho – on other managers

"One is a coach with a 30-year career, the other with a three-year one. The one with 30 years has never won anything; the one with three years has won a lot. The one who has coached for 30 years has an enormous career; the one with three years has a small career. The one with a 30-year career will be forgotten when he ends it; the one with three could end it right now and he could never be erased from history. This could be the story of a donkey who worked for 30 years but never became a horse." - On Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira (30 years)

“I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea.” – on Arsène Wenger

“My history as a manager cannot be compared with Frank Rijkaard’s history. He has zero trophies and I have a lot of them…”

“When I saw Frank Rijkaard (Barcelona coach) entering the referee’s dressing room I couldn’t believe it. When Didier Drogba was sent off (after half-time) I wasn’t surprised.” – On losing to Barcelona – February 2005

“Maybe when I turn 60 and have been managing in the same league for 20 years and have the respect of everybody I will have the power to speak to people and make them tremble a little bit.” – On Sir Alex Ferguson – January 2005

“People want a storm but there isn’t one. I respect Sir Alex a lot because he’s a great manager, but he must follow the procedure. I don’t speak with referees and I don’t want other managers doing it, it’s the rule. One thing is to speak, one thing is to shout.” – On Sir Alex Ferguson – January 2005 (a few days later)

"Since 1996 Cruyff has been playing golf and criticising. Since 1996 he manipulated and used the power that was given to him for being a fantastic footballer. He cannot teach me to win Cups and Super Cups because I've already won them. He cannot teach me to win the Uefa Cup because I also have it. He cannot teach me to be European champion because I was it already. And I don't want him to teach me how to take a 4-0 defeat in a Champions League final because I don't want to learn that. Let him come to English football where he can learn that he is in the 21st century."

“We were together in my office. He asked me, ‘What did you say to the press, young man?’ We laughed, we joked, we spoke, we drank and when we go to Old Trafford for the second leg on Jan 26, it is my birthday. I will bring a beautiful bottle of Portuguese wine for after the game. The wine we drank at Stamford Bridge was very bad. And he was complaining about it. He is a wonderful, great manager. I have a lot of respect for the big man. I call him ‘boss’ because he’s our [the other managers'] boss. He’s the top man, a really nice person and he deserves to be the boss. Maybe when I am 60 the kids will call me the same.” – on Sir Alex Ferguson

Jose Mourinho – on “pressure”

“Pressure? There is no pressure. Bird Flu is pressure.(The Press Laugh) No, you laugh, but I am being serious. I am more worried about the swan then I am about football.”

“There is no pressure at the top. The pressure’s being second or third”

Jose Mourinho – Philosophy / Tactics

“I’m not a defender of old or new football managers. I believe in good ones and bad ones, those that achieve success and those that don’t. Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.”

“If you have at home one Bentley and one Aston Martin, if you go all day everyday in the Bentley and leave the Aston Martin in the garage you are a bit stupid.” – Defending his squad rotation policy

“When you go to the stadiums, the atmosphere is so beautiful that maybe you don’t feel so much the importance of the game.”

“I think you need me to say something that will stop these strange questions. You want me to say ‘we are going to be champions’? Well, we are going to be champions. You have something to write now. It doesn’t matter about the result against Blackburn or Manchester United, we will be champions.” – At a press conference, prior to it Chelsea drew their last two games and individuals started to question his teams early season confidence.

“The dog is fine in Portugal – that big threat is away – you don’t have to worry about crime anymore.” – after the police questioned Jose Mourinho over proper health certification for his dog

"The way they are, tomorrow we will probably read I am to blame for the volcano. Maybe I have a friend in the volcano and I am responsible for that." - Jose Mourinho erupts after Barcelona express their disappointment at decisions in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Cheeky as always

"When we came here in November (in the groups stages, when Barca won 2-0), the fans were already singing 'we're going to Madrid," Mourinho said. "What I want to say to my players is to follow the dream, not make it an obsession, because for us this is a dream and not an obsession - for Barcelona it's not a dream, it's an obsession.

"A dream is about pride and my players will be very, very proud to reach the final in Madrid, Moscow, London or wherever, but for them it is different - they reached the dream by winning the final in Rome, by winning the final in Paris. Now it's an obsession. And the obsession is called Madrid and Santiago Bernabeu.''

"I am very happy at Inter but not in Italian football, I don't like it and it doesn't like me."

Facts and History are often conveniently ignored

2010-03-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

As it happens so often, the latest turn of events in the footballing world have made everyone sit up and take notice. The old messiah has been reinstated as the greatest that ever step foot at the Bridge turf and the current in-charge dismissed for lack of tactical nous and what not.

I am looking to defend the current man in charge at the Bridge solely on the basis of facts
and so I look at the Chelsea that Jose inherited and what he added to it before his enormously successful 3 years at the club
1. Chelsea finished 2nd in the league in 2003-04(scored 6 goals less than the best, Arsenal) and Arsenal won it when they had an unbeaten season. Chelsea also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
2. At the end of the season, the then manager Ranieri signed Petr Cech and Arjen Robben.
3. Post Euro 2004, Ranieri was sacked and Jose Mourinho installed who was allowed to bring in players of his liking to the club and he duly obliged by getting Carvalho, Tiago, Ferreira and Drogba being the notable arrivals.
The average age of the players at the time Jose arrived was closer to 25.

Compare these facts to what Carletto inherited
1. Chelsea finished 3rd in the league in 2008-09 thanks largely to the late burst under Hiddink. Reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and won the FA Cup.
2. There were only two notable signings of Yuri Zhirkov and Daniel Sturridge
3. The team has scored 69 goals already in the season with 9 games to go and the maximum they scored under Jose in all his seasons were 72.
The average age of the current team is closer to 30

4. Jose had Robben, Duff and a much better Joey Cole at his disposal while Carletto has to contend with Malouda being the only world class winger in his squad based on current form which drastically reduces the number of systems he can employ.
5. While Sneijder was running riot, Chelsea were missing his midfield counterpart Essien. While Maicon was rampaging, Ashley Cole must be wondering what he might have created for Messrs Drogba and company.

Ancelotti's record against the erstwhile English Big 4 is 4 wins in 4 matches. Point here being he has done good in big matches already.

I see a lot of people questioning the ability of Ancelotti but what about the fact that Chelsea lost to Rafa's Pool twice under Mourinho's tutelage at the semi-final stage in 3 years. Add to that the loss to Barca in the same round as now. Fans questioned Mourinho then and similar kind of fans are questioning Ancelotti now.

Fact is a loss to Inter does not make Ancelotti a lesser coach but I am rather proud that he did not try to point out the fact that 3 penalty shouts over the 2 legs went against us . Over 180 minutes Inter had the better plan and personnel and Carletto acknowledged it. He is not Jose as no one can be like the Special One but Ancelotti is good and its time fans realized and respected that fact.

Jose was lost on ideas last year when he played United and Barca earlier in this campaign.

I hope Carletto is in-charge next season and we meet Inter again if Jose is their coach at the time and I am sure the result will be different from what it was this time.

P.S. I hope Inter win the Champions league this season and it should happen as Chelsea's conquerors have gone on to win the Champions League 4 times in the last 5 years

Of Sports and relevance of their Superstars

2010-01-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

The title of the blog leads me to pondering about what makes me follow a sport. Also makes me think what makes people in general get hooked to a sport. Growing up on a non stop barrage of cricket via the telly and courtesy the pitch next to my home and a group of friends who were ready to sweat it out in the middle even when the scorching sun was hitting 45 on the Celsius scale, I was also very interested in what was happening in the world of tennis and aware of who Roberto Baggio and Romario were. Reading Sportstar was fun those days as I would read about sports that I was not exposed to first hand, cricket was my holy grail and Lawn Tennis looked good on the telly but I knew there was a certain Greg Norman who was a superstar of golf, a game I still struggle to watch.
Coming back to why I started writing this one, I think the single greatest influence in making a sport popular are the players and how one chooses their own hero in a sport. I started watching tennis and was hooked because I loved the athleticism shown by Boom Boom Becker, Agassi and of course my favorite Sampras. Then I started liking Formula 1 because Ferrari was the car dreams and Schumacher driving was one helluva fighter who only knew winning. Well, I enjoyed F-1 till Schumi was driving, lost interest once he went and hope his come-back will take me back to that sport.
I think choosing a favorite player in a sport you might not really be playing makes you get very involved in the sport and brings about a passion for the game that would otherwise be missing. It allows you to experience the highs of winning and lows of losing along with the player you idolise. David Beckham getting a boot on his face courtesy his manager has made me a ManU hater for life and for all his Glory, I can never like Alex Ferguson. I donno if it works like this for everyone but it works for me. When Sampras stopped playing, I stopped watching Tennis, but the emergence of the fighter Nadal has brought me back to loving the sport all over again coz I really hated watching Fedex slowly destroy Sampras' record.

Arrogance is the guiding principle here

2009-09-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

It is a pity that a club that has achieved so much success still thrives on that arrogance they are hated for by many a opposition fans. Humility is certainly a quality associated with the greats but that seems to certainly not be the case when it comes to Manchester United. Some people call it mindgames, but to treat Man City the way they do is an example of how Manchester United consider themselves above all else even though Man City are correct when they claim to be the real Manchester club as MU are based out of OT. Probably it is the wily old Scot who has brought that arrogance in them coz their players seem to be intent on telling every ref about how the proceedings should go on. The latest example of the club's arrogance is the threat issued to LE Havre who are pursuing their case with FIFA. I firmly believe that LE Havre might have a case but if Manchester United were to really let things pan out the way they are, they would have to be humble and get punished this one time but what they do is try to scare LE Havre with a legal suit. Their manager just loves to mock around with the system publicly criticising refs and getting away with it more often than not. I just can't ever find a reason to like this club and I am glad about that :P

Liverpool have spent some money after all

2009-08-30T03:49:00.000-07:00

Reina 6 mill pounds
Glen Johnson 17 mill pounds
Daniel Agger 5.8 mill pounds
Aquilani 20 mill pounds
Babel 11.5 mill pounds
Benayoun 5 mill pounds
Cavalieri 3.5 mill pounds
Dossena 7 mill pounds
Kuyt 9 mill pounds
Mascherano 18.6 mill pounds
NGog 1.5 mill pounds
Riera 8 mill pounds
Skrtel 6 mill pounds
Torres 26.5 mill pounds

Total is 145.4 Million pounds used to assemble the current squad..

P.S. Transfers in and out over nay period of time have not been considered..

Chances Are..

2009-08-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

We are just a few days away from the kicking off of the new Barclays Premier League Season. Fans of all clubs have high expectations from their clubs and there are new men in charge as well as new arrivals. There have been certain high profile exits but the League retains its reputation as the most exciting League. Real Madrid might have made a lot of noises and thrown a lot of money on new players but BPL remains the league that the majority awaits most eagerly. The reason could be the fact that it is clearly going to be a 2 horse race in Spain between Real and Barca but in the Premier League there are 3 solid contenders and you have to give an outside chance to Arsenal and Man City. Looking at the various teams, my belief is that Chelsea are really the team that has retained its strength whereas Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have all been weakened by the departure of certain high profile players. An objective analysis will do justice to the chances of the teams.
1. Chelsea : They retain the strength in defence with the trio of Terry, Riccy and Alex, ably supported on the flanks by Bosingwa, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic who can also double up as a centre back if needed. The young Mancienne is getting better with time. The Central midfield is very strong with Essien, Obi Mikel and Ballack providing cover to the defence and linking up with Super Frank Lampard who is expected to play behind the strikers like Gerrard does so well for Liverpool. On the wings Malouda and Zhirkov are top top class talents and if Malouda continues from where he left last season, expect a lot of goals to be created from the left flank. Zhirkov, the Russian Ronaldinho will bring a freshness to the Left flank.
On the right flank, the diminutive Joe Cole once fully fit will provide oodles of energy and will sometimes see Essien playing in his role who is just as able a Right sided midfielder as he is in the centre of the park.
Up front they have the man everyone loves to hate, Didier Drogba. Expect a lot of goals from him this season. Sturridge will provide a breath of fresh air up front and Anelka should get a lot of goals as well coz he will get good service from the flanks.
What could go against Chelsea is lack of cover for the African players who will go to play in the African Cup in January, so Didier, Essien, obi Mikel will be missing from action at a very crucial juncture in the season. Chelsea could do well to sign a striker of real repute and the new diamond formation that Carletto insists on using might lead to some people struggling who are too comfortable playing in a 4-3-3 formation.
2. Manchester United: At the back they look solid as ever barring Evra who is more of an attacker than defender. In the midfield, Carrick is going to play an important role and will break a lot of attacks for them and distribute the ball. Valencia looks promising but it remains to be seen if he can consistently perform at the highest levels expected of a player at a top club like ManU. They are vulnerable in the midfield coz Giggsy producing the kind of season he had last season will be really tough at his age. SAF has lost the man who scored the goals but that loss will allow Rooney to flourish up front and one can expect more than 30 goals from Rooney this season. Michael Owen will get the goals as long as he gets the service so if you can stifle United in the midfield and it looks very much possible on the flanks, they could struggle. Many teams will fancy themselves against United as they might be overdependent on Rooney for too much. He has compensate for CR7's goals, Tevez's energy and also keep his temper in check. Fancy him for a red card or 2 as well ;). The balance is still there but I see them struggling to win it eventually.
3. Liverpool: Well, they could well be the eternal dreamers. Ever since they starting finishin in the top 4 again, fans expect them to start winning the title. The acquisition of Glen Johnson gives them an attacking full back but leads to Carra and Skrtel being responsible for more than they bargained for. In the left back position too it is a similar story with Aurelio. In the midfield they have lost the superb Xabi and brought in a new kid, Aquilani but his lack of experience in the Premier League could hurt Liverpool. They have the brilliant Mascherano too provide cover for the defence and in attack Riera and Benayoun from the flanks are at best average players. Gerrard and Torres up front provide them with the most lethal partnership in world football who will get them goals no matter what. Torres has a history of getting injured and they do not have a striker 1/4th of his ability. I think they shud at best be 3rd best this season coz of a lack of back up in all areas of the field.
4. Arsenal : Losing Koule Toure and Adeybayor might not hurt much if everyone is fit but that is hardly the case, Rosicky and Nasri already injured takes away a lot from their midfield. Fabregas will provide a lot of quality but might struggle for lack of quality support in the absence of Nasri and Rosicky. Defensively Vermeulen might take time to adjust and up front Van persie needs to combine with Arshavin like Torres and Gerrard do. They do not even have an outside chance even with Eduardo being back fit and Walcott rampaging down the flank. They are too weak defensively and without quality back-up.
5. Manchester City: They have strengthened in all parts of the field. Only problem could be player egos. They have not really strenghtened themselves in the midfield and will need Petrov to stay fit. They have a chance to outperform Arsenal and rejig the top 4.

Remaining clubs fight for the tag of Best of the Rest. Everton have not strengthened in the summer and could be surprised by Tottenham who have a balanced squad and will challenge for the 5-6 position.
Relegation favorites have to be Hull, Burnley and maybe Stoke who might have been figured out by everyone this season.

The greatest Gambler or the BEST gambler

2009-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, for the football freaks, Florentino Perez is a man who just changes the dynamics of the market. Defies logic for some and pays insane amounts of money to make footballers play for his club. Whether we like him or hate him, he treats football like a business and unfortunately for the purists that is what club football is. Perez seems like a man with a mission whenever he is in charge at Real MAdrid but rarely he has disappointed his fans. The last time he was in-charge Madrid had to sell their training ground to raise money for purchasing Figo. He probably went overboard by sacking Del Bosque even when they won the La Liga and appointed Carlos Quieroz alongwith recruiting the money minting machine called David Beckham. Madrid became a commercial superpower thanks to the fan base that Beckham's arrival guaranteed them. Manchester's loss was Real's gain.
He was eventually voted out because a certain Catalan club could outdo them on the field courtesy the then BEST Player in the world, Ronaldinho. 2 fruitless seasons followed the arrival of Ramon Calderon. Well, now this is where the interesting bit starts while Calderon promised to carry on the tradition started by Perez to buy the best players, he could not deliver. Finally a scam was the last thing he needed and he was shown the door and Perez was again captivating the Madridistas with fancy dreams, dreams that Madridistad knew would come true. Any line-up with the erstwhile CR7 and Kaka' is bound to be the most deadly attacking force on the planet. Add Karim Benzema to the mix and you have a talent up front who is bound to go places. Well, while Perez makes it a point to buy the most marketable guys, he was wise enough to consult the legendary 'Zizou'. Having Zizou on the team brought credibility to the project and therefore we see that Perez has succeeded where Calderon failed. Players who are surplus are being shipped out(Cannavaro is a gonner already). Re-inforcements at the back have started arriving with the purchase of Raul Albiol. The only mistake that Perez might have made is in appointing a manager who does not have the credentials of a Ferguson, Mourinho etc. This is important because the only thing that can stop the Madrid players are they themselves. It is a fact that R9 is a spoilt kid who is 24 years old and of course if Robben stays, he is no pushover and a big ego himself. Raul being a fading force won't quite get the kind of respect from R9 that he is used to.
Let's see what Madrid achieve as a result for this project but whatever it may be, they are bound to rake in the moolah. Perez has brought together a team that no one can compete with in terms of popularity and so it has to be treated as a sensible and Great Gamble which is bound to make sense in the long run.

Cricket, IPL n Tendulkar

2009-05-19T11:10:00.001-07:00

Cricket is now a second favorite sport for me and so IPL does not enthuse me like it might have 10 years back but still like any sport I love to get myself whole heartedly behind a team and that makes things more interesting. With the IPL it was Mumbai Indians again that I was supporting. And unlike last year where they were in the race for the semis till the end, this year their dreams ended rather prematurely. What it makes me think is that in the list of the most illustrious cricketers, Sachin will be one without a major trophy and definitely a flop captain(Statistically at least everyone has to agree). Its a shame that he wont have a medal for being a World Cup, a Champions Trophy(Mini World Cup), Australasia Cup(Pakistan,Australia,Sri Lanka used to play this one at Sharjah), T20 WC, IPL winner. And much like his nearest rival in terms of talent and bad luck with trophies would be Brian Lara, Sachin too will end up retiring having a feeling on having missed out on a lot of things. There are some things that just cant be surpassed. And the team of 1983 achieved that by winning against the Windies. Sachin will invariably have to describe how India beat the Aussies 2-1 but that series was where VVS Laxman discovered himself. On the other hand, we all can easily remember Kapil Dev taking Viv Richards' catch in the Final of '83 even if most of our generation watched it in a replay 10 years after it actually happened. I felt in more ways than one that the IPL could prove to be a trophy that Sachin would be really proud of especially coz he was captaining the side. Like Shane Warne will be remembered for his captaincy in the first edition of the IPL even though he has a WC Winners' medal. I might be going over the top with the importance of winning the IPL but I think winning a tournament with 8 evenly balanced teams in a league format would have been a fitting conquest for a man who terrorised the 'Wizard of Oz'

The Great Indian Tamasha

2009-05-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

Yes it is election time..Time for promises et all. I dont see many of those from the people who are actually going to influence the final outcome in terms of who forms the government. The people I am talking about are Lalu Prasad, Behenji, Mulayam Singh etc. While the Congress and BJP made a lot of noise about their manifesto and the media scrutinized their manifestos alike. The leaders of the parties keep talking about what they will do...Mulayam Singh's manifesto got a fair share of media coverage coz he and his men want to take us back to stone age. Behenji does not need a manifesto coz she will anyways only make more parks and statues of herself now that she is bored of seeing Dr. Ambedkar. Lalu Prasad would rather be involved in mu-slingling with others than talk about hsi plans for the next 5 years or maybe the plan was to continue mudslinging only for the time to come.
And now comes the biggest dud of it all, the Great INDIAN public which makes a mockery of itself. The un-educated, ill informed aside, the educated people do not care to vote as well. Being as much in love as I am with the city of Mumbai, I am suprised that a meagre 44% went to vote on an average. an opportunity that presents itself once in 5 years should be more cherished than a lazy afternoon in the bed u adorn more than 300 days in an year. Lack of good candidates is a standard reason for the unwillingness to vote. I think the problem is a lack of consciousness about what we need. Voting should be forced upon the people of this country coz unfortunately the education we are getting is not enough to make us realize how important it is to vote. The GREAT INDIAN Tamasha carries on thanks to the most unrepentant public in the world.

A Tribute to the most entertaining Manager on the planet

2009-03-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Being in awe of the enigma, I thought it would be worthwhile to list a whole lot of quotes by the great man, about his colleagues, officials etc...They are in no particular order!!!
1. Following Chelsea's ill-tempered win over Barcelona in the Champions League in 2005 (The one with the dancing Goal by R10) Mourinho blasted: "My history as a manager cannot be compared with Frank Rijkaard's history. He has zero trophies and I have a lot of them."
2. As Chelsea manager, Jose put Arsenal's Arsene Wenger in his place: "I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea."
3. "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one."
Mourinho on his arrival at Chelsea in 2004
4. "If I wanted to have an easy job I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."
Mourinho, shortly after arriving at the Blues
5. "If Roman Abramovich helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league, and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt."
Mourinho on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich
6. "Everybody was waiting for Chelsea not to win every game, and one day when we lose, there will be a holiday in the country."
Mourinho, enjoying a long winning run with Chelsea
7. "After all that has happened this season - and that is a lot - I've reached the conclusion that I am a good loser."
Mourinho on his character and values

Interesting Movies

2009-02-26T01:38:00.000-08:00

There is a thing with movies. They bring out different reactions from different people. The worst case happens with the iffy movies, the ones about which the opinion is mixed. Now, the human perspective comes in wen people critique a movie. A person with strong, i mean really strong opinions would just be floored by a movie or will dismiss it outrightly. Thereafter come the people who would be confused in their judgment or like most things they do in life, tread the middle path by saying "Well, its a one time watch" well thank you for that, dint help me much in my decision of whether to watch the movie or not. Then come the people, whose humble opinions are better not taken, these are the people who are movie freaks but only till the extent where they watch every movie they can lay their hands on and are invariably lost on opinions about how good the movie really was. Now the thing with movies is that unless u belong to the third category of people discussed above urself, u will be lost on how to arrive at a decision invariably!!
But what is interesting is the diverse nature of movies that I have been enjoying lately and before recommending a movie I do keep the other person's personality in mind. So, I wouldn't recommend something like RockNrolla to everyone and I dont but it was a movie I really enjoyed!!!

Blaming the Wrong guy!!!

2009-02-10T02:09:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, it happened much sooner than expected. I was hoping Roman would learn from the fiasco that ensued post his sacking of Jose Mourinho. The clubs fans-at least who go to the stadium think football is like a movie where they need to get their money's worth else they will give it a 1 star or even less. This fascination with behaving like fans of Real Madrid is taking the club in the wrong direction. As for the news that is coming on the net courtesy the bloody British tabloids, it can be said that they are the worst thing about English football and the press contributes to downfall of teams especially their managers. Why is Scolari being blamed? I am speechless coz even if it was Roman himself who wanted him sacked, was he not convinced about his credentials when he appointed him in the first. No sport is about the trophies that were won in the past. The mightiest of teams and individuals can eventually turn ordinary. What those credentials assure is that there is an inherent ability somewhere. There should be some logic in appointing people and even more so when sacking them. If Roman had 15 mill to waste on sacking scolari, he might as well have spent that on buying a striker who would have at least brought a change to the team and given Big Phil some time. What Roman wants to prove is beyond comprehension now. Someone needs to tell him that not every deal he does in life can turn out to be as good as 'Sibneft'.
Scolari has undoubtedly been blamed for a year when the management committed one error after the other. Some things that were dealt with or not are:
1. They almost lost Lampard to the 'Special One' in order to underpay him which they could not eventually. Imagine what Chelsea would have done without him. Deco would have played all the matches and Scolari might have gotten sacked 2 months into the season. Rubbish
2. They let go of Steve Clarke, his indispensability to the club was proven when last year with the grim and sullying Grant in-charge, Chelsea were second best in all of Europe. The way players went to him to celebrate during and after the matches showed who was the boss behind the scenes. But no effort was made to make sure he stayed at the club by offering him an improved long term contract. If Grant could get a 4 year contract, why did Clarke not get something similar.
3. Drogba should have been sold and Robinho brought in at any cost. Why blame Scolari if he was afforded only signing, Deco who did not cost much.
4. And for once there should be an acceptance for the fact that Chelsea have been really unlucky with injuries to our best players of last 2-3 seasons, Riccy and Essien. Scolari trimmed the squad in accordance with the wishes of the management and injuries to regular first team players left him with little option but to try the same players no matter what kinda form they showed.
5. Unfair comparison with Jose serves no purpose, wen Jose wanted to teach some a lesson, he could throw them out..Like he did with Joe Cole who was not performing upto the mark...He was afforded replacements in his time. Gallas the whiner was replaced by Ashley and Bridge was a back up in the position..
6. We did over sell in the summer and were short of replacements in the middle...Chelsea never were and will not anytime be a breeding ground for 18 year old whizkids so the management should buy cover for positions without relying on kids whom they dont want to trust.
7. Scolari was always in my eyes a coach who would need time and since he wasnt afforded a full term, i wont say he was a failure, he was able to make the same players who were battlers produce sublime football in the first 3 months of the season and I would remember him for that...

Ironies of this footballing week

2009-01-28T14:17:00.001-08:00

1. Owing to the long weekend taken off by me and the less important FA Cup fixtures, one thing that slipped out of my mind was that there are 10 Premier league matches in midweek. What made things worse was the fact that I forgot to change my Football fantasy team but ironical as it turned out to be, I will do decently well this week.
2. Rafa Benitez after showing all the promise of being a sane man this year was at it again when he replaced Gerrard with Robbie Keane and ended up throwing away a 1-0 lead to end up with a 1-1 draw against Wigan.
3. It is so good to see Beckham doing what he does best, playing real football with MILAN. And ironically he scored 2 goals in a space of few days. With 5 days to go as I write this blog before he finalises his move to MILAN, things are going to get interesting.
4. Ironical it is that Scolari again plays Anelka on the right in the second half of Chelsea's match with Boro and he plays better than he did as a Centre forward in the first half.
5. While Manyoo beat a hapless 10 man WBA 5-0, their UCL opponents go down to 10 men themselves only to emerge 2-0 victors over 90 minutes against WBA's equivalent in Serie A, Catania. This is ironical.
6. It is also ironical that I finally wrote a blog and was not sleeping at 4 am in the nite.

TV Series - Life with them imaginable, without doubtful

2009-01-06T02:11:00.000-08:00

There was a time in life wen i detested those...TV for me was for Sports and MTV..I had my dose of the Ramayan, Mahabharat etc etc as a kid...Of course Shreeman Shrimati too...It was on DD Metro after all...Then came the times of Satellite television and suddenly all the cricket being played around the world was accessible...And i forgot the serials for good...MTV soon became a morning till night thing and it was sure fun...What will the cool VJs n all talkin in slangs all the time...I lost touch with the serials..But one fine day I happened to tune into STAR World and FRIENDS happened...It was pretty awesome...Tho hardly acquainted with life in New York, wat they did on the show seemed so real and so much like wat I wanted my life to be...Bt it was not going to happen in my school days so I hoped for better things in college...FRIENDS finished their quota of episodes and I ended up watchin till season 7 while at school...After Joining college,it dawned again that Serials are cool..And finishin off the final seasons of FRIENDS seemed like some achievement....And then began the saga of following one TV series after the other...There was plenty to chose from during college and somehow I missed Prison Break back then just cause catching up with my peers would take time and if I were a few episodes behind them..they would love nothing more than to reveal the mystery to me...So, I decided to live without watching Prison Break...
In B-school I was never too bored to start my TV series' obsession..That was until a few months back...And once I started I was back to watching all the shows I missed in the past and those I left unfinished..
And now here I am at the mercy of the producers of following shows - How I met your Mother, Dexter, Entourage, Prison Break....
And searching for more new shows to follow, I ended up watchin a few episodes of TRUE BLOOD which is high on popularity charts but a serious sucker of a show!!!!

Dedicated to the Goddest of them all

2008-12-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

We love him and we love him but we always love to criticise him wen we get a chance....We compare him to players of the past, the present and whatever the future might hold...He is revered the world over and most of us have grown up seeing him grow alongwith us...When he makes runs, everyone gets goosebumps in their stomachs...He connects with our minds like no else can and his connection with the common man and the elite is unprecedented and unexplainable...He is a genius and not because Mr SM Gavaskar says so but because he has more often than not proven himself to be...
He has made mistakes, but so have the real gods if we go by the epics...He has learnt from his mistakes and established his credibility over a period of time...He was an unsuccessful captain not because he was not a great leader of men but because he wanted to take all the pressure on himself..He is selfish when he is in the nervous nineties but the joy that sweeps us off the floor once he reaches 3 figures makes it truly worth the wait..
A man whose popularity has constantly increased over a period of 20 years is an accomplishment itself...
We all love our varied sports but I doubt if anyone can parallel the chants of Sachin Sachin when he is batting in terms of the volume and the sheer fact that the chants go on for hours and hours during a test match unlike a football match where its hard to hear it for whole of 90 minutes...
How often does a defensive shot get cheered(Yuvi batting yesterday) just so that Sachin can get a hundred...And those smug Tamilians who hate anyone non-Tam just go berserk once Sachin is on the pitch...
The man is beyond caste, religion, race and nationality...
He embodies humility like no one else...Owns a Ferrari but rarely takes it out during the day unlike other celebrities who are hungry for press coverage....
To be as successful as he is and still retain those middle class values speaks volumes of the greatness of the man...He waited to shake his hands with all the groundstaff who came to congratulate him and did not let go of the wicket he took out coz he cherishes everything he does ont the field..
There is and there will always be only one Sachin....and we can only hope that someone in the future be half as good as this guy...We will be blessed if that happens...

And he talked about saving the World and we see him hiding for cover behind Mr Iraq

2008-12-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Dubyaman has done it again...He was always a bright young boy in his teens and grew up to be the most loved President of America outside America....He always wanted to be the man who would stand out in the crowd..And stand out he did....Proving he was a man who would not learn from his mistakes...He first captured Afghanistan and then Iraq and trying to act the old colonial boys...He might have done it in the name of his fight against terror but the world still thinks he did it for the oilfields...The poor soul saw the worst of everything and stood strong in the face of adversity...His stance against terror after 9/11 was a strong message and perhaps it worked...Unfortunately no one has the balls to accept that it worked coz how do you measure the effect...Maybe his tirade has reduced the frequencies of attacks or maybe the growth of the Al Qaeda itself has been limited..Whatever be, he is never going to go down as a man of the masses...Unfortunately he had to see the greatest Financial crisis being engineered by greedy Bankers and others, any blame for this is totally unwarranted....HE is a man for oil and in his term it went up to $150 a barrel...
The question is whether America will go down like the erstwhile USSR in some time...I dont think so simply because the subprime has shown the entire world is really greedy and everyone wants uncle sam for the demand supply equations...
But what takes the cake is the way he handled the shoe or the pair of shoes...His reflexes were too good for an old man and I feel for the spirit he showed during the event and subsequently should make America to take an extraordinary step and elect this gentleman to the post of the President again after changing their system of course....
I donno if wat he has done in Iraq deserves a shoe in the face or not but he definitely did not endear himself to the man who did it...and wat about the ultra quick Security guards..seems like they were sleeping....coz after the first shoe, the second shoe too had to be handled by Bush himself...altho his Iraqi counterpart was trying his bit....I think Bush has proven himself to be "fit" enough for re-election after Change-obama fever is down....but alas it will require a Clinton to change the rules coz we all know he escaped being impeached...
Now, the question is was Clinton's position more damaging to his dignity then or is this shoe hurling to Bush....

does he really have a plan B??

2008-11-25T22:27:00.000-08:00

Appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari was something that brought great cheer to me. At a time when rumours abounded of Riijkard and Ancelloti taking over at Stamford Bridge, the appointment of the World Cup winning coach was testament to the fact that Chelsea were looking for someone who has a novelty about him. Having been away from club management for around a decade, Scolari was a strange choice for managing a club like Chelsea where success has become a way of life and being 2nd is just not acceptable. But it was a masterstroke coz unlike the other incumbents the Brazilian had a point to prove and he inherited a team that was essentially assembled by the Special One. The beautiful football as desired by Abramovich has been pretty evident ever since the arrival of Scolari. But i still miss the battle that Jose provided especially against the main rivals in the Top 4 of the BPL and Europe. Scolari has been able to get the best our of his players but he has been unfortunate with injuries to key players throughout his tenure. Without strengthening the squad through investments, he has revived the flagging fortunes of Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda. Both players were bought last season and struggled to settle.

But a worrying fact in the tenure has not been the loss to Liverpool and Roma because on their day, both of these teams are good enough to beat quality opposition but the surprise has been the inability to squeeze out a home win against the likes of Spurs and Newcastle. Albeit for the favorable results from their title rivals Chelsea would have been subjected to a lot of flak. Maybe its a sign of things to come in the season as the most popular football league seems to fast become the most challenging league as well..

The worrying factor is that Scolari has not yet shown that he has a real plan B and he is yet to prove his mettle with match changing substitutions like Jose always did...

Losing points to teams in the relegation zone is a concern especially when the points are lost at home. The Plan B needs to come soon else it might turn out to be another almost there kind of season like season 2007-08

Why this guy deserves it

2008-11-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

Well, if i were to chose a player who left Chelsea and I hate him for that reason. It could be William Gallas but i hate him for the way he did it. For being the great player he was till he stayed at Chelsea he behaved in a manner that would have been more normal for a moron but well he did exactly that and proved that he was a moron by being a crybaby and complaining for being played out of position by Jose even though that lent great balance to the team as Ashley Cole had not arrived at Chelsea and Gallas ended up filling the Left Back role while Carvalho excelled alongwith Terry in the centre back partnership. Perhaps it was his mistrust in the fact that once Jose got a good Left back he will ask him to sit on the bench. And then he started talk of a new challenge in a different league with a team that could win things. End of his era at Chelsea and he moved across the town to the biggest school in the World, Arsenal...And further diluted the credibility of the modern day footballers and their real footballing dreams. Wenger lapped him up purely for the fact that he 'THOUGHT' he was getting a bargain. His trust also arose from the fact that he hoped Gallas will prove to be a strong leader of boys(coz they dont have men at Arsenal) but Gallas had something else in his mind. Soon after his first season, he was blaming Arsenal nt being good enough to win trophies and not having that extra bit. Moving on and on a day when he needed to be the Great Leader who would protect his boys, he proved to be anything but a leader by blaming a young and promising Clichy for the result at Birmingham(this was their only noteworthy contribution to the season as they were relegated otherwise). Now he blames individuals, teammates for not being strong enough etc etc. I think he has proven to be a disaster of a sportsperson for he could have become a true legend at Chelsea or Arsenal but he has screwed it all and to top it all he seems to be short on form for a long long time..I am really happy that he is strugglin after leaving Chelsea coz he deserves it :D

Did i really like it

2008-10-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it was one of those days when I was really getting bored but well that has been the story for the past 1 month thanks to my MBA which these days is an MBA sans the classes. This leaves me with a lot of time to watch movies, download TV series, watch Cricket TEST matches et all. Something was missing though. I chanced upon the opportunity to attend a Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert. Well i made my mind up very quickly that I would attend it at any cost. Not that I appreciate Bollywood music so much but out of the sheer desperation to do something that I had not done since I left my engineering college, and the thing was attending a concert. During Engineering, attending a concert by these people would surely be a matter which would lead to people mocking at you for this was not music we cared for in those days. As much as I agree with that thought and the justification for the mockery, I could not help but realise that this could be a novel way to waste my time. The realisation that Shankar Ehsaan Loy had given the music for "ROCK On" on the concert day helped my case for attending it. And so i went, the music was as expected, Rock On rocked, the girl in the band rocked, me and a bunch of friends rocked for a few minutes thanks to "Mitwa" or was it "Hit hua" :D..no prizes for guessing...
Seeing Indians guys go crazy around a white female was expected but seeing some girls doing it was a not so welcome surprise..
After the concert we go to have dinner...but end up in the lounge...which means "no sizzlers and an apetite for Alcohol"...and so we start drinking...The experimental guy orders a glass of wine which has some orange in it..Experiement turned sour or bitter..i rest my case..
Everyone but for one guy gets excessively drunk. One guy ends up teaching white people how to abuse in Hindi...Now who needed that kinda social service from him...
The place we went took the last orders at 12:45 or was supposed to....and we left the place at 2 in the night...
We all part our ways and an unexpected end to a fun filled night brings some life into a boring month...

Why people start supporting Winners??

2008-09-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Its a very pertinent question..Why do people do that...Why do people treat supporting the underdog like a social stigma...Its like if i support the one who has less chance of winning would lead to some sorta social ostracism..
There is a funny bit to it as well in my opinion...If we take the case of team sports, then people cite history to be the reason...Some say, my team has such a great history..Well so wat??Supporting teams on basis of their past glory is like chosing the path evry tom dick n harry already took...It might sound irrational to a lot of people but i feel that supporting a team or an individual shud be based on connecting with the concerned entity on basis of anything but trophies in the bag..Its very easy to support a Manchester United or Real MAdrid..They have the history,..have always had the funds and trophy bag to attract players...Why not support a team that is trying to break the jinx and do something new..something like an Everton, Fiorentina...
Whats the point of supporting a Roger Federer who can't give u the adrenaline rush in every match..U can relax and spend 2 hrs to watch a match that would be pure excellence..Maybe we like to support wat we sometimes feel we are missing in our lives...being the very best there is in the business...U relate to an exceptional individual sometimes only becoz u can't be him...Like Schumacher was, like Federer is or like Messi will be...
Sport is best enjoyed with an air of competition and so supporting a team or individual who has that slight bit of vulnerability leaves a lot of scope for enjoying the highs and lows and getting the adrenaline rush that makes sports worth watchin...

The most bizzare deadline movement ever

2008-09-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well...so finally the deadline ended but with a big big surprise...I went to sleep hoping Berbatov would be a Man Citeh player come the morning of 2nd sept'08 but to my surprise it was thumb-suckin Robinho who was now a Man Citeh player...I was taken aback but when i realised it might have been for the good...coz a player who is considered a Genius moves from the so-called Greatest club in Europe to the rather unfancied Man Citeh who have never in the history of EPL finished within the top 4, i was made to think that this guy has done Chelsea a favor by not coming here...He has in the past done this to his brazilian club, Santos...What happened then wat theatrical, Robinho's mother was kidnapped as soon as his transfer news poured in...The kidnap served the dual purpose of thwarting his attempts to move abroad and the kidnappers making some money too....He talked about his undying love for Real madrid and sacrificed his share of the transfer money only so that his beloved madrid cud afford him and moved to the bernabeu in 2005...And then 3 years later he was whining for a petty matter of being un-valued by his owners...What made him think he deserved more money than he was earning is anyone's guess...
Anyways, on 1st sept he has moved to man citeh..thereby establishin a fact that he is just looking for money....Unfortunately for City, i wont be surprised if he gets disillusioned by life in Manchester and seeks a move to London, Milan etc...I see him being treated like a prince in Man City and that is what drove him there....To be the biggest superstar in a team of players who are good value for money(ELano, Petrov, Benjani, SWP etc)...I think he was getting sick of being a sidekick in the superstar lineup of MAdrid and feared worse when confronted at chelsea by the likes of Lampard, TErry, Ballack, Drogba etc...He has chosen wisely I feel because he is oonly 24 and he can still win everything there is to be won with some other club after moving on from City...Unfortunately it seems like players want to be known more for the transfer money they command these days than the number of goals scored.... But one cant really blame a boy to be running after money if he had no money to board a bus at the age of 12....For him, no amount of money can be enough coz he has seen the worst life can give to u and worse of all money being the reason for every problem in life while u r growing up...

To attend or not to attend

2008-09-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Now this is a very pertinent question when u r at college..Thr r so many things tht u cud do instead of sitting in a class whr u mite end up listenin to the instructor only once...and tht wud b wen ur roll call comes as part of the attendance...So, now comes the tough part...convincing urself to bunk the class...Bunkin is easy for some people who r nt concerned abt the consequences bt for those who have various permutations and combinations of things that cud happen if u do not attend...it can wreck havoc in the mind...bt then comes the savior...tht "proxy-master" who established his credentials earlier in the day and u feel comforted that no matter hell, high water or watever..u can rest assured that this guy will rescue u..
Now comes the interesting bit...u face a friend of urs...who is absolutely at the verge as he has bunked his allowed quota of classes..He is stunned tht u found the proxy master and tht casts a doubt in his mind abt whether the guy he chose will be up to mark...here is wen u play the "unintended devil", u convince him tht the prof left the class last time in a real foul mood...and u have a gut feeling tht he will do something random which can result in dire consequences..ur friend fearing the worst decides against bunkin and takin a chance to attend the lecture...in the mean, u also start panickin thinkin tht of the various scenarios tht r possible...u rnt immune to them..and past history is testament to being unlucky in case of bunkin classes and comin out unscathed....and then Eureka..u urself get convinced tht u need to attend....
Now comes the 3rd bit...U reach the class and gleefully take the last bench..chkin on the ammunition(Laptop charge, Magazines, newpaper) which will help u survive the battle ahead...And comes another friend who is like ur friend whom u convinced but only in terms of the attendance status..This friend decides to get not attend coz thr is someone ready to give proxy...And then u finally arrive at the decision that can change ur day...U decide to forget all the permutations and combinations(of things the prof cud do 2 ruin ur trimester) and thinkin of the sumptuous evening snacks(abt wich u started thinkin sm time back) available on the way back home leave the class..looking forward to whetting ur appetite....U leave the class....and now with a guilty conscience, type the last few words of ur blog as u end up doin nothin in the 3 hours u cud have spent in the class itself...
But such is life....