A Tale of Two Chelseas
This is a story of Chelsea’s season of playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They say we only remember the good things in retrospect. The rose-tinted glasses effect. Try telling that to…
Oh Wayne on the wane
Wayne Rooney’s days at Old Trafford might be numbered. Is it time for Roo to get a move on? Somewhere in a roomy cabin in Manchester sits a man with a smile…
Is It Time We Call Out International Football’s Biggest Bluff?
Ved Sen takes on International Football, and asks it the question it fears the most. I remember a time, when I was growing up and resenting International football. Back then, I didn’t…
Retrograde FA Have Made A Huge Mistake
England, obstinately, have gone ahead and appointed Sam Allardyce today. Though, one newish instalment the FA can at least expect is a state-of-the-art PowerPoint facility. Still counts as progression, don’t it? The…
Wales, Together Stronger: A Lesson In Unity
Anushree Nande explores the extraordinary rise of the Wales National Football team from 117th 4 years ago, to their phenomenal campaign at the Euro 2016. “Sports are human activities made difficult for…
Roy Hodgson and the Three Deadly Sins
Sins of the father, they say, are passed on to their sons. But who is to blame when the FA are retrograde to put a someone like Roy Hodgson in charge? The…
All The Kings Men
How do you gauge success in a sport? Is it the number of titles and medals you collect? Or perhaps, the number of upsets you cause? Is surviving in the first division…
Johan Cruyff,“Salid y disfrutad” – Go out and enjoy
Perhaps Johan Cruyff’s greatest legacy is in the fact that his ultimate goal was to play enjoyable and entertaining football both as a player and coach. To him it was imperative that the players…
Louis van Gaal Diaries – Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. – Dylan Thomas I am rather…
Zidane’s The Way
Imagine the chaos of running a business. Now, imagine this business also happens to be a football club, where you have balance the books and tilt the balance of trophies won in…
Johan Cruyff – Depression and unrequited love
I have locked myself in my room. Staving off all human contact. Sure, there are good people out there, great people, but my luck lately, has been shot. All I have to…
Stats, Smokes and Mirrors – Red Rambles Part 1
Admittedly, Jürgen Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool FC hasn’t been, Rocky Balboa’s immortal words, “all sunshine and rainbows.” The Reds are sweating it out in their tracksuits, but are still a few flight…
The Philosophy of Philosophy
Date: May 16, 2011 Occasion: Google Zeitgesist Conference, Hertfordshire Speaker: Stephen Hawking “Most of us don’t worry about these questions most of the time. But almost all of us must sometimes wonder:…
Louis Van Gaal – In search of the Zahir
Let’s address the camel in the room. If the defeat to Wolfsburg was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”, the subsequent losses to Bournemouth and Norwich made fans, journalists and experts alike,…
Move On, Real Madrid!
Saturday, 21st November – Real Madrid kick off with a single aim. Reduce a three point gap with Barcelona to zero. A couple of hours later, they were booed off the pitch…
Curse of the Injuries – Jack Wilshere and Alexandre Pato
(This piece was written before the Capital One Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Arsenal). Whatever the arguments about the quality of the old versus new, it can be agreed that the…
Howdy, Wayne Rooney! We miss you.
Wayne Rooney, sweltering out of position I remember a 18-year old Wayne arriving at the Carrington training complex on transfer deadline day. The signing had no dearth of excitement as Sir Alex had…
Confessions about Jürgen Klopp from a Man Utd fan
There is no conceivable scale whereby one can measure euphoria. Euphoria is relative, and as are most things explainable in theoretical physics and the known macrocosm. Take note, however, of Einstein’s observation…
The Bale Conundrum
Gareth Bale is one of the oddest players in Real Madrid’s team. He is incredibly atheltic, swift (as Marc Bartra can attest to), strong, and has developed in England as a winger…
Boring James Milner
The Bosman transfer of James Milner has been widely acknowledged as a shrewd piece of business by Liverpool. Two Premier League medals, 56 international call-ups, a wealth of experience, and an Englishman,…
Manchester United needs to deal with the hell within
I write this a week and a half after Swansea City handed Manchester United their posteriors. I was rather baffled by certain things I saw, but shall try to keep this rational. Wayne…
Mario Balotelli – Empathy for Football’s Man-Child
Now that he’s left, it’s given me the time and more importantly the patience to objectively unravel Mario Balotelli. Football, though referred to as a sport which has lived through many like a…
John Terry – Leader, Legend, Liability.
It was always on the cards.
Liverpool vs Arsenal – Performance key for Liverpool
Starting off a campaign with 6 points from 2 matches and 2 clean sheets only helps in building confidence in the squad – also factor in the scenario that we have secured…