The Munich Inquisition

The last few days have been hell to me and in truth I’m not so sure I’ve completely recovered yet. No, I haven’t been sick or unwell health-wise. If you’re still lost, I’m referring to Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final at the Fussball Arena, Munich. Good guess, I’m not a Chelsea fan. The events that transpired on the night left me sick, drained, dejected, disgusted, I could go on and on.

How Bayern Munich lost that match and the chance to become European champions for the fifth time still beats me. Seriously, how did that happen? You may be wondering why I’m getting this personal or to put it bluntly, why am I ‘catching feelings?’ Simple! I’ve been a Bayern fan for as long as I can remember and so in a way, I felt hard done by. I still do.

Back to the football itself, Bayern dominated possession, pressed and pressed, got the breakthrough goal in the 83^rd minute then totally lost the plot. Five minutes later, Chelsea clawed themselves back to take the match to extra time, where Arjen Robben contrived to fluff a penalty (and he’s perfected that art) and almost half an hour later, Chelsea were lifting the trophy, as I squirmed and winced on the couch in utter disbelief. I’m not going to begrudge the winners of the night, so congratulations to Chelsea Football Club, 2012 European Champions. I’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong, hoping that in future the same won’t befall any of my teams and I came up with this:

1.      Arjen Robben

Undoubtedly the villain of the match (and by extension, the season). The fact that Bayern Munich finished the season as the ‘almost’ champion in all the competitions they took part in is largely down to this Dutch attacker. Now, Robben when fit is one of the best players in the world. He has this ability to turn on the style with individual brilliance and change the course of a game at any point. Obviously he was expected to deliver and if he delivered in that final, this post would have been different. Somehow after wasting so many chances, he managed to throw away the penalty they had been awarded in extra time when the easiest and logical thing to do would be to bury it. That was the turning point and really, Bayern were never going to win after that. You would think that miss will forever haunt him, but no, he’s got plenty more, like when Bayern faced Dortmund away in the Bundesliga a few weeks ago. With Dortmund leading 1-0, Bayern were awarded a penalty in the 84^th minute and up stepped Robben and the outcome was obvious. He missed, and effectively ended any hopes they had of piping the champions to the title. I doubt whether Bert van Marwijk will let him take a penalty for the Dutch in the Euros even in a match they are running riot 6-0.

2.      Jupp Heynckes

When Jupp was named Bayern manager sometime back I wondered why they did that. Digging up a bit, I learned that he had won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1998 so I thought, well, he must have been a decent coach. At this point though, I have to emphasize the fact that I’ve never really liked him. The final just further vindicated my dislike of him. With David Alaba and Holger Badstuber suspended, Heynckes opted to replace them with Contento at left back and Anatoliy Tymoschuk at center back. When I saw the line-up I had no problem with Contento but felt Tymoschuk shouldn’t have been deployed out of position in a match of this magnitude. I know he did well regardless, but just after Bayern had taken the lead, the manager made a substitute that did not bemuse me one bit, Daniel Van Buyten for Thomas Mueller. Really?

Surely if you have Van Buyten, a central defender and a potential goal threat, available for selection, why not start with him? In the match Bayern had like 20 corners or so without actually threatening. With Van Buyten a proven aerial threat, I can’t help but wonder ‘what if…?’ Still on the said substitution, you’re leading by a goal in a final with roughly only 10 minutes to go. You then take off your goal scorer and your most effective goal threat and replace him with a defender? Fine, maybe you want to protect your lead. Is that necessary though, when your opponents have been playing in their own half all along? At the moment I thought that having broken Chelsea’s resistance, Bayern would even pile more pressure as opposed to stepping off the gas and allowing Chelsea to up the tempo. And it was evident during extra time when the Bavarians had overloaded their defense and ran out of options and ideas due to the absence of Mueller.

By midway in the second half, Mario Gomez was evidently jaded and subdued, but rather than take the bold step and replace him with Ivica Olic, Jupp let him prolong his profligacy in front of goal. Yes, fine, Olic did eventually come on, but it was late and he was played on the left, where he was always going to be less than effective. Had he been the center forward, the Croat would have been more a nuisance to the Chelsea rear-guard than Gomez was, and who knows?

Jupp Heynckes is a respected manager and maybe rightly so. Do I think he’s right for Bayern Munich? Hardly. The fact that you’re in charge of the biggest club in Germany yet you’re outsmarted thrice by a rival manager in the same season shows you don’t quite cut it. Bayern were beaten 1-0 home and away in the Bundesliga then humiliated 5-2 in the DFB Pokal (German Cup) final by one team, Borussia Dortmund. Being on the receiving end of all that sure doesn’t make you a great coach, and I’m sorry but at Bayern Munich, that’s unacceptable!

I would have gone on but enough of spitting brimstone. People say that it had been written that Chelsea were going to win the Champions League, and they are probably right. What I’m not sure about is where this was written and who wrote it. Finals are won and lost, but also what you do during the game actually decides whether or not you win. I choose to think Bayern Munich bottled this one.

The Final

Finally destination Munich is here! From the 32 teams that were drawn in the group stage at the start of the season, only two are still standing. Indeed it is Bayern Munich and Chelsea that will slug it out on the night of May 19^th at the Allianz Arena for the grandest prize in European club football: the UEFA Champions League trophy. So who will emerge champions? The Reds or The Blues?

At the start of the season when the draw was made, I (as many others did too) pointed out 3 teams that were favorites to lift the trophy: the reigning champions Barcelona, newly crowned Spanish champions Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, the hosts of the final. And true to form, these three giants made it to the last four of the competition. The logical expectation at the time was that two of them would ultimately make it to the final, with most experts predicting an El Clasico of Real versus Barca. I put my money on a Bayern-Barca final. As it turns out the Germans made it alright, but the final would prove too tall an order for the two Spanish powerhouses. Chelsea managed to pull off the improbable and have undoubtedly merited their date with destiny in the final.

Chelsea’s season by all stretch of imagination has been as strange as they come. For the past 8 seasons we have been used to Chelsea challenging for top honors domestically and also proving destructive in Europe. But whoever scripted the Blues’ 2011-12 season must indeed harbor a wicked sense of humor. The season started with the recruitment of Porto’s treble winning manager, the young Andre Villas-Boas. This was seen by many as a bold step and a revolution of sorts but it came to naught. The Portuguese’s futuristic thinking and approach failed miserably to inspire Chelsea’s trusted old guard and by February he was on his way out. By that time Chelsea’s title challenge had long fizzled out and even the prospect of finishing in the lucrative top four places in the league was bleak. In the Champions League, they had huffed and puffed past their group only to be completely destroyed in Naples by a rampaging Napoli in the first leg of the round of 16 knockouts.

Enter Roberto Di Matteo. Having been promoted from being Assistant Manager to the top position albeit as caretaker, the Italian embraced the unenviable task to picking up the pieces, assuring and inspiring the old men and getting the Blue ship back onto safe waters. It seemed impossible, considering the damage that had already been done up to that point. Little did we know that the soft-spoken legend had something up his sleeve. He turned the tide, as the thrilling fight back at the Bridge in the second leg to knock out Napoli exhibited. There was a renewed belief and hunger in the squad once again. The epitome of Di Matteo’s miracles certainly has to be how he marshaled his bruised troops to stage probably the defensive performance of all time to knock out holders Barcelona over the two legs. Simply, legendary stuff that was. Add to the fact that they go to the final as newly crowned FA Cup champions and the disastrous start of the season seems like ages past.

For Bayern Munich, surely if their season was code-named, it would be ‘Operation Home Final’. Even among the big guns at the club, it is an open secret that the Bavarians’ prime objective for the season has been to rule Europe once again. The fact that the final would be staged at their beloved Allianz Arena only served to fuel this already burning desire. In no other instance is this more evident than the manner they annihilated Basel 7-0 in the quarter final second leg at home to overturn a one-goal first leg deficit. The appearance in the final aside, a season like this when FC Hollywood lost the league to Dortmund and got a thorough 5-2 thrashing by the same team in the German Cup final would be viewed as an unacceptable failure but it’s different this time. This only shows how much Bayern badly wants this trophy.

The Germans go in to this match as the favorites definitely, considering European pedigree, the quality of players that will line out for them and of course obviously the fact that they are playing on home turf. It is debatable to say that playing at home is an advantage as with it comes added pressure to perform. In any case since the competition rebranded in 1992, no team has ever won the final at home. Then again Bayern is one of Europe’s biggest teams and big teams rarely lose at home when it really matters. On the issue of pressure, well, the ticket allocations to both sets of fans will be roughly 50-50 hence pressure from home fans won’t count for much.

Both teams go into the final with their back-lines tweaked to some extent due to suspensions and this could be decisive ultimately. Chelsea will be without captain John Terry who was red carded against Barca and Branislav Ivanovic who’s serving a one-match suspension. These two defensive stalwarts have been key for the Blues and their importance cannot be over-emphasized. Apart from their defensive abilities, they both have a knack for scoring vital goals up field, case in point being Ivanovic’s goal against Napoli that sent Chelsea to the quarters. Furthermore, the other two center backs, David Luiz and Gary Cahill are only now coming back from injuries and even if they make the squad, their match fitness for such a high profile match is highly questionable. Bayern too have problems in defence as both Holger Badstuber and David Alaba are suspended. Its Alaba’s absence that will be most felt as throughout this campaign the lively young Austrian has nothing short of sensational with his marauding runs at opposing defences on the left flank. He’s also developed a devastating partnership with Frank Ribery and Bayern will sorely miss that.

The game will be won (and lost) in the midfield. This is quite an overused cliché, I know, but it will be proved right once again. I can confidently note that Bayern’s midfield is far superior to Chelsea’s. And this is where the English have been hardest hit by suspensions. Both Ramires and Raul Meireles accrued their respective second yellow cards at the Camp Nou and hence are out. Honestly it is hard to see how Chelsea will win without Ramires given the kind of breath-taking form he’s been of late. The Brazilian set up Drogba’s goal against Barcelona at the Bridge and went one better in the return leg, starting of the Blues’ fight back with that cheeky chip and goal that confirmed to us that he really is Brazilian and not just on his passport. Meireles on the other hand can play both defensive and attacking roles with equal effectiveness and his absence is really a big blow. For Bayern, Luis Gustavo will miss out. He’s been influential in the middle of the pack imposing his presence and disrupting opposing attacks. It’s a pity all this great talent will be denied an appearance on the big stage.

It will be interesting how the coaches, Jupp Heynckes of Bayern and Roberto Di Matteo of Chelsea will deal with the forced deficiencies. Whether Heynckes will replace Gustavo with Anatoliy Tymoschuk alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger for a more conservative approach or have Toni Kroos drop deep to partner Schweini and Thomas Mueller to play in the ‘hole’ for a more attack minded approach remains to be seen. For Chelsea it would seem that either of Michael Essien and Oriol Romeu might be called upon. Essien is a pale shadow of his former self and so I would fancy Romeu who’s more disciplined, fitter and hungrier.

The attack for both teams if well fed with chances, clear-cut or half, will definitely deliver. Obviously I’m assuming that Di Matteo opts for Didier Drogba, whose big-stage pedigree is well known. Fernando Torres hasn’t done enough to lead the line and should be happy as an impact substitute if needed. For Heynckes, definitely he’ll start with the red hot Mario Gomez who’s simply been scintillating this season. He’s also chasing the top scorer’s accolade, currently headed to Lionel Messi. He will be flanked either by Chelsea old boy ArjenRobben and Franck Ribbery, the duo otherwise affectionately known as ‘Robbery’. The Robbery alone is enough to tear any water-tight defence to shreds and if given an inch, they’ll grab a mile without hesitation. Chelsea will have to be wary, and rightly so.

I see Bayern Munich imposing themselves and dictating the pace of the game, with Chelsea on the back foot, defending in numbers and waiting for the odd opening to launch sporadic but hopefully effective counter attacks. Honestly it is difficult to see Chelsea approaching the game any different. With both defences highly susceptible, and there being nothing much to separate Manuel Neuer and PetrCech, the midfield will be key to winning this. Schweinsteiger who was so brilliant against Real Madrid is coming back to his finest form will be the key player once again. I don’t see Frank Lampard keeping up with the German, I really don’t.

Should the match go to penalties, you know how the Germans fare in penalties. Chelsea fans, I’m sorry but they just never lose and this will be no different. Then again what we’ve learnt this season is never to write off Chelsea. They just seem to get the job done when it really matters. It should be a great final, though not a very open one. Who will win? Well, the Champions League trophy will be staying in Germany before it returns to Wembley next May. All said and done, let’s hope football reigns supreme on Saturday night.

The Manchester United end-of-season review

They say karma is a bitch. Either way, she’ll come get you, sooner or later. For Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, the events that transpired between 6:50 p.m and 7:00 p.m (local time) on 13^th May 2012 do prove the above saying right.

Flash back to 26^th May 1999, venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, the occasion: the UEFA Champions League final. After witnessing Manchester United pull off the greatest Houdini act in modern football, Sir Alex Ferguson had this to say, “Football? Bloody hell.”  We thought we would never see a day like it, I was only 8 ½ then. But how wrong we all were; the gods of football and karma all had something to prove on 13^th May 2012. When Wayne Rooney scored against Sunderland for the 1-0 lead, I held my nerve. It was the famous “last throw of the dice” in Kipling’s If. Then Zabaleta scored against QPR. It was all over, but then Cisse and Mackie scored. I dared to believe, before Dzeko and Aguero put it to bed. I felt, and I’m sure that every United fan felt the same, robbed; finally understanding what FC Bayern Munchen fans must have felt in 1999.

But then again, United weren’t robbed. They had choked on the grandest stage, more so that 4-4 draw at home against Everton, where a 2-goal lead was allowed to slip. They had choked at the DW, facing a Wigan side that had never beaten United since they got into the Premier League (but credit to them, they were fighting relegation, they beat Liverpool and Arsenal away, and were robbed blind at Stamford Bridge). They choked when they lost to a relegated side (Blackburn) at Old Trafford. They had let an 8 point lead get whittled down. I’m not even talking about the derby at the Etihad where an ultra-defensive display led to this being the first United side I had ever seen not to register a single shot on or off target.

For me, this season was a shambles. Trophyless for the first time since the 2004-2005 season, to put that into perspective, that was when I was a mere Form 1. An absolute disaster, we ended up with the ‘Certificate of Participation’ held by Arsenal and other teams. Even Chelsea, for all their musical chairs in the dressing room have FA Cup silver, and have a chance on Saturday at the Holy Grail of European football, the UEFA Champions League. However, it’s not all gloom. This United side is one of the youngest since the famed Class of ’92 (despite Fergie insisting on a midfield in the derby with a combined age of 137). The new signings have exceeded some expectations. Some players have stepped up. The end-of-season report thus begins.

New signings

Ashley Young: He has been a real revelation at the left. He jinks and cuts inside, either to cross or to curl in a shot of real beauty. His doubles against Arsenal and Tottenham were all class, not forgetting his assist to Giggs in the last minute at Norwich. However, he has attracted an unwholesome reputation as a diver, and coupled with an injury and the subsequent loss of form in mid-season, this was the only blot in an otherwise good season.

 David De Gea: Where do you even start? At 18 million pounds, he is easily one of the most expensive goalkeepers of all time. Throw in his tender age, his lack of knowledge of English, an unfortunate shop-lifting incident and some major gaffes in goal for United. Absolute disaster, no? But he’s proved all his doubters wrong (me included) especially with that match saving performance against Chelsea. A call-up to the Spain senior team beckons (he’s in the provisional squad for Euro 2012), and certainly a better second season in Manchester.

Phil Jones: He’s been called the next John Terry (why would anyone compare him to John Terry for crying out loud?). Sir Bobby Charlton compared him with Duncan Edwards (who would have been the greatest United player ever had Munich not happened). A future England captain, he displays English football’s ebullient nature. Hugely versatile (he’s played at centre back, right back and midfield), the future is bright for this 17 million pound steal from Blackburn.

 Best match of the season: Who can forget the 8-2 drubbing of Arsenal at Old Trafford? The new United, with Cleverley and Anderson running rings in midfield, Nani and Young tormenting the fullbacks, Rooney and Welbeck having a field day against Koscielny and Djourou, De Gea saving a van Persie penalty…what indeed could be better?

Worst match of the season: I’m not going to say the 1-6 drubbing by City at old Trafford. The worst match of the season was the Europa League first-leg match against Athletic Bilbao at Old Trafford. United were slaughtered and massacred. If there was a match which highlighted United’s worst qualities, it was this one. Rafael’s complacency to let in Muniain, Giggs’ age finally showed around Susaeta’s and Oscar de Marcos’ slick passing and rapid movement. The lack of a midfield destroyer was obvious.

Best player of the season: This season has seen some massive improvement from Jonny Evans. When Vidic was ruled out for the season, I feared for the worst. However, Evans has proved me wrong, forming an impressive partnership with Ferdinand. Michael Carrick has been superb in the midfield; Wayne Rooney has had his best goal-scoring season yet. But it’s a no-brainer that the stand-out performer has been Luis Antonio Valencia. The Ecuadorian winger is every left-back’s worst nightmare. Full of pace and power, remarkably unselfish (he prefers laying an assist instead of going for goal, a complete contrast to both Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo), and has had a decent shift at right back when an injury crisis rocked Old Trafford, he truly deserved being both Players’ and Fans’ Player of the Year awards.

Worst player of the season: Some players have not had a great season. Rafael is always susceptible to a rash foul and lack of awareness (remember the Bilbao match anyone?) Patrice Evra has obviously lost that yard of pace essential in a modern fullback. Anderson is consistently inconsistent; Hernandez and Berbatov have been constantly overlooked. However, Park Ji-Sung has had his worst season yet. Maybe it’s because last season he set such high standards that were difficult to match. The 1-0 derby loss was the most telling, as was the 1-2 loss to Ajax at Old Trafford.

Areas to improve: The midfield is so terrible that a 37 year old had to be coaxed out of retirement to keep it steady. Then a promising youngster, who could be the midfield destroyer United desperately needs, just decides to pack his bags and head to Juventus. So far, I like the Shinji Kagawa vibe, but what United really need is either Javi Martinez from Bilbao or Kevin Strootman from PSV, a midfield hardman who can pass and retain the ball in equal measure. United need both a right-back and left-back, I really hope this Debuchy and Baines/Jordi Alba deals are not mere speculation. The defence also needs some extra conditioning, and the mental strength of some of the lads is suspect.

Clearout: This ought to be the summer of clearouts. I’ve already identified Owen, Anderson, Berbatov (to be fair to him , he has never fit in United’s style of play), Bebe and Park as those who should leave Old Trafford for good. This coming season will definitely be Giggs and Scholes’ last season. Players who should be given just one more chance to prove themselves include the da Silvas, Ferdinand and Evra. The young players who need to step up an extra notch to be truly world class include Hernandez, Smalling, Jones, Welbeck and Cleverley. Plus the return of Vidic and Fletcher doesn’t look like a bad idea.

Having said that, let me repeat this (and hope I don’t sound like an Arsenal fan), “Ngojeni next season mtaona!”