Community Shield Cracker!!

       Its once again time for that one last pre-season friendly before  The Barclays Premier League raise its curtains. Its time for the Community Shield match where the winners of the FA Cup meets The winners of the League. This time its gonna be more than just a friendly as Manchester United and Manchester City face each other making this The Manchester Derby.  United will be out seeking revenge after being kicked out of the FA Cup semi finals by City.
     The game started in a rather unsettled manner as Evra was taken down by Vincent Kompany which lead to a fruitless free kick. The first half was dominated by United however it was City who found the back of the net twice despite the lack of creative play.  Man Utd had problem defending set pieces last season and it seems like this will be their achilles this season as well if the first goal by City is was any indication. Lescott goal might have opened City's  goal account this season, however it was Dzeko's goal that raised questions at United defence. The obvious being David De Gea's goal keeping skills. In my opinion, De Gea's goalkeeping skills is not the problem with that goal. It's his timing. He should have gone for the ball faster. But everyone makes mistakes right?
  Something worth mentioning is the fact that both Dzeko and Anderson received  yellow card  after Dzeko rude challenge on Anderson. In my view, I dont think Anderson deserved that yellow. It was Dzeko's challenge!
 The others who also got themselves into the refree's book are Yaya Toure, Evra,  and Richards . The first half ended with Dzeko scoring on the 45th minute. With Lescott and Dzeko getting on the score sheets, United have to work their way up the mountain. Manchester City lacks the creativity that seem to be flowing out of united effortlessly. Their only creative energy source seem to be Silva who is not getting enough possesion on the ball to work his magic. At this point, It seems like City needs Sneijder way more than United!
  The  second half started with a surprise as Sir Alex made  3 changes all at once! It is very rare for Sir Alex to use up half of his substitution  at the half time mark let alone make a doubtful change by replacing Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick with  Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones and Johnny Evans. Second half proved to be a cracker as United scored twice to equalise. The goals came from Smalling, 52th minute and Nani, 8 minutes later.  City made changes in a bid to increase their tally by bringing in Clichy in place of Kolorov.  While Man Utd brought in Rafael in the place of Evra at the 71th minute and Berbatove for Danny Welbeck in the 88th minute.  The game seem to be set for penalty shoot- outs  only to have Nani score a screamer at the 90th minute in what seem to be a one-man counter attack! It was an absolutely beautiful goal! Dzeko might have sealed the first half with a goal for city, but united sealed the game with the goal that matters the most!  It seems to be a Red Devils  year again with United lifting the community shield! Who said the community shield is just another pre-season friendly?

Bundesliga 2011/2012 season preview

      Bundesliga season has begun aand this will be the 49th season for the first division German football league. The season promise to be exciting with Mainz debuting their new stadium, Borussia Dortmund trying to defend their title, and Bayern munich being the favourites to win the title this season. Here's a preview of the new season and an insight on what to look out for.

    Last season champions, Dortmund has taken the modest approach to things despite being on the top. Iikay Gundogan is convinced that Dortmund will have a good season despite critics saying otherwise.

      Meanwhile, Hamburg has opened up a new chapter in the club's history. Hamburg has released a number of experienced players including ex-Manchester United legend, Ruud Van Nistelrooy in a bid to bring in the dawn of a new era at the club. Ex-Chelsea sporting director who is with Hamburg now, Frank Arnesen brought 4 young Chelsea players along with him to Hamburg. What is evident from Hamburg preparations for the season is that this is a regenerated club with renewed passion, and starving desire to play good football and raise their standard after being discarded as the underdogs in the league. Winning trophy at this stage is not realisitic, however with hard work and the drive that they have, This could be a team to look out for this season in the Bundesliga.

    Now let's take a look at Bayern Munich. Jupp Heynecheks definitely has his sights firmly set on the title. To achieve this , Jupp Heynecheks need Arjen Robben to be in top form and injury free. Bayern will also start the season without Frank Ribery who is also out with ankle injury. Arjen Robben said that they will be on attack from day 1 of the season as not attacking "leads to nothing but trouble" as they had to play catch up and lose out last season. We will see how this strategy works out for them.

        As for the player to look out for this season, my vote goes to Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen. He seem to be such a promising prospect for the club as well as the league this season, not to mention he seem to have quite an appetite for playing passionate football!

       With so much going on in the Bundesliga, there is no reason not to get caught up in the excitement! Oh, and did i mention that UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE will have room for the top four team in the Bundesliga by 2012?

The blues almost turned scarlet!

Chelsea head off to a rocky start at their pre-season asia tour in Bukit Jalil National Stadium last night.
The premier league giants struggle and scraped to one nil victory against the Malaysian under-23 Olympic team. Even to sole goal scored by ivory coast striker Didier Drogba seemed doubtful as a result from a controversial free-kick at the 80th minute. The same,however, could not be said of the Malaysian side. The Tigers gave a glorious performance but failed to convert a couple of good chances into goals that they deserve. The Tigers had the opportunity to equalise at the 85th minute but striker A.Thamil Arasu manage to keep Chelsea's pride intact as he shot wide after being one-on-one with the keeper. The most dissapointing note of the evening came in the form of constant "boo's" by the crowd directed at  Yossi Benayoun, the first Israeli  to play in Malaysia in the first-half.
  Chelsea's forward Fernando Torres nearly scored at the 3rd minute of the game while midfielder Frank Lampard missed a sitter in the 16th minute after S.Subramaniam's poor clearance.


 The best chance for Malaysia to score in the first-half came from Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor during the 27th minute with only Henrique Hilario to beat but was deemed offside. In the 42nd minute, Lampard had  a beautiful oppoturnity as Kalou broke the Malaysian team's defence deadlock but the midfielder failed to convert the goal as he failed to reach the ball.


Benayoun encouraged the abuse from the crowd when he miskicked in front of the goal.
The starting 11 was replaced by Andres Villa Boas at half time allowing the likes of John Terry, Drogba, Nichola Anelka and Daniel Sturridge. However, it made no difference to Chelsea besides the controversial goal from Drogba.


Chelsea will be playing against Thailand and 2 more matches in Hong Kong before wrapping up their Asia Tour.

Look out for photos soon! (technical glitch is preventing me from uploading them)

Latest happening among fans in Liverpool pre-season asia tour 2011!

BPL teams Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea are currently on their pre-season tour in Asia. Obviously, their fans in Asia are super excited at the chance to catch their team in action on local soil. But let's not forget about the genuine football fans. Priorities are usually given to the specific team fans when the team travels to a certain country which is definitely fair and deserving for their fans. However, there are the "real" football fans who loves a good game of football regardless of the teams that are playing. Fans must always respect others who attend the game even if its a supporter from a rival team. But this was not the case when Liverpool had their training session in Malaysia leading up to the game with the local team. A Man Utd supporter attended the training session only to be booed and was forced to take off his man utd shirt. The Man Utd supporter did take off his shirt only to have liverpool fans to force him into wearing a liverpool jersey! The poor fan eventually walked off shirtless only to return wearing a Malaysian team jersey. Many Liverpool fans who booed the guy will probably argue stating that he probably  should not have walked in wearing a united shirt in the first place. But when a logical point of view is taken in, the guy does have free right to wear whatever he wishes to wear and he does not deserve the treatment he got. Besides, he paid to be there just like the rest of them. Let's consider this senario even if it does not apply in this situation. What if he was not a football fan in the first place? What if he just randomly choose to wear the jersey? I find it absolutely disgusting that people actually treated him the way they did. Recently, Arsenal was also in Malaysia for their pre-season tour and i wore a Man Utd jersey to the training session as well as on the game night itself but the Malaysian Arsenal fans didnt seem to mind at all. I think fans should be proud that fans of other teams are willing to watch their team. That just goes to show that they respect the team. But dont just take my word for it. Here's a link to the video i came across in youtube which showcase what really happened at the Liverpool training session Asia Tour 2011 (Malaysian leg).

Edwin Van Der Sar in Asia for trophy tour!!



VAN DER SAR LIFTING THE TROPHY TO THE CROWD!





VAN DER SAR SMILING TO THE FANS



Van der sar was recently in Malaysia for the united trophy tour. The newly retired goalkeeper toured Kuala Lumpur with the trophy. Around 5PM (local time), Edwin was at Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur for a corporate event (invitation only). However, that did not stop die hard united fans from gathering outside the event to catch a glimpse of the lanky goalkeeper. The 38 year-old then made the final stop for the Malaysian leg of the tour at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre) around 7.45pm (local time) at the convention centre's outdoor park nearby the fountains. Eager fans have been gathering since morning to see the trophy and the keeper. Fans pushed through the crowd hoping to catch get Van Der Sar's autograph. The crowd sang "Glory glory Man United" as Van Der Sar lifts the trophy to the crowd as soon as he stepped out of the buggy. The keeper also interacted with the crowd and amused them by threatening to throw the trophy into the crowd!!! A smile was plastered on Edwin's face as the crowd throws random but hilarious questions at him from enquiring about David De Gea to Opposition team, the crowd certainly amused the trophy ambassador. At the end of the day, as the sun sets at KLCC,
Van Der Sar and the fans were seen leaving the park looking exhausted but with a smile plastered on their faces.

Having the fortunate privillage of being there, here are some photos that i manage to take amidst the chaos! It might not be the best photos as i try to survive being squashed by the fans but these are personal candid shots and i hope you enjoy it! (the rest of the pics will be uploaded in a matter of hours due to technical difficulties- sorry) 



STARHILL GALLERY (WHERE EDWIN MADE A STOP WITH THE TROPHY)



Fight or flight: the battle of wingers



Nani



Nani during international duty for Portugal





United's second signing for the summer-Ashley Young



Yes, Nani said it. He told press in countless interviews that he is not concerned about the competiton and fight for a place in the team. With Ashley Young in the picture, everyone is wondering how will Nani and Valencia cope with the pressure? But people seem to forget that we do have another great player who will also be fighting for a place-Giggs. The best part about this healthy competition is that each of this players are actually very different from each other in terms of playing style. Nani is quick and agile and the rate and speed his brains work is often above the average opponent thus giving him the upper hand in most one-to-one battles with midfielders or defenders. Valencia has a smoother more relaxed style of playing. He rely on composure and calculative tactics to get by his opponents while Giggs is in a class of his own. Experience has made Giggs a fearsome name among opposition players. The Red devil's legend rely on strength and has the ability to spot spaces to get through the defenders.  Add Ashley Young into the mix and we get speed and creative play for the united team!
I think Sir Alex will do justice to these amazing talents and give each of them a fair chance to play depending on formation and individual strength. There is enough room for all of them in the United team.
Each of them can bring different things to the Devil's table and play and exciting season. Nani and Giggs partner ship has been proven to be effective over the course of last season likewise Nani and Valencia partnership. I also believe that ashley young might just be the right person to take on the creative duties of the team. Remember how United suffered last season when Nani was out with an injury from the Liverpool game (challenge by Raul Meireles) ? United didn't have a creative force quite like Nani to help pull the team through and inspire them at the final moments of the game. Nani was dearly missed during those games. But now, United can at least rely on ashley young to maybe have a decent creative force to drive the team.

With Phil Jones and Ashley Young joining the team, the United dynamics bound to change. But will it change for the better or worse? It really doesnt matter if you got the best player on your team, if the team dynamics dont workout then success cant be achieved. Football is a team sport not an individual sport. 90% of the success has to be from team work and not indidvidual effort.



Antonio Valencia And Sir Alex Ferguson



7th time lucky for the Roman empire?

So Andre villas-boas is the blues new manager!
Instead of going on about what everyone already knw (release clause; chelsea hiring him; him leaving Porto and etc) let's focus on what really matters. Andre villas-boas might actually be the one for Chelsea FC judging from his strategical point of view and coaching style. Andre villas-boas swears by his philosophy which is Attack, attack, attack and attack some more! In his master plan of things, his strikers are 'the real protagonists". A fact which he insist upon. He also insists upon playing an intense pressing game.

What else can we expect?? Discipline to be restored. Andre was quoted saying

"If a midfielder does not fight for me, he does not have a place in the team." Maybe this season , things will change at Chelsea.
 Andre villas boas is also obsessed with his tactics! He holds special 30 minute tactical teach-ins the day after every match to ensure the players have the tactics drilled into their heads.  Chelsea might be signing more foreign players since Porto had 17 south americans in it and only 6 homegrown players.

Last but not least, the portugese boss is no Mourinho when it comes to one-on-one interviews. His reason for being camera shy?


 " For me, the coach is not the star but simply a person to exploit the best qualities of the players."Judging from the above, I think Andre villa-boas could be a serious and deadly threat to defending champions, Man Utd. Different type of playing style and tactics among the titans could make the 2011/2012 BPL season even more exciting than its ever been..... and maybe Sir Alex has a few new tricks up his sleeves , tactically speaking .......


Here's a video of Andre Villa-boas first interview for Chelsea.