Chelsea 3 - 0 Burnley : Aug 29, 2009

Awesome display by Chelsea!

Awesome, but not perfect. Chelsea had so many shots on target not because of an imperious setup; it was just weak defence. Caldwell was heavily missed by Burnley defence today and they know it. They had no answer to Didier's speed or Essien's long passes. And boy! Essien was just on fire, sending in superb passes the likes of which I haven't seen of late. His excellent performance was matched only by the amazingly resilient brian jensen, who kept out too many good shots, which could have gone in, even past Van der Sar. The difference, here, is that VDS will never be alone with Vidic and Rio. Jensen was at bay.


Chelsea - Amazing team, this. On track for the title :)

* 01 Cech - Had nothing much to do today.
* 03 A Cole - Awesome. Superb enthu. His goal was a stunner, if I ever saw one.
* 06 Carvalho - Had a practice outing.
* 17 Bosingwa - Very good performance and involvement.
Belletti 66 - Practice game. Looked a little outta sorts.
* 26 Terry - Couldn't stay away from the ball too much that he lunged into an attacking mode as often as he could.
* 05 Essien - God.
* 08 Lampard - Amazing amazing passes. Two stunners to Ballack (one of which was a goal) and an amazing corner, again to Ballack, somehow saved by Jensen.
* 13 Ballack - Very good !
Mikel 83 - Practice run.
* 20 Deco - Superb involvement, great game. Will be an asset when we meet the rest of the big four.
* 11 Drogba - Super enthusiasm, missed one awesome pass from Essien, and made sure the second went in, deflected of carlisle/anelka. Good game overall.
Kalou 75 - Had a good game, given that he wasn't on the field for long. Got the ball past Jensen once intelligently, only to be saved on the line by Myers.
* 39 Anelka - Probably the slowest of the lot, rivalled only by Belletti. Took a pass in great style. A run or two. Nothing much apart from that.



Burnley - Forgettable day

* 12 Jensen - The best keeper in the league by far so far. Saved Burnley from sure hell.
* 02 Alexander - Tried a lot. Wasn't up to the standard.
McDonald 74 - Good show.
* 05 Carlisle - Again , tried a lot. I think the incoming passes were too much for him.
* 14 Mears - Good take off the line.
* 21 Bikey - Injured?? He was the only one in the Burnley defence who could match Drogba.
* 23 Jordan - Didn't notice.
* 11 Elliott - Didn't notice.
* 16 McCann - Good show.
* 09 Fletcher - Got frustrated towards the end. Let it go.
* 10 Paterson - Too much of a defensive outlook. More back passes than otherwise.
Gudjonsson 58 - Good show.
* 20 Blake - good show.
Guerrero 78 - good enthu.

If we forget the defence, Burnley wasn't so bad.
They'll be ready when Chelsea visit Turf moor. I could see that in Coyle's smile. ;)

UEFA Champions league draw 2009 - 2010

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Inter, Dynamo Kyiv, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ, Olympiacos, Standard Liege

Source: goal.com.

My favorites, as in, teams I like:
Group A: Bayern Munich
Group B: Manchester United, Wolfsburg(I'd forget all my hate for this club if they beat ManU :) )
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid
Group D: Chelsea
Group E: Liverpool
Group F: Barcelona, Inter
Group H: Arsenal, AZ

Of course, I am already on google reading about debrecen and apoel :)

The Anfield Diary

Three points in three games. Beat Stoke, lost to Spurs and Villa. This is almost unacceptable even for relegation teams, but we're talking Liverpool.

A few quick points before I get back to work.

a) Shouldn't Voronin start? I saw many of his goals and games last season for Berlin. He should start for Liverpool's sake. he just can't find his feet coming in at 75'.

b) Babel and Benayoun should be in action at the same time. Substituting one for the other doesn't work. Benayoun should play his natural position behind the striker as much as possible, and Babel should be substituted for Kuyt, not Yossi. Makes sense?

c) I just can't understand Rafa's plans this season. I am sure he means good, but I just can't see it. Do you?

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.

May the best team win!

=Arsenal vs Chelsea=

This is one fixture for which I have never managed to take sides for a few years now. It was Arsenal before Mourinho and Chelsea under the Special One. No particular side now. But then, I want the winenr of this match to take the FA Cup Home.

And much as I am crazy about this match, It sucks to think I won't be watching it. I need to check the news tomorrow morning...

All the best everybody!

Bayern Munich - Barcelona [Round 2] Ding!

As a fan of Bayern Munich, I have never seen a worse performance (or mindset) from the German Side. I couldn't watch the screen after the fourth goal. I was sooo down. Only a Chelsea victory kept me from crying.

At the end of Round 1 in this amazing match-up of a quarterfinal in the European boxing championship, Barcelona had punched four teeth out of its opponent Bayern Munich in the first half of the round, and the second half was more like Bayern saving the rest of its teeth from falling, rather than trying to exact some revenge.

Round 2 is gonna start and Bayern is well aware of all the criticism it has been getting from the World Media and old players, which all claim round 1 as the worst ever performance in Bayern's History. Bayern will not mind losing teeth anymore, and Round 2 will be about saving its face (figuratively) in the eyes of the World Media. A meek surrender of a German Champion has never been heard of in the past. Bayern will put its life on the line to get through this one. One hand of Bayern, which fans call Ribery, was of the mindset that it could never get to Barca's face in Round 1. Hope its confidence increases and reaches Van Bommel's. Oh yes, the left eye, Schweini, will be very keenly looking at let ups from Barca. Mind you!

Barcelona is a proud team. It had fun teasing, punching and seeing Bayern's blood in Round 1, and will look forward to repeating it. At the best form of its life, Bayern should be push overs, or so it thinks. All it needs to do is play safe and by the rules to get through Round 2 and emerge the winner.

Will it be able to? Or Will Barca's Mess(i)y Hand knock Bayern's jaw this time? Whew, Can't wait.

cool ! Shearer, Boss of Newcastle United!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/7975700.stm