Match Review: Ajax 2-1 Barcelona

When Ajax were paired with Barça for the first time, who would have thought that Ajax would win in Amsterdam? Ajax were wonderful in the first half and Blind is slowly winning me over in the #6 role. I shouldn't have been too critical on Frank De Boer probably, after all he does know a bit or two about fullbacks doing well in midfield. Now after watching Blind play in that midfield role consistently, he does seem to be adapting well. Not sure how much benefit that would make for his role as LB for Oranje though. After 40 mins, Ajax had 55% possession and completed more passes than Barça and what more, the possession wasn't sterile but actually created some goal scoring chances. Thankfully there were no stupid comments like “wow, look at all these teams learning from Barça” as my broadcast had Russian commentary. The performance wasn't that surprising though – Ajax held their own comfortably at Nou Camp before Duarte (who joined from Heracles and was making his CL debut) gave away a cheap foul vs Messi around HT. Before that, Barça had no clear chances to score while Valdés made two excellent saves to deny Ajax taking the lead. With Messi and Valdés absent, it was more relaxing for Ajax this time. Of course Barça were missing other players just like Ajax were missing their own Sigþórsson, Krkic (on-loan from Barça but allowed to play against them), Siem de Jong. Boilesen was brilliant as LB before getting injured. Impressed with how quickly Blind adapted to a completely new role within the same game (moving from #6 to LB). There was Poulsen for an hour and still Barça couldn't test him [:p].

Neymar was the biggest attacking threat from Barça while Fabregas and Pedro were almost non existent. Irritated me with their petulance too. Fabregas unnecessarily fouling (and throwing the ball at Poulsen) and Pedro waving that card in ref's face after Veltman's foul on Neymar. The crowd really didn't like Neymar for the exaggerated reactions to each foul. For every tackle, he makes it look like a near death experience for him. They did make sure everyone knew their feelings but jeering and whistling every Neymar touch after that. Anyway, apart from that little annoying trait, he's a very good player. Liked his runs from the wide areas to center dragging Van Rhijn away but luckily for Ajax, it was Montoya and not Alba running into that vacant space. Masch and excessive talking to referees. Pique running all the way across the pitch to participate in handbags. Some things never change eh? :)

Ajax side are not exactly famed for their defensive nous though. The Cruyffian ideology asks for ball playing defenders and not exactly players who play with blood and thunder. The majority of the tactics is to defend by denying opposition the ball and winning back the ball with heavy pressing. Last ditch tackles are not exactly their forte. Not really bothered with whether you guys agree with this style or not, but it has its own charm. So it was pleasing to see the other side of their game yesterday. Didn't get scared after the red card and held their own well in a 4-4-1 formation, even turning to a 4-5-0 after Hoesen got subbed with Duarte.

Ajax side cost 11m Euros with an avg salary of 700,000 Euros a yr. Of the 36 members in the match day squad for both sides, 23 came through either La Masia or De Toekomst. What was that article about "not so wonderful academy of Ajax"? Beating Barça at their own game. That's how wonderful Ajax academy is. As a Spanish paper put it (I forget which one), Ajax showed their technique in first half and courage in second. Now all they need is a win in San Siro to progress. How bloody good that would be! :)

Special mentions to Viktor Fischer, who suddenly seemed to have found his mojo back last week. Davy Klaassen, who is now part of senior side after getting promoted from A1. But my man of the match is Thulani Serero – a frail midget with ill fitting shirt but what a match he had. Ghosted past everyone for the first goal and dominated the midfield throughout. Almost makes me feel even I could have made it.

PS

Pep is playing Lahm at CM and De Boer is playing Blind as #6. At least Pogba should now see why Fergie played Rafael at CM 24 months ago. Too blind to recognize SAF as a visionary. Only joking of course.

Match review: Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Bayern München

Felt the score line was harsh on Dortmund and it flattered München a little. Dortmund were missing their first choice back four: Piszczek-Subotic-Hummels-Schmelzer and hence played Großkreutz-Sokratis-Friedrich-Durm. München started the match better but Dortmund wrested control in the middle period of first half and yet München finished the half stronger. Robben is having a bit of renaissance in 2013. He was benched a lot in first half of 12-13 season but the unfortunate injury to Kroos meant Müller moved to center with Robben occupying right wing. He scored the only goal in Dortmund’s 1-0 defeat in DFB Pokal quarters, scored two in CL final, scored again in Dortmund’s DFB Super Cup win. I don't remember whether he played in that drawn Bundesliga match between these two sides last time but 4 goals in 4 games is a pretty good record against a bogey team.

It was a very cagey match reminding me of that 1-0 Dortmund win in Apr 2012 [that game where Robben missed a penalty and Subotic mocked him]. I thought both sides were fairly matched in terms of goal scoring chances. Götze came as a substitute and Dortmund fans let us know their feelings with Götz€ banners. I think it was written in the stars for him to break the deadlock and it was such a beautiful goal too. Collecting Müller's pass at the edge of the box, he beat Weidenfeller with a shot from outside of his foot. He didn't celebrate but the entire München side mobbed him (except Neuer). Dortmund tried their best but Neuer saved a Reus left footed shot. Boateng kicked away the ball at the edge of box before Dortmund (Reus again?) could think of taking a shot. Mkhitaryan took an extra touch instead of heading the ball. Aubameyang's shot was saved. There were chances galore but Dortmund couldn't quite score. What's worse, München went on counter attack with 2 vs 1 advantage and Robben scored from a nice chip. 2-0 and game over. Only, it wasn't yet. There was still time for Robben to slip a pass to Lahm whose low cross was finished by Müller for a 3-0 win. This ends München’s 6 game winless streak against Dortmund in league [4 wins in back to back title winning campaigns under Klopp with last two matches finishing as draws]. Robben scored his 5^th goal vs Dortmund this calendar yr.

Despite all the boring football talk [I tend to be one of them occasionally], it is always interesting to see Pep's tactical changes whether they work or not. The match started with Javi Martínez playing behind Mandzukic with Lahm and Kroos staying deep. Götze came on for Mandzukic making a slight 4-6-0 system. When Dante got subbed for Thiago, Martínez went to the opposite side and started playing CB with Thiago playing CM. Then Van Buyten came on for Rafinha moving Lahm to RB (which is when he assisted the 3^rd goal I think) and Martínez to midfield. So in effect, Martínez played 3 different positions during the course of the match.

Dortmund have now lost 3 games in a row scoring just 1 goal. They were a bit unfortunate in those games [0-1 Arsenal, Wolfsburg 2-1, 0-3 München] and they look to bounce back against Napoli in crucial CL match tomorrow. At least Piszczek is back.

PS

A very well written article on Erik Durm from Bundesligafanatic.

Match Review: Iceland 0-0 Croatia

Iceland-Croatia, started 45 mins earlier than the other 3 UEFA playoffs and hence I was able to watch them first. Also helps that Ajax's Kolbeinn Sigþórsson is their main striker and vice-captain. Both the teams started with two strikers but implemented them differently. While Iceland deployed Eredivisie duo Sigþórsson and Finnbogáson along side each other, Croatia used Mandzukic as CF and Eduardo on the wing. In addition to two strikers, the midfield two of Iceland had Gylfi Sigurðsson who is not actually a central midfielder. This meant Croatia had an extra man in the middle and they dictated play from the center. Modric in particular was the man responsible for this. The first 10 mins was all Croatia with the home team hardly getting the ball and even when they got the ball, they gave it away with poor touch. I guess the occasion caught up with them. But once they stabilized themselves, Iceland had the better chances. The most clear cut chance of the half was Guðmundsson's volley whose shot was so bad it went opposite to the Croatia goal instead of towards it. I think Pletikosa got the record number of caps for Croatia with this match being his 108^th.

In first half, Croatia found joy on the wings with particularly Perisic on the left side but all the crosses were comfortably held by keeper Halldórsson. Mandzukic did nothing for most of the half. The first half ended pretty badly for Iceland as Ajax’s Sigþórsson got injured and was replaced by Eiður Guðjohnsen at the break. With the introduction of Eiður, Iceland now matched Croatia in the center and the match was fairly equal for a while. This is when Perisic mistakenly thought that Croatia is in Latin America instead of the Balkans. A slight touch from Skúlason is all that’s required for the big man from Croatia to go tumbling and the referee promptly sent off Skúlason. The home crowd repeatedly booed the referee in the first half as he consistently got the calls wrong and gave too many in Croatia’s favor. The red card only brought out more ire from the stands.

Iceland played with 10 men for nearly 40 mins and thwarted every Croatian attack. Vedran Corluka who partnered Dejan Lovren in central defence had a good game from the back as he didn't have anyone pressuring him constantly for the ball [WhoScored man of the match]. Iceland sacrificed Finnbogáson after the red card and Guðjohnsen was the furthest Icelandic player. Modric was Croatia's best player being at the heart of every attack but he was also their worst player in a sense as every time he gave the ball away, Iceland had a chance to break on counter attack. Both the keepers were hardly forced to make any saves though. Bayern München's Mandzukic had a frustrating match as he hardly got a touch entire game. Iceland comfortably held out for a 0-0 draw at home against better opponents and will now need a scored draw in Croatia to progress. 10% of Iceland’s population applied for the tickets at Reykjavík. Croatia used Srna as RB, Simunic as LB, Rakitic-Modric-Pranjic as central midfield with Perisic and Eduardo on wings.

Man of the match: Eiður Guðjohnsen. Best technical player on the pitch.

Hoping for Iceland to go through after 2^nd leg.

FIFA Ranking: Switzerland and Netherlands

FIFA have released updated world rankings today and the same will be considered for seeding in the 2014 World Cup. Next update would be in November, but FIFA decided to ignore those as the 8 UEFA teams which are currently waiting for play offs to determine 4 eventual entrants will gain a massive advantage over teams which have already qualified. This is because FIFA gives more weightage to World Cup qualification (coeff: 2.5) matches compared to friendly (coeff: 1) games. This should also explain the steady fall of Brazil's world ranking since the end of Copa America 2011 as hosts are exempted from playing qualification matches for the World Cup and Brazil could not gain too many points from playing friendlies.

How does FIFA calculate ranking points?
FIFA considers the performance of a national team in the preceding four years to evaluate the ranking points and eventually the rank. Quite logically, more importance is given to recent results compared to the results from matches played 4 years ago.

Current calculation method = P * MC * S * OCC

P = Points.
A win gives 3 points, a draw gives 1 and a loss would mean 0.

MC = Match Coefficient.
Friendly games have coefficient of 1
World Cup qualifying matches have coefficient of 2.5
Continental Cup (Copa America, Euro, AFCON, etc) qualifiers have coefficient of 2.5
Continental Cup and Confederations Cup matches have coefficient of 3
FIFA World Cup matches have coefficient of 4

S = Strength of opposition
It is usually calculated as 200 - Rank of opposition team.
There are two exceptions to this calculation:
1. Strength of top ranked team is considered as 200
2. Minimum value of S is 50. So all nations ranked 150 or below (or above, whichever way you look at it) have S as 50.
For example, if the opposition team is Spain (currently: 1st), the S = 200. If the opposition is Japan (currently: 44th), the S = 200 - 44 = 156. If the opposition is India (currently: 154th), the S = 50.

OCC = Opposition Confederation Coefficient
Along with the consideration of opposition's strength, there is also another factor called strength of the confederation to which opposition belongs. Currently, the coefficient values of different confederations are as follows:
UEFA = 1.0
CONMEBOL (South America) = 1.0
CONCACAF (North America) = 0.88
AFC (Asia) = 0.86
CAF (Africa) = 0.86
OFC (Oceania) = 0.85

The weightage given to performances of past 4 yrs is as follows
Last 12 months  = 100%
Preceding 12 months  = 50%
12 months prior to above =  30%
12 months prior to above  = 20%

Ranking points from each match are calculated using above formula.

Let's say Netherlands beat Japan 2-1 in a friendly match.
Ranking points obtained by Netherlands for that particular game would be
3 * 1 * 156 * 0.86 = 402.48

Average ranking points in a twelve month period is got by simply dividing total ranking points obtained in that time period by number of matches played. Weightage rules are applied and final ranking points are calculated.

For example, Japan's ranking points are as follows:
Year    Average    Weight    Avg Weight
2010    398.52      20%       79.7
2011    539.52      30%       161.86
2012    344.44      50%       172.22
2013    220.65      100%     220.65

Total = 634.

Top 14 countries (Spain to Portugal) all have 1000+ ranking points and considering the weightage of recent results, it seems like an average of 550 points in 2013 seems a good score.

How Switzerland made a massive jump:
Switzerland provide a curious scenario. They didn't even manage to qualify for Euro last year but their qualification campaign for World Cup has been brilliant. They were ranked 30th last year and got paired in a group containing Norway (12), Slovenia (22), Albania (59), Cyprus (80) and Iceland (121). Considering that they were 3rd best in the group before the qualification started, they were expected to provide a fight for the qualification. They were the only side to beat Spain in 2010 World Cup, after all.

Nb: Brackets denote ranking just before WC qualification started.

Switzerland have put the Euro 2012 behind and made a steady start to the WC qualifying campaign. Their results for past 12 months are

Nb: Brackets denote ranking at the time of playing Switzerland

Friendly - 2-1 vs Tunisia (46) = 3 * 1 * 154 * 0.86 = 397.32 pts
Friendly -  0-0 vs Greece (11) = 1 *  1 * 189  * 1 =  189 pts
WCQ - 0-0 vs Cyprus (133) =  1 * 2.5 * 67 * 1 = 167.5 pts
WCQ - 1-0 vs Cyprus (122) =  3 * 2.5 * 78 * 1 = 585 pts
Friendly - 1-0 vs Brazil (9) = 3 * 1 * 191 * 1 = 573 pts
[this is the importance of WC Qualifiers. Beating a low ranked Cyprus in WC qualification still gives almost same points as beating 9th ranked Brazil in a friendly!]
WCQ - 4-4 vs Iceland (70) =  1 * 2.5 * 130 * 1 = 325 pts
WCQ - 2-0 vs Norway (25) = 3 * 2.5 * 175 * 1 = 1312.5 pts
WCQ - 2-1 vs Albania (45) = 3 * 2.5 * 155 * 1 = 1162.5 pts
WCQ - 1-0 vs Slovenia (29) =  3 * 2.5 * 171 * 1 = 1282.5 pts

In addition to remaining unbeaten throughout the WC qualification campaign (7W, 3D), Switzerland beat three top 50 nations in their last 3 matches making their ranking points jump from 788 pts (rank 27) in August to 1138 pts (rank 7) by October. Switzerland average 670 pts for every match in last 12 months and those points contributed massively for their upswing. Switzerland only needed a point from final 2 qualification matches to nearly confirm their participation in the WC. Ottmar Hitzfeld's side went out and won both games considerably improving their rankings. The wins brought additional rewards in the form of getting seeded to World Cup group draws.

Friendlies ruin Oranje
If Switzerland were disappointed with Euro 2012 for not qualifying, then Netherlands had bigger nightmares after losing all 3 of their group games (Denmark, Germany, Portugal) for the first time in their history. Coach Bert van Marwijk moved aside and Louis van Gaal took over the national team for the second time. Van Gaal was determined to make amends for the failed 2002 WC qualification when Portugal and Ireland qualified eliminating Netherlands.

The qualification campaign started with a 2-0 win over Turkey at home and 4-1 win away in Hungary. Rest of it was a breeze with Netherlands winning 9 games and drawing 2-2 vs Estonia. Netherlands scored 34 goals, next only to Germany's 36 in UEFA confederation. But what hurt them?

Friendly - 0-0 vs Germany (2) =  1 * 1* 198 * 1 = 198 pts
Friendly - 1-1 vs Italy (4) = 1 * 1 * 196 * 1 = 196 pts
WCQ - 3-0 vs Estonia (89) = 3 * 2.5 * 111 * 1 = 832.5 pts
WCQ - 4-0 vs Romania (31) = 3 * 2.5 * 169 * 1 = 1267.5 pts
Friendly - 3-0 vs Indonesia (170) = 3 * 1 * 50 * 0.86 = 129 pts
Friendly - 2-0 vs China (95) =  3 * 1 * 105 * 0.86 = 270.9 pts
Friendly - 1-1 vs Portugal (7) = 1 * 2.5 * 193 * 1 = 482.5 pts
WCQ - 2-2 vs Estonia (85) =  1 * 2.5 * 115 * 1 = 287.5 pts
WCQ - 2-0 vs Andorra (205) = 3 * 2.5 * 50 * 1 = 375 pts
WCQ - 8-1 vs Hungary (30) = 3 * 2.5 * 170 * 1 = 1275 pts
WCQ - 2-0 vs Turkey (49) = 3 * 2.5 * 151 * 1 = 1132.5 pts

Though Netherlands have an average of 1010 pts over 4 yrs ago, only 20% of those points are considered for ranking calculation. The much recent 12 month period sees Oranje have an avg of 562 pts. Though it's a good average, one can't help but think of those friendly matches which produced low points.

A 0-0 against arch rivals Germany is not worrisome but Netherlands threw away important leads in Portugal and Italy games. In both the games Netherlands led 1-0 only to concede 88th min and 90th min goals (Ronaldo for Portugal and Verratti for Italy) and settle for two 1-1 draws. Ranking points from those two games would have been tripled had Netherlands won instead. Or even the case of Indonesia and China. The two countries are ranked so far below in the table that even beating them 10-0 would have provided barely any points for Holland. These four games have considerably reduced the average ranking points in last 12 month period. Switzerland have 1138 pts and are seeded for the WC. Netherlands have 1136 pts and are unseeded (expecting Uruguay to comfortably beat Jordan in play-offs and clinch the seeding). When the difference is only 2 pts, those friendly results seem to hurt now.

Will be posting about Italy, Belgium, Colombia and Uruguay tomorrow.

EDIT: Not posting about above nations as hardly got any views for this post.

Mr. Pellam movie review

Mr. Pellam (translates to Mr. Wife) is a 1993 Telugu film directed by the legendary director [and a brilliant cartoonist] Bapu. Cast includes the likes of Rajendra Prasad, Aamani, AVS, Tanikella Bharani, Dharmavarapu.

Balaji (Rajendra Prasad) is a bank employee married to housewife Jhansi (for political correctness: is it called homemaker now?) with 2 lovely kids. Balaji is the stereotyped male figure of the early 90s who has the stereotyped male ego and thinks that the job of a wife is to take care of household chores while the men (like him) earn daily bread. He gets promoted to bank head cashier and as per the rules, gets one key for the bank vault with the other key present with bank manager (Tanikella Bharani). He celebrates it by buying a television set (the first in the colony!) but due to the treacherous and cunning plan by Bharani along with another bank employee as his aid, Balaji is found accountable to a 1 lakh loss to the bank. He gets suspended from the bank on the day of promotion itself but to his surprise, he doesn't get recruited into any other job from next day as he has a negative record. Jhanshi (Aamani) convinces Balaji that she'd use her B.Com qualification to get work in Annapurna Foods company, whose Managing Director is her friend from the 12^th grade. She goes to meet Gopal Krishna (AVS), her friend in the office. After using her wit/charm/brains in tackling a business issue in the board meeting (at which she is coincidentally present), Jhansi gets the job as vice president for Sales division with a pay of 10 grand a month. She tells her husband that she secured a job with 3 grand monthly pay [as that was the salary Balaji was earning before he got suspended] – you know, to not provoke his ire.

Meanwhile, Balaji challenges Jhansi that he can take care of the house as he considers it a very easy job [women need to work only from 6 am to 9 am compared to how hard it is for men like him to work from 9 am to 5 pm]. Quite obviously to us viewers, he struggles at home. He cannot make his kids get ready to school, cannot cook at home and cannot manage even simple chores. He hates Jhansi working in office while he sits at home, but his hands are tied. A few fights ensure between the couple over the same issues and finally after Krishnashtami celebration events at Gopal’s house, Balaji loses his rag. He accuses Jhansi that she wanted her husband to feel bad about himself which is why she took him to Gopal’s house to show him how wealthy and happy Gopal is. Jhansi gets a 20 grand bonus in office for massive increase in sales and her savings amount to 85 grand. She borrows 15K from Gopal and gives 1 lakh to Balaji asking him to submit it in the bank which makes Balaji angrier than a Hulk. He cannot believe that even his wife would think that her husband stole the money and leaves the house. He calls Bharani from a payphone and tells him that he cracked the vile plan of theirs. Meanwhile, Aamani takes the help of her friend Gopal and calls the bank chairman to tell him about the false case. Everything falls in line at the end and the couple patch up their differences.

I remember watching this movie on tv as a kid [cant remember whether it’s Doordarshan or the early years of ETV] and absolutely loving it. Rajendra Prasad [who was later conferred a doctorate and given the title Natakireeti] was the king of family entertainers in late 80s and early 90s. Aamani portrays the role of a Bapu Bomma perfectly. Unlike the present movies, the comedy is not included in separate tracks but flows along with the movie. It won the Andhra government’s annual Nandi award while also winning the national award for best Telugu feature film. All the songs are brilliant [especially the lyrics] – mom’s out and dad’s home. This is a new kingdom now!

 '

Couple of dialogues I absolutely love - 

1.

Balaji: "aa nanda gopal.."

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

..

Balaji: "aa venu gopal"

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

..

Balaji: "aa hara gopal"

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

…

2.

At the Krishnashtami celebrations

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: “Hear hear!!"

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: "Tell us sir! Tell us tell us. Please tell us.."

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: “Shut up! Didn't I ask you to shut up?” "Not you sir. Please continue.."

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means, Lord Krishna’s birthday" "Phew!"

There is probably a Balaji still present in most of the guys now, but Bapu doesn't show him as an evil character. There is ego, there is suspicion but also there's charm, there's fun. I generally reveal the ending in almost all my reviews as my subjects are mostly family entertainers and quite obvious with their climax scenes. A recommended movie for those who can understand Telugu.

Weekend Football: 30th Aug, '13 - 1st Sep, '13

Chelsea 2-2* Bayern Munchen [4-5 on penalties]

Weekend started with the glorified friendly of UEFA Super Cup. If it wasn't for Maureen and Pep, doubt many would have bothered with the game. Both Chelsea and Munchen played their mid-week games cautiously in preparation for this gala event. Chelsea happily took a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford while Munchen dropped 2 pts at Freiburg and lost Schweinsteiger to an injury. With Thiago still injured and Gustavo sold, only regular player available in CDM was Javi Martinez who himself was coming back from an injury. He wasn't fully fit and could only start from bench though. This meant the best fullback in the world, Lahm, played as DM with Rafinha as RB.

Munchen started brightly with continuous recycle of possession while Chelsea hardly managed to even build an attack. Pity that a football game is decided by goals instead of possession though, coz Fernando Torres scored against the run of play with due credit to Hazard in the buildup. I don't think entire Chelsea side even had 10 touches of the ball by then [8^th min]. Maureen regularly setup his sides on counter attack against Pep's teams and Chelsea absorbed all the pressure from Munchen side while looking for any openings on the counter. First half was a bit boring compared to the last season's Super Cup but Chelsea had the lead and they had no reason to venture forward unless space opened up on the counter. Munchen started the 2^nd half brightly, this time actually creating scoring chances instead of just playing the ball around the box. Ribery found a bit of space and blasted a shot on Cech's right side to score the equalizer and reminded everyone why he won the European Player of the Year. Shortly later, Pep saw the light and subbed Rafinha for Martinez on 55th min which meant Lahm could go back to his usual role as RB. Martinez provides a unique combination of qualities in that he's a very assured passer of the ball [comes from Spanish upbringing] and can play physical football going into tackles [comes from a non-Catalan upbringing]. Munchen put pressure on Chelsea but the Chelsea side stood firm. Chelsea had a couple of glorious chances [even hitting the cross bar] which mostly came from the set pieces. Even Heynckes' side was prone to attacks from set pieces and Chelsea fully utilized the weakness with Neuer bringing out two outstanding saves to deny Chelsea taking the lead. Robben went off for Shaqiri, which widened Munchen's playing area and Gotze came on for Muller. And the latter was responsible for the turning point of the game when Ramires stepped on his ankle and got his 2^nd booking 4 mins from normal time.

For reasons not completely understood, UEFA Super Cup goes to extra time if the normal time ends in a draw [unlike Charity Shield in England]. 3 mins into the extra time, Hazard easily beat Lahm and Boateng [I have no idea why both defenders stood off him and left enormous space to run into] and his shot wrong footed Neuer. Quite fitting for Hazard to score in what might be the winner in Eden Arena and the headlines almost wrote themselves. A man down and a goal up – what would any half decent side do? Play completely defensive and only venture on counter if there is a certain chance to score. Well, Chelsea did that for the best part of extra time with Munchen trying to score the equalizer. Neuer played as a sweeper and there was an instance when he went half way through Chelsea's half and headed the ball back into the area! But time was running out for Pep’s men. Despite trailing in the game, Munchen fans have done remarkably well to support their team [what's with the German fans?!] and Maureen urged Chelsea fans to get behind the team. Chelsea leading 2-1, Munchen providing cross after cross and the time running out. With 6 secs left on the clock, Javi Martinez scored the equalizer to take it to penalties. Can't say the goal hadn't been coming as Munchen outshot Chelsea 11-1 in ET.

Despite the momentum being on the Munchen side, I favored Chelsea for the penalty shootout win as Cech was in tremendous form during the game saving everything thrown at him. An year ago, Chelsea beat Munchen in CL final in penalties in Munich. And now they're missing the usual penalty takers Robben, Schweini and Muller while Ramires was not a penalty specialist. First 9 penalties have been brilliant except for Kroos. Cech would have saved it easily if he guessed the direction but for other 8, I don't think both the keepers had any chance. Lukaku stepped up for the decisive penalty. If he misses, Munchen win. He shot very tamely and Neuer had no trouble saving the penalty and Munchen became the 5^th team to complete the 'UEFA set' – UEFA Cup, Cup Winners Cup, Champions League, Super Cup. Only other sides to win them all were Ajax, Barcelona, Chelsea and Juventus. German sides have lost all 7 times in Super Cup and this was the first win. Had to feel sorry for Lukaku though and I don’t think anyone would blame him at all. Just a Super Cup game, is all.

Chievo Verona 2-4 Napoli

Napoli have lost their previous 3 visits to this ground scoring 0 goals. But Marek Hamsik changed all that when he scored from outside the box to give Benitez's side a 1-0 lead. Chievo equalized from Paloschi and I felt Reina should have stopped the cross before it reached the striker. A terrible back pass from Chievo enabled Higuain to steal the ball and provide a cross for his ex-RM teammate Callejon to score the 2^nd. Paloschi scored again before HT to make it 2-2 though. Hamsik scored his 4^th goal in 2 games and Higuain added another for Napoli to comfortably win 4-2. 2 games, 2 wins for Benitez. Seems to have certainly learnt from his earlier Inter Milan debacle.

Schalke 2-0 Leverkusen

As the flowchart “which Bundesliga side should I support” asks, which one do you prefer – a giant criminal Russian conglomerate or a giant criminal German conglomerate? Schalke had an awful start to the season but 3 days before the game, their confidence was boosted following their 3-2 win in CL playoffs against PAOK Salonika in Greece which guaranteed their passage to group stages. The game was mostly played in midfield and the three-pronged attack of Bayer troubled Schalke's defence continuously. KP Boateng made his debut for Schalke and had a terrible first half [16 touches, 37% duels won]. I thought Szalai had a good game in the absence of injured Huntelaar and Draxler had been brilliant on the ball. His free kick from the edge of the area brushed Hoger's shoulder before going in but the stadium announcer gave the goal to Draxler. Bayer are on a winning streak and the last game they have not won was 3-0 loss Schalke in April. Schalke became better in 2^nd half and when Farfan won a penalty and scored it himself, Schalke's win was all but guaranteed. They had two simple chances to increase their lead but Clemens and Goretzka [both late subs for KP Boateng and Farfan] missed. Keller can sleep peacefully for couple of weeks. Really impressed with the in-game analysis on Sky Bundesliga. They do it during the breaks [foul, corner, offside, etc] without interrupting the game. Pic at the end.

Juventus 4-1 Lazio

Juventus started in a 3-5-2 with Asamoah and Lichsteiner as wingbacks. Pirlo, Pogba and Vidal as the midfielders behind two strikers Vucinic and Tevez. Great pass from Pogba for Vidal's first goal. Bonucci's long passing is pretty impressive for a central defender and one of those led to Vidal's 2^nd. Buffon parried a shot into the box with Klose lurking and that meant Juve took 2-1 lead at HT. Juventus made a half time substitution bringing on Good Vooch in place of Bad Vooch and the Good Vooch scored his 100^th goal in Italy [95 in Serie A] from another Bonucci long pass. Good Vooch also dummied the ball for Tevez to take and score his 3^rd goal in 3 games for La Vecchia Signora. All in all, a comfortable win for Juventus and now they are 18 games unbeaten against Lazio. Last time Carlos Tevez lost a league game in which he scored was in Sep 2008. In 46 scoring games since then, he won 42 and drew 4.

Groningen 1-1 Ajax

Just before the weekend, Ajax sold Christian Eriksen to Spurs in what was believed to be a 15mE deal and sent Toby Alderweireld to Atletico Madrid in a 7mE deal [reported by Dutch papers]. With Siem de Jong injured, Viktor Fischer dropped in favor of Sana and Blind still recovering from groin injury, most of the creativity in Ajax side was lost. When Eriksen's transfer was confirmed past midnight IST on Friday, I was genuinely worried as to who is going to create chances now for the champions. And my worry proved correct :|. Arjen Robben, fresh from winning the UEFA Super Cup visited his former club to watch the match against Ajax. Lasse Schone scored from the Robben range [albeit with the right foot] for Ajax to take the lead. But apart from that, Ajax struggled to create any chances. Sigthorsson, who started as primary striker, had 0 attempts on goal in 70 mins. 

When you conceded 7 goals in previous 3 games [3-3 vs Heerenveen, 2-3 vs AZ, 2-1 vs Feyenoord], it is a risky strategy to rely on 1-0 lead. Groningen unsurprisingly scored the equalizer with 15 mins left, but it was highly unconventional of Vermeer to drop a clanger right at the feet of Zeefuik. Groningen created better chances forcing Vermeer into an acrobatic save as well as hitting the post in injury time. Frank de Boer told the wunderkind Viktor Fischer to "clear his head" which the Dane took literally and went bald. No change in the fortunes though. Spurs' Tom Caroll is rumoured to be sent on loan to Amsterdam as a compensation for losing Eriksen so late in the window.

Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd

When Liverpool's official twitter account RTed 3 most used songs for mocking Munich tragedy, I was genuinely worried that few Utd fans would use this as an excuse and stoop so low and taunt the Liverpool fans with Heysel/Hillsborough chants, which will promptly be replied with the aeroplane gestures and the rendition of above referred songs. With the club deciding to celebrate Shankly's centenary, I wanted the game to be free of all troubles as Shankly is the most respected Liverpool man even by the Utd faithful. When he was approached by Liverpool director asking if he'd want the best job in the world, Shankly replied: "Why, is Matt Busby packing it in?". Bill Shankly – always worth a quote. Those were the days of the rivalry being limited to on-pitch battles and never flowing outside the pitch between the clubs or the managers. The three great Scotsmen Shankly, Stein and Busby enjoyed good relations between each other with Liverpool even offering Utd 5 players to cover the ones lost in Munich. And in Shankly's spirit, the match is supposed to be free of all tensions and I'm glad it turned out that way in the end. [As far as I know, no troubles flared in the stands but I stand to be corrected though].

The team selection from Utd could very well have been done by Fergie who always insisted on including as many academy and British players as possible in derbies who genuinely understand the rivalry and last night was no different. It is uneasy to see Giggs getting regular starts as my first impression after learning that he was appointed player/coach was that he'd be used as a mentor – a guiding light for Moyes to get completely used to the Utd dressing room and an inspiration for the players. So in that sense, it was a terrible team selection [based on the advantage of hindsight]. It was a cheap goal to give away too from Utd point of view. We knew Liverpool are going to press incessantly for the first 30 mins at least. If our aim was to start slowly soaking in the pressure and then turn adventurous, we didn't implement it well. It was Welbeck at Liberty and Young at Anfield who gave away the ball cheaply near our own box. Defended the corner badly allowing Agger an almost free header. Cleverley was on the line positioned to prevent excessive damage from allowing free headers to opposition and he almost succeeded before Sturridge had other plans. Before 4^th min, it was already an uphill task for Utd. Not many chances were created in the first half from both the teams and Utd were struggling. The 2^nd half was started brightly by Utd but for all the possession we had, we didn't create clear cut chances. From one of the resident stattos, Liverpool attempted 5 crosses, 2 of which were corners. Utd attempted 32. Looking at Liverpool's crosses, it is fairly evident that they played very narrow and if our plan was to attack the wide areas, the strategy to use 2 wingers on wrong sides [Giggs on right, Young on left] is not the way to go. Most of the times, the crosses were coming into the box curling towards the goal and were easily dealt with. The only crosses curling away from goal are from Jones who is not a good crosser.

Utd's play livened up a little after Nani and Hernandez came on. Sure they had poor touches, gave away the ball few times and couple of crosses were over hit, but they were actually doing something on the pitch instead of playing safe. With Liverpool totally committed to sit deep, we needed people who can open up spaces with their movement [RvP, Hernandez, Nani] and who can provide decent crosses into the area. Both Hernandez and Nani barely had any preseason and were coming off injuries, so it's difficult to judge how good or bad they were. Also, which idiot [sorry!] took RvP off dead ball duties? At one stage, we had 8 corners to Liverpool’s 1. They scored from that and we never came close to even test Mignolet. It is understandable that RvP is useful inside the box but his deliveries for corners and free kicks are quite useful for us. That is how Evans and Evra had their best scoring seasons last time.

From the Chelsea and Liverpool games, what is clear is that Utd are a bit difficult to break down – whether that is down to opposition refusing to attack us or whether we became really good in defending is something I cannot point so early – but there is a distinct lack of creativity. We are also not helped by injuries to Nani, Hernandez, Kagawa and now Rooney. Utd have always relied on strikers and wingers creating majority of the chances and if our best creative players are injured, it becomes a bit difficult to create chances. Moyes is not helped by the injuries and the lack of creative signings – so I wouldn't want to point fingers at him, not so early at least. There's a 2 week break now and then comes Palace at Old Trafford. By the time we visit Etihad, I hope we get into some groove. Rafael has been a big miss for us so far. [love him in a totally non-gay way]

Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham

I've said it before that for all the pretty passing that Spurs do outside the box, they create jack. Also, they are very vulnerable to counter attacks and vertical passing from opposition. Both those attributes shined perfectly in the glorious North London's evening sun last night. Danny Rose maybe suited as a left winger, but a left back he is not. Has no positional discipline at all and allowed Walcott to run freely throughout the game. Vertonghen can only cover so much ass at one time, after all. He has to look out for slow-as-a-submarine Dawson and positionally-as-free-as-a-child-running-after-candy-in-carnival Rose. Paulinho is not as creative as you'd like, Capoue is completely defensive and Dembele is a box-to-box runner. Soldado cut a lone figure up front all along. Was he in Koscielny's pocket? When did he ever get the ball that Koscielny was forced to defend? :p Chadli makes good runs to beat the fullbacks [it was only Palace and Rangel and Jenkinson so far] but his crossing has to improve. Also, I get a feeling that he was Twente's right winger and if that's the case, no wonder his crossing is poor from the left. 

For all the impressive runs that Townsend makes, he doesn't deliver decent deliveries. FourFourTwo stats showed that Townsend had a lot of joy in take-ons but his game after that suffered. Eriksen and Lamela will increase the productivity of this side but they arrived too late for the derby. Lamela could only be used as a sub [by which time Wenga played 4 full backs – Monreal, Gibbs, Jenkinson and Sagna] to defend wide areas while Eriksen couldn't play at all. Walker has taken a lot of shots from ridiculous distances [yes he scored that winner in this derby 2 yrs ago but so did Rose 3 yrs ago] and yet when the ball falls to him 10 yards from goal, he fluffed it. How many of Spurs players were signed after May 2012? Vertonghen, Lloris, Dembele, Paulinho, Capoue, Chadli, Soldado, Lamela. Townsend and Rose went on loan last season. Except for Dawson, Defoe and Sandro, rest all didn't have enough time at Spurs.

Coming to the Arsenal side, it's clear that they have a very good first XI but the league is won by a squad not 11-14 best players. Those days are gone 2 decades ago. As Michael Cox observed, Vertonghen played for offside while Dawson ran back to cover which allowed Giroud to score. 14 league goals so far and all of them in London. Walcott’s runs created trouble time and time again, Cazorla is the king of through balls and a fit Rosicky is as good as ever. Pity that Wilshere got subbed off and my earphones probably had a babelfish [ref: H2G2] inside which made it sound as if Martin Tyler called him Flamoney over and over again. If not for Lloris, Arsenal could have got a couple of goals more but I don't think anyone would complain about a 1-0 win in the derby when in the last two instances, the team that took the lead got a man sent off and eventually lost 5-2. Clean sheet, bragging rights, good football, Ramsey, Walcott, Cazorla, Giroud, Flamini, Koscielny. Lot of positives for Arsenal.

References and credits:

1. Which Bundesliga side should you support? [credits: @kreutzweise]

2. Sky Bundesliga's in-game analysis

Stefan Effenberg is one of the co-commentators

3. Joke about Viktor Fischer going bald - @ajaxlife

4. Stats about Liverpool and Utd crosses - @nickcoppack

5. Other stats taken from @infostradalive, @whoscored and @optajoe

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

First time I came across Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy [henceforth to be referred to as H2G2] was way back in 2003 when I was reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. I thought H2G2 was another sci-fi novel. Only when I read the first part in 2010 did I realize that it's the most bonkers [in a good way] sci-fi series ever. Here's a brief review of all 5 books in the "trilogy".

1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – The funniest sci-fi satire ever. Period. [let’s forget for a moment that I never read any other sci-fi satire]. If you haven't read this, you do not exist. There's a movie too with the pretty Zooey [Deschanel] in the role of Trillian. Marvin's voiced by Alan Rickman [aka Severus Snape], Martin Freeman [Peter Jackson's Hobbit, Dr. Watson in BBC's Sherlock Holmes] is Arthur Dent. It helps to envision these people while reading the parts of specific characters.

2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe – It contains one of my favorite lines: Hey, I’m so cool, you can store a side of meat inside of me for a month. I’m so hip, I have trouble seeing over my pelvis. I hope to use that someday without embarrassing myself. I couldn't finish the book the first time though. I only made it till halfway through and couldn't progress further. Also the space-time thingy completely buggered me off. But I took it up for a second time and it was actually a good read. It needs patient reading to understand how Zaphod, Ford, Arthur and Trillian go to the end of the universe. Do they travel in time or space? Best part of the book: The conversation between Marvin the Paranoid Android and one of the battle ships sent to capture Zaphod. 

3. Life, Universe and Everything – Arthur and Ford think they finally made it to the Earth [which Earth was it though? Did they travel in time and reach Earth before it was destroyed by Vogons in first book or was it the new Earth that Slartibartfast created on Margathea? Find out for yourselves!] but they land right in the middle of Lord’s cricket ground during an Ashes test. The Krikkit wars part was entertaining. Also, the concept of Somebody Else’s Problem field was incredibly funny.

4. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish – I think the original intention was to write a trilogy and Douglas Adams was only forced to write 4^th and 5^th parts as the series became immensely popular. Including 5 books under “trilogy” was understood as part of the satire in the end. Arthur returns to Earth and is surprised why all the dolphins have left the planet. He falls in love with Fenchurch [aka Fenny] and with the help of Wonko the Sane, tries to find out God’s Message [that’s where the book ends and the message is a spoiler]

5. Mostly Harmless – Title comes from the Guide’s definition of Earth. Ford Prefect spent 15 years understanding about the planet and finally comes up with the mostly meaningful definition [though the editors at the Guide seem to be responsible for condensing his work into those two words]. I like this book as it deals with Arthur and a teenage girl called Random who suddenly comes to him out of nowhere [Arthur was happily living on some planet which is not Earth] and says that Arthur is her dad. The mood swings of the girl, the sudden revelation that Arthur is her dad though he can’t ever remember who her mother is and which planet it all actually happened, the stressful efforts by Arthur to try to understand her and act like a parent, all those parts were funny. Contains another of my favorite lines: A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

In the end, parts 1-3 are good with 1st book the best one, while 4 and 5 are not that well rated though I liked 5. It is widely reported that Douglas Adams was going through a low phase in his life when he wrote books 4 & 5 and that is why they aren't that funny. I read parts 2-4 as fillers, the 1 day break I needed between ending a book and starting another huge book [part 2: The Idiot and Last Don, part 3: Last Don and Dangerous Fortune, part 4: State of Fear and Nobody Here Gets Out Alive]. All 5 parts can be read over a weekend!

Dutch Super Cup: Ajax 3-2 AZ

Ajax, the three time defending champions of Eredivisie and AZ Alkmaar, the winners of KNVB Beker [beat league champions Ajax 3-0 at Amsterdam in semis and league runners up PSV 2-1 in finals] faced off against each other at Amsterdam for Johan Cruijff Schaal, the traditional Dutch Super Cup for nearly two decades. Participation in this tournament is not new for De Boer's Ajax, as they also contested for this trophy last 3 years. Though they lost all three times, De Amsterdammers went on to win the Eredivisie to complete a hat-trick and also added a third star to their badge [winning 30th league title in 2010/11]. For Ajax, this year's match was against a side who finished 11^th [out of 16] in league and lost Jozy Altidore and Adam Maher in the summer window, while no big names have moved out of Ajax. Bojan made his competitive debut for the Amsterdam side as right winger with Fischer on the left. Other starters: Sigthorsson, Siem De Jong, Eriksen, Schone, Van Rhijn, Alderweireld, Moisander, Blind, Vermeer.

Ajax started the match positively shaking off any pre-season rustiness and AZ desperately clung on after Ajax attacked the goal several times. AZ’s keeper Esteban was impressive in goal saving at least four one-on-ones in the entire game. It was a surprise the match went 0-0 at HT. Bojan was the best player on the pitch. Gertjan Verbeek sent his side with only one plan in mind – defend with 9 men and attack on counters. The ploy worked successfully as AZ went on counter after yet another wave of Ajax attack with Blind elbowed out. With a 2-on-1 situation, AZ easily scored the first goal through Gudmundsson. De Boer protested to the fourth official but that didn't change the outcome. This was when the tv channel did an Anderson and went missing for 20 mins. In that time, AZ managed to score another through Johansson while Gouweleeuw scored an own goal to cut AZ’s lead to just 2-1. Bojan got subbed with Lucas Andersen, who did extremely well after coming on as sub. Esteban kept saving AZ’s arse with Ajax camping in AZ’s half with all 10 outfield players. Finally, Ajax managed to get an equalizer when Alderweireld's powerful drive from outside the box could only be parried into Sigthorsson’s path who calmly slotted into the keeperless net.

Sigthorsson had another chance to score the winner in injury time but no further goals were added. Extra time was similar to how the match went till then – waves of Ajax attack desperately defended by AZ. Finally in the first period of extra time, Eriksen crossed the ball from near the corner flag after exchanging neat passes with Andersen and captain Siem scored a header from the far post. Ajax tried to score further but AZ had two great chances on counter which were both saved by Vermeer. Match finished 3-2 – a repeat of the scoreline when these two sides last met in Alkmaar – and Ajax won their 8^th JC Cup [PSV on 9].

Last time Frank de Boer won the Johan Cruijff Schaal ['95], Ajax won the league and went to European Cup finals. Wouldn't mind taking the same deal now

Positives:

1. Bojan Krkic - Overmars and De Boer were happy to get Bojan on loan as he was trained in La Masia and hence fits Ajax style perfectly. He started on the right and caused lot of trouble to AZ full back. He combined well with Van Rhijn who made overlapping runs while Bojan slipped between the defenders. He also has a good shot on him and forced Esteban into couple of good saves. With Lukoki still very raw and Sana capable of playing left wing [whenever Fischer needs a break], I expect Bojan to contribute a lot this season.

2. Alderweireld - The combination of Vertonghen and Alderweireld in 11/12 was so unique in the sense that both the defenders are comfortable on the ball and are capable of carrying it further up the pitch to join attacks. This is in contrast to usual blood-and-thunder-defender + slick-passer combinations that are found aplenty. Once again, Alderweireld was calm on the ball and contributed to several attacks by releasing long passes to Fischer/Blind on the left side. It was rumoured that he might leave Ajax soon [with Norwich City a strong possible destination], but he seems to bide his time. He may still leave but I hope he stays.

3. Joel Veltman - Losing big players every season is not new to Eredivisie clubs, which includes Ajax, even if they are hat-trick league winners. Siem de Jong, Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld were all rumoured to leave and Veltman was identified as Toby's replacement. He came on as a sub and had a particularly impressive last man tackle without which AZ would have had two attackers on goal with only keeper Vermeer to beat.

4. Viktor Fischer - The current Ajax squad was put together at a cost of 19.5m Euros and this should bring a sense of perspective when you think they paid 16.5m Euros to get Miralem Sulejmani in 2008. After the club let him go to the Portuguese giants SL Benfica this year, Viktor Fischer inherited the #7 jersey which assures everyone that he's going to be a main starter from now on. Fischer had an impressive Next Gen tournament in 11/12 when Ajax lost to Inter Milan in finals and he was promoted to the senior team last season when he's only 18. After impressive performances last year, it seems like Fischer will now be a primary starter [over the likes of Boerrigter, Lukoki, Sana]. He was very good against AZ and could have scored a couple of goals but luck was not on his side. There was one particular moment when he brought down a long pass from Aldeweireld at the edge of the AZ box with an exquisite touch. My favorite moment of the match, though it didn't result in a goal.

5. Eriksen and Siem de Jong - Two important players who were touted to leave Amsterdam for pastures anew, it is nearly confirmed that captain Siem de Jong will be staying. Siem is probably the least technical of all midfielders that Ajax got [let's forget for a moment that Poulsen still plays for them] but he always comes up with big goals. He can play as a midfielder alongside Eriksen and bully his way out of opposition midfield and he can also cover for Sigthorsson as CF when Siggy gets his annual long term injury. For the last 3 seasons, Siem de Jong has scored in league winning games and once again, when his side crawled back from 2-0 down to 2-2, Siem came up with the winner. Both the players are still very young and if they decide to stay for another season, Ajax might actually do well in Europe as long as they don't get silly groups [12/13: Group of Death - Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Man City, 11/12: Real Madrid and Lyon with Lyon beating Dinamo Zagreb 7-1 in final group game knocking out Ajax who saw two perfectly legitimate goals ruled out for offside against Madrid, 10/11: Real Madrid and AC Milan].

Special mention: Nicolai Boilesen who came as substitute for Blind after battling a long term injury. Last time he played was in 2012 against Manchester United in Europa League.

Last time a Johan Cruijff Schaal winner went on to win the Eredivisie was in 2000/01 [PSV Eindhoven]. Let's hope Ajax repeat the same.

Final score: 

Ajax 3-2 AZ [Gouweleeuw og, Sigthorsson, Siem de Jong; Gudmundsson, Johansson]

How important is Nani?

I have been a massive fan of Nani ever since he scored his first goal against Spurs in 2007 and celebrated by his trademark flip. I agree he infuriates many Utd fans but that is only because everyone knows his capabilities and the frustration is because he seldom seems to play to his level.

Nevertheless, I checked out the statistics of few other players to compare with Nani since he moved to Man Utd in 2007. Ribery and Robben have been top wingers playing in Bayern Munchen [as well as Real Madrid for Robben] where the tactical systems use wingers prominently instead of wide forwards. Then I've checked out Cesc Fabregas, the best central midfielder in England when he left to Barcelona. He has played as wide forward and false 9 in Barcelona since his move in 2011 but it only saw an increase in goals with his assist tally reducing a bit. Then there's David Silva and Juan Mata who I liked ever since their Valencia days [along with David Villa] playing in tactical systems which focus on chance creation through center [Silva - Man City, Mata - Chelsea].

Included Jesus Navas as he was impressive with Sevilla previously [is he the only winger available as plan B for Del Bosque?] and recently moved to Man City. Inclusion of Ozil's name has been tricky though. He was the main man for Werder Bremen and after he moved to Real Madrid, the tactical system is not completely focused on center. With Ronaldo and Di Maria, Madrid can afford to attack incessantly through wings and with the pace of their attack, they also rely on fast counter attacks occasionally instead of methodical passing in center trying to draw opposition defenders out. Ozil has also played  as the wide player in a 4-2-3-1 and despite all these factors, he has done well. Fabregas, Nani, Silva and Navas are of similar age, separated by just few months while Mata, Ozil are 2 yrs younger. Ribery and Robben are of course more experienced.

A look at their statistics* from 07-08 through 12-13.

Franck Ribery - 18370 mins - 203 goals+assists - a goal or assist every 90.5 mins
Arjen Robben - 13583 mins - 139 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 97.7 mins
Cesc Fabregas - 18830 mins - 182 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 103.4 mins
Mesut Ozil - 20391 mins - 184 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 110.8 mins
Juan Mata - 21486 mins - 184 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 116.7 mins
Luis Nani - 14891 mins - 113 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 131.7 mins
David Silva - 20075 mins - 120 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 167.3 mins
Jesus Navas - 22452 mins - 101 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 222.3 mins

Franck Ribery has been frankly scary for last 3 seasons despite Borussia Dortmund winning the league title in two of those seasons. Arjen Robben was in and out of the team with injuries and even last season he only got a look in after the impressive Toni Kroos got injured but Robben grabbed his chances and played brilliant in winning The Treble. He single handedly got Munchen on the verge of Treble in 2010 and without his goals, Munchen would have lost to either Fiorentina [Round of 16] or Man Utd [Quarterfinals] in the CL that year. Good God, just look at the figures he put up despite his injuries.

Cesc Fabregas, was the provider-in-chief at Arsenal and after he went to Barcelona, he didn't always play as a central midfielder. But statistically, he didn't suffer any dip. As the assists column saw a dip, the goals column shot up. Mesut Ozil and Juan Mata, despite being teenagers for 2 of the seasons under consideration, put up highly impressive figures. One can argue that Ozil has Ronaldo in Madrid to shoot up his assists charts [I think Ronaldo-Ozil is the most frequent combo in goal scoring for past 3 seasons cumulative] but Ozil put up brilliant performances though the team is not built around him like Mata at Chelsea.

When David Silva came to the Premier League, he didn't readily adjust like Mata did. But Silva walked away from 2011-12 season, where City won their 3rd ever league title, as the best midfielder [though that mantle is taken away by Mata now].

Then there's Nani. Joined in 2007-08 as 20 yr old Portuguese talent following the footsteps of Ronaldo but he has suffered heavily with the comparisons. I haven't come across any interview where he compares himself with Ronaldo, but that doesn't stop the detractors to mock him. When you're only the 2nd player from your country to join a club like Man Utd with the first ever player being hailed as best player in the world, I guess it's understandable to feel a bit nervous. His perceived lack of consistency is nothing more than an exaggerated myth imo. As a Utd player, the turnaround in his performances came in January 2010 after a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Emirates and he never looked back. For the next 60 or so Premier League games from 2010 January till end of 2011-12 season, he averaged a goal or assist every 80 mins. An average of a goal or assist in every Premier League game for two and a half seasons is pretty consistent imo.

There were rumours in 2012 summer that Nani might be offloaded. With Berbatov already leaving [Berbatov-Nani-Carrick are my favorite Underrated Holy Trinity], I was worried if Nani might leave. He was 25, he had brilliant two and a half seasons and just about entering his prime years. Thankfully, he wasn't sold. There were murmurs that he was stalling his contract talks and with only 2 years left on his deal [Jun, 2014], the club had to either extend his contract or risk losing him for relatively less money. Fergie was unimpressed with what I understand as strictly background information [let's agree here, no one actually knows whether Nani had created problems with respect to contract negotiations] and Nani was frozen from the team. The continuous injuries and lack of faith from the manager saw his performance levels oscillate for past season but with Fergie's unexpected retirement, Nani can pin his hopes on the new manager Moyes.

Moyes can use Nani as he used Pienaar at Everton. With Baines providing the width on the left, Pienaar was encouraged to cut in and take scoring chances. Despite all the criticism of Nani, he averages a goal or assist every 131 mins over six seasons, which is like 1.5 matches. So, if he plays 45 games in a season and performs as well as his career average at Utd, he'd be bagging 30 goals + assists. And with two and half seasons of consistent performances backing me up, I can safely say he'd definitely achieve that, if not more, by getting more and more games. Utd currently have 4 wingers - Ashley Young, Antonia Valencia, Wilfried Zaha, Luis Nani - for 2 spots. An exciting player in Nani, a solid performer in Valencia [though he was surprisingly poor in 12/13], a young prospect in Zaha and a squad backup in Ashley Young, I hope the wide spots are sealed. All that is left to do now, is to extend Nani's contract.

* - There are discrepancies in stats reported by different sites but for the sake of uniformity, I used transfermarkt for every player. Stats include performances in league, domestic cup, domestic league cup, champions league, community shield or super cup, europa league, champions league qualifiers, europa league qualifiers, uefa super cup and club world cup. National team performances are not included.

Book Review: Five Little Pigs

Author: Agatha Christie

I finished The Last Don on Saturday and before I could start the heavy Dangerous Fortune [Ken Follet], I needed a filler. My last two Agatha Christie books didn’t impress me [Dumb Witness & A Murder Is Announced] and I put this in the same category.

A woman is accused of killing her artist husband and though she pleads not guilty in court, she puts up an unimpressive defence against the prosecution which doesn’t impress the jury and they give her penal servitude. Their 5 yr old daughter is taken away to Canada to grow up with her Uncle and Aunt but a year after the case, the mother writes her last letter to the daughter telling she is innocent before dying. Armed with this letter, Carla Lemarchant [aka Caroline Clare II] goes to Poirot believing her mother’s innocence 16 years after the case was concluded. Poirot ponders over the contents and agrees to help Carla in getting the truth out – whatever that might be. At the time of death, there were 5 other people present at the house who could have committed the murder:

Kid Carla [daughter of the deceased] – 5 yr old

Caroline Clare [wife of the deceased] – accused

Other five:

Angela Warren [half-sister of Caroline] – 15 yr old

Phillip Blake [best friend of the deceased]

Meredith Blake [brother of Phillip]

Cecile Williams [governess of Angela]

Elsa Greer [mistress of deceased]

After Poirot goes to meet the solicitors who worked on this case to understand who all were involved, he gets reminded of the nursery rhyme, Five Little Pigs

This pig went to the market

This pig stayed at home

This pig had roasted beef

This pig had none

And this pig went wee wee wee

[I might have forgotten the exact words]

The story was decent, it’s just 180 pages long but this would have suited Miss Marple much more than Monsieur Poirot in my opinion. The setting is in a nice country place and the end result is dependent on psychology of the people. Only thing which was a hindrance for Miss Marple to be involved was probably coz the investigation takes place 16 years after the death but I think Christie could have easily worked around that part. Last 3 books of Agatha Christie I read have left me unimpressed and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve outgrown [sorry Calvin] her stories. Give it a read if you’re undertaking a short 4-6 hr travel and don't have anything else to read. Or maybe as a filler while you move from one heavy book to another. Otherwise, it's not recommended.

Hibernation

For the past 2 months, I've been struggling to write anything worthwhile. I can't blame it on lack of time, as I've had enough free time these days. I just am not able to write at all! Had to give up the following topics:

- Sir Alex Ferguson retirement
- 20th league win for Manchester United
- Book Review for Football Men
- Ajax season review [hat-trick winners ahoy!]
- The Accident [a brief description of my accident last week and a rant against the idiots lacking driving sense]
- The first all-German final in CL [for what it's worth, I've felt it was better than last 6 CL finals at least]
- Bayern Munchen's Treble

As I am not able to string even a couple of coherent sentences together, I will be going into hibernation for a few weeks to avoid public embarrassment. Will hopefully pop in with a report next time Netherlands play a WC qualifier.

Adios.

Who should I support in 2012-13 UEFA Champions League final?

As the day gets nearer, it gets tougher and tougher to choose a team to support in the final. So I've listed down several reasons I could think of to support Borussia Dortmund or Bayern München.

Why you should support Dortmund:

- Kloppo!

- Südtribüne

- Exhilarating football

- Were placed in pot 4 but reached finals. Underdogs!

- Put in the toughest group of the season and one of the toughest of all time

- Knocked out 2^nd/3^rd best team of group stages [Shakhtar] convincingly

- Knocked out the most charismatic coach of CL era

- Almost lost in quarters, but scored 2 in injury time to progress. Drama!

- Hipster’s choice. It’s cool to support them

- Jürgen Klopp is fcuking awesome

- Echte Liebe

- Klopp! Klopp! Klopp!

- Bestest fans in Europe

- Rose from bankruptcy to CL finals in space of less than a decade

- Probably last chance before team gets broken up

- Kloppmeister!

Why you should support Bayern München:

- Bavarian beer and dirndls

- Dominated Bundesliga this season like it’s nobody’s business

- Robbery

- It would be heartbreaking to see them lose 3 finals in 4 yrs

- Heynckes farewell

- On the verge of treble for 3^rd time [never actually completed though] in last 14 yrs

- Thomas Müller

- Spanked the bestest club side in the history 7-0 in semis

- Mia San Mia. Mia San Meister? Packmas!

- Scariest side to face this season

- Umm, they wear red and red is cool 

- Start of an era perhaps?

- Best beer in the world

- Dante’s ‘fro is cool

- If they lose, Der Kaiser would destroy the world and that’s something we don’t want to happen [not before we witness Maracana final in 2014, at least]

So, what is it going to be? Die Schwarzgelben? Mia San Mia?