Bayern meet Barcelona!

If there are two teams that social media has compared the most with the cliched 'unstoppable force' tag this year, they would be Bayern Munich and Barcelona. After the draw, I'm seeing a lot of 'Oh no Barca!', 'Oh no Bayern', 'we'll easily beat them' messages from both sides of the fence. Mostly, many fans of both teams wished they didn't meet each other for the Semis.

When the draw for the Semifinals was made, I was kind of hoping it would come to this - both as a fan of Bayern and as a fan of the game.

As a fan of the game, I can see Dortmund play Bayern every year. At least twice. Out of Madrid and Barcelona, Barcelona's system is considered the more superior by a majority of the critics & media worldwide. Hence, it'd be great to see this 'deutscher-meister' Bayern side take them on over two legs, when the odds are even (home & away) and both teams have two legs to play to-and-fro strategy, in addition to the brilliance that evolves during the period of the game.

Why not Madrid? 

Much as I'd like an all German final, I expect Real Madrid to leave Dortmund behind this time. During the 'group of death' matches, Real would have spent the lowest amount of time preparing for BVB, focusing more on Barcelona at home and getting the better of Man City in the CL. This time around, Dortmund have Mourinho's complete attention. He's very good at destroying an inexperienced side at this level - even with a slightly above average, upcoming squad (Porto!). With a squad like Madrid's, Dortmund have an Everest to climb. All due respect to Dortmund, though. They have been brilliant and have it in them to see Real off, but I don't see that happening over these two matches.

But wait, this post is about Bayern, right? 

It'd make perfect sense for Bayern to meet Real in the final. We know, saw and cried over what Mourinho did to Bayern with his Inter. He's exceptionally good at strategising for one-off matches. I have been amazed time and again by the stuff he comes up with for these matches - at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Madrid. It is WAY more difficult to beat Madrid in the final as against meeting them in the Semis. As a fan of Bayern, this makes it the most difficult way to winning the League.

You can't expect me (and my kind) to survive yet another final or SF loss, no? 

But yes, I prefer this fixture. I want Bayern to win the Semis. I want Bayern to win the Final. If we do it, though, there's not a damn way in hell Bayern can be put down in any argument.

There can't be a 'German Champions? That's not a competitive league!' even from the most ignorant among idiots. There can't be a 'But you didn't meet Barcelona, no? That's the best team out there'.

No. Bayern will be the best team in Europe, across leagues.

Why do I have this crazy wish for difficult fixtures? 

Because I am what I am.

When you see a Bayern match and see fans holding a big banner that says, 'Mia San Mia!', that's what it means.

Champions League draw 2011-12

An Allianz arena finals in the offing. I sure as hell hope Bayern make it to that game this year. Getting Vidal would have almost confirmed it, but let's see.

Group A
FC Bayern München (GER)
Villarreal CF (ESP)
Manchester City FC (ENG)
SSC Napoli (ITA)

Group A is tough, yes, but I'm over 90% sure that Bayern and City can see Villareal off. Napoli, on the other hand, is screwed.

Group B
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
LOSC Lille Métropole (FRA)
Trabzonspor AŞ (TUR)

Inter's playgroup, and Lille's best chance in the past few years. Lille vs Moscow should be interesting!

Group C
Manchester United FC (ENG)
SL Benfica (POR)
FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
FC Oţelul Galaţi (ROU)

Benfica may give it their all but ManU can safely top the group here. More like practice for the big rounds.

Group D
Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
AFC Ajax (NED)
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

An improved Dinamo is all set to be destroyed by the other three. Lyon - Madrid has seen some awesome matchups in the recent years but I expect Madrid to safely keep Lyon at bay. Ajax, probably one of the fastest teams in fray, still has very few chances of causing upsets. It'd be awesome to see what they can do to Lyon.

Group E
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Valencia CF (ESP)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER)
KRC Genk (BEL)

While Chelsea can be expected to scrape through to the next round, it is most difficult to score 12 in this group. Valencia and Leverkusen will fight it out for the second spot. Leverkusen without their best player from last year might fall short, but I expect much from their Arsenal-ish side. Their problem, however, would be Valencia's equal strength.

Group F
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
Olympiacos FC (GRE)
Borussia Dortmund (GER)

I expect a lot from Dortmund this year, despite losing the most influential Sahin from their fairytale season. They are the biggest threat to Marseille's progress. With the Greeks expected to raise their walls and earn some draws, it would be crucial for the other teams to win against Olympiakos. Arsenal don't look very promising, but surely they should progress from this group?

Group G
FC Porto (POR)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
FC Zenit St Petersburg (RUS)
APOEL FC (CYP)

To me, this is the most competitive group out of the eight with any of Porto, Shakhtar or Zenit capable of topping the group. Porto's weakness would come from the travelling and the other teams' local game concentration - or the lack of it. With Zenit's home advantage lost against Shakhtar, I expect Zenit to drop crucial points there. Given all this, Shakhtar should get into the next stage and I expect Porto to continue their progress from last season. Needless to mention, APOEL doesn't stand a chance, but can make a difference like Olympiakos.

Group H
FC Barcelona (ESP)
AC Milan (ITA)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)

The Barca - Milan ties would be awesome to watch, but no surprises on who're progressing from this group, are there?

3+ Rounds

Met the daily target yesterday. 3+ rounds. Should keep that up at 4 rounds for the next few days.

Run, Forrest! Run!

Second day on the ground. Could easily cover more ground than the day before. Completed 2 rounds of slow jogging / fast walking (~750 metres) followed by about 500m of ground coverage in a micro game of football. Remembered the good old days when I did all this to warm up.

Should cover 3 to 4 rounds tomorrow.

Here's hoping whoever reads this eggs me on to keep running!


PS: I am not a complete 0 / 100 in the game. Let's say I'm at 0.01/100 now. Should start with that once I can run without getting into a breathing frenzy!

Champions' League 2010 - 2011... Group A

Now that the draw is done, let's take one group at a time and (since this is my blog,) I'll share a few words on how I want things to go about and if the odds are on my side for that.

Urm, Group A to begin with!

Inter Milan
SV Werder Bremen
Tottenham Hotspur
FC Twente

My pre-draw wish was to see Inter-Real-Spurs-Twente (the strongest possible group? - taking the English and Spanish teams out in Pot 1 for Real & Spurs) in the same group. Three fourths of it coming true isn't that bad, is it? Now that I think about it, this is a better group. Much as I'd like to see what Mourinho will do with Real, Werder Bremen's game is something I've loved (in the past). Results (I don't see many games anymore...) don't seem to favour them after Diego's Italian transfer - they needed a high-voltage surge to end up third last season. Struggling to beat Sampdoria and a 1-4 loss to Hoffenheim is a bad start, but Werder Bremen are a strong team even without Mesut Ozil, no doubt - and have it in them to run through Tottenham or Twente.

FC Twente are strong (supposedly) and on a roll, and since I don't know much about them, I'd rather wait and watch what happens. It'd be interesting to see how Inter fare without the One - it is still an awesome team anyway. One part of me wants Inter to die out in the group stage while another wants Inter to progress and get butchered by Bayern (as Capt.Haddock would put it, "Revenge! Revenge! REVENGE!"). Tottenham, urm, completes this awesome set - and hence most of us will get to watch the other three teams on TV! It is a strong team and can even beat Inter on their day, but yea, that still sounds like a fairy tale to me, given their off-the-scale unpredictability.

Who I want to progress: Bremen, Spurs
Who will (prediction) : Inter, Spurs
Underdogs: FC Twente
What's awesome about Group A: Four strong teams

Idho vanduten...

When I stopped playing football by the end of 1997 (yea, a couple of years after I started - not like a career or anything, he he), I knew what I was getting into. My instructor had asked me to keep exercising and if not, I would become fat, especially around the belly portion, once I finished growing taller.

Anyone who has seen me in the past four or five years can say whether I worked on his advice. :)

I was back on the field today after seven years (thirteen, if you count playing for a team) and realized a lot of things.

a) I have a serious respiratory issue I am planning to overlook for the moment.
b) I am planning to run and explore as much as possible.
c) I can still bend the ball.
d) Most importantly, I was of the opinion that my football 'skills' (if I may use that word) would have gone down exponentially since '97. I was either wrong about the exponential function back then, or we have reached infinity. Yes, I am back at zero. In fact, zero is over rating it.
e) I can't run continuously for even five minutes now.
f) I should.
g) Total distance covered was at least four kilometres (including the 8-6 end-to-end on the basketball court).
h) This is just as fun as it was.

Much thanks to Lian and Devabasu for letting me in first.

Arsenal vs Chelsea Feb 7, 2010

And we begin. (Popular demand) :))

Warning: Updates are quicker than that of BBC or related sites. But definitely not as detailed.

The first five minutes have largely been Chelsea's...

8th min. DROGBA scores. Superb corner. Superb flick. Arsenal is indeed Drogba's bunny.
10' Strong interception by Chelsea. Drogba wastes it. Stamford bridge sure'd look ominous to Wenger now!
11' Arsenal are visibly shaken, just like what happens whenever a major team scores against them.
12' Can Arshavin and Cesc do anything to turn this around?
13' The way Chelsea play reminds me of the Champions league Semifinal against Barcelona last year. Pure class. Not something I've seen from them since then. How did this happen?
15' Nasri sure doesn't look like the man for the job. Malouda looks like the one.
16' Drogba's offside by an inch. Arsenal survives... Meanwhile, Cesc is no match for Cech at the other end.

Hi to our first visitor Ivan :)

17' Cech saves the day for Chelsea. Arshavin almost scores.
19': @Ivan's comment. Personally, I don't care about his personal life. He plays like God.
20': Cech is too much to take for Arsenal. Got a feeling the Blues have slowed down. Their defence is coming into play.
21': Arsenal has been having the ball for the last 5 minutes.
22' DROGBA SCORES. Lampard begins the journey , takes it through and pushes it to Drogba who fires it, yes, literally fires it past Almunia. Almunia is not good enough for this. He was clueless.
25': Arsenal are figuring out what's happening. Cech on the other side and the score would have been a different story.
26': Chelsea lead 2 - 0 and that only tells us how strong Arsenal's defence is.
28': Sixty seconds of possession for Arsenal after a while
30': There's a replay of that Drogba tornado on TV. The cameramen can't get enough of it, we can't get enough of it. Awesome finish. Great job by Frank Lampard too.
32': Ashely Cole almost scores. Again. Corner.
33': Malouda takes the corner. It's looming around the Arsenal goal and oh, Anelka is... you know, offside.
34': Ivanovic and Carvalho have been the only defenders tested today. terry's been having it easy and Ashley Cole is almost playing LW.
36': lampard is handling too many roles with elan there. Seriously happy at this performance from the Blues. Still a bright chance for a Champions' League victory for an English side, I must say. If only they had Rooney alongside Drogba, I wouldn't have even a doubt.
38': @Ivan. Walcott runs behind Ashley Cole. This game is one example of how good Ashley cole can get.
39': Malouda magic. Not much follow up.
39': Ballack is surprised at Arsenal defenders bumping into each other and Drogba almost places it at Anelka's feet to fire. Another time, it would be a goal.

Would love more followers. Seriously.

41': Nasri gets the better of Ivanovic for the first time today.
42': Now we know why Chelsea bought Malouda. Devastating. He could be. He spins like Shakthimaan and ta da, he is already beyond you.
44': Arshavin doesn't come close to even teasing Terry. Is this the Andrei we knew?
45': The commentator says it all. Terry reads Sagna's mind.
46': Ivanovic brings Cesc down. Intentionally. Lucky to get away without a card.

2 extra minutes before the break.

47': HEAD ON COLLISION. Malouda and Vermaelen. Blood. Gore. Malouda was just too fast / very dangerously daring and Vermaelen was just too complacent. Vermaelen's floored. Malouda walks on with blood flowing from his head.

HT Chelsea ahead by two goals.

John Dykes: Arsenal swept aside! When have we seen that before?
Fellow commentator: Last week, against Manchester United...

Really, what happened to Arsenal? Andrei is not at his creative best. Walcott and Diaby look silly, Gallas and Vermaelen are the only defenders, Sagna is a pushover. What is going on, Mr.Wenger?

For England in SA, Terry (despite all the news around him) and A.Cole are a must! Combine that with Rio and we have an unbreakable defence of 3. 3 - 4 - 3 is an option Capello should consider strongly, perhaps? or 3 - 5- 2, going by Rooney's form...

46': Second Half is ON
46': Walcott gets the ball out of play from his own possession. Silly or what? Slipped, actually.
47': 46th was an Arsenal minute. A snake without its teeth would be a good analogy. No?
48': Gallas could have easily hit the ball anywhere he wanted. Instead, it's a corner. Brilliant corner by Lampard. No one utilizes it.Headed away.
49': Chelsea not playing as a team yet in this half. Arsenal couldn't have it any better.
50': Cech still looks impossible for Arsenal.
51': Drogba is down. Perfect start for Arsenal, seriously.
53': Too many fouls from Chelsea in eight minutes, me thinks.
54': Ashley Cole stops what would have been a killer pass.
55': Almunia is lucky. A rolling ball and he struggles to latch on to it. He does it at the end though.

@Mayil Arsenal are confused.

56': Anelka humiliates great play from Ivanovic and lampard. Lampard especially. Humiliates is the word.
58': Strange that Almunia hits a long shot to terry on the right half with all Reds on the other half...
59': Moments of brilliance from Drogba at one end and Ballack at the other.
60': The ball is in Chelsea's half. No, not joking. Nasri hesitates at teh crucial moment and loses it.
61': Terry's injured there or what? Limps.
62': Ballack's good at interceptions. Too good in this match, at least.
63': Drogba's passes are all killer. ALL of them. Chelsea haven't been good enough to use em. Lampard was running too fast for that pass. A second slower and it would be at the back of the net. Only a matter of time beofre it's three, if it goes on like this.
64': Walcott's off. Bendtner's in. And yes, terry's injured.
Much needed change for Arsenal. but Bendtner?
66': Nasri's not giving Cech any problems.
67': Interception header by Diaby. Yes.
67': A limping Terry's faster than Arsenal. #quote
68': What was between Drogba and Cesc? Was typing and missed it.
69': Carvalho brings Bendtner down just outside the box. Free kick from the line. Cesc vs Cech.
69': PETER CECH is the DUDE of the hour.
70': AGAIN. CECH saves AGAIN. He is beyond Human. A few saves in this match have been of the "How in the world did he stop that?" type.
72': Clichy proves he is equal to Anelka.Not a great achievemnt looking at how Anelka's been playing today.
73': Almunia's brave enough to walk outside the box. Ha.
74': Rosicky for Diaby and Eboue for Sagna. Now Wenger's talking! Wait a minute, did he read my blog?
76': Corner for Chelsea. Malouda. ballack heads it into the stands. Wenger's been a busy man today shouting at people.
77': Super pass from Eboue to Bendtner, and like all passes to Bendtner, wasted.
78': Eboue beginning to threaten Chelsea. They should look at isolating him.
79': Zhirkov's ready to come in.
80': Arsenal had a chance there. Pucca header from fabregas. If only it hadn't been Bendtner!
81': Like I worried, Bendtner's as much of a problem for Arsenal as is Mikel. Zhirkov on for Ballack. Ovation.
82: Good recovery from Lampard after a stumble. Free kick for Chelsea.
83': OFF THE POST!!! BRILLIANT SHOT!! ALMOST A HATTRICK. Almunia could do nothing there. Noone else could have.
85': Another freekick. cesc feels chelsea doesn't deserve it. I didn't see. Anelks misses again.
86': Eboue and cesc are the only good things Wenger can take away from this match. and someone remind him, Bendtner's a waste.
87': Good one here. J Cole for Anelka. Another goal on the cards now, I think.
88': yellow for Zhirkov. Deservedly. Vermaelen will have that first half souvenir from Malouda for a while, I think.
89': Lampard and Gallas push each other. Whatay fun.
90': Fabregas comes close. Was twenty inches from taking a clean sheet away from Cech.
91': Kalou for Drogba. Standing Ovation.
92': Zhirkov's not a great replacement for Ballack. Yet to see him at his best for Chelsea.
93': Brilliant attempt to get the ball to Rosicky from Arshavin, but the name's Cole, Ashley Cole.

Hullo visitors?

94': Wenger's upset, and he has been so for a while now. Ashley Cole stops anything that comes in to the box. Saves a lot of trouble for Cech.
96': Er. How many added minutes are there, by the way?

CHELSEA WIN 2 - 0 largely due to an amazing display of football in the first half that left half of Arsenal wishing they weren't there.

Arsenal - Chelsea - Live text and updates!

Emirates, November 29 2009

One game I cannot take sides for. May the best team win.

Quick words:
Seven minutes into the game and Arsenal are in full control.
Arshavin, Song, Cesc, Cech and Essien are doing their job pretty well.

10:47 - Mikel gets a warning for targeting Cesc.
13th: Nasri wins a throw in from a fine position.
14th: Drogba is offside.
15th: Ashley Cole is still settling in.
16th: Arsenal look dangerous. Chelsea is clueless as people in red and white assume important positions all over the place.
16th: Drogba tries to sneak one in.
17th: Essien and Carvalho have a handful to handle, as Arsenal take a corner.
18th: Cech takes an easy one from the corner.
18th: Chelsea threatened one and HOW! Mikel takes one, pushes to Lampard, wonderful pass past Drogba to Anelka, who was, I think, tugged down just in time.
20th: Sagna's been having a busy day near the Chelsea box.
20th: Looks like Gallas pushed Anelka down. lampard takes a free kick, defenders clear it for a corner.
22nd: Lampard takes the corner as well, Essien taking what I call the central header place.
23rd: Drogba and Almunia's header/catch practice session.
24th: Nasri fires into Cech's hands.
25th: Essien's proving to be a big obstacle for everyone in Arsenal.
25th: Ivanovic runs faster than Traore. Traore doesn't like it, pulls Ivanovic down, and gets a yellow card.

Funny, but Chelsea get better with time.

27th: Essien misses one, takes Cech to stop an Arsha-win.
28th: Sagna believes Cesc's pass was too fast. I believe Sagna wasn't fast enough.
29th: Offside - Arsenal. Would have been a penalty if not an offside.
30th: Mikel's too...casual? Arshavin's literally taking the ball away from Mikel's feet.
32nd: Joe cole has been warned. 'No, you can't have Nasri's trousers'
34th: Drogba apologises to Anelka for picking a packed up Joe Cole instead.
35th: Confusion in the Chelsea box.
36th: Ivanovic is getting the bettrer of Nasri today.
37th: Yellow for Drogba! Medicos for the defender.
38th: ESPN shows the foul each team committed in its own D and how well they got away with it. Sagna definitely was the culprit there. (refer minute 18)
40th: Eduardo would have scored had Peter Cech not run in to scoop the ball!
41st: Traore can't understand what he should be doing anymore.
42nd: DROGBA SCORES. Terry to Ashley. Ashley to Drogba. Amazing followup. I can't decide which of the three is better. Terry's superb pass or Ashley's superb cross or Drogba's neat finish. I'll go with Ashley.

Ancelotti punches an invisible demon to show his happiness. Eleven appearences for Drogba against Arsenal; nine goals! And some people wonder why I am beginning to like Drogba!

43rd: Gallas ensures that Drogba doesn't get two in two minutes!
44th: When Mikel wins the ball from two Arsenal players, you can say Arsenal is shaken.
45th: GOAL TWO for Chelsea. Wonderful cross from J Cole. Vermaelen puts it in (OG) before Drogba can get anywhere near! Arsenal are repeating the same mistakes they did against ManU. The rule's "Don't get shaken so much!"

HT: Chelsea 2 - 0 Arsenal

Aswin's HT Analysis:
Outstanding first twenty minutes from Arsenal. Equally good performance from Chelsea in the next twenty five. Arsenal's last five minutes of the half was poor despite some valiant attempts; and these five minutes have been the difference.

SECOND HALF underway. Theo Walcott's here. Arsenal's in a definite attacking mood, no doubt.

47th: Good defending to stop Eduardo da Silva.
48th: Nasri hits in to the D, Terry heads it out. Arsenal try again. Essien's here.
49th: Commotion all around. Many hits. Many saves. Arshavin slots one. Not a goal.

Chelsea need time to settle in. Just like ever.

51st: free kick for Arsenal.
53rd: Arsenal want to attack. Chelsea's still 'analyzing', except for Carvalho, Essien and the man, John Terry.
54th: Anelka's the "name of the blog". Offside.
55th: Corner for Arsenal. Absolutely sorry, but no time to write about the finer details of the moments on screen (or I'll miss them! At least I get to watch this way!). If only I had a speech to text converter!
56th: Cleared just in time by John terry. JUST in time.
57th: Eduardo out. Vela in. Arsene's going for it on one hand, and saving Eduardo for the rest of the season on the other.
58th: Arsenal discover that beyond Terry, there's a man named Cech.
59th: Traore's not happy, I think, with his game.
60th: Lampard and the pass of grace.
60th: Anelka's offside, yet again.
61st: Arsenal freekick. Punched out by cech.
62nd: Freekick for Arsenal. Fabregas is wondering why the rest of Arsenal didn't put that into the net. Gallas is not able to reach the ball before Cech does.
64th: Almunia saves it one second before the ball creeps into the net off a Lampard deflection.
65th: Joe Cole thinks he deserves a free kick too.
66th: Terry's complaining that Vermaelen hugs him tight whenever he's in the Chelsea box and rightly so (TV replays show Terry's right). That's not football. This is not how you 'mark' people.
67th: Rosicky in for Nasri.
68th: Arsenal says Sagna can attack. Chelsea says anyone can defend that.
69th: Deco in for Joe cole.
70th: Free kick for Arsenal from close range. Yellow for Essien.
72nd: Ashley Cole is out. Ferreira's in.
73rd: People think they can jump on Drogba and push him down. Small boys.
74th: Deco gives it away. Arshavin threatens. Carvalho saves the day.
75th: No one knows who owns the ball.
76th: Two men down. Play continues. (Denilson and Drogba). Play finally stopped.
77th: Vela needs to realise that falling inside the box does not mean a penalty would be given. Someone needs to push him down!
78th: Desperate game from both sides. A little funny at the moment.
79th: The ball's stayed in the Almunia half for more than two mins now.
80th: Ivanovic's doing a great job out there. Nasri didn't read him. Vela's finding him difficult too.
81st: Goal kick for Arsenal.
81st: Lampard and Sagna play Shaolin soccer.
82nd: Noone knows who owns the ball now. How would they calculate possession percentage for this match?
83rd: Deco gives it away, yet again!
84th: Essien's thinking of attacking...finally!
85th: Some people start leaving the Emirates. They didn't come to watch this!
85th: Fabregas brings down Essien near the box. close range free kick for Chelsea.
86th: DROGBA fires it in! 3-0 Chelsea! Far end of the post. Almunia didn't have much of a chance there. Ten goals in eleven appearences for Drogba against the Gunners. People are walking out of the Emirates now.
88th: Deco does the first good thing of the day, wins a freekick. Drogba out. Malouda in.
88th: Gallas marshals the Arsenal. They begin to look good when Sagna fires it into the stands which are becoming increasingly empty now. Wait, is it the Chelsea crowd I am hearing?
91st: Essien's faster than anyone else on the ground now.
93rd: Why is Arsenal defensive now??
94th: Malouda misses what would have been a fourth for Chelsea.
95th: Fabregas is frustrated and eventually gets an yellow.

It's all over. Chelsea 3 - 0 Arsenal.
Chelsea have beaten the rest of the big four season so far and is on top of the table for good reason. Arsenal did not have it in them to convert efforts into goals and that's a reason they're going further away from the top of the table today.

FT words:
Barcelona or Madrid can not come up with anything better than what Arsenal did in their moments. if Arsenal had stuck to that attack and played like Gods, I doubt if things would have been different. The bottom line is that Chelsea survived, and they are all set to survive any further attacks. If only Deco improves his touch vastly, Chelsea need not worry about the African cup of nations. Losing Essien and Drogba will be hard, and Chelsea will look at extending their lead considerably before that.

Nobody visits this blog for live updates. I am just wondering why I am doing all this. :)
Heck, who cares?

Chelsea, ManU and Gabriel Obertan

Chelsea 1 - 0 ManU, Sunday Nov 8 2009

It wasn't the great game people thought it would be, at least in my opinion. It was a game that was full of energy channeled into all the wrong departments, tempers flying high, happenings that did not meet the referees' eyes, so on and so forth. It was a match right out of Bundesliga, what with all the hits and pushes.

To begin with, the blues deserve the lead they have at the moment, not for the effort they put in yesterday but for the effort they have been putting in all season. Yesterday though, they were mediocre compared to what they can do. Without Vidic and Rio, Chelsea should have ideally annihilated the Manchester United defence. Instead, they were left with problems in their own, unable to contain Antonio Valencia in many situations. ManU midfield was having a field day passing the ball into the Chelsea box at will. Terry and Carvalho had a tiring day clearing the ball by all means possible. Overall, it was no impressive performance from Chelsea, although credit has to be given to Ivanovic for a fine attacking(?) display.

To ManU's credit, they kept the opposition's defence busy, limited Ashley Cole's running time & space (worked wonders) and came up with an artistic midfield display. Fletcher, Rooney, Obertan and Giggs were impressive. I have a feeling Terry's goal can be attributed to missing Vidic and Rio. It wouldn't have been that easy with them around. Another positive point for ManU is that they did not concede a single corner. The number of shots off target is something SAF should look into. Only two of them even threatened to be a goal if hit right (esp the Rooney one).

Next, I must come to the case of Gabriel Obertan. The French Winger is clearly an amazing talent with an amazing Arsenal-ish style of play. He is still settling in, with his performance against Chelsea much better than his Blackburn outing. I am sure he would be a force to reckon with, post January, given time and importance. With Chelsea losing players to the african cup of nations and Obertan fitting in the ManU first team with Rooney and Fletcher, my opinion is that five points will not be a good enough lead. Hope SAF gives Obertan more playing time in the first team in local cups before that. He is clearly better than Macheda.

And oh, shouldn't forget an Arsenal waiting to swwwishhhh past the two teams. Arshavin & Fabregas together can create more opportunities than any other combo in England at the moment.

Chelsea
# 01 Cech - got the job done with one superb save
# 02 Ivanovic - Brilliant performance
# 03 A Cole - good, as usual
# 06 Carvalho - one amazing block, man-marked rooney very well, but had his bad moments.
# 26 Terry - Ref's eyes did not see him tugging Valencia. Saw Chelsea through.
# 05 Essien - Was all over the place. Very intelligent passes.
# 08 Lampard - The freekick that decided the result. Go Frank!
# 13 Ballack - A really wonderful cross into no man's land is what I remember of him from yesterday's game.
# 20 Deco - Lot of effort but ineffective due to many reasons. Will be the difference as the season progresses.
# (J Cole) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Drogba - Nothing much to say
# (Kalou 83) - Did not have enough time to prove anything
# 39 Anelka - Surprisingly good
# (Alex 90+3) - Did not have any time at all

ManU
# 01 Van der Sar - Good game. Had his moments.
# 03 Evra - Tried much to prove his talk off the pitch. Couldn't.
# 06 Brown - Good enough to block Chelsea yesterday
# 22 O'Shea - Nothing much to say
# 23 Evans - I really did not like the way he played
# 08 Anderson - lot of tricks. no results.
# (Owen) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Giggs - Very good. Except that I believe he should have taken on Cech initially when he had a go. Cech was clearly tensed when Giggs had the ball at his feet with no defender in between.
# (Obertan) - Very very impressive style of play.
# 16 Carrick - Somehow don't like him as much as I like Fletcher. Not half as impressive.
# 24 Fletcher - Developing into something solid.
# 25 Valencia - Brilliant stuff. In amazing touch.
# 10 Rooney - Lone fighter yesterday. Berbatov's presence would've unleashed rooney on Chelsea. If not for the harsh offside, ManU would have been ahead early.

Burnley at it again!

A recent equation doing the rounds in forums around the World.

Burnley at Turf Moor = Liverpool at Anfield.

They sent ManU crying, and how! Even without Caldwell and half of the team's "Moor" defence. (The new guy's cool, though.)

Recent scalps : Arsenal, Chelsea and ManU.

Go on Coyle!

Forums believe that ManU lost because of :
1. Lack of pace.
2. lack of width.
1+2 = 3. In short, Lack of CR7.

I wouldn't say that. Though Cristiano was an incredible "presence" against weak teams, I still think ManU missed Carlos Tevez more.

Just wait and see what Tevez does for ManC when they visit Burnley. You'll see what I am talking about.

Possession Football

Possession football is a style of play that puts me off more often than not. For a huge fan of the counter-attack style, I hate to admit it. But Possession football has its own huge advantages, most importantly at the School level.

When I used to play at School, ahem, rewind many many years, my school team coach (read PT master :D) was singularly cross with me for not playing possession football even when he compelled me to. I was always looking to attack and run down the left flank, and possibly into the box. I never thought about anything else. Because I got to see so less of the ball. I remember being made to sit on the bench for the rest of the day. And the subsequent match against the Rajalakshmi school kiddos. (Are such matches still held? :))

Now that I think of it, I can blame neither. Every child wants to have the ball for a longer time. That's a natural urge. Whenever I had more of the ball, I was extremely confident with my passes. And whenever I had very few touches of the ball, I used to be shaky and was relieved to send it to someone in the D at the earliest.

I read one blog by BBC's Gavin Strachan recently (find the link a few posts below) questioning if it was really necessary to have long 11 on 11 matches on a full sized pitch for kids. Nail on the head. Not at all necessary. While it gives a realistic feeling, playing on a smaller ground would mean more of the ball. And subsequently more competition. And yes, more confidence.

The tricks that people learn during practice can never be tried on the field most of the time (Am not talking about Club football. This is School football). This is because we find it hard even to play a natural straight-forward game with the pressure of a real game. If only you have a lot of possession, you can even think of playing all those tricks on the opponent defence and check for ourselves if our tricks hold water.

Mindless Attacking and Counter attacking may work out at big leagues and clubs, but I believe possession football and trying your opponents' patience is the best choice for School team coaches in practice sessions. Making the guys more confident. Say, in a 30 minute game, the guys should mandatorily stick to holding the ball (well, maybe except the CF) and attacking only when absolutely necessary. This phase would be called Confidence-building. Defenders should be alerter during this phase. Atleast half of the midfielders should be in a defensive role. The CF and possibly one winger at a time can surge ahead. After this phase, In the next 15 minutes, the game will Evolve, no doubt. People will try their tricks out and start showing flashes of their free-flowing game. Goals will follow.

This is what I think. If there are any school-level football coaches, let me know if this thing can work for you. Of course, I am not that strong with the coaching terminologies.

PS: A lot many of you have asked me in the past why Schweini (Bastian Schweinsteiger) is among my most favorite players. Because he's a winger (and a left winger at that), and is everything I ever wanted to be. The difference is that, though a left winger by choice, I was played on both wings for my ability to drop crosses better than my team mates. (I can see you imagining how badly they'd play :P)

Liverpool 4 - 1 Manchester United : Old Trafford 2009

The title should actually read "Liverpool thrashes ManU : 4 goals to 1".

Whatay performance from the Anfield side.

They have proved again that they are an under-rated side. It was sheer torture meted out to the Old Trafford side's defence and Except Rio, the rest couldn't handle it at all.. The anger due to his helplessness got the better of Vidic, who hasn't been put to the test this hard in recent times..

Torres.. Running through a strong defence has become an habit of his, of late, and we are enjoying it! Gerrard was almost as good as he can get. Liverpool did their homework right, and ManU had it coming at them. And yes, I couldn't even spot ManU's midfield in this game.

An interesting point would be ManU's complacency. All Credit to Liverpool, but seriously, this was NOT the best that ManU could have done. A 7-point lead with a match in hand would be a comforting enough fact for anyone, and it did get to their head. The lead is 4 points now, and not very out of reach for Anfield or Stamford Bridge.

Yet, ManU can still run away with a league, even with mediocre performances. Performances against the relegation teams has been the difference this season, and if Manchester United wins, it will stay that way.

Happy for Liverpool!

Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 0 Manchester United, December 13, 2008

TOTTENHAM VS MAN-U : Second half : A minute by minute attempt...

Fantastic first half. All credit to Tevez, Rio, Ronaldo, Modric, Huddlestone, Dawson and Lennon. The rest of them, let's say, were just running around.
Brilliant moments in set pieces, so typical of Tottenham games. Hope Roman puts the numerals on the charts!

Tottenham looks vulnerable. ManU defence looks solid. But things don't work out that way all the time.
Van der Sar makes difficult saves look like routine practice moves.

51': Rafael looks like a lost school kid.
53': Dawson saves the moment yet again.. Yet another corner for ManU.
53': Wonderful Ronaldo shot. Wait, is that NOt a goal? Damn.. Superb shot, by the way.
57': yet another ManU corner wasted. Where the heck is Modric?
58': Berbatov is taking things to his heart.. nah, that takes his cool, composed style away..
60': Tottenham throws the possession away.
61': Park shoots into Gomes!
62': rafael gives a good positional Xmas gift to Tottenham.
63': If that isn't a great save from Van der sar!! Classic tap.
64': tevez takes charge.
65': every time te ball touches your feet, you can hear a "Boo" from the crowd... Ask berbatov how this is done..
67': Modric is in great touch. bad news for united.
68': Rafael gives it away.. yet again. ManU regains possession, Ronaldo mistakes a pool of rain water for a swimming pool. No foul against tottenham as expected.
69': giggs the great is in for Tevez.
71': ManU threatens..
72': great save, Gomes. Spurs holding on..
74': Ronaldo is trying to score, Berbatov is, too, but he's trying fans' patience.. :D Rioooo! Great attempt.Missed by a few millimetres.
75': Spurs' corner
76': No, Lennon. That's not how you do it.
77': Dawson rocks. Probably the tenth block of the day. Carrick shoots! Gomes disposes..
78': Bent is offside. There goes the possession again.
79': Tottenham is getting bored with ManU corners.
80': Weak shot from Bent?
80': Dawson rocks. Stops Ronaldo one more time with a cool tackle. Whoa, that's rare.. Ronaldo admits it.
81': O'hara(spurs) keeps the ball.
82': Park gets a throw in for ManU.
83': Great shot from Park! Better save from Gomes.
83': giggs corner , to Gomes, to Lennon, . A Zokora throw in. To Scholes! Rafael gives it away..
84': Modric hits the top of the net!!!!!!
85': Bentley, Lennon, O'hara , throw in, Bent, goal kick..Good show anyway, guys! Few more minutes!
86': A typical ManU buildup! A berbatov offside takes some pressure off Spurs.
87': Ronaldo falls. Dawson pleads innocence. Referee not convinced. Decides on Guilty. Ronaldo free kick.
88': Deflection! Away! Corner. Cleared. Scholes takes the ball back.. Shows why he's an expert!
89': ManU plays around centreline, right end, Ronaldo. Good ploy to take Ronaldo to that position. Giggsie free kick. or Ronaldo's?
90': GOMES PICKS A RABBIT OUT OF THIN AIR! Great save, corner.
91': bentley clears.
92': Spurs clear the ball.. Back in the D. Cleared. Great cross from Rio. Carrick gives it away. A typical ManU late 'spur'. ;)
93': There's Dawson, two more defenders. Clear. Tottenham's happy with just clearing the ball. Gomes stops a potential 3 point mega-blunder.
Pheee.. Whistle blown. White Hart Lane's full of smiling faces!

0-0. That puts ManU alongside Liverpool & Arsenal who've also drawn today against Hull and Boro respectively..

We are closer to El Clasico now. Two more hours :)

Of Burnley and Arsenal..

There are better things to talk about than if CR7 deserves his Golden Ball.(though I will come to it later. :D)

The Lancashire Clarets, Burnley, for instance. Whatay Run!! I didn't see any of their matches to glorify the club, but give it to them, all sites report them to be the better side in all three games against Chelsea, Fulham and Arsenal. If I remember correctly, they shocked Liverpool a few years ago in the Cup.

When you think about it, I really cannot imagine why a 'youthful' second string side should be used by Wenger against a team that has shown Chelsea the door. Yea, yea, premiership and Champions league are more important and players need rest, but heck rotate 'em. The Cup is NOT a silver imitation. Gotta be more serious about it, especially when you are meeting Burnley at Turf Moor. Not the best of stadia in England, you cannot dive in that grass facedown and keep all your teeth. Wenger, better luck. Arsenal is one of the better teams out there, and it really sucks when it loses periodically. I don't mind Arsenal losing, but I, for one, believe that EPL shines becoz' of Arsenal. The style of play, the speed, the beauty. That is sooo lacking of late, and that doesn't give me the best of feelings. I really miss pre-injury RVP. All Wenger had to do was send him in in the 71st minute against ManU when they were trailing by a goal, and ta da! Arsenal wins 2-1. As the only guy in that room supporting Arsenal, you know the feeling! An year later, i call it "Ol' times.."

All the best to Burnley and Coyle (and Kevin McDonald :)). It cannot be an 'upset' if Burnley lifts the Cup now. They deserve it.