The Race is on...
After a nerve-wracking final round of CL matches, I was relieved to see ManU and Barca make it to the knockout stages of the Champions League. With Eto'o and Messi expected in the next month, I hope Barca does much better. As for ManU, Fergie has to realize he cannot expect to win the Premier League and the Champions League titles with this squad lacking quality in depth. I guess Fergie will settle for one of these two this season and no more signings expected this winter transfer window, I am sure it's the EPL title he has set his sights on.
We will know the 2nd round match-ups this Friday and I only hope ManU do not draw Barca this early. It's going to be tough for even the first placed teams with some strong clubs finishing second in their groups. I am sure the English clubs will be anxious about drawing either Barca, Real, or Inter.
ManU are setting the pace in EPL, along with some great football. Fergie certainly knows his first XI but with the festive period and lots of games coming up, he has to shuffle his players so that they are not exhausted in the latter stages.
Btw, what's with all the clubs being or in talks about being taken over. Liverpool, Man City, Newcastle are among the clubs who are certain to join ManU, Chesea, WHam, Villa in being taken over. No club can expect another Abromovich but I wonder if this does any good to the club and the game as such in the long term.
Also, Chelsea's chairman Peter Kenyon talks about Chelsea overtaking ManU as the best supported club in the world by 2014. Peter...That's just wishful thinking if you believe buying all titles with Roman's mafia money is gonna get people become more attached to the club. Your club can buy top players and titles but you can never buy history and tradition that are associated with Europe's elite clubs such as ManU, Real, Barca, Liverpool, and so on. Moreover, there's something called beautiful football. Try and play that and try to fill out your Stamford Bridge stadium first before you can even dream about world domination!
PS: Essien's stunning equaliser earned a point for Chelsea against Arsenal. Chelsea 'started playing' only in the last quarter of an hour after the poor Shevchenko (must be counting his days at London now!) was substituted and the wingers came on. Luck was however on Arsenal's side as Chelsea hit the post a number of times and Lehmann's blunder right at the end of the game almost giving Chelsea the win. For once, I was cheering for Arsenal and was really impressed by Gilberto. He was the best player on the pitch and it is time Wenger realize Henry is no captain material and give the captain's armband to Gilberto.
We will know the 2nd round match-ups this Friday and I only hope ManU do not draw Barca this early. It's going to be tough for even the first placed teams with some strong clubs finishing second in their groups. I am sure the English clubs will be anxious about drawing either Barca, Real, or Inter.
ManU are setting the pace in EPL, along with some great football. Fergie certainly knows his first XI but with the festive period and lots of games coming up, he has to shuffle his players so that they are not exhausted in the latter stages.
Btw, what's with all the clubs being or in talks about being taken over. Liverpool, Man City, Newcastle are among the clubs who are certain to join ManU, Chesea, WHam, Villa in being taken over. No club can expect another Abromovich but I wonder if this does any good to the club and the game as such in the long term.
Also, Chelsea's chairman Peter Kenyon talks about Chelsea overtaking ManU as the best supported club in the world by 2014. Peter...That's just wishful thinking if you believe buying all titles with Roman's mafia money is gonna get people become more attached to the club. Your club can buy top players and titles but you can never buy history and tradition that are associated with Europe's elite clubs such as ManU, Real, Barca, Liverpool, and so on. Moreover, there's something called beautiful football. Try and play that and try to fill out your Stamford Bridge stadium first before you can even dream about world domination!
PS: Essien's stunning equaliser earned a point for Chelsea against Arsenal. Chelsea 'started playing' only in the last quarter of an hour after the poor Shevchenko (must be counting his days at London now!) was substituted and the wingers came on. Luck was however on Arsenal's side as Chelsea hit the post a number of times and Lehmann's blunder right at the end of the game almost giving Chelsea the win. For once, I was cheering for Arsenal and was really impressed by Gilberto. He was the best player on the pitch and it is time Wenger realize Henry is no captain material and give the captain's armband to Gilberto.
Labels: Arsenal, Barca, Champions League, Chelsea, EPL, Henry, Liverpool, ManU
posted by Lucas @ 2:18 AM
9 Comments:
Haha! So was I! We cheered for Arsenal! A defeat for Chelsea would probably done wonders for us, but I guess a point is sufficient to put Man U in a well-deserved comfort zone.
Yeah, Sheva must be frustrated at this point of time - poor him. Well, even Mourinho refused to defend him, so what can we say? And Essien's goal... wonderful technique and all, but probably no match for the Matthew Taylor 45-yard strike against Everton.
Fair call on Gilberto. But how do you think Henry will react if he is asked to give up the captaincy??
I thought it was an extremely good performance by the gunners and except for Essien the whole Chelsea midfield went AWOL. Fabregas and Gilberto were all over Ballack Lampard and Makelele. Great to see the defense doing well though they did were lucky on a few occassions. You need that luck when you play a star studded line up like Chelsea.
I feel hitting the post is no excuse and cannot be substituted as getting lucky. Arsenal hit the woodwork thrice at Bolton, still lost 1-3, hit the woodwork at home against CSKA once ot twice. In fact in the buildup to the Essien goal a non-missable foul by Cashley on Hleb was condoned.
For all their money/star/fire power, I've never seen a team play as rubbish as Chelsea. They were a load of monkeycrap. I'd even forgive Capello's Real Madrid for their 'dark arts mastery'. First half was more of a contest of who was coming closer to firing the ball nearer to the goal.Arsenal were controlling the flow of the match. With probably a decent striker such as Crouch or AJ, Arsenal would have converted some corners. A full strength Chelsea team were pretty much below par. Luck's role was no more than 20%
The players trying to pressurize the referee, it was totally unsporting. Drogba blatantly dived, not once but twice and then barged into Lehmann. Had Chelsea players not bumped into the ref, he might have as well given Drog the marching orders.
Not a great fan of United and definitely not a fan of Fergie, atleast they play the game in a way big teams are expected to play unlike Chelsea.
hmm...some interesting observations there! I agree that Chelsea weren't good at all for most of the match and that's mainly because of their midfield. I really don't understand how Mourinho can call Ballack and Lampard as untouchables...is it just because they are good header of the ball and good long range shooter respectively? Pity to see a classy player like Sheva suffering due to Mourinho's playing tactics.
Chelsea players are pressurising the referee by rounding up on him. If it had been Rooney instead of Drogba who had done that, I am sure there would been a red card and more criticisms from the media.
Mourinho likes to play mid-games not only on other managers but on the referees as well and the game is suffering because of this!
@ Marauder
Good observation on SAF. I am going to cheer for Manu to win the title this season (Arsenal are out of the race already).
But some may argue that even Lehmann could have got a red. I thought Drogba's foul was a straight red too.
@ Lucas
You are right about Rooney. Terry gets involved so much. He is all over the referee. But i wonder ..why do we have refs who get pressurised? Their job is to make decisions without any compassion and they should make it even if there are 11 Chelsea players around em.
Totally agree with Lucas.
I realised (don't know about you people) that these media criticism about players and especially referees (remember Anders Frisk and Graham Poll?) thrive when the involving party is Mourinho. It's a little pity considered his under-acheiving team is supposedly the best in the world.
And yes, with the calibre of Chelsea playing like that, even a pessimist like me gladly tells you that Man U are going to win the season. Without the need to mention names, I'm sure you all know who in the Chelski squad am I talking about. And there's no point of winning if all they think about is diving - and at least I agree that Drogba should have been sent off.
Well, that's good news for me. ;)
It's not rare to see goalies just tapping the oppositions strikers symbolically saying "get ahead with the game" and definitely it will not be rare when Lehmann is around. Drogba's reactions were startling. Diving initially on the challenge from Senderos, diving again on Lehmann's tap and then barging into the keeper.
Signs of Deja vu for me when Drog fell for the slightest touch. Reminded me of Makelele diving outrageously in the UCL semis at Monaco 3 years back and getting an Argentine defender sent off. Chelsea have been filthy for all their rags of riches which is what has been undigestible for me.
The above comment was by me, Marauder, some problem in logging in, damn...
Here's an excerpt from an interesting article by Matt Dickinson from 'The Times'...
Kenyon claim put into perspective
"I bumped into two gangs of English lads walking into the Nou Camp last week before Barcelona’s Champions League match against Werder Bremen. They were on a trip to Barcelona to pay homage to one of the world’s great clubs, with its cathedral of a stadium. They took in the museum and then were among 100,000 fans treated to a spellbinding show from Ronaldinho. No doubt a few beers were sunk afterwards.
When Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, recently talked of his aspirations to build “the world’s No 1 club”, it was hard to think what would be an accurate measure. Perhaps this is it. Chelsea can claim that honour when you walk into a random match at Stamford Bridge and bump into a group of gawping, awe-struck Catalans."
Couldn't agree with him more :)
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