ADEBAYOR OUT TO PROVE AVB HAS GOT IT WRONG, YET AGAIN!

Less than a week after sacking AVB, in my opinion rightly for being too stubborn to his failed ideals, Emanuel Adebayor who was ostracised by the former Spurs manager has come back to life. From the onset it was all about the Togo striker. AVB had refused to call back the Togo striker who has a proven track record of scoring goals for various clubs at the top level.

Emmanuel Adebayor -Tottenham Hotspurs

The list of the clubs Adebayor has played for and proved himself included but not limited to Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid. 

So it was bizarre and lack of professional judgement on the part of AVB not to recall him when he needed goals to salvage his own skin. Some years back Fabio Capello, then as Real Madrid manager, fall out with David Beckham because the latter had signed a new contract with LA Galaxy with the intention of leaving Real Madrid at the end of the season. He stopped playing the winger. However, when he realised that, he needed the man (David Beckham) to save his job and reputation, he recalled him. As a seasoned manager of the beautiful game, this kind of precedence should have been known to the AVB and serve as a lesson that, the interest of the club comes first. 

The young manager did not learn anything from his Chelsea days where he side lined experienced campaigners of the club in favour of his new younger signings. It backfired spectacularly and he was fired. The very players he was bent on ending their careers lifted the Champions League trophy in his absence. 

If the result of today’s game is anything to by, history will repeat itself again and Adebayor would become the hero of Spurs while AVB would be watching from afar. By the look of things, the two goals Adebayor scored today is just the beginning of good things for Spurs and life after AVB.

Andres Villas Boas was the architect of his own downfall in Tottenham

It wasn’t the sale of Gareth Bale that spells the end of AVB. It was AVB that spells the end of his reign at Spurs. The fact that AVB is a poor man manager is not lost all those who have followed his spell at Chelsea. AVB is ruthless when it comes to dealing with the players he did not think fit to be in his squad. His dealing with players is either all nothing. Either you are in or you are out. Look at the players he let go or ostracise within his short reign at spurs. Defoe, Adebayor, Huddlestone etc. the list is endless. In their place he blew the hundred million pounds bounty he received from real Madrid for the sale of Gareth Bale on players that do not live to their high billing.

Andres Villas Boas

At Chelsea, AVB started on with similar policies of retiring and or eliminating the veterans of the club he met. Sources close to Tottenham Hotspurs indicated that, the chairman expected AVB to give Adebayor a chance given the lack of goals from the strikers he had been playing so far. But the Portuguese refused. So after the thrashing they received in the hands of Liverpool in front of their home crowed, there was no way AVB should be allowed to continue his foolhardy methods.

That Andros Townsend, the promising young lad of the England didn’t start the game against Liverpool was also a decision that didn’t go well with the management of the Club. I hope AVB would learn from this and approach the next chance he would get to manage a top notch club differently. There is no doubt that, the young manager has a lot of potential but he is lacking woefully in man management.
In the end analysis, Daniel Levy acted in the best interest of the club and I believe it was a right call. You cannot lose matches against clubs that you are supposed to be competing with and yet refused to acknowledge the need for change in approach. So AVB was the architect of his own downfall as previously in Chelsea.

Manchester City ran down by rampant Bayern Munich

Thomas Mueller rouded Joe Hart to score

Wow, how time changes. It used to be FC Barcelona that mesmerise other teams with their dazzling display of tiki taka football, now it is another FCB but the last letter stands for Bayern. Talk of a team destroying their opponents. Bayern did just that. They destroy Manchester City. Have we just witnessed the first European team to retain the coveted Champions league trophy? I won’t bet a penny against the Germans.

If last year there were some doubts about the ability of the German giants, then it is cleared now. Those who said Pep Guardiola cannot do in Munich what he did in Barcelona are in for a shock.  His handwriting was all over the team. They were dominant in possession and relentless when they lost the ball. In the words of Aryen Robin, they pressed Man City to the goal keeper so they didn’t have anywhere to go but to give them back the ball. That might sound too simplistic but that was exactly what happened tonight.

The Germans chased the ball harder than Man City. And there lies the biggest problem with the Man City team. The team was assembled with a lot of money but going by what I saw tonight, they have a long way to go to become “a team” that can truly challenge for anything in Europe. To win the Champions league, you don’t have to be the best but you have to beat the best teams. Ask Chelsea! Sometimes you just have to prevail by fighting and eventually ride your luck when you have the opportunity. I didn’t see any fight from the city players. They simply capitulated. And Joe Hart did not help matters. The England number was poor. In fact all the three goals scored by Bayern was preventable had Man City had a world class stopper.

What a shame! My hearts goes out to the owners who spent so much money and yet have nothing smile about.

Final score: Manchester City 1 Bayern Munich 3
Goals: Ribery 7', Mueller 56' Roben 59'
Negredo scored consolation for Man City 79'

GARETH BALE OR CRISTIANO RONALDO

THIS morning while I was still seething with anger from the defeat of FC Chelsea by FC Everton in the premiership game yesterday, I was asked by a colleague this seemingly uninteresting question; who do you prefer Bale or Ronaldo? "Bale", I responded.

Ronaldo and Bale playing Real madrid

He followed the question with the obligatory why from someone who clearly disagreed with my first response. "Hunger" I quipped.

I explained to him that, Ronaldo has won everything there is to be won in a club football, where as Bale has won nothing yet. Therefore Bale will have more desire and hunger to win than Ronaldo. He grudgingly agreed with me.
Somehow I have the feeling, there are many football fans out there who are wrestling with the same question. I therefore decided to expand on my initial answer here.

Ronaldo has reached a point in his career where he feels he is bigger than the club he is playing for. Otherwise, how can one explain his meddling in the transfer negotiation of Gareth Bale. It is a known fact that, he wanted to make sure that Real Madrid did not pay to Tottenham Hotspurs more than what they paid Manchester United for him. At the end of the day, although Real Madrid did pay more for Gareth Bale than they paid for Ronaldo three years ago, they had to tell the media a different story. 101 Million Euros was paid for Bale compared to the 96 Million Euros paid for Ronald three years ago. Officially, however, Real Madrid paid 91 Million Euros for Bale just to pacify the EGO of Ronaldo. 

How can a player that wield such influence on the management be better than a comparatively virgin Bale, who has everything to prove? That is the question I welcome your opinion....

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THE PREMIERSHIP TRANSFER WINDOW IS SHUT – WHO CLOSED THE BEST DEAL

Now the premiership transfer window is closed, lets relax and have a look at some of the new signings and the potential impact the may have on the title challenge this season. Like most football enthusiast, I was glued to the TV screen switching between BBC sport and Sky Sports News. Was I the only one who noticed the Sky sports news attempt at usurping the yellow colour of BBC sports? From the yellow tie of Jim white to the yellow dress of his side kick lady and the yellow background emblazoned with the words “transfer dead line”, it is all about the colour yellow. What happened to red?

Sky Sports anchors in Yellow

Talking about red, one has the feeling that David Moyes at Manchester united is already seeing Red. In my opinion, the news today should be why no one wants to sign for ManU or “MoyesU”. Since the appointment of David Moyes as the new manager of the super duper club of the premiership, it looks like all of a sudden the club lost its allure to top players. It started with the audacious bid to sign Cesc Fabregas and Tiago Alcantara from FC Barcelona and the ridiculous attempt by David Moyes to milk his former club dry by signing their best players and both attempt backfired in David Moyes’ face. The kids from Barcelona are more than contented to stay at Barcelona even they are not guaranteed regular starting positions than to make the move to arguably most famous club in the world. Don’t ask me why.

Although David Moyes eventually signed Marroune Fellaini from Everton at almost the same price he bid for the two players together (Leighton Baines and Fellaini) initially, I wonder whether Mr Moyes’ scouting agents are aware that their scope and budget has widened. It seems they are not aware that, they can scout for players playing for any club in the world. Other than that, how can one explain that, they missed the availability of Mesut Ozil?

Mesut Ozil in Real Madrid

Arsene Wenger has at last made his words count my splashing the cash. But is it the right signing? I doubt. In my opinion Arsenal is not lacking in creativity. What Arsenal is lacking is a powerful midfield enforcer in the calibre of Yaya Toure or Maroune Fellaini. In other words Mesut Ozil is the kind of player Manchester United needs and Marroune Fellaini is the right player for Arsenal in the current situation. Arsenal also needs a powerful striker that would give the team options against a well organised side. That Arsene Wenger didn’t buy Demba Ba from Chelsea for £10 Million is a kind of bizarre to me.

Chelsea finished their business long ahead of the dead line. It is sign of knowing exactly what one wants that Jose Mourinho gave Wayne Rooney 48 hours after their match at Old Trafford to decide whether he wants the move or not. When it became clear that the player wasn’t willing to move Jose quickly move for Samuel Etoo as an alternative. Was it a good signing on a free transfer? YES! A lot of people would say Etoo has passed his prime but I still see him scoring 20 odd goals for Chelsea this season. The fact that Jose realised immediately that, he cannot rely on Torres to score the goals needed to make impact in the championship race tells of a man on a mission with a winning formula.

Samuel Eto'o signed for Chelsea

Brendan has learnt a lot from his last season’s experience and has identified and closed all his deals a day before the deadline. In Sturridge, he has a striker who can guarantee him goals. When Louis Suarez comes of suspension, Liverpool will really be a force reckon with. They have a lot of pace upfront in Raheem Sterling and Victor Moses.

Manchester City also finished their business long before the deadline. They did away with the guys who are more of a distraction in Balotelli and Tevez. With Dzeko, Aguero and Negredo, they still possess enough fire power to threaten any defence. Their defence is however, in the absence of Vincent Kompany a bit shaky for my liking. They definitely could have strengthened the defence to cope with the gruelling Champions league and the premiership season.

Despite their loss to Arsenal last Sunday, I still believe that Tottenham have invested the money generated from the sale of Gareth Bale wisely. AVB should just learn from his mistakes at Chelsea and not try to side line the old guard like Jermaine Defoe immediately. That is exactly what cost him the match at Arsenal. The new guys need time to gel in into the team.

OUTLOOK OF THE SEASON

Chelsea and Manchester city are going to battle it out for premiership. Four other teams (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham) are going to scramble for other two Champions league places.

DEALS CLOSED ON THE FINAL DAY

ü  Arsenal sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £42.4m

ü  Marouane Fellaini joins Man Utd from Everton for £27.5m

ü  Liverpool sign centre-backs Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Ilori for a combined fee of about £25m.

ü  Everton sign Wigan midfielder James McCarthy for £13m and agree deals for Manchester City's Gareth Barry and Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku on season-long loans

ü  Aston Villa recruit Czech Republic striker Libor Kozak for £7m.

ü  West Brom sign forward Stephane Sessegnon for £5m-plus and Victor Anichebe for fee rising to £6m

And for those who just arrived from another planet Gareth Bale has joined Real Madrid

Gareth Bale

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