Sunday, August 22, 2004
EPL is back
Yessssss.. Weekend evenings are gonna be interesting again. As the F1 season gets more and more lopsided, watching the Windies struggle against England and seeing India collapse in yet another hockey match are not exactly enticing prospects. So thank God for ESPN-Star and their extensive coverage of the EPL.
Ever since the heydays of their famous player/manager Gianluca Vialli and the times when Gianfranco Zola worked his magic at Stamford Bridge, i have been a hardcore fan of Chelsea. And when Roman shopped to buy Chelsea with all the billions of roubles he made in oil, the old faithful like me were a little wary. After all everyone knows money splashed never wins you silverware, it only gets you a team of multi-millionaries with giant size egos. And my worst suspicions were confirmed when Roman replaced Claudio Ranieri with the hyped Jose Mourinho as manager. The signings this summer - Mateja Kezman, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and Didier Drogba were not very inspiring since i was not sure if Chelsea should play the Porto/Monaco way. And the icing on the cake was when Man U drew Chelsea to play on the first day of the new season. So what were my impressions after Match 1 last weekend?
Coming to the team selection, Mourinho did the right thing by starting with Eidur and Didier upfront - Kezman is still new to English football and Mutu is unsettled - the back four are the best available but i personally think the midfied is more defensive than goalscoring. Lampard is the creative lynchpin and Smertin with his combative style provides the ideal foil. But i think it should be either Makelele or Geremi and not both with the fourth midefield position going to a pacy winger, either Robben or Duff. And Mourinho sure surprised me by replacing my favorite Cudicini with Cech for goalkeeping duties.
As far as the match itself is concerned, though Man U were missing half their first team with Ronaldo and Heinze at the Olympics, Ferdinand still suspended and Nistelrooy, Saha and Solskaer injured, they gave a fairly decent account of themselves. In fact, Chelsea were clearly lucky to get all 3 points and after seeing Arsenal turn on the style later in the night, i am beginning to worry if this might not be our year after all.. Its early days but the signs are ominous..
Ever since the heydays of their famous player/manager Gianluca Vialli and the times when Gianfranco Zola worked his magic at Stamford Bridge, i have been a hardcore fan of Chelsea. And when Roman shopped to buy Chelsea with all the billions of roubles he made in oil, the old faithful like me were a little wary. After all everyone knows money splashed never wins you silverware, it only gets you a team of multi-millionaries with giant size egos. And my worst suspicions were confirmed when Roman replaced Claudio Ranieri with the hyped Jose Mourinho as manager. The signings this summer - Mateja Kezman, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and Didier Drogba were not very inspiring since i was not sure if Chelsea should play the Porto/Monaco way. And the icing on the cake was when Man U drew Chelsea to play on the first day of the new season. So what were my impressions after Match 1 last weekend?
Coming to the team selection, Mourinho did the right thing by starting with Eidur and Didier upfront - Kezman is still new to English football and Mutu is unsettled - the back four are the best available but i personally think the midfied is more defensive than goalscoring. Lampard is the creative lynchpin and Smertin with his combative style provides the ideal foil. But i think it should be either Makelele or Geremi and not both with the fourth midefield position going to a pacy winger, either Robben or Duff. And Mourinho sure surprised me by replacing my favorite Cudicini with Cech for goalkeeping duties.
As far as the match itself is concerned, though Man U were missing half their first team with Ronaldo and Heinze at the Olympics, Ferdinand still suspended and Nistelrooy, Saha and Solskaer injured, they gave a fairly decent account of themselves. In fact, Chelsea were clearly lucky to get all 3 points and after seeing Arsenal turn on the style later in the night, i am beginning to worry if this might not be our year after all.. Its early days but the signs are ominous..
