MADRID 2010 FINALS: The Fink Tank Index previews an exciting world of football prediction

A distinctive aspect of Nature’s design is the penchant for precise proportions. As such mathematical trends are never far away from our considerations. In Football, the Castriol Index which rates the performance of individual football players maybe more popular, but the Fink Tank is not far behind. Developed by the Warwick University as the Decision Technology (Dectech) Predictor, it is now simply referred to as the Fink Tank Index.

Using complex statistics, they look back at two years of goals scored by respective teams as well as their shots on goal, then weight them in such a way that the more recent results count more heavily. Football teams are then ranked according to their performance and can be compared against each other. In the ranking for the Champions league final on May 22nd, Inter Milan is rated ahead of Bayern Munich with a 39.6% chance of winning compared to Bayern’s 34%. Significantly, there is a sizable 26.4% chance for a stalemate. Drama is in the air!

Jose Mourinho and Loius Van Gaal: Can football separate a Siamese twin?

I have a crystal ball which has been simply magical for years. Just a faint glance, I knew Manchester United will beat Chelsea at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and after an uncomfortable 5 minute stare last year, Barcelona 3, United 1 popped up. Okay the Moscow match ended 2 – 0 in favor of the Catalonia football team. This season I had trusted it, but silently convinced it was becoming faulty. Madrid over Lyon was going to be a walk in the park it said, but in the end, the £250 million real estate collapsed emitting a cloud akin to the Icelandic Eyjafjallajoekull volcanic ash. When Robben’s beautifully struck half volley pierced the aspirations of United, I was perhaps still in denial, reluctant to accept the obvious fact that two huge mistakes was too much for anything described as “magical”. Last night it went dim following Barcelona’s ouster.

Right now I am in a huge mess. I am left bare with only my pure analytic skills, fluid at best, to fall on in predicting the winner between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, two teams that has shown an uncanny ability to bring out the best with their backs against the wall. In Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, we have two coaches that have seen success at this level and as such unlikely to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the occasion. They are also quite hungry to prove a point or two to their respective boards, one having started the season badly, while the other has publicly aired his desire to leave.

For those of us expecting any football on the 22nd of next month, we are in for a disappointing 90 minutes. While Jose is generally considered as negative in his style, putting victory, at all cost, above every other thing, Van Gal is presently not far off. He came into prominence with an Ajax team that played a breath taking attacking football, mesmerizing the likes of Real Madrid even at the Bernabeu in the mid nineties. Interestingly, Louis has shed a lot of his beautiful play, settling for efficiency laced with negative antics. So both coaches can come up with the kind of tactics to nullify any taint of decent play, Inter Milan is perhaps ahead of Bayern Munich based on a pound for pound profile of individual football players but surely this match may offer a glimpse into the future of football, where game fullness is striped off and replaced with all manner of tricks and con tactics. Welcome to Mourinho’s world.

A perfect match for Jose Mourinho at Nou Camp

A lot of lads would give a lot to be called the special one, but for Jose Mourinho that tag comes naturally, which is easily linked to his achievements on the pitch. The maverick of rare and distinctive hue is too often portrayed as cagey in his tactics and in some quarters, just blatantly negative. Interestingly, it is quite easy to accept these conclusions whenever you watch a football team guided by Jose Mourinho, because the singular trait that shines through is their determination to excel. They contest for ball with such bullish vigor and launch attacking forays unperturbed by collateral damage that we lose sight of the fact that Mourinho is surely more that brute.

He is indeed a perfect game reader, an ability he now has a perfect opportunity to exhibit in front of the Nou Camp faithfuls, with the added bonus of dismissing his global skeptics who have been praying fervently for a Messi revival. This game is a perfect challenge for the special one. With the contest tilted in Inter favor at 3 – 1 from the first leg, Jose is ready once more to startle everyone with his tactics and team selection. At Stanford Bridge Inter showed a glimpse of the true tactician in the Portuguese when he started with 4-4-2 formation, attacking in every sense with Millito and Eto’o at the forefront. A formation that was surprisingly similar to that of Ancelotti. Only a Mourinho could start a match of that texture with such an offensive line up of soccer players and one which was thoroughly unwilling, even for a moment, to hold on to a slender one goal advantage, buoyed by their own capacity to score away from home.

I foresee an Inter team going all out to get away goals because Mourinho would want to accept the fact that Barcelona can score goals, good goals, especially at home. The key factor would then be how many goals each side can produce which I guess favours the Italians. Such an open game is bound to frighten Guardiola because just one away goal means Barcelona most score three against an Inter side good defensively to take the match beyond regulation time. What a mouth watering prospect.

The game of soccer without referees

Yea, they no longer wear black, but you can tell that to my bigoted memory of what they use to look like when I was a child. I just can't see a different color and that is not even my grudge. The men in black are by a galactic distance the new show in town. With the likes of Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney reaching into their huge hats of tricks and pure soccer artistry weekly, we, I mean everyone of you out there, could be forgiven for assuming for so long, almost an eternity, that the referees never really mattered, at least not in the "attention contest". Not anymore. In the modern game, they are rapidly becoming the star attraction, though unattractive, but, lethally decisive. Just ask the Birmingham manager Alex McLeish after the Sunday's football game against Villa. 

Nowadays, when your precious football team is on the turf enacting the beautiful game, your heart aches in anticipation of the next "big decision" by the referee that could turn a victory into an instant sticky pie. Even when your team is hoist for barbecue, it could quickly become a baking spree, especially if you were Stoke City. Salomon Kalou's two footed challenge on Sorensen for the Mahican's second goal on Sunday, anywhere else on the soccer pitch would have been an instant red card, but the resulting goal stood while the bemused keeper suffered a dislocated shoulder, which may  exempt him from a trip to the beautiful South Africa. No Hakuna Matata| 

In my parlance, maybe miniature in its cognitive reach compared to the global opinion bank, I am terminally disappointed in this taint that is clouding the game of football. Precisely, I have come to the bitter conclusion that the referees should go the way of the Dinosaurs like T-Rex, extinct! There should be a computer program out there integrated into a Sony or LG video technology by a Whizkid that can render a fair and interactive feel enabled to disable this weekly dose of heart aches. Come on guys, we can it or maybe just carry a placard with the inscription "Football Without Referees"

Blue or Red: Barclay’s battle of the primary colors

Chelsea’s 7 – 0 thrashing of miserable Stoke City has added to the juicy cliff hanger that has been in prospect for weeks. The blues’ virtuoso performance dimed any hint of nerves just 24 hours after Manchester United climbed to the top of the English premier league for the eighth time. They were clinical in style and mechanically efficient. Kalou’s hat trick, a brace from the Lampard (twentieth of the season!) and singletons from both Sturridge and Malouda ensured a comprehensive victory that tilts the hue of the premiership in favour of the London based football team.

Tilt is the right word because the pundits are stuttering, faced with the most mazy of contest. I started the season with Chelsea as my favourite, at the moment, to be sincere, only pride and mathematical possibility straps me to my earlier prediction, because Manchester United are damn hot, dispatching the highly rated Tottenham with relative ease. Chelsea’s title hopes now hang thinly on solid performance at Anfield next week. Ancelotti and his mob are in for a torrid time which should decide the title. And Liverpool has been given a huge tonic by the floundering pair of Tottenham and Manchester City who both dropped points at the weekend.

Remove the inconsistent officiating and the devastating reel of injuries, this season by far has been the best for a long time with the top English soccer team providing dramatic turns that has kept everyone thrilled and guessing. Who wins the battle of the primary colors? Blue or Red? The battle unfolds.

Clash of the Titans

This season's English premier league mimics the big screen movie, Clash of the Titans, in a unique manner. With the twist and nervous climax, the gods of soccer seem have adopted this football league for their prime time amusement. Coincidentally Ancelotti has suggested seeing the same movie rather than watch the lunch time kickoff between Manchester United and Tottenham. Alex simply laid his gauntlet by insisting that he is not quitting Old Trafford soon, an indication of his thirst for more glories. As the clashes forge ahead, the battle for the Barkley's premiership between the two titans of the English game is down to mental and psychological firmness.

While the stare of Medusa zaps through the turf, Ancelotti's consolation is rather predictable and probably the case for most coaches. "Stress is the engine of life for me. You have to cope with the pressure, the stress. There are some fantastic films at out the moment, so we will watch a film. Maybe Clash of the Titans." he said in an interview today. But his other, "We are not worried about playing after Manchester United this weekend" is misleading if there is any element of truth because he should be worried. Manchester United appear to have settled into a devastating form and their showing against Tottenham should be an appropriate reminder of the huge task ahead because as things stand, Chelsea's key game is at An-field next week.

Tottenham may have beaten London rivals, Arsenal and Chelsea, but in United, my gut feeling is that the bridge is just too far, but they are still better placed to clinch the 4h spot with City's inconsistent turns. The nature of the twists yet to unfold is anyone's imagination

Portsmouth previews the the future of the beautiful game

Portsmouth's exclusion from the Europa is a blessing in disguise, although the current managers of club might want to infer otherwise. Combining the fierce battle of the Championship with a European competition is the most potent recipe for disaster, particularly when there are no guarantees that they can keep any of their good players, who are already being offloaded. This drive for a European place could only have attractive and probably proffered by those behind the financial excesses that have brought a decent club to the brink of bankruptcy. It is still to be seen whether they wont go the way of Leeds United.

The FA and the Premier league has taken a decision that suit them perfectly because letting the team that ends up in 7th place to represent England in the Europa cup, creates adequate room for both Liverpool and Everton to jostle for these places. But the mess at Portsmouth highlights the recklessness that underlie club finances in modern football with greedy penchant for buying and selling costly players at will. These huge salaries and bonuses are hardly redeemed by the players' performance on the pitch. Sadly these practices are often done with borrowed money laced with high interest rates that benefits those whose primary interest is remote from the beautiful game.

It is true that the bigger teams appear to be immune at the moment, but in the coming months and years it is almost a physiological certainty that more of the big clubs are bound to be exposed to the damaging effects of unchecked expenses. We are entering a period where the survival of clubs is no longer based on tradition or value but on the whims and caprices of the money men.

Football referees face extinction for the good of the game

In Charles Robert Darwin’s milieu of natural selection, the fittest is endowed with a survival advantage which is rendered to their progenies preserving species that are increasingly competent in the act of survival, while weak links are severed off. The referees in modern football are easily the weak links, illustrated clearly by the increasing number of omissions and outright gaffes, some bitterly costly like Thierry Henry’s handball in last year’s crucial FIFA 2010 world cup qualifier in Paris. The present disparity in the physical abilities between referees and professional players is perhaps the widest the game has ever seen. Unaided, the men in black are poised for extinction, if football is to preserve its sense of fairness. Twenty players slugging it out on their own is approaching a more attractive alternative, because it is simply unfair to have a seemingly unbiased arbitrator who in critical instances promotes unfair decisions.

From the inception of professional football, referees have been disadvantaged, but this has become more obvious and costly due to the rapid increase in the fitness of professional players who have enjoyed beneficial inputs from the scientific environment in nutrition and training techniques. It cannot be overstated that the physical effort put in by referees is comparable to that of the players as they cover on the average a distance of approximately 10 km, but significantly they are 15 – 20 years older and naturally cannot be substituted in a game, except in rare instances. The faster pace of the game coupled with highly prevalent antics employed by players to con referees puts a damaging strain on their cognitive and decision making abilities throughout the duration of the match. You have probably observed the lines man missing an offside position because he is struggling to keep pace with the players’ movements.

Since the referee’s role is centred round making decisions, credible ones that endear the game to everyone as a competitive sport that is fair and which enhance the flow and feel of the beautiful game, there is an urgent need to address the inherent shortcomings in football officiating. There appears to be an evolutionary pressure, age related though, which cannot be bridged by encouraging younger referees, as they are still classed as semi-professionals worldwide. A decent option would be for the referees to cover the same distance they already do, but have a broader view of the unfolding game. This is achievable by introducing video technology, which is perhaps more urgent than is general accepted in the corridors of football’s power houses. A repeat of Henry’s handball antics at the world cup would invariably elicit an endearing feeling of an orchestrated bias by the football governing bodies in favour of pre-determined choices. This suggestion has been on for ages, but denying the use of a technology that enhances fairness only accentuates the discontent.

Play football for fun and fitness: The facts

The slogan reads “Play it softly, but play it for your heart” and it is true. Football is a lot like romance and work, BUT ends well leaving a body with vim and a heart that cuddles affectionately. Just unpack the huge rhetoric, then dismiss the overwhelming hype around exercise regimes and what do you have, THE PLAIN TRUTH about RECREATIONAL FOOTBALL. SCIENCE is urging the fans of the beautiful game to spread this pastime not because of our but for the embarrassing wealth of medical evidence in support of it.

Football has a dynamics that exercises the body like no other sport. Its seamless blend of sprinting, acceleration, deceleration and jumping creates a mechanical windmill that drives a steam of changes in the body’s physiological systems. The End result is improved function of the heart, stronger bones and muscles, better posture and balance as well as a reduction in fat levels.

FACTS
ONE | BLOOD PRESSURE - Studies have demonstrated that after “twelve weeks of regular recreational football training of 2 – 3 times a week for 1 hour lead to lowered BLOOD PRESSURE [resting systolic and Diastolic blood pressure of 8 and 5 mmHg]”.

TWO | METABOLIC FITNESS
Fat metabolism is affected in manner that benefits us. “After twelve weeks of football training, the fat mass was lowered by 2.7Kg, reduced LDL and raised HDL”. HDL is the good cholesterol and higher levels are preferred. Incredible, but perhaps understated in the past! Shout is loud.

THREE| MUSCULO-SKELETAL FITNESS
There is an increase in muscle fibre area and these important piece of our frame exchange signals efficiently. The large number of forceful accelerations and rapid decelerations performed during football training is thought to provide a high-force stimulus to the muscle fibres.

FOUR | BONE MASS CONTENT AND BONE MASS DENSITY (MINERALIZATION)
Football training provides a good deal of stimulus for bone to trap Calcium because it is a highly intermittent sport, and the activity pattern in small-sided games is characterized by multiple turns, jump, several short sprints with accelerations and decelerations which is about right for your bones.

Just LACE your boots 4 FUN & FITNESS

Is Liverpool really worth over half a billion pounds?

Is Liverpool really worth £654 million? Tom Hicks thinks so. He reportedly told the Sunday Mirror, “"Liverpool Football Club has been a great investment. It has probably tripled in value.”  And I agree with him, but only in a muted extent. Liverpool FC is worth more than that, maybe immeasurable when you explore the opinions of the Kop fans scattered round the world. The real danger to the beautiful game is the tendency to transform the ownership of European football teams to the American style Franchise. It is not. You borrow money from one source and buy a club in dire need of some monetary tonic, while making flamboyant promises on your stride. Close to when a critical loan repayment is due, put it up for sale to re-route the eddy current of diminishing returns on the pitch into a large arc of expectation for the teeming followers, which may never be attained. 

When you a club with such a tradition and the quality of players as Liverpool, the value always appreciates because of it potential. Liverpool will perhaps get a buyer at a very good price because of its true worth, but that is not going to wipe away its debts, estimated to be over £300 million nor will it make it more attractive for soccer stars in the absence of Champions league football. It is on the pitch that the real danger of declining fortune will honestly play itself out and it surely will if that fourth spot eludes them. The two teams that are likely to benefit from their misfortune won’t fold their hands in the transfer market, particularly Manchester City with their massive pocket. A European spot for the blues of Manchester is going to fling the vault open with such a brute intensity. It will be near impossible to compete domestically with them 

The dangers that face Liverpool are real if the focus is not removed from “share” appreciation to isolating the key areas where mistakes were made and to forge diligent answers to them. A team like Liverpool need to compete among European elite to maintain a value in consonant with what their tradition purports, so it can attract the kind of investment that keeps a club’s debt revolving endlessly. The dynamics of the next transfer window as it unfolds is going to determine how well they cope with this storm. The prospect of losing Steven Gerard and Fernando Torres is still real because the innate hunger for trophies provides a good degree of motivational steam for players to switch clubs. I don’t see that changing.     

Wigan stun Arsenal in an incredible comeback

Report: Wigan Athletic vs Arsenal - English Premier League - ESPN Soccernet

I have hardly had to make a phone call this season just after a football match, but the temptation was too alluring after watching an incredible fight back unfold in just 10 minutes. James, a Chelsea fan still flat from the setback at White Hart lane and uninterested on the Wigan - Arsenal English Premiership game was frozen with shock when I told him that, "if you have never seen a football miracle, don't miss Football First on Sky Sport tonight". His response hinted at a Wigan trashing. The reverse was the case today in spectacular fashion, as a Wigan team undeterred by Arsenal domineering poise and determined to get at least a point overturn a 2 goal deficit.


When Wigan pulled one back on the 80th minute, it appeared more of a consolation, but at 2 - 2 after Titus Bramble flicked the ball past Fabianski, who had characteristically fumbled on the goal line, Arsenal's renewed hope for silverware after Chelsea’s loss to Tottenham was suddenly erased. Just a minute later, Charles N'Zogbia's stinging shot canoed off the right upright into the net to complete an unimaginable comeback and Wenger's disappointment was summed up by his flaccid tone as he sunk into his chair, his nerves dozing off for a while.

This result more or less rules out Arsenal as credible contenders for the Premier league in spite of the ease with which Chelsea and Manchester United have dropped points. This summer is panning out as an untidy one at the Emirates, where board room discussions won’t be far from decisions on how to stem the unending tide of empty trophies.

Real Madrid's town crier sings for Jose Mourinho

The intrigue surrounding transfers in modern football is sensational to say the least. It now has the feel of Hollywood script writing. There is a bleep that sends the signal, then the media blitz, subdued at times and finally the response. The affirmation and denial cycling between Nou camp and the Emirates regarding Cesc Fabregas illustrates the evolution of 21st century pouching. As the fabulous drama endures, the theatrics around Jose Mourinho's potential move to Real Madrid is just starting. And there is perhaps no better personality to announce this unique courtship other than the most effective player at the Bernabeu this season, Christiano Ronaldo.

In an interview released today, Ronaldo lavish encomiums on the special one. The pick was, "I like him a lot, ...... He is very good coach". Nice words from the Bernabeu, but this signal hints at desperation. Mourinho is hardly the kind of coach at ease with the flamboyant style of Real Madrid. His tactics is dominated by the overwhelming desire to win at all cost, often with resort to negative tactics. While his emphasis on commitment is celebrated and admired, his physical style is unlikely to go well with the fans, particularly when compared to their domestic rivals Barcelona, who are seamlessly stretching the boundaries of the beautiful game.

Ronaldo's statement can also be seen in another light. One of the key players likely to be affected by Mourinho style is Christiano, with exuberant excesses that allow him to outshine his colleagues to the detriment of the team in more than a couple of crucial games this season. Are we previewing the onset of a subtle appeal by the Madrid star to the softer side of his future coach? A plausible possibility, but sadly the special one is too overbearing to take into special cognizance such flirtatious antics.       

Half a decade and empty: Will Wenger take the plunge at the Emirates?

Sincerity is easily the earliest to fail when emotions enter the room. At the Emirates, the fluid and exhilarating style of football can ride your emotions thin with praise and applause, but to be fair and I mean truly fair, another season without a trophy must surely elicit some disenchantment. And perhaps a purely “considerate” assessment of Arsene Wenger’s future with Arsenal would pop up in an agenda at the Emirates. In precise terms, the gunners have not won a trophy since the FA cup in 2005, a long time by any standard for a team with a pedigree that places it among the top teams in European football.

Globally acclaimed as one of the top tacticians in the modern game, a submission that has merited the tag Professor, his competence has never been in dispute, but the club’s transfer philosophy relies heavily on grooming young players. It has been disappointing when evaluated against a league that is as rugged as the English premier league. And the test is likely to get sterner in the coming seasons.  With Manchester City and Tottenham adding to the mix, even the traditional top-four finish offers no guarantees any more. A wise Professor should be tempted to weigh his options because the longer the wait for trophies, the more the likelihood that his reputation and ability would become the focus.

The reported £30 – 40 million available in the summer maybe too meager to prize top players to the Emirates, apart from Bordeaux’s Marouane Chamakh who already has a pre-contract in place worth a healthy £50,000 a week. The reason for is quite obvious. Liverpool is lined up for sale and with a nice buyer, up to £60 million maybe become available for new talents. Then Manchester City, if they quality for the Champions league and Chelsea with aged players are two teams with deep bent on becoming the pace-setters in the next transfer window. And Real Madrid! The task is Herculean and in the end, convincing Arsene Wenger to stay may turn out to be an excruciating task.

Dented Manchester United stand on Carlito's way

Adam Johnson: Sir Alex Ferguson was wrong to let Carlos Tevez go - ESPN Soccernet

The famous line from the 1993 Hollywood movie Carlito's way, "If you can't see the angles no more, you are in trouble" sounds like an advisory poster hung on a wall at Old Trafford to remind everyone of the bitter taste of selling Tevez to their bitter rivals. The hasty and somewhat acrimonious exit has been thoroughly criticized as a poor decision and Fergy’s undervalued Carlito is set to haunt him at the Manchester Derby on Saturday. An image that readily comes to mind is that of a penitent Ferguson ogling his decision to sell Tevez to city rival, in other to make it justifiable, but mere rhetoric is unlikely to work except United leave the City of Manchester stadium un-scalded or even better, with a win.

In tomorrow’ derby, City's Carlito will be hell bent on show-casing his talent at the expense of the more successful Manchester United. Form is on the side of City and beating United would be a huge victory for Mancini, who is still battling to establish himself as a long term venture in City’s coaching department. But this game is perhaps important for another reason. The league table has taken an unfamiliar look in the last two weeks, with just a place between the two Manchester teams, a fact that drives the point right through the heart of any sceptic still disputing the substance in this Manchester City team. This match is therefore more than a derby or a contest meant to assert bragging rights. It is set to serve as some measure of the true strength of both teams. At least, if City wins, the suggestion that they are now rubbing shoulders with each other on the pitch would no longer sterile, though with endless miles to cover in the trophy cabinet.

Carlos Tevez has indeed been given a defining platform to show his class and prove decisively that every penny in his transfer fees is accounted for in footballing worth. A victory, sweet victory over United adds great density to City’s right to the fourth spot, a position that earns them a ticket in next season's champions league. The headline on Sunday is sure to revolve around Carlito and huddles placed on his way by Manchester United.

Please I am sick of being told everything about football

I was sniffing through anything that had “library” close to its meaning, in search of an appropriate term to describe what I felt so clearly but lacked the words to express it. We have all been there, lost for words or at times just between our lips but unable to say it, as the brain fails in its elementary function. Then I remembered the Microsoft Bing search advert on television. The word I wanted was “information overload” and I needed it sadly to describe a feeling related to football, described by many as the beautiful game. I felt ugly.

In modern football, we are hit with so much info that a day’s data reel is easily comparable to what you normally get in weeks, a few years ago. Add this to the hell of data in your environment; work and at home and it is quit muddled, even worse to decipher what was said yesterday from today. Football predictions have suffered gladly. I often feel sapped and skeletal nowadays when I try to make predictions based on what I can skim from the media.  In two issues though, I hope I can say it the way I feel.

The first is the race for the English Premier league. It is true that Chelsea is on the driving seat, but in real terms it is much more than that. They could be crowned champions on the 25th after a win over Stoke City and with two games to spare. That might come as a shock. This weekend, Manchester United face their bitter rivals Manchester City in a game they can lose in the absence of Wayne Rooney's decisiveness, while Arsenal travel to Wigan, a task that could go any way, with a raising injury list. If both games go disastrously for the top teams and Chelsea beat Tottenham, the title will be Blue at the Bridge when Stoke come to London. Why is this near certainty not being highlighted? It probably is, but info overload has battered my cognitive verve. 

You have guessed the second. This summer's transfer window is poised to be dominated by Cesc Fabregas . He is surely bound for Barcelona, but denials dominate the headlines. Xavi and Messi's blood DNA comments imply a surety that is way beyond mere fantasy. It infers access to a concrete fact, maybe overhead discussions to which the public is grandly blinded. Christaino Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid had a similar taste with cross border accusations and denials. In the end the £80 million price wiped our memory clean as a transfer rumour endeared by dismissed rhetoric turned out to be so real.

If you are sick about being told about everything, leave a note.  

Vermaelen adds to an injury ladened season for Arsenal

Premier League - Vermaelen blow for Arsenal - Yahoo! Eurosport

On this night, what really mattered was the points and Arsenal didn't get it, surrendering all three points at White Hart lane to a Tottenham team propelled by a magnificent strike from the 19 year old Danny Rose from 30 yards and three excellent saves from Gomes. But the introduction of Van Persie did highlight the devastating effect of Arsenal huge injury handicaps. He provided the pass that freed Theo Walcott to drive in the cross, tucked in by Bendtner. And had two excellent efforts thwarted by Gomes, a fine shot after controlling the ball with his chest from just out the six yards box and the second, a curling free-kick destined for the top right corner.

As Van Persie was demonstrating the huge array of talents the gunners have missed from injuries, Vermaelen was substituted just after 19 minutes and could for up to three weeks, capping a busy season for the medics at the Emirates. The suggestion that the "soft" approach to the beautiful game is often an open invitation for the oppsoing teams to rain in the hash tackles may have some credibility when one takes a look at the injury list. For the game against Tottenham, up to nine of the first team players where unavailable, including Fabrecas, Asharvin, Eduardo and Song.

Arsene Wenger may not openly accept that the title chase is over, it is quite impossible to see Arsenal outpacing Chelsea or a fumbling Manchester United who is ruing the absence of Wayne Rooney.

Lionel Messi offers an invitation that is worth every penny!

Arsene Wenger warns Barcelona off Cesc Fabregas - ESPN Soccernet

The hint has been around all season, but with Lionel Messi's recent public statement that he expects Fabrecas to join Barcelona, the skillful craft of luring Arsenal's talisman to Nou Camp has moved into its final gear. Who won't want to be wanted by Barcelona FC, the best team currently in club football, playing an exhilarating brand of football that aptly fits the dynamics and intuition of Fabrecas.

It is fair to suggest that Arsenal should start searching for a replacement, a difficult venture for even the endowed scout. Granted that the petite Spaniard spent some time with the Catalans as a youth player, an earlier comment credited to the indomitable Xavi, that Fabrecas has Barca DNA in his blood, was the start of a process that has more or less gotten to the final stages. This unfolding saga also highlights the increasing resort to indirect means in courting soccer players, as the rules against pouching has tighten.

Can Wenger and the board Czars fend off this priceless invitation from the best player on the planet? My guess is a bold NO. Fabrecas' performance this season has been iconic and filled with more than a handful of determined display. While this can signify a drive to do well for his beloved team, it can easily indicate a farewell performance on a stage that has hoisted his skills for the world to see. It may be time up at the Emirates and time to check out.

The prospect of a Cesc plying his trade in Barca's midfield is appetizing for the fans of the beautiful game. If it does happen, we are in for a fascinating adventure into a new frontier in attacking football. The world is surely watching.

Arsenal's Robin Van Persie Is Back!

Arsenal's Robin Van Persie will return against Tottenham - ESPN Soccernet

Nice to hear that some bite is coming back to Arsenal's attack. With Eduardo and Van Persie tended by the docs, the Gunner's beautiful game lacked that incisive taint within the box. Bendtner's weaknesses were grossly exposed at Nou Camp.

A win against their London rivals tomorrow keeps the title on ice.

Bloodied Zhikov propels Chelsea to a nervy win over Bolton

Chelsea 1 Bolton 0 [Tue 13, Apr '10]: In the end, all that mattered was the three points, but Fergy's mind games almost paid off. Nervy moments were plentiful plus a couple of excellent penalty appeals. Bolton was there to claim a scalp. They were definitely motivated to get something out of the Bridge and could easily have if their chances were made to count.

Anelka may have put the ball between the post for the lone goal, but the night belonged to the Russian, Zhikov. A neat side-ways pass to the left, just out the 18 yard box, freed Drogba who struck a sweet cross, meant emphatically by Anelka's hairless scalp. But the Russian was exemplary in his game. His display tonight was exceptional, a bloodied first class performance filled with forward runs, tenacity and pure grit. And the fans, who can now see two trophies within range, applauded everyone of his moves as a befitting gratitude.

Chelsea's mid-field was uncharacteristically flat and the lads in the middle of the pitch clearly have to be more imaginative against Tottenham to avoid a slippery patch next weekend. As for which team wins the English league between Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, a cliffhanger is a more likely prospect.

A football prof on a knife edge with his beautiful game

As Arsenal FC file out from the dugout at White Hart lane on Wednesday, the terse stroll across the short stretch of rug leading onto the soccer pitch must surely harbor the aura of a season about to be added onto the record books as another trophy-less endeavor. Worse still, Arsene Wenger, nick-named the Professor, not for his frame and mien but for this tactical astuteness, must be living in a rarefied edge of discomfort that encircles a soccer intellect who finds his knowledge cruelly ridiculed by a persistent failings on the football pitch. Though not in the quality of play, but rather in the share absence of the brute needed to excel in the most keenly followed soccer league in the world.

In Arsenal, a team’s philosophy is unfairly waged against a football style that emphasizes a more direct, fast paced and often underlined by the need to win “at all cost”, quite brutal in the case of Allerdyce’s former Bolton and to some extent, his present Blackburn. A soccer league where self expression is denied talented players, individual artistry is easily perceived as leisurely disregard for team discipline. A player holding on to the ball for long periods disrupts the bustling pace of the team. In spite of the successes of English football teams in recent years, it is still difficult to see beyond the league’s bias for physical and aggressive play, which has unsurprisingly curbed the flair in talented Brazilian imports like Anderson for Manchester United and Liverpool’s Lucas.

How does a Professor rewrite his lecture notes? Difficult to contemplate in most cases, but at the London derby with Tottenham, anything short of three points is bound to elicit a form of inquest from the fans that have cherished the beautiful game at the Emirates but would want some silver ware to embellish it. Wenger appears to be left with limited options. Abandoning the beautiful is out of it, because it has come to symbolize the mental sketch of the gunners. A strategy that may solve the dilemma is to have more experienced players in the back half of his team to serve as a bulwark against the inherent tactical frailty of trying to do too much with the ball when opponents are broadly set to deny you space.

Nevertheless, the huddle against Spurs would be steep. A combative prospect is in store because Tottenham have an excellent chance of upsetting Manchester City for the fourth champions’ league spot, with the Manchester derby to come on Saturday.

A simple reason men fail ladies, honestly!

The appalling rate of relationship dissatisfaction is negating myths previously not touched by suggestions of fallibility, particularly the saying that human friendship ages like wine or at least it gets better with time. This measurable and enormous problem with traditional mating skills, attraction and romance is best illustrated by the predominance of internet dating sites. In a useful context, nature abhors a vacuum and so these smart guys appear to have devised intelligent scales to test individuals and match their profiles in a dream-like environment where the actors can snap out at the slightest hint of derailment.

But why do men fail women? Traditionally and across cultures, guys tend to be dominant and occupy high-status seats which command a great deal of power and authority. These are also the traits that attract women who instinctively seek shelter where comfort and protection for themselves and their children is paramount. On the other hand women are typically seen as subordinate and occupy lower-status roles. As a result, in most societies, men feel valued because of this obvious higher premium on their contribution. By extension, women are portrayed as devalued. This tiny knot represents the gray area that appears to explain the basis for a lot of dissatisfaction.

It is well known in psychology that people are more successful at accepting the perspective of friend who is perceived to be similar to them rather than of a partner with a drastically different experience or value. Devalued members of a group, as in situations of poverty and eating disorders are often noted to show high mood and personal self-esteem after contact with other seemingly stigmatized individuals. This is attributed to the empathy they show towards each other as result of their shared experience. In some sense, nature inherently creates a predictable mismatch in the initial drive as we seek out partners.

It does not in any way explain all, but give a useful insight into our behavior. There are other potential factors that influence significantly the expression of human behavior. Critically, one’s personality such as consciousness can regulate how individuals process their various relationships but it is obvious that the when partners are similar in terms of the value scheme, the better the zeal to accept each other’s perspective.