CHELSEA FC 1 - AS MONACO 3..... CHELSEA MANAGER SACKED OVER HIS TEAMS POOR PERFORMANCES

No need apologizing for the title because we all know its false but i use it just to make a point. The performance from Arsenal yesterday could earn Wenger a sack in many other teams around the world. 

Few big clubs in the world will tolerate such a performance at home in a champions league knockout stage. Especially to a team at Monaco's level. Let’s not even go to the extent of comparing both teams in financial terms because Arsenal is running a budget three times bigger than that of Monaco.

 Imagine we swap team owners. Claudio Ranieri would still have been the coach of Arsenal and Wenger will have been sacked by Greece by now. Or perhaps let's say Wenger was just appointed by Roman last summer after a poor performance by Mourinho in the Champions league Semi finals against Athletico Madrid, We can all guess the main headline in all the newspapers this morning.

Last week, Jose Mourinho said in one of his interviews that Arsene has a dream job... Arsene always has the chance to correct his errors... Arsene has had more than 20 second chances in more than 15 years in charge.

One thing is certain, even if the arsenal board don’t want to send Wenger parking; I think he is a damn lucky man because the performance from his team yesterday was poor and could cost him his head in another team.

CHOOSE YOUR GAMES TO WATCH TODAY.... BIG GAMES AROUND EUROPE

     Its another weekend and we are all happy because football is back and we will all have the chance to watch our favorite teams play. In this blog, I am simply going to create your awareness on the big games in the various leagues, the matches we wont want to miss and matches with great significance in the various leagues around Europe.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

The English Premier league is always fascinating to watch and keeps our eyes glued to our TV screens.  It’s a pity I have to talk just about one or two fixtures given all the games are always cup finals

The Premier league leaders, Chelsea will be taking on relegation threatened Burnley. A win for Chelsea will further increase their chances of clinching the title in May given that they are 7 points of last years champions Manchester City. Burnley are finding life in the Premier league a difficult one and they are stuck in 19^th position.  This game kicks off at 15:00GMT

Manchester city on their part take on New Castle united. On paper they have a more difficult match than Chelsea but as the history of this league shows, there is no easy game. This is also not a game to miss. It kicks off at 17:30GMT

THE SPANISH LA LIGA

In Spain, the race for the title is really tight as just one point separates the leaders from the team in second position. Barcelona is keeping chase of Real Madrid and any slip from the “Merengues” will see the Catalans go ahead. Barcelona take on Malaga in the Camp Nou on Saturday at 15:00GMT and they could move to top spot with a win at least for 24 hours until Real Madrid take on relegation fighting Elche at Mid day,on Sunday.

  It really promises to be an interesting weekend in the LIGA BBVA

THE GERMAN BUNDES LIGA

This league always looks boring because the leader always go far ahead leaving those following her behind.  Bayern Munich who is the leader is 8 points clear of second placed Wolfsburg who is another 8 points clear of third placed Borrusia Muchen Gladback. This means the gap between 1^st and 3^rd is 16.

However the league always promises some good encounters with Bayern Munich taking on 13^th placed Paderbon while Wolfburg face an easier task against 17^th and Relegation threatened Hertha Berlin. 2013 champions league Finalists who are having a though time in the league this year did some good for themselves by defeating Stuttgart last night to climb up to 10^th position.

THE ITALIAN SERIE A

The Italian league is another interesting one. The leaders, Juventus beat Atalanta last night to move 10 points clear of second placed Roma. Juventus had to play their match on Friday because they have a tough champions league assignment next midweek. Roma on their part will travel to Verona to face 17^th placed Hellas Verona while third place Napoli will welcome 13^th place Sassuolo.

The Milan teams are finding life hard this season as they are placed in 10^th and 11^th positions. Ac Milan will welcome Genoa while Inter Milan will travel to Cagliari. 

MOST OF US FOOTBALL LOVERS HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AHEAD OF US. ENJOY YOURS!!

LAURENT BLANC OUT-MASTERS MOURINHO..... CHAMPIONS LEAGUE REVIEW BY FABS

Few might say that Chelsea got what they went to get in Paris but I say their bus got stuck in traffic. All their plan of parking the bus failed and PSG had better plans about the traffic situation on the night.

Fellow Chelsea supporters will go behind their team giving them praises for getting the away goal and still having the upper hand but deep within them, they know their team didn’t perform on the night. PSG had the majority of the possession for the full 90 minutes of the match and Chelsea was so lucky to score against the run of play towards the end of the first half.

 This gave Jose Mourinho the opportunity to go through his half time team talk talking about defending the lead and taking it to Stamford Bridge. This was immediately seen in the early stages of the second half but lovers of good football had their prayers heard as Edinson Cavani scored from a header as he usually does. at this point I said to myself, "this game will win an award for being boring". Little did I know that I was right! Chelsea’s plans of defending a lead turned into defending a draw and they did just nothing to change what they had in mind coming into the second half. 

I personally congratulate PSG and Laurent Blanc for their performance yesterday. Blanc tactically gave Mourinho a taste of his medicine. I took my time yesterday predicting the PSG lineup considering their numerous injuries and it did not at any time come to my mind that David Luiz will play in defensive midfield. He actually did a great job stopping his former team mates from having any sight of goal. 

The referee for me was the primary cause of the boring nature of the match. Marco Veratti should have been sent off three times if the referee was not as ‘consistent’ as he wanted to be. Eden Hazard was not given the chance to showcase his wonderful skills because he was constantly fouled by David Luiz and Veratti. Courtois did a great job for the London side and could even be named their man of the match because he kept them in the tie.

To cut the long talk short, it was another boring tactic from Mourinho and as history proves, he has the quality to go through with it. The problem here is

< WILL CHELSEA CONTINUE TO APPLY A BORING AND DEFENSIVE FORMATION IN THEIR BIG MATCHES JUST TO GET GOOD RESULTS?>

WHO WILL START FOR PSG-CHELSEA: THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS BACK

The Champions league is back and yes we missed it. I’ve decided to preview all the big games in all the playing days. The first big game falls on the first day of play, i.e. the 17^th,  Chelsea Vs PSG. 
Now this is a fixture that always makes news.It is a battle of two of the biggest cities in Europe- London Vs Paris.  It is always a tight and interesting encounter and we should not expect less. I’m going to analyze the teams and predict a starting lineup from the various managers.

Let’s start with the French side who are hosting. First things first, there is a lot of talk around the media about them having a lot of players being injured making Chelsea the favorites etc. it should be clear that if Chelsea are favorites in that match it is not because of the injury plague on the hosts. We rather look for a better reasons like Chelsea playing in a tougher league or having better players or better still a more experienced manager in Jose Mourinho. Off course we can’t talk about monetary power because in recent years, the French side has come a long way to match the spending power of Mr. Abramovic and there are talks in the French Media that the Quatari owners of PSG want nothing less but a Champions League Trophy this Season.

PSG threw away a two goal lead in stoppage time against Caen in Ligue 1 on Saturday after injuries forced them to end the game with 9 men already putting a lot of pressure on their coach and former French international Lauren Blanc. Make no mistake, they ended with nine men because they had made all their regular three changes and had no other option. We should note that they still have their regular first team squad and they can be short only on the bench.

Yohan Cabaye, Marquinhos, Serge Aurier and Lucas Moura and  Thiago Motta are all doubtful for the visit of Chelsea after injuring themselves on Saturday. That being said, PSG still have fire power to begin the match with and could line up like the photo below.

Unfortunately, such a squad will not be backed by a big name on the bench which will be made of of promising and rising talents such as Adrien Rabbiot and Jean Christophe Bahebeck alongside some other youngsters. It is clear this team is not to be minimized

For the blues of London, they are rather blessed with some of their players coming back from injury and suspension. I predict their usual starting eleven which might have a slight change with the introduction of Kurt Zouma the young talent who will be charged with marking Swedish sensation Zlatan Ibrahimovic. 
Chelsea also have a their goal creator, Fabregas coming back from injury and he will want to prove a point. He said this week that he would like to win the champions league with Chelsea after the finals disappointment with Arsenal. Diego Costa too has not played for a while due to suspension. Remember he has not scored in the Champions league this season... PSG beware.
Juan Cuadrado could make his Champions league debut for Chelsea but i strongly think he will do so from the bench.

Therefore Chelsea could lineup like this

Chelseas bench could feature big names like Petr Cech, Gary Cahil, Ramires, Juan Cuadrado, Loic Remy, John Obi Mikel and Azpilicueta.
MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN

HAPPY VALS DAY READERS!

Truth be told, I consider the readers of my blogs as my loved ones. With that in mind, I cannot let this day pass without me writing a little message to all of you out there.

Do you know that you might be sitting, not satisfied with yourself while many are dreaming of living your life? Take a resolution to have confidence in yourself from this day forward.

Sometimes I see a plane flying overhead and I dream of flying one day meanwhile the pilot in that plane sees you and I and dreams of returning home…..! That’s life, you have to enjoy yours

Imagine you being poor and dancing in the street and around your neighborhood meanwhile the rich can’t do such even though they are wealthy and I hear wealth is the secret of happiness.

Not to talk of great officials and statesmen who move around with body guards; that’s a clear indication that power doesn’t ensure security.

Just Google about celebrity relationships and you will notice that beauty and fame has nothing to do with having an ideal relationship.
 

I therefore advice us all to Live Simply, Talk Gently, Think Wisely & Love Genuinely!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!