Premier league update

I spent my Saturday morning watching two of the most exciting football matches of the season. The reds went on to win their 7th derby win over toffies in the last 9 meetings, and Arsenal slumped to their 2nd defeat in 6 games (they’ve won the other 4, which I think re-enforces the attacking nature of Gunners young brigade of talented starts).

The other two of the top four won their matches relatively easily, however, the penalty decision at old trafford was just one of the reasons why I hate Manchester United. The referees are so bogged down by Sir Alex and his antics that penalties on Old Trafford seam to be more obvious of happenings.

Chelsea are just very strong right now, and I think they’ve got the best manager in the league. Its only a matter of pulling up all the multi-millionaires as a unit and performing. I still think they’d regain the title this year because Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has still not learnt enough about his rotation policy. I still don’t understand why Babel doesn’t starts in key matches, and why Liverpool haven’t scored in the first half of any of their matches in the premier league. This could mean more 0-0 draws or 0-1 defeats in crunch situations.

Arsenal need to learn how to shoot, they’re too busy making the perfect goal (which sometimes is just sheer beauty to watch when it eventually comes), and they need to understand any goal counts towards a teams progress. They’re still vulnerable at the back and they need to sort out things before they lose plot in the middle of the season.

Over in the bottom of the league, Tottenham and Newcastle are still struggling to find form, and Europe is going to elude them once again. The performance of the day belonged to Hull City for their resilient display of grit and composure, especially for winning away at the Emirates, where the Gunners haven’t lost of the last year, or 25 matches.

All in all a good week of me, one of the top 4 lost ground, We scored twice, both times through Torres and didn’t he look menacing, Keane with one assist and Reina didn’t had to stop even a single shot. Lets hope things continue this way!

Champions League Group Stages Draw

Here is the Champions League group stage draw:(thanks to espnstar.com)

Group A

Chelsea, Roma, Bordeaux, CFR Cluj

Group B

Internazionale, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis Famagusta

Group C

Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basle, Shakhtar Donetsk

Group D

Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atletico Madrid

Group E

Manchester United, Villarreal, Celtic, AaB

Group F

Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, Fiorentina

Group G

Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev

Group H

Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg, BATE Borisov

Groups A, B, C, E & G are the ones where the top two stick out and are sure to proceed to the knockout stages. I’m worried about my team because they’re in a very well-contested group (not because the other teams play well, its because ours is struggling as of now). From Group D I expect Liverpool and Marseille to go through but I cannot underestimate the remaining two teams.

From group F its either Fiorentina or Bayern Munich (more so because the german team has been performing so poorly over the last couple of years that everyone has lowered their expectations from them). And my gut feeling is it will be the munich outfit into the next round.

Group H is very interesting because St Petersburg are the UEFA cup champions and hence Juve and Madrid might slip up against them at least in one of the ties. Still the Galacticos and Old lady of Turin are favorites to go through with Zenit back in the UEFA cup after the group stages.

So this is what I think the knockout stage will look like:

Group A

Chelsea, Roma (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Bordeaux (UEFA Cup)

Group B

Internazionale, Werder Bremen  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Panathinaikos (UEFA Cup)

Group C

Barcelona, Sporting Lisbo  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Basle (UEFA Cup)

Group D

Liverpool, Marseille  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Atletico Madrid (UEFA Cup)

Group E

Manchester United, Villarreal  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Celtic (UEFA Cup)

Group F

Lyon, Bayern Munich  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Fiorentina (UEFA Cup)

Group G

Arsenal, Porto  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Dynamo Kiev (UEFA Cup)

Group H

Real Madrid, Juventus  (1st and 2nd in the knockout stage)

Zenit St Petersburg (UEFA Cup)

Can’t wait for the Match Day 1

We’re back baby!

The Premier League Trophy

After 3 months of painful break, the premier league is back. This year’s line-up of various teams has understandabely changed a lot, but the surprise has been the action in the middle and botton-of-table dwellers who have bought in lot many number of good players. And Spurs have splashed cash as they did last year as well, but they know that Berbatov will go to Man Utd for a very high price, and hence will make up for the earlier expenses they made in signing Bentley and Co.

Scolari is now coach at Stamford Bridge

This years strongest team is Chelsea, without a doubt. Their line-up is among the strongest this year, and their main strength is Scolari, the guy is amazingly good with coaching talented players to get the maximum out of them. The only big mistake he made in the last few months was to declare about his Chelsea role right in the middle of Euro 2008, which might have distracted him and and his highly-talented Portugese team, coz they immediately lost their next big match against Germany. I believe Chelsea will win this year’s Premier League, and might also the Champions League. They have the coach, the players and most importantly, the cash. Chelsea thumped Pompies 4-0 at the Stamford Bridge last week, and they look really good to carry on their early form.

Ronaldo is staying at Old Trafford

So much was speculated about Ronaldo, that in a sort of anti-climax, he staying back at Manchester has brought in some kind of confusion. No one know how well he will perform this year provided his once-in-a-decade performance. And Man Utd hasent done much shopping this year, so the team hasen’t strengthened a lot. Hence they might not do as well as they did last year.

El Nino, no more the new kid on the block

My favorite team Liverpool, although started with two wins, still need to make sure every player is performing at his best. Because one cannot rely over Gerrard and Torres for the entire season, they need other players to step up and convert some of the draws into wins. They might finish 2nd this year, and they will be a force in CL.

Nasri is the only big signing at the start of this season for Gunners

The Gunners have made a couple of good signings, however, they lack the experience needed at this level to come through difficult matches. Last season they started off so well, along with Liverpool, but lost out in the middle when they needed someone to support the front-line and come up with goals. They always play the attacking attractive football, but they can’t get the results.

So my prediction this year is:

1. Chelsea

2. Liverpool

3. Man Utd

4. Arsenal