Monday, August 24, 2009

Scent Of a Woman


As I opened my eyes, there she was looking at me with her black eyes all shining up as there was something they wanted to convey to me. Her hair were open and flowing in a beautiful fall. She wore no make-up but there was a scent in her, the way she looked seemed as if those black shining rocks are trying to potray a story to me. The way she hold me, there was a certain something she said. She wanted to say "I care". She never said anything neither wore any smell but there was an aroma that always pulled me towards her. I felt the way John Baptiste Grenouille might have felt the non-sinful smell rising and titillating his nostrils. There is always has been something about the scent a woman carries that has fascinated man for centuries. Al Pacino refers to them in a description that shows how beautiful can woman be portrayed.

People think of a good perfume as a way of portraying their sense of seeing things all pleasant but there is a dark side to it too . Perfume acts as a mask for your acts, to cover up your sinful nature. It hides the basic human scent, it disguises you and attracts people.There has always been a scent, an internal attraction that a woman carries in herself. She attracts men by that scent that our brain reads so wonderfully and the scent Baptiste tried to catch and make permanent, there by holding the key to enslaving the world. The sweet smell with ingredients of care, love with a hint of lust in it. You can put all the countless scents available on a body but that sweet smell that a woman has from inside her makes people wonder. People generally say it was he who created woman(he refers to god) but I might say that even He cannot have solved the beautiful mystery of that scent and there is a more probability that she created men ,the scentless and senseless apprentice to wonder in life about the secret.

Men have such smell they always try to cover it up with the scent or rather if you see their nature is so disgusting and repulsive that they wear scents to mask it. If one cares to think of the best smell to have ever touch their senses, it has always signified purity, cleanliness of thoughts, and something so innocent that as a normal human we can never think of bearing the smell in ourselves. Think of the smell when the rain hits the parched earth, the smell is so sweet it makes one forget the worries and cruelty of the world for sometime. Even a small child always has a smell around him even though he is covered in his own poop sumtimes, but there is some smell that he radiates into your senses, smell of purity , innocence that makes you forget the worries of the world.

As I sat close to her, her lips touched mine and I felt that scent, the smell of purity and innocence in her, the smell that she cared. My idiotic superficial brain thought it must be the smell of some scent she is wearing but then I realized it was no scent it was the God's gift to her for being a woman.
Man has become so ruthless and brutal in his search for that scent he started acting like a mad dog digging up the ground sensing the bone. Woman have been tortured, slaved treated badly over centuries by man, who in his obsession for that scent of innocence and love has forgot that there is always a limit to everything. We men should always be thinking of preserving that innocence and purity rather than forcefully trying to make it ours. Its like nature, you can smell the roses, the lillies till they are attached to their roots but if you pluck them out the scent goes away. Men has been able to make their smell permanent but there are some things in life that cannot be captured and the smell of innocence, purity, godliness is one of them. Men can never capture that smell and if you try to make it yours forcefully the smell will go away in time. We will lose the finest of God's creation to our obsession. Try enslaving that scent of a woman all you want but it could never turn you into a person who can love and be loved.There is a scent in woman that makes you fall in love with her, that makes men seek happiness, comfort and trust in her, dont try to take it for granted in this world as there are some things you can never conquer in life. You can possess all the money, have control over death or life but there is a power stronger and fiercer than that- the power to love mankind that you can. Never try to make the leather of man smell good, it will not until you possess the perfume, the scent of love, the scent of a woman.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

ABCs of me.

The Bittu bugged me into posting this

The Rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share the ABCs of you.

4. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

5. Let the 3 tagged people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so that there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag.

Here's a bit of me in ABCs

A –Available/Single Yes I am single. Have been single all my life and don’t see that trend changing any time soon.

B –Best Mates Tibbu, Popo, Tau, Landu, 17, Chotu, Murari, Damani, Sardar.

C –Coke or Pepsi Hate them both. Stupid drinks. Would rather drink a glass of water.

D –Drinks Coffee, Water, and Mango shake (miss that in Australia).

E –Essential item you use every day? Depends whether it’s a weekend or a weekday. On a weekday I use toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, car, my legs, TV, Lappy etc. On a weekend I use toothbrush, toothpaste, TV and Lappy only.

F -Favourite colours Blonde, Black, Red, Brown, Straw. Of course, I am talking of hair colour I like on girls.

G – G is stupid. Can’t think of a good question starting with G.

H – Hometown Delhi.

I – Indulgences Travelling, Complaining, Photography, Chatting, Cooking, Eating, Adventure, Sleeping.

J – January or February? Feb wins hands down. My Budday, Mum and Dad’s anniversary. And its different from the other months. Only 28/29 days.

K – Kelso, Hyde, Fez or Foreman- Fez. I am the perverted foreign guy who loves food and has a knack of making people around him feel very uncomfortable.

L – Life is incomplete without? A good looking chick to get comfy with. My life is currently incomplete!! :(

M – Marriage date? Hehe… funny.. nearly got me there.

N – Number of siblings Uno.

O – Oranges or Apples Neither. How about a Mango instead.

P – Phobias/Fears? Dogs, Snakes, Spiders (the poisonous ones found in Tasmania) and Crocs.

Q – Quote for today? I am a rock, I am an island. I’ve built walls, a fortress deep and mighty, that none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. Its laughter and its loving I disdain.

R – Reason to smile? Everyday that passes by is one day less that I have to stay in this place.

S – Season? Spring. Nice weather. Though summers are not bad especially when chicks parade around you half naked.

T – Tag 3 People? Not going to. I love breaking the rules.

U – Unknown fact about me? This thing is paradoxical. If I answer this then the fact wouldn’t be unknown anymore and I would be lying.

V – Vegetable you don't like? Nearly all of them.

W – Worst habit? Hmmm tough choice between complaining all the time and talking crap all the time.

X – X-rays you've had? Chest, Leg, Hands, Head, Neck and Back

Y – Your favourite food Butter Chicken, Kadhai Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Tandoori Chicken, Murg Roganjosh, Chicken Korma… I think you get the gist.

Z – Zodiac sign Pisces.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

  19th April 2009. Turf Moor. Celebrations all around. The whole arena raised by the ecstatic home fans. But its gloom and doom for the visitors. Because all hell has broken lose. Manchester United, the champions of England, have just been beaten by the minnows Burnley, who were playing their first top flight home game in 30 years. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t written in the script. United were supposed to pound Burnley into submission. A win for united was a given; in fact they were supposed to rout the opponents. Instead, they were left to rue missed opportunities and reflect on what had transpired. Burnley had reminded everyone just how competitive the league is and no-one in the league is untouchable. They scripted the perfect underdog story, prompting us to remember why we love this game in the first place.

But it was disaster for the champions. Losing any match is a crisis in the halls of Old Trafford; losing a game to a team like Burnley is a full fledged disaster. What hurt everyone was not just the loss, but the manner in which we lost. Admittedly, the goal Burnley scored was one of the goals of the season, the kind of goal that you will expect to concede once in a 100 games. But it was United’s performance (or the lack of it) which was a real concern. The players just didn’t turn up. You would expect the players to run themselves in the ground  after falling behind. But that didn’t happen. The players just didn’t fight for the win. The seemed to lack conviction and motivation; they gave an impression that they were not trying hard enough. As the game wore on, they tried to get back in the game but they looked so demoralized and diffident that no matter what they tried, they just couldn’t grab a goal. In recent seasons, United have been characterized by wastefulness in front of the goal. They create a lot of chances but more often than not lack the finishing touch . But they always win. They dig deep, grind their opposition down and manage to finish some of the chances they make. And when they were not playing well, they had a certain Portuguese winger who would get them out jail. But Ronaldo is gone and  without him, the champions were just not able to break the opposition down.

And the knives came out. Ferguson has lost it, they said. You can’t lose Ronaldo and Tevez and expect to win games without making any big name replacements. Valencia is not good enough to replace Ronaldo. Owen is past his best and and is no longer capable of playing at the top level. Berbatov is lazy and doesn’t work hard enough to warrant a place in the starting 11.  And Rooney alone can’t shoulder all the extra responsibilities in attack in the absence on Ronaldo and Tevez. The midfield has a lack of creativity and the defense is wobbly. Amidst all this turmoil came the weekend game against Wigan. Some were predicting a backlash to the Burnley loss, others were predicting a third consecutive nervy encounter.

Sir Alex rung the changes to the side that lost to Burnley. Only Foster, Evans, Evra and Rooney survived the chop. Fletcher, Nani, Scholes and Valencia all returned in midfield, Valencia making his first return to Wigan after his summer transfer. Vidic returned to the centre of the defense hoping to provide much needed stability at the back. Berbatov partnered Rooney upfront. And it was those two who started the brightest combining to first release Flecher and then tee up Scholes at the edge of the box, but both the chances went begging all thanks to poor finishing and heroic defending by Wigan. As the match progressed, Wigan started asking questions of their own and it took some good shot stopping from the much maligned Foster to keep Wigan at Bay. Rooney and Berbatov were menacing throughout the first half, creating a lot of chances but once again failing to provide the finishing touch. As time wore on, uncertainty started creeping into the minds of United supporters. A familiar story to the Burnley game was unfolding, United creating a lot of chances but failing to deliver the knockout punch.

Good footballers are capable of playing well when things are going well, produce moments of genius to win games . But when the going gets tough, the really great ones rise up to the occasion, grab the game from the scruff of its necks and turn it on it’s head. Roy Keane famously did it in Turin and Rooney was doing it against Wigan. 3 goals in the space of 8 minutes, two by Rooney and one from Berbatov, and all was good again. The smiles were back, the shoulders were raised again and the supremely confident United that everyone knows was back. 2 goals later, the rout was complete and everything was rosy again. The critics that were after United’s blood were praising them again for their pristine performance. All the strikers were back in the thick of the action, each of them scoring. The belief was back; there is life without Ronaldo after all. Berbatov was combining beautifully with Rooney, who was exceptional. He was at the centre of every attack and is fast becoming the heartbeat of this United team. He has been unleashed by SAF at the head of the United attack, and with his talent, work rate and commitment, it wouldn’t be a big surprise if he continues to bedazzle. It looks like he has stepped it up a notch to make up for Ronaldo’s loss and he is not finished. I firmly believe there is more to come from Rooney. United’s season depends on that and Rooney will not disappoint.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Manchester United vs Birmingham City

Line Ups
Man Utd: Foster, Fabio Da Silva, O'Shea, Jonathan Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Scholes, Nani, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Owen, Anderson, Giggs, Gibson, De Laet.
Birmingham: Hart, Carr, Roger Johnson, Queudrue, Vignal, Larsson, Ferguson, Carsley, Fahey, McFadden, Jerome. Subs: Maik Taylor, O'Connor, Phillips, Benitez, McSheffrey, Parnaby, O'Shea.
Foster starts in goal for ManUtd aiming to improve on his less than convincing performance against Chelsea last weekend. In defense, United have a big injury problem with Ferdinand, Vidic, Neville, Rafael all injured and Evans and Brown carrying knocks. That means a start for O'Shea and Evans in the center, with Fabio on the right and Evra on the left. In midfield, Fletcher and Scholes start in central midfield with Nani amazingly recovering from a dislocated shoulder to start on the left wing. Valencia makes his league debut for United on the right wing. Rooney leads the attack along with Berbatov. United's other new boy Michael Owen starts on the bench alongside Giggs and Anderson. United play in the more rigid 4-4-2 formation with Berbatov playing in front of Rooney and Valencia and Nani attacking on the wings.
Match Report
United produced a less than scintillating display to overcome a dogged Birmingham side 1-0 thanks to Wayne Rooney's strike in the first half. The forward tapped in the rebound when his header from Nani's looping cross came off the post. Ben Foster kept a Christian Benitez shot out with a brilliant stop to maintain the advantage after the Ecuadorian had raced clear of the United's defence. Substitute Michael Owen wasted a glorious opportunity to grab a debut goal when his shot was blocked Hart deep into injury time.
Even though the champions were not at their glorious best, they created enough chances and notched up several attacks on Birmingham to prove that they have enough talent in the squad without Ronaldo. Rooney, in particular, was at the heart of everything with some deft touches, intelligent runs and fabulous shots.
The match started out as a scrappy affair with both sets of players marking their territories and going into clattering tackles. United showed their attacking intentions early on trying to get the ball forward to Nani and Valencia on the wings to whip crosses in for the forwards to attack. Birmingham looked to close shop on United with a five man midfield and try to hit them on counter attack using the pace of McFadden and Jerome. United enjoyed a bulk of the early possession and exploited the space offered to them in the midfield thanks to Birmingham's defensive tactics with Rooney testing Hart early on with a looping header.
Eight minutes in, Fletcher created an early opportunity for Nani but his shot was blocked by Hart. Rooney again was in the thick of things when he tested Hart with a dipping 20 yarder, which the young English keeper palmed away. United created enough chances but lacked the finishing touch before Rooney put them forward at the half hour mark with a scintillating move starting at the half way line. The striker fed parter Berbatov with a headed pass, who in turn released Nani on the left wing. The winger produced a teasing looping cross which Rooney tapped in after his inital header had rebounded off the post.
Birmingham responded instantly with Jerome going close with a 20 yard stike that was deflected away from goal with keeper Foster beaten. From the resulting corner, Quedrue thought he had scored before Evra made a fantastic block on the far post off the line. The champions should have taken a two goal cushion into the break but Fletcher somehow managed to drag his shot wide from 10 yards out being played in by some excellent link up play between Evra and Nani on the left.
At the interval, Giggs came on in place of Nani, who was struggling with his injured shoulder. Rooney started the half with a bang, latching onto a bouncing ball and unleasing a stunning dipping volley from 30 yards out which Hart did well to keep out. United kept continuing to create chances but as the half progressed Birmigham started to grow in confidence and Fahey and later McFadden. Berbatov had a header cleared off the line and a strong penalty appeal rejected before being replaced by Owen. But it was the Birmingham substitute Benitez who came closest to scoring. Th Ecuadorian broke the offside trap with a superbly timed run and produced a fantastic save from Foster. At the other end, Rooney and Owen were lionking up well with Rooney getting a chance on 83rd minute and releasing late Owen late on with a chested flick in injury time. But one on one with Hart, his shot was deflected by Hart of his legs and the chance for Owen to make it a dream debut was gone.
Manchester United Match ratings
Ben Foster - 6 - Didn't have the best of the outings and looked nervous in goal, especially to crosses. Made a brilliant stop to deny Benitez though.
Fabio - 6 - Made some good forward runs, but his crossing and tackling left a bit to be desired.
O'Shea - 6 - Solid at the back. Mishit a few passes going forward but defended well.
Evans - 7 - Steady at the heart of the defence. Didn't give Jerome an inch and defended well.
Evra - 8 - Was excellent going forward, linking up well with Nani and later Giggs. Defended well.
Valencia - 6 - Had a quite evening. Made some good forward runs but didn't get the final ball in.
Fletcher - 7 - Solid as ever. Broke Birmingham's attack and started United's. Should have done beter with the chance at half time though.
Scholes - 6 - Had a quite eveing by his high standards. Always available to take a pass, saw plenty of the ball without creating too much.
Nani - 7 - Had a decent outing before being substituted. Had a few shots on target and setup Rooney for the goal.
Berbatov - 6 - Had a topsy turvey game. Brilliant in patches but went missing for the rest of the game.
Rooney - 9 - At the heart of everything united created. Menacing with the ball, showed some deft touches and made intelligent runs off the ball. Capped an excellent display with the winner.
Giggs - 6 - Showed some delightful touches but gave the ball away too often.
Brown - 5 - Played Benitez onside allowing the striker to race clear. Looked shaky coming off an injury.
Owen - 6 - Linked up well with Rooney in attack. Should have done much better with the chance right at the death.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Story of my Life

Chances blown
Nothing's free
Longing for what used to be
Still it's hard
Hard to see
Fragile lives, shattered dreams

These words perfectly describe my professional life so far. Just to get you guys up to speed, I am currently working in a mining MNC in Australia. Fresh out of college, I took this jobs and came to work in the plant with huge dreams and expectations. At the same time, the company had huge expectations from me as well. Some might even say that those expectations were a tad bit unrealistic. Anyways, my company has a system called work performance review, in which performance of the employees is judged based on certain criterion set by their managers. My ex-boss had set a few parameters based on which he was going to judge my performance. At the time when these criterion were being set I was new to the company and did not object to the fact that most of the expectations were out of my control and were measuring the performance of the plant instead of my individual performance. And now that has come back to bite me in the ass big time. Over the past few months, the plant has fallen into dire straits and as a wise once man said "the shit has hit the fans". S0 deep is the abyss to which the plant has fallen that everyday our biggest challenge is to somehow keep the plant running for another day. Productivity, efficiency have all been thrown out of the window, we are all fighting to keep our heads above the water here with the corporate sharks circling us, waiting to tear our heads off. Amidst all this turmoil, my work performance review has been set to be done in the coming week. Last week my boss came to my office and informed me about it and asked me to do the self assessment that employees have to do before their bosses do the final review. I said right-o boss, I'm on it. But at that moment I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I am in for a walloping.
So I sat down on my desk, opened up my expectations page and started going through them. I looked at the first one and thought "this doesn't look too good. Let me start from the next one and come back to this at the end." So I moved onto the second one. Again that didn't look too good. So I moved over to the next one. 15 minutes later, I had gone over the whole list and was staring at a total score of 0%. It said to myself "This doesn't look right. Maybe I was being too hard on myself. Let me try again." So I went over the list once more, this time looking for loopholes that would allow me to get a respectable score. After fretting over the list for 5 minutes, I came up with a score of 25%. Just to give you a relative measure of my despair, 100 - 125% is above expectation performance, 75 - 100 % is a good performance, 50 - 75% is an average performance and anything less than that is serious under performance. I was devastated. My first job and first performance review was going to send me in throes of depression. I went to my boss and told him that I did my review and I got a score of 25%. And I cheated! He said "I know how you feel. All of us got a score of 0 ourselves. Don't worry about it."
Well that's easy for him. He has been working here for years now and these reviews don't matter too much to him. But to someone in my position, they are career making or career breaking stats. What am I going to say in an interview "Hey I got a score of 0 in my performance review. But believe me I am a very professional worker. You can't find anyone better than me." Can you get a sense of hypocrisy in that statement. I am not a cynic, but the future doesn't look too bright to me. The Kid's aren't all-right.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

EPL 09/10 Season's Prediction

Good news football fans. The Premier League Season is about to begin. All the excitement, the mayhem and the madness is about to be unleashed. There are those that believes that this year is going to be the tightest title race since the inception of the Premier League. And then there are the hardcore supporters who predict their own team to win. There are the United fans who rightly I may say believe that its their destiny to win the EPL every year. And the confounded Chel$hits that are in a perennial state of dementia thinking that their band of cheats/ bullies will win the title. The Loserfools who haven't won the league in 20 years, but come August they always presume (or dream) they are going to win the title. And the poor Arseholes. You almost feel sorry for them. No trophies in four years and no indication that they might change that. But still they believe.

So come May, who is going to lift the Holy Grail. Will it be Gary Neville yet again. Or will one of Gerrard, Terry or Fabregas get their hands on the trophy this time (Naaaaahhhhh). Here is my prediction on the top four.

Chelsea - Most of the so called football pundits are predicting Chelsea to be the biggest title challenger to Manchester United this season. Well, I don't think so. Not with the squad they have got. An aging squad, lack of pace and over reliance on an unpredictable striker and deflected goals from Fat Frank don't bear the hallmark of champions. Additionally from their pre-season campaign, it's apparent that Ancelotti prefers the diamond formation in midfield. This is a throwback to the Moaninho era, where he had Lampard at the head of the diamond, Robben and Cole on the wings and Essien/ Makalele protecting the defense. The system worked for a couple of years but then the teams figured Chelsea out and they had to change their system to 4-3-3. So would it work this time around? The answer is a bit fat No. Let's have a look why.
Starting at the back, cech is still the keeper but anyone who has seen him perform for the last couple of years would have to say that he is not the same keeper who made Chelsea the meanest defense in the league. Fact of the matter is he has never been the same since his horror injury at Reading. His confidence has been shaken and certain chinks in his armour have surfaced. They have the second best central defence in the league (though I feel Terry is overrated and Carvalho holds the defence together). They have a pair of excellent attacking full backs, who like going forward at every opportunity they get. But with the 4-4-2 diamond, they will not get that kind of freedom. And if they do go forward, it will give the opposition defense a chance to go on the counter attack now that Chelsea wouldn't have two holding midfielders to cover for them. Moving over to the midfield, I see them playing Mikel/ Essien in front of the defense, Ballack/ Cole/ Malouda/ Essien in central midfield and Lampard at the top of the diamond. Essien is a master in the CDM position and is vital for Chelsea. He is the one who breaks opposition attacks and get the ball back for Chelsea to attack. Much of Chelsea's season will depend on whether he stays fit for the whole season or not. With the diamond formation, they will lose some of the width in the final third of the park and that places all the creative burden on Lampard. Lampard wouldn't be able to score more than 20 goals that he normally gets a season and Chelsea will rely on him to create chances for the top two. Coming to the top two. What a pair! Drogba is an enigma. He is brilliant one moment and immensely frustrating the other. To top it off, he dives, cheats, abuses and threatens referees and can at times be borderline psychotic. Anelka, on the other hand, is a perennial under-achiever who doesn't seem to care about his football and sometimes only looks mildly interested in the events on field. In my opinion, the strike pair are not reliable enough to carry the team.
Star Man: Michael Essien. Boy do they need him. He is what makes Chelsea tick. Without him, they are a bit exposed to opposition attacks. Without Essien they will leak goals and would have to score a hell of a lot of goals.
Prediction: Can't see them finishing in the top three. They might have a decent squad, but their first team is not good enough to beat top teams. I predict they would finish fourth this season unless they sign someone of high quality this month.

Liverpool - Last year was the closest the scousers came to the premier league title. They had a pretty good season by their standards. Truth be told, they came mighty close and left even seasoned United supporters sweating. But in the end, like always, they fell short. Having not seen the league trophy for 20 years,the Kop faithfuls are hungry (some would even say desperate) to win the title. Increasing the drama is the fact that that United are now level to Liverpool in terms of league titles (Yes Rafa, that's a FACT). Another win for United will see them overtake Liverpool and become not only the most successful team in EPL era but the most successful English team of all time. Will Rafa's men be able to stop them?
Last season, Torres and Gerrard were the Brains behind the Liverpool attack. Together they have formed a lethal partnership that has been missing for Liverpool ever since Rush retired. With Torres upfront and Gerrard playing behind him in the hole, these two combined last season with spectacular results. Torres, with his ability to dribble past defenders with pace along with his sublime finishing made the best of the defenders look ordinary. Add the lung bursting runs of Gerrard from midfield and you have got a fearsome attack. But there is more to Liverpool than these two (or atleast was). True they are the players who steal all the headlines, buts it's the two holding midfielders, that Liverpool employ, who do all the dirty work and make the team work. Yes I am talking about Mascherano and Alonso. Last season was a turning point in Mascherano's career. From being labelled the stupidest man in the world, he has raised his game to become one of the best holding midfielder on the planet. Alongside him, Alonso has grown into a world class midfielder. His passing is immaculate, his vision and reading of the game is top notch and he has a decent shot as well. He always seems to have ample time on the ball and is always available to take a pass.
Much of Liverpool's season hinged on whether they would keep hold of their star players. They have sold Alonso and brought Aquilani in as his replacement. Aquilani may be good, but he is not as good as Alonso. He would not be able to dominate the midfield in the same way that Alonso did. And without Alonso making the killer passes through midfield, Gerrard will have to drop deeper to get the ball. Basically, Liverpool's whole setup has been rocked. I don't see them playing the way they did last season without Alonso.
Star Man: Steven Gerrard. Mr Liverpool himself. He has been the heart and soul of the team for the last decade or so and they need hm now more than ever.
Prediction: Had Liverpool managed to keep last year's squad together, they would have been serious title contenders. But losing Alonso is a big blow. They also don't have the depth in their squad. If they lose either Gerrard or Torres to an injury, they are screwed. So I predict them to finish third.

Arsenal - Believe me when I say this, this is a make or break season for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. The tension in the air and the pressure to deliver is higher than ever. With no trophies in the last 4 seasons, the last thing they won was the FA cup in 2005. Since then, many of their established stars have moved on in search of newer pastures (all of the invincibles have now left). Admittedly dome new stars have come in the team, but are they up to the task?
Arsene Wenger is an advocate of the beautiful game. Under him Arsenal has evolved into a fluid passing team with intricate movement, one touch passing and a plethora of creativity. He has refused to buy big and has instead placed his faith in young prodigious talent. But therein lies the one big flaw in his gameplan. Arsenal have lots of talented youngsters with immense talent and natural abilities. They are capable of producing moments of exquisite football that can make a purists burst into tears of joy. Their elegant movement, slide rule passing and stunning one touch passing moves are second to none (except probably Barcelona). All this works as long as the opposite teams let them play their football. But if a team decides to get in their faces, stick it to them and play on the counter attack, they are often found lacking. Why is that? Precisely the same reason why they are capable of playing one touch football. They have a glut of creative players. What they lack is experience and steel. Players like Viera, Henry, Pires were all experienced steely players who were all replaced by youngsters. That has sucked out all the experience from Arsenal's team and robbed them of a solid backbone. They don't have any player to break opposition attacks and start their own. More often than not, they have to rely on scoring more goals they let in to win the games. Another charge that has been laid on this Arsenal team is that they have a tendency to overcook things. Where simple passes or shots could work, they often try to come up with complicated passing moves, which may be aesthetically pleasing, but is not as effective as the direct approach.
Their have an extremely volatile goalkeeper, who can switch between a brilliant shot stopper and a klutzy clown in the matter of seconds. Their defense is extremely inexperienced (and short!) and apart from Gallas, Sagna and Clichy has no quality at all. The have bought Vermaelen from Ajax but have sold their most best central defender in the shape of Toure. Moving to the midfield, I think they have the best central midfielder in the world in Fabregas. His passing, movement creativity and the general reading of the game is out of this world. They've got Arshavin, Nasri and Rosicky who are all excellent attacking midfielders capable of linking the midfield to the forward line. In the shape of Wilshere and Ramsey they have an exciting bunch of young attacking midfielders hoping to burst on the scene. But do you think something missing? As I was saying earlier, they lack a holding midfielder who can protect their fragile defense. Denilson is not good enough to stop the likes of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard. In attack, Van Persie and Eduardo are proven talent at the highest level and are both excellent finishers. Walcott is an upcoming talent and is held in high regards both in the Arsenal and England set-up. They have sold Adebayor, who they will not miss if Eduarso and Van Persie can stay fit for the season. Looking at the whole picture, Arsenal are one holding midfielder and one strong central defender away from being a world class team.
Star Man
: Cesc Fabregas. He has been the shining light in all these years of darkness for Arsenal. Once again Arsenal will rely on him to deliver the sucker punches and propel them to glory.
Prediction: Everyone has written Arsenal off for next season. Some have even questioned their top four status in the wake of the event taking place at Man Shitty. But I think Arsenal are going to surprise everyone. I am pretty sure Wenger will buy a couple of players before the transfer window closes. How those signings perform will make or break this season for Arsenal. I predict them to finish as runner-ups this season.

Manchester United - The reigning champions. The crown jewel in the British empire. The most successful team in English football. For the past few years, they have been and still are, the team to beat. They have won the Premier league for the last three year and will be out to create more history by becoming the team to win the league four times on a trot. And given their recent record, who can bet against them?
The summer has been a summer of change for united. Two of their famous fab-four are gone. Ronaldo finally got the move to Real Madrid that he has always wanted and Tevez has swapped the Red shirt of united for the blue part of Manchester. I don't think united will miss Tevez a lot. True he ran a lot, but you don't pay 25 million pounds for a guy who runs a lot. His five league goals in twenty nine starts can very easily be replaced. On the other hand, Ronaldo is an immense loss. You can't lose the best player in the world and say that it's no big deal. It is a big deal and had it been any other club, you would expect them to struggle. But united are no ordinary club. They have an the attitude of winners engrained in every particle of their being. They have lost great players in the past but always seem to find a way back. When the chips are down, expect a blazing, almost revolutionary revival from them. This never say die attitude in united teams of the past and the present is mainly down to two of the greatest managers in footballing history. Sir Matt Busby was a pioneer in giving young homegrown players a chance in the first team, engrain an adventerous and never say die attitude in them from a young age and unleash them on the world. And Sir Alex has taken it even further by installing a hunger to win in his player. And it's all down to SAF being the united manager that I believe United are going to be okay.
Looking at the squad, they have one of the best goalkeeper in the world, Van Der Saar who, like Vintage Wine, gets better with age. Foster has been ear marked to be the next United and England #1. They have what is probably the strongest defence in the world, not seen since the late 80's and early 90's Milan team. Neville and Brown are both experienced RB who can play in the center as well. Rafael is an attacking RB in the frame of Cafu who is expected to be the future RB of both his club and country. In Central defence, Vidic and Rio have formed the best CB partnership in the world. Vidic, being an aggressive defender, hard tackler, good in the air and a ferocious competitor acts as a perfect foil for Rio, who is a classy defender, comfortable on the ball and is an excellent distributor. Evra has established himself as one of the best LB in the world and he has an excellent understudy in Fabio. If the united team has a weak point, its central midfield. Opposed to Arsenal, they have some excellent holding midfielders who can break opposition attacks. What they are lacking is a creative attacking midfielder, who can link up the play between midfield and attack. But all is not lost. With Ronaldo gone, Nani, Valencia and Tosic will be given more chances to establish themselves in the united setup and to fill in the big boots vacated by Ronaldo. Carrick and Fletcher have really come into their own in the last couple of season and they can be expected to produce the goods as deep lying central midfielders this term as well. Anderson will be expected to start fulfilling the potential he showed in his first season with united. Maybe he is going to be the one who steps up as an attacking midfielder, a position in which he used to play at his previous club Porto. But the biggest boost to united will be in the shape of the return of Owen Hargreaves. He is one of the few box to box midfielder (in the mould of Keano) left on the planet and would be vital against big teams. There is no point in dwelling in the past, but it may not be wrong to say that had Hargreaves been fit last season, the Champions league final would have panned out a bit differently. And don't forget the evergreen Giggs and Scholes who may be in the twilight of their career but are still capable of producing moments of pure genius. Looking at the attack, they have lost 20-30 goals a season in Ronaldo. It will be upto the other to lift their game and compensate for this loss. Rooney will be played in a more central role this term and would be vital for United's hope this season. I think its the ideal time and opportunity for Rooney to live up to his full potential. Time for him to stop being the selfless team member and become the explosive and brilliant Rooney that exploded on the scene at Euro 2004. How well he links up with Dimitar Berbatov is going define the season for united. Berbatov had a mixed first season for united, showing glimpses of his atrocious talent, but not consistently enough. That may have been enough at Spurs, but now he's with United and needs t step his game up a notch. They have a couple of exciting young strikers in Macheda and Wellbeck who burst into the first team last year and are expected to improve upon their performances this term. And that brings us to the newest addition to the squad, Michael Owen. Signed on a free, Owen can become the shrewdest piece of transfer business that SAF has ever done. He is an excellent finisher and a proven goalscorer. If he can stay fit, he is bound to bang in 15 - 20 goals this season. With all these changes in the squad, expect United to play differently from last season, but don't write them off.
Star Man: Wayne Rooney.With Ronaldo gone, Rooney is going to become the main man for United. My opinion has always been that Rooney is the heartbeat of United. Even when Ronaldo was here, Rooney was the one who used to orchestrate all the attacks. Ronaldo took away all the headlines, but it was Rooney who used to make United tick. And now it's his time. Time for him to remind the world of his talents and become the shining light at Old Trafford.
Prediction: Only a fool would bet against United winning everything in sight. They have the best squad in the league, with a mixture of world class experienced players and gifted youngsters. But most importantly, they have a manager who knows how to win they league. I predict them to finish as Champions again.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

100 questions - 5rd Aug '09

LAST -
1. Last beverage: Black Coffee
2. Last phone call: Sister(on the occasion being Rakhi)
3. Last text message: Sumone sent it to me :P
4. Last song you listened to: "Piano Man-Billy Joel"
5. Last time you cried: ohhhhh...now that is too hard to remember

HAVE YOU EVER -
6. Dated someone twice: yes
7. Been cheated on? : heheh without dating can u be cheated :P
8. Kissed someone & regretted it? NO
9. Lost someone special? Not really ... m not so emosionally attached to people :P
10. Been depressed? Yes
11. Been drunk and threw up? YES i remember it was the result of a glass full of black label neat

FOUR FAVORITE COLORS:
12.Black
13.Red
14.Blue
15.White

FIRSTS :
16. Made new friends: hmm.. ive been to 6 schools so ive made new frnds every 3 yrs or so :P
17. Fallen out of love: If u mean as in love from only my side ohh i forgot the counting :P
18. Laughed until you cried: Yes! whenever I gang up with friends and start an arbitrary discussion
19. Met someone who changed you: changed me:P ...only IIT did .. but after that i ve been chanign ppl :P
20. Found out who your true friends were: Yes
21. Found out someone was talking about you: Naaah .... m not the one talked about in decent corridors

HAVE YOU:
22. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: friends list as in ??? but yes
23. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life:90%
24. How many kids do you want to have:lets see... 1 wld be enough to jhelofy
25. Do you have any pets:no
26. Do you want to change your name:NO
27. What did you do for your last birthday: Slept...woke up brush ate sumthing slept ..umm thats probably it:)
28. What time did you wake up today:12:25 p.m.
29. What were you doing at midnight last night: watching tv series
30. Name something you CANNOT wait for: checking my mails, reading bbc sport news .....
31. Last time you saw your father: 1 month back, when I visited home after 1 yr :P
32. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: there are few ...
33. Most visited web page: orkut, gmail, timesofindia, bbc, F1, FB, Eco times,

WHAT'S YOUR :
34. Name:Mayank
35. Nicknames:lavania(not a nick as such but ppl call me by my surname)
36. Zodiac sign:Capricorn
37. Male or female or transgender: Male
38. Elementary: Modern, Kota
39. Colleges: IIT Kanpur
40. Hair color:Black
41. Long or short: Short
42. Height:5.11.3"
43. Do you have a crush on someone? Just let me go out to sum place nice and i will hv a crush.
44. Ever been in love? hmm ... if ferrari nd manchester united counts then YES
45. Piercings? No
46. Tattoos? No, would not like to get one
47. Righty or lefty: Righty
48. First surgery: Never
49. First piercing: NA
50. First best friend: I prefer not to classify friends :P
51. First sport you loved: Football
52. First pet : NA
53. First vacation: can't remember, maybe visiting my hometown
54. First concert: Euphoria in Antaragni, IIT Kanpur
55. First crush:Boys school-- no crush ... coed school- stopped going :P
56. Eating: Eggitarian
57. Drinking: Ohh let them flow in :P
58. I'm about to: start a new episode of 2.5 men
59. Listening to: uptown Girl(billy joel)
60. Waiting for: sumthing to happen in life :P


YOUR FUTURE

61. Want kids? not sure .. but definitely a cool bike :)
62. Want to get married? not necessary .. i could settle with a ferrari :P
63. Careers in mind? yes obviously

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes: Eyes nd lips
65. Hugs or kisses: Kisses while hugging :P
66. Shorter or taller: doesnt matter sexy sexy
67. Older or Younger: again doent matter sexy sexy ... but milfs are hot
68. Romantic or spontaneous: Spontaneous
69. Nice stomach or nice arms: Nice arms but a sexy stomach :P
70. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive while a bit loud
71. Hook-up or relationship: hook-up relationship
72. Trouble maker or hesitant: Some where in between

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: would luv to
74. Lost glasses/contacts: No
76. Broken some one's heart: Yes loads of them
77. Had your own heart broken: naaah..... u hv to hav a heart to get it broken
78. Been arrested: NO
79. Turned someone down: is it possible ... can i be apporached too ???
80. Cried when someone died: No
81. Liked a friend that is a girl?: Yesss

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Yes
82. Miracles: Yes
83. God: Yes .. but we dnt generally click
84. Love at first sight: Yeah
85. Heaven: NO
86. Santa Claus: NO
87. Kiss on the first date? YESSSS
88. Angels:yeah ... just saw one :)
89. Devils:i just looked at him in the mirror

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:

90. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes
91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? is this possible???????
92. Wanted to kill someone ever? Yes... i still hv the feeling :)
93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? No-one
94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Yes
95. Wanted to steal you friend's boyfriend / girlfriend? ahhh ... sadly they tooo dnt hv ne ... but yeah wld surely go after their wives

ASSOCIATE WITH SOMETHING YOU LIKE :
96. White: beauty
97. Black: bike
98. Red: ferrari/ manchester united
99. Pink: gayyyyyy

100. Posting this as 100th Truth?
I lie a lot :P