Comments on: Much aDroo about Nothing ? – The Fell-ski Story

By: Siddharth

Siddharth — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:28:55 +0000

I don’t think we’ll see anymore football posts on this blog in the near future.

By: thesongremainsthesame

thesongremainsthesame — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:39:51 +0000

Oh, and Chinmay, just let’s consider how much people will love City, right? Even With money on their side, they can’t do anything right.

By: gerrardrules

gerrardrules — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:34:36 +0000

” But I’ll be surprised if they attain the same level of honesty or integrity that some of the other teams on this planet ”

just wanted to ask what’s your definition of integrity ? How do you say if a person has integrity or not ?

By: Rasik

Rasik — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:05:00 +0000

just for curiostiy’s sake….what made you a fan of Man City?

By: pratap

pratap — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:02:56 +0000

By: Dhruv

Dhruv — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:56:51 +0000

This is my first comment here but im a regular reader of ur blog.I found this post of quite intriguing after a long time hence all the effort to write a comment.. :p
I feel both Brett and Chinmay have valid points
firstly the two semis were two valuable lessons in football the Arse-nal vs Man Utd one ws for most of it over the 2 legs quite a open and flowy affair
whereas the Chelsea vs Barca ws a cagy,evenly fought,dirty defensively brilliant one.
I personally enjoyed both equally.
I m not going to comment on what is right or wrong…i just feel u always get what u deserve be it through ur own mistakes or through somebody else’s(the refree in dis case)…..Bt somedays u just hv 2 put ur hand up and say it ws just nt our day v gave it our best bt it just wasnt to be ….
Yes Barca played as people call it beautiful football bt chelsea and Barca are two very different sides playing two very different leagues and the two legs v saw justifies this…..
The only thing i found disgraceful ws the Chelsea players conduct on the pitch.Yes their were some poor decisions bt that happens in every match and one u play football u hv to live with it and move on
Bt the way Ballack ws hounding the refree fr a penalty claim it ws as if he ws going 2 pinn the refree down and pulverise in2 an affirmative….Nd Drogba looked like a small puppy barking,squeaking on the camera it ws bloody disgraceful…….u Hv press conferences,news paper articles,uefa officials express ur grievances dere nt on the pitch after the whistle has been blown..it leaves a sour taste
whatever ny1 says the chelsea players conduct on that day has lost dem many a fans all over the world and the ones who support dem strogly would certainly hv second thoughts!

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:24:52 +0000

Ill leave the cross replying for another day. As you say, lets not turn this into a mud slinging fest. However I would like to point out that the whole point of your original post seemed to be directed at something else. How totally wrong it was for Chelsea fans to blame the defeat on the referee. And you’re right… we may not deserve the neutral’s admiration. We never asked for it or wanted it. Let me remind you that there was a time before a certain mr. Abramovich when I supported a club that actually was a ‘neutral’. But again, we dont need admiration, just a bloody sense of justice.

By: beckhamsbarber

beckhamsbarber — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:19:23 +0000

@ Brett, Shridhar : I had decided not to respond to any comments as it would have led to a prolonged rounds of mudslinging. But it would have been downright disrespectful for not replying to your arguments.

My basic argument is that refereeing decisions are minor inconsistencies in the ethic of a football club. The way your managers & players react to situations, the way the club treats the opposition, its own fans, its youth team players, fans of other clubs all contributes to what we say an identity of the club. By constantly cribbing about opposition tactics, refereeing decisions, playacting, simulation, getting involved in unnecessary player tapping controversies Chelsea have not really endeared themselves to neutral supporters. Barcelona on the other hand have a strong footballing philosophy with an impeccable youth system. There is a lot of sincerity in Barcelona’s approach to the game as compared to Chelsea.So, I do have a lot of empathy to Barcelona’s cause as compared to Chelsea.

Things even themselves out in football.I don’t know if I’m right in saying this, but Arsenal were the better team last Sunday and ‘deserved’ to win.And had a decent penalty shout at 1-3 down which was refuted.Arsenal may have deserved to win but Chelsea ‘deservedly earned’ their 3 points by good finishing and no one can take the points away from them, like Barcelona who took their chance at the Bridge.

Ronaldo’s opening goal in the Manchester derby came from a free kick which was given for a challenge that was never a foul. Did City ‘deserve’ to get a draw out of the game then ?

At times you have to put your hand up and say that our players have not been honest enough. That they don’t try hard enough. That they don’t have the right attitude. Like Robinho. He’s just the wrong player at the wrong time for Manchester City. The club would do very well without him. Chelsea lost because their were people on the pitch who weren’t honestly trying on the field. The left winger starting with M, the strikers starting with A & D to name a few – who would never get into a Barcelona side.

With reference to directly arguing against the points that you guys have made, I don’t really want to get into a fistfight. Why not for once consider that the last handball shout (just a shout, it wasn’t really an offense) was in the 7th minute of time added on. Why play seven minutes when there were only 4 added on ? Small petty things that good teams look through, ignore and carry on with their work. “Effective” teams milk it, juice it up, try to gain mileage and get back to their old ways.

Chelsea played a tactically astute game. Negated Barca’s strength and kept them tied down for over 180 minutes. And that is not really a surprise, because Chelsea are very effective team. But why not for once question RA’s decision to hire Scolari ? With Hiddink at the helm for an year, with his own methods, own set of players, could Chelsea have made the final ?

Chelsea are a strong, effective team. They’ll win loads of trophies in the next few years. More than Manchester City or perhaps even Barcelona for that matter. But I’ll be surprised if they attain the same level of honesty or integrity that some of the other teams on this planet (not just Barca) play with. As a neutral I just can’t get myself to appreciate their work. My opinion doesn’t matter a hoot though. Chelsea may deserve to be in the final of the CL, but they don’t really deserve my admiration.

By: thesongremainsthesame

thesongremainsthesame — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:33:05 +0000

I totally agree with Brett. Chinmay, as fans, and sensible ones, we know and criticize the shortcomings of our team, like the inability to finish off Barcelona in the 2nd leg. But I bet if it was City on the day we lost, you’d be feeling downright disappointed too. True, for 3-4 days, I kept blaming the referee too, but then I saw the futility of that (because neither is UEFA going to change, nor are they going to stop being partial to United). But I still couldn’t understand why people were praising Barca for being the better team in the 2nd leg. Barcelona were determined, yes, they kept trying till the end, yes, they played their regular entertaining football, check, but the fact is that they were actually toothless in attack. (Every team worth their Champions’ League salt has to work till the end, Chelsea did too, over both legs). Eto’o had a disappointing day, and aside from 2-3 brilliant runs, Messi was tame. I also agree that Barca are the best team we’ll be seeing for a long time, but you cannot, I repeat, cannot attack against a quality side like Barca. You’ll be kicked swiftly in the nuts, as Madrid found out to their obvious displeasure. Chelsea performed magnificently in the 2nd leg, however “poor” and boring they were over the 2 legs. Finally, it all boiled down to the fact that UEFA seem to be an incompetent organisation (and a partial one as shown by their acceptance to even hear a United appeal for Fletcher’s card) and Drogba’s obvious incompetence. So, please do not insult Chelsea by saying Barcelona played well in the 2nd leg. By now, we have faced 2 horrible decisions against us in 2 different semifinals over the years, and for your information, the whole world seems to dislike us, so an idea of any kind of 50-50 decision involving us never goes our way, against any team. When we have been beaten fairly, we have accepted defeat fairly. I am not saying that Drogba or Ballack’s behaviour was justified, but having played football and having seen the passion in such games, I would have felt for any team going out under such circumstances.

Quote from Slaven Bilic
“I’m always for football. I want the better team to win. My friends, Chelsea eat Barca for lunch. They gave them the ball and useless domination. Unfortunately, the big semi-final was ruined by the referee. It’s unbelieveable that so many wrong decisions could be made on account of one team. Barca shouldn’t fool themselves and think they were better in 180 minutes.”

By: alostdiscoverer

alostdiscoverer — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:50:50 +0000

this is the 1st football post that i read right till the end. understood a lil.lot of doubts sir. waiting for the next session of learning football terms on the canteen table…n i saw that match u guys r toking abt..but i have no opinion as of now. let me learn more..then i will write football posts too!