LA Galaxy 0-7 Manchester United: The Chosen Van cometh

As a follower of Ajax and Netherlands, I'm familiar with Louis Van Gaal and how well he's done in his career. He was a breath of fresh air after the disastrous end to Bert van Marwijk era, with Netherlands losing all three group games in Euro 2012 for the first time in their history, Van Gaal came in, gave a clean slate to everyone, brought a lot of young players into the side, focused a lot on possession play amid pressure and got Netherlands playing good football again.

Despite getting drawn into a difficult group for the World Cup, Van Gaal took Netherlands to a surprise 3rd place with memorable victories like 5-1 over Spain and 3-0 over Brazil. So I was looking forward to how he'd do at Manchester United, where he became the first foreign manager (well there's Frank O'Farrell from Ireland) in their history. So how was the first game under him?

Match summary is split into two parts as Utd played two different teams pre and post HT (Fletcher changed position and only Herrera played for 90 mins in a single position)

First half:
Utd started in a 3-4-1-2 formation, similar to how Dutch played in the World Cup. Starting XI: De Gea; Smalling, Jones, Evans; Valencia, Herrera, Fletcher, Shaw; Mata; Rooney, Welbeck.

Last time I remember Utd playing a 3-man defence, we got murdered 3-0 at Cottage. Our famous back three from that game: Ritchie De Laet, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher. Thankfully, today’s back three actually had 3 CBs. From the first 10 mins, it was evident that the players are new to the formation/system and as Van Gaal commented post game, 10 players used today weren't even training with the club last week. Mata and Herrera started brightly and Fletcher was trying to keep up with the speed of their play. Shaw did not know what to do when there's no one in front of him to overlap with. Valencia is Valencia (no left foot, miscontrolled an easy pass once). Herrera had a shot from outside the box tipped over by the LA keeper. Welbeck shot straight to the keeper a few mins later after good build up play. LvG advised Welbeck in the pre-match training to go for the corners of the goal and Welbeck must have recollected the advice a short while later when Mata's pass found him 25 yards in front of the goal. Hit a powerful shot towards the corner of the goal which went in off the post right of the keeper. Fletcher slowly started growing into the game, Jones played as a sweeper and did a fine last man tackle on Robbie Keane and Shaw kept the left side tight (very rare for Utd).

Rooney stayed strictly up top instead of running around and defending at left back (which he does around 3 times a game). Welbeck was the one who sometimes ventured deep into the Utd half to tackle/intercept and put pressure on the LA players. 2nd goal came from a penalty after Valencia’s cross hit someone's arm. Pretty good penalty from Rooney, into the left corner of the keeper. And the 3rd one was simply terrible defending. Welbeck's cross (on the ground) into the LA box was missed by their sole defender who magically found an invisible bar of soap (it couldn't be seen on tv) and though Rooney's lob was initially saved by the keeper, Rooney was there to slot in the rebound. Good half of football – comfortable in possession, quick passing, lot of inter play, limited chances to opposition.

Second half:
Same formation, different players. Playing XI: Lindegaard; M. Keane, Fletcher, Blackett; Rafael, Cleverley, Kagawa, Reece James (hence to be referred to as Ricardo Hamez); Herrera; Nani, Young.

Nice of Van Gaal to switch to false Nani formation (credit to someone else on the internet) to further confuse the poor LA defenders. He probably forgot to tell Rafael it's a friendly. Rafael went into blood-and-thunder challenges every 2 mins. Him and Jones – they find every possible way in every single game – regardless of the competition, regardless of the opposition – to get injured. It wouldn't be a Utd game if there weren't many players playing out of their natural positions. More than tinkering, I think Van Gaal wanted to see how players adapt to certain positions he thinks are more suitable (the famous examples of converting Schweinsteiger from winger to midfielder, Alaba from midfielder to left back). So Kagawa played deeper than Herrera – I wonder what the @evilkagawa made of that. 20-yr old Hamez (:p) can play as CB and LB – he was deployed as LWB. Blackett who I remember from his youth days as a left back – played as CB, Fletcher moved from midfield to defence, taking on the role of a sweeper. What was interesting to see is that the team mostly moved as a whole. So there was hardly too much vacant space between defence and midfield as well as midfield and attack. Herrera did a box-to-box role with him tackling the opposition in front of Utd's box and then popping up at the edge of Nani's crosses in LA's box.

Fletcher is too weak to aerially challenge players but he did well. Had plenty of help from Michael Keane who's a very good defender. Hamez took to his new role well but Blackett struggled as 3rd CB. Cleverley and Kagawa are good ball players but they're not really favorites to win personal duels. So LA had decent openings in their midfield and the match was mostly even between the sides till 70th min. Hamez got his first goal during this period and if I remember right, the sequence was like this – Keane shrugged off 3 LA players and passed it forward to Herrera who was near halfway line, Herrera carried the ball and released a pass to Young on the right, whose cross across the box (on the ground) found Hamez making a run into the area from LWB position and Hamez sidefoot-ed the ball into the net for the 4th goal. Herrera went rogue for final 10 mins when he kept playing through balls like on play station. Must have played more through balls in one game than our entire midfield did for the whole of last season. His through ball in the 84th min found Young and whose shot was saved by the onrushing LA keeper but Hamez was there to put the rebound into the net (looked like a beautiful shot tbf). Another through ball released Young again and when keeper went into Neuer mode rushing outside his box, Young somehow kept the ball and shot into the empty net ahead of two defenders running back to cover the goal. Another through ball from Herrera saw Young beat the LA keeper (who stayed in the box this time) again with a powerful shot. In between all this, there was a swift counter attack by Utd where Nani avoided 4 LA defenders trying to stop him and released Kagawa on the left but Kagawa's shot from the left of the box didn't have enough curl to go into the goal.

After starting the last season with a loss to Singha All Stars XI (I hope that was the name of our first opponents), it feels nice to start with a 7-0 win this time. Not reading too much into the performance but the playing style, tactics and the way players adapted is very good to see. Didn't conceded too many chances to the opposition, controlled the midfield and created loads of chances – can't ask for much.

Most of the players ranged between okay and very well. Cleverley-Kagawa axis needs more time and especially a lot of help from up front (if it's Herrera, it's good; if it's Mata, then not so much helpful). Not pining for world class players to join the club because to be honest, Van Gaal made Ron Vlaar look world class out there. So it'd be nice to see players + tactics instead of relying too much on world class players to pull us out of trouble frequently (of course it's nice to have awesome players to save your arse when the tactics don't work but I'd be happy if there's not too much reliance)

PS
Smalling is a very good defender when he actually plays as a CB. Strictly decent passing skills but he can tackle well and has tremendous pace to handle a lot of strikers. When he plays on the right, he can't seem to trap a bag of cement but when he plays in center he does okay. Only problem is his propensity to get rid of the ball quickly by hoofing it up field but he didn't really do that today. Underrated defender, a bit like, ermm, Cahill? (and Smalling is more injury prone. You can't play in Utd defense if you're not injury prone. Except the humanmachinoid Evra of course)

Bundesliga Match Day 25: 2013-14

The Borussia derby
'gladbach haven't won in Dortmund since 1998. They were on course for challenging for 4th CL spot till a few weeks ago when Schalke suddenly decided to consistently win instead of throwing away their challenge. The first half was similar to the previous game where Freiburg prevented Dortmund from mounting any serious attacks. Though Lewandowski returned to the side, Mikhi, Kuba and Reus are still unavailable. Hofmann played in the hole with Aubameyang and Großkreutz on wings. In addition to stopping the Dortmund attacks, what 'gladbach did better than Freiburg was to go on counter attacks. The combination between Kruse, Raffael and Herrmann was really good. Raffael ran with the ball in the first half and was slightly lucky that the ball bounced back into his running path after a couple of tackles, gave it to Herrmann and moved into the box to get the return. Herrmann's cross found Raffael 6 yards from goal but Raffael's first touch was so bad that the ball went into the goal when he only wanted to take an extra touch before taking the shot. 1-0 to 'gladbach. Hummels went on one amazing run after intercepting the ball at halfway line and could have scored if not for a last ditch tackle. After another attack, Aubameyang hit the bar with a powerful angled drive. But the next goal was scored by 'gladbach when Max Kruse dummied twice to beat Piszczek and Weidenfeller to score the 2nd. Gif here: http://giant.gfycat.com/ImperturbableDependableBarasinga.gif

2nd half was fairly unadventurous till around 68' or so when Nordveit got sent off for 2 yellows within a minute. His first was when he kicked the ball away after ref's whistle. It wasn't even that bad and it happens routinely in almost every game but I haven't seen ref give yellow for such things in a while [may you spend a night in room full of black adders if you reference RvP's sending off at Camp Nou]. His 2nd was for a 50-50 foul and after being down to 10 men, it was mostly 'gladbach defence vs Dortmund attack. Jojic, the man with the golden leg, reduced the deficit when his shot took a critical deflection off 'gladbach player and wrong footed ter Stegen. Jojic scored another around 88th min but ref called a foul on Lewandowski for hitting ter Stegen in the face with his arm (right call too). Klopp got sent off when ref whistled for 'gladbach throw in when he felt it should have been Dortmund's (looked like 'gladbach throw in to me). 'gladbach held on for a famous victory in Signal Iduna Park.

The revenge of the München
Bayern München were on 49 game unbeaten streak in Bundesliga. After Dortmund's loss, they had a chance to increase the lead to 23 pts over 2nd placed side. Last time they lost was against Bayer Leverkusen. Last time they scored less than 2 goals in a game was at Bay Arena this season (before Arsenal managed the same at Allianz last week). So München had every right to consider the game as important and go for a win. What they did though, was put players like Thiago, Lahm, Ribery, Alaba, Martinez on bench. It was Rafinha-Van Buyten-Boateng-Contento back line with Schweini-Kroos double pivot. Götze-Müller-Robben played behind lone striker Mandzukic. As expected München had a majority of the possession but they had no meaningful chances. Except for Kießling, Bayer defended with 10 men and München found it difficult to play from either through the center or deliver from wing. Kroos almost always stays outside the box. Schweini didn't have enough space to make runs. Götze and Robben are too short to cause havoc in the box. So it was mostly Müller and Mandzukic in the box whenever the crosses came in. Easily dealt by the Bayer defence.

Bayer could have easily taken the lead when Heung-Min Son inexplicable missed the target from 8 yards after a great counter attack. Kießling could have scored when he was one-on-one with Neuer with no defender in sight when linesman wrongly flagged him for offside. In both the cases it was Boateng playing the wrong line. But with their first meaningful shot on target, Mandzukic rose above everyone to head past Leno from a Schweini cross. After half time, München quickly increased their lead after a glorious free kick from Schweinsteiger. As the inverted wingers plan was not working out, Pep switched Robben and Götze at HT and I think the free kick came on left wing after Robben got fouled. Rolfes almost scored a golazo when his 40-yard shot was brilliantly saved by Neuer. Ribery came on for Robben, Kroos got replaced by Thiago and Shaqiri came on for Mandzukic so that Götze moved central finally and Shaqiri went to wing. Shaqiri had a good chance to score but missed in the end. There were some nice saves from Leno as well and Kießling inevitably scored in injury time but that was not enough to stop München going 50 not out, overtaking both Arsenal and Juventus in the process.

Pep has been trying the 4-2-3-1 formation ever since the winter break and I think the change came about after they were beaten 3-0 by Salzburg when the home side took full advantage of Pep's single pivot 4-1-4-1 formation. It looks like only Lahm is suited to play the single pivot and everyone else (Thiago, Kroos, Schweini, Martinez) need someone along side them to excel. The double pivot formation with two very wide players (Robbery) creates very less chances though. Götze is also suffering as a result as he's forced to play too wide while he usually thrives in center. He was amazing for Dortmund when he was exchanging places constantly with Reus. Götze can do well as a wide player if he can go on counter attacks, thereby taking advantage of his pace. But if you ask him to play wide in a game you enjoy 75%+ possession, he is going to struggle.

If both München and Dortmund win next week, then the gap would still be 23 pts with 8 games left. If Dortmund drop points, München can win the title with 2 months to spare. They currently have 71 pts and have scored 74 goals in 25 games. Already into DFB Pokal semis and CL quarters. Been great so far.


PS
Hoffenheim took 2-0 lead and then Mainz stormed back to win 4-2 with 3 goals in 7 mins and move up to 5th place now. Favre with 'gladbach and Tuchel with Mainz have done amazing job so far. Hunter is back for the crucial period and his goal helped Schalke win on Friday night at Augsburg.

Some top saves last weekend from ter Stegen, Neuer, De Gea and Cillesen

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!

Match Review: Feyenoord 1-2 Ajax

Now then, Ajax entered Rotterdam winless against top half sides in away games this season. They haven't won away at Feyenoord since 2010. Frank de Boer's first visit ended in a superb 4-2 victory for the Rotterdammers after Man City's on-loan striker Guidetti scored a hat-trick. My first Der Klassieker at Rotterdam was last season when Pellè's 90th min goal gave Feyenoord a 2-2 draw.

But in contrast, Ajax were on a good run of form coming in to this game, having stayed unbeaten in Eredivisie since Nov 2013. March is when Ajax under Frank de Boer go up a notch - they only lost 1 game in the spring time [March-May] in last 4 yrs. Ajax were also on 3 match winning streak vs Feyenoord, with the recent 3-1 win coming in KNVB Cup quarter finals.

Daley Blind move to LB and Poulsen started as DM in center along with Klaassen and Serero. Feyenoord started the match aggressively in front of their own fans - no away supporters are allowed in the matches between these two sides. There were very few chances created by either side in the game. Apart from the goals scored, there was one header by Immers straight to Cillesen while Siem de Jong replied in kind with a header [very similar to the one Pelle scored] straight to Mulder. Some points I noted elsewhere:

- Joel Veltman has to learn the art of defending. He reminds me a lot of Pique and I want him to become a Vertonghen - someone who can pass well but can also defend well [my fav EPL defender last season]. Veltman has let Pelle win the ball several times which would have given a heart attack if I were watching the match live.

- Kishna got his first start for Ajax and provided the assist for Sigthorsson's first goal. Glorious change of pace to go past Bruno Martins-Indi and deliver the cross.

- This match was part of three epic clashes between former legendary players last weekend. Simeone vs Ancellotti and Seedorf vs Conte are the others.

- When Blind moved to LB, the midfield has lost a bit of control. Feels weird to say this but Blind at DM was working so well at Ajax. After Duarte came on, he was exchanging the LB-DM slots with Blind occasionally. This worked well vs AZ, failed spectacularly vs Red Bull Salzburg and did decently well vs Feyenoord. I think Blind/Duarte will need more time to develop an understanding for the exchanges.

- Bojan is one of the most technical players I have ever seen. If only he was more clinical. He had a glorious volley from edge of the box blocked on the line vs Feyenoord. Last I checked, he tweeted saying he'll be back soon from injury. [Got subbed off after 35 mins vs Feyenoord]

- Not all players go out on to the pitch to injure opponents but players do kick out occasionally. Not to injure anyone maybe, but usually out of frustration or as an act of retribution. Pelle intentionally elbowed Veltman twice in the face as he felt that referee didn't award him a foul previously. Clasie kicked out at Poulsen as he felt referee didn't previously award a foul when Poulsen and Immers went for the ball and Poulsen was late to the challenge [obviously, Poulsen is ancient]. te Vrete went so late into Cillesen that his goal kick was already across halfway line in the air. Players do it sometimes, yes. Depends on what kind of a ref you get. I prefer the teams to respond to the kicking in kind. I like Bergkamp for this.

- Poulsen gave a 20 yard through ball with his left foot. That is all.

- Pelle has been stripped off the captaincy for his recent transgressions and Clasie will now be the new Feyenoord captain.

- Ronald Koeman is no longer the Feyenoord coach

Ajax now have an 8-pt lead over 2nd placed Twente [who could only manage a draw in their game] and considering Ajax's unusually good form during the run-in mixed with easier set of fixtures [6 of their 8 games are against bottom half sides], Frank de Boer can become the first Ajax coach to win four Eredivisie titles in a row.

Stats courtesy Opta Johan and this.

Match Review: Ajax 4-0 AZ

It's always AZ Alkmaar, isn't it? Seems like almost every game against them is a memorable one. Ajax won a gritty 3-2 game in Alkmaar last season. AZ took revenge by winning 3-0 in Amsterdam in Dutch Cup semis which they followed up by beating PSV in finals. Ajax beat them 3-2 in Dutch Super Cup this season. Then AZ took revenge by beating Ajax 3-2 in Alkmaar in the first league game. But they don't have Verbeek anymore. Around Christmas, AZ were in terrible form losing 6 games in a row but under Dick Advocaat they picked up their performances. They won 5 of their last 8 before visiting Amsterdam on 23rd Feb.

Ajax were coming off what was arguably De Boer's worst loss as Ajax's manager [not the scoreline but the performance]. Red Bull Salzburg won all 6 of their Europa League group games and there's also the small matter of beating Pep's Bayern München 3-0 in a winter friendly last month. And they showed why they should be taken seriously in this year's competition. They pressed Ajax relentlessly, broke all the attacks before they even started and took 3-0 lead after 35 mins, the 3rd one a glorious goal from near halfway line by Soriano. Yet another year, Ajax are doomed in EL. After such a performance, the side needed to bounce back and they did in a glorious style.

With Serero and Boilesen injured, the usual midfield of Klaassen-Blind-Serero, which never got beaten in Eredivisie so far was replaced with Klaassen-Poulsen-Duarte. Ajax were brilliant in the first half and could have scored 8 if not for AZ's keeper Boer and some tame finishing. Once again, Bojan was good without scoring goal. Siem de Jong opened the scoring and Ajax were never troubled.


And like many of Kafka's stories, this ends here abruptly. 

Book Review: Stillness and Speed

It's a pity that when I started following Man Utd/Netherlands, Dennis Bergkamp was playing for neither. He was an Arsenal legend already by then and had retired for Oranje post-Euro 2000. When his auto biography was released last year, there was clamor for the copies from the Arsenal fans. He was the first super star signing for Arsenal in Premier League era (and I think it was PL record transfer as well with 7m back in 1995) and everyone was interested in what he was going to say. I wasn't one of them. For someone who is Dutch, he is one of the most boring persons in interviews. It doesn't mean that he isn't articulate, you only have to read his interview with David Winner regarding that goal he scored in 1998 World Cup against Argentina. [It's in one of the Blizzard editions]. It's just that he prefers to be away from the limelight and get on with his work – just like his playing style. He was never a super star off the pitch. But on the pitch, there were few who were better. I already read David Winner's Brilliant Orange: Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football and it instantly made to my "best books ever" shelf. So, when I learnt that Bergkamp bio was written with the help of David Winner and I fortuitously got my hands on this copy just as I finished Metamorphosis & other stories, I decided to give it a go. And what a decision it was. One of those few I'm proud of. What followed was one of the most amazing stories and I didn't sleep till I finished.

An extensive story of Bergkamp is available in the Dutch edition and as Winner says, the English edition only covers one-third of it. But it's still a good one. (Auto)biographies of footballers only click when the said players are among the colorful characters on and off the pitch. Neville's and Scholes' books were routine and I already knew most of what they said in their books. Cantona's [written by Arsenal fan Philippe Auclair] and Keane's however – brilliant! Bergkamp's bio certainly ranks among those. #AjaxBias

The book starts predictably with Bergkamp's childhood and there were continuous attempts by Winner to understand the foundations of Bergkamp's genius. What did he do differently in the childhood? Was he always a step ahead of others – not in terms of skill but in terms of vision? How did the gymnastics background of his mother help him? How did the football enthusiasm from his brothers help him and so on. Is it necessary for the kids to be underprivileged for them to really show 'hunger' in football? [Kaka certainly dispels that myth]

Bergkamp was lucky that he got into Ajax side when they were on the edge of their 80s revolution with Amsterdam's favorite son – Johan Cruyff – in charge. To begin your professional career under Johan Cruyff, surrounded with legends like Van Basten and Rijkaard has to be a dream start for every Amsterdam kid. His initial years show how he was taught not just skill but also temperament and patience by Cruyff. Bergkamp had a dip after Cruyff left to Barça and Van Basten-Rijkaard went to Milan as Leo Beenhakker didn't really rate him. Those were certainly the dark days after Cruyff's departure as Ajax went through several managers [9 in 4 yrs I think]. PSV kept winning under Guus Hiddink. But once Van Gaal took over, the glory days returned again. Bergkamp provides an interesting comparison between Cruyff's and Van Gaal's methods. They both play 4-3-3. They both want attacking football but the way they go about the players is different. While Cruyff wants players to be individualistic in a system, Van Gaal prefers the system to the ultimate zenith. Every player must adhere to the system.

And then, Bergkamp moves to Inter Milan, of all the places. I mean, AC Milan already had the Dutch trio of Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard and with continuous injuries to Van Basten, Bergkamp would have been the main man at Milan under Capello. But it was a bad choice to move to Inter. Those two years at Inter are usually brushed away in the history books. The world (certainly the one I live in) knows about Bergkamp's Ajax years and Arsenal years. The Inter ones, not many know. This book has a huge chapter on his time at Inter Milan and what actually went wrong. We don't just hear Bergkamp's views, David Winner takes the pains to interview Inter players/officials back then like Osvaldo Bagnoli, Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri and to get their points as well. So it's a balanced presentation of both sides of the argument. Milan is also where Bergkamp's fear of flying started and still continues.

After two futile years in Italy, Bergkamp moved to Arsenal under Bruce Rioch. I didn't know Bruce was so loved at Arsenal. Bergkamp certainly talks as if Bruce would have continued for a long time if not for the arrival of a genius Frenchman named Arsene Wenger. Bruce only got into the job after George Graham had to be sacked for taking illegal payments. Oh also, I didn't know Bergkamp met Ian Wright [another Arsenal legend] accidentally at a gas station in South London on his first day! If I had read this 10 yrs ago, I’d have gone 'awww'. But thankfully, people grow up eh. And I already knew the part about Wenger bringing professionals to the club to take care of players' diet.

Bergkamp spent 11 yrs at Arsenal but the book doesn't talk a lot about his Arsenal years. We get several interviews from players like Vieira and Henry about what they thought of Bergkamp. His dressing room jokes (Martin Keown certainly ended up the wrong side of those), his professionalism off the pitch ("beer before match day? Holy!"), his professionalism during training sessions and of course a lengthy interview about his Newcastle goal. David Winner constantly probes about Bergkamp's vision – how he sees the runs of players like Overmars, Vieira, Ljunberg, etc – with his back to them. Part of it is training and part of it is vision. I mean, Bergkamp knows where people make runs without even seeing them. So cool! I liked the anecdote from Vieira: he explains the roles of everyone in the team and finishes the statement with "and I'm the one who gets sent off". Certainly made me chuckle.

Everyone knows the Dutch imploded in Euro 1996. But this is the first book where I read about what exactly happened there. Was it actually internal racism at Ajax/Oranje or was it because of misunderstood racism? I certainly can't cover all that in this review, the book explains it better. And of course, everyone knows the Dutch were the best side in 1998 WC and 2000 Euro but they ended up losing in semis. What's interesting is Henry's comments about France dressing room during those two tournaments – they thought they were fked if they had to face Dutch in finals and Henry still doesn't understand how France avoided them both times. Have to thank their lucky stars.

Four (!) other major points which bring new light to certain matters

1. Tony Adams asking the Arsenal board about assurances regarding the club's ambition during the start of Wenger era. If you keep your football fan brain (which is filled with lot of prejudice) aside and think logically – the sport is a profession for most players. And for a player like Tony Adams who spent all his career at Arsenal, it was understandable to ask where the club is going I suppose. I mean, fans do that all the time during the good years. Think of them during the bad times! At that time, the 1991 league winners side was long gone. George Graham is gone. Bruce Rioch is gone in short time. There comes a Frenchman with his own ideas (radical, at that time). So the players had every right to check with the board. 

Now bring back the football brain and see how much a few players are abused just because of this reason. Nobody can say that Tony Adams is not a legend. Heck, he is probably one of the three finest players in Arsenal history. And if a player like that can ask for assurances over club's ambitions, I guess a few players from current era can be cut some slack. Also, Bergkamp had disagreements with Wenger about the way he was handled in final years. While Bergkamp obviously wanted to play all the time, Wenger had to see that Arsenal get the best out of Bergkamp and how he's going to make the team better. When David Winner asks if there was a 'fight', Bergkamp denies it immediately. Just two professionals who wanted to stick to their points. Who woulda thunk eh? :)


2. Bergkamp about ‘diving’: In his opinion, it is acceptable if a player exaggerates contact to show the ref that he got fouled. But how much contact is necessary for the player to fall? Should a small nudge enough to imbalance a player's run be considered a foul? After several questions by David Winner, Bergkamp finally agrees that the decision eventually comes under a player's own moral judgment. It is interesting that he says that this attitude comes from his playing time at Inter Milan. The Italian matches back then had five defensive players vs two opposition attackers and the defenders did a lot of sneaky and underhanded fouling unseen by referees. Also, since the players rarely had chances to score (every team playing Catenaccio), they were forced to win free kicks or penalties whenever they can to get the elusive goal. We can sit here and pass moral judgment like we've always done, but it's an interesting perspective, nonetheless.



3. Ajax revolution 2010 aka Cruyff vs Van Gaal: Lot of new details. Once again after a lean period where Cruyff thought that the club lacked proper direction and was being meddled with board people unrelated to football, he wanted to bring a change. He had support from ex-players, the fans and the media. Then Van Gaal came into the picture and stood as Cruyff's opponent in the war. Despite saying how much it hurts to do it, Cruyff went to the court against the club and eventually won. After that bitter struggle, Ajax are back in safe hands with Frank de Boer, Dennis Bergkamp, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars, Edwin van der Sar, etc in higher roles at the club.



4. The Ajax way: After taking over responsibilities as one of the coaches at Ajax, Dennis Bergkamp explains the Ajax way of training. How they went back to the Cruyffian ideals and started teaching the players to be individualistic and provided them confidence to take their own decisions depending on the game. I mean, nobody can practice everything in training. Bergkamp would have practiced a lot regarding taking high balls into his stride but he did not and could not practice a 50 yard pass over his shoulder to control with one touch and hit into the goal with the outside of his foot. It all depended on where the ball fell after his touch and where Ayala moved in 1998. Similar is the Newcastle goal. The skill to take those touches can be taught, but the players have to decide themselves that they have to take that touch and then decide what to do after it depending on the match situation. 

Also, it seems accepted by Bergkamp and others in the club that Ajax train players not only that they become good but also that they eventually leave and earn money to the club. It is a continuous production cycle - players are trained in skills and technique, they play for at least five years with Ajax, win trophies and then leave to bigger clubs around Europe earning money for Ajax, which is again invested in the training of young players. This is an economic eventuality and the current reality. I've debated this with other fans but it finally came from Bergkamp so I guess it can be taken as an official statement.

The book ends with a collection of some colorful photos from Bergkamp's playing career. Worth printing each one!

I read the book on Saturday and when I watched Ajax vs Heerenveen on Sunday, with Frank de Boer and Dennis Bergkamp on Ajax bench, Marco van Basten on Heerenveen's bench, Van der Sar along with Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini in the stands, it made me all warm and fuzzy.


Dennis Bergkamp - great pro, unbelievable player and one of the modern greats!

Book Review: Metamorphosis and other stories - Part I

Ever since I came across the term Kafkaesque, I've always wanted to read his books in German to fully understand the Kafka style. I believe the little nuances are possibly lost in translations. But since I couldn't get anywhere near to learning enough German to understand Kafka, I had to do with the English translations in the end. The first one I ever read was Amerika but the ending of that book proved confusing. Realized only a bit later that manuscripts for the final 5 chapters of that book were lost. Metamorphosis is one of the highly rated stories of Franz Kafka and my next book of his contained Metamorphosis and 5 other stories. A brief review of each story below

1. Metamorphosis:

A traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one day to see himself turn into a beetle. The foreword for the book mentioned that it is possibly Samsa's dream and he'd have avoided all the troubles if only he realized that it was "only a dream". But the first page of the story is contrary to that opinion. This is how the line goes:

What happened to me? he thought. This is no dream.

So I just went with the assumption that Samsa's metamorphosis from a human to beetle is completely real [however dystopian that sounds]. Samsa's family consists of his two parents and a 17-yr old sister Grete. Samsa used to work as a clerk but ever since his father's business collapsed (5 yrs before the story starts), he's forced to earn extra income to repay the debts. As a traveling salesman, he very rarely works from his office and spends most of his time traveling on the purpose of business. He wakes up one day and realizes that he is no longer human and in fact turned into a beetle with great many little legs. His first thought is that he missed his early morning train and while he was wondering how to make up for the lost time and hoping that no one at office would realize his delay, chief clerk from office visits him. Gregor refuses to open his door and his family fear the worst – Gregor, the sole breadwinner losing his job – while the chief clerk assumes that Gregor is simply not turning up for work and in cases like these, his only option is to terminate Gregor from work. While the family, who themselves are spellbound as to why Gregor is refusing to open the door, try to convince the chief clerk that Gregor is unwell and that is the only reason for him not opening the door. When Gregor finally relents and comes out, the chief clerk runs away looking at him. The family are shocked to see their son turn into a beetle. His father forces him back to his room and decides to shun him.

Samsa's mother and sister hope that Gregor's is a temporary illness and he would be back to normal in due course. The family never visit him except Grete bringing him food at meal times. Gregor could listen to what the family is talking and learns that his father joined as a bank messenger, his mother took up stitching while Grete starts learning French and joins as a salesgirl to earn money in the absence of any income from Gregor. To avoid discomfort to Grete, Gregor starts to hide under a sofa in his room whenever Grete brings him food. But the sofa is too small to completely cover him and Gregor, who slowly learns how to work his legs and live as a beetle, struggles for 4 hours to finally cover his visible back under the sofa with a sheet. Gregor even begins to crawl all around his room as a beetle and noticing this, Grete decides to remove all the furniture to let him roam uninhibited. Since she is too frail to do this, she takes the help of the mother to push the furniture. The mother feels that removing all the furniture would make Gregor feel that the family is resigned to losing him and believe he'd never become a normal human again. Her words bring new doubts in Gregor's head. Is he now a human or a beetle? Would he like the furniture in his room to be present exactly how he is used to it, so that he can one day become human again and continue living like he was, forgetting the "little episode". Or would he like to have a completely empty room so that he can crawl around like a beetle without any obstacles? But Grete convinces her mother that keeping the room empty would be beneficial to Gregor. When the two women remove a chest of drawers, Gregor comes out from under the sofa and hangs on to a picture on the wall, which he doesn't like to be removed. When the women see him, Gregor's mother has an attack of asthma and had to be taken to another room to breathe freely. Gregor decides to comfort her saying that everything is normal and comes out of his room. Just then, Gregor's father returns from work and thinking that Gregor is attacking the women, decides to send him back to his room and in that means, injures Gregor by throwing an apple on to his back.

Gregor's family, unable to cope with their cost of living, decides to let out a room to three young men, from whom Gregor is hidden. One day, after the meals, the young men listen to Grete playing violin in another room and initially show an interest to listen to her. Once Grete starts playing in the living room, they shun her and this angers Gregor. So Gregor comes out of his room and when the three men look at him, serve a notice to Gregor's family that they would be leaving and instead of paying the rent they owe, they decide to sue for damages. Gregor's family decide that it is too long a chance for Gregor to turn into human now and to avoid all the troubles they are facing, decide to leave him. But before that, their workmaid (?) kills Gregor and the family leave the house.

I'm not sure whether Kafka intended it, but there is an underlying theme of family bonding in the story. The family are scared of him and shun him initially, but Gregor's mother and Grete hope that he would be back to normal. Only that can explain why Grete keeps feeding him regularly. Though Gregor's father has an irrational hatred towards Gregor after he turned into a beetle, he relents to the pressure and lets Gregor stay in the house, but confined to his room. When the father hurts Gregor, the mother stops her husband from causing any further hurt and we see the maternal love for her son. He may be a beetle, but he's still her son. Grete was loved by Gregor and Gregor has saved money so that he could send Grete to Conservatorium for her to learn violin professionally. Grete does not show any compassion or love towards Gregor ever since he turned into a beetle. We only see Gregor's love towards Grete and not the other way. Even when Grete brings him food, it is not sure whether she thinks it's her duty to do so or if there’s any other motive. In the end, Grete feels he's too much trouble and it's pointless to hope that Gregor would be back to normal. She finally agrees with her father that it is better to get rid of him to save all the troubles. Once the family lets one of their rooms, all the unwanted stuff is thrown into Gregor's room showing their lack of empathy. Well, it's called empathy if they feel that Gregor is still human. What would be the word if they converted it into a store room if they thought he's only a beetle? Just imagine what one would call a bunch of people if they threw all the discarded stuff into their cowshed.

And then Gregor – what does he think he is? A human or a beetle? His thoughts venture both ways. When Grete brings him food, he doesn't like any parts which are considered fit for human consumption. When he was a normal human, he hated milk but after turning into a beetle, he seemed to like it. When he listened to the family's discussions in the living room, he thought of telling them that it's only a temporary phenomenon, that he'd be back to supporting them. He wanted to tell the plans of repaying father's debt and sending Grete to Conservatorium. When Grete and her mother discuss about whether to remove furniture in Gregor's room, his thoughts keep changing. He wanted free space to crawl around freely like a beetle, but he also clung on to a picture on the wall he really liked. Finally, is it really a dream or is the metamorphosis real? Going back to the opening line I mentioned, when Gregor thinks "this is no dream", is he thinking inside his dream? The ending of the story doesn't mention whether Samsa wakes up from his dream after getting killed. [That's what happens as per Nolan’s Inception right?]

2. The Great Wall of China

Compared to Metamorphosis, this is a really short story not more than 20 pages. The Great Wall of China is built on the northern border of the country to stop attacks from the evil outsiders lying beyond. The Wall is not built continuously (space; not time) but is built is several pockets. The story is written in the view point of someone from south east of the country. The southerners didn't have to bother with the attacks on the northern side of the country. Even if there were attacks, it would take too much time and effort for the outsiders to cross the vast lands and launch attack on the southerners. So, what keeps the southerners from joining the mission to build the wall, leaving their ailing parents, loving wives and tender children to travel far across the land and work in the north? Why is the wall built in several pockets all over the north instead of doing it over continuous stretch? (again, it's space; not time)

Considering that it takes five years to build a five hundred yard stretch and the whole northern border stretches over thousands of miles, how are the engineers motivated to work on the mission? Surely, it is not a project to be completed in one's lifetime. All the questions are credibly answered by the narrator. There is also an interesting discussion of whether the loyalty of people is to the Emperor or the Empire. The southerners never see the Emperor. They are hardly kept in touch with what is happening in the Emperor's hall. Even if the Emperor sends emissaries and messengers to relay the news, the news would have become obsolete by the time they reached the far borders of the Empire. So, how does the Emperor manage unwavering loyalty? Or are the people from the southern borders show apathy towards Emperor's doings? It's a nice little story.

3. Investigations of a Dog

The story is written completely in the view point of an adult dog. For this dog, every other living thing is a type of dog. People playing music? Dog musicians. Birds in the air? Hovering dogs. Animal kingdom? No, there's only dogdom. Some of the paragraphs stretch over a few pages (no paragraph break for 4 pages!) and this style is perhaps borrowed from Fyodor Dostoevsky. I might well be wrong regarding that. The story encompasses all the thoughts of the dog ranging on various topics. From the complete surprise at other dogs (actually, people) not caring for its questions or views to the utter reproach at the way dogs (people) walk on hind legs or leave the comfort of the earth to hover in the air (birds). If the dogs are continuously hovering in the air, how do they propagate with such feeble bodies? What makes the dogs take to the air? Is it some technical accomplishment? No, both propagation and voluntary transition for them to become hovering dogs are unthinkable.

The story also has a status-worthy line: [in the context of the dog learning about the world on its own]

Premature independence is inimical to systematic learning.

A couple of interesting thoughts from dog’s pov:

- 'Whence does the earth procure this food?' The dog sees that food is produced from the earth. But how does the earth produce it? There is of course a scientific method. The food is in two parts – the ground food and the food from the sky (rain). One follows the other. And how is the food from sky produced? Frequently by the incantation, music and dance of other dogs (people). Is the food from sky (rain) fit for consumption? No. Then why not focus on the food from the earth? Is it enough to produce food if the dog digs a hole into the ground, puts its nose in it and performs incantation and music? This is merely not so. The food from the sky is required as well. But why?

- There is a surprise and marvel at the way the knowledge has increased through the ages. But this is not actually praiseworthy. The increase of knowledge is similar to how one starts young and grows old – a natural and ugly process, but nothing to be marveled at. It is not as if the older generations are worse than us. Or that they are better because they are younger than us. Merely a natural progression from one state to another without any need for extrinsic intervention (for the lack of a better phrase)

It's a very interesting story with dog's perspective on various worldly things it encounters.

As the foreword mentions, Kafka's style is similar to Walser's – a story doesn't actually need to have a story. It can be a collection of thoughts, however mundane or extraordinary. It can range from a few words to several pages. There doesn't need to be a "proper" conclusion. Do the thoughts always end in a meaningful way? Similarly, a story can start at a random place and end abruptly. People who try to look for a theme or a story in Kafka's stories are evidently disappointed (or confused). A story can just be a linguistic experiment. I think I've finally started to understand the Kafkaesque style. I cannot imagine any other author to write stories with such varied view points. It is known that the author/writer has to enter a character's mind while narrating the character's views. In the first story, Kafka has to show us the views of a beetle. In the second, he is an engineer/builder working on the Great Wall of China. In the third, Kafka looks at various things (people, birds, rain, food, neighbors, scientific process, ageing, propagation of knowledge through centuries) through the eyes of a dog.

What a marvelous writer!

Part II (review of 3 other short stories) will be written later in a separate post. Give yourself a Seven pointed star if you reach this point.