The league of the extraordinary managers..

The life of a manager of a top premier league team is tough.Each have their qualities,but the common goal of winning comes to a select few,and that too after a load of hard work.The big four of the Premier league no longer exists,its more of a top six now.And while we wait,we all see the wile and guile of the team managers.

Arsene Wenger is having a tough time since that League Cup final loss to Birmingham.The dreams of a quadruple faded in the rubble that was caused by knockout defeats to Barca and United in the CL and FA Cup,the season began with important players like Nari,Fabregas and Clichy leaving,and Wenger was listless to get replacements that ended up in them getting hammered 8-2 to a powerful United side.They bought players of unproven talent rather than tried and tested due to their financial constraints.They
barely managed to scrape through to the CL group stages,courtesy to a wasteful Udinese side.Wenger has a lot to prove and ponder upon this season.

The other London club also have seen a lot.Eliminated by United in the CL and Everton in the FA cup.Chelsea took out the trash with firing the listless Ancelotti and getting in the colorful Andre Villas Boas.Out went the deadwood.In came Romeu,Mata, Meireles and Lukaku,and a blossoming Sturridge.Fernando Torres needed direction and Villas Boas looked just the man having won the treble with Porto.Although it will take time for him to make the pride of London champions again.

Now with the team that has seen it all-the brink of administration,board trouble,revolving door of managers,lack of funds,controversial transfers,swindling ownership to transformation to a top side again,they found stability with Kenny Dalglish up front-again as manager.He is not one for tactics or analysis,he is more better as a man manager,and his future shall ride much with the expensive commodities
in Downing,Carroll,Suarez and of course Stevie G.He has a good team but we need to see how far can King Kenny go with his colorful squad.

Now to Manchester.First the City.Almost spending half a billion in players since coming in,the mega rich side with Roberto Mancini leading them has shown that money still rules the game.Mancini's Italian grounding is seen with his teams stubborn defense,although new buys of Aguero and Nasri may make them a deadly front in attack,although they still lack a cohesive unity as seen when Bayern dismantled them in Munich.Mancini has an expensive squad ,but in no way will the road be easy for him.

His main challenge will be from none other than the legendary SAF-the imperialistic Scot who has fulfilled his word when he toppled Liverpool with their league win last season.Although the Barcelona side got them into submission in Europe for the second time in three years,The Scotsman is now making a squad that will challenge not just in England but also in Europe.No trophy is safe from his clutches while he still manages the Red Devils.

Finally,back to London,where the gambling,bumbling and oft fumbling Harry Redknapp.Having tasted European pinnacle in Champions league, Real Madrid
attached a ball and chain when they were cruising in their orbits.Having beaten the two Milan sides in engaging contests,the European adventure took a toll,which is why they failed to get in to the top four.Although losing badly to the Manchester sides may have caused doubts whether they can get back into the top four,buys and loans of Scott Parker and Adebayor have made sure they will have a say in who wins the league,and with arch rivals Arsenal faltering,Harry has a battle in hand to fight off Liverpool for the last CL spot.Although with the influential Modric staying,
Harry just might get 'lukay'...

The battle rages on...

New kids of the continental block..

Apparently after a world cup performance in which no other team from South America could go even to the semis,Uruguay held guard.If not for Diego Forlans bad luck it might have been Uruguay versus Spain rather than the Dutch-Spanish brawl.

Truly out-shined in the number and quality of stars from the big boys-Brazil and Argentina,Uruguay had a modest few in Suarez,Forlan and Cavani.Unlike Argentina who have an embarrassment of riches up front and Brazil having a number of stars,it was the smaller teams from the Latin continent that shone.The Brazilian trident of Pato ,Neymar and Ganso fell flat,while Messi showed he had not exorcised his demons in playing for his country.In fact just how Argentina fail again and again in spite of producing some of the best ball players of the 21st century is amazing to say the least.Nonetheless Uruguay had discipline and that separated them from the others.While Chile and Paraguay relied on team spirit and fans.Uruguay mixed technique with discipline.Muslera had his defense to thank-a unit comprising of Lugano,Caceres ,Coates ,Godin and Fucile aptly distributed the possession to the midfield.The likes of Gargano and Peirera maintained the balance between attack and defense perfectly.Up front the holy trident made sure the opponent were never at ease.While you never know how good you are if you beat the best,they showed their class with beating sides like Argentina and the tenacious Peru side.A wise coach in Oscar Tabarez,the forwards marauded the opponents with Forlans immaculate skill and vision,Luis Suarez hard work ,and the power of the demonic Edinson Cavani.
Forlan sacrificed his position to more of a play-maker and let loose the rockets from midfield.He had championship inheritance it seemed ,as both his father and grandfather won the title previously,Luis Suarez was undoubtedly the champion who helped his country to victory.
It was one victory the small South American side could cherish for some time when the game was dominated by the two giants.The underdogs strikes back!

The Super Marios

One is a much maligned and underrated goal poacher.Another was the co-architect of Borussia Dortmunds league glory.Another is the enfant terrible of Italian football.All three have somehow or the other raised their status as future greats.
The super Marios.

While Mario Gomez is not really young,he is one of those late bloomers who hit their peaks in their late twenties.He is a goal hungry panther whose goals come in multiples rather than consistently.He was almost regarded as a flop after his arrival to Bayern and was about to be offloaded to Liverpool before his sale was cancelled and given another chance.And boy did he grab his chance.A Bayern side faltering after missing its two champions Ribery and Robben,they found inspiration in this lethal weapon that scored more freely than Messi or Ronaldo.He doesn't have turf burning pace like C.Ronaldo,nor does he have the physical presence to intimidate defenders like Drogba,but he scores like there will be no tomorrow.A staggering 42 goals single-handedly carried FC Hollywood to a champions league spot.In the current season he has already scored 18.How Liverpool must be ruing that they missed out on him.

Mario Goetze is the other super mario from Bundesliga.A young Bundesliga side based on German discipline,the young playmaking forward.Together with the more defensive minded Sahin he formed a midfield that reeked of quality.Aptly supporting the other stars in Shinji Kagawa ,Nuri Sahin ,Lucas Barrios.At his teens ,he has a better record than the contempory greats when at their age in C.Ronaldo and Lio Messi.In his last season he has scored 8 goles and racked up 16 assists.Dortmund must nurture his genius rather than let him be poached by an Arsenal or a Bayern Munich before he reaches his peak.At 5'7" ,he has at lot of growing up to do both in terms of physical attribute and game vision.

Finally its the Super Mario in Manchester.Although he is known more for the frequent faux pas and controversy,Mario Balotelli's talents are undoubted.He is a maverick genius,who gets carded after scoring a hat-trick due to his overzealous spirit.He his one who bites more than he can chew,and gets under the opponents skin too often.He is a future talisman for the mega rich club in Manchester,although he may require to control his emotions on the field to render his game to flourish.A forward who has all the qualities-pace height power and technical skill,he needs to work on his game for the long term good,by knuckling down and work hard.

End of an era..

When Tendulkar and Ganguly opened the one day innings much to the delight of a billion fans,how many fancied the scrawny no.3 to be their idols??


The answer is shamefully simple.No one.
Everybody loved Ganguly ruling the spinners and dominating the off side.Tendulkar's genius was second to none.But how many matches has this no.3 won for the country?
No one cares.Because he is not flashy.He does not have a strike rate of 150+.He is your test match player.Not suited to the pace of the shorter version of the game.
But now that this no.3 retired,why are the pundits worried about the fragile batting lineup?


Its because that's what the team shall miss now on - the sense of security and calm when this no.3 batsman-probably the best ever is gone.
The man who lived in the shadow of the above named.The man who saw through tough times and tight games.The man who bowled,kept wickets and took some incredible catches.The man known as Rahul Dravid.

His ODI retirement was no surprise considering his age.But then age was never under consideration when a batsman of 35+ is called over and over again to protect a fragile batting lineup.His call ups to the champions trophy and the abysmal England tour can lay proof to that idea.Whenever our opening Gods-Sachin ,Sehwag and Ganguly failed,Dravid stood up and saw through the innings.In fact his calming influence helped them to play with freedom.He held on while it was the yuvrajs and dhonis who took the chances.He was the concrete wall who milked and frustrated the opponent bowling attack.He always was there to save the day.

We talk about the number of centuries from Sachin Sehwag and Ganguly.While Rahul hasn't scored many,his innings should be measured with respect to the circumstances.He rarely faced the new ball,which has more bounce and easier to go after.The number of times he has finished the game is astonishing.The greatest team of the decade-the aussies,hated bowling to him because of his stubborn defense.Very irritating if the batsman you were bowling in the opening session where you dismantled the top order,and yet he is still there with the tail.
His partnerships with another underrated great Laxman have been magical.Its like magic when those two bat.One perfectly suits the others game.The perfect foil.The ying to the yang.

His one day stats do not reveal the hard work he put in every kind of surface.Whether its pace ,bounce ,slow or low ,turning or seaming , no pitch could unravel him.His technique was such he was immune to the malevolent nature of the pitch.Whether its concrete strip in Perth or a coal mine at Kanpur.Critics slammed him for his strike rate.While 'notable' cricket experts like Sanjay Majrekar could rebuke the other batting greats for no getting the job done,Dravid was teflon,his consistency was an incredible riposte.His centuries were rare,due to his batting attributes that marked him a test specialist.But they always came in important situations.Together with the other batting greats,he was one of the pillars of Fabulous five that gave India many priceless moments in the modern age of cricket.He was a batting plinth
- the architecture that defined the greatness of this current team.He was a rare gem and his value was more to the opponents he defied than the fans.

Goodbye Steve...

I first heard his name when the i-phone was launched.As I grew older,Steve Jobs was the name talked about by every geeky pal of mine.He had been a living legend in the 21st century and I wondered why the overlords make sure to snatch the good guys away from the world.


At a time when Microsoft and Bill Gates were household names,Steve Jobs had been modest throughout his glowing career.MacIntosh Computers and Apple were not heard often due to the inundated monopoly of the former in my country.
He was no engineer,not a programmer.Nor did he graduate in any specific field.
He was this visionary,an entrepreneur with a way of thinking that was probably far ahead of the time.His inventions have not only revolutionized the digital world, but have created a field that one may have only imagined couple of decades ago.
It is not common knowledge that Jobs was not just inventor of the i-tech,but he also had the courage to introduce the mouse technology that revolutionized GUI computers.
He had also revolutionized the animation field since he was with Pixar.
He had been one of the few who had been there,done that.


He had won a number of distinctions in his life.Fortune magazine listed him among the most powerful persons among the world.He was awarded the National Medal of technology in his younger days.He was in the California hall of fame.In September 2011, Jobs was ranked No.17 on Forbes The World's Most Powerful People.He was a one of his kind.He brought a sea change in the field of business and technology,and had the acumen to combine the two to give a new generation of marketing technological devices.
His genius was unbridled , and vision unparalleled.

But nothing can be taken away from his courage to fight the most dreaded disease of mankind.A rare cancer of the pancreas,was threatening him as he grew frail each day.But he fought back.Created one novelty after another.The i-pod was just the beginning.In came the i-touch and the i-phone.With newer versions more better and amazing than the former,he had created a magical digital market.Apple was modest in its beginnings and in moniker.But it was really stark in contrast with its market.Steve Jobs had created a corporate mega demon in the technology market.
Alas,his health was beginning to betray.Even his shareholders were concerned.He was not to be stopped,however.With time not on his side,he gave us the tablet i-pad and i-phone 4.He was a perfectionist.His business skills were shrewd and simple.He was known to be notoriously demanding,but then for perfection you cant slack off.


His work made him a renowned figure in the world of computers.And also off it.
He will be missed.


Although for Steve Jobs that's probably a huge understatement.