Every sixty seconds of frowning means a minute of happiness wasted.
This saying cannot be more true then when used to describe the two strikers Chelsea want to sign in January. One of the two moodiest and sometimes morbid players known to the footballing world will arrive at Stamford Bridge albeit with a hefty price tag.
The two players I’m referring to? Bolton Wanderer’s Nicolas ‘Incredible Sulk’ Anelka and Tottenham Hotspur’s brooding Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov.
Both players are supremely talented but both are incredibly moody too. Here’s what Berbatov’s former coach at Bayer Leverkusen Klaus Toppmoller once said about the Bulgarian captain, ‘He is one of the most skillful players I have ever seen but his play depends a lot on his mood. It is always a question of which Berba shows up on matchday. Will it be the moody unhappy soul who refuses to run or will the talented, hardworking and sometimes unplayable Berba report for work?’
This can also apply to Anelka who has had a reputation for wanting out when things don’t go his way – take a look at his spells with Arsenal, Real Madrid and PSG. Which do I prefer of the two? Well, it’s the ‘Incredible Sulk’ – and here’s why.
Attitude and Temperament
Anelka is 28-years-old this year and already has a long list of clubs on his CV. His tantrums at Arsenal and Real Madrid were well documented and this led to most clubs not wanting to take a chance with him, just in case he came in and disrupted the team dynamics with his bad temperament.
He has, to a degree, recognised the error of his ways nad has shut his mouth in recent years, finally understanding the fact that his bad reputation has cost him a place in more illustrious clubs with only Manchester City, Fenerbahce and Bolton taking him in.
He knows very well that this protracted move to Chelsea is his last chance, in his prime, to play for a title challenging side and if you have been following the last few days of transfer rumours, you will realise that amidst all the gossips and talks, Anelka himself has not come out to demand a move or say anything for that matter. The move clearly means a lot to him, a last chance saloon in many ways.
Playing Style
Anelka’s playing style means he can be deployed as a lone striker in the Christmas tree formation which Avram Grant favours. With such a one dimensional formation, you need a chief striker who has the strength to hold the ball up, the skill to breakthrough two central defenders and finally the pace to get past an offside trap which most teams deploy against us.
The Frenchman is one of the best in the business when it comes to leading the line on his own. Yes, he lacks defensive awareness and you won’t see him dropping deep to help out, but he will hover just in front of the defenders and wait for the through ball behind them.
His favourite move is to turn the defence while facing the ball and getting past them with his great burst of acceleration. Looking at how big his frame is, you wouldn’t think he had that in his locker.
Future
Why sign Anelka when Chelsea have one of the world’s best striker in Didier Drogba? Well, this dates back to Jose Mourinho. The Portugese has yet to take up another managerial job and has been rumoured to favour AC Milan and Barcelona. Drogba is just waiting and holding out till Mourinho decides his next club and you can be sure he will come raiding Stamford Bridge to take some of his trusted allies to whichever club he is at. Drogba will be at the top of his list and the Ivory Coast captain has publicly stated how much he misses Mourinho and that his loyalty lies with the Portugese loudmouth.
So with our chief striker threatening to leave every other week, Anelka’s signing this month would allow him to be eased into the team and come the end of the season, if Drogba does leave, the Frenchman will give us a ready made replacement in the same mould.
What I like about Anelka, if he does come, is his price tag. 16 million pounds for a player who is in his prime, and who has a proven track record at the highest level sounds like a good deal to me. After all, we spent 85 million pounds on Shevchenko so what is 16 million pounds when compared to that? A few drops of oil from Abramovich’s rigs I reckon.
So yes, I know we will have a moody striker at the Bridge in due time and, since, one of the two seems to be on their way, I say go for the cheaper alternative with a proven track record. Berbatov would be wonderful to have but considering the attitude he has displayed across town at Tottenham, what will happen when he arrives and sees a bigger ego (Drogba) starting ahead of him? More sulks and lip pouting. So if we are going to have to tolerate all that nonsense, why not go for the cheaper option?
My only advice for either player, no matter which one arrives, don’t waste a minute of happiness. Smile and enjoy your stay at the best club in London.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Federer en-route to a Calendar Year Golden Slam
It’s a brave enough prediction to say Roger Federer will clinch the Calendar Grand Slam in 2008. That’s when a player wins all 4 majors in one year. Only two men have achieved this: Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962, 1969). If anyone is going to add his name to this very exclusive list, it’s Roger Federer.
But a Calendar Year Golden Slam? Sounds pretty impressive, and that’s because IT IS! That phrase was coined in 1988 when Steffi Graf won all 4 Singles Grand Slam Tournaments and the singles gold medal in the summer Olympic Games. As you can imagine, there aren’t many opportunities to attempt a Golden Slam. But hey, what d’ya know! 2008 just happens to be an Olympic year, and Roger Federer just happens to be in the form of his life.
Federer is practically unbeatable, although he did show some signs of weakness in 2007, when he lost a few matches he really shouldn’t have. But let’s face it. Federer is still the best in the world and very few can claim to have slain the scalp of the 26-year-old Swiss maestro.
For the last two years, only Rafael Nadal has stood in the way of Roger joining Budge and Laver in the record books. Federer is not at his best on clay, but he’s pretty darn good, having reached the final at Roland Garros the last two years. Find a way to conquer the Nadal roadblock on dirt, and Federer would have found a way of conquering another stat in the history books.
While Nadal is still the undisputed number 1.5(I still favour Roger for no 1, but Nadal maybe said 1.5 on clay) on clay, the young Spaniard has been wriggled with injuries over the last few months. He reached the final of the just-concluded Chennai Open where he was able to take just one game off Mikhail Youzhny in a dramatic collapse. Nadal blamed his performance on fatigue and the fact that his Russian opponent had played splendidly. But this is an early indication that Rafa is not at his best – and that is exactly what he will need to be to retain his French Open crown, especially with Federer breathing heavily down his neck, with one eye on the Calendar Slam.
Correction. Make that the Calendar Golden Slam.
Which brings me to the Olympic Games, and the gold medal which the Swiss Master would love to add to his already glittering collection of trophies.
R-Fed has already expressed his desire to win Gold in Beijing this year. It is a big priority in his list for 2008, as is winning the 4 Grand Slam titles this year. As is breaking Pete Sampras’ record of 14 majors.
It’s a long and steep road till the US Open in September. But you can be sure that Federer has spent a great amount of time in the off-season planning how best to fulfill his lofty ambition of becoming the first man ever to clinch a Calendar Year Golden Slam.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Sexy, Crazy, Naughty Chelsea!
Finally! We are playing like the crazy gang from Wimbledon with studs flying in left right center. Finally! The sexy football is coming to Stamford Bridge. Finally! We are playing Real Madrid styled football where it doesn’t matter how many goals you let in, you just make sure you score one more than the opponents. Finally! Chelsea are back to what we once were.
So we at Chelsea get another stab at making it all the way in the Champions League (with our attractive attacking football) and, if I dare say so, challenge the impressive United outfit that is beginning to look close to the class of 99’. Forget about Arsenal. There is only one club in London. And BLUE is the colour.
How fun it must have been for each and every Chelsea fan to watch the 4-4 draw at home to Aston Villa. Our Russian kingpin has now got what he wished for last Christmas - attacking football with no defending in sight! Is this what we really need at Chelsea or will this signal the start of many heart attacks and strokes to come for the Stamford Bridge faithful.
CRAZY
Earlier in the season, Mourinho’s supposed defensive tactics, which brought 1-0 wins on a consistent basis, were deemed not good enough for a club of our stature. We needed, it appeared, a coach who plays an attacking brand of football. Off went Mourinho. In came the gremlin lookalike Israeli, Avram Grant.
Abramovich felt that Grant would give him the attacking style he so craved for but what the new man has really done is simply put out the same team under Mourinho and with some luck, the side has churned out more goals in every match but also with a new found uncertainty in defence.
Grant has done nothing so far to show that he is indeed the man for the hot seat. The good thing for him is that results have been going his way so far. Once he gets into a run of bad results, the kingpin will start looking somewhere else for his new toy boy.
NAUGHTY
Also, what is with Ashley Cole’s crazy behaviour in recent games? I mean, when he returned to the Emirates to take on the club he abandoned for us, he went into every tackle against Arsenal looking like he had only one thing in mind. Rough house tactics. He wanted to show the Gunners fans that the constant taunts and jeers did not affect him but he knows how badly he is hurting. And then, against Villa at home, he kept his wild streak going and went in for two-footed lunges and was constantly lavishing his expensive saliva on the referee’s face. He finally got his just desert when he was red-carded for handling the ball on the line.
Personally, I would put Wayne Bridge in the left-back position instead of him. Bridge might not be as good going forward but he provides us with a more solid defensive option.
SEXY
One good thing that has come out of this messy attacking affair is the resurgence of a German maestro. The man who was named in Pele’s 125 greatest living footballers list and the same player who single-handedly guided Bayer Leverkusen to the 2002 Champions League finals. The forgotten man at Chelsea who many fans nicknamed Bullocks.
The moment Frank Lampard got injured against Villa, Michael Ballack threw off his tracksuit and stood by the sidelines with his chest puffed up ready to plunge himself back into top flight action. From his first tackle on Gareth Barry, you could see that the man was back with a vengeance. He knew that a clean slate has been presented to him with his nemesis Mourinho gone, and it was like presenting a kid with a new toy. He wanted to play!
And while Mourinho tried to play him alongside Lamps in similar fashion to the England setup where Gerrard and Lamps have struggled in the middle (struggled is an understatement to begin with.), Ballack couldn’t cope with having another midfield general beside him.
The German captain is the kind of midfielder who likes to dominate play. He has to be the heartbeat of the team. No sharing of responsibilities. A one man show might sound a tad selfish, but looking back at what he did at Leverkusen, it would serve us well to give him the chance to be just that.
Let him have a run of games without Lamps and see if he can have the same influence on our wonderful attacking game like he did with Leverkusen and still does with the German national team. Chelsea is a selfish place to be anyway. Our money-throwing oil mongul just wants to buy his favourite players and play fantasy football while our club captain wants to be the highest paid footballer in the world and make merry.
So we at Chelsea get another stab at making it all the way in the Champions League (with our attractive attacking football) and, if I dare say so, challenge the impressive United outfit that is beginning to look close to the class of 99’. Forget about Arsenal. There is only one club in London. And BLUE is the colour.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Great Expectations.
Some quotes from the movie based on the novel Great Expectations by Sir Charles Dickens. Some(Most) of them are original(from the novel) but some aren't(all are good though).
Joe: Nothing harder than being given your chance. At least, that's what I hear.
Pip: I'm not going to tell the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell it the way I remember it.
Ms. Havisham: She'll only break your heart, it's a fact. And even though I warn you, even though I guarantee you that the girl will only hurt you terribly, you'll still pursue her. Ain't love grand?
Estella: We are who we are, people don't change.
Pip: What's it like not to feel anything?
Estella: Let's say there was a little girl, and from the time she could understand, she was taught to fear... let's say she was taught to fear daylight. She was taught that it was her enemy, that it would hurt her. And then one sunny day, you ask her to go outside and play and she won't. You can't be angry at her can you?
Pip: I knew that little girl and I saw the light in her eyes, and no matter what you say or do, that's still what I see.
Estella: We are who we are. People don't change.
Pip: Seven Years passed, I stopped going to Paradiso Perduto, I stopped painting. I put aside the fantasy and the wealthy, and the heavenly girl who did not want me. None of it would happen to me again. I'd seen through it. I elected to grow up.
Pip: The night all of my dreams came true, and like all happy endings,It was a tragedy, Of my device, for I succeeded. I had cut myself loose from Joe, from the past, from the gulf, from poverty I had invented myself. I'd done it cruelly, but I had done it. I was free!
Pip: if this isn't love, I don't think I can handle the real thing
Pip: It's my heart, and its broken.
Pip: Everything I have ever done, I've done for you.
Pip: I did it! I did it! I am a wild success! I sold 'em all, all my paintings. You don't have to be embarrassed by me anymore, I'm rich! Isn't that what you wanted, aren't we happy now. Don't you understand, that everything I do, I do it for you. Anything, that might be special in me, is you.
Estella: I do love the way you dance.
[after sleeping with Finn]
Ms. Havisham: [Watches young Finn and young Estella dance] Smile, Smile, Smile, Smile...
[to Finn]
Ms. Havisham: Okay, don't smile.
Pip: Estella?
Estella: Finn? Is that you?
Pip: Is that your little girl?
Estella: Yes. I had to bring her. I wanted to show her this place.
Pip: Have you been back often?
Estella: No.
Pip: Me either.
Estella: So... I hear all about you. You're doing great.
Pip: I'm doing okay.
Estella: Things have been... different for me. For a long time, I kept...
Pip: What?
Estella: I think about you. A lot lately.
Pip: I'm glad.
Estella: Can you ever forgive me?
Pip: Don't you know me at all?
Pip: That's a big cat! That's the biggest cat I've ever seen! What do you feed it?
Ms. Havisham: Other cats.
Prisoner: You bite your nails? Its a bad habit. People always tell you that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Bullshit its your hands, thats the sign of a gentleman.
p.s. the names of character are as that in the novel not as that in the movie.
These quotes are from the movie that was made in 1946(this one is better) and won two Oscar Awards also.
[welcoming Pip to her decaying mansion]
Miss Havisham: Come nearer. Let me look at you. Come close. Look at me. You aren't afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since before you were born?
Pip: [narrating] I realized that in becoming a gentleman, I had only succeeded in becoming a snob.
Magwitch: Keep still, you young devil, or I'll slit your throat!
Joe Gargery: Pip! A young man of great expectations.
Joe: Nothing harder than being given your chance. At least, that's what I hear.
Pip: I'm not going to tell the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell it the way I remember it.
Ms. Havisham: She'll only break your heart, it's a fact. And even though I warn you, even though I guarantee you that the girl will only hurt you terribly, you'll still pursue her. Ain't love grand?
Estella: We are who we are, people don't change.
Pip: What's it like not to feel anything?
Estella: Let's say there was a little girl, and from the time she could understand, she was taught to fear... let's say she was taught to fear daylight. She was taught that it was her enemy, that it would hurt her. And then one sunny day, you ask her to go outside and play and she won't. You can't be angry at her can you?
Pip: I knew that little girl and I saw the light in her eyes, and no matter what you say or do, that's still what I see.
Estella: We are who we are. People don't change.
Pip: Seven Years passed, I stopped going to Paradiso Perduto, I stopped painting. I put aside the fantasy and the wealthy, and the heavenly girl who did not want me. None of it would happen to me again. I'd seen through it. I elected to grow up.
Pip: The night all of my dreams came true, and like all happy endings,It was a tragedy, Of my device, for I succeeded. I had cut myself loose from Joe, from the past, from the gulf, from poverty I had invented myself. I'd done it cruelly, but I had done it. I was free!
Pip: if this isn't love, I don't think I can handle the real thing
Pip: It's my heart, and its broken.
Pip: Everything I have ever done, I've done for you.
Pip: I did it! I did it! I am a wild success! I sold 'em all, all my paintings. You don't have to be embarrassed by me anymore, I'm rich! Isn't that what you wanted, aren't we happy now. Don't you understand, that everything I do, I do it for you. Anything, that might be special in me, is you.
Estella: I do love the way you dance.
[after sleeping with Finn]
Ms. Havisham: [Watches young Finn and young Estella dance] Smile, Smile, Smile, Smile...
[to Finn]
Ms. Havisham: Okay, don't smile.
Pip: Estella?
Estella: Finn? Is that you?
Pip: Is that your little girl?
Estella: Yes. I had to bring her. I wanted to show her this place.
Pip: Have you been back often?
Estella: No.
Pip: Me either.
Estella: So... I hear all about you. You're doing great.
Pip: I'm doing okay.
Estella: Things have been... different for me. For a long time, I kept...
Pip: What?
Estella: I think about you. A lot lately.
Pip: I'm glad.
Estella: Can you ever forgive me?
Pip: Don't you know me at all?
Pip: That's a big cat! That's the biggest cat I've ever seen! What do you feed it?
Ms. Havisham: Other cats.
Prisoner: You bite your nails? Its a bad habit. People always tell you that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Bullshit its your hands, thats the sign of a gentleman.
p.s. the names of character are as that in the novel not as that in the movie.
These quotes are from the movie that was made in 1946(this one is better) and won two Oscar Awards also.
[welcoming Pip to her decaying mansion]
Miss Havisham: Come nearer. Let me look at you. Come close. Look at me. You aren't afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since before you were born?
Pip: [narrating] I realized that in becoming a gentleman, I had only succeeded in becoming a snob.
Magwitch: Keep still, you young devil, or I'll slit your throat!
Joe Gargery: Pip! A young man of great expectations.
Re-United We Stand.
It feels good, great, fantastic, ........ or something more than that to be reunited. But I must comment here that its only for the first meeting, you can clearly sense that something is missing even in the second one.
What's that????
I Don't Know!
What's that????
I Don't Know!
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