A Little Lunacy!

Arsenal beat a team of part-timers the other day. A fan then posted a picture of Arsenal’s new signing Vermaelen and the old Agent Silvestre vying for the ball with an opponent on a forum. The hilarious look on Silvestre’s face provided a perfect photochop opportunity and I duly obliged. Here’s the original picture:

And here’s what the scene looks like after the picture underwent some lazy editing:

Vermaelen (Gladiator) saves Silvestre (Damsel in distress)

I could have aded speech bubbles too, but the picture says it all.

I was so bored.

Popularity: 3% [?]

A defeat at the hands of Spurs is always bitter, but the way we played in the first half, we were just asking to be beaten. The goal scored by Modric was a good one, but Bosingwa should have just gotten rid of the ball. Chelsea came alive in the second half, but never really exerted our authority. A few chances towards the end, good saves from Gomes and the crossbar prevented Chelsea from taking at least a point.

ManU lost to Fulham earlier and had Rooney as well as Scholes sent off. Chelsea could and should have taken advantage of their slip-up. But we didn’t and the gap still remains at 4 points.

As things stand, we’re 2nd in the table but could be overtaken by Liverpool if they win tomorrow. Oh well, let’s just wait and watch. And pray a little, maybe.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Anger is not an emotion I normally associate with a Chelsea defeat. Usually it’s bitter disappointment coupled with an unwavering optimism that we’ll bounce back stronger. However, the events that occured on matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League left me fuming. And it was not just because of the defeat or even the match entirely. Allow me to explain.

In India, the rights for Champions League matches are allotted to Ten Sports and Zee Sports. Now these two channels are like the poor cousins of ESPN-Star Sports, and have to survive on whatever little coverage of European football they are allowed to broadcast in the Indian subcontinent. And how grateful I am, that it’s only a ‘little’. The reasons for this are plenty – poor presentation, lousy commentators (barring a few times when Andy Gray & Martin Tyler commentate), ignorant TV pundits. The list goes on. But the biggest gripe is their shameful bias towards Liverpool and Manchester United. On matchdays, 90% of the time they’ll be showing live mgames of these two teams, while other matches are either delayed or shown Live on Zee Sports. Zee Sports being the poorer of the poor cousins, is not available on my Tata Sky DTH service and hardly any cable operator carries this channel.

So here I was, my DTH box connected to the PC, tuned in to Ten Sports, watching the pre-match scenes at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. They had earlier told us that Liverpool vs Atletico is on Zee Sports, so it was only logical to conclude that Ten Sports will be showing Roma vs Chelsea. You can imagine my surprise when the host informed the viewers, with a sheepish grin I may add, that there’s been a mistake and Roma vs Chelsea is on Zee Sports.

That wasn’t in the script!

Thankfully, I’d noticed a few days ago while channel-surfing, that my cable operator was carrying Zee Sports. I swiftly unplugged the DTH box from my PC and attached the cable wire in its place. A few minutes and adjustments later, I was all set for the match.

However, it just wasn’t going to be my day. At half-time, I left my chair to get myself some refreshments, hoping we’d be able to overturn the 1-0 deficit in the second half. When I returned, i was greeted by a black screen.

What the hell happened?? Arrrghhh!!!

As I switched to another channel, I feared the worst and thought that there must have been a power failure at the operator’s premises. That wasn’t the case. Other channels were there, only Zee Sports had gone missing!! Another channel scan yielded the same result. I’d been left stranded with a stupid cable connection that was of no use to me now.

As a last resort, I fired up my browser and went straight to Justin.tv, hoping they’d have a decent stream for the game. Guess what? They did. And what a stream it was. On my 256kbps connection, it was butter-smooth and re-buffered only 7-8 times during 45 minutes. If only the match had ended in our favour as well.

So what are my views about the match?

• First, we need a proper striker who won’t go missing in crucial matches. Anelka was nothing if not anonymous during the game.
• A genuine pacy winger is a must-buy in January. Letting Robinho slip from under our noses feels worse with each bad result.
• Mikel, who has been a revelation this season, had a poor game. First he sold Deco short with a pass, causing the Portuguese to foul Totti. The freekick led to the opening goal for Roma. Then, he lost the ball which led to another goal.

• Carvalho’s absence in the defence is telling. Alex does not offer the same pace and mobility as Carvalho does.
• We lack a Plan-B. Sometimes we are too predictable – full-backs will go forward, swing in crosses into the box. Lather, rinse, repeat.
• The referee had a bad game. Deco’s second yellow was pretty harsh. The ref also missed a couple of dives from the Italian team.

This 3-1 loss is the worst defeat Chelsea have suffered under Scolari so far. That said, I still think we’ll top the group and make it comfortably into the last-16 of the Champions League. I just hope the next time it’s a European night, I don’t have to go through this kind of ordeal again.

Popularity: 3% [?]