Falcao, A Lost Soul

Manchester United have always been miser spenders in any transfer window over the last two decades. Although, the tables have completely turned with the start of this season with cracking signings of Angel Di Maria, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rojo, Daley Blind and Rademal Falcao. The one player who interests me is Falcao.

United never needed a striker, let alone a world class one. They had with them a plethora of world class talent up top with the likes of Rooney, van Persie and Danny Welbeck. Louis van Gaal made a brave decision of letting go of an academy graduate in Welbeck for a price of around £16 million and bring in Falcao, who hasn’t featured in any games for either AS Monaco or Columbia over more than 6 months. What intrigues me more is that bringing in Falcao for a loan spell itself has cost United a massive £10 million just to keep him at Old Trafford for a year. It indeed speaks volumes of the desperation of United to get some Champions League football for the next season.

Falcao, however, has been of no use for United with just one goal in his short stint at the club. Injuries don’t seem to want to leave his side, keeping the talented striker out of action for majority of the season. Falcao hasn’t started since two months for United with his knee giving up every now and then, making it difficult for van Gaal to put him up front to face the physicality of the Premier League. What is Falcao doing wrong that is keeping him out of the game which made him a superstar just a season ago?

The answer is simple. Falcao, who could have joined any big club in Europe with his uprising at Athletico Madrid, chose to join a team his huge cash deposits in its vault with new owners coming in. Any club would have had him at that moment, for all his wage demands. But, he chose AS Monaco to fulfil a lust for money. As much as he would deny this fact, it is always relevant with the way he declined so many huge offers from Europe’s elite to commence football in the lesser known French League.

The man who single-handedly destroyed Chelsea in a European Cup match, is fighting hard in training to get in front of 19-year old academy graduate, James Wilson. What would have happened if he hadn’t joined Monaco? Maybe, he would not have suffered with a horrendous injury. Maybe, he would have played the World Cup and taken Columbia to a much more advanced position than they already enjoyed. Maybe, he would have danced in the celebration of every goal as his teammates did in Brazil. Maybe, we wouldn’t have ever seen him wearing the United No.9 jersey either. These are the ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ for which there are no perfect answers.

Radamel Falcao, who scored a humungous 52 goals in 68 appearances at Athletico Madrid, has shown a few glimpses in the red shirt of United of his unique, undeniable talent. He is every bit of a player he was in Spain. The temperament, the swagger, the threat, the work ethic, he has it all. The only things he needs now is fitness and more importantly belief in himself, about who he was, is and will be in the future.

The world has seen him seep into his own shadow, waiting for the sun to shorten the shadow’s height. But, all he has to do turn around and face the sun.

Arsenal Maintain Their Consistent Poor Form

A scrappy win against a tough Southampton side would have awoken Arsene Wenger to tighten up the loose screws and carry on with the momentum against a disciplined Stoke City side. This wasn't the case with the Premier League giants.

Arsenal were completely shattered at the very beginning with Peter Crouch, the tall Stoke City scoring for them from kick off. Even though it was an early blow away from home for Arsenal, they had the entire match in their hands to get the lead and eventually the three points. But, yesterday was something completely catastrophic for a side who have qualified for the Champions League in sixteen straight seasons.

With the introduction of Mark Hughes to the Stoke side, they have looked more fluid and confident on the ball rather than playing the ugly long ball game they have played under Tony Pulis. They took the early momentum in their grasp and continued to affect Arsenal's play. The second goal for Stoke came in the 35th minute when Jonathan Walters heaved a high cross only for the swift and elegant Bojan to come across and score. Arsenal were blown away by another sucker punch right at the stroke of half time when a corner led to a scrappy goal adding on to Arsenal's towering problems.

Arsene Wenger, who has had to face a lot of criticism from the Gunner faithful, had a mountain to climb in the next 45 minutes. The Frenchman made a few quick changes with the introduction of Danny Welbeck which meant he would play with two strikers including Girourd, who missed a excellent opportunity of closing the gap with the opposition.

Arsenal started the second half brightly, with many elegant passes put together. Sanchez, Welbeck, Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey enjoyed  lot of freedom and contributed to many exciting and creative moves resulting in many unsuccessful attempts on goal. Arsenal finally broke the duck with a Cazorla penalty after Flamini was brought down in the box.

Arsenal scored a second just two minutes after the first strike with a sensational volley by the Arsenal academy graduate Aaron Ramsey. This goal proved to be the driving force which made the fans believe that there could be three points to take away. Arsenal kept the intensity at soaring levels with Stoke settling to a defensive formation trying to defend the slender lead.

In the end. all the late attempts on Stoke's goal didn't prove enough for the Gunners to grab any points at all ending the game at 3-2 in the favour of Stoke City.

I believe Arsenal has far too many improvements to make with Arsene Wenger short of ideas at the moment with an ordinary sixth position in the table. Maybe the fans are right in asking Wenger to hang his boots, maybe not. Only time will time.

The Premier League Portal: Live Streaming

The Premier League Portal: Live Streaming

Southampton vs Manchester United: Preview

         

The start of the season for Southampton and Manchester United have been similar yet contrasting. Both United and the Saints had to make managerial changes for different reasons, with Moyes being sacked before the end of last season and Mauricio Pochettino leaving for Tottenham in hopes of European football. Both the clubs have had several changes in the squad, again for opposing reasons, with United bringing in world-class players with their bags of gold and Southampton losing all their emerging talent to the bigger clubs. Although, the start that we expected from the Premier League competitors was even more conflicting. On one hand United kept dropping points, both home and away, and on the other hand the Saints kept scoring for fun and keeping up a good defensive record in the process.

        The way the tables have turned in the favour of Manchester United is indeed a story to tell. With players still succumbing to injuries almost every match, United and van Gaal have kept their pride intact and are in a position to lock in the third position in the table very soon. United have found some sort of temporary stability in the back with Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo complementing each other. Although, in the absence of Rafael and former Southampton star Luke Shaw, United could be tested from the wings. They won’t have too many worries in the front as van Persie has shown decent displays in the previous two fixtures along with Rooney who has been in excellent form for both club and country.

         Southampton have a mountain to climb at this moment with two back to back defeats against Manchester City and Arsenal. After the blistering start to their season, they have finally let their guard down in their last two fixtures, desperately needing a shift in the declining momentum. There are definitely gaps in the United defence that fullbacks Bertrand and Clyne could exploit with no recognized fullbacks in the opposition side at the moment. Roanld Koeman has to make sue the likes of Jose Fonte and Alderweireld to stand up tall in front of the Forster to keep the goal machines quite.

Goals are a surety with creativity on both sides of the pitch. Southampton will have a 12^th man in the crowd with soaring high volumes encouraging a young and fearless team. My prediction would be a 2-1 win to United who will carry on their winning streak to a total of five games. However, anything can happen in the Premier League, the league of possibilities, surprises and miracles.

Sit tight and enjoy!

                

Southampton: The North Star of the South

Southampton at their Best.

When Ronald Koeman took charge of the well-established Southampton F.C., he could not have asked for a more unfavourable situation that he had to face. With some of the star names leaving the Saints to join the top clubs of the Premier League, it was evidently heading towards a difficult task of not just staying in the mid-table but also of staying in the top tier of English football. Even though Southampton had managed to keep hold of their key midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, the absence of Adam Lallana, Rick Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw and Callum Chambers had left gaping holes in every department. Even with a lot of funds collected with the sale of their astronomical players, developing a winning formula again would have prove to be extremely challenging, or at least that’s what everyone thought.

                The sheer force and optimism with which the Saints have tackled teams in the season so far, goes far beyond words. Southampton believed in their own academy which formed a pillar of excellence over several years giving almost the entire Southampton squad along with a few players in the top clubs. The Saints went in and invested enough to bring work ethic into the team along with creativity and goals. The signing of Shane Long is one such example. A relatively unknown figure up until this season to the English fans, Graziano Pelle applied his trade with numerous clubs in the Italian Serie A before joining the Saints. No one knew that this could be one of the dream moves of the season. With the departure of three established first team defenders, Koeman believed in the current crop and went ahead investing only for Florin Gados with Ryan Bertrand and Toby Alderweireld signing on loan. The midfield was added to with Dusan Tadic, a Serbian international, and Sadio Mane for a total of £20.9 million. Koeman also brought in an amazing shot stopper in Fraser Forster from Celtic for approximately £10 million.

                Unlike Liverpool, what Southampton did well is sign a sufficient number of players but also keep the core of the Saints in tact with those few additions. Looking at the tables, I am sure Koeman would have a few tingles about his spine, every now and then. With 14 games played already in this season, the Saints have established themselves at the third positon, above all the top clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, the Manchester Clubs and even Everton and Tottenham.

                When we analyse the entire season so far, we can see that the progress of the Saints has been a direct effect of the faltering defences of the biggest clubs in the world. Except for Chelsea, who are flying high at the top of the table, none of the big money teams have looked even half as composed during a full duration of a match. Southampton, on the other hand, have made full use of this opportunity to tear defences apart with sleek passing and classic creativity. Koeman has adapted to an attacking style of football that Southampton has always been known for. The style and football and goals to go with them have really shown the world that the Saints deserve their postion in the table.

Pelle have finally come into the limelight that his talent deserved. For the Saints, he has already scored 9 goals in a mere 14 appearances. He is definitely one of the candidates for signing of the season. After losing to Liverpool on the first day of the season, they have not looked back, with consistent displays from Jay Rodriguez, Jack Cork, Schneirderlin in midfield to go with the goal-scoring of Pelle. The defence has been an idol of excellence, something which the bigger clubs are dying for. The likes of Nathaneil Clyne, Jose Fonte, Gardos and Bertrand have managed a total of 7 clean sheets and only conceded an ordinary 8 goals during the 14 games.

These are statistics with which any manager would be proud of, especially someone who a few months ago would have been uncertain about their position even in the top half of the table. Koeman has brought in a lot of optimism into the clubs and fans, who have been attending in huge numbers to support their homemade club.  With so many players graduating from the Saints’ Academy, they have altered the philosophy of modern day football where money is compared with the clubs’ position in the table.

Koeman and Southampton have proved that the traditional system of scouting young talent from the grassroots of football is as important as buying the readymade talent that you find in every newspaper. Money can buy you everything, but the traditional spirit does overcome it every once in a while leading up to a sumptuous display of quality football. The hope would be that the Saints keep their flag waving until the wind is strong and give the world a treat to watch every time they the pitch.