Living the Dream

Deadline day. Summer transfer Window. 2013. The day Arsene Wenger finally splashed the cash and brought Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid to Arsenal for a sizable amount. But the news that dominated the headlines the next morning was the other bit of transfer news, again involving Real Madrid and North London.

The long transfer saga involving Gareth Bale and Real Madrid had finally come to an end with the a deal finally being agreed for the meager 100 million euros. The Gareth Bale- Real Madrid affair had been the top story for quite sometime, will he go or will he stay  ? Comparisons can be drawn with Cesc Fabregas's move to Barcelona, the transfer rumours continued the whole summer and became quite tedious towards the end, with the negotiations becoming quite messy. Everyone knew Madrid are a rich and ambitious club but no one expected them to shell out 100 million for the Welshman.

Being an Arsenal fan, I was never too fond of Bale for obvious reasons, and thought that he wasn't worth even half of what Tottenham were receiving, and wasn't the only one with this opinion. Despite a goal on his debut, Bale had a rocky start to life in Madrid with constant injury problems and lacking fitness. His first El Clasico, a big stage to show the world that he was worth the money paid for him, ended poorly with him having no impact on the game and was subbed of at the hour mark. He seemed very out of place and almost too eager to impress.

If he hadn't moved for such a sizable amount, things would have been different, but with the 100 million price tag everyone expected him to score and perform each and every game, he wasn't given any time to settle in. It wasn't only the Spanish media keeping a close watch on him, the English media too kept him under close scrutiny, they still considered him their own.Winning over the Real Madrid fans isn't an easy job, even the likes of Ronaldo have fully won them over recently, what chance did Bale have then? I personally didn't think Bale was up to the job and would buckle under the expectations and pressure and would soon make a quick return back to the Premier League. Boy! was I wrong!!

His performances soon started to improve and he started to get among the goals and started settling into the team. But a slight slump in form followed and his place was taken up by the highly impressive Jese and Bale's appearances were restricted to the bench. But a long term injury to Jese put Bale back in the fray, who wasn't going to throw away this chance. The goals started to flow again and we were soon seeing shades of the Gareth Bale we knew all too well from last season. He became an integral part of the team and his pace and agility became a vital asset to the team's counter attacking style. 

The goal that made people sit up and realize what he was all about was in the Copa Del Ray final. Scoring a wonder goal against Barcelona in the final five minutes of the Copa Del Ray Final, it doesn't get much better than that. The speed and strength shown to beat Bartra was truly spectacular, and him charging down the left wing towards Bartra's goal was almost like a bull charging down towards the red flag being waved at him. With Ronaldo out injured, it was up to Bale to take up responsibility, and he sure did so, with some style too.  He had come a log way from that Clasico in the Camp Nou, that night in Valencia re defined Gareth Bale forever. 

Bale's passion and love for Real Madrid is what stands out. Every time he goes out to play, you can see the desire, the willpower in is eyes. He almost seems in awe of all the players he plays along with and how much it means to him to wear that famous white jersey. He seems so overwhelmed by Real Madrid and I think sometimes has to pinch himself to make sure that he is plying his trade in the biggest club on the planet  His performances and passion haven't gone amiss by the fans, and his fan base increases by the day. I am certainly a Gareth Bale fan now. The move to Madrid has taken him from the status of wonder kid to superstar.

His Champions League final goal was scrappy to the say least, but he won't score a more important goal in his career. The joy and ecstasy on his face was more than visible, scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final for the club you supported as a child is the stuff of dreams. Marcelo and Ronaldo's goals took the gloss off his headed goal, but in a Champions League final such things don't matter. If you opened the BBC sports page, it would seem that Gareth Bale had won the Champions League , not Real Madrid. Gareth Bale is still a young child from Wales living the dream with the club of his heart.

Stronger, Faster, Younger

Every four years the British press gives the England Football Team the label as favourites, and start making claims about how this time round the Three Lions will clinch the cup, but their record of no semi final appearance since 1990 speaks for itself. But the fans as always remain optimistic about their chances, and this year is no exception.

Hodgson has been quite brave in his selection for the 23 travelling to Brazil, with youngsters like Barkley and Shaw who have only a year of Premier League experience included in the squad. It will be the first World Cup for as many as 15 players in his squad of 23. In his last major tournament, Hodgson faced many injury problems while selecting his squad for Euro 2012, with Lampard, Barry, Cahill all missing out. Added to this , Rooney wasn't available for the first two games, so Hodgson had to make inclusions who otherwise wouldn't have mad the cut . Luckily for the Word Cup, he doesn't face any such injury crisis , with Theo Walcott being the only one in the injury list. 

England's strongest area is their midfield and Hodgson has enough talent to choose from for his starting XI. Barkley, Lallana, Henderson are all coming off an excellent campaign in the Premier League , and Hodgson will be hoping to reap the benefits of their fine form in the World Cup. Lampard and Gerrard will add the extra experience and steel in the centre of the park. In Euro 2012, Milner was deployed on the wings and although he worked his socks off , he just didn't have the speed required for playing out wide. My guess, is that Sterling and Chamberlain will be the wide men for England , and their speed and ability to put balls in the box will serve the strike force well.

It is the defence that is weak, out of the 7 defenders selected, only Baines and Shaw have had good season's with their respective clubs. Glen Johnson is more attack minded, Smalling's is prone to mistakes and Phil Jones is too inconsistent. What the defence lacks is a leader, someone like a Puyol or Terry to marshal the defence. The England defenders were completely  blown away by Germany's speed and agility in 2010; the likes of Cahill and Jagielka will have to be at their best to keep England in the running.

England's group is the toughest out of the eight. Italy are a compact side, with a defence that can't be broken apart easily, and also the Italian's have a psychological advantage, getting the better of the Three Lions in the Euro's. Uruguay have a strike force comprising of Cavani, Suarez , Hamsik and Forlan and made it to the semi final's last year; Zico, the Brazilain legend even called them the dark horses of the World Cup. The fourth team is Costa Rica, a relatively easy team but certainly shouldn't be over looked. 

England will be hoping to finally break the quarter final jinx and make a push for the elusive golden trophy. It is to be seen if the Three Lions will roar again and if for nobody else, they do it for their loyal fans

                                 

A Class Act

Old Trafford was crackling with excitement and anticipation, the fans were abuzz and and even the players seemed a little bit extra pumped up. The cheer and applause when Ryan Giggs walked out of the tunnel , as he had done for the last so many years was deafening, but today was different, today  was the first time he walked out as the manager of Manchester United. 

As 70,000 pairs of eyes followed his walk to the dugout, and fans cheered him on, the forty one year old who must have experienced such an atmosphere countless times before, couldn't resist a smile as he took his place in the manager's seat. In the dugout, he was accompanied by Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, part of the legendary Class of 92. The players seemed to have an extra leap in their stride and Manchester United were at there clinical best with a resounding 4-0 win over relegation threatened Norwich. Old Trafford  reached decibels it has failed to reach in recent times yesterday, with chants that hadn't been heard in while now, once again started to ring around the Theater of Dreams. For a while, the recent problems looming over their club were forgotten, and the red part of Manchester finally united to give Giggs a reception worthy for kings.

What a week it has been for Manchester United, losing at the hands of Everton, Moyes getting sacked and the Class of 92 taking over. Moyes's sacking send ripples all around the footballing world, I didn't expect a club of the stature of United to sack a manager to whom they had given a six year contract in 10 months. Stepping into the boots of Sir Alex was always going to be difficult , and even the top managers in the world would have had a run for their money. Sacking Moyes was a mistake but appointing him a bigger one. You don't make a person, who has not won a single trophy in his entire managerial career and who's only experience in the Champions League is two qualifiers against Villareal,  the manager of Manchester United. Moyes lacked the mentality to be a manager of such a high profile club, and just didn't have the winning mentality to carry out such a job. But if  you have chosen him, you don't sack him before he has completed  even one season 

The Class of 92 taking over almost seemed inevitable , but it has caused great excitement , none more so in the United camp, imagine a training session watched over by Scholes and Giggs. They will all command the highest of respect from the players, which wasn't the case with Moyes, with many players questioning his training methods and also his CV. But it will still take some time for the players to get accustomed to taking orders from Giggs, who until Sunday was team member. It's a bit like taking orders in school from a friend who has been made prefect, you joke around with him, but in the end know that he has full authority. He will know what exactly the players feel, being one at the club for 23 years, and what they expect and want from a manager. Giggs and co will be able to get the best out of players like Cleverly and Kagawa.

                                

The decision to appoint Giggs was one well received by the fans, one of their own was going to be taking over their club. The game must have passed in a blur for Giggs, but will live long in the minds of the United faithful. United have had a treacherous season this year, but despite bad form in recent times, the result on Saturday seemed as if it had been decided before, there was no way United could lose. Giggs chose an attacking side, that was very easy on the eyes and yesterday , for the first time this season they played like former champions !  It is still unknown if Giggs will be given the post permanently, or if someone like Van Gaal will take over, and what the future is for United but one thing is certain, the remaining two games of the season are going to eventful for the fans, and more so for the players. 

A Special Breed

So, I was travelling in an auto the other day, when I started thinking about the importance of autos in our lives and what interesting characters these auto-drivers are.

Auto drivers belong to a totally different breed, who show as much interest in their job as I show in politics, which is minimal to say the least. These guys carry over 100  people every day, to different places in the city, but will never have five Rupees change. The auto drivers are the kings of the road; they ride on footpaths, they spit wherever they want, and choose their passengers. Trust me, getting rejected by an auto driver is not a nice experience, but not half as bad as trying to hail down an auto ,only to find it already has an occupant!! In all the times I have traveled by auto, not once have I seen an auto driver admit to a mistake on the road, insulting and mouthing off the driver of the car he has hit seems a better option. When you are travelling in an auto, and he breaks a traffic rule to save time, you bless him, but if the same thing is done when you are sharing the road with him, he is cursed to no extent

Auto drivers are in fact very aware citizens ,and form an integral part of our society. This summer, I went to Delhi, for a week and used the autos extensively to get around the city. One thing that struck me was how up to date the auto drivers were with the whole political scenario , and were up to date with all the ongoing's in the Government. My parents had a good 20 minute discussion with one auto driver about whether a "Modi Sarkaar" would be formed or not, and he was just as knowledgeable as any of us, and raised points that were more relevant than the ones raised by the panelists on the Newshour debate. These guys were very sure they were going to vote and who they wanted to vote for, and their vote wasn't based on past achievements of the party. This other time when we came across a monument in the city and didn't know what it was, the auto guy told what exactly it was, when it was built and who built it.

Over the years, I have had many interesting experiences . There was this one time when I had to go buy some materials for a school project, and by the time I started to head home the Sun had set. After much difficulty I got an auto that was ready to take me home for a reasonable price . Next thing I know he takes a detour saying he needs to pick up someone, and says he will drop me immediately after that, and a minute later I have an unknown lady sitting next to me, and to make things worse, she starts to cry. That useless auto driver didn't even drop me home, he made me walk the last 50 meters home and took the same amount of money. This other time when the driver refused to take my 10 rupee note because there was a small pen mark on the corner of the note and I had to negotiate with him for nearly 15 minutes.

These guys never follow the meter, listen to loud music on their radios,  never clean their auto and basically live life on their own terms, and don't care what others think. But in the end , without them we cannot survive. This idea to write about autos' came to me when travelling in one, and I had collected all my thoughts by the time I neared home, when suddenly the auto was brought to a screeching halt, sending my thoughts in frenzy, my father and I shared a quizzical look, and the driver turned around with a mischievous grin spread across his face and raised his little finger, and went to the wall near the road and did his "job". Just when I thought I had seen everything about auto drivers!!

Au Revoir, Wenger?

"Fourth place is priority";We, Arsenal fans are so accustomed to these words. Once again Arsenal have slumped and are again fighting with Spurs for the "coveted" fourth place.

The start to the season seemed to good to be true; top of the table, into the round of 16 after progressing from the round of 16, and up and running on the FA Cup. The slump started with the annihilation at Anfield, and it has been downhill since, the only exception being the victory over Tottenham at WHL, with a Rosicky stunner.

We are just not good enough to compete with the big teams in the league, who play at a level above the Gunners. The opposition seems stronger mentally and it soon becomes a case of men vs boys and. Mr. Wenger needs to realize that qualifying for the Champions League is not by any means a successful season. Every year we qualify in dramatic fashion, pipping Spurs on the last day and making it seem like a euphoric achievement and making the fans believe that it has been a good season. The fear factor associated with the Gunners is slowly but surely disappearing, Arsenal is not seen as a tough game on the fixture list by the big clubs and if immediate action is not taken, they stand at the risk of getting left behind. Everton and Spurs are Arsenal's league rivals these days.

Wenger has always considered the Premier League and Champions League of the utmost importance and for this, has many times played weakened squads in the Cups, resulting in an early exit from these competitions and increasing the trophy drought. At least he has changed a bit, and plays first team members in FA Cup rounds, and that has resulted in the team reaching the semi finals, for the first time since 2010. I was looking back at my previous article , where I strongly believed that we would win the title;how naive!! In the present situation, even fourth place is not guaranteed. 

By no means are Arsenal a poor club, we have enough money to attract the world's biggest stars, but Wenger refuses to spend the money, with Ozil being the only one who Wenger seemed ready to splash the cash on. Every transfer window, an unknown French player is signed, and not even from the big French teams, like Marseilles or Lyon, Auxerre, Nantes and Lorient seem the preferred markets. Some of them turn out to be good signings such as Sagna and Koscielny, but most of them fail to make the cut and are soon moved on to the other clubs; Squillaci, Chamakh to name a few. To me Wenger has high self confidence, bordering arrogance, it is in his opinion that he can make achieve success with limited resources and doesn't seem to learn from past mistakes. 

A friend of mine, who is a Chelsea fan, pointed out that if they had such a drought, they would have had 15 managers by now! Now, I am not saying that the Chelsea manager system is preferable, but to a certain extent I think it needs to be applied at Arsenal. Let us take the example of Liverpool, by the end of the 2011-2012 season, they had won the League Cup, their first piece of silverware since 2006, reached the FA Cup final but had finished a lowly eight in the league, behind arch rivals Everton. By no means, was this a bad season, but the Board of Directors didn't feel the club was moving upwards and Dalglish was sacked, he wasn't asked to resign but was Sacked!, simple as that. That is where I admire Liverpool, they replaced club legend and fan favourite, who was in charge for less than 2 years with a young fresh minded manager, who I think will go down as one of Liverpool's greatest managers. The Arsenal board is blinded by Wenger's past achievements and give him contract extensions, hoping he will come good, a bit like the Pakistan Board selecting Afridi for every series. In my personal opinion, Wenger needs to leave, and this is the perfect time to step down; Arsenal have a realistic hope of winning a trophy this year and he can step down with the satisfaction that the trophy drought has ended, and he will be remembered for something more than that. With rumours surfacing that he has already told the team he will be stepping down, it just might be the end of Wenger. I think he needs to reflect back on the past few years, and himself realize that it is time to leave. Arsenal need a young and dynamic manager, who is willing to take risks, and build a new team, with a winning philosophy, maybe someone like a Diego Simeone

 No one can take away what the Frenchman has done for Arsenal; building a new stadium from scratch and still remaining financially strong, going a whole season unbeaten and producing some of the greatest players the world has ever seen, arguably the greatest manager the club has seen. You can take away Arsene from Arsenal, but not Arsenal from Arsene. But first, the former needs to be done.

The Golden Boy

Its been almost 2 years since Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal but in the minds of the Arsenal faithful, he is still one of their own. The sixteen year old who arrived in North London with next to no reputation, left the Emirates as one of the hottest properties in world football.

Despite the FA Cup being the only medal Cesc could take with him back to Spain, he won something of as much importance as a trophy; the hearts of the Arsenal fans. He was a firm fan favourite and I think we Arsenal fans were more upset when we left than when Henry left the club. Cesc did not leave for money, nor did he leave for glory, he went back to his hometown, the club he supported as a teenager, and  the Arsenal fans understood that.

The 2007-2008 season was the year that Cesc came of age, the goals started flowing (most of them sublime) , and he racked up 19 assists, the most in the league. But more than that, it was the passion and dedication he used to play with that won him many plaudits. There have been games where you could say he was poor, but you could never say he didn't give it his all. He took over the armband form William Gallas in 2009, but captaincy didn't change him. Cesc wasn't a born leader, but it was his performances  that would lift the team and act as inspiration for the likes of Theo Walcott and Ramsey. For him Arsenal always came first , as was justified by his penalty against Barca with a broken leg, the brace he scored  off the bench when Arsenal were trailing Villa and he had a hamstring injury. When he didn't play well, he would take full responsibility; after Arsenal were torn apart by Messi at Camp Nou , Fabregas's father said his son was inconsolable and was distraught with his own performance and felt he could have given more for the team.

The difference between Fabregas and players like Van Persie and Nasri is that Cesc didn't show disrespect to Arsenal after leaving, he thanked the fans , the players and Wenger for their contribution to his career and didn't make claims about Arsenal not being ambitious and I am a 100% sure he won't celebrate if he does ever score against Arsenal. He remained a Gooner even after leaving , and even made statements that he hoped Arsenal would win the title and his intention to come back some day.

At Barca , Fabregas blossomed and fit in well into the Barca passing philosophy and cemented his place in the Spain team. But there were times when Barca fans lost patience with him and many a times booed him , those were deeply saddening times for Arsenal fans, to see there captain and idol receive such abuse. Cesc wasn't an instant fan favourite at Camp Nou, but then again all the Barca players live in the shadow of Leo Messi.

The summer transfer window in 2013 was the start of Fabregas - United saga. I think Arsenal fans were more scared about him moving to Old Trafford than the Barca fans, but two failed bids in the region of 30 million confirmed his loyalty to Barca and to Arsenal!..and the Arsenal fans sighed a breath of relief. Cesc has left behind a cauldron of memories. The solo effort against Spurs, that goal against Juventus in the champions League semi final , the freeckick against Aston Villa , I could go on and on. Fabregas was one of a kind and cannot be replaced at  Arsenal. We, Arsenal fans live in the constant hope that he will come back one day , to the actual club of his heart.

Dire Straits For United

What goes up, comes down ; and that is exactly what has happend with Manchester United. After winning the League comfortably last year, the Reds are languishing in 8th and are not showing any signs of improvement.

David Moyes's s arrival has not been as smooth as expected and even Champions League qualification seems a distant dream which is slowly slipping away from the horizon. Not even the staunchest Man City fan would have thought that by January Man Utd will be 13 points of the Premier League summit and struggling to go above 7th in the League. A summer of being linked with the likes of Sneidjer, Fabregas and Baines, the Red Devils only clinched the signing of Fellaini from Everton for a substantial fee of $27 million. Fellaini has failed to fit into the United midfield and many fans were left wondering why Moyes would splash out on the 6 foot Belgian when they already had the ever improving and impressive Carrick protecting their defence. The ageing Manchester United backline was not strengthened and the creative midfielder the fans had been craving for, still remained unfulfilled.

United's downfall started with the anhilation at the Etihad followed by a shock defeat at the hands of  West Brom at Old Trafford. Arguably their best result was the victory over Arsenal at home, one of the few occasions where Moyes's men have put up a respectable performance in front of their own fans. United's form at Old Trafford has been atrocious; under SAF teams would come away from OT feeling happy with a 1-0 loss but today teams like Swansea and Newcastle settle for nothing less than a win. The fear factor has disappeared and it is the Theatre of Dreams for only the away team these days.

United fans find solace in the fact that even Ferguson had a bad start in his early years , but it seems they are trying to console themselves and not convince the opposition fans. They have tried hard to support Moyes and have given him time to settle in. Many United fans have accepted their fate this year, and are already looking forward to the new season. An analogy can be drawn between a class topper who is suddenly struggling to perform well in the new year and Manchester United, no matter however hard they try they just cannot get the required results. Calls for Moyes's resignation have not yet started but if the tide doesn't change for United, let us hope he has sharp ears to hear the knives being sharpened behind his back.

It is not as if Manchester United have lost any big player over the summer, their squad has not changed from last year, so what does that tell us about the impact a Manager can have on a team, even at a legendary club like Manchester United. That winning habit has deserted the Manchester club and so has the winning mentality. They are no longer the comeback kings and struggle to overcome a 1 goal deficit, even with time on their hands. Moyes seems clueless when United fall behind in the game, he seems clueless and his assistant Phil Neville seems more capable of making decisions form the dugout . Moreover, his post match interviews don't project him in a better light , only helping him lose the United fans's trust.

The only silver lining for United and Moyes has been the arrival of Adnan Januzaj at the big stage, the youngster had been a revelation and has won many a game on his own. But is this what it has come to, The 20 times Premier League champions need an 18 year old to change their fortunes? United fans need to remain patient for it could be a long and winding road but could culminate in them becoming greater than before.