Bleacher Report - Articles by Sid Siddiqui

Arsene Wenger Interviewed: Part I

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:42:13 -0400

This is the first part of the full transcript of the interview with Arsene Wenger conducted by Sportmail's Chief Sports Writer Martin Samuel at Great Ormond Street hospital on August 6, 2009.

He spoke at length to two journalists, the other being Matthew Syed of The Times. Before the tapes were switched on, considering the nature of the surroundings, we were talking politics, which is one of Wenger’s interests. It seemed as good as any place to start...

Q: It is interesting that we should be talking about politics, what are your politics, what do you believe?

Politically, I am for efficiency. Economically first. Until the 1980s the world was divided into two, people were either communist or capitalist. The communist model does not work economically, we all realised that, but the capitalist model in the modern world also looks to be unsustainable.

You cannot ignore individual interests, but I believe the world evolves slowly. The last 30 years have brought a minimum amount of money for everybody in the west, the next step, politically, would be a maximum amount of money earned by everybody.

That would have to be enforced globally, though, because if one country had a maximum wage, a lot of people might leave and go to a country where it did not exist.

Exactly. But if you look at the world and what is happening at the moment, the biggest issue is the need for a world government. There is no other way out. It will happen, in 50 years maybe, but it will happen. Otherwise you just transfer the problem from one country to the next.

It is not the case any more that you are isolated as an employee, that if it does not go well in the other country you are unaffected and continue to live well. Everywhere is inter-connected. That is logical, the inter-dependence requires a unifying authority to make sure the rules are enforced.

Yes, we are all trying to live now as if that will not happen but in 50 years time Europe will be four per cent of the world’s population. Do you really think you can leave England isolated, France isolated? That’s impossible.

Mastermind: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger

Q: Applied to football, though, what you are saying suggests there should be global rules that are consistent. For example, you could have a maximum wage in football.

It does not look like that at the moment at all. But people continue to accept that 50 people in the world own 40 per cent of the wealth. Is that defendable humanly? Can you accept that when two billion people have two dollars to live per day? I don’t believe that will be accepted for much longer.

Q: So how do you square these beliefs which are quite egalitarian, socialist even, with your work in football which is a completely dog-eat-dog profession, which many think epitomises what is wrong with the capitalist system?

I also think we live in a competitive world, and I love competition. People who are competitive should get rewarded. But the money I am talking about is nothing to do with football players. Football players are small earners compared to these people. They are not a world problem. The best football players in the world still earn very little money compared to people who really earn money.

What I mean is that we have seen the first signs in America during the economic crisis of people revolting against the bonuses, and Barrack Obama said it cannot be acceptable to pay such a huge amount of money anymore. It is the first sign. Even in America, a pure capitalistic country, it is not accepted. It is the first time I have heard a president of the United States say something like that.

It will take ten, 20 years but there will be common sense. In a competitive world not everybody can follow the pace, you will leave people out. We now accept that we must take care of these people. You cannot let them die in the streets, people will not accept it. And that is right, too.

You are articulating what Blair would call the third way. Competition, an efficient economic system which creates wealth and the people who are very, very rich give up some of that wealth as a safety net for the people at the bottom.

Maybe the wealth will be limited, yes. But you have to reward the people who make the world progress, the guys who invent vaccines, who invent new aeroplanes, because these are people who work day and night, not people who lie in bed waiting for the next day. People who work make the world live better and to reward these people well is normal. Yet they are not the people who are the wealthiest.

So how do you rationalise that philosophy with the money in your sport? Not just player wages, but the cost of club ownership, of transfers?

I accept that what I say is in contradiction with our football world because the money looks as if it has gone higher and higher since I have been in the job. You compare the average wage ten years ago with today and it has gone up. But we live in a competitive world and that is why I say some of what happens now is financial doping. At Arsenal, we live with the money we produce.

Other clubs have artificial income, from owners. They do not live with the money from the game. We have gates, merchandising, sponsorship, television money, but nothing beyond that. What I fight for it to live within the resources we produce and to pay the players according to our real potential, considering the size of the club. That, to me, is normal.

But you still have massive debts. We have big debts because we have built the stadium.

Enlarge

Sharp shooter: Wenger shows off his skills to his stars.

Yes, but debt is debt, according to Michel Platini [president of UEFA]. He does not differentiate between debt taken on to finance the transfer policy or debt that comes from building a stadium.

Well, that is a mistake. They are completely different things. When the stadium has been paid for the club will be bigger than before, with greater active capital because of it. Platini talks but he does not know that in London to buy the site cost £125m. In France, they get it for one euro.

Because everything is nationally or municipally funded.

Exactly. So when you look at Chelsea and Manchester City, how do you feel?

I am not envious.

Irritated, though? When people do not make the distinction that a club like yours is working with economic restraints, and say you are not successful?

What is difficult for me is not that clubs have more money. We try to go a different way that, for me, is respectable. Briefly, these are the basics. I thought: ‘We are building a stadium, so I will get young players in early so I do not find myself exposed on the transfer market without the money to compete with the others.

I build a team, and we compensate by creating a style of play, by creating a culture at the club because the boy comes in at 16 or 17 and when they go out they have a supplement of soul, of love for the club, because they have been educated together.

The people you meet at college from 16 to 20, often those are the relationships in life that keep going. That, I think, will give us strength that other clubs will not have. And, so far, we have flirted with success. Not last year because we were never in the race for the championship, but before and certainly in 2006 when we were in the Champions League final.

The team looks to me to be growing and gelling and being close to it, but at the moment they do not get credit for what they produce and like every team who has not won they still doubt whether they can win.

How do you respond, though, to the criticism of many, including some Arsenal fans, that you have such a strong belief in this philosophy that you are now entrenched? You wouldn’t change it even if you could. You could be two players away and you still wouldn’t buy them.

Yes, but once you get into that position you are in a trap. When Cesc Fabregas was 18, 19, I would play him in a 4-4-2 with Patrick Vieira and I saw it did not work. Then I had the decision to make about letting Patrick go, because Gilberto Silva and Vieira worked, Fabregas and Silva worked, but I could not play Fabregas and Vieira.

But Fabregas was 19 and if he did not play I knew he would want to go, so we risked destroying everything, all the work we had put into this player. Now we have that same situation with Jack Wilshire.

He is 17 and we cannot ask him to play every game to win the championship, he will play a few games maybe. But next year he will be ready to play all the time, he will want to play all the time and if we have bought a player in his position he will want to go.

That is why you either have a policy of buying confirmed players, top, top players of 23 or over, or doing it as we are. [Animatedly] The team we have now gets there. At 22 or 23 I think a team is mature enough to deliver and it is a massively important year for our club. I am conscious of that. I know people have no patience anymore.

You think this team gets there this year?

Yes.

And what would you call getting there?

Winning the championship. It’s an audacious statement, I know. But what else can I define as getting there? If I say coming second people will say I am not interested in winning the championship.

All smiles: Wenger has snubbed the offer from Real Madrid.

You seem to think there are dangers in buying players, though, that it upsets the social dynamic of the club; but suppose somebody said you had to do it? Suppose you were going to be sacked if you did not spend £100m this summer: would, in the end, Arsenal be better for it next season?

Do I spend it on one player, like Real Madrid, or a number?

Up to you.

OK, I’m not against that. If you have the money and you find the one player who can make you win and make the difference, no matter how expensive he is you should do it. But there are not many players in the world who will make a real difference.

Is that why you turned down Real Madrid? When they contacted you they must have spelled out what was going to happen. (Wenger nods) You could have been in charge of this whole project, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka. Why did you not accept?

I want to go to the end of my job here. I built this team, I want to deliver with this team and I feel if I left I would have in some way betrayed my own beliefs. It is as simple as that. It was nothing to do with what Real Madrid has done. It was about Arsenal. I have a project here that I started three or four years ago and I want to reach the end of it. I could not leave this team at this stage of their development.

Would it not mean as much to you, then, to be successful the way Real Madrid hope to be this season, by just spending the biggest money on the best players?

I believe in work, in connections between the players, I think what makes football great is that it is a team sport. You can win in different ways, by being more of a team, or by having better individual players. It is the team ethic that interests me, always.

I am not a big fan of tennis, the big tournaments, but I like the Davis Cup because then it becomes a team sport. I like golf when it becomes the Ryder Cup. It is strange, I know.

There seems to be tension there between the man who defines himself by competition, but does not want to win at all costs, because he turned down Real Madrid to stay at Arsenal.

If I went to Real Madrid tomorrow I would spend at all costs, but what I think is more important is to look at what you have at your own club and analyse how you can be successful.

Arsenal will be more successful by building a new stadium, but it is not easy to build a new stadium and remain where you are. Look at all the clubs who have built new stadiums and where they are now: Derby County, Leicester City, Coventry City, Southampton. They all went down.

Is it also hard to remain where you are, and to aspire to win, yet retaining a commitment to very attractive football?

I argue with a guy at my local who says if you would just compromise and be pragmatic Arsenal might win more.

Yes, but if I asked you who was the best team in the world you would say Brazil. And do they play good football? Yes. Which club won everything last year? Barcelona. Good football.

I am not against being pragmatic, because it is pragmatic to make a good pass, not a bad one. If I have the ball, what do I do with it? Could anybody argue that a bad solution like just kicking it away is pragmatic just because, sometimes, it works by accident?

Would you describe football as artistic then? Do you see an aesthetic quality when you watch it, not just functionality and efficiency? Does it move you?

I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art. When you read some books they are fantastic, the writer touches something in you that you know you would not have brought out of yourself. He makes you discover something interesting in your life.

If you are living like an animal, what is the point of living? What makes daily life interesting is that we try to transform it to something that is close to art. And football is like that. When I watch Barcelona, it is art.

So how do you react, subjectively, to football? You watch a lot of games on video, do you respond only intellectually?

I discover things I can use, that I can transfer to my players in a game, but other times I enjoy a game as you would enjoy music. I sit there, and sometimes I will focus for only 20 minutes, but in that time I really focus, on every little thing.

When the guy has the ball what could he have done, what could the guy next to him have done? Other times I will watch but speak with my wife, like a normal guy whose job is not football. There are moments in the game that really strike me, that I think ‘I can use that, I can develop that with my team’.

Astronomical: Real Madrid have spent big on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.

You talk of football as art, and it clearly has cultural significance to you, but a great part of French life centres around food and wine, and your father was a restaurateur, yet that is something you have denied yourself all your life. Is it a case of compromising or suffering for your art?

I feel you can practice all week and then destroy the quality of your game because the guys do not eat well or drink too much. That is stupid. You work for six days on the trot and then destroy what you have prepared. You want to have everything on your side that makes you competitive.

As a manager, you have to live like a player. The time when you could go out on the booze, have too much to drink, and come in the next morning and not be focussed, telling the players to do this or that, is over. Finished. The players are more demanding.

You are 60 next birthday, though. That is a long time to live like a player. It was always said that the sacrifices sports people make are tolerable because they only last until the age of 35, say. You are going to spend your whole lifetime making these compromises.

Yes, but for every passion there is a big price to pay. I say that to the players. When you are hungry, it is only your stomach that is telling you it is hungry, it is just a part of your body. When you are hungry for success, it is the whole person, the whole life that wants that success. It is not just one part of your body that wants to win on Saturday afternoon, there is something in the structure of your personality that says this is vital to me and it is worth organising my life around this desire.

That is the core of your life. I do a lot of things I do not like to do. I would prefer to be able to go out and enjoy my life, but I think that tomorrow I will be mentally dead, I will forget something or I will not be competitive.

Yet with a person who invents a vaccine or an aeroplane, you can see why that is important. I played professional sport [Matthew Syed was formerly Britain’s No 1 table tennis player] and sometimes I would do all the diets, all the training, win the tournament and think: ‘Does it matter?’

That is like post-natal depression. It is the same as the girl who has just had the baby. It is an anti-climax.

Do you get that?

Of course. When you get on that high, I imagine it is like the guy who takes a drug. If you put your body, your nervous system, on a high you have to become low. There is no other way.

Have you ever questioned whether football is important enough to dedicate your entire life to it?

Of course.

And how did you answer that?

I decided that the most important thing in your life is to have a target and to go for it. All the rest is even more stressful. It is worse to have no target. You get up in the morning you enjoy one minute, then the next minute, what do you do then? Somewhere in all of us is the desire to feel we are useful, that we have some qualities and we can demonstrate them.

And your desire to do that would be greater than most.

I am not sure. Your drive could be in a different area. I believe top level sport is a great lesson. Every Saturday there is an exam and, if you fail, everybody will say you are an idiot. I am not saying it is right or wrong, it is just the way it is.

When you lose a game, you ask why, and you might decide that the way you prepared the team was not good enough, so you prepare again from next Monday guided by the fact that you do not want to disappoint people again. You become rigorous in your preparations and that is how I became the person I am today. I know I look like a robot.

Would robot be a fair description?

Yes, to the extent your life is oriented to the robotic: but everyone who has targets is like that.

Do you have to be successful to justify that level of commitment then?

Yes.

So if there was a situation in which you thought you could no longer be competitive as Arsenal manager would that strike at the heart of you?

You would have to answer the question whether you were not good enough anymore, or is the policy you have conducted not good enough and if the answer is yes, then something else has to happen.

But if your happiness is very much bound up with success and failure and you feel life is about having a target and achieving it, would not being able to hit those targets massively affect your self-esteem and identity?

If you want to be successful in life it is because what you do has meaning to you. Writing has meaning to you or you would do nothing. You want to convince people that you have the quality to do it.

So who are you trying to convince as manager of Arsenal?

When you are manager of Arsenal, if you lose a game you drive home and you feel completely sick. Then you think, as well, of all the families at home whose weekend is dead because of it. So you feel that weight, that responsibility, too.

Sometimes it is good to ignore it, and to become a bit selfish, though, because if you think about that too much you can become crazy.

Look on the bright side, then: all the families of the team you have lost to will be really happy.

When I was at Nancy as a young coach, the father of Michel Platini was a director of the club. We had a really poor team and we won one game out of every three. One day he said to me: ‘Do you know what I really cannot stand anymore? To see the other bench jumping up and down.’

Is that how you felt about Alan Pardew [the former West Ham United manager who clashed on the touchline with Wenger, after celebrating a West Ham goal at Upton Park]?

Yes, I thought about Platini’s dad after that. One of the things I discovered in Japan was from watching sumo wrestling. At the end you can never tell who has won the fight, and who has lost, because they do not show their emotion because it could embarrass the loser. It is unbelievable. That is why I try to teach my team politeness. It is only here in England that everybody pokes their tongue out when they win.

I think that explains the contradictions people sometimes see in you on the touchline. Everyone thinks of you as being this very cerebral, controlled person, and then the camera cuts to you and you’ve completely lost it.

Of course that happens to me, but at different periods in the year. Sometimes you feel under more stress or there will be a time when you have less resistance to nervousness.

[END OF PART 1]

Note: This Interview has been taken from "The Daily Mail"

Eduardo: “It Cannot Be True. I Am Not Injured”

Sid Siddiqui — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:11:17 -0400

Eduardo has expressed dismay with regard to the news, apparently given by Arsene Wenger after the Columbia-Arsenal game, on his fitness.

Wenger was quoted as saying that Eduardo will take another two months to return to action and the media of course made a big meal out of it and started writing stories that Eduardo had suffered a relapse.

Wenger said: “…in the next two months we’ll have Eduardo back as well, so we have offensive options, but you do not want to lose important players before the season starts.”

Well, according to Eduardo himself this cannot be further from the truth! Speaking today to Croatian paper Jutarhji he said:

“I do not know anything about the statement made by my coach. It can not be true. I am completely ready physically.”

He went on to say that he has already been told in which games he will play in Austria and even for how long in each game.

“I was told that I will play between 20 and 30 minutes on the 27th July when we play against Szombatelya. Two days later against Hannover 96 I will play a half,” he said.

So if we are to believe Eduardo then we can only assume that Wenger was referring to the time that will take for Eduardo to get back to proper fitness after being out for such a long time.

“I feel great, next week I will play for Arsenal, and I believe that everything will be okay,” Eduardo concluded.

A Note Of Thanks To Manchester City From Arsenal Fans

Sid Siddiqui — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:44:10 -0400

Hello Citizens, We, Gooners congratulate you on your successful signing of his goal scoring-ness "Adebayor"

Well this is not just an average signing, is it? Not many times one has seen the club whose star playing is leaving happy as compared to the club who is actually getting him. It is something more than just a signing, it is like God, Himself came down and helped us with two things.

Firstly, He took Adebayor away from us, and then He found someone dumb enough to pay 25 million quids for him.

For an Arsenal fan like me, it is more good than winning the league, ok I was fucking kidding there. However, it is still good ok !

I know how you ultra happy Citizens would be feeling right now. You people must be thinking, has Mark Huges gone bonkers? Well yes, he kind of has gone looney. Then again, which manager has the balls to play four world-class strikers, huh?

Forget that, which bloody manager has got four world-class goal-scoring machines at his disposal? NOBODY.

You people have got the best offense, but a team is complete when it has a good defensive unit as well, for that we are willing to help you again.

You see we also have a good crop of defenders at our disposal, defenders that you won't be able to find anywhere else. We have Sanderos, he just came back after playing for Milan. MILAN, did anyone of your team players played for Milan?

We can offer you Silvestre as well, the lad has been a part of your city rivals for a great period of time, he can help you by giving some tips about how sissy Manchester United is.

Seeing that you want to break in the top four and make it your home like us, we are willing to forward our ever helping hand, but we won't be doing it for free. It is not like your GCSE exam paper where you ask for an answer from a friend sitting behind you, no sir!

You pay us we help you, like we just gave you a striker, whose worth is in BILLIONS for just 25 million.

Finally, I close this by saying a note of appreciation to Manchester city, who have been so nice that they have paid us 25 million for a stirker who is the most awesome striker ever to have set foot on this earth. The reason we sold him is we are not a bigger enough club. The player is too big, and only you, a big club can take him under your wings and enhance his potential.

Note: When I say big I mean, the big DUMB club

A Fan Letter To Emmanuel Adebayor

Sid Siddiqui — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:37:49 -0400

Dear Manu,

Can I call you that? It’s just I feel that, over the past three and a half years, we’ve really to come to know each other.

I am writing to you to see if I can help you with you quandary. I gather that you’re having doubts over your move to Manchester—who wouldn’t?—and might be holding out for a better offer from someone else.

The way I see it, Manu, you’re lucky that City want you, because, frankly, no one else is interested. Not Milan, not United, and certainly not us. You see, while we appreciate the 62 goals you scored for us, some of them spectacular, we genuinely feel like you’ve screwed with us over the last year or so.

It’s not just that you were constantly linked with a move abroad a year ago, us Gooners are sadly very used to our major players being linked with Europe’s elite, it’s that you and your shit-stirring agent were so brazen, shameless and disrespectful in your attempts to whore yourself to Milan.

When it happened to Vieira and Henry, and every time Cesc has his name mentioned, they dealt with it in a manner that underlined their respect for the fans and the great club that had made them who they are. You? Well, I’d say you acted like a mercenary if you hadn’t been so amateurish.

Back then, most of us wanted you gone. We could see that a player so evidently full of himself that he expects a £100,000+ a week salary and a place among the pantheon of great strikers after one good season was not what the club needed, while the money you could bring in could be spent on players that it did.

The sense of disappointment that the apparent £30million deal didn’t go through quickly turned to dissatisfaction when you patronisingly kissed your badge after scoring a meaningless goal in a meaningless friendly, taking us for absolute imbeciles.

Dissatisfaction became anger as you to spent what seemed like the entire season offside, and topped it all off with a sinfully lazy performance against United in the Champions League semi-finals, a team you had terrorised in your first years at the club, and a stage where a player as clearly confident in his greatness should be grabbing the game, if you don’t mind me saying, by the balls.

Don’t get me started on the self-pitying interview you gave shortly afterwards.

I can’t thumb my nose at 16 goals, and the one you scored against Villarreal was fantastic, but you were playing with some of the world’s most creative footballers. Nicklas Bendtner, a young player who has had to make his way in this club the hard way, incurring the ignorant wrath of those expecting everyone to be as good as Thierry Henry immediately, scored one less goal from four less starts and, most importantly, evidently cared about the shirt.

I daresay he gets paid a lot less than you, too.

And the thing is, Manu, it wasn’t just us that didn’t like what we saw this season gone. Do you think your performances impressed anyone with ambitions to domestic and European glory? Did you really think you could phone in your performances for a year and still be coveted by Milan?

After you disappeared so scandalously against United only two and a bit months ago, do you think they’re at all interested in giving one of their biggest rivals £25million, and then paying you £150,000 a week?

Fat chance.

No Manu, I’m afraid to say you’re damaged goods. Give thanks for small mercies, and take City’s ridiculous offer. Their fans are so starved of success and quality that the complete lack of effort—to get onside, to use your physique to battle a centre back, to chase lost causes—might not get to them for a while. Unfortunately for you, there’s very few other clubs that can pay the ludicrous money you think you deserve that haven’t already seen right through you.

If you need some help packing, I think I might know some people who’d be willing to give you a hand.

Manchester City, Arsenal's New Piggie Bank [HUMOR]

Sid Siddiqui — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:42:29 -0400

SkySports News sources understand that Man City are in negotiations with Arsenal about the possible transfers of Emmanuel Eboué and Mikael Silvestre for a reported £25m.

City have pulled the plug on the possible move for John Terry and have now come in for the Arsenal pair Eboue and Silvestre to sort out there defensive problems. Eboue is set to earn £140,000 a week and sign a five-year deal while Silvestre will sign a two-year deal worth a reported £90,000 a week.

Our source is telling us that Man city also want Amaury Bischoff who is on a free transfer and will pay him £30,000 a week.

One Arsenal insider told us, “We want to give them all our rubbish for as much as possible, After they took Adebayor we offered them Eboue and Silvestre and they wanted them. We also offered them Senderos but they told us to fuck off”

So that means that Man City will pay Arsenal £50m for three players this week. Manager Arsene Wenger has told the club that he will not spend the money on new players as he feels the young players are “good enough” and wilth Rosicky and Eduardo coming back from injurys they will be like new signings.

Wenger said, ”Yes now we have £50m to spend it doesn't mean that I will spend it, we have signed Van Persie and Ramsey on new deals and that is more importance then new signings, plus the kids are that much stronger this year. Rosicky and Eduardo are back and they will be like new signings for us. No, I don't think I will spend this summer. I would rather keep the money in the bank then pay crazy prices on players.”

This article is taken from goonernews website, so that at bleacherreport it can reach out to more people.

Bye Bye Melo, Hello Banega

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:33:05 -0400

After some Melo drama, Arsene Wenger has set his sights on another South American youth.

Here are some stats about the player who is currently enjoying Wenger's praise:

Name: Éver Maximiliano David Banega

Nationality: Argentinian.

Date of Birth: 29 June 1988.

Age: 21 years.

Height: 5 ft 8.5 in.

Current Club: Athletico Madrid (on loan from Valencia).

Position: Central Midfielder.

Price: 5 Million Pounds.

Banega came through the youth ranks at Boca Juniors, reaching the first team at 18, and winning immediate recognition thanks to his passing average and his performances in the first division. After teammate midfielder Fernando Gago moved to Real Madrid in January 2007, Banega was named as his successor, despite his young age.

Banega made his debut for the Argentina national team, in a 5-0 friendly win over Guatemala, on February 6, 2008, which he started.

Banega was also called up for the Olympic team and helped Argentina to the gold medal.

And it is rumoured that Liverpool would give Arsenal tough competition, as both clubs are chasing the signature of the young and talented Argentinian.

Demand for Fabregas and Headache for Arsenal

Sid Siddiqui — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:31:01 -0400

There has been speculation about Cesc Fabregas possibly going away from London since the very end of last season, when Arsenal yet again failed to win any silverware. This makes it four seasons without any trophy. And it was something that Fabregas defined as the "impotency" of the club.

Lately two mighty Spanish giants have been in full admiration of the young but immensely talented schemer. Real Madrid, as we all know, has no issues when it comes to spending money, and likewise it is rumoured that Barcelona are ready to part ways with their star striker so that they can use the cash to bring Fabregas back home.

Arsenal on the other hand are very reluctant to sell their team's heart, but every player has a price, and that price goes down when your financial situation is as poor as Arsenal's at the moment.

There is no buyout clause in his contract, but Arsenal have valued their man at 40 million pounds.

However, Madrid are confident that they can get the star for a lesser price. Hypothetically speaking if Fabregas leaves Arsenal but leaves 40 million pounds at Arsene's disposal, which players can help to fill up the space ?

A Rights Issue Is Top Priority for the Arsenal Board

Sid Siddiqui — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:46:35 -0400

This week could be a monumental week in the history of the ownership of Arsenal Football Club.

At a board meeting this week, the directors will discuss, amongst other matter the option of raising additional capital.

Alisher Usmanov has sent a letter to the club formally offering to under-write a £100 million rights issue. Such a move cannot be ignored by the directors as it would be a dereliction of their duties. What Usmanov is saying is that any shareholder who does not wish to take up his or her rights, he will buy those shares.

The purpose of the rights issue is to free-up £100 million of the club's current liabilities, the money is needed to payoff the loan of the Highbury Square development, and would result in lower interest payments being incurred by Arsenal. Through a rights issue the club will receive £100 million.

The club currently has 62,217 shares. The shareholding is as follows:

Stan Kroenke 17,613 28.3%

Alisher Usmanov 15,554 25.0%

Danny Fizsman 10,020 16.1%

Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith 9,893 15.9%

Others 9,137

The Arsenal shares would be valued at £8,500 each, so to raise £100 million, Arsenal launch a 6:1 rights issue, meaning that for every six shares you currently hold, you will be entitled to one new share which will cost you £8,500.

This is the crux of the matter. For Danny Fiszman, who recently sold shares to Stan Kroenke, he would need to invest in excess of £14 million as would Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. I doubt if either would wish to invest further sums into the club. All small shareholders would have to find £8,500 for every six shares they own.

This would leave only Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov with the financial muscle to take up their rights and the rights of other shareholders who have elected not taken up the offer. Assuming an outside bidder didn't emerge.

The board’s fear is that this will allow Usmanov to acquire at least 28 percent of the club, if Kroenke only took up his own rights, then Usmanov will have 31 percent of the club and will be entitled to a seat on the board. This would be too much to stomach for certain members of the board.

If Usmanov gains a 30 percent share of the club then he would required by current stock market rules to make an offer for the remaining shares—in other words, he would have to make a de facto take over bid.

A rights issue is the only way the club will reduce its debts in the short term and release much needed capital for Arsene Wenger to invest further in playing staff.

It is time the board stopped fiddling while the club sinks further below the competition, they are mere custodians of the club and should act its best interests, rather than their own.

Arsenal Rumoured To Be After the Brazilian Monster Naldo

Sid Siddiqui — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:05:39 -0400

Players like Melo and Bezema had been linked with Arsenal, but the deal could never struck with either of them. Melo signed a contract extension with Fiorentina, a deal that has a buy out clause of 17 million Pounds. And Benzema made an inevitable move to Real Madrid for 34 Million Pounds.

When both of the major targets gone, the rumours have started again and this time linking the club with a 26-year-old Brazilian defender, who goes by the name Naldo.

Here are some states of the player:

Full Name: Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues

Date of Birth: 10 September 1982 (age 26)

Place of Birth: Londrina, Brazil

Height: 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)

Playing Position: Central defender

Current Club: Weder Bremen

Price: 5 to 10 Million Pounds

Thomas Schaaf, the manager of Werder has labelled him as the most talented defender in Brazil.

Wenger Planning "Mission Hijack" For Karim Benzema

Sid Siddiqui — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:22:30 -0400

The miserly spending man Arsene Wenger is looking for a replacement for Adebayor, who is said to be on his way to one of the San Siro sides. Firstly there was Marouane Chamakh, but now reports have come out that Wenger is looking for a French player, and not just any French player.

Wenger is looking for a certain Karim Benzema as a replacement for Adebayor. With teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United having interest in the player, and a price tag of 30 million quid many would argue that Benzema is out of Arsenal’s reach.

However, that is where the twist comes in. The Arsenal board is said to be preparing a fund of 30 million pounds for the very highly rated and talented 21-year-old. The majority of which would be aided by Adebayor’s departure.

Though the French ace wants to stay in France to cement his position in the coming year’s FIFA World Cup, a 30 million pound offer would just prove too good for Lyon to refuse.

With the likes of Sir Alex from United and Zinedine Zidane (Florentino Perez’s advisor) from Madrid, with later being the childhood idol of the player, can Wenger with his French connection do the unthinkable and grab the player away from United and Madrid?

Let us wait and watch.

A Pakistani Fairy Tale

Sid Siddiqui — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:34:14 -0400

Pakistan as a nation has been going through tough times, with a guerrilla war going on in the northern parts, and terrorist activities all over the country a particular way of life, recreation, and joy has been on the receiving end of all this chaos.

All this has caused death to Pakistani cricket.

Pakistan is a place where you can witness the love that people have for cricket, whether in small villages or in big metropolitan cities, cricket is a way of life for people all over the country. A craze that has effects on the life of every citizen.

Cricket is most famous of all activities of not just only the youth of the country, but for grownups too, it is a way to get the tension out and enjoy the simple things in life.

However, at the present this way of life is under more threat than it ever was. The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team has made world ask questions about the credibility of Pakistan and it’s security. Pakistan was due to co-host the 2011 World Cup along with India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

This right was taken away by the ICC, the hope that people had of witnessing the world event were gone.

Pakistani players were totally ignored by the IPL and BCCI because the in Indian government blames Pakistan for what happened in Mumbai. There were contract issues between the franchises and players, legal battles and what not.

All this caused the nation to miss their favorite time pass, the viewership of IPL this year in Pakistan as compared to last year was much less, because there were not any local players there.

Come June 5^th at the start of the ICC world T20 the people of Pakistan got a chance to cheer for their team in a major tournament after a long time. The big teams like India and South Africa were tournament favorites, and Pakistan was labeled as the underdog.

As the tournament progressed, upsets such as Aussies crashing out of the cup cheaply along with host England being embarrassed by the Dutch. However, the biggest of all shocks was mighty IPL playing team India failing to win a single game in Super 8 stages and as a result getting out of the tournament.

Nevertheless, on the other hand the underdogs were doing good, they had the support of whole nation, that not only meant people of Pakistan, but of all the Pakistanis living all over the world, mainly in the UK.

With all the support and blessings players gelled together well and after a long time Pakistani team looked like a unit. A unit that was headed by Younis Khan, and what a job the Pathan from Mardan did.

The bold decisions he made, saw a completely new, different and more effective Shahid Afridi. The faith he put in the youngsters like Shahzaib Hasan and Mohammad Aamir, a decision that saw the experience in form of Salman Butt and Sohail Tanveer sitting on the sidelines.

These crucial things made Pakistani team a completely different and more competent unit, and took them to the path of victory.

Victory that could just be the thing this poor, tensed, and beaten up nation needed. A jolt has been provided by this victory. Giving the nation a reason to be happy, to celebrate, to forget their worries and sorrows and experience elation at its purest, something that was long forgotten.

In short, this victory has saved cricket in Pakistan, and has influenced the whole nation. In addition, I would like to pay my respect and regards to the Pakistani team, who gave the nation, the mighty Pakistani nation a reason to never give up hope and always have faith in the Almighty.

People might argue that Pakistan might not deserve the Cup. I would say Pakistan not just deserved the Cup, but needed the Cup to show the whole world that Pakistani people are united, and they are just like every other nation. They enjoy good moments and are peace-loving people.

Andre Agassi and Roger Federer: The Reasons for My Love of Tennis

Sid Siddiqui — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:42:32 -0400

My love for tennis started back in the days when players like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were always fighting each other at the finals of different tournaments and slams. Though Pete mostly came out on top, my love for the game was due to the presence of Andre in the tennis arena.

Though Sampras has held the title of being the best the game had seen in a long past, there was something about Andre that made me applaud him. His whole tennis career has been like a holy grail for me—his punk days, his rivalry with Sampras, his mega return in 1998.

When he came out as a completely different person, someone who was the centre of admiration of young players, I applauded him.

He is the only player in men’s tennis to have been in top 10 rankings in three different decades. He had been the only man in the Open Era to win all four slams, something even the former great Pete Sampras could not achieve.

Nonetheless, he retired in 2006, and I thought my love for the game would fade away. However, that did not happen. In that time, I found a special someone, someone who I have loved and cherished since I have known her. She is my girlfriend, and a big-time Roger Federer fan.

Listening to her all the time whenever there was a slam going on and Federer was winning it, feeling her emotions gave me another reason to love the game; it gave me a reason to love Roger Federer.

Federer is a player who cannot find his equal in the game. He has achieved such a place in the game and its history that it seems it will take quite some time before his records will be broken, and yet he is only 27 years old and still has quite some time to play the game.

The way he commands respect on the court and off it, the love and admiration that the media and his fellow colleagues have for him, the respect he receives from someone like Rafa Nadal, who has his own records to show off—all these make him unique.

This has been a great year for me as far as tennis is concerned. I got to see Andre playing again, and that too with his wife at Wimbledon at an exhibition match, and believe me, seeing those cracking baseline shots along with his cheerful self, I was reminded once again as to why I love this guy.

A couple of weeks after that, Federer became a part of tennis history yet again when he did something only the great Andre Agassi has been able to do in the Open Era—that is to win all four Grand Slams.

What a match it was! For me that match had everything: emotions, scares (fan running up to Roger), a good solid runner-up, supreme baseline tennis, big serves, and whatnot.

However, the most special moment was seeing Andre handing over the trophy to Roger. There I saw the man who has been the sole reason why I started to watch the game handing over the trophy to the man because of whom I currently watch the game.

There has not been a dull moment in tennis for a while, though Roger is here and he is the best. I will always miss Andre, but at the same time I will always cheer for Roger.

Note: Readers, please comment briefly about the players you love in this sport. Thanks.

Team India Falls Out Of T20 World Cup

Sid Siddiqui — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:37:16 -0400

Last night the world came to a standstill—at least the Indian world did—when Indian team was forced out of the T20 World cup by the determined hosts England, who were previously booed by the away team's fans.

England proved at the home of cricket that they are no joke, but the disturbing reality is that the reigning world champions and tournament favorites India delivered poor batting performance when they were to chase an average total.

If we take a look at the composition of the Indian team, which had the massive hitters like Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, and Irfan Pathan. Mighty talented bowling attack that consisted of most experienced Indian pacer Zaheer Khan, the spin king Harbhajan Singh, the IPL top wicket taker R. P Singh. India being favorites for the tournament was totally justified.

Indian players played IPL, all of them; they are well accustomed to the format of the game. For that reason Indian team was considered the biggest threat by other teams, and no one expected India to be out of the tournament at Super 8 stages.

What might have caused India to perform at a level that they did, was it over confidence? Well it can be when you play in the biggest domestic T20 league; you are the reigning T20 world champion you do tend to take others not as seriously as they deserve to be taken.

The Indian team had many individual performers, but it was always felt like they did not play as a team, when bowling was firing the batting lacked and vice versa.

On the other had teams that beat India in the Super 8 stages, the West Indies and England do not have that much star power to make them serious contenders for the title, however they did play as one unit.

Both the teams have mere one or two star players, but they did not just rely on those star players they worked together and complemented each other.

It was reported that there was a rift between the captain M. S Dhoni and the Nawab of Najafgarh, Virender Sehwag. Could this particular rift have caused a divide among the Indian camp? Moreover, when Ian Bishop asked M. S whether the team missed Viru, he looked uncomfortable and said, “Well we have other good players.”

The captain’s decision of sending young relatively inexperienced Ravindra Jadeja instead of Yuvraj Singh is also one reason for Indian team’s demise, though his reason for doing so was the need of stability. Then if they required someone to stay at the wicket, M. S should have promoted himself in place of Jadeja. This particular action by the Indian Skipper is not something that one would expect in a do or die match.

Indian never not looked like as if they were playing a do or die match, however England did and that’s why they came out victorious.

Could it be the immense pressure of the expectations of fans back home and world over?

We all know cricket is followed like a religion in the country, and players are under constant pressure to perform.

Even if that was the case Indian team is good enough to beat any of the other teams in the competition, and this is coming from a Pakistani fan.

Comments are welcome.

Cataclysm of Rubens Barrichello's Misadventures

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:12:39 -0400

Rubens Barrichello, the oldest man on Formula 1 track. Old in terms of age, his vast experience, and the time for which he has been racing. He is one of the most sorted out drivers on technical front, but that does not seems to be enough for poor old Rubens.

First it was Ferrari and Schumacher, and when he had too much of being the second best, behind the Ferrari’s ace driver, he crossed over to Honda F1, but since then he has had horrid times behind the wheel of a mediocre Honda F1 car. However, when Honda F1 decided to pull out of the current season, and a certain Ross Brawn took over the team.

Rubens has experienced time running back once again, once again he has been part of the winning team, once again he’s in a car that is giving troubled times to the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. Yet sadly, once again, Rubens is the second best, but this time he not behind some “out of this world driver” rather a hard working bloke in the shape of Jenson Button. Who is yet to believe that he is the top dog of the world of F1.

Clearly, Ross Brawn deserves all the accolades that are coming his way, all due to his supreme knowledge about the sports, and what it takes to build a good car.

The question remains, why has Rubens with all that experience of his has lacked behind someone like Jenson Button, who before this season had only one Grand Prix victory. Jenson only got to relish the sweet taste of victory on a regular basis this season, something that Rubens is all so familiar with. However all the time since he left Ferrari, he has not learned what it takes to be the winner. As a result Rubens has to be content being the wing man of, if not Schumacher, then of Jenson.

He left Ferrari for the sole reason that he was tired of being held back, but what about now Rubens, who is he going to blame now for not being able to be at the top of F1 world. It was and it is himself that is keeping him from reaching the top, he does not seem to have the extra zest that is the difference in being the winner and the runner up.

Welcome your comments, thanks.

French Football Team and a Crazy Fan

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:21:51 -0400

It has been the norm that once you lose your major charismatic players it takes an awful lot of time to fill up the hole left by their departure.

The process to be at the top again, is somewhat aided by the fact that a country has a large supply of raw talent, that requires to be polished and nourished by someone who is the master at the art of converting young potentially good players into world class ones.

However, is it just and only just about the talent? I am afraid it is not the case. For a team sport like football, you need to have discipline of the game. Due respect must be given to oppositions, no matter how novice their playing levels are.

There must be a sense of trust among players. Senior players who have witnessed the glory, must be humble in helping the new breed so when they (senior players) leave, they themselves and the people (fans) have a feeling that the future of the game along with the honor of the nation is in firm and determined hands

When that certain one person bids farewell to the game another should rise from the ranks and take the tea m forward, ride the talented but inexperienced youth on his shoulders. Be their role model and carry the whole team with grace and panache through tough times, to the glory that he witnessed in his similar days.

However, this was not the case when his smoothness Zinedine Zidnae finally parted with the sport that he loved and through which he forced so many to love him. Patrick Viera at that time was a good team leader, but sadly his days of playing the full 90 were already out numbered.

The next likely to be handed the responsibility was Thierry Henry.

There are no doubts about Henry’s playing ability. Yet does that mean he can be a good captain too? The answer came back as a negative, and majority of the people would agree to this fact.

During his reign at Arsenal as the team leader, his CV lacked trophies. His game diminished playing for France while he was the captain.

He had added pressure, couldn’t and still can’t perform for France at the level which is expected of him, and along with him the team also suffered, in fact it doesn’t seem like a team, seems more like a bunch of special players forced to play together.

This is what French team has been lacking, they do not have that special someone at the top ever since Zidane retired, what they swiftly need is a leader, someone who does not get bogged by the pressure but rather enjoys the extra responsibility.

That special someone for me has to be Bilal Frank Ribery. Every Successful team has its most creative player as its captain. However, there are certain exceptions with the likes of Spain and England, but then again out of the bunch can you find a better leader than John Terry or Saint Iker?

Viera cannot lead the team anymore, Henry is not doing a very good job, and above all this Mr. Domenech has his own shenanigans, his rift with senior players like Pires and Trazeguet. When it is about the country personal different must be and should be kept aside. If this was done so, France could have been a very different team.

A loss against Nigeria that too at home, this is out of the realm of my understanding. Only God knows what is going to happen next, but whatever happens like always the fans would pay the price. Fans like me.

Someone who started watching the game just because he didn’t believe what his friends used to tell him about how cool Laurent Blanc looks when he kisses Fabien barthez’s shaved head before every match they played together.

How effortlessly Zidane used to carry the ball and not many having the competence of disturbing him when he was in such mood.

Like many I am also a diehard fan of French International Football team, it is a strange love affair that took off in the summers of 1998, I am a fan who feels elated when team is doing well and feels sad when it is not doing so. I used to and still do find reasons, reason that would make me less sad when the team loses.

I admit I am not a footballing guru, I am just a fan like most of you, and the current of state in which the star studded French Football team is, its emotionally very difficult not just for me, but for every other fan. People argue it is just a sport, but to a fan, it is a source of both great joys and tremendous sorrows.

It might be madness, but love is always extreme, it has to be such that you give up everything and watch them play and from their side it must be that they try to win. Something which they have not been doing off late.

What Can Arsenal Do to Win a Few Trophies?

Sid Siddiqui — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:48:33 -0400

After having yet another horrid season, I have come up with few tips that might help Arsenal to get its hand of silverware come next season, these things have been taken into consideration after analyzing the Arsenal of good times, and the Arsenal of recent few seasons(not so good times). Lets discuss things that will be able to bring the glory back to the club.

Peter Hillwood must be murdered (Stabbed or stoned to death).

Stan Kronke and Alisher Usmanov should each have 50 percent stake at the club.

Wenger should be asked to go to Real Madrid and kill that club with his youth policy.

Adebayor sold to Chelsea. This is a positive move, Arsenal will get big money, and Chelsea will get a weak offensively, and super defenders or Arsenal will be able to do something about Ade, something the couldn’t do about Drogba. This is called disinvesting for future

Since club has been plagued with defensive issues throughout the season, I say play nine defenders, one goalie cum free kick expert, and a forward who can play long balls.

Wait for five years and hire Sir Alex once he is bored with United. Even at that age, he will be able to win us a couple of League titles and domestic cups.

Go to MLS and play there, we know Arsenal is a London club and USA happens to have London too, and it is London, Minnesota. Go there play the crap league and win it.

Hold a charity auction where players’ services are offered for a week to the highest bidder. Players will act as a gigolo, this will help the club to boast its transfer funds, enabling club to buy better players. If needed more cash in January transfer window same exercise can be repeated again.

Convince few players of the Arsenal Ladies to have a sex change and bring them to men’s squad. Players need to have winning mentality, and clearly, on current form Arsenal Ladies have seen more winning that is not the case with Arsenal’s other not so top squad.

Recruit best gamers from England and ask them to play BPL on PlayStation 3 having taken Arsenal. This has two advantages Arsenal will have few more Englishmen without would temporarily shut Platini up and we win titles, be the virtual ones, they are better than not winning anything all season.

Convince Sabastian Chabal and Vincent Clerc to play in Arsenal Defense and bring in Bryan Habana to play as a forward because of his phenomenal speed, he will be a better forward than Adebayor.

Even my two year old nephew is a better than Ade and he plays with both feet, something Ade does not know how to do (Yes maano chachoo is talking about you).

Players with weak kick should be asked to practice their kicks. After every training session, players should start kicking Wenger’s behind. This will make him know how fans feel with no silverware and the players will get their kicks shaper as the times goes on (NOTE: At this particular type of kick practice Wenger must be asked to wear football imprinted undies).

Invite players and club management to play strip poker, the game should be rigged in such a way that everyone wins once a time, and the rules should say that the winner will have the honor to spank losers’ behind. This will enable the people and players involved with the club to enjoy the joys of winning and pains of loosing.

Wenger must be given geography lesson extensively before transfer window opens, so that he comes to know that world is not only made up of France and Africa, but there are more countries from where players can come.

If Wenger stays, he should contact the devil, sell his soul and in return ask to win quadruple for couple of seasons, who cares what happens to Wenger afterwards (Led Zepplin did it and they were and still are pretty famous).

Fans should get the club board hypnotized, making them believe that Barney the dinosaur does really exist, and if they do not spend big, he will visit their homes and irritate them to death. The fear of Barney will make them sped big, if this does not make them spend big, nothing will.

Go to George Bush ask him the way to help other football clubs and destroying them in the process. Well when he can literally fudge half of the real world, fudging a few big clubs is something he can do in his sleep.

Finally, the team should stop doing a lot of football foreplay (passing) and actually “SCORE,” the thing that really matters.

Will Ferrari Be Able to Get Anything Out of Current Season?

Sid Siddiqui — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:20:42 -0400

Finally, Ferrari managed to score championship points at Bahrain. However, the reliability issues did haunt the team, where we witnessed Massa’s car having problems with KERS system. Something for which he had to make an unplanned pit stop, which was enough to cause Massa the race by pushing him at the very back of the grid.

Raikonen, however, did brilliantly with his Ferrari, but with Ferrari F-60 struggling for speed he didn’t have the answer to the likes of Button and Vettel. Brawn GP is very, very far ahead of other teams in drivers and constructors championships.

However, after saying all these things I think the championships can take a wild turn come Barcelona, where all the cars will be coming on the grid with the notorious diffuser three. Double diffuser along with aerodynamics, that has given Brawn GP a hefty advantage over the prancing horse of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

If any team can make such a dramatic change that’s Ferrari, but once every car gets diffuser three they will be almost identical. Does it mean that it will be up to the driver? Pretty much so and in that case it would be difficult to beat Alonso.

Hamilton and Massa are two other drivers that can give Brawn GP competition given they have a good, reliable, and fast car.

Is Arsene Wenger to Blame For Arsenal's Exit?

Sid Siddiqui — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:33:11 -0400

Yet another FA cup semifinal exit, and probably yet another season for Arsenal fans to be trophy-less.

Honestly speaking, Arsenal wasn’t the favorite in that match, mainly due to a badly patched up defense line. So the Gunners had to go all guns blazing when it came to offense if they wanted anything out of the game.

When you have second string defense at least go for the full offensive armory at your disposal, but again this wasn’t done and we saw players like Nasri and Arshavin on the bench.

On the other hand, the London rivals were with their full first team along with their top Drog, who has been Achilles’ heel for Arsenal in the past.

Many people might argue that Arsenal lost because a gaffe by Fabianski, the make shift No. 2, but he was totally phenomenal against Villarreal at Emirates.

Some might even put the blame on Silvestre for being too lazy to track back when Drogba got better of him.

It was the usual script, Arsenal taking the lead and then ending up losing the match. The only person that should shoulder blame is team coach Wenger, firstly for not having the right kind of backup defenders and secondly for choosing a team that lacked the extra punch.

Saving Nasri for crunch time against Liverpool and then champions league semifinal against United is totally justified, but why in GOD’s name was Arshavin on the bench?

You’ve bought a player worth 15 million Pounds. A player who is not even eligible to play in the champions league. You either have to be very, very stupid or just bluntly egoistic for not using him, and thinking that your “YOUNG GUNS” can beat Chelsea’s big boys.

Why Arsene, why it always have to be the fans who feel the loss of the team not the manager, if Arsene had felt anything in the past he would have done something to bring back the team to winning ways, rather than portraying his talent seeking skills.

Beautiful football and everything is good if it’s backed by trophies, and trophies are something that eludes Arsenal.

Players need to know the feeling of being the champions, they want to and need to feel that adrenaline. Let’s hope Arsenal comes out victorious in the only competition it’s currently in right now: the Champions League.

Diffuser Legal, Now Other Teams Feeling Diffused

Sid Siddiqui — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:37:42 -0400

The much-awaited FIA ruling is out, and diffuser issue that raised many eyebrows is now legal. Much to the dismay of teams like Ferrari, Red Bull racing, Renault, and BMW Sauber.

Ross Brawn lived up to his ingenious technical reputation and gave Brawn GP team something that will help them fight the likes of Ferrari and McLaren.

Ferrari on the other hand has had a horrid season up till now, with KERS, unequal weight distribution and aero dynamic issues, the car has fallen short of the team’s stature.

The defending constructors’ champions have failed to pick up a single point from the first two races, which is their worst start since 1992. This has caused a major shake up at Ferrari, team engineer Luca Baldisserri has been replaced by Chris Dyer.

This came as a result of blunders like Massa not being able to run for Q2, and Kimi being asked to go on wet weather tires when there wasn’t any rain at that time. However, Luca Baldisserri will now be trying new technologies that might help Ferrari to close the gap with Brawn GP.

If Ferrari was having a bad season start, it nothing in comparison to what McLaren is going through. With the lying fiasco to car issues McLaren is in real hot waters right now.

Sporting director Dave Ryan relieved of his position, Hamilton at the gallows, and facing a possibility of a life ban things cannot go any worse for the team.

All in all the season until now has been a treat for the neutrals, but for the Ferrari fans, it has not been anything short of disappointment, and shocking for the McLaren ones. If things kept going like they are now.

Come next season every driver will be willing to drive for Brawn GP, or will teams like Ferrari, Mclaren, BMW Sauber and Renault conjure something out of their hats let’s wait and watch.

Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg Views and Reviews

Sid Siddiqui — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:48:30 -0400

What mid-week Champions League action we have witnessed, my friends. As I pointed out, the Gunners had the advantage of playing the first leg at El Madrigal. However, the credit must go to Marcos Senna for keeping both Gunners and Yellow Submariners on their toes.

He was without any argument, the best player on the pitch that day. He played wonderfully and had an absolute stunner of a goal. He might be a defensive midfielder, but in that particular game he was playing like a man possessed.

The returnees for Arsenal did it once again, and hats off to Adebayor for his calmness and composure, at least he looked that way when he scored what might be the goal of the Champions League. Fabregas again proved what Arsenal had been missing in his absence. He played a measured to perfection ball to Adebayor, and the striker did more than justice to it by leaving the whole of El Madrigal in awe of Gunner superiority.

There were injury scares for the Gunners, but make shift central defender Djourou had a better partnership with Toure than Gallas did before he was injured. Fabianski played exceptionally well in a big game for someone who hasn’t featured that much in the Champions League.

Arsenal does enjoy an upper hand with the crucial away goal, and also because of the fact that some players like RVP, Eduardo, and hopefully Diaby will be joining the team in a fortnight’s time when the two teams meet again at the Emirates.

On the other hand, Manchester United have left themselves an awful lot to do when they travel to face FC Porto. Even at Old Trafford, the home side delivered a lack luster performance. The first goal was conceded in the fourth minute and the final one came in the 90th minute. United should thank Bruno Alves for his generous back pass which fell to Wayne Rooney, otherwise things could have been much worse for the home side.

When United travel to Porto, they will be under tons of pressure for the fact that the home side has two away goals and because they are the reigning champions. They have to go all guns blazing, which is their usual style, but we all know how good Porto is while playing in their own backyard.

The script was reversed at Annfield, when Liverpool played hosts to their league rivals Chelsea. Torres had the brilliant first goal, and Drogba missed two sitters, suggesting that it would be Liverpool all the way. Then came a Chelsea corner where all of the Liverpool players were in the mood to see Ivanovic score rather than defending, and that is what exactly the Chelsea defender did, not once but twice.

Finally, at the end Drogba decided that he should score too, after seeing Ivanovic score twice. Now Liverpool is left with the mammoth task of scoring at least 3 goals at the bridge, and in the process keeping Chelsea quiet. It is not an easy task by any stretch of imagination, and personally neither do i fancy Liverpool beating Chelsea at the bridge, nor do I think they deserve a semifinal spot after such a poor performance at home.

The final quarterfinal was played as we all know between Barca and Munich, and from the first leg, one thing is certain, Barca is the strongest favorite to win the league this year. Munich failed to do justice to their form up till the quarterfinals, no matter how many record breaking performances they delivered in the last couple of matches.

On the night against a good team, they were off color, their defense was nonexistent; their strikers were never in the game. In short, they sucked a lot. A number of neutrals were of the same opinion, they were thinking that this would be a tough match. The home side just went steam rolling over the visitors, with four goals; I see it as an insurmountable task for Munich to get back.

Recipe For The Greatest Tennis Player of All Time

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:24:10 -0400

The game of tennis has seen so many greats in its long history that any other sport would die to have, if not all then some of them for sure.

However, what if we decide to make a player, yes I do mean actually making a player. Player who is a notch above the rest. Whose supremacy is not limited in contrast to present players of the game, but the ones from past as well.

Now there is a need of a good recipe for conception of such player. Here are the essential ingredients, must have a good, accurate and killer serve, for that let’s start with one table spoon of Pistol Pete and two table spoons of Groan Ivanišević.

Without any shadow of a doubt the two most lethal servers in the game. Speed is another factor, which is quintessential for the modern game. So for speed lets have another 2 table spoons of Usain Bolt, need I say more? He is the fastest dude on the planet.

Well for Olympic gold, awesome baseline game, Career Golden slam and endurance add full 6 table spoons of Andre Agassi. Well Andre was the most bad ass base line player of his time, the dude won his last Slam in 2003, at that time he was 33.

He was the US open runners up in 2005, at that time he was 35. So you do get the idea about stamina and will for the game.

What is left now? Let’s see oh yes, two table spoons of Roger Federer. No, make that 1 table spoon of R.Fed, we don’t want the player to lose so many French open titles. Roger for all round game and his cool and calm approach of the game

Add three table spoons of Björn Borg for all those French open titles, and finally do add a bit of Arnold Schwarzenegger for those insanely huge biceps.

Mix all these thoroughly, and you’ll get the end result that is RAFAEL NADAL. A player who is light years ahead of his competitors.

By winning Wimbledon last year and in the process taking the crown off king Fed’s head, and defeating the same guy in Aussie open earlier this year, there is no doubt that eventually Rafa would do something only the great Andre Agassi has done in the modern era, that is winning the career golden slam.

Forget the career slam; I won’t be a bit astonished if he ends up winning the calendar slam this year.

Would Ferrari End Up KERS-Ing Their Decision

Sid Siddiqui — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:50:26 -0400

The new season officially took off today with the qualifiers, and the new rules that FIA implemented have already started to show their colors.

The diffuser issue and the cars with that have done well in the qualifiers. However, the questions still remains about Ferrari, have they been too nippy to go for KERS?

In qualifiers, both the cars did not do that well as it was expected from them. The KERS didn’t really come into play and above all they added weight to the car.

Is that the reason Ferrari got 7th and 9th position on the starting grid, or can it be that other cars like new entrant Brawn gp, Williams and Toyota did their home work well and finally came up with cars that can trouble the top spotters.

Whatever the reason might be there is still a race on tomorrow, which will tell exactly how well the above-mentioned teams have done, or would Ferrari end up cursing the KERS.

Champions League Draw and Predictions

Sid Siddiqui — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:09:53 -0400

The draws are made and we have seen some football powerhouses drawn against each other in the quarterfinal stages of UEFA champions league.

For some teams it has been an easy journey up till now, you see the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich scoring goals as if they were playing against school teams. Others like Manchester United, Chelsea, Villarreal, and Arsenal specially had put in immense amount of effort for advancing to the quarterfinal stages.

As I look at the draws, I cannot refrain myself from making conclusions. Arsenal has drawn against the easiest of all the eight teams. Villarreal can pose a threat to the Gunners but not as much as other qualifiers might have done, both of the teams are on the fourth spots in their respective leagues.

Arsenal on a given day can topple big teams, only this season they beat both of their arch rivals Man United and Chelsea, with the later being an away win, but they also have been very much average against the smaller clubs. If Arsenal plays with its full first team squad; I do not see Villarreal getting the better of the Gunners. The first leg being away is also an added advantage for Arsenal to wrap up the tie quickly. Looking at the current league form, I feel Arsenal will be victorious 3-1 on aggregate, the speed and passing game will succeed.

Looking at the present form of Man United, they should consider themselves lucky to be paired against FC Porto, am I saying that Porto is an easy team? No sir, but looking at the current league situation, the moral of the players will be low having faced back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Fulham.

Still United have a great chance of advancing to the semifinals, where if my above given prediction is right they will face Arsenal, which would be yet another interesting match between the two biggest English rivals. I say United will go through by beating Porto 2-0 on aggregate. United play first leg at old Trafford, which is an advantage for them.

Without even a little hint of a doubt, the most interesting match amongst all the quarterfinals will be when Liverpool and Chelsea meet up. Moreover, if you take it from me, Liverpool will come out on the top in both legs.

Liverpool has a newfound vigor, the will to win. This can be clearly seen in their last few matches, where they completely crushed teams like Real Madrid, Man United, and Aston Villa by scoring fanatical amount of goals in the process.

Chelsea on the other hand have started to shine under new boss Guus Hiddink, but Liverpool’s fire power is too much to be contained by Chelsea’s defense. My guess is Liverpool winning 5-3 on aggregate.

Another Interesting match would be Bayern Munich against Barcelona. We know how Barca has been playing, which in few words can be described as “simply phenomenal.” Munich on the other hand has been playing equally attack-minded football. It is nearly impossible to predict what would happen when these powerhouses collide, but this one is certain, it will be a goal galore.

If there is any team that can prove to be a thorn in Barcelona’s stride it has to be Munich. Both play almost the same style of football. Both have players that can make something out of nothing, and personally it would be an honor to see Messi and Ribery going against each other one more time. No prediction for this match, but the feeling is that Munich might come out on top.

Let us see how things turn out on April 7 and 15.

The Battle for the Speed King Begins

Sid Siddiqui — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:28:04 -0400

It is just a matter of days that F1 will once again be in full swing for another season, and all expectations are that the new season will be much more exciting and interesting than the last one.

It would be completely justified if said that the last season was one of the most intensely intriguing and mesmerizing of all modern day F1 seasons that many of us have witnessed. Till the very last corner of the last lap of the last race, the F1 championship was exchanging hands between Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren).

Nevertheless, all thanks to Timo Glock, who slowed his car at the very last turn before the checkered flag Lewis got the fifth position and hence won the 2008 F1 championship by a point’s advantage over Felipe. What we should keep in mind is that Massa had more wins than Hamilton did, but still Hamilton walked away with the F1 driver’s Championship.

Therefore, for the coming season I will not mind saying that Massa is out to take his revenge. Last season Massa has experienced being Ferrari’s No. 1, he has gained the required skills which proves the difference between a top driver and a winning driver. However, this year it might not be the same story as it was last season for Massa, because Kimi Raikonnen has to prove his worth to Ferrari as it is his final season with the team, however a driver’s championship can help boast Kimi’s chances to stay with Ferrari for another season.

Another issue is the financial crunch because of which teams have low budgets to work with; ING will be parting with Renault after this season as well. Come 2010 season Renault is highly unlikely to afford the talented Spaniard. Who might be going over to Ferrari in the next season as rumors suggest. In the middle of all this, Hamilton has also initiated that if a good offer comes his way he will not shy away from leaving Mclaren.

There have been some changes in FIA rules as well, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone came up with a dramatic suggestion that the driver with the most number of wins will be the champion at the end of the season, this needed approval from all the teams, the feedback wasn’t positive. However, in 2010 season this ruling will implement.

Among the changes, the major ones include usage of eight engines throughout the season, which previously was two races per engine. Slick tires are back again after a 12-year absence, providing the cars with more grip. The 2.4 litre V8 engines that teams will employ this year have a rev limit of 18,000rpm, which was 19,000rpm last season.

Now coming to predictions, I strongly feel this season will belong to the driver who is technically sound and naturally gifted, this is because this season all the cars are almost identical as far as engine power and aerodynamics are concerned. There is no major edge based on power or the aerodynamics of the cars.

Undoubtedly, the most technically sound and naturally gifted driver in the F1 circuit today is Fernando Alonso, and we saw clear glimpses of that in the last season where he won races for Renault based on his experience and technical know how. Raikonnen is another name, but he has raw natural talent, if it is a speed game, no one can beat him.

Nevertheless, we have seen in the last season that when it came to using his brain, the Fin lacked edge that other drivers had. Massa is still the number 2 for Ferrari; he might have an outside chance of taking a second bite of the cherry. Robert Kubica did turn few heads last season, I feel the polish driver might also be successful this season, but winning the championship is still something hard to say.

Hamilton has not shown consistency either, he might be the youngest champion, but wonder Brit has a long time to go if he is to be considered in the likes of Sir Jackie, Senna, Mika, Schumacher and Alonso.

UEFA and Its Sick Plus Five Rule

Sid Siddiqui — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:55:16 -0400

It was not very long ago that Misure Platini became the supremo, and all hell broke loose.

According to Platini, it was his duty to make some abrupt and unrealistic changes. Since then, we have seen different things being discussed.

Things like the six plus five rule, where six players should be of the nation that the league belongs to and five foreign ones.

Then there were things like placing a cap on wages, transfer spending, both absolute and as a fraction of club turnover. He has problems with foreign ownership of clubs.

Among these silly rules there is one that beats them all, which is that international transfer of players under-18 is illegal.

According to Platini, "child trafficking" should be prohibited by the EU.

"Paying a child to kick a ball is not that different from paying a child to work […] in a factory," he said.

The question remains, why is he doing this?

I believe it's because he is envious of a certain league which is better than them all and is famous the world over.

Which league might that be? Italian? No sir. Misure Platini is still in love with the Juventus, so Serie A is out of the question.

Maybe it's the English league. Here, all the big clubs have a majority of foreign players; the majority of clubs are owned by foreigners, and the clubs don't shy away from paying big money for a player they like.

Last year, an English team won the Champions League. The team was foreign-owned and didn't have six homegrown players. This year, out of all of Europe, four English teams have qualified to the quarterfinals, and there is no Italian team (it makes him crazy), two Spanish, and one each from Portuguese and German leagues.

Too many English teams are there who don't follow the ruling, too. I guess he's not very happy because three of the English clubs beat three Italian ones, and Juve was one of them.

Now let's look at the composition of all these teams and their standings. It's wasteful to even take time out and see whether Arsenal and Chelsea have six homegrown players or not. Why? Because the answer is no. We all know that. Manchester United? Nope. Neither they nor Liverpool play six homegrown players.

All these clubs are the most famous ones around the world, with fanbases everywhere—even in countries like Pakistan. Spanish countries, too, but only the likes of Real and Barca; they don't give a crap about loser, lower-ranked Spanish clubs.

I don't know what to say about Italian clubs and their fan following. I've only come across one person named Shayan, who's a Milan fan, but he's dubious because he's a Liverpool and Chelsea fan, too.

I can't imagine what will happen if this ruling comes into action. If it does maybe then Villa will be able to play in the Champions League and nobody will be able to beat Juventus. That would make Platini pretty happy.

No hard feelings to smaller clubs that aren't as financially well off. I've heard some sheikhs think owning a football club is "hip," so you all know who to approach and how to approach them. Cheers!

Arsenal: When Beauty Turns Ugly

Sid Siddiqui — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:24:32 -0500

Terms like style, fluidity, and beautiful football are synonymous with Arsenal. Ever since Arsene Wenger came to the club, fans have witnessed success and lots of it.

Arsenal has had players like Viera, Bergkamp (DB10,) Overmars, Ljungberg, Henry, and Pires, and that's not even one quarter of the list of great gunners.

But in recent times, the Arsenal board, the manager, and even players have been on the receiving end of quite some harsh criticism for not being up there at the very top of the footballing world.

There are lots of reasons for that. Chelsea, Man U, and Liverpool have been bought by billionaires, giving them tons of cash to make big acquisitions, which is not the case with Arsenal.

The manager has almost no cash to spend, and that's the reason why you don't see big players at the club.

Big clubs buy big players, big players play big games, and big games are where Arsenal falters. And all Wenger is left with is enough money to buy young but talented players.

Young talent is good, but young talent is best when it is under the wings of experienced big-time players. I am personally very happy with the purchase of Arshavin, but in the past, Wenger could have gotten Ribery as well.

If he was willing to pay a couple of more millions he could have gotten him, and we all know where the club would be now if he was here.

And then comes the beautiful football, the stylish game, the fluidity on the pitch, it all goes to nothing when team is losing to sides like Hull City, Fulham and drawing with almost all bottom half sides of the table.

It's amazing to see a build up consisting of 20 odd passes, with at least five of them being made inside the box, but the end product is mostly the same and heartbreaking.

I couldn't hide my disgust when Eboue and Bendtner missed sitters against Roma, even my grandma would have toe poked them and scored.

With Vela missing against Sunderland, and Van Persie against Fulham, the team just isn't finishing.

What to do with this beautiful game when all this is happening? They followed with four consecutive goalless draws and eight dropped points against the minnows of the league.

And if this keeps on going, the players will leave. Players like RVP, Adebayor, Fabrigas, and Toure aren't going to stick around when better clubs playing better football in better competitions come up with better money for them.

It has happened in the past quite regularly too. Overmars, Henry, and Hleb went to Barca. Viera went to Juve, and probably in the most stupid decision Wenger ever made, he let Flamini go to Milan.

The lad was phenomenal in one season in which he was the part of the first team. Now Denilson, who is good but too slow, has to play as a defensive mid fielder with no backup.

Defensively, Gunners haven't been that amazing either. The match against Spurs at the Emirates is a very valid example of that.

The question still remains, can we finish inside the top four? Well we surely can, but will we do it?

Let's see how things go. I am hoping the inclusion of Eduardo, Theo, Ade, and later on Fabrigas and Rosicky would prove extremely potent for Arsenal's success.

The league is over, the Champions League has too many good sides, so it's pure lunacy to predict anything at the present.