Once again, Arsenal have been defeated by Drogba. He scored twice as Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 to put the Blues back on top of the Premier League. How hard do they find to defend against him? All it took Chelsea, errr.. Drogba, was two shots on target to defeat an ametuer possession keeping Arsenal side. What Arsenal have done the best this season, which no other club has:

1. Waisted unlimited possession.

2. Complained, Complained and Complained - Mr. Wenger of course.

3. Almost scored.

4. Been unbelievably predictable.

Read the rest of this entry »

After the 3-1 thrashing at home from the hands of Manchester United, Arsenal must set right if they are to regain their momentum & with it, their aspirations to become ‘Champions’ come May..

1. Almunia Can’t Judge For His Life

The involvement of a modern-day goalkeeper has been largely left to the miser task of picking the ball from the back of the net. Exceptions like Buffon, Casillas, Van der Sar et al, are few and far in between. At Arsenal, the No. 1 is more of a former. Not since David ‘Safe Hands’ Seaman, has Arsenal seen a custodian who infuses confidence in his ranks. Almunia, for starters, infuses fright amongst his back-four. The last time he actually turned up and played, was against United in the CL Semis 1’st leg. Injury kept him out of the first half of the current season, and ever since winning back his place from Fabianski & Manonne, he has been gravely inconsistent.

He was dreadful against United last week & was at fault for their first goal. If Arsenal are to have even a  sleight of a chance against the robust attack of Chelsea, then he better prove his detractors wrong come Sunday. Let’s hope he does.

PS: Personally I’m not yet convinced of his goal-keeping credentials in the first place. To see through the might of Drogba & Co., especially the corners & set-pieces will require more than Godly-intervention.

2. Is He Clichy Or Silvestre In Disguise!?

With likes of Anelka & Malouda marauding down the flanks for the Blues, the pair of Clichy & Sagna will have to be at their livid best. While Sagna has been his regular self all season (one tends to take him for granted at times), Clichy has been a misnomer vis-à-vis his former self. Injuries have denied him a longish run-in with the first team. He made Nani look pseudo-CR07 last week. Here’s hoping Malouda doesn’t turn into a ‘Ribery’ overnight!

3. They Better Stay ‘Gallic & Venomous’

Yes I’m referring to the most stellar defensive partnership the Grove has seen, since the ‘Sol-Kol’ days. Vermaelen in particular has been the ‘Signing-of-the-Season’ (not just for Arsenal, mind you!) thus far, & has refreshed Gallas’s desire to keep performing at the top level. Last time these two faced Chelsea, Drogba literally shredded them apart. The Blues will stick to their tight play down the center & will rely heavily on ‘long-balls’ to frighten the fragile Arsenal Back-four. I say fragile in reference to their ability in dealing with the long-balls & physical play, which btw largely forms the fulcrum of Chelsea’s attack. If Arsenal are to stop Chelsea from running away with the match, these two will have to STOP Didier Drogba, come what may. I wish them luck. Although, they’re gonna need hell more than plain luck in this one.

4. Diaby for Denilson. Eboue for Denilson. Hell, Anyone But Denilson!

One Gunner, not many are fond of. He topped the charts last season, when it came to accuracy (i.e. % distribution) with which a footballer passes the ball. Did anyone care to question where those passes actually went? I have the answer: sideways or backwards. Very seldom does he thread forward, even scarcer is his role in shielding the back-four, by making those last-ditch lunges. In fact, he only excels in passing the ball (sideways or backwards!). He was woeful against United, & two screamers apart, has been woeful all season long.

Diaby, on the other hand, has been a breath of fresh air this term. Not only has he found his long-lost vigour for the game, the abundance of raw talent that he possesses, makes him all the more dangerous. His decent goal tally, as well as filling-in for Song if & when required, speaks volumes about the form that he is in. Wenger must start him alongside Alex Song this Sunday. This will not only make our mid-field slightly heavy-weight but will also provide the much-needed height dealing with the set-pieces.

One probing question here is Diaby’s fitness. Not sure if he is making the squad as of now. If not him, Arsene should opt for Nasri, even Eboue. Anyone but Denilson, on current form.

5. Time For Some Russian Roulette!?

Wenger’s decision to play Arshavin all alone at the top seemed to have paid off during the holiday period, but then time caught up with the little Russian. Despite his technical brilliance, he is clearly not made for leading the line. It’s unfair on him & his talent. He is best when he runs rings around defenders with the ball at his feet & creates the space to feed-in the approaching mid-fielders. We all know his ‘big-game temperament’ after scintillating Anfield on consecutive occasions & Old Trafford once. He was in mood to light the Emirates as well, against United the other day. But his lack of decision-making cost Arsenal dear. He could have brought Nasri or Cesc into play but went for solo-glory. So unlike him but that was that. Let’s look ahead.

I personally feel, Bendtner should be started for this one & supported by Arshavin & Rosicky from the flanks. Theo can come in for Rosicky at a later point. Niklas has been very vocal off-late & wants to prove his mettle, so try him out. After all, the result can’t be worse than the 3-1 last week!

6. Self-Belief Answers Half The Problems

When the Gunners march onto the pitch this Sunday, they must carry pockets full of desire, courage & determination with them. They must remember it was them who ended Chelsea’s winning streak last season with their backs to the wall. Arsene should be prepared with another of his ‘Boys, You don’t deserve the Red n White’s of Arsenal’ tirade, just in case the fellas are found faltering at the break. A victory in this one is a must.

The likes of Nasri, Rosicky, Gallas, Vermaelen & above all Captain Cesc must rise to the occasion & make this one count. Fabregas, has in him to single-handedly destroy the ‘Blues’, like he picked out Villa not long ago. But he’ll need his team-mates to anchor along.

Full points at the ‘Bridge’ will see Arsenal go just 3 adrift of the league leaders, whereas another loss, will surely quell their chances, as the gap would then further swell to 9. With 13 games to go after this one, it would be very difficult to close-in again.

As for Chelsea, one can’t say much. The focus will mainly be on tainted captain(& ex-England captain) John Terry. After his ‘heroics’ off the field and the punishment suffered later, it’ll be interesting to see how Terry reacts to all those chants about his lose pants from the Gooners. The Chelsea loyalists will support him no doubt but unlike the last match when Terry maintained stiff silence, he won’t probably be so guarded has he doesn’t have something to lose anymore. The England captaincy, as expected, has gone.

Fortunately for him his manager and half his mates at Stamford Bridge(the ones who bedded her too!) have been extremely supportive of him.

Robinho is set to leave Manchester City and it seems he won’t be much missed, even by the fans who idolised him just a year ago.

Yet, as a lifelong supporter of lost causes, I’m going to attempt a defence of the Brazilian as he puts his seat in the upright position and stows his tray table on the way back to Sao Paulo.

There are two sides to every story, a fact never more apparent than in the contrasting treatment of Robinho and Carlos Tevez.

Both are high-maintenance South American flair players. Both got into a contract dispute with a big club, and both ended up joining City and getting paid a massive sum of money. Both have shady advisors and both have blown hot and cold for each of their clubs.

However, the public perception of the two could hardly be more different.

Tevez’s superb goalscoring form makes him pretty much immune to criticism at the moment, but it has not always been like this.

Last season he scored just five Premier League goals in 29 games, then had the temerity to get the hump when Fergie and a certain moustachioed right-back said he wasn’t worth £25 million.

Yet Tevez has always been looked on sympathetically - primarily because of his 90-minute headless-chicken dashes that qualify him for honorary Englishman status - while Robinho is viewed with suspicion and disdain.

Here, a look at a number of real-life situations where you can compare how the media and public have reacted to each player. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in 2005, when the Glazer family’s takeover of Manchester United was marked by supporters wearing black to the Cup Final, some of the more militant fan elements spoke about how the Florida dynasty were a bunch of thieves, stealing from the Reds’ heritage. It is hard, reading the latest set of accounts to emerge from Old Trafford, to suggest such a view was wrong.

In one sense, five years of Glazerdom appears barely to have affected United. During the time of their involvement, one Champions League, three successive titles, a couple of League Cups and a world club championship have been popped into the trophy room. So why is it, then, that the club is heading for the brown stuff?

Read the rest of this entry »

It was one of the greatest shocks in recent football history, an event that proved you should never write anyone off, and that the Magic of the FA Cup^TM is still well and truly alive.

No, not Leeds’ win at Old Trafford, but the moment during Alex Ferguson’s post-match interview when it looked like he was going to be gracious in defeat.

Breaking the habit of a lifetime, Fergie paid tribute to Leeds and admitted his side were not good enough.

He said: “Leeds had far bigger appetite than us. Human beings can always surprise you but we didn’t expect that today.

“I am shocked by the performance because our preparation for the game was very good. But we never got going. The quality of the passing and whole performance was bad.”

Then reality intervened, and Fergie reverted to type, haranguing referee Chris Foy for adding ‘only’ five minutes of injury time to a second half with no major stoppages.

“The referee gave five minutes, that is an insult to the game and the players out there,” he stormed, before suggesting that refs should not be allowed to keep time.

The only realistic way he can avoid further FA action for yet another rant against a match official is if he pleads Tourette’s.

In truth, Manchester United could have had all the Fergie Time they wanted and they would not have scored.

Despite Wayne Rooney’s best efforts, Leeds simply could not be breached. United’s singular lack of goal threat was summed up by the moment when Michael Owen scuffed his shot horribly when he looked odds on to score.

It is the kind of chance he used to convert with his eyes closed, and maybe that was the problem; as the ball came, he must have screwed his eyes up tight and swung wildly with his right boot - how else to explain such a lamentable effort on goal?

Dimitar Berbatov looked ponderous, Gabriel Obertan ragged and Danny Welbeck totally out of his depth (although no more so than the dreadful Wes Brown, who committed enough fouls to get sent off five or six times).

In recent years, United could always rely on one man to bail them out when they failed to perform, but Cristiano Ronaldo is now a Real Madrid player. And isn’t it surprising the difference it makes when the best footballer in the world leaves you? Read the rest of this entry »

It’s all happening here. It does not get better than this. Chelsea Football Club were heading for their first defeat of the season at the bridge till the 72nd minute until Ivanovic finally put the ball into the box which clearly Paulo Ferreira could not, and Drogba, as usual, was there to put it into the net. The second goal came in 2 minutes later when poor Smalling put the ball into his own net after sturridge’s cracking shot was well saved by Schwarzer. Somehow, some way, they are still top. Are they good or are the others just too bad, that’s for fans to decide.

It’s been a bad new year for Aston Villa. After having been thrashed 3-0 by Fabregas at the emirates, they have now lost to Liverpool. Villa, who could’ve been only 4 points behind leaders Chelsea had they won their previous 2, now find themseves 2 points behind 4th place Tottenham.

Spurs look good and steady like never before. They’ve won 3 out of their last 4 and look the strongest fourth place contendors as of now. They defeated relegation candidates West Ham United 2-0 at home. Defoe and Modric both scoring.

Now let’s come to Manchester City. They’ve defeated both Wolves and Stoke in the past week under new manager Roberto Mancini who now believes his team and win the premier league. Why not?

I’ve nothing more to write. Come this way to make fun of City.

Nothing is more entertaining/eventful than this. Nothing. Not even our news channels.

Manchester United, the team which does not have a defence, got humiliated 3-0 at Fulham. Their worst defeat of the season. 

Avram Grant proved not only can he defeat 4th place contendors Liverpool with the best team of EPL but also with the worst. Every week I think Liverpool cannot get worse but they surprise me in the next. In fact I’m too bored of making fun of them now.

City sack Hughes. Hours after his team won [did not draw, WIN] 4-3 against Sunderland, City have announced the appointment of Roberto Mancini who would be at the Eastlands for three-and-half years.

Coming back to Champions United, Fulham thrashed them 3-0 to inflict their 5th Premier League defeat of the season. I completely agree that they’ve major defensive problems with most of their defenders injured and that conceding 3 goals was expected, but, how did the manage to lose 3-0?? They had most of their best attacking players-Rooney, Owen, Berba, Giggs, Anderson, Valencia, Park, etc. How couldn’t any of them score even one goal? In fact, United’s attack was non-existent in the first half. Not only are they having defensive problems, but I also feel they need better attackers too. They’ve not replaced Ronaldo. He made the difference. A big difference. If you start the season without a player who once scored almost half of your overall goals, losing 5 games in the 1st half of the season should not be surprising. Anyway I still wish them luck!

Elsewhere, Arsenal defeated Hull City 3-0 with Almunia actually making saves. Both Villa and Totenham too registered wins.

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The Champions League draw proved itself to be as eager to please as ever, throwing the ties that had everyone had been wishing for before the balls were picked.

Yes sir, Olympiacos v Bordeaux is going to be a humdinger alright.

Elsewhere, a bit of fuss has been made about a couple of reunions that the draw has facilitated, Surprise Surprise-style.

David Beckham will get the hero’s return to Old Trafford he had so openly wished for, while Jose Mourinho may not be so happy about his flying visit back to Stamford Bridge.

Becks said on the eve of the draw: “I would really like it if we draw my old club. Since I left in 2003 I have not gone back to play at Old Trafford (as a club player). Seven years have gone by and I want it to happen. Me against United, great no? It would be very difficult but also very exciting.”

Exciting is one way of putting it, though perhaps it’s not the emotion that Alex Ferguson is feeling. A Kaka-inspired Milan comfortably beat United en route to their 2007 crown, and the clamour for Fergie to meet Beckham when he arrives next March adds an awkward sub-plot to a clash that he would rather have avoided.

The pair’s relationship had grown frosty during the then England captain’s final season at the club, as Brand Beckham began to threaten to Fergie hairdryer for supremacy. With the strategic use of an Alice band to show off the head wound sustained by the boot which Ferguson kicked in anger across the dressing room, Beckham moved on to Real Madrid.

The last time their paths crossed sums up the enmity between the two. After United’s semi-final win at Arsenal last season, Ferguson came out after the match to find Beckham and Fabio Capello waiting for him. Ferguson greeted the England boss warmly, and even gave the Italian a manly hug as Beckham Read the rest of this entry »

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Robinho is a bit like a Megan Fox calendar. Every month you turn the page and get the same person in a different position. This month, Robinho is locked in a passionate tryst with the Manchester City fans, although he’ll be off in a few years at the first sign of bingo wings.

September: “Barcelona are a great club. It is a beautiful city and I like Spain a lot. Who would not want to play for them? No player could say no.”
October: “Of course I would like to play for Barca. Who would not? We could have so much fun. It is an honour that they want me: it fills my heart with pride.”
November: “Let me make one thing clear: I will not talk about a hypothetical transfer, out of respect for Manchester City.”
December: “I am very happy here. I think I stay here five years or 10 years, I don’t know. My family is very happy, the fans love me and I love the fans.”

Fergie has out rightly ruled out any possibility of the old cranky jobless Arsenal and Spurs great Sol Campbel coming to Old Traffor. “Thank God”, must have been the expression of the United fans. With Rio Ferdinand, Neville and Vidic being somewhat of a liability this season and the others injured, the last thing you want is Sol Campbel playing in the defence for your club!

Also, some sympathy for the 26 year old West Ham and England striker Dean Ashton who had to retire because of his ankle injury. Now Dean Ashton is to sue Chelsea over the challenge that effectively ended his career. While I am, in principle, in favour of suing Chelsea at every opportunity, I feels compelled to point out: a) It was a tackle in training for England, b) It was by Shaun Wright-Phillips, who no longer plays for Chelsea and, c) It’s football. Sometimes people get injured.

Well, since most of people back there support England because of the Premier League influence( and because India won’t qualify until 20.. I thought of putting something down regarding the English national team. This obviously doesn’t mean that I, in any way support the Three Lions. I think “Ingeerr-land”, as most drunk Brits call them while watching them play, are quite rubbish. but I must confess being a fan of their manager - Don Capello.

What does Fabio Capello have in common with the managers of Brazil, Argentina, France, Chile, Ivory Coast, South Korea, Denmark, Ghana, Serbia, USA, Slovenia, Paraguay, Algeria, Honduras, Slovakia, Uruguay, North Korea and Nigeria?

Capello earns the same amount as all the others. Put together.

Yes, according to Spanish paper Marca, for the same price as the England manager you could afford a brains trust of the bosses from 18 of England’s World Cup rivals.

The £6.1 million Capello gets paid every year is more than three times the amount earned by the next best-rewarded boss - his countryman, World Cup-winning Italy coach Marcello Lippi.

On the face of things, it looks like a shocking waste of money and another example of outrageous largesse from the suits at Wembley. But then you look at the managers of the major teams named in the above list.

There’s Raymond Domenech and Diego Maradona, two of world football’s bigger laughing stocks, and two men who have ensured their countries have significantly less chance of winning the tournament than they ought to. And there’s Dunga, who appears to have done a good job with Brazil so far but is as yet unproven at squeaky-bum time.

Capello, on the other hand, has won Serie A seven times with three teams, La Liga twice in separate spells at Real Madrid, and the Champions League twice. As and when England get themselves into a pickle in South Africa - and they certainly will - you can trust Capello will know what to do. He cannot guarantee success, but he can provide clear, logical decision-making when it matters.

International football can be a frustrating business. The players you have are the players you have. If you don’t have a quality goalkeeper there is nothing you can do - except possibly make overtures to a screaming mediocrity like Manuel Almunia.

While clubs can spent hundreds of millions on new players, countries have much less room for manoeuvre.
The manager is the single most important member of staff a football team has, and that is magnified when you cannot change your players.

The FA reported operating costs of £245 million in 2008. Early Doors has no problem whatsoever with spending about 2.5 per cent of that on a manager. IF - and this an ‘if’ so big you can see it from space - you have the right manager in place, then £6m a year is a bargain.

As well as being something worth doing in its own right, winning the World Cup is the single biggest thing that can happen to boost grass-roots participation, increase public goodwill and bring in global sponsors. It is the silver bullet. Now we can’t really expect that from the Indian fed, can we?

I reckon England and France have roughly equivalent squads. Yet while the Three Lions are third favourites for the World Cup at a best-price 6/1, Les Bleus can be backed 18/1 - the bookies reckon the three Lions have a 14.3 per cent chance of winning the World Cup, and the French just 5.3 per cent.

Why the difference? Are France being punished for the sins of Thierry Henry? Are England just over-rated (well, a bit)? Or is it due almost entirely to the yawning gap in competence between the two managers?

So, if it costs 14 times more to employ Capello than Domenech, fine. Put simply, any time you have the chance to spend £6m-a-year on somebody who makes you three times more likely to win the World Cup, you have to do it.

WORLD CUP MANAGERS’ PAY LEAGUE Read the rest of this entry »

It was quite a contentious match on an unordinary day at Eastlands Saturday as Manchester City held on for a morale-boosting 2-1 win against Chelsea.

What was most obvious about this game is how much it mattered to most teams. I lost count of the number of times Chelsea and City players collided when trying to win 50/50 balls. Plus the workrate of several players, especially Carlos Tevez, was extraordinary. Chelsea hate to lose but this was a match that you have to give a lot of credit to City. As the commentator summed up at the end, “What a win,” and what a win it was indeed.

The most contentious moment in the game was City’s first goal which definitely hit Toure’s arm before landing in the path of Emmanuel Adebayor who slotted the ball into the net. The referee should have awarded a free kick to Chelsea, but he failed to see what the TV replay showed and City got away with it.

The other defining moment of the game was Frank Lampard’s penalty near the end which was saved by Shay Given. You can usually bank your money on Lampard scoring from the spot kick, but Lampard’s accuracy of getting the ball near the corner of the post failed him this time and Given guessed the right way and saved the ball with relative ease. Read the rest of this entry »

For those who are still wondering, I’m talking about the club which last won a trophy many many years ago - Arsenal.

So Mr. Wenger, How does it feel to lose with a margin of 3 goals, twice in the same year, that also to (apparently) your title rivals! Not good, I’m sure. However, a goal was disallowed, well ok, not that Arsenal showed ANY signs of winning the game even after the Arshawin goal. So after this humiliation, the Arsenal kids, this time even younger than the those who got humiliated at the Emirates, went on to face a strong Manchester City side with proven professionals in it! I fail to understand why do Mr. Wenger not take Carling Cup seriously. It’s not even like Arsenal are strong contendors for the league or Europe for that matter. And the result, City 3-0 Ars! If arsenal’s first team with RVP could not defeat City, What would their reserve team do?! I’ve been a fan of Arsene Wenger since childhood. But today I don’t really understand what strategy he wishes to play?! Not even like Arsenal’s trophy cabinet is filled with silverware, then why not take a Carling Cup quarter final seriously?!

Why not play your top side knowing you stand a good chance to win the competition? Beggars cannot be choosers, frankly speaking, Arsenal, at least at the moment, are beggars! And I’m sure one trophy would make a hell of a difference to a club which hasn’t won anything since years!

Why not bring about a change? I understand the money restrictions, but the the humiliation Arsenal suffered to City could have well been avoided. And it’s not even like it happened for the first time. Even in the Carling cup final against Chelsea a few years back, Mr. Wenger played his reserve team. Exactly my point, it’s not even like you have won anything that you start taking a competition lightly, that to the bloody final!

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It has been an intriguing week for Old Trafford’s second string. Last week, they lost at home to Besiktas in the Champions League in a display that led one observer to suggest that Alex Ferguson’s cupboard is currently bare of any decent youthful prospects.

A week on and much the same bunch of players beat a full-strength Tottenham side in the Carling Cup and find themselves widely lauded as the hottest collection of youngsters since the class of ‘93. From the kids are all sh*te to the kids are all right in just seven days is a spectacular change of circumstance even in a world viewed through the distorting lens of the British football press.

As it happens, it is pretty obvious what happened. Against Besiktas the youngsters were on their own. Against Spurs their number was bolstered by a couple of wise old heads to steady the proceedings. It can make that much difference. So what can we say really about the two results, except perhaps that Besiktas are better than Spurs? Which is - when you think about it - the most interesting thought to emerge from the two results.

After defeat last night Harry Redknapp said he was not too alarmed as he would prefer to steer his Spurs side into the top four than win a cup. And in a season when the fourth place is more open than it has been for years, that is a laudable aim. With Liverpool stuttering and stumbling, with Everton largely confined to the treatment table, with Manchester City redefining the art of drawing matches and Aston Villa failing as yet to maintain the progress of last term, this is the year in which a breakthrough seems very possible.

And, after they inflicted such pain on Wigan, Redknapp’s side looked the ones in pole position to do just that. That was when the manager started talking up his chances, revelling in the buoyancy in his squad, the unfathomable depths of team spirit, the options he had open to him. And then came a sizeable reality check in the shape of a United side so full of reserves the team sheet read more like the menu at a Chinese takeaway: I’ll have a number 28, once you’ve seen him score one goal, you can’t wait to see him score another.

If Redknapp is to make the transformation, if he is at last to lead a team to the position of prominence he has long craved, then he has to make them something more than a collection of flat-track bullies. Sure, Alex Ferguson has long seen the route to winning the title as not forgetting to win at Birmingham, recognising that you accrue no more points for a routine home win against relegation fodder than you do in a glorious away triumph at one of your championship rivals. But even so, United tend to pick up the odd point or two against the big boys. Spurs simply don’t. And if they are to prosper as their manager wishes, Spurs need to rid themselves of the inferiority complex that overwhelms them in encounters with the top three. Read the rest of this entry »