A Puritan's Final
goppThis season they have been defying all odds and scaling daunting peaks in Europe with a team that has been only a shadow of ‘The Invincibles’(who tore all their Premiership teams apart in a fab season in 2004) in their domestic circuit. Arsene Wenger now aspires an expedition to Alps and a romantic finale in his home town against a team studded with polished gems. Back at Highbury, the soaring expectations of a hard core gunners’ fan may be harder to contain, but Arsene Wenger, with his firm belief of pure, free flowing and attacking football instilled in the young hearts of his players can expect a fairy tale finish if the players live to their dreams which they have accomplished quite astoundingly.
Parallels are being drawn to last year’s Liverpool team, who won an amazing match at Istanbul after being 3-0 down in half time against a talented Milan. Liverpool was fifth in the Premier League last year (same as Arsenal this time), they didn’t bemoan but recuperated remarkably after the loss of Owen (Arsenal-Viera). But the Gallic head has warned that the job isn’t done yet and they start as underdogs.
The football Cognoscenti has corroborated that fact. The Runaway League leaders in Spain has players aplenty marshaled by a pony tailed smiling assassin whom they believe is firmly on the shoes of Pele and Maradona. Splitting defences with his slick passes, unleashing lethal free kicks and dribbling the ball as a magician, Ronaldinho has proven that he is one of a kind in this generation. Though he has ripped apart the opposition and found space even in water tight defences, mention has to be made of the men who finishes his moves, Lionel Messi (being hailed as next Maradona in his country) and the Cameroon Supremo Eto’o. Defence is rock solid with Victor Valdes proving unbeatable. Man to Man in every department Barcelona holds all the aces an exception being Henry around whom the entire team was built, which made Joseph Riquelme of Villareal say ironically that ‘Arsenal is a team with 9 men behind the ball and then they have Henry’.
It’s been long since the world cup, a major trophy has been won by a team with attacking instincts. FC Porto, Greece and to some extent Liverpool were all tactical teams who can sit behind and clear the ball while riding on a goal difference better than its opposition. But to a connoisseur’s delight the two teams assembling on May 17th in Paris puts all those under the mat and plays mellifluent football from the heart. Football is an art that can be orchestrated (and some times choreographed) to such an extent that the rhythm of movement of ball purgates the heart and one can fall in love with the flow more than the finish. We have seen the Brazilians link it to their Samba dance. In Wenger and Rijkaard we have two conductors who hold the batons of the show and the purists’ can only wait for the opera to unfold.
Can the Gallic connection give a dream win for Wenger’s men in Henry’s hometown or yet another feather in the crown of PSG groomed Ronaldinho(another home coming). Its gonna be a situation of who has in it to weather the storm. For us a Puritan’s final is here, let us wade through the two whirlwinds and not miss a moment of sweet thunders hitting us.
It doesn’t get any purer than this.
Parallels are being drawn to last year’s Liverpool team, who won an amazing match at Istanbul after being 3-0 down in half time against a talented Milan. Liverpool was fifth in the Premier League last year (same as Arsenal this time), they didn’t bemoan but recuperated remarkably after the loss of Owen (Arsenal-Viera). But the Gallic head has warned that the job isn’t done yet and they start as underdogs.
The football Cognoscenti has corroborated that fact. The Runaway League leaders in Spain has players aplenty marshaled by a pony tailed smiling assassin whom they believe is firmly on the shoes of Pele and Maradona. Splitting defences with his slick passes, unleashing lethal free kicks and dribbling the ball as a magician, Ronaldinho has proven that he is one of a kind in this generation. Though he has ripped apart the opposition and found space even in water tight defences, mention has to be made of the men who finishes his moves, Lionel Messi (being hailed as next Maradona in his country) and the Cameroon Supremo Eto’o. Defence is rock solid with Victor Valdes proving unbeatable. Man to Man in every department Barcelona holds all the aces an exception being Henry around whom the entire team was built, which made Joseph Riquelme of Villareal say ironically that ‘Arsenal is a team with 9 men behind the ball and then they have Henry’.
It’s been long since the world cup, a major trophy has been won by a team with attacking instincts. FC Porto, Greece and to some extent Liverpool were all tactical teams who can sit behind and clear the ball while riding on a goal difference better than its opposition. But to a connoisseur’s delight the two teams assembling on May 17th in Paris puts all those under the mat and plays mellifluent football from the heart. Football is an art that can be orchestrated (and some times choreographed) to such an extent that the rhythm of movement of ball purgates the heart and one can fall in love with the flow more than the finish. We have seen the Brazilians link it to their Samba dance. In Wenger and Rijkaard we have two conductors who hold the batons of the show and the purists’ can only wait for the opera to unfold.
Can the Gallic connection give a dream win for Wenger’s men in Henry’s hometown or yet another feather in the crown of PSG groomed Ronaldinho(another home coming). Its gonna be a situation of who has in it to weather the storm. For us a Puritan’s final is here, let us wade through the two whirlwinds and not miss a moment of sweet thunders hitting us.
It doesn’t get any purer than this.
Thus Rambled the devil @ 2:40 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:16 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Arsenal were, in a way, fortunate because the teams they took out (Juve, Real, Villareal) were all characterised by depleted attacks. That will not help against Barcelona.
Secondly Barca are an extremely dynamic side, their attack is so flexible that Eto'o and Ron can swap positions at will. So, man-marking them will prove futile.
The battle therefore is how Arsenal's defence can hold out Barca's and vice versa.
Finally, thanks for blogrolling me!
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