Saturday, August 13, 2005

EPL is back!

Who will win the league?
I am a United fan, so its Manchester United. Everyone seems to have blind faith in Mourinho and his supremely talented squad, but I am not sure they will be as dominating this year as last year. They would have been studied day and night by now and I am sure teams will be more prepared for them this year, you only have to watch Arsenal's community shield match, the better team actually lost. Finally Pool would be a bother but it will be interesting as most of Rafa's purchases are new to the English game, so I dont expect them to click this year.

The battle for Europe?
I can see a mini league of 7 fighting for 2 places, Everton, Charlton, Bolton, Boro, Spurs, Man City, Birmingham and if I were to choose 2, I would plump for Spurs and Boro. Man City would push these 2 but lose out, just like last year

Definitely Mid-Table with the ocassional giant killing act?
NewCastle, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Aston Villa

Relegation Dog-Fight?
Fulham, West Brom, West Ham, Sunderland, Wigan

Who will finally be relegated
Fulham, Sunderland, Wigan

Players teams cannot do without
United - Ruud, Van Der Sar, Scholes
Arsenal - Henry, Ljunberg, Toure's Central Defence Partner
Chelsea - Terry, Makelele, Lampard and Cech
Liverpool - Reina, Stevie G, Alonso
Spurs - Davids, King's Central Defence Partner
Man City - Andrew Cole, James
Boro - Yakubu, Mendieta, Boateng
Villa - Phillips, Solano, Mellberg
Birmigham - Butt, Forsell, Dunn
West Brom - Zlotan Gera, Kevin Campbell
West Ham - Sheringham, Neo-Coker, Etherington
New Castle - The whole team, even 1 injury will affect them badly
Portsmouth - Robert, Westerveld, Lua Lua
Wigan - No Idea
Fulham - Diop, Collins John
Charlton - Holland, Murphy, Smertin
Sunderland - Arca
BlackBurn - Bellamy, Pedersen
Bolton - Jay Jay, Diouf, Giannakopoulos
Everton - Cahill, Martyn, Kilbane

Manager Sack Race?
Souness, Pardew, O'Leary

Interesting Transfers (Hit 50%, Flop 50%)
Davids, Park Ji-Sung, Alexandre Song, Crouch, Emre, Robert, Butt

Top Scorer
Who else but supremely talented Henry, hopefully Ruud will push him this season

Friday, August 05, 2005

Hungary GP: Enjoyed every single lap of it

For many Juan's retirement put an end to all the excitement at last weekend's Hungarian GP, but for me and the millions who follow the King and his car, it was thrilling right to the end. Just as the King mentioned, last week was a step forward in the right direction. People pointing to Schumi's light fuel the fact that the track does not favor overtaking as the reason why Schumi out-qualified everyone finished second, forget to acknowledge that this is the hottest race within Europe, the tyres seemed to have fared a lot better than before.

Congrats to the Future King, Kimi, on yet another exciting win. Although it’s still not in his hands, a repeat of last race's circumstances should surely put him right back in the race. The next grand prix is anybody's call as Turkey is the latest addition to the calendar, everyone starts on equal terms and McLaren's supremely superior overall package should see them start as favourites. They seem to have found a extra second on Renault, probably due to the thier new front wing. It certainly looks cool.

MotoGP champ Valentino Rossi has apparently tested a Ferrari again. The Italian completed 80 laps at Firano early this week. His season has not started that well, so I am sure it will be a few more years before he loses his love for MotoGP, it surely will be a few more years before he decides to test himself at F1.

It has finally happened. Rubens is leaving. Compared to the previous no 2, 'Handbags' Eddie Irvine, Rubinho was a gem, and Schumacher, at least privately would acknowledge that he was his best ever No 2, both in terms of talent and a team player. The team and Tifosi should be genuinely happy that this great Brazilian gets to at least compete on equal terms with Button (Not confirmed) next season. BAR currently has a better package than Ferrari but not a better car, on way short of McLaren or Renault, so it would be interesting to see how far Barrichello can push them. A big thank-you and all the best to my favourite Brazilian!

In comes another Brazilian, Felipe Massa. I should admit I am slightly disappointed because after Kimi (who by the way doesnt say much) had openly admited that he fancies driving for Ferrari, I hoped Ferrari would go all out to get him. Massa is no slow driver; he has outclassed Villeneuve in almost every other GP this year, so he is not the worst possible choice. Everyone seems to suggest he was the best available, but I am sure he will be nurtured into a World Champion.

In many ways, I always felt that the King is way too underestimated. People somehow beleive that the all conquering Ferrari of the last few seasons were presents from Heaven and the King won because of the car and the unfair team tactics. So, what has happened this year has clearly shown that there is no other driver who knows his car better than this man!. His feedback and know-how of his car is legendary. Ferrari's package this year is non-competitive but it’s the King's talent that is making the car look half decent. I hope this season shuts a few people up! Pushing a car to its limits can be done by anyone on the grid, they all are fast drivers, even Karthikeyan can do that, but understanding the car's +'s and -'s is and extracting the most out of it is where the King has no match as yet, Coultard is the closest pretender.