Thursday 24 May 2012

Jennifer Lopez Dance Again feat. Pitbull

Jennifer Lopez Dance Again feat. Pitbull
Enjoy, J. Lo's hit song Dance Again-featuring Pitbull. Nice way to 'chill' this Thursday evening-in my opinion


Chelsea: 2011-12 season review

CHELSEA 2011-12 SEASON REVIEW

One word to describe this season- CRAZY!

The Lows-

Finishing a lowly 6th position in the EPL! ( our lowest since 2002- Pre-Abramovich) This sucks big time. Sacking Ancelloti (in the Newcastle tunnel, allegedly!) at the end of the 2010-11 season instead of a player 'clean-out' was an error. The Blueprint for a poor 2011-12 was already in place after a trophyless campaign in that season. So many players were past their prime. Just 2 victories against the top 5 ( Man City at home, Newcastle away) in 10 games says it all!

AVB- he inherited an impossible job because of the reasons above. His motor- mouth didn't help matters! Cardinal sin- losing the Dressing room. When you do this as a Manager, your days are numbered! The last straw was the away defeat at West Brom in early March- this, on the back of 9 games in which we only won once! -our poorest run in many years! This effectively put paid to our title aspirations. There was only one outcome from all this. He was duly sacked!

Abysmal- losing 3 times in a season to a poor Liverpool side( twice at home!) we got the last laugh though!( beating then in the final of the FA Cup- hit where it hurts most!) throwing a 3 goal lead away against Manchester United ( Webb- assisted)- that draw felt like a defeat. Losing 1-0 to QPR away- and finishing the game with 9 men. The infamous Terry- Ferdinand incident also occurred in this match. Conceding 5 against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge- which used to be a fortress!

The Highs- Di Matteo's appointment as Chelsea's interim Manager after AVB's sack. Oh, what a master stroke this was with the benefit of hindsight! Our season was nothing short of calamitous before his appointment. This was uncharted territory for us. If you must venture into uncharted waters make sure you have a sober captain to make sure you don’t end up shipwrecked somewhere. Boy, he did steer the ship brilliantly! 4 consecutive wins- including victories against Birmingham ( FA cup q/ finals) and that famous victory against Napoli at home( q/ finals Champions League) and the rocking ship was steadied! . We subsequently went on to win the FA cup and, against all odds, the Champions League- seeing off a great Barca side in the semi- final and winning the finals on penalties with a depleted side on Bayern's soil. If this isn't Character then I don't know what the meaning of the word is!

The future- Drogba has just announced that he's leaving. I think this legend deserves a statue at Stamford Bridge for what he's done for the club!

Players that should leave too- we need a major overhaul of the playing personnel. In my opinion, the following should go- Salomon Kalou, Jose Bosingwa ( indeed these two have just confirmed that they are leaving) Paolo Ferreira, Florent Malouda, Michael Essien- they are no longer good enough to wear the Chelsea shirt

Players that should be sent on loan- Daniel Sturridge, Oriol Romeu, Romelu Lukaku, Ross Turnbull

Players we should buy- we have a stuffed schedule next season- we'll be playing in the European Supercup and the World Club cup- apart from the busy domestic schedule and the Champions League. Hence the need to strengthen the squad ( apart from our dismal league showing this season!). Also 2 of Abramovich's wishes were winning the CL(achieved) and to play attractive football( not quite there yet)

To achieve his second wish- we need:

A creative midfielder- all our current midfielders, bar Lampard and Mata, are ball winners and passers who are not so effective in the opponent's half. This explains the overuse of Mata and his below par performance for much of 2012 due to burn- out. Lampard, though still useful particularly in big games, is not a 30+ games a season player anymore due to age. Hence we welcome Genk's Kevin De Bruyne and Werder Bremen's Marko Marin ( both already signed for Chelsea) to solve this problem.

Strikers- it is common knowledge that I'm in love with Napoli's Edison Cavanni and Ath. Madrid's Roberto Falcao. ( I've even featured the latter on my blog on a few occasions) I pray my wish comes true for at least one of these men!

Pacy winger- to help to spread play and feed the strikers. Bilbao's Markel Sussaeta and Iker Munain, Lille's Eden Hazard, and Juventus's Milosz Krasic come to mind here

Abramovich did say " this is just the beginning!" to the boys in the dressing room after our triumph in Munich. To this I say to the Opposition: be afraid!, be very afraid!!

Rubbing my hands together in gleeful anticipation! Chelsea for life! * kissing the badge*















Helmuth Duckadam-The Hero of Seville: European Cup 1986

Helmuth Duckadam-The Hero of Seville: European Cup 1986
Chelsea won the 2012 Champions League on penalties (4-3 against Bayern Munich). This is the perfect motivation to travel down memory lane! I bring you one of the most extraordinary penalty shootouts you'll ever see. The European Cup final of 1986 ( held in Seville), between Steaua Bucharest and Barcelona, had ended in a deadlock after regulation and extra time.The match had to be decided by penalties as usual. Time for a hero. 
Enters Steaua's goalkeeper, Helmuth Duckadam-who, incredibly, saved all the 4 spotkicks of the Spanish side!! Steaua only needed to convert 2 of their kicks-and were crowned Champions of Europe!! Duckadam was dubbed the Hero of Seville after this. 
Now you'd expect that this feat would be rewarded by the Romanians-you are right! 
On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — ("The Sportive Merit" Order - class II), for his part in winning the of 1986 European Cup. Two years later, on 11 August, he was named Steaua's president !! sunglasses smiley

Sunday 20 May 2012

Chelsea-Champions of Europe

Chelsea-Champions of Europe
The 19th of May 2012 has to be the greatest day in Chelsea's history! This was the day they became UEFA Champions League winners by defeating Bayern Munich in the final-at the Allianz Arena. The game ended 1-1 after 120 mins and had to be decided by penalties-which Chelsea won 4-3. They become the first London team to win this competition
Stand Up, Stand Up for the Champions! Of course, this is the team I support!





Sunday 13 May 2012

Kun Aguero's winner for Man. City

Kun Aguero's winner for Man. City
Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! QPR almost spoiled the party at the Etihad Stadium-home of Manchester City earlier today. The visitors who had been reduced to ten men ( courtesy of a Joey Barton red card) took the lead (2-1) and Manchester City was heading towards defeat and- more significantly-losing the Premier league title to bitter rivals Manchester United (who were winning 1-0 at Sunderland) But Edin Dzeko equalised for the home team in the 92nd minute and Kun Aguero won the game-and the title- with a well-taken goal in the 94th minute!! This moment is best watched than explained!   Also check out the contrasting emotions at the end- on the Manchester United side! Priceless!!
 This why we watch this game, this is why we love the English Premier League (EPL)! Unparalleled for excitement and intrigue!!
Congratulations to Manchester City-EPL 2012 (deserved) Champions!!



szólj hozzá: Gol de Sergio Aguero




szólj hozzá: Man City lift PL Trophy

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Radamel Falcao's brace-1st half Europa final

Radamel Falcao's brace-1st half Europa final
It's half-time in the Europa Cup final-with advantage to Athletico Madrid. They lead 2-0, vs Athletico Bilbao. Thanks to 2 brilliant goals by Radamel Falcao-his 11th and 12th in the competition!!. There are few better strikers than this guy in world football right now! I've featured him on this blog before. Check out the goals below.

szólj hozzá: Gol de Radamel Falcao Garcia



szólj hozzá: Atletico vs Bilbao 2:0 Falcao

Sunday 6 May 2012

Petr Cech- best save ever?

Petr Cech- best save ever?
Chelsea's Petr Cech made an amazing save in the FA Cup final 2 days ago. It was from a powerful header by Liverpool Andy Carroll-who had started celebrating a goal. 

The score was 2-1 in favour of Chelsea at the time but Liverpool were in the ascendancy at that point in the game. The officials got the call right as video evidence showed that the whole ball did not cross the line. The scoreline remained the same and Chelsea won the game and the FA Cup. Talk about a match-winning save! It must be arguably his best save ever. Moral of the story for Andy Carroll-don't count your chickens until they are hatched!








Saturday 5 May 2012

Emeli Sande-Next To Me

Emeli Sande-Next To Me

What better way to start a Saturday morning than listening to lovely crooner, Emeli Sande's hit song-Next To Me?. I imagine that the song would be popular with the ladies as it talks about the ideal man -who eschews all the male vices and is always next to his lady! My opinion-he doesn't exist!!laughing smiley 
Anyway I don't want to be a spoilsport! so just enjoy the song. 
 Emeli has an interesting bio-witth a Zambian father and a Scottish mother. She also dropped out of Medical school in her 4th year. I hope Miss Sande doesn't end up as just another buzz act who drops a catchy song and fades into obscurity

Rashidi Yekini-the memories

Rashidi Yekini-the memories
Former Nigerian striker Rashidi Yekini died yesterday at the age of 48 years. He was very prolific as a striker- scoring goals with ease in every club he played for. He still holds the record of Nigeria's highest goalscorer (37 goals in 58 matches)  
The gangling striker made his competitive debut for Nigeria during an Olympic qualifier in Dec 1983 but he really flourished in the National team under Coach Clemens Westerhof. His last game for the national team was in 1998.
 He was top scorer in the Portuguese league (1993-94) and African footballer of the year in 1993-scoring an incredible 34 goals in 32 matches for unfancied Portuguese side Vitoria de Setubal( no mean feat if you consider how modest this club is in Portugal). He also scored Nigeria's first goal at the World Cup in 1994. RIP Rashidi Yekini. Below are some of the video clips of his goals











Wednesday 2 May 2012

Newcastle United's Cisse- two wonder goals!!

Newcastle United's Cisse- two wonder goals!!
Papiss Cisse has to be the signing of the season in the English Premiership. He has been simply magic! since his mid season move from SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga to Newcastle United. I have featured his goal before on this blog. He did it again yesterday- scoring two amazing goals and confining Chelsea to a 0-2 loss at home- as Newcastle took all the spoils at Stamford Bridge. He caught Petr Cech, Chelsea goalie, napping on two occasions for both goals-not a mean feat!. He has now scored 13 times in 12 appearances for The Magpies
 Papiss Cisse! what a player, what a buy! sunglasses smiley
szólj hozzá: ch0-2ne

Lady Gaga's Alejandro

Lady Gaga's Alejandro
Heard this song again on the airwaves today-it's about 2 years old now. Ordinarily, I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga but I love this song. The beat is on point!sunglasses smiley Even though the lyrics are about poor Alejandro getting the boots by a babe, I think Lady Gaga nailed this one!happy smiley