Monday, February 25, 2008

One down for Chelsea ;-)

I myself often wondered what difference does a coach make if you provide him the best players in the world, any tom, dick and harry can pick up an eleven and win the game. But after watching the Carling cup final today, it was pretty much clear. While a Jose Mourinho would have guided Chelsea through the final with clinical, though often boring, efficiency. An Avam Grant couldn't bring it on in his team when it mattered the most, the football was same boring one, but the efficiency was missing when it mattered the most.

As for Spurs, the journey from the relegation zone at the start of the season to defeating Arsenal and then Chelsea has been phenomenal. The manager is what made the difference, while Martin Jol couldn't get his team win a game, Juande Ramos is doing wonders with almost the same team. It could be start of an special era for Spurs from now on and Ramos could prove to be the next special one.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Well done Liverpool!

How often do you complain as to why did you agree to a dinner invitation specially when away from home, the prospect of lovely home cooked curry, well you do when you have a Champions League game to watch including Liverpool and Inter Milan. Frankly speaking Liverpool have been really poor in the last two seasons excluding their Champions league final appearance and this was something which has turned me off from watching their games in the recent past. But I had a hint that todays game might be one of those great Anfield nights and recorded the game to watch after dinner and boy Liverpool finally kept up the promise by playing a great game of football against one of the toughest opponents in Europe.

Well done Liverpool hope you give some great performances and help keep Rafa his job, After Mourinho and Wenger he is one of the most interesting manager in the league and it will be sad to see him go.

To add something for the Blues fans, their side as boring as it is got another boring draw. I wonder why Mourinho was fired, he too was doing exactly what Chelsea is doing right now winning 1-0 or getting 0-0 draws. Atleast he provided some great entertainment quite opposite of the Abramovich stooge who is one of the most boring managers in the league.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Arsenal disappoint again

To say that it was a disappointing evening will be understatement, having known that Arsenal are playing a side weakened there was some apprehensiveness about how the match will turn up. But a 4-0 defeat came as a much bigger disappointment then the loss to Spurs few weeks back. I was pretty sure that the earlier loss was just a one off event and the gunners will be back in form after that, but having a pub full of Man U. supporters clapping at a great match(for them) makes it much harder to digest the defeat and I had to leave at half time.

One could see in the first 5 minutes itself that Man U. looked to be the better side but I expected the gunners to be in their rhythm soon, but it wasn't to be. Frankly speaking the worry now is that they might blow away the whole season if they have another couple of such games. The Premier League looks pretty much a two horse race and needs consistently good performance rather then depending on a single match and as such look pretty much in grasp of the gunner with todays winners as the only other real contenders. Chelsea fans will fume at this, but they should accept now that they winning the league can happen but only as a miracle.

The Champions league matches starting this are gonna put me in a tough spot as to decide which team support, but I will rather not watch those matches out. I still remember being booed out of a pub for celebrating AC Milan goals against Liverpool in last years final. Milan haven't been in the best of the forms this year, but as they say the class is permanent so can do wonders by winning the cup again. For now I'll my fingers crossed for a busy week ahead.