Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Florention Perez's Real Madrid sequal "Galacticos 2" has so far fared no better than most Hollywood sequals! Big budget & poor results compared to the original!

President Perez's sequal to "Galacticos I" is so far turning out like most sequals in the real Hollywood style! Lots of razamataz, big names, big budget......and poor quality & returns compared to the original!

Yes! I know! It's still early days & a star studded team of so called champion players needs time to mould into a champion team......like Barcelona! (sorry! couldn't help the jibe!)

Real lost 4-0 in a Cup tie to a lower division team this morning. It seems even after the arrival of the new galacticos, Real continue to suffer from the psychological inferiority complex that started during Barcelona's CL win 3 years ago & made them into the panick $400 plus shopping spree last summer after Barcelona's convincing CL final win over Manchester United.

And to makes matters even more strange, Real seems to be simply an ordinary team without Ronaldo! This in fact annoys me! Because the likes of Kaka, Benzema, Raul & co are every invh as good if not better than the pretty boy!

What is going to happen if AC Milan win the return CL match in Milan next week? Will "Berlosconi wannabe" aka PEREZ & his galacticos take the blame? Or will the coach Pellegrini be sacked as a scapegoat?..and then Perez will admit he should have listened earlier & sacked the coach much sooner???

At any case, let's hope for the good of the game Real's sequal to "Galacticos I" at least doesn't succeed on the pitch! They can have the box office in order to pay their stars!

But on the pitch, it's great team spirit, clever tactics, inspirational coaching & a combination of talent, blood, sweat & tears that surely deserve success. Afterall, they are the ingredients of what makes football the "Beautiful Game"!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What is holding Bayern Munich back from being a serious contender to win the Champions League again?

Bayern Munich are statistically amongst the Top 5 most successful football Clubs in Europe. Only Real Madrid, Liverpool & AC Milan have won the European/CL Trophy more than Bayern. Bayern are also regularly amongst the Top 5 or 10 top clubs in the world in terms of turnover as well as one of the Top 5 best supported Clubs in Europe.

However, unlike the financially reckless owners of some of the big Clubs in England, Italy & Spain who have always been willing to grab trophies & glory at any expense, and in attempting to do so have put their clubs under immense financial pressure and huge debt burden, Bayern Munich have always been too conservative & at times seem to have sacrificied trophies & glory for the sake of remaining financially sound.

This has of course at times irked their demanding supporters who at the very least expect parity with other top clubs in Europe, and made some of their highly sought after players to demand a move to the "glamour clubs" mentioned above.

Bayern have in fact in occasions splashed huge sums in recent years on the likes of Klose, Toni, Ribery and very recently Robben. But these have always been in a much more measured way compared to for e.g. Real Madrid's Galactico mark 2 by Perez & co.

This has meant that Bayern have once again finishedd the decade with only one single European final appearance to show for, the CL final win against valencia in 2001, a life time ago in footballing terms in the eyes of denmanding & passionate supporters.

But in my opinion, the conservative transfer policy has overall been for the long term good of the club and most of the decions have been sound (The poor deciosn to let Lucio & Ze Roberto leave last summer was a major exception. A few more top players and the team is as good or at least as competative as any of the top clubs in Europe.

I believe the major factor that is holding Bayern's progress is its frequent change of Managers & coaching staff & not allowing the head coaches enough time to implement their tactical vision. Just look at what Hitzfeld achieved with Bayern by having the luxury of time! I am talking about employing a world class tactician on a FIVE year contract as a minimum & giving him flexibility, time & space to develop & implement his system, i.e. emulating what the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool & Arsenal have allowed their Managers.

Magath & Klinsman did not have that luxury. Let's hope Van Gaal (although I am not a big fan & personally preferred Rijkaard)gets the support & patience from Rumminegge & Hoeness to develop & implement his ideas.

Bayern have the money, influence, players, support & prestige to be back on top. All they need is patience with their managers!