My Love

‘So how do you pronounce this?’, She said peeping into the article that I was reading and pointing on the word “Scholes”.  

‘Do you pronounce this as SCHOLES as in s-CH-olar or SCHOLES as in mu-SH-rooms? – I gave her a smile and told her, but at the same time I wondered why football is not a very popular sport with women. Even when the match is on the television, instead of appreciating the awesome volley that Scholes just hit, they would go ooh and aah over the handsome, chocolaty, athletic appearances of these guys.

‘They are hot! No doubt about that, YOU are hitting the gym from Monday!’ – Her voice echoed in my head for some time, but then I washed it all off with a beer and a match with a guy friend.

I visited the The Emirates for the Arsenal vs United match and it was the best day this year for me. To kind of give me company – she – for the first time ever went to a Manchester United Café and Bar in Mumbai. Not knowing any of the players or the rules of the game or any loyalty towards any club, she said after the match on Skype, it was a good match both the sides played well but that yellow card to that xyz player was not fair. She sounded so much into the game. Unexpected!

A little flash back and I am reminded of the day when we were talking about how important it is to give each other some space. She told me she wants to be with her girlfriends, and go shopping and eat out and needs space for herself to be herself. All I asked for was – a free night when a match is on.

Till now no questions asked and no conflicts between her and my love – football. I feel good.

Analysis: Manchester United at the Champions League Final 2011

The Champions League final for the season 2010-11 between Manchester United and Barcelona was one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the year and perhaps one of its biggest let-downs of the year. After being humiliated 2-0 by Barcelona a couple of seasons back, Manchester United were tipped to come back stronger and mount a much more serious challenge to the brand of football that is synonymous to Barcelona. However, as the final score of 3-1 suggests, it was one more day when Barcelona trampled over their opponents in grand Catalonian style. Here are some reasons that I feel were key to the end result

• Manchester United ran out of energy after 20 minutes. In the final of 2008-09, they lasted for 10 minutes before being swamped by Barcelona. This year, they took the game to Barcelona and threatened for the first 20 minutes. However, once Barcelona began to get into their groove, they began to run Manchester United ragged with their slick and accurate passing. With tired legs running United’s midfield, it was only a matter of time before Barcelona carved United up.

• United went into the game with a wrong formation: They say hindsight is a wonderful thing. Had United gone on to win the game, I could well be saying that they did exceptionally well to take Barcelona on and try to beat them at their own game. However, the attack minded game-plan that Sir Alex Ferguson went with came to naught once Barcelona took the lead and began dominating. Essentially running midfield, Barcelona proceeded to create a host of chances which finally resulted in three goals

• Patrice Evra had an off game: United’s game was highly dependent on being abl to control Lionel Messi who is widely regarded as being the most influential player at Barcelona. Evra was caught napping by Messi and was at fault the first and second goals of the game. He was non-existent on the defensive front and attackingly as well he was extremely quiet. Messi truly showed how he can take advantage of the slightest errors by the defenders. All he needed was a chance or two to get and create the goals.

• Barcelona were just too good! They were far more creative in the final third. They had huge possession and did not let United play their game at all.

Sir Alex Ferguson - Bargain Buys!

Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson have often been labelled as big spenders. Indeed, Sir Alex has been around so long that he is bound to have made some big money buys along the way. While having made several blunders in the transfer marker over the quarter century that he has managed United for – Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Forlan, and Bebe to name a few – Sir Alex has often stunned the footballing world with purchases made for ridiculously low amounts who have gone on to achieve greatness at both club and international level. Below are a couple of the greatest bargains made by the grandmaster.

Peter Schmeichel: Purchased from Brondby CF for 5,30,000 pounds, “The Great Dane” as he was affectionately known was arguably one of the greatest to ever guard the goalposts at Old Trafford. In a Manchester United career that spanned 9 years Schmeichel performed with distinction and won the Champions League and multiple Premier League titles in addition to other domestic trophies. One of his finest seasons was the treble winning season of ’99 where he made several crucial saves at crucial junctures as he helped United achieve greatness by securing success on both domestic and European fronts.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Purchased for 12 million pounds from Sporting Lisbon, Cristiano Ronaldo captured the world’s imagination with his creativity, speed and lethal finishing as he scored goals at will and tormented defences for five seasons at United. He won the treble and the double while at United and also achieved success at the individual level by winning the prestigious Ballon d’Or on multiple occasions. He was sold to Real Madrid for 80 million pounds, a sale that only serves to highlight the magnitude of the bargain made by Sir Alex.

Number 18 at United?

The midfield maestro, who Zidane once described as the best midfielder of his generation, retired post the Champions League final defeat against Barcelona. This brought end to a glittering 20 year career at United.

However, this has left a gaping hole in United’s midfield which is now looking for a creative and ball playing midfielder. Although Sir Alex has himself admitted that it is impossible to replace Scholes, but he is looking for possible suitors.

There have been loads of rumours over the summer but none have yet arrived at Old Trafford. One name which has been ever present is that of the Dutch Playmaker, Wesley Sneijder. Although no official bid has been placed as yet but a move is highly touted in Italy.

Sir Alex just came out with the statement that he is not buying anyone for United’s midfield. This could mean tough times for Sir Alex’s men for the 2011-2012 campaign. With Carrick, who never ticks in big matches, Anderson who still has to prove his consistency, Fletcher who is struggling for fitness, United’s midfield will find it difficult to cope with the likes of Gerrard, Fabregas, Lampard, Xavi, Messi and others.

Although United do have good young talent coming up in Cleverley and Pogba it remains to be seen how many chances they would be given at United, given the inexperience. Also, the signing of Ashley Young might just prove another gem by Sir Alex, as did Chicharito’s. He might chose to deploy Young, who is apparently the new Number 18 at United, in the “hole”. Scholes was a master of playing in the “hole” during his young days when he used to make those trademark darting runs from midfield to the box.

Traditionally a winger, Young showed potential of playing in the “hole” during his time at Aston Villa. However it is too early to say whether he would be able to fit in at United, leave alone be the new number 18!

La Masia - Football academy of FC Barcelona

"La Masia de Can Planes" or simply La Masia, was built in 1702 and has been dwarfed since the 1950s by Barcelona's massive Nou Camp stadium next door. It has been home to some of the best players that have graced football and Barcelona, including current coach Pep Guardiola, midfielders Xavi, Andres Iniesta, captain Carles Puyol and goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Players who pass through La Masia are known in Spain as the "Cantera" (quarry). They have with them Barcelona's special brand of stylish, creative, attacking and possession football. This was quite evident for the whole world to witness in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, where they dismantled Sir Alex Ferguson's English champions, Manchester United 3-1.

"Recruits", the ones who win a place at the "Masia" undergo an intense program of education. These "recruits" are some 60 at a time, from Spain and beyond. It is claimed that the whole program is aimed at producing more rounded individuals, who have a better chance in life if they fail to make it as a professional athlete.

The current philosophy of the academy was proposed by Johan Cruyff in 1979, who himself was a Barcelona legend. His aim was to establish a copy of the Ajax Academy in Barcelona. The aim was to instill a footballing style in the Barcelona blood. The team played to Cruyff's tiki-taka philosophy mixed with total football.

Josep Guardiola, the current Barcelona manager, was one of the first few who graduated from the academy and went on to be inspirational to later generations of La Masia graduates including Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas.

Another aspect to La Masia is regional nationalism. They focus more on developing local talent. Their academy consists of mostly Catalans. This is something which is unique to their philosophy.

All this is paying FC Barcelona huge dividends now. They are the current European Champions. They have the best squad of players. They have the best style of play in football, globally. They are the club that every other team aspires to beat. They are FC Barcelona!

Who is Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas?

Born on 17th October 1977, André Villas Boas has become the new manager at Chelsea football club at a young age of 33.

His first encounter with football management was as a 16 year old when Sir Bobby Robson, then Manager of FC Porto, moved into the same Apartment block. After questioning Sir Bobby’s team selection a couple of times, he backed his argument with facts and data. Sir Bobby was so impressed by the 16 year old that he offered him the role of a trainee youth team coach, which he accepted!

Next, he was sent to England by Sir Bobby to get his coaching badges and was the youngest student at the school. After becoming the youngest to receive UEFA C licence at age 17, he was sent to Ipswich Town by Sir Bobby Robson to gain some learning experience. It is here that he learnt English from his English grandmother and became fluent, which also helped him to communicate on a wider scale.

Next, André  undertook his first coaching job at British Virgin Islands Football Association and after 18 months he moved to FC Porto as the coach of the under 19 side. This job was offered by none other than Jose Mourinho! Soon thereafter, Mourinho promoted André  to the position of Opposition Scout. An opposition scout basically scouts upcoming opponents and provides dossiers. He thrived in this role and his attention to detail allowed Mourinho to make tactics around the provided opposition intelligence.

The Jose-André  partnership enjoyed significant success at Porto and also won the UEFA Champions League in 2002. When Mourinho left Porto for Chelsea, he took André  with him and then again when he moved from Chelsea to Internazionale.

However, in October 2009, he left Inter and became the manager of Academica in Portugal’s top division. After finishing 11^th in the league, he was appointed as the manager of FC Porto. He guided Porto to a treble, winning the League, the League Cup and the Europa League. In addition, Porto ended the season unbeaten with 27 wins in 30 matches, becoming only the second club in Portugal to finish a league unbeaten since Benfica in 1972-73.