Arsenal 0-2 Bayern München

Just consolidating a few thoughts I had post game.
Just consolidating a few thoughts I had post game.

Apart from the two goals, München hit the post with a penalty, they should have got another penalty, Kroos hit the post in the end, a brilliant pass from Kroos over the defence to Robben saw Fabianski make a finger tip save, there was one cross from right which was missed by at least 3 players.. It wasn't just passing for the sake of passing.

What's disappointing was Arsenal not following the textbook plan of playing 10 vs 11. After the red card, they had only one chance to score which was Koscielny through Özil's free kick. Apart from that, there was no plan of stretching the München defence or shredding them with pace. Completed just 3 passes in attacking third compared to München's 242. Just 3 passes over 50 mins is mind blowingly low!

München can play through center, they can use crosses [I was kinda chuckling to see them try to beat BFG with crosses :D] and they can counter attack. Even when they were 1-0 up in an away tie, even though Pep has previously never won at Emirates, they still kept attacking in final 10 mins. Very rare for teams to do that as they could easily be caught on the counter and see the score become 1-1.

After the red card, the formation was a lopsided 4-4-1. Ozil on left and Ox on right with Sanogo keeping the CBs busy. Ox didn't get much chance in attack but he helped Sagna in defending, though München didn't really attack on that side much. Özil left Monreal on his own.

Despite some criticism, I think Sanogo more than held his own well. He constantly troubled Boateng while Ox was burning Alaba and Dante was dragged out of position several times to his left. You have to remember that Lahm has been a constant presence in midfield this season and even when Lahm wasn't there, it was usually Schweinsteiger. Martinez was not used as DM much this season and no wonder Arsenal had fun in the attacking half as their fluid attack was confusing München players. München slowly started taking control around 15 mins though. After the red card, Pep did the right thing to move Martinez to defence and bring Lahm as CM. As someone said, Lahm is the gold medalist in decathlon of footballers. Kroos had 147/152 passes :o. Alaba was helped by Götze/Thiago while Robben and Rafinha were taking Monreal for a ride. I can understand Arsenal wanting to keep it compact in the center (and hence Monreal staying inside) but Kroos kept hitting cross field passes to the right towards Robben and Monreal had to be dragged out of position coz Özil was doing nothing to help him. Even if Monreal covers Robben, then there's Rafinha who was unstopped. And to pile on the misery, even Lahm kept drifting to right. I was waiting for Arsenal to win the ball and go on counters through Ox on the other wing but Pep did his homework well. Ox was totally isolated on his side as München kept playing on the other side. With no offensive threat to take care of, Alaba was so deep in Arsenal's half. Was surprised to see Ox get subbed for Rosicky. I don't think he was that tired and he was still a great outlet on that side for the counters. I can't understand Özil's non-substitution twice!

Non-Arsenal fans try to watch the 2nd half of the game where you can appreciate the runs of München players in Arsenal's area when Kroos-Lahm were playing right wing passes to Robben/Rafinha. München constantly probed for an opening with several players dragging Arsenal defenders around. Pizzaro did the same for Müller's goal and even before that there was one header from Müller (who ghosted past as usual) which hit the standing leg of BFG and went for a corner.

PS
1. Felt weird to see Götze and Thiago play on the wing during some moments in the game. What's weirder was seeing Thiago/Kroos occasionally take the ball from CBs with Lahm ahead of them both in midfield :o
2. As soon as Müller came on, I knew he'd score a goal like that. He just ghosts past everyone in almost every single game.
3. Was shocked to see Cazorla sacrificed. If anything I thought Özil would be gone as I felt Cazorla would contribute better to Arsenal [especially in a 10 vs 11 when Arsenal are expected to increase their work load] than Özil.
4. For Özil's penalty call, he was slightly offside. Should have made his fortune count. It was like a tribute to Utd vs Sunderland game =))
5. It would be a travesty if Kroos isn't a starter for Germany in the WC [I noticed Löw in the stands]. A true world class CM who reminds me a lot of Modric [been following Kroos since his loan at Leverkusen]
6. 3 yrs ago, Robben would have mentally disintegrated when Wenger made a 'you dived' gesture to him at the side lines. Improved his mental aspect a lot under Heynckes. Thanks, Jupp!

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.

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?

Match report: Netherlands 4-0 Romania

After winning all 5 of their previous group games in 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Netherlands were determined to continue the streak against Romania who were 2nd (level on points with Hungary) in the group. Louis van Gaal made just one change to the side which won 3-0 against Estonia 4 days ago. Rafael van der Vaart replaced injured Sneijder with Kevin Strootman getting the captain's band. That's the fifth game in a row the 23 yr old Strootman was named captain [discounting the previous match when Sneijder came back into the side after a brief hiatus] and Van Gaal seems to rate him extremely highly.

Netherlands started the match brightly with rigorous passing from the back to the front. What they lacked though, was a killer ball that opens up the opposition defence. To the Romanians' credit, they must have watched the Oranje's game against Estonia and defended deep and compact. Kevin Strootman operating as a box to box midfielder brought the first save of the match when his powerful left footed shot was parried away by Pantilimon. Within a few mins, Netherlands got a clear cut chance to score when Jeremain Lens, operating from the right hand side delivered a sumptuous cross into the box and all it needed was a decent finish. Robin van Persie inexplicably managed to volley it high and wide from just a few yards away. Lens was at it again, taking advantage of Romania left back's poor first touch by robbing him of the ball and providing a low cross to Van Persie at the edge of the box. Van Persie was ahead of the pass but adjusted his body perfectly to produce a deft touch and leave it in the path of an onrushing Van der Vaart whose right footed shot beat the goal keeper. 11 mins gone and Oranje were 1-0 up. This was Van der Vaart's 23rd strike for the national team and he is having a bit of renaissance since the dreadful Euro 2012 ended. This goal marked his 5th goal in last 7 games for the NT including 4 in a row in WC qualifying matches. Only other Oranje player to score in 4 consecutive WC qualifiers was Patrick Kluivert, who was in the dugout accompanying the coach Van Gaal and Danny Blind.

Lens and Janmaat combined well several times on the right side with Lens releasing the ball perfectly during the fullback's forward forays while also rushing behind to cover the position when the ball was recovered by the Romanians. Van Gaal seems to prefer wingers playing on their natural side for the Dutch national team as this would stretch the opposition. Arjen Robben was brilliant on the left side against Estonia and he continued his good run against Romania. Unlike Lens - who stays wide and gives crosses into the box occasionally - Robben sticks wide only till he reaches the 18 yard box. From there, he either passes the ball infield to RvP/VdV or releases the ball for Blind's forward's run. I believe this strategy provides two plans - a) if the opposition decides to defend with 10 men, then it allows Blind to go wide stretching the play and provide a cross into the box b) if the opposition full back tracks Blind's run, then it opens up space inside the box and Robben can receive the return pass from Blind with a higher chance of scoring.

Romania had a couple of chances to score on the counter but there was always protection for the center backs De Vrij and Martins-Indi in the form of De Guzman. Strootman covers the ground pretty quickly too. De Vrij belongs to the highly acclaimed group of ball playing center backs and he reminds me so much of Jan Vertonghen (Spurs/Belgium). De Vrij, effortlessly plucks the ball away from the opposition strikers before foraying forward in the space left behind by the opposition striker's run. Martins-Indi provides the physical presence and can always be counted upon to win headers inside the box. Oranje went into half time break one goal up and were the dominant side for most of the first half. In contrast, Romania had only one chance when Popa's shot went across the goal and narrowly missed the target.

Oranje continued their dominance in the second and after 11 mins, some neat interchange of passes on the left side of the pitch allowed Robben to run parallel to the goal line and provide a cross to RvP whose brilliant header beat Pantilimon. Looking at the goal again, Van Persie had no business scoring such a goal [:p] as the angle was really tight. Kluivert, Van Gaal and Blind all celebrated near the side line. After a 7 game goal drought for Manchester United, Van Persie has scored 2 goals in 2 games for Oranje and also equaled Cruyff's tally of 33 goals for the national team. Janmaat continued to provide brilliant support for Lens on the right and one of the forward runs by Lens resulted in a penalty when he was fouled inside the box. Robin van Persie stepped up and coolly slotted the ball on the wrong side of Pantilimon for his 2nd goal of the game. Goal number 34 for Oranje, overtaking Cruyff's tally. After 73 mins, the awaited substitution finally arrived. Van der Vaart made way for Adam Maher.

Maher started the game in a slightly inhibited fashion and he wasn't really himself initially. This might be because of nervousness trying to impress the coach. His passes towards the wings had a little more loop on them which allowed the fullbacks to intercept the passes easily. Maher started in the 1-1 draw with Italy in a recent friendly and if not for Buffon, he could have had a brace before half time. A really exciting player to watch. A few mins later Clasie came on for De Guzman and we had the chance to look at the future midfield (hopefully) of Maher-Clasie-Strootman. Even Van Persie got subbed eventually with Ajax's captain Siem de Jong taking his place. This meant that Oranje had 10 Eredivisie players on the pitch with only Arjen Robben the odd man out. This proved yet again Van Gaal's faith in the country's league and the young players. There was still time for Maher to shoot powerfully with his left foot which could only be parried into the path of Lens by Pantilimon and Lens made no mistake to make the score 4-0.

This match brings up 14th consecutive victory for Oranje in World Cup qualifiers and with Germany (1969-85) holding the all-time record of 16 wins. Van der Vaart has taken part in 64 wins for Oranje with the table being led by another Dutch legend - Edwin van der Sar with 75 wins in 130 apps. Louis van Gaal called it the best performance under his 2nd tenure at Oranje while RvP was gushing about the #10 role: "I play for Oranje a bit like how I do at my club, there's always a No10 near, at MUFC it's Rooney, today Vd Vaart. This suits my game".

Highlight of the day: De Vrij's brilliant cross field pass to Robben. The pass was so good that Robben was applauding it before the ball even reached him! Start watching the video from 1:00 onwards.

Match report: Netherlands 3-0 Estonia

Having been the only side along with Russia to have a perfect record (4 wins out of 4) in 2014 World Cup qualifying from Europe, Netherlands resumed their campaign with a home game against Estonia.

Jeremain Lens was impressive in his Oranje career but was initially left out due to his recent disciplinary troubles. After Huntelaar got injured in the recent Schalke game, Lens was recalled into the squad and made a starter. Arjen Robben started on the left wing while Robin van Persie played as center forward. Louis van Gaal made it clear that he will not be selecting players who are not regulars at their respective clubs. Never the one to avoid tough decisions, he dropped the captain Sneijder during his initial days when Inter Milan regularly benched him. Sneijder moved to Galatasaray in the recent transfer window and made his way back to the Oranje starting spot again. Impressive Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman partnered Kevin Strootman in a 4-2-3-1 midfield.

Daley Blind has been getting plaudits for his performances at Ajax and was given a start in the familiar ground of Amsterdam ArenA. Bruno Martins-Indi partnered his Feyenoord teammate Stefan de Vrij in the center. I don't normally rate Daryl Janmaat highly at right back but his recent performances for Oranje and Feyenoord have been brilliant whenever I had a chance to watch. And if my memory serves me correctly, he was my man of the match in a recent Oranje game (1-1 draw with Italy?). Ajax's Kenneth Vermeer started in goal.

Oranje started the game strongly by keeping possession comfortably but Estonia were resolute in defence. Instead of trying to take the ball off Oranje, Estonia players waited patiently deep into their half and tried to base their attacking game solely on counters. Oranje kept searching for the opening goal, but it was difficult to come by. Robben was the best player of the half where he mostly stayed on his natural left wing and combined very well with an overlapping Blind several times. One of those moments led to a fine cross into the box by Blind which was knocked down by Van Persie to Sneijder 6 yards from the goal but Sneijder's shot missed the net. Within a few mins, Robben was at it again, dribbling around 3-4 players on Estonia's right side before advancing into the box without losing possession and his left footed shot narrowly missed the goal.

Around this time, Oranje passed 1000 mins of not conceding a goal at home in World Cup qualifiers. Last time it happened was 9 years ago in a 3-1 win over Finland in 2004 WC qualifiers. The return for Sneijder wasn't as successful as everyone has hoped with the captain forced to leave the field after 35 mins with a groin injury (it is now confirmed that he'd miss the next qualifier on 26th Mar). Van der Vaart came on for Sneijder but it was Strootman who got the captain's arm band. Estonia had a brilliant chance on counter attack before the half time but missed. Both teams went into the half time break with the match goalless.

It was evident that Oranje were struggling to create too many clear cut chances against a resolute Estonia side. Inclusion of De Guzman and Strootman along with a #10 like Sneijder (and later Van der Vaart) meant there was too much space between attack and defence. De Guzman was happy to stay deep while Strootman didn't know whether to commit himself completely in attack as a counter from Estonia would leave the team vulnerable. Considering Estonia's game play of sitting deep, the game was crying out for a creative midfielder like Adam Maher, who was not selected. With all the scoring chances coming from the left, it was a surprise when the goal came from the right. 2 mins into the 2nd half, Janmaat's pass found Van der Vaart at the edge of the box and his near scuffed shot found the left side of the net. Deadlock finally broken.

Robin van Persie is going through a relatively poor form in front of the goal for Man Utd but what never left him was his exquisite first touch. He displayed good technique once again in this match, he held the ball up for others and his vision allowed Netherlands to be more creative compared to having Huntelaar in the team. With De Guzman and Strootman in the side, the inclusion of Van Persie was necessary. Anyway, Janmaat got his 2nd assist of the game when his cross was volleyed into the goal by RvP. Shortly after the 2nd goal, Lens made way to Schaken who responded by scoring his 2nd Oranje goal in 3 matches with Van Persie getting the assist. There was still time for Clasie to come on for De Guzman with Netherlands comfortably winning the game 3-0 making it 5 wins out of 5.

Sneijder will miss out next home game vs Romania on 26th March but the good news is Maher was called up as replacement. After watching Van Gaal's Oranje a fair few times, the difference between his team and Van Marwijk's is clearly evident. Van Gaal's team is more creative, more assured in their passing and more youthful. In the match vs Estonia, only starters who can be considered seniors were Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. Not for the first time in his managerial career, Van Gaal has put faith in young players and they are responding well to his methods. A notorious disciplinarian, Van Gaal has drilled it into the Oranje players. It also helped that the 2 World Cup qualifiers this time are both in Amsterdam ArenA which means the young players can expect to get a lot of support from the stands.

The rise of Janmaat and Blind is heartwarming to see as they faced severe criticism from their own section of fans earlier in their career. There is no more a place for players like Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel and it would help if De Guzman produces a wider range of passing like his Swansea performances. He is still fairly new to the Oranje team and I guess he would open up once he feels more comfortably on the pitch playing for national team. Hoping to see Strootman tried as lone DM with Maher starting ahead of him in the next qualifier against Romania. 

Chelsea: Sackings vs Stability

A look at the managerial merry-go-round at Stamford Bridge and Roman Abramovich's fascination to pull the trigger. Before I present the analysis of each manager's tenure at Chelsea, let's look at their achievements in last decade since Roman took over.

Premier League (3): 04-05, 05-06, 09-10

Champions League (1): 11-12

FA Cup (4): 06-07, 08-09, 09-10, 11-12

League Cup (2): 04-05, 06-07

10 trophies in 10 seasons, not bad really. That's probably only next to Man Utd in England. Let's look at each manager's performance then.

1. Claudio Ranieri - 

As shown by his prior and post jobs with respect to Chelsea, Ranieri is a steady-the-ship sort of guy but is not made to win things. He developed the spine of the Chelsea squad [Cech, Makelele, Lampard, Joe Cole, Robben, Duff, Gallas, Wayne Bridge and Crespo who I believe were among the regular starters for the side that won league title after 50yrs. Oh he also brought decent squad players like Parker, Cudicini, Huth, Glen Johnson along with giving debut to John Terry though I’m not sure how much credit he can take from Terry’s inclusion]. He is also the first Chelsea manager to reach European Cup semis. But when a new owner comes, it is inevitable to expect a new manager signing based on the preferences of owners. He had to go.

2. Maureen – 

Always feared this guy coz he was extremely good. He can talk the talk and can actually walk the walk [instead of you-know-who]. During his initial days, I felt he could be Chelsea’s Fergie – both managed domestic and continental success with clubs in native countries [Porto were a bit big in Portugal unlike Aberdeen in Scotland, mind] and moved to clubs in England who were dogged with years of underachievement [Utd hadn’t won a league in couple of decades, Chelsea hadn't won league in 50 years], both were hated by rivals. But unlike Fergie, this dude from Portugal had instant success [still believe it was tougher atmosphere for Fergie to come in than what Maureen found in Chelsea’s dressing room]. Not comparing the greatness of two managers, but just a few similarities. 

Maureen won a league with record points and fewest goals conceded. Won a couple of FA Cups and League Cups. Though he couldn't beat Ranieri's success in CL [losing in semis at best], there were signs of Maureen carrying on for 10 years and leaving a legacy. Now, he may not come across as a manager who stays long term, but that time, it was fairly early in his career. He seemed like he genuinely loved the club and the players were openly telling us about the bromance. At the least, I thought he could become Chelsea’s Wenga and stay for a decade [Arsene completed 10 years around the same time]. But the problem for Maureen is that his ego is too big to let someone tell him what to do. If he had Sheikhs instead of Roman, he would have stayed a few more years happily pocketing whatever trophies he can win. But Roman is the biggest meddler in the history of meddling in football. As a Utd fan, it was sweet to win 06-07 title over Maureen's side but Shevchenko's transfer and a few other incidents broke the relationship between Roman and Maureen. Alas, what could have been eh?

3. Avram Grant – 

Throughout his managerial period with Chelsea, I saw no change with respect to how they played. They seemed to be in auto-Jose mode and kept playing the same way they've known. It was like Stefan Kovacs winning two European Cups with Ajax after Rinus Michels left. I remember him getting dog’s abuse by crowd and media [which game was that where Chelsea home crowd booed a result during the run-in? Probably a 0-0 draw with Everton?]. His interview at that time was recently published by Guardian in their Top 5 Rants by Managers [unsurprisingly, Joe Kinnear at Newcastle came first]. If Terry hadn't kicked the post, maybe Grant could have kept his job – I dunno and I cannot predict what Roman would have done. But Chelsea were trophy less [lost 2-1 in League Cup final to Spurs, lost to Barnsley in FA Cup quarters, lost PL title on last day by 2 pts, lost CL on penalties]. Correct decision to sack him and he later became a Millwall legend [if you know what I mean].

4. Felipe Scolari – 

Now, I heard that Roman wants pretty tippy tappy free flowing football that the continental teams regularly play and if that was the necessity, you need to look no further than Scolari. He’s a big name manager too, winning World Cup with Brazil and finishing runners up with Portugal in Euros. His initial side was scoring for fun and beating a lot of teams but then suddenly something went wrong. I don’t remember now, but their results slipped up while they still hovered around the top of the table. Utd weren't helped with Ronaldo's injury and the lack of goal scoring [08-09 title was largely built on a tight defense which broke records for consecutive clean sheets]. Utd also had a fixture pile up coz of their participation in World Club Cup and were lagging quite a bit in the table. Then Chelsea came to visit Utd at Old Trafford and got pasted 3-0. Which I think was what tipped in favor of Scolari’s sacking. I felt he should have been given one more season as it’s difficult to win everything on first try – that was the only season, Chelsea didn't finish in top two till they repeated the same last season. [whether Hiddink was responsible for getting Chelsea into 3^rd at the finish is another argument: Arsenal were known to implode on their own (remember 07-08 when they led league for a long time?) and the other sides weren't strong enough to challenge the Big Four hold yet]. Hasty decision, imo.

5. Guus Hiddink – 

Had to slot in as interim manager after Scolari's sacking. The players respected him, he got the best out of what he could, won the FA Cup in the end and left due to commitments with national team. If he weren't coaching Anzhi, he’d be waiting in Chelsea’s dressing room by tomorrow noon.

6. Carlo Ancelotti – 

Once Hiddink left, Chelsea were still licking their wounds for their unjust loss in CL semis the previous year. If winning CL is an important criteria, Ancelotti is the best bet. He sacrificed Serie A [won only 1 in 7 seasons with Milan] to win 2 CL titles narrowly missing the 3^rd [Istanbul, 2005]. Ronaldo left Utd, Benitez started demolishing his own work at Liverpool [a fall from 2^nd place in league to 7^th at the end of 09-10 I think?]. I credit Ancelotti to be the only manager who was capable to get a season’s best out of Malouda – that deserves a separate praise of its own. His side broke the record for most number of PL goals scored while also breaking the 100-goal barrier in EPL for the first time. FA Cup win was an icing on the cake which brought first ever double in Chelsea’s history. 

The way he got sacked left a bad taste in the mouth. He’s not a kiddie, he’s a legendary player and manager, won first ever double for Chelsea but that season saw him lost in CL knockouts to Maureen’s Inter [who went on to win the title]. Okay not bad, check second season. Lost to Utd in quarters – which I think brought his demise. Ancelotti was accused of being tactically naive in both the losses to Inter and Utd but Maureen is no mug when it comes to tactics. Fergie [despite being rubbished by rival fans as a err, rubbish tactician] outsmarted Ancelotti with Giggs-Carrick midfield just like how he outsmarted Scolari in that 3-0 win with Giggs-Fletcher midfield. Ancelotti wouldn't have won 2 CL titles [if Shevchenko remembered to put his scoring boots on, Ancelotti could have won 3 but that’s another argument I’m not willing to partake in right now] without some kind of tactical acumen, at least. Wrong decision, imo.

7. Andre Villas-Boas – 

Around this time, Chelsea’s job was considered poisonous around the world [due to recent sackings of Scolari and Ancelotti] but Roman went to the extent of paying 15mE to get his man. AVB was a brilliant manager at Porto, winning the league unbeaten which was only the third instance in Portugal. Capped that off by winning Europa League and domestic cup. He could have been next Maureen at Chelsea if he had a bit more experience and/or a stronger character to rein in players. Based on one of his tactical reports that was flying around Chelsea forums around that time, he came across as a brilliant tactician. Credentials to become a great coach. But in England, there’s this wee thing called ‘manager’ role which the coach is also expected to fill. That came to the detriment of AVB. The results were bad, the players were getting alienated [instead of gradual transition, AVB went for sudden changes; I hope he learns from this mistake] and a disastrous loss in Naples left him hanging by a thread. And it was cut. Didn't even get a season and I wish he did.

8. Roberto Di Matteo – 

Contrary to popular opinion on other forums, I do not rate him as an excellent coach. But Chelsea needed a brilliant manager who can be a decent coach at worst. With Di Matteo, they found the perfect man for that particular job. His league results are comparable to Villas-Boas in terms of win percentage, he finished 6^th in league, which was like the worst Chelsea result since football got invented in 2003. But what he did was knock out Napoli, which seemed like such an improbable result at that time [Walter Mazzari must be kicking his players for wasting their chances and not winning 6-1 in Naples]. This brought back the belief in the side and when Benfica were knocked out in quarters [Jesus says they were the better side; but Chelsea were more clinical], Di Matteo completely ignored the league to focus on Champions League – san greal – Holy Grail. I was impressed with the performances of Chelsea players in semis vs Barcelona with every player giving their all and playing their heart out – but not necessarily impressed with Di Matteo’s tactics. Barcelona missed a penalty [nothing to do with Chelsea], Tello missed two clear shots on goal [nothing to do with Chelsea], Fabregas missed from 2 yards [nothing to do with Chelsea]. The result was still in Barca’s hands, but they terribly missed Villa’s finishing and can only blame themselves for that. Di Matteo won the FA Cup [they should rename it to Chelsea Cup as they seem to be winning it quite so frequently] and beat Munchen in their own ground [Allianz Arena] at their own game [in penalties] in their own style [scoring at death]. Europe conquered. 

The win tipped Hazard’s transfer towards Chelsea and Di Matteo also brought Oscar to complement Mata who has turned out to be such a brilliant player in England [if David Silva got so many plaudits for his first season, think of Mata who has been doing it even more consistently]. Everything is going smooth, Arsenal and Spurs were beaten at their own grounds, the goals were coming but the attacking style became the soft underbelly. This eventually led to exit from Europe in group stages [as Utd found out last season, it’s not so easy to get to knockouts with a weak-ish defence] and Di Matteo's sacking. I still believe he should have been allowed one more season, to correct the mistakes he has made – he’s doesn't come across as someone who’s too daft – it wasn't easy to deal with the transition. Big players from at least half a decade have started deteriorating, some of them even left the club. The current crop need a bit more experience but that’s a luxury Di Matte wasn't afforded. What made this poor decision as a terrible one was the next appointment.

9. Rafael Benitez – 

I’d rather not talk about his previous managerial awesomeness [or lack thereof], but this was a massively polarized signing when it came to Chelsea fans. They hated him, they resented him and just because he became their manager now doesn't mean they will have to change their stance. If all the Chelsea fans lapped up Benitez signing, the exact same people who criticize Chelsea fans now would criticize them again and call them hypocrites. For the 2^nd time in history, I’m siding with Chelsea fans [first time was when they unveiled Scouse Free Zone banner at Moscow final, 2008 :p]. Chelsea were 4/5 pts off the top spot when he took over, now they are 19 pts behind. If the results keep up, even Spurs can finish ahead of them. Lost the Club World Cup final [though that isn't new to him], blew an excellent chance to win League Cup [with all due respect to Swansea, the Chelsea side shouldn't be losing 2-0 at home], and now comes out blaming the fans, antagonizing them further. He is not new to having problems with the board, not new to wrecking teams and not new to blaming everyone but himself [If you don’t stop booing me, your team will be playing Europa League next season as if the manager isn't responsible for something like that at all].

Sacking managers may have brought titles to Chelsea in Chelsea fans’ opinion, but the first true sacking from Roman came with Maureen and they won only one league title since. Sometimes, the manager needs to be given time but hey ho, who will bell the cat? Who will tell that to Roman?