Rafael Benitez Fact And Fiction

Late Late Goal and Misery for Liverpool continues. The calls for sacking Rafa keep increasing every day, so here is something in defense of the man.

1.RAFA IN THE TRANSFER MARKET - read this topic to understand what he has done RAFA SIGNINGS

He has spent a net 90 million over the 6 years he has been in charge. That is peanuts compared to what Ferguson,Chelski,Spurs,Villa and Citeh have spent in the same time and he has managed to outperform most of them.Also note that he has consistently taken Liverpool to later stages of CL and hence generated a good amount of cash which he has not got back to spend!!!.

He has some signed some duds but then every manager has his share, but with Rafa it stands out because due to paucity in funds we cannot afford these. Just to set a context here - Nani(18m),Valencia(16m),Anderson(17m),Berbatov(30m),Carrick(18m), Veron(28m),Barthez(8m) not exactly world beaters are they
FACT: He is one of the best in transfer dealings.

2.SACK RAFA AND BRING IN A BETTER MANAGER :
First of all he seems to like the club and the fans.He DOES not need to be here - he can walk out of LFC any minute and will find a job at any club including ACMilan,Bayern,Juventus,Real Madrid etc all of whom are struggling a bit.
He has been here for some time and most of the players and backroom staff are his people. Sacking him is a shortcut to disaster. And who do we appoint after sacking him? there are hardly any other good manager out there and there is the small matter of about 15million payout to Rafa if he is sacked.
FACT : The club needs rafa more than the other way around.

3.RAFA's RECORD SO FAR:
The squad that he took over consisted of Traore,Biscan,Smicer,Didi on his last legs,an injured Baros,an overpaid Cisse,permanently crocked Kewell and the likes of Mellor,Pongolle etc. Over the years he has built a superb squad at very little cost and we have been arguably the best team in Europe over the last five years. Last year was one of the best title chases in a long time and heck we qualified for CL every single year under Rafa something we did not do regularly before.
Apart from all this we have won the CL in 2005,runners up in CL in 2007 and the FA Cup in 2006. A very agreeable record i would say.

FACT : Rafa has done very well in his time at LFC.

4.RAFA's TACTICS:
Yes some of his moves look foolish but plenty of Manure fans and goners have criticized Fergie and Wenger over some of their tactics. So nothing unique there. Apart from that, there can be no argument that he is one of the best tacticians around.
FACT : Rafa is one of the best tactical manager in the world.

5.LUCAS:
Playing Lucas is something that comes under derision from all corners. Even i poured plenty of scorn on that matter. But there is plenty of difference to the Lucas over the season. He is playing rather decently given the circumstances and is definitely one for the future. To get it into proper context,compare how important Fletcher is now to Manure and the amount of criticism that he had to undergo three/four years ago.
FACT : Lucas is a good prospect.

6.HE IS TOO DEFENSIVE:
nobody complained about all the 1-0 wins that Mourinho had. Besides we did not have a team that could play the all out offensive desired by us.

7.SQUAD COMPARISON:
Our total squad costs 158 million that is a distant fifth behind Citeh[249m],Chelski[230m],Manure[220m] and Spurs[208m]. The wage bill is also a distant sixth behind even arsenal. How do we expect the all so elusive squad depth then? Manure paid 12m for Tosic who is a reserve player for them. How do you compete against that with peanuts offered to him.

8.LUNATIC OWNERS:
Hicks and Gillet must be the worst thing that happened to the club. They have saddled the club with debts of their own takeover and generally behave like complete idiots.

Make no mistake i have some reservations with some of Benitez's methods like Kuyt on the wings,Yossi in the left wing,Babel not played enough but overall i think he is the best man for the job.

GROW UP FERGIE

First up what a feeling to beat ManU and their beach ball throwing,serial whining fans. The atmosphere evident was unbeliveable and the players lived up to it. But Fergie's interview left a lot to be desired. So a analysis of the performance of the ref

1.The yellow card to Evra - tripping a striker a metre from the goal line is a yellow card regardless of whether it is the first foul of the player or not.
2.Vidic - this guy does two cynical fouls on Torres in the first half, shoulder charges reina and goes unbooked.Then he fouls Torres and proceeds to cut the legs from under him. Is this not a yellow card offense? The rugby style foul on Kuyt was a straight red if not a yellow.
3.The Carrick penalty decision - some people claim getting the ball is not enough for not awarding the penalty.Laughable.It looked 50/50 at best and if this was a penalty then so was the shirt pull by Berbatov.
NOTE:Even the players did not claim any decision here. And with serial whiners in their team this shows the validity of the penalty claim.
4.The Lucas barge into giggs - this was a foul and was a freekick not a penalty.
5.Lucas deserved an yellow card for his fouls.
6.The second yellow to Mash was harsh as this was not a deliberate nor a dangerous tackle.
7.The yellow awarded to Carra for the Owen tackle was correct. He was not the last defender and since he did not give vidic a straight red for a similar offense twice, no reason to complain.
8.Five minutes of added time in a half with little to no stoppage and one goal is ridiculous.
9.Fergie kept bleating at the referee the whole match and again criticizes the ref in the interview, let us see what view the FA takes of this.
10.There were some more dodgy calls for both sides.

Having said all this i cannot understand why the ManU fans are complaining when
1.They did not utter a word when fletcher escaped after commiting a dozen fouls aganist arsenal. Lucas had six called against him.
2.They did not utter a word asking why fletcher was not booked nor a penalty given he brought arshavin down.
3.Question the ref every time you lose or draw,when several "favors" can be pointed to ManYoo in several matches.

And yes we are obsessed with ManYoo, the same way Madrid are obsessed with Barca,Celtic with Ranger,Newcastle with Sunderland and Arsenal with Spurs.
"Losing to Liverpool is the most pain you can have when you play for United. There was a big silence in the dressing room and we will need a few days to recover from this big disappointment for us, for the staff, for the fans." - Patrice Evra. Amen to That.

Aquilani

I feel sorry for the guy. The amount of hype/expectation/debate surrounding his debut is incredible. And he is going to be introduced into a team short in confidence and form. Great!
Meanwhile i hope Stevie does not need a surgery for his groin problems. God help us if he is not going to play for the next few matches which include fulham(a), citeh (h), the mersey side derby,Lyon(a),Arsenal(h) and Blackburn(a). Really tough set of fixtures and we can do without our best player injured.

Problems with Liverpool

So we have lost 3 out of 8 games in EPL and add one more Champions League defeat to it and we have lost to just about every half decent team we have played. A brief look at the reasons i think is behind this:

1.Defense unable to pass the ball - our defense never had the ability to pass the ball, we always needed someone from midfield to drop back and collect it. Till last season we had Xabi to do it. But Lucas does not fit the bill and Mash has been unfit and is only now coming back to top gear. What this does is invite needless pressure, the defense hold on to the ball far too long letting the opposition to press in up the pitch. This results most often in a hoof up the pitch and loss of possession. This has been the story in every single match we lost so far.

2.Defense in bad shape - I regret losing Sami. Carragher switched from RCB to LCB has looked lost in most of the matches.
Also the much talked about zonal defending is partly responsible. Most of the opposition teams simply seem to crowd out one of the posts and the players drilled to defend their zones are static when the ball is played in and hence are not much use defending.

3.Weak Midfield - I dont know where he got the idea that Kuyt is a winger or Lucas is world class midfielder. Lucas is an average player right now and has no real pace nor vision. Kuyt [a player i personally adore for his work rate and commitment] is not a winger in any sense. He can do a job now and then but he is not going to be effective in that position against the better teams. Also buying a player who you know is injured that too when your team has had a really poor summer is downright criminal.

4.The team formation - some of our formations are puzzling to say the least.Benayoun who should start in every match in my view, starts mostly on the left to accomadate Kuyt on the other wing. We mostly play with Stevie and Torres upfront and in all the matches we lost, both of them have been completely isolated and hence ineffective.

Better idea would be to play Stevie and Mash in the middle and Benayoun and Riera in the wings. Torres and Kuyt/Babel upfront. This formation would offer better space for Torres to exploit as well. And with Stevie in the middle, we will atleast create something. Watch the last twenty minutes or so in every match we lost, you will notice that Stevie drops in and we begin to look more solid from then on.

5. The owners - Gillet spoke up this week criticizing Benitez, just goes to highlight the situation at Anfield now. Stupid owners, silly manager.

Is the season over for us? I do accept that Liverpool have not looked good enough, but neither have the opposition. ManU, Chelski and Arsenal have stuttered and the chasing pack of Spurs and Villa dont look good enough either. Considering that Chelsea will lose out on a few players during the Cup of Nations and that City have only the league to play for , if they sort out their defense, City could become the team to beat this season and are the favorites for the title IMHO. ManU are not the force they were in the last two seasons and are sustained only by a sublime run of matches from Giggs. So on the whole - a bit optimistic and needless to say i will be happy that any team other than that old dog Fergie's win the title.

The Adebayor Controversy

There is a lot of noise raised about the Adebayor stamp and goal celebration.And i for one think he deserves a bit of slack.For two primary reasons

a.Adebayor was practically being kicked the entire match and the foul by persie on him before the stamp was pathetic too.It could have broken Ade's legs if he had connected.
b.And the disgusting arsenal fans.They called ManU fans class less for jeering Wenger,but here they were singing nasty things about Adebayor the whole match.What do you expect him to do.Obviously he gave it back to them.
c.He apologized for both events publicly,but the great Persie comes out and trashed Adebayor in public stating that he never had intention to hurt anyone.Dude watch a compilation of your fouls and you would know the truth.
d.The disgusting arsenal fans again - even if ade did provoke them wtf was the needto throw missiles at the stewards.Disgusting behavior.
e.What about the Persie celebration?he swears at the majority of the stadium and generally behaved just as bad and he was not even booed during the match and that does not even attract comment.

While you are at it watch this celebration too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUXKtf1rdaY

All in all give the guy a break or punish Persie/give Arsenal equal punishment.

ManU Nepotism

I am making this post to record all instances where ManU have been let off kindly by the referee.It will be updated throughout the season

1.ManU vs Arsenal
a.The most blantant penalty you will ever see by Fletcher not given.
b.Fletcher commits two fouls inside the box and is not even booked.
c.Same fletcher commits more than a dozen fouls and is not booked.

2.ManU vs Spurs
a.Vidic trip on Lennon just outside the box and the ref gives a corner.The foul
was worth atleast a Yellow and was a great position to score from.
b.Vidic elbowing Crouch.Foul called but player not booked.
c.Fletcher kicking huddlestone on the shin - not booked again.


Now before some readers of the blog start quoting stupid comments from Football365 request them to find some instance where other teams are so blatantly favored.

Having said that i have to concede that the way Rooney,Foster and Fletcher played in the last three matches is stunning.

3.ManU vs ManCity
a.Seven minutes of extra time - nobody knows where that came from.
read this http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/22/manchester-united-goals-stoppage-time
b.Neville an unused sub celebrates the same way as Ade did a week ago -
result apart from one line in a guardian post i dont even find it being
discussed.

More Updates

Life goes on though more fun with a bit more cooking,quizzing,Heroes season one and two and a lot of movies.One ill effect of internet is that i've given up on reading totally.Cant complain though,not when i have another 50GB of movies to watch and hundreds more to download.

The CAT season has officially began with the notification out already,i hope the CAT continues to like me and i do better this time around.

Leaving aside these serious issues some of the funny things i encountered in the last two months:
One of my flat mates has a colleague in China named Hi Yu.Now how does one compose a mail to this guy[or girl??] Hi Hi or Hi Yu or oh i give up.
And the other day we went to a sweet shop and noticed a sweet named Sunni Undallu now everyone who has been in Chennai would know that Sunni means the tiny piece of boneless muscle that all men hold dear and undallu means balls in telugu.Put together they indicate anything but a sweet dish.Apparently it is a delicacy in these parts.Ahem!!Got to be more careful.

Updates in Life

So its been some time since i moved into the new place.I've got a nick in life[finally] i am referred to as 'John' nowadays.As in John Abraham.Now please don't get any thoughts of me having a build like him[which would be flattering me a lot] or that i have his acting skills[which would be insulting me].The nick just refers to the well rounded belly i have developed over the two years i have stayed here.

Also i've had my introduction to the much hyped mr.alcohol thanks mostly to the tireless persuasion from navin and thyiga[there are rumors that this guy has sold his soul to the devil - what with the multiple girlfriends and all - and in repayment makes more introductions of mr alcohol to innocent people like me].The first experience was good.Let us see where it leads us to.

Liverpool have purchased Glen Johnson for a cool 17.5 million.Even though i am against the price,It seems that the deal was 10million + the seven million owed to us in the Crouch deal.Also according to the new Champions League rules we need more British players in the team.And he had a decent season with Portsmouth and it looks like we selling arbeloa to Real Madrid so it is fine on the whole.Even better one of the bastard owners has sold his NHL team and our future looks a lot better now.Not so for the hated Red Devils whose ever mounting debt threatens to swallow all the 80 million paid for Ronaldo.Hehehehehehe.

IIM-K sprung a surprise and offered an admission.I am rejecting it in the hope that something better happens next year.As the Architect says "Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness."Lets see what happens.

Top Liverpool Moments EPL 08-09

1.ManU 1 -4 Liverpool
Beating Fergie's team at Old Trafford and so comprehensively.They were so shaken up after the match that they forgot how to win for the next few matches.And to top it all,Dossena scored again.

2.Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool
Ending Chelsea's unbeaten home record and showing the rest of the world how to counter scolari's team.They were being praised for their attacking football till then,once rafa showed the way scolari's fate was sealed.

3.Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid
Liverpool were irresistable on the night.One more legendary European night at Anfield.

4.Liverpool 5-0 Aston Villa
Accepted Villa's form had not been that great at the time,but to beat the 5th placed team so comprehensively and with a Gerrard hat-trick is just too good.

5.Newcastle 1-5 Liverpool
Gerrard was given a standing ovation by the Geordies when he was subbed.Dont see that happen usually.Liverpool showed that they were easily the best footballing team in the country.

6.Sami Hyppia's Retirement
The reception that Sami got in the final match was touching.Huge flags in his name,the hyppia songs and the flying header.Unforgettable.

7.Gerrard winning the Writers Award
Gerrard wins the football writers player of the year award.23 goals and 9 assists.Beat that if you can.

8.Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool
No Gerrard,Torres not fully fit? no problem.Liverpool were a goal away from qualification with eightminutes to go.One of the best matches of the season.This match forced Hiddink to go on the defensive for the semis.

9.Liverpool 4-0 Blackburn
Big Sam came to match claiming Liverpool his team could beat Liverpool.After the match forced to accept Liverpool were too good for his team.Add a stunning goal by Torres,delicious.

10.Liverpool 2-1 ManU
Beating the hated rivals after four years was sweet.To have Vidic sent off and see a O Shea own goal oh yes.

KKR Jokes

The joke is clearly on KKR this IPL season so some i could contribute.

Sprite has decided to release a new ad featuring SRK and Buch. Buch is shown training Ganguly and McCullum when SRK walks in.
He asks Buch "Ye Sab kiskeliye"
Buch starts "Opposition Ko..."
SRK:Seedhi Bhat
Buch:No Baqwaas. and then resigns.


Di Caprio is planning a new Catch Me if you can film featuring Ganguly and other KKR players in the movie.The protagonist though is going to be played by a Cricket Ball!!!

Ganguly is so desperate to improve his agility in the field,that he is in talks with an ayurvedic baba to feed him Kuruvi Lekiyam.

SRK meanwhile reveals that the Fake IPL Player blog was Buch and his truckload of specialists way of increasing the competitiveness in the team.

Hope it was good..more when i think of them.

The Chelsea Debacle

I was riled a lot yesterday night.Mostly because of some of the most abject refreeing i have ever seen and partly because Chelsea dint show a lot of brains yesterday.Barca had trounced Madrid three days back and i wanted some blood to be spilt.Chelsea began decently,Essien scoring with a tremendous volley to give Chelsea the advatnage.After that Chelsea predictably went to a counter attack mode.Drogba had atleast three oppurtunities to kill the game off but dint.Two clear cut penalties-the body check on Malouda and the Abidal shirt pull/Kick incident were denied to Chelsea.Abidal should have been sent off for this challenge but wasnt.

Story was the same in the second half,Chelsea sitting back to counter attack and Barcelona hardly mustered a decent shot.Messi was completely anonymous and so was Eto.Alves looked like a joke all night running around like a headless chicken and couldnt get one decent cross in.Iniesta was the only one who looked capable of anything.

Meanwhile Chelsea wasted some more oppurtunities to kill the match off and then Abidal was then sent off for a rather lame dive by Anelka,who i thought should have taken the chance to score.But Chelsea still choose to sit back against 10 men and allowed Barcelona to come at them.A Pique handball that happened 5 yards from the ref was also waved off.By now i was really afraid that Barca were going to convert one of their raids into a goal with so many penalties being waved off.Another chance fell to Belleti and he dutifully smashed it wide.Pique started to make runs into the chelsea half regularly!!!! and one such fell to Xavi,the ball was cleared by terry but essien made a hash of the clearance.Messi then picked out iniesta who broke the hearts of Chelsea fan.Chelsea were freaking pissed now and they threw themselves at the other end.A Ballack shot seemed to hit Eto on the hand and in my opinion his hand was clearly raised and must have been a penalty but again it was waved off.

After the whistle almost all Chelsea players barracked the ref but things got ugly when Drogba got involved.He did some Rama Rama Karam Podu dances around the ref and publically denounced him to be a fucking disgrace.The Ref meanwhile did what anyone would do facing a mad bull - run for your life.Drogba wasnt satisfied and continued to barrack him into the tunnel.Terry,Hiddink and Malouda tried to stop him but to no avail.

Barca for all their fabled talent mustered two shots on goal over two legs and were proved to be despicable hypocrites.All their cries of ref bias in the previous leg[which i dont completely agree with] probably influenced the ref today.The ref was some unknown from Norway so claims of a Platini interest in the match might not be completely ruled out.

As for the purist argument,Barca was shit today and dint show anything that proved them better footballers than Chelsea who had a gameplan and sticked to it.They wanted to win the match and no one can blame them for their gameplan.If Barca are so good as is claimed they should have proved it tonight,but they did not so i dont understand how they "deserve" more.I cant believe how much luck goes the Barca way,they won in 2006 by pure luck and now another oppurtunity obtained by luck and Pep had the temerity to speak of honesty.

Close Encounters Of The F****** Kind

Inspired by the undaunted efforts of navin,i decided to call up the admissions office of IIM-L today.Here's a brief transcript of what followed.The characters involved are Moi,Operator(appu),Admissions Officer(AO)

Moi:Hello Sir,can you connect me to the admissions office please.
appu:Kya?
Moi(slightly tensed):Admissions office please?
appu:kya bol rahe ho?

Realisation dawned on me that this was Mulayam's home town,so switched to the vernacular.

Moi:Kya me admissions office se bat kar sakta hoon
appu(satisfied with my hinglish) connects me to admissions office.

AO:hello?
Has anyone noticed that irrespective of the mother tongue everyone uses hello when responding to a phone call?anyways
Moi:IIM-L ka revised list kab release hoga?
AO:revised list kya hota he?
Moi:stunned silence
AO:hmm kya tu waitlist puch rahe ho
Moi was irritated now.Waitlist is something you release with the first admission list,now you relese a revised list based on the acceptance of offers.
Moi:han..woh kab ayega
AO:Pata nahi...woh ayega magar confirmed kuch nahi bata sakta hoon
Moi[What???]:Waitlist ayega ki sab seats fill hogaya?
AO:Pata nahi..Dean admissions nehi he...Pata nahi kab list niklega

I was really irritated by now and one of my split personalities,the one with a really foul mouth and derives immense pleasure by accusing someone of all kinds of incestous relationships in a variety of languages,was threating to burst out.So in order not to jeopardise the teny tiny possibility that i can escape this mind numbing job i thanked the guy and ended the call.

On Advertisements

Me and my usual hangouts [read psyche,navin,pradeep] were having a discussion yesterday on whether the strategy break introduced in IPL to introduce more ad time actually makes any impact as most people either flip channels or take a piss break etc as they know for sure that in the next 8 odd mins nothings gonna happen.So the actual ratio of those who watch the match and those who watch the ad would be pretty dismal.

This can be true for any ad break,as people mostly start flipping when the ad break starts.So this leads to the question if tv advertising actually makes any impact.The answer might be if done right then definitely yes.An excellent example would be the vodafone cartoon ads made for the IPL season.I want to catch the new ones every day and Vodafone get excellent exposure for the money they pay.Similar examples would be Hero Honda-Roadies or CenterFresh-Roadies ads.Smart placements good return on investment.

But this further led me to think whether all these ads actually make me shell out money[the primary purpose of any ad].Lets cover my expenditure and how i decide on what to spend on.I use airtel mobile because an airtel connection was offered to me the day i joined my company and not because of Rahman's tune or Vidya Balan or Madavan or SRK.The clothes i wear are mostly bought during discount sales and are chosen on my mood at that moment.The shoes i wear fall in the same category.The investment i make is chosen from the kind of returns the mutual funds have given historically.The stocks i buy based on their valuation and bottom lines.The restaurants i eat at are mostly chosen for convenience and taste.

Countering the above argument the brand value and the perception of the product built over time does influence a guy to buy something.Nike,Adidas et all spend so much money sponsoring teams and players because they add the extra zing to their products.Similar the macho ads of Bajaj Pulsar make it the bike of choice for youngsters and the JagoRe ads did influence people to vote[excluding lazy buggers like me].

So is an ad effective or not? i dont know for sure.But what is evident is that an ad made and placed smartly is whats important rather than pay exorbitant amounts to superstars.

Best Buys EPL 08-09

1.Guus Hiddink
He was "bought" in to save a sinking ship.Chelsea were 4th in the league and a lot of players had lost confidence in themselves and Scolari.They look like world beaters now.Enough Said.

2.Arshavin
Again bought when the team was in a hole playing some serious shit football drawing 0-0 everywhere.Can play anywhere in the midfield or forward.Scores goals,creates them.Near unstoppable when on song[as we found out yesterday :-( .Next year should be interesting with him on board from the beginning.

3.Geovanni
Brought in on a free transfer,he was central to the run that took Hull to the sky in the beginning of the season.Scored some screamers and created some more.Was great fun while it lasted.

4.Abdoulayye Faye
Newcastle sold him after he was involved in a bust up with NZogbia.End result? Newcastle are 19th while Stoke are very close to safety.Has been a great defender throwing himself at everything and scoring goals too.Has been a rock at the back all season.

5.James Beattie
Came into Stoke at January when they having a problem scoring goals.Scored enough to keep them in the Premier League.

6.Brad Friedal
With Laursen,Young and Barry the spine that were challenging the Fanstastic Four.Pity the team faded away in the second half of the season.

7.Shay Given
Easily the best goal keeper in the league.Bought in for a pittance when compared to the 10m payed for Bridge.Has been making 2-3 great saves every match.Might be the reason[along with Ireland] ManCity stay up.

8.Albert Riera
Liverpool badly needed some pace and skill in the left midfield section.This man has it and has plenty of it.Has been good most of the times,though badly underrated.

9.Fellani
What a buy!!!!The guy brought back the 80's hairstyle.Much of the season Everton were able to play without a striker because of his and Cahill's aerial abilities.Very strong,great in the air,good technical skills.Super Buy.

10.Amir Zaki
The on-loan signee at Wigan was once the leading scorer in the charts and was being compared to Shearer.Not a bad return 10 goals from 25 appearances.Hampered by injuries and the loss of Palacios to Spurs in January.

11.Sebastian Bassong
The only bright light in Newcastle's season.Superb defender.Expect him to move to one of the big clubs in the summer.

that's it.comments/brickbats welcome.

Life

Ever since i decided to pursue an MBA i've been seeing the other side of the coin in life.Everything i see seems to have an business oppurtunity attached to it.
I see the guys who flock to the retail shops when the discount sale kicks in and i see the power of perception and herd psychology in life.I see the crowds at the roadside stalls and see the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.I see the population charts skewed and see the oppurtunity in education and internet space.
I see all this but the B-Schools i apply to fail to see the business man in me.ahhhhhhhh.

THE EPIC

To start with this was one of the best matches i've ever seen.Both teams gave it their all over the two legs.I was annoyed and feeling helpless when the teams were announced,no StevieG no Riera no Babel and Lucas!!! as the man in the hole.I dunno what Rafa was smoking when he decided to play Lucas behind Torres but I'd like some of that.OK i started watching the match resignedly,but Chelsea true to Hiddink's pre-match comments they will try and soak up the pressure were sitting back and inviting Liverpool to attack.

In the first 15-20 mins liverpool took total control of the midfield and the match was mostly played in the chelsea half,drogba was totally isolated and i was ecstatic.A brilliant goal from Aurelio and my hopes went up.Xabi took the advantage of some stupidity from Ivanovic and got a penalty and scored it too.Chelsea were in tatters now and Liverpool were raking up chances.We should've scored just before halftime but somehow the ball did not go in.

Ok 45 mins to go and one goal to get,I was very hopeful.But i was a bit apprehensive about Hiddink's team talk as last week too Chelsea were unstoppable in the second half so i was waiting with fingers crossed.Second half starts,Kuyt almost scores.Same story for the first three four mins.Then anelka is allowed to run easily through down the flanks and put a good ball in.Drogba gets a touch,overpowering carragher and reina messes it up.1-2.Shit ok one more goal we get extra time.But Skrtel gives away a dangerous free kick and Alex smashes it.Carvalho had blocked the wall away and ducked in time for the shot.Lucas[bastard!!!] moved away from the ball and reina could do nothing but pick the ball from the net.2-2.Now two goals needed in another 35 odd mins.Kuyt's goalbound header somehow clawed away by Cech.Tension mounts.The match was wide open now,with both teams throwing men forward.Ballack misses a good chance in the other end made by a Drogba playing supremely well.

Abramovich wanted entertainment dint he,it was being dished out in bucketfulls here.Ballack wins the ball,puts Drogba through with a superb ball.Drogba shields its superbly and lays it off for Fat Frank who toe pokes it inside.3-2 match over screams the commentator.Chelsea fans and Rafa[??????] agree.Torres off.Mash off.Ngog and Riera on. Chelsea sit back again.Lucas tries his luck and oh my god it goes inside off a massive deflection off essien.3-3.Some hope.After two min Riera plays nicely down the left flank and picks out Kuyt with a good ball.Powerful header 3-4.10 mins to go one goal to get.I cant believe it.Overjoyed.Delirious.Any semblence of order is thrown to the winds.Everyone attacks.Superb tackle by Skrtel to prevent Malouda from scoring.This guy is sensational under Hiddink.Power pace where the hell was he these last 20 months.Anyways resulting corner lucas gets the ball,foul on him by Malouda ref no go,ball falls to alonso he gives it to ballack who passes it to anelka to lampard GOAL.4-4.Huge mistake by ref and alonso and lucas not tracking frank.

2 mins later Ngog smashes the ball,essien somehow clears it off the line.3 mins added time.Cant understand how 6 goals can be scored but only 3 mins given.Plays out match over.4-4 second leg.7-5 win for Chelsea overall.Superb match.120/100 for all the liverpool players given they were playing 10 on 11[i am sick and tired of lucas].Not so for Rafa,who first made the mistake of playing an half fit StevieG in the first leg.Then leaves him out today.For once i agree with those jokers on at Ten Sports.Even if Stevie was half hit today,I would have thrown him on for the last thirty mins or so.Or atleast made him play the first half.Given how Chelsea were in the first half god knows what could've happened if Stevie was on. Also the formation for this match,Yossi on the left Kuyt right and Lucas in the hole.Imagine how it would have been with Kuyt upfront with Torres Babel/Riera left and Yossi on the right.Sometimes this guy seems a genius and sometimes a fool.

Also the way Drogba behaved was really disgraceful.Moaning,whining throughout the match.And the way he rolled back onto the pitch to stop the play was disgusting.Agreed he was superb in the second half but this kind of behaviour is not what a fan would want.And Chelsea fans man those jokers.Booing your team at half time, fair weather fans all of them.

But i am incredibly proud to support this team.The way they fought was unbelivable and those families who suffered unconsolable loss twenty years ago,we showed how much we respect your loss.We proved once again that if you are a Red Scouser you never will walk alone.

On Catbertian HRs

It was a dark and stormy night.Our hero stays awake working on new evil ways to torment the loyal cube dwellers.Then he strikes upon a brilliant idea to stop providing paper cups anymore.Coffee in mugs,only for employess.That way interns,contractors and house keeping cant drink coffee anymore.He goes to sleep purring satisfactorially.
Next morning he comes across Al Gore while doing random wiki search and decides to name this farce 'Go Green'.What more he decides the remove paper napkins too while he is at it.What an idea sirjee.

Gulaal - Review

Black Friday was very engaging,No Smoking was shocking and DevD was wonderfull but with Gulaal Anurag Kashyap moves into stereotype territory.A complete loser as an hero and a characterless woman as the leading lady.The so called brilliant lyrical songs were pathetically placed in the movie and tends to irritate you more than entertain.

The movie was made with the intention of poking fun at the communalism in India,broadbasing it on the struggle for Rajputana,however the struggle itself as depicted in the movie is too trivial.

The first half begins well enough with a stunning fireband speech by Menon and moves along tolerably with Dileep's life with the charismatic Ransa,his ragging and then his involvement with the student elections.Ransa,brilliantly acted and easily the best and most engaging character,gets knocked off by his illegitimate brother.So Dileep the loser he is accepts to become the dummy candidate and wins an rigged election.You can question why Dileep was made the candidate when the election was rigged but then this movie is not concerned with logic.

Kiran,Ransa's illegitimate sister,a losing candidate,then moves in on Dileep.Now till then he had this loser-loser love relationship with Anuja,but when another girl wants to have sex with him conviniently forgets her.From here on the movie goes predictably the girl manipulates the poor guy to confrontation with Menon and he gets thrown out from both politics and from Kiran's bedroom as well.She now moves on to Menon,the political veteran he is falls for this too.

Meanwhile Dileep probably the only living organism in this entire fking universe who does not understand why Kiran left him,familiarly spirals down into booze and sleaze and alienates Anuja[god knows why one would not cuddle up to a woman like that and go ravishing after meatier girls].He then goes psycho and decides to take revenge[!!!! why this sudden homocidal tendency??? two days boozing cant be the explanation],shoots Menon and his cohorts all the while demanding to talk to Kiran.

Meanwhile Kiran's brother is making grandiose plans to become Rajputana's senapati by bumping off Menon and his trusted sidekick Bati.Our hero now moves in on Kiran's hq and shoots everyone here too and has a dialogue with Kiran.The loser he is,he does not shoot her and lets her go while the other goons come in and shoot him.Then comes a long pointless walk back to his home,having a chest wound[dedicated to a certain captain perhaps :) ],and he dies.Kiran's bro becomes the new senapati movie ends.

I could not for the love of God understand all this fuss over a GS seat.It might have made sense some twenty years ago with the Govt Univ model but with the number of private colleges and better transparency in most govt. colleges too this does not make sense at all.And the comedy portrayal of the Rajputana moment deosnt help.

Piyush Mishra and Ransa provide the movie's tolerable moments however the much appreciated songs tend more to irritate than entertain.The two most promising characters,apart from Kay Kay Menon of course,in Ransa and Anuja remain undeveloped and wasted.Overall avoid paying money for this one.

And The (Real) Oscars Go To

I do know that no amount of cribbing on my part is going to change things but just to soothe a frustrated mind here is my revision of the oscar list.

First of all not nominating The Dark Knight and WALL-E for the best picture and best direction seems really stupid and populist to me.The Dark Knight is rated as the 4th best movie of all time in IMDB and is one of the highest grossers and it is left out.Why? the movie is dark and sombre and is not in tune with the time.The message that a jackass can win a million bucks guessing an answer is more to the times than somebody being decent inspite of the times.Why WALL-E was not nominated in the best picture category i cannot even begin to fathom.
Anyways here goes the list

1.Best Adapted Screenplay:
Agreed the slumdog adaptation was fresh but does it compare to Benjamin Button? The movie is a stunning transformation from a complex short story by fitzgerald.To visualize a story where your two leading characters age in reverse
directions and to pull it off in the most convincing style is worth a oscar man com'on.
Winner : Benjamin Button

2.Best Sound Mixing
Dude you give sound editing to Dark Knight but sound mixing to Slumdog.I cannot understand the logic.Dark Knight clearly outscored here.
Winner : Dark Knight

3.Best Cinematography
If somebody has seen Revolutionary Road or The Reader or The Dark Knight then the choice would have been from the three.

4.Best Film Editing
Benjamin Button without a doubt.Stunning visual brillance.

5.Best Picture
The Dark Knight Or WALL-E.I cannot sing more praises for these films it should be evident to anyone with a +ve IQ.

6.Best Director
Christopher Nolan or Andrew Stanton.Period.

7.Best Original Soundtrack
The Dark Knight's soundtrack was way better than any other released this year.The music sustains the dark mood throughout the movie and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

8.Best Song
Should've been O Saya instead of the Jai Ho nonsense. or listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OSvJvSwmd4

So there it is and comments/brickbats welcome

Of Fools And Mad Men

This EPL season has been great with plenty of laughter points all over.
1.Joe Kinnear - never seen a fool like this guy.Charles Insomnia had me laughing so hard that i got stares from my colleagus.St James Park is much more a circus ride this year than in previous seasons so much so that Given that saintly magpie packed up and left for the other circus in town.
2.Chelsea going bonkers - roman's deep pockets can no longer be picked at chelsea anymore.They sell bridge and cudicini and sign quaresma [the leading contender for the serie a duckass this season] on loan.
3.Arsene losing his plot - no idea why he dint anyone in the summer and signs arshavin when they can do with some decent defenders and good midfielders esp. when veloso and bullard were available.
4.Aston Villa playing some great footie and leading the charge to break the top four.
5.Everton playing for so long without a striker and sitting at sixth.This guy David Moyes should write a how to manage book that all bankers be forced to mug.
6.Man City - need i say more?? 100m+ for one player earning 26m a year.Dude you can buy ireland + iceland for that money nowadays.
7.Hull City - joint leaders in October relegation favorites in Feb.Hmmm we need more clubs like this one.
Meanwhile another Madrid coach loses his job and a president soon follows suit.I think people are taking the Joker too seriously and are not being too serious anymore.