2 games, 2 goals!
So another week, another round of matches done and dusted. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the title be decided after 2 rounds, but early form suggests that Liverpool’s luck might just be an added advantage to them. Despite being second-best for most of the game and going down by a goal, the Reds somehow managed to nick all 3 points in the end. The big four except Arsenal, all won their fixtures this week. Here’s how it all went:
• Fulham shocked Arsenal with a 1-0 victory over the Gunners. Arsenal look very lightweight in midfield and their defense isn’t in great shape either. Arsene knows?
• Everton beat West Bromwich Albion by 2 goals to 1. Despite being very, very good in the Championship and being tipped as the most likely candidates to survive in the Premiership, the first two weeks of the season haven’t exactly given a reassurance to WBA.
• Same old, same old. New faces, same disjointed performance. Tottenham Hotspur lost again. This time going down 1-2 to Sunderland. French stiker Djibril Cisse scored on his debut for Roy Keane’s men.
• Stoke City turned the tables on Aston Villa by beating them 3-2. Villa were coming on the back of a good win against Manchester City, but the newcomers swiftly brought them back to earth.
• Newcastle United beat Bolton 1-0. Michael Owen scored, so apparently he is not injured. Yet.
• As mentioned earlier in this post, Liverpool rode their luck to win 2-1 against a spirited Middlesbrough side that went ahead thanks to the new leaner, meaner Mido. An incredibly lucky deflection brought Liverpool level and Steven Gerrard scored in the dying seconds with a good half-volley to win it.
• Blackburn and Hull City drew 1-1.
• Manchester City bounced back from their on-field and off-the-field problems to hand out a 3-0 thrashing to West Ham United.
• Manchester United beat Portsmouth 1-0. Darren Fletcher on the scoresheet. That tells you a lot, doesn’t it?
• Finally, Chelsea beat a plucky Wigan side 1-0 thanks to a sublime freekick from Deco.
Here’s how things stand at the moment:
Team standings after Week 2 of the Barclays Premier League 2008-09
Here are the highlights of the Wigan vs Chelsea game. Don’t miss Deco’s freekick!!
Anoher week gone by. Chelsea on top. Can’t wait for the next round!
Andriy Shevchenko.
AC Milan legend.
British record transfer.
Chelsea flop.
Now back to AC Milan for one last hurrah.
These lines efectively sum up Shevchenko’s career during the past few years. He arrived at Chelsea from AC Milan for a hefty amount and a massive reputation as Europe’s finest striker. He left yesterday with his reputation diminished and his confidence shattered. Not to mention being branded the Premier League’s most expensive flop ever.
The good old times...
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it appears to be a regular sale rather than a loan move. Whatever it is, it’s definitely something which will benefit both parties. Chelsea seem to have offloaded one of the highest earners at the club, thus significantly lowering the wage bill, Shevchenko on the other hand, will be hoping to rediscover his old form on the familiar hunting grounds of Italy.
Like most others, I had pretty high hopes from Shevchenko when he arrived at Stamford Bridge. But he failed to live up to the expectations. Injuries and the team’s unfavourable playing style hindered his game. But no one can point a finger at him for not trying. The man gave his all when playing in a Blue shirt. It wasn’t lack of effort by any means. His first season in English football didn’t go too well, and injuries took their toll on his second. I waited 2 years for him to finally come good and silence his critics, but guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Although he scored some cracking goals, most notably the one against Sp*rs, he just could not justify his price-tag and age was also catching up with him.
Did ya see that? Did ya? Did ya?
Anyways, he was one of my favourite players at the club. Never whined, nor complained about how he was treated at Chelsea. And if there’s one thing that’s missing in today’s footballers, it’s dignity. Sheva may not have shown his true ability, but he carried himself with dignity, unlike a few others at the club (Drogba, I’m looking at you). And now he has left in a dignified manner, without uttering anything against Chelsea, instead just expressing his delight (or was it relief?) on his return to Milan.
Here’s wishing him all the very best for his future and hoping that he’ll be remembered as an AC Milan legend, rather than a Chelsea flop.
So the first round of the Barclays Premier League is over and most of the results were quite predictable. Here’s a roundup of this weekend’s action:
And this is how the table looks like after the 1st round of matches:
Team standings after Week 1 of the Barclays Premier League 2008-09
Take a bow, son. Take a bow.
Bosingwa looks like the real deal and could be the solution to the right-back problems that have plagued us for so long. As for Deco, the man has got a point to prove to his former club Barcelona and boy, is he on the right track! A man-of-the-match performance in midfield topped off with a debut goal. What more could you ask for?
Overall, Chelsea were a delight to watch, probably the best performance I’ve seen from them in a long time. Felipao seems to have removed the shackles from the players and given them a lot more freedom to express themselves. And the outcome was there to be seen. As they say, ‘It’s just like watching Brazil!’.
Hopefully there’s a lot more to come from this team over the course of the season and we’ll be at the top again, come May. CAREFREE!!
After an agonizing few months of close-season, the Barclays Premier League is now back in action! Saturday saw a host of new-look sides battle it out for that “perfect start to the season”, including 2 members of the so-called ‘Big Four’. And today the remaining 2 biggies will enter the fray.
The Barclays Premier League Trophy
On this blog here, I won’t be devoting too much space to each and every side in the premiership. Sure, there will be a weekly round-up of results and the points table, but I’ll be concentrating more on the happenings in and around Chelsea FC. Blue Is The Colour, ya know!!
Stamford Bridge
Today’s opening fixture sees the FA Cup winners, Portsmouth, visit Stamford Bridge. I can’t wait! 
Today India celebrates its 61st Independence Day. Out of these 61 years, I’ve witnessed 21 years with my own eyes and I’ve seen how the face of this nation has changed. It continues to evolve, even as I write this.
During this time, I may not have given anything to the nation in return for everything that I got. But still, I hope, just like most of us, that someday I’ll be able to play a small but significant contribution to India’s progress. That is all.
Happy Independence Day.
Jai Hind!
Chelsea have put an end to the uncertainty surrounding Frank Lampard’s future by officially announcing that the England international has put pen to paper on a mammoth 5 year contract. So now all the speculation linking him with a move to Italy and joining up with former manager Jose Mourinho at Inter has been put to rest. Good news for almost all Chelsea fans, I reckon
5 more years!
I won’t get into the entire story of contract talks stalling, Inter’s advances, Lampard’s demands from the club or even Frank’s deafening silence on the whole subject. You’ll find loads of news stories on these all over the web. But what has embarassed me most is the way in which the club has announced this today.
There was an announcement on the club’s official site today that a ‘World Exclusive’ news was to be announced at 5 PM GMT. That probably got lots of people wondering whether we’ve secretly signed up someone like Kaka or Robinho? Or are we moving to a new stadium? Several questions arose, some of which were straight out of a football fanatic’s fantasies! The club had successfully managed to create all sorts of hype and hoopla while raising expectations to an unreasonable and an unrealistic level, I’m afraid.
And when the clock struck 5 (or 10:30 PM IST), the ‘big’ news was made public.
“Frank Lampard has signed a new 5 year contract with Chelsea.”
Err.. What? Excuse me? Is that all? Is this what all the hype was about? Okay, so he’s finally signed a new deal. After holding the club to ransom over his demands. After a brief flirtation with Inter. After staying silent for so long that supporters started doubting whether all that badge-kissing was just out of habit rather than his love for the club. Well anyway, it’s a good thing for Chelsea and even better for Frank Lampard. After all, who in the world would offer a 5 year contract worth a rumoured 150,000 pounds a week to a 30 year old? Maybe that’s why they called it a ‘World Exclusive’.
The 30+ club
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that he should have left, but I feel Chelsea FC have embarassed themselves over this saga. After refusing to budge from their earlier stance of awarding only 2 years contracts to players over the age of 30, they’ve now left themselves open to demands from other players who fall in the same age bracket. Take Michael Ballack for example, who now has 1 year left on his contract. Would he not be within his rights to demand a contract of a similar length, if not a similar payscale? Ballack is a great player, but he’s not Frank Lampard so he’ll probably be given short shrift. Doesn’t bode well for dressing room harmony, does it?
Agreed, Lampard has been here for 7 years and has been a brilliant asset, but all this haggling over a new deal has left a bitter taste in my mouth at least. Well let’s just hope that we don’t have to witness any more such tedious dramas which ultimately lead to the club bowing down to a player’s demands and making a ridiculous spectacle of it all. Here’s wishing Frank Lampard all the very best and hoping that he continues to score 20 odd goals every season for the rest of his career at Chelsea. CAREFREE!!!
My mobile operator (AirTel) has given me quite a few reasons to frown during the time I’ve been using their services. I’ve grown accustomed to their promotional messages, fluctuating call charges and poor signal reception in my locality. I don’t find it irritating any more to receive their pre-recorded advertisements masquerading as calls. I’ve learnt from experience. I’ve adapted.
FAIL
In fact, now I have 3 contacts named AirTel 1, 2 & 3, each having 5 of their phone numbers so that the next time they call me, I’ll know better than to pick up the phone. I’ve even assigned the AirTel ad music (the one featuring A.R. Rehman) as their ringtone. With such detailed preparations, you’d think I’m well-equipped to handle anything that AirTel throws at me. After all, what more can they possibly do?
I found the answer to my question a couple of days ago.
The day began like any other, I’d just returned from my morning classes and was planning what to do next, when my cellphone rang. I’d got a message. It read along the lines of,
‘You have been subscribed to Hello Tunes… yada-yada-yada’.
It was from 543211, the AirTel Hello Tunes service. Must be some mistake, I thought. I didn’t subscribe to any such thing! Quickly checked my balance which was a princely sum of Rs. 5.41, just in case.
No damage done… yet.
Hello?
After about 15 minutes, I got another message, this time from a 4-digit number saying,
‘Thank you for subscribing to the Hello Tunes service. Your monthly charge of Rs.30 has been deducted from your account balance…….’.
What the….???? A quick reality-check confirmed my fears. My balance stood at Rs.-24.59.
Collateral damage.
Now here I was, my balance in the red, cellphone rendered useless and my fist trembling with anger. I called up their customer care number from my AirTel landline (yes, I know) and after navigating through their maze of menus, finally reached a customer service representative. I somehow controlled my language and my voice as I explained my problem to her. The lady checked up the records but my balance had not been updated there yet. Great. She told me to call up after 20 minutes while the records get sorted out. Gee, thanks.
Patience is not a virtue that I possess, so I called up again after just 10 minutes. This time some bloke was on the other end and I had to do the explaining all over again. Thankfully, their records had been updated so it was plain obvious what i was complaining about. After a few checks, he redirected me to a higher authority where I had to rewind & play once more. I was put on hold for 4-5 minutes and finally assured that my caller tune would be deactivated and my balance would be returned!!
Victory!!!
5 minutes later, I got the confirmation -
‘You have been unsubscribed from the Hello Tunes service…..’.
A few more minutes and my balance was back as well! Muahahahaha!!! Take that, you capitalist leech!
So in a nutshell, I got subscribed to a service that I didn’t even request for, they took away me money and left me in the lurch! And the fact that they didn’t put the blame on me – the customer – speaks volumes about this goof-up.
But what actually went wrong? No answers to this one.
As you can see, I haven’t blogged in almost an eternity. Is the dreaded ‘Writer’s Block’ setting in or am I just being too lazy?
"It is the start which stops most people..."
I’ve been mulling over 2-3 topics since the past few days but haven’t been able to put my thoughts into words, so lack of ideas isn’t the reason. Maybe the blog-mania has fizzled out. Maybe I’ve lost interest. Maybe I need more sleep. Let’s see if I can manage to post something, anything, today.
Oh, hang on, I just did!!
It’s been close to 18 hours since that wretched penalty shootout. If you’d been paying attention like you should have been, then you’ll recall the bit about the streaming TV link I was talking about. So for all those who do remember, here’s my first-hand experience of the whole Internet TV situation.
It’s been around long enough, but I got a taste of it only a couple of days ago. Internet TV actually lets you watch television on your computer using the Internet, for free or for a small fee. In my case it was free, as in free beer. Now you’d think why would someone want to watch TV through the Internet when you can just watch it on the… err.. TV!
According to me, this kind of service is pretty nifty if you don’t get a particular channel in your country, such as in India we don’t receive Sky, Fox etc. Being a football lover, the off-season brings a lot of boredom with it. The only notable sports channels that broadcast the beautiful game in these parts are ESPN & Star Sports but even they don’t show any pre-season friendly matches. As things stood, I was getting bored to death waiting for the new season to start, until I stumbled upon my saviour – www.justin.tv. The site is one of several Internet TV sites on the web, offering a collection of channels catering to different tastes like sports, news, technology and a lot more. Eureka!!!
It took me just a couple of minutes to find a channel that was broadcasting the match I was looking for, so that was pretty easy. But alas, in my excitement I’d all but forgotten about my pathetic excuse of a broadband connection. It offers me a blazing speed of 256 Kbps which, sadly, didn’t seem enough to sustain a constant video stream. The streaming would be interrupted after every few minutes while the data was being buffered, with a message ‘Not Broadcasting’ written across the top of the screen. Beggars can’t be choosers though, and I had to settle with whatever was on offer.
Twiddling my thumbs while the buffer refills...
But then again, in this age of HD video output, the quality of this broadcast was downright pathetic. I tried other channels to check if it was a problem with this particular channel, but there wasn’t too much of a difference. Instead, I started getting more slowdowns due to the better quality. Switched back to the old channel. To give you an example of what it was like, at times I couldn’t make out where the ball was. The players looked like sprites made up using an 8-bit palette, in full-screen mode.
Reminds me of my 8-bit gaming console of yesteryears...
Inspite of all this, it was quite fun actually. Sometimes it’s refreshing to rewind back to the days before HD, 1080p and what-not. Getting to see a channel that will probably never get aired in India, and that too for free, is quite fulfilling in itself. Overall, I got what I wanted and I was more than satisfied.
Maybe someday I’ll be streaming a live broadcast in full HD on my 100 Mbps Internet connection… I can dream, can’t I?
We lost on penalties for the second time in 3 months. And in virtually identical circumstances. I hope I never have to witness another penalty shootout involving Chelsea again.
Shevchenko misses the decisive penalty
Leading by a goal to nil, we started the second half in much the same way – relentlessly attacking the opposition. But after blowing up some clear-cut goalscoring chances, the writing seemed to be on the wall. Possession & shots on goal stats were looking nice for Chelsea, but the one stat that matters the most – Goals Scored – still showed only 1. And that was to be our undoing.
Lokomotiv equalized in the 84th minute through a freekick which Cech completely misjudged. Lokomotiv 1-1 Chelsea. As the whistle blew for the end of 90 minutes, my worst fear was about to come true. There’s no extra-time in such matches, they directly go to penalties. Took a deep breath… and jumped with joy as Cech saved the first penalty!! Lampard scored for Chelsea, and soon the score looked like this:
Lokomotiv - X O O O O
Chelsea - O O O O
Time for the last penalty kick, reminding me of that heart-breaking night in Moscow on the 21st of May, 2008.
Wayne Bridge stepped up to take it. And missed. Another England defender misses the match-winning penalty for Chelsea. At this point, I’d lost all hope of a win. Sudden death beckons.
Last time it was Anelka’s penalty that was saved in ‘sudden death’, this time it was Shevchenko. Game over. We’ll now play against AC Milan for the 3rd spot. Damn!!!
Okay now, so after celebrating the launch of my new blog with a sumptuous meal of pav-bhaji, I was beginning to think that I’m coming back to my senses again. Wondering what to do next, I realized – “OMG!! It’s Chelsea vs Lokomotiv Moscow tonight!!! I gotta see it!!”. Thus began my search for a live stream of the match on the Internet and thankfully, it ended pretty soon too. As I write this, the first half has ended and the second half could begin any minute now. We (Chelsea) are leading 1-0 thanks to a brilliant goal by Essien. I’m off to watch the second half, will post a review of the match & the stream when I return!
Ahh!! After years of dilly-dallying, making excuses to myself and being a lazy sloth, I’ve finally managed to get myself a blog! Let the party begin!
Yeah, yeah, it’s just a blog, every man and his dog has one. So what’s the big deal, you ask? Well, in the past every time I convinced myself to start blogging, I’d hit writer’s block and that was it. Bye-bye blog!! But not this time. It’s a sort of achievement for me to actually be here and write this. So if you can, please excuse my over-the-top celebrations while I enjoy the moment…