So much for the bad start, Manchester United?

The new manager David Moyes came in with all the backing of the former Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. How would he handle the pressure? What are the expectations? were some of the questions put forward. Nevertheless,  Moyes proved himself as a decent manager at Everton and was determined to carry on at the Theatre of Dreams.

It started off well for the new manager winning the FA Community shield and won on the first day of the Premier League. Surely that must have cooled things down, but that was not to be.

Manchester United had a tough list of fixtures right from the beginning, facing Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, all quite early. Fixtures came thick and fast. Although not a fancy display but United secured a goalless draw against Chelsea in their second game of the premier league season. Next came Liverpool, who seemed to be in a good form, even though they were without Suarez, who was banned from his previous season's antics. United faced their first defeat of the season, against Liverpool, their arch rivals - Big blow. United faced their most disappointing game of the season versus their neighbours Manchester City, going down 4-1. 

The talks started. Criticism in the air. But they had forgotten something. As stated by Sir Alex Ferguson, " Manchester United are the only team that can come from behind to win the title ". Although a new manager came in, the team remained the same, the desire to win was the same. Since then Manchester United also got back at Liverpool with a 1-0 win in the Capital One cup. Arsenal, the title favourites in the eyes of some people with some of their transfers, were defeated by Manchester United. Champions League, also going smoothly and should qualify if they win their game at Leverkusen in their fifth Champions League game of the season, provided Shakhtar draw or lose in their respective game against Real Sociedad. Still very much in control for Manchester United, considering they still have to play Shakhtar at Old Trafford in their final game of the group stages

So much for the bad start? Manchester United are only 3 points behind 2nd - placed Liverpool and 2 points behind Manchester City, with only Arsenal 7 points at the top of the Premier League, also reached the quarter finals of the Capital one cup and sitting on top of their Champions League group.

Interesting stats:

1) Manchester United are the only English team currently undefeated in the Champions League.

2) Manchester United are on a 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions

3) Rooney has 8 assists which is even more than Mesut Ozil

Who's the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season?

So who really is the best goalkeeper in the  English Premier League this season? You may think it's only the big names and the goalkeepers of the so called bigger teams are the best. Well, but no, not always. It's not always that the stats give you the right idea of who's better than the other but stats do matter. Here is my list of what I think are the current top 5 goalkeepers

5. Lloris

Signed for Tottenham at the start of the season from Lyon for €10 million and €5 million variable. Started the season on the bench behind Brad Freidel. Soon his quality was shown and he forced his way into the starting line up. He is also responsible for some of Tottenham's fine display at crucial times. The 26 year old was also in contention for December player of the month when he conceded only 4 goals in 6 matches, but eventually lost out to Robin Van Persie. 

4. Pepe Reina

Considered as one of the best goalkeepers playing in the Premier League in the last decade for Liverpool. Some of his performances have not been up to standards but still helped Liverpool this season to where they are. In the 2011-12 season, he announced that he would like to stay at Liverpool for another 6-7 years. This season with average performances by Liverpool as a whole, there are speculations whether he would sign a contact extension or no. May be that could be affecting him, but his performances are good enough to earn a 4th place on the list of top goalkeepers this season.

3. Joe Hart

Had a very good season last time around. Probably the best English goalkeepers in recent times, but just as Manchester City's form has dipped compared to last season, so has Hart's form gone down. He is one of the most commanding goalkeepers that I have seen, and considering his age, the 25 year old has time on his side to achieve the much talked about potential. Said to be the future Manchester City & England captain says all about his existing quality.

2. Petr Cech

One of the best goalkeepers to have ever worn the Chelsea shirt. With over 400 appearances for the blues, he's justified his position at the club with some fine performances. Talked about as one of the best ever goalkeepers after Peter Schmeichel, but his head injury 2006 left him out for several months, and unfortunately we never got to see the same form again since his return.

1. De Gea

Playing for one of the most famous clubs in the world can invite pressure. De Gea and Lindegaard were always in contention for a place in the starting line up.. well, that was a thing of the past. Now it's only De Gea in contention. His fine performances in the middle & the latter part of the season has surely smacked a punch on the critics. Current is on a run of 6 consecutive clean sheets. Right from his days at Atletico Madrid, you knew he had something special. His unorthodox saves are something new to the Premier League. 

Other Premier League stats

1. Tim Krul, Rob Elliot & Julio Cesar are the only goalkeepers to have a assist to their name this season.
2. Siman Mignolet, Joe Hart, Asmir Begovic & Jussi Jaaskalainen are the only goalkeepers to have played each and every minute this season in the Premier League .
3. Mark Bunn of Norwich is the only Goalkeeper to be showed a red card this season.
4. Joe Hart has the most number of clean sheets with 14, Cech & Begovic follow up with 11 & 10 respectively.
5. Mark Schwarzer has the most penalty saves with 3
6. Petr Cech & Joe Hart lead the PPI(player performance index) with De Gea in 3rd place, althought De Gea has played a significant number of games less than the top 2.
7. De Gea has the best Shots to save ratio.

Champions League Draw: What to expect?

The Champions League draw for the round of 16 is out is out. Well, but still, it's a long way till the matches are played. The matches are to be played on Feb 12-20(1st leg) & March 5-12(2nd leg) 

Schedule

Galatasaray v Schalke

(February 20 and March 12)

Celtic v Juventus

(February 12 and March 6)

Arsenal v Bayern Munich 

(February 19 and March 13)

Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund

(February 13 and March 5)

AC Milan v Barcelona

(February 20 and March 12)

Real Madrid v Manchester United

(February 13, March 5)

Valencia v Paris Saint-Germain

(February 12 and March 6)

Porto v Malaga

(February 19 and March 13)

Pick of the Ties?

Real Madrid vs Manchester United. The 2nd leg is at Old Trafford, pundits say is an advantage, but I'm not very sure. There is always more of a concern of conceding away goals in the 2nd leg than the 1st leg, because you can't do anything about it as there is no 3rd leg to counter effect, unlike the when the 1st leg, u can counter it in the 2nd leg. I usually prefer the Home game being 1st. But sometimes all that matters it quality.

Another fact is the Real Madrid have faced United twice in the Champions League knockout phase and have kicked the out of the competition on both occasions. 

Also no for getting it will be the return of Ronaldo to the theatre of  Dreams. Wonder how will the crowd react to his homecoming.

Other ties

Not many must have noticed but the other match the excites me is Shaktar vs Dortmund. Shaktar were fantastic in the group stages. They did well where the group included the defending Champs Chelsea and Italian giants Juventus. Quite keen to see how William fares, seems like a good footballer.

Dortmund on the other hand were in the group of death, consisting of the English Champions Manchester City, Spanish champions Real Madrid and Dutch champions Ajax. Before the start of the season I expected Ajax to finish in the bottom two, but surprisingly, they topped it. Although, they aren't doing that well in the German league, but they seem to have set their sights on gaining Champions League glory this season.

Milan vs Barcelona is another big club match. Messi scoring in almost every game, Barcelona topping the group stages, and Barcelona just dropping 2 points all season in the LaLiga, Barcelona seem favorites again.

Arsenal play Bayern Munich. With Arsenal struggling in the league, losing their goal scoring machine Van Persie to Manchester United has created distress among the Arsenal faithfully, some even prompting Wenger to resign. On the other hand, Bayern are enjoying themselves in the German league. Although there seems little doubt that Bayern will go through, Arsenal can still put a challenge with the signing of some good players.

For the remaining ties I pick Schalke, Juventus, PSG and Porto to go through

Chelsea losing their season-beginning magic?

The Chelsea manager was again the focal point in the match at Stamford Bridge versus Manchester City. Some fans chanted "f*** off Benitez, you're not welcome here", while other sign said "Rafa out". Another signboard said "In Roberto we trusted and loved, In Rafa we will never trust. Fact". Quite sad as football should be the forefront, not other aspects.

So who is to be blamed for this? The Owner obviously. The players and fans both seemed happy with Roberto Di Matteo. It was just a bad spell for Di Matteo and I'm sure he would come out of it. Not to forget he is the only manager who took Chelsea to the perch of European football by winning the Champions League, that too with a not so good team. Abramovich really needs to have patience. Football is long term and not short term, therefore should be more careful with his decisions. Well, but that's not going to happen. During the match yesterday, Stamford roared in applause in the 16th min. thanking or rather showing support to Di Matteo as the no. 16 was his shirt no. as a player. 

Now, what's happened has happened. Fans need to get over this as protests will only hurt the players and the team as a whole. They really need to give Benitez a chance after all he has the 'big club experience' with Liverpool, Valencia and Inter Milan. Recently even Cech voiced his concern by saying that the fans should give Benitez a chance. Boo's echoed at Stamford Bridge after the match versus Manchester City when they drew 0-0.

On the performance point of view, Chelsea played with almost no intensity, lacking confidence , unlike the start of the season. Manchester City on the other hand more opportunities, more shots on goal compared to Chelsea. Man City dominated possession as well. It really seems hard to gulp it down that Chelsea having players like Mata, Hazard, Oscar in the midfield failed to get a good performance at home. Two youngsters who seem to be doing well from both the teams are Azpilicueta of Chelsea and Nastasic of Man City. It's great to see some young guns in teams which have been big spenders in the last few seasons.

Stats

Possession

Chelsea - 42%

Man City - 58%

Shots (on target)

Chelsea - 6(1)

Man City - 9(5)

Full TIme : 0-0

Rafael Benitez is back.. with Chelsea

I don't know whether it's good news or bad news, but it's confirmed that the former Champions League winner with Liverpool, Rafael Benitez has been appointed as the next manager at Chelsea. The contract is an 18-month long one, which allows Benitez to stay with the defending Champions in the Champions League till the end of next season.

From what reactions of the fans and pundits is that most of the weren't happy with Benitez's appointment, especially the Chelsea fans, who were over-ambitious in the prospect of landing a bigger manager.

Pep Guardiola was also tipped to become the next Chelsea manager. But it is reported that he turned down the Chelsea offer. Her is what his agent had to say "Pep Guardiola will not decide anything before January. I was with him in New York a fortnight ago and he told me that until January or February he will not decide if he is going to go back to coaching and which team he will choose."

He continued: "It does not matter what happens [in the meantime], before that period he will not make any decision about any club or national team."
He added: "Pep will make the decision himself, he has the personality to do that. He is with his family right now, resting, reading, enjoying his hobbies, watching football and in January he will start to think about what team he could be at next season."

So did Benitez say regarding his appointment? "I think it's a top side who want to challenge for trophies. We will think about one game at a time so we'll just try to win the next game." Regarding fans protest, he said, "The fans all want the same thing as the manager - and that's to win games."

Benitez profile
Born - Madrid, Spain
Age  - 52
Teams managed - 
1994–1995    Real Madrid B
1995–1996    Real Valladolid
1996–1997    Osasuna
1997–1999    Extremadura
2000–2001    Tenerife
2001–2004    Valencia
2004–2010    Liverpool
2010             Internazionale

Win percentage (Major clubs)
Valencia         - 53.37%
Liverpool         - 55.43%
Internazionale - 48%

Achievements (Major clubs)
Valencia         - 2 La Liga titles, 1 UEFA Cup
Liverpool         - 1 UEFA Champions League, 1 FA Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup
Internazionale - 1 SuperCoppa, 1 FIFA Club World Cup

Roberto Di Matteo sacked. Are Chelsea becoming a laughing stock?

Have to say, it's really sad times for Chelsea. Surrounded by racism allegations against the club captain John Terry, who was banned for 4 matches by the English FA, then in the match against Manchester United, Chelsea were caught in a spat with the referee and even alleging the referee of racial abuse towards John Obi Mikel and Juan Mata, though nothing has been proved against the referee Mar Clattenburg. Juan Mata even saying he never heard a thing. And in more recent news, Chelsea have sacked their manager Roberto Di Matteo after a string of bad perfornances

Roberto Di Matteo's time a Chelsea (4th March - 21 Nov 2012)
Matches - 42
Won       - 24
Draw      - 9
Lost        - 9
Win %    - 57.14

So, Roberto Di Matteo has lasted for 262 days, which is more than that of past Chelsea managers, namely Villas-Boas (256), Grant (247) & Scolari (223)

Is it a wise decision?
As we all know, it is the club owner Roman Abramovich who makes all the major decision. Let's not forget that Di Matteo came at Chelsea when they weren't doing that well. Somehow Di Matteo managed to get the required results and achieved something that not even Jose Mourinho could achieve at the club, that is, to win the Champions League. In addition to that he even won the FA Cup. It ended as a satisfactory season for the blues last season thanks to Di Matteo.

Considering the current season, Chelsea sit in 3rd position in the League with only 4 points off the leaders Manchester City. Surely that is not that bad after only 12 games into the season. In the Champions League, nothing's over as yet. They need to win the final group game and there is a huge possibility that Shaktar will beat Juventus at their home stadium. If that happens then Chelsea go through. As of the League cup, they just knocked of Manchester United out of it.

Honestly, nothing was going that bad. Chelsea are in it in every competition. They made a wrong decision years ago when they sacked the fan favorite Jose Mourinho. They made a bad decision again. Sacking managers mid-season isn't good for any club. It disrupts the stability and the season starts going haywire. 

The only reason I see for the sacking of Di Matteo is the recent form, that is, the last 8 games, when in they lost 4 and drawn 2, winning only 2 games, and also cause they think they are in danger of going out of the Champions League after losing to Juventus 3-0. Even Manchester United and Manchester City were out of the Champions League at the group stage. They didn't sack their respective managers as they have realized it only harms the teams. Honestly, I wish Di Matteo had been given a little more time.

Successor?
Recently, with Chelsea's bad form in the light, many reports suggested that Pep Guardiola could join Chelsea as he is still unemployed. Other reports even suggests the former Liverpool manager Benitez to be the next Chelsea manager, but I'm not sure if that will happen. Not to forget our very own Jose Mourinho. Jose stated many times that he would love to manage a Premier League team again. Many look at him as a successor for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, but he recently did mention that he would love to play against SAF again instead of replacing him. With SAF still looking good at Manchester United, I think the only option for Mourinho is to join another Premier League team. And here another opportunity beckons with the Chelsea managerial spot up for grabs. I'm sure Chelsea fans wouldn't mind him getting back at Stamford Bridge. Apart from these well know managers I can't see anyone else who can show that caliber for the tedious job. But you never can predict anything in football. It always surprises you.